Aquaph8's 225 Build
- Thread starter aquaph8
- Start date
A combination of the two fixtures would surely be sweet! I don't think you will regret the substrate depth at all. I was just trying to save you some elbow grease during those cleanings.. LOL.. If the purpose is for Wrasses and such, then full steam ahead.. I am challenged with wrasses and only the strong survive in my tank due to the coarse substrate that I use.
Plumbing work looks great by the way.. Very similar to mine. Yours looks a lot better though :thumbsup: I use one of the four outlets as a bypass to relieve pressure on the main pump..
prop-frags
SPS Slave
Brett,
We have about a 2" sand bed for the majority of the tank and the middle about 2.5" where there is no Starboard. Our Leopards choose to sleep towards the middle. Our sand bed is a mix of CaribSea Special Grade Sea Floor and Tropic Eden Reef Flakes. We've had our male Bipartitus Leopard for more than 2 years and our little females for several months now and have seen no ill effects from the coarser mix of sand.
We have about a 2" sand bed for the majority of the tank and the middle about 2.5" where there is no Starboard. Our Leopards choose to sleep towards the middle. Our sand bed is a mix of CaribSea Special Grade Sea Floor and Tropic Eden Reef Flakes. We've had our male Bipartitus Leopard for more than 2 years and our little females for several months now and have seen no ill effects from the coarser mix of sand.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
Thanks thats cause it was inspired by yours,LOL I probably could have got away using one of my outlets as a bypass also. I only really have plans for one of the outlets at this point but a wise man by the name of Bagbos recommended I add more than I actually need.
Thanks Jose, stay tuned.
Thanks for the complements.
Glad to hear. Any other tips on keeping Leopards? What kind of maintainance do you recommend with that deep of sand bed? Do you vacuum it often?
prop-frags
SPS Slave
Brett,
Our male leopard has been a trooper as he tolerated sleeping in a small Rubbermaid container of sand for 7 months while we waited for the replacement tank, LOL. The only thing special we do for our leopards is replenish our pod population every couple of months as they do browse the rocks and sand bed through out the day. We feed all our fish multiple times a day in smaller amounts and offer algae sheets or Romaine lettuce every other day.
We vacuum the sand bed as part of our water change routine. We also have several fighting conchs, sea cucumbers, and tons of ceriths and nassarius snails to keep the sand stirred up and the detritus to a minimum.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
Brett,
Our male leopard has been a trooper as he tolerated sleeping in a small Rubbermaid container of sand for 7 months while we waited for the replacement tank, LOL. The only thing special we do for our leopards is replenish our pod population every couple of months as they do browse the rocks and sand bed through out the day. We feed all our fish multiple times a day in smaller amounts and offer algae sheets or Romaine lettuce every other day.
We vacuum the sand bed as part of our water change routine. We also have several fighting conchs, sea cucumbers, and tons of ceriths and nassarius snails to keep the sand stirred up and the detritus to a minimum.
Thanks for the info Mike. Thats exactly what I do with my sand now, so that shouldn't be too much different except there will be a lot more to cover. I plan to get my pod cultures up again like I had in the past so there will be plenty of pods. I tried getting them going once already but pods dont do well being shipped to Tucson this time of year unless you overnight them. I learned that the hard way.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
Update:
My wood guy hurt his leg and has taken a little break from working on the stand until today.
Here's a little sneak peek of one of the doors.
[/IMG]
A little upgrade to the returns. I wanted sea swirls but found 2 of these instead. Pretty cool, they come with controllers and everything. I cant wait to play with them.
[/IMG]
My SPS in the 125 have been having a tuff time lately. I dont know if its heat related or something else. I lost 4 frags in the last couple weeks. Hopefully all the problems have stopped. On a possitive note its an egg laying festival. The clowns laid eggs yesterday and today I noticed this:
[/IMG] I really need to get her a boy friend. LOL
My wood guy hurt his leg and has taken a little break from working on the stand until today.
Here's a little sneak peek of one of the doors.
A little upgrade to the returns. I wanted sea swirls but found 2 of these instead. Pretty cool, they come with controllers and everything. I cant wait to play with them.
My SPS in the 125 have been having a tuff time lately. I dont know if its heat related or something else. I lost 4 frags in the last couple weeks. Hopefully all the problems have stopped. On a possitive note its an egg laying festival. The clowns laid eggs yesterday and today I noticed this:
prop-frags
SPS Slave
Update:
My SPS in the 125 have been having a tuff time lately. I dont know if its heat related or something else. I lost 4 frags in the last couple weeks. Hopefully all the problems have stopped. On a possitive note its an egg laying festival. The clowns laid eggs yesterday and today I noticed this:
[/IMG] I really need to get her a boy friend. LOL
Brett, sorry to hear about your SPS. Cool pic of your Banggai - and yes, you do need to get her a mate!
aquaph8
Love The Fish
I got 2, yeah they're for the returns. I was looking for sea swirls but found these for a great price. They seem pretty cool, do you have any experience with them?
.Brett, sorry to hear about your SPS. Cool pic of your Banggai - and yes, you do need to get her a mate!
Mike, all seems well now, I think I went a little too far with the vodka. Live and learn I guess. I should have known when the Monti cap began to bleach but of coarse I let it go for a couple days before I started thinking logically. I lowered the dose and everything seems fine now. I will add another Bangaii soon, any way to tell males from females?
Reef_Noob
New member
thanks a lot for visiting my build thread...
I feel fortunate that i have come across your build thread, congrats to you on planning things meticulously...it really gives us all great ideas...
Great choice on the skimmer, from my experience oversizing your skimmer will not do any harm , infact it will only do good to your tank stability. But make sure you are sticking religiously to the weekly 20% water change.
Wish ya great luck in your build and great reefing times ahead bro!
Its also great to see that your existing setup is becoming a "love pad" for the inhabitants hehehe
I feel fortunate that i have come across your build thread, congrats to you on planning things meticulously...it really gives us all great ideas...
Great choice on the skimmer, from my experience oversizing your skimmer will not do any harm , infact it will only do good to your tank stability. But make sure you are sticking religiously to the weekly 20% water change.
Wish ya great luck in your build and great reefing times ahead bro!
Its also great to see that your existing setup is becoming a "love pad" for the inhabitants hehehe
jjk_reef00
New member
Brett,
Great build! It's going to look amazing once completed.
I wouldn't rely on the check valves to work because there is a good chance it will fail at some point. I've has 4 over the years and they have all failed. My last 3 designs didn't require them but my first tank did overflow a little water on the floor when it did fail.
Make sure your your sump can handle the water if/when the check valve fails.
Anti syphon holes are one or more small holes drilled into the loc line about 1/4-1/2" below the water line. When the pump is off the water will syphon only to the hole drilled into the loc line. As d3hree stated earlier in the thread there is still a risk the spyphon hole could become blocked (snail etc...) then the tank would spyhon to the point where your loc line opening is. Raising the loc line by pointing it upwards or redesigning the layout would be the safest. Feel free to pm me if you want to talk about this.
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the build.
Great build! It's going to look amazing once completed.
I wouldn't rely on the check valves to work because there is a good chance it will fail at some point. I've has 4 over the years and they have all failed. My last 3 designs didn't require them but my first tank did overflow a little water on the floor when it did fail.
Make sure your your sump can handle the water if/when the check valve fails.
Anti syphon holes are one or more small holes drilled into the loc line about 1/4-1/2" below the water line. When the pump is off the water will syphon only to the hole drilled into the loc line. As d3hree stated earlier in the thread there is still a risk the spyphon hole could become blocked (snail etc...) then the tank would spyhon to the point where your loc line opening is. Raising the loc line by pointing it upwards or redesigning the layout would be the safest. Feel free to pm me if you want to talk about this.
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the build.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
No problem Reef Noob. I'm really enjoying where your build is going and will be subscribed for the long haul. Thanks for all your nice comments. Best of luck to you also.
Hey Ed, I really appreciate the help. Here is kinda where I'm at on that, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I deletled the loc line and replaced them with 2 wavy seas. I mounted (or am trying to mount them through the bulkhead holes in the euro brace so they dont interfere with my screen top and they sit up a little higher (hopefully not too high). I believe with where they sit now my sump will have plenty of room in the event of a power outage. I will still leave the check valve there just to make me feel better but yeah I've had them fail in the past too and while I dont trust them they do work sometimes I guess. It'll be really nice to not have locline too. Here is a couple pics to show how I mounted the wavy seas and how they sit.
Please let me know what you guys think.
jjk_reef00
New member
Wow looks great! The wavy seas look really cool and I think that design is much safer than the loc line.
prop-frags
SPS Slave
The doors look great, Brett. Lookin forward to seeing some water!
aquaph8
Love The Fish
Thanks ED. The wavy seas seem pretty cool, I cant wait to try them out.
The doors look great, Brett. Lookin forward to seeing some water!
I want to put water in there so bad man. I'm ready as soon as he finishes staining the wood. All I have to figure out is all the controllers and other electrical stuff and where to mount everything. I think Im gonna take the kids to disney land here in a week or two so I might just wait till I get back, we'll see.
Brett how did I miss this dude!!!? Looks good so far man, I can't wait to see it with water!
Hey man, better late than never, welcome aboard. How's that beautiful in wall of your doing. I know, this thing needs some water, I'm slow.
