Build Thread: TKERacer619's 600gal SPS Tank

Instead of the driveway, I would have done this into the lawn or a flower bed, then watch the plants take off with the infusion of all that good fish poop.

33217145584_76afc09ea9_c.jpg


Dave.M
 
It was probably of no concern but they had just put down weed and pest killer the day before. I was a little worried about contamination (and washing away).

I just added two cups of sand from my display and about 20 lbs of live rock. There was as much sediment/detritus in that sand as there was in the whole amount we added yesterday... Bacteria :thumbsup:

Dosed ammonia and some biospira. Removed the filter bags to let it all marinate.
 
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It's Alive!

It's Alive!

I finished plumbing and fired up the skimmer tonight. I'll need to redo the cup drain if I cannot find the other half of the union they used, it's a weird thread so I won't be finding a mating half...

34001238841_f8c6841a7d_c.jpg


It went pretty smooth. I have a few drips now and then at the uniseals. If they don't stop by the morning I'll drain it and retry. I'll also get in there and clean the top of it. Need some humidity to soften that poop up!!
 
I'm jealous of all of the progress you're making. Everything looks great!

It looks like there's a flow meter in line on the skimmer that isn't being used. Is that just a line to wash down the skimmer cup?
 
halmus said:
I'm jealous of all of the progress you're making. Everything looks great!

It looks like there's a flow meter in line on the skimmer that isn't being used. Is that just a line to wash down the skimmer cup?
Click to expand...

Thanks bud! Trying to sneak in every free moment I get. The other night I woke up at 1am and couldn't sleep so I went downstairs and worked on polishing the 75gal QT :lol:.

The skimmer has an auto wash down for the outside of the neck that is supposed to plumbed into house water, I think that is what you are seeing. It's the black box that's connected with the green clip onto a black body solenoid valve. I'll get around to hooking it up, I don't think its ever been used before. This may be the driving force for me to install a whole house filtration unit to deal with chloramines and not be paranoid about it.

There is also a manual wash down for the inside of the neck that uses the pressure pump. When I worked for Aquatic Art Inc we didn't use that one very often simply because we wanted to remove the solids inside the neck instead of blasting them back into the body. Due to the ceiling height I'm skeptical of how easy it will be to clean this beast. Going to find out this evening :lol:. I may end up using both wash down systems and will likely automate the manual one to open and close every day if I chose to do so.

By the way... the tank is cloudy and smells like wet socks. The fiance is super happy :lol:. I warned her it was going to get worse before it gets better.
 
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That makes sense.

I was thinking the black box was measuring flow rate for the wash down. That's really getting scientific when you're measuring rate of flow on a glorified fish-toilet flush.

Solenoid valve makes way more sense.
 
tkeracer619 said:
I finished plumbing and fired up the skimmer tonight. I'll need to redo the cup drain if I cannot find the other half of the union they used, it's a weird thread so I won't be finding a mating half...

Hard to tell from the picture but look into a PVC threaded or slip union. They use a weird thread. It looks like there are a number of unions in use already. I would guess that you have half of it. If not maybe a compression fitting (also weird threads). They carry both at Home Depot.

Greg
Click to expand...
 
I cleaned off some dust and salt creep from the union last night and found that it is a spears union. If I can't find the other half i'll need to order one since I don't know where to get spears locally. The lowes/HD versions don't fit it. I think I know where the other half is but it means a lot of digging. Plan on doing that tonight.

In the end, it would probably be easier to just remake that section than ordering a spears union.
 
tkeracer619 said:
I cleaned off some dust and salt creep from the union last night and found that it is a spears union. If I can't find the other half i'll need to order one since I don't know where to get spears locally. The lowes/HD versions don't fit it. I think I know where the other half is but it means a lot of digging. Plan on doing that tonight.

In the end, it would probably be easier to just remake that section than ordering a spears union.
Click to expand...


Spears Manufacturing
4880 Florence St.
Denver, CO 80238
(303) 371-9430 "¢ (800) 777-4154

I was out there like 25 years ago and bought fittings at the counter. I don't think that walk-in traffic is normal for them but they did sell to me. You may want to call them if you want to keep that fitting.

Greg
 
Found it! 😀. It was at the bottom of a stack of 6 totes.

Now I need to figure out a good waste container. I have a small one that will work for now. I have a 4gal Precision Marine ATO reservoir that would make a good one if I mod the lid for a float switch and vent. I'm not sure I have the room to use a 5gal bucket.
 
tkeracer619 said:
Found it! [emoji3]. It was at the bottom of a stack of 6 totes.



Now I need to figure out a good waste container. I have a small one that will work for now. I have a 4gal Precision Marine ATO reservoir that would make a good one if I mod the lid for a float switch and vent. I'm not sure I have the room to use a 5gal bucket.
Click to expand...



I have a 4 1/2 gallon water jug that I got at Napa that may work well for you. The part number is 817"“4089. For size reference, the tank next to it is a 20 long.
5cea9e2c2d3f6f768bc778b1fb26be8c.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I Should Have Cleaned This Months Ago...

I Should Have Cleaned This Months Ago...

I started to clean the collection "cup" this evening and quickly realized it was pointless. It had been neglected far too long and the auto wash down feature not used. This thing had inch chunks of dried poop in it. I took it apart and outside to use the hose.

Here is a good size reference. The skimmer cup is the size of a 5gal bucket :lol:
33308545164_3f8a449b6e_c.jpg


Once back on (not something I want to do regularly) and after 5 minutes of adjustment it was already creating foam and skimming!
33340088773_ffca9d8bc9_c.jpg


The tank has zero bioload right now but is super cloudy and smells bad. Really bad.
33308547054_1385092d9d_c.jpg
 
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