Building My 375gal Glass Reef

[GlassReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14407657#post14407657 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EnglishRebel
... I'm not sure what the difference is between Marco rock and Eco Rox ...

Hi, Alan, I don't think there's any difference, really. I think my problem lies with me not seeding the rocks sufficiently.

plyr58 - as a Purveyor of Truths, you can definitely afford me.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14408229#post14408229 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bbehring
... blasting off my rock with a turkey baster, almost daily, feeding less, thawing my food and skimming off the enriched water, performing larger, more frequent WC's, cleaning out my sump, as well as removing the sand and rock from my fuge ...

Sounds like you did everything right! It's the procrastinator in most of us that won't allow us to win the battle.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14408303#post14408303 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by edandsandy
Nice job on the Tunzes Tom! How do you have them placed in the tank? Do you know what cycle you are going to use?

Thanks Sandy. I have two streams on each side panel - one front, one back. I'm tending toward Pulse mode with a range between 40% and 100%

jnarowe - thank you Jonathan

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14408626#post14408626 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mflamb
Tom I'm sure that your NO2 is slow to come down due to lack of notorsomones bacteria. It is the slowest reproducing of the nitrogen cycle bacteria.

I think you're right on the button, Mike. Again, it's my lack of seeding that's causing my problem.

 

[edandsandy]

We have (4) 6101's, I am currently using the sequential-change flow setting.
its petty cool!
I have 2 on each end of the tank.

 

[our6pack]

Wow. Just found this thread and I'm must say I'm speechless for text. That's the nicest fish room I've seen bar none. WOW. Great thread.

 

[Gig 'em]

I agree, this is amazing!

 

[IBASSFSH]

Tom is your euro bracing on top of the glass panes or silicone d on the inside of the panes? I am thinking about having Randy at Concept Aquariums build me a tank, but have not heard a lot about the company. Any bad rep or tank failures and so on. Randy seems like a very nice person when I talked to him a few weeks back.
Also can you take a pic of the water going into your overflows? It does not appear that you have any teeth in there to keep fish out. I plan on doing an external overflow like yours. I had him quote me a price on a 92x41x30.
I would like to try a closed loop system, but am a little worried about the tank cracking at the bulkheads. Randy said the way they do it is not to drill the holes in line with each other, which makes it less prone to fail.

 

[EnglishRebel]

Nice and neat Tom (as always). You and I should have invested in the company that makes zip ties.
IBASSFSH
I too have corresponded with Randy many times and he was always polite and helpful. I went with Aquarium Obsessed in the end due to they being less expensive -- particularly on shipping (they were a quarter of Randys cost).
Just my $0.02 worth.

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14407828#post14407828 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GlassReef
Permanently wired up my four 6205 streams to the 7095 controller. I placed the 7095 on the back of the tank. It's very convenient there, and it's not in the way because it's under the overflow box. Worked out real well (pardon the lousy quality on the pics - had to use a real old P&S):

I used industrial Velcro to mount it to the glass:

This is a pic under the stand - looking up. It shows the four stream power adapters and the necessary wiring:

You can see the wiring leading to the individual streams mounted to the glass using little cable mounts I found at one of the Big Boxes. They mount with double sided tape and work very well.

I slit a piece if 4" PVC sewer pipe - the thin walled type - and mounted it directly under the tank. It holds all the wiring for the streams - quite a bit, as the newer streams each have a 15ft cable.

I like the idea with velcro - for an even cleaner solution, IMO, check out high energy magnets with adhesive. I've used these to mount my RKE, vortech controllers, tunze osmolator, etc. Stick a few of these on the back of whatever you are mounting and few on the surface you are mounting on and thats it. The larger two sizes will hold a lot of weight securely.

http://www.allmagnetics.com/flexible/highenergy.htm

 

[GlassReef]

our6pack, Gig 'em - thank you for the kind words. They are much appreciated.

 

[GlassReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14413327#post14413327 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by IBASSFSH
Tom is your euro bracing on top of the glass panes or silicone d on the inside of the panes? I am thinking about having Randy at Concept Aquariums build me a tank, but have not heard a lot about the company. Any bad rep or tank failures and so on. Randy seems like a very nice person when I talked to him a few weeks back.
Also can you take a pic of the water going into your overflows? It does not appear that you have any teeth in there to keep fish out.

The Euro-bracing is on top of the side panes. Randy was really great to deal with. He's one of those people (few and far between IMHO) that want to do the best they can by you.

My overflow has no teeth. I specifically requested to have it done like that. I will be placing gutter guard across the wier before the first fish go in the tank.

Here are the pics you wanted, although they are not very clear - as I mentioned in an earlier post, my camera broke and I'm using an old (read: bad) P&S - plus, I just put sand in the tank so the water is not very clear.

This is from the front looking through the tank, up at the wier.

This is from the back looking through the overflow box. It's hard to determine what your looking at. You can see that the flow over the wier is ver smooth.

This pic is through the side of the tank looking up at the wier.

I hope the pics helped a little, despite the bad quailty.

 

[GlassReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14414166#post14414166 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EnglishRebel
Nice and neat Tom (as always). You and I should have invested in the company that makes zip ties.
IBASSFSH
I too have corresponded with Randy many times and he was always polite and helpful. I went with Aquarium Obsessed in the end due to they being less expensive -- particularly on shipping (they were a quarter of Randys cost).
Just my $0.02 worth.

Thanks, Alan. Yup, the zip tie guy is definitely getting a fair share of my money.

Before I ordered my tank, I talked to a lot of companies and requested quotes from a number of them. In the end, I went with Concept Aquarium because they were the only ones that were willing to build me a tank exactly the way I wanted it. The problem was always the full length external overflow, along the back.

All the others would say, "well, we can't do that because ...". Randy said, "let me talk to my design guys and see how we can get it done." That's what made the difference for me.

 

[edandsandy]

Tom,
Our fish rooms are almost the same size, We are having a problem with our exhaust fan. I am having the A/C guy and our GC come over this afternoon to reevaluate the the little Broan ventilation fan they installed.
If I may ask, what fan did you use in your fish room?
I know that YOU choose the right one!

 

[IBASSFSH]

Overflow

Overflow

Thanks Tom. I mainly wanted to see if you had teeth in your overflow in the pics. Is that type of overflow very loud? Seems like there would be some water splashing sound, by looking at how far the water drops ( I am guessing 5" or so).

I have received quotes from AGE, Miracles, and Concept Aquarium. I have read too much bad on AO to consider them. I am sure they(AO)have people (Englishrebel) that have had good experience with them. I am just afraid to try them, as its a lot of money to spend/lose if the tank bust at the seams.

 

[jnarowe]

Yes very clean indeed!

Couple points:

Magnets: Not always the best solution when dealing with electronic devices, motors, etc.

Zip-Ties: I used a LOT of these in my install and hindsight tells me that was probably not the best idea. As you can see from the pics here, they make an install very neat and tidy, yet keep everything visible for inspection. The down-side I have found is that they tend to concentrate heat and I have had failures due to that heat buildup. In fact I have had a couple of near-fires because a lot of the equipment we buy in the hobby isn't "FULLY" tested with respect to what a consumer might do with it. So the wire coverings aren't always as thick as they should be for our applications. I am not going to go into which products this has happened with, but I will say that two of my "incidents" were with major better quality brands.

Overflow combs: I know I preach this a lot, but you can buy removable overflow combs that kick butt. You adhere the base to the outside of the slot, and the combs slide in and out easily. So I have strainers on my overflow bulkheads as well. They can be pulled out to be cleaned while the combs are left in place, and vice versa. And being able to remove the combs, soak in vinegar, clean and replace is way too damn cool to pass up. It would be hell trying to keep them clean in place.

JMO!

 

[GlassReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14415000#post14415000 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by edandsandy
... what fan did you use in your fish room?

I used a Fantech FR140 - draws 60W, moves just over 210CFM, and best of all - you can't hear it!.

 

[GlassReef]

Re: Overflow

Re: Overflow

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14415027#post14415027 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by IBASSFSH
Is that type of overflow very loud? Seems like there would be some water splashing sound, by looking at how far the water drops ( I am guessing 5" or so).

It makes no noise, at all. The water drops about 2 1/2", but that's a function of how high you place your overflow pipes. I suppose, if you wanted, you could set it up so that the water only drops 1/2".

 

[GlassReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14414209#post14414209 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcliffy2
I like the idea with velcro - for an even cleaner solution, IMO, check out high energy magnets with adhesive. I've used these to mount my RKE, vortech controllers, tunze osmolator, etc. Stick a few of these on the back of whatever you are mounting and few on the surface you are mounting on and thats it. The larger two sizes will hold a lot of weight securely.

http://www.allmagnetics.com/flexible/highenergy.htm

Thanks for the link! Interesting product. I've got some things wehere they would be perfect.

 

[GlassReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14415627#post14415627 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Zip-Ties: I used a LOT of these in my install and hindsight tells me that was probably not the best idea. As you can see from the pics here, they make an install very neat and tidy, yet keep everything visible for inspection. The down-side I have found is that they tend to concentrate heat and I have had failures due to that heat buildup. In fact I have had a couple of near-fires because a lot of the equipment we buy in the hobby isn't "FULLY" tested with respect to what a consumer might do with it. So the wire coverings aren't always as thick as they should be for our applications. I am not going to go into which products this has happened with, but I will say that two of my "incidents" were with major better quality brands.

Not sure I'm understanding this, Jonathan . Could you add a little more detail about how the ties concentrated heat - sounds like something I definitely want to understand.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14415627#post14415627 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Overflow combs: I know I preach this a lot, but you can buy removable overflow combs that kick butt. You adhere the base to the outside of the slot, and the combs slide in and out easily. So I have strainers on my overflow bulkheads as well. They can be pulled out to be cleaned while the combs are left in place, and vice versa. And being able to remove the combs, soak in vinegar, clean and replace is way too damn cool to pass up. It would be hell trying to keep them clean in place.

I was going to make mine out of Gutter Guard. They would sit in a slot routed in a strip of plexi. What you're describing sounds interesting! How are they attached? Do you have a source or link? Thanks!

 

[EnglishRebel]

Re: Overflow

Re: Overflow

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14415027#post14415027 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by IBASSFSH
I am sure they(AO)have people (Englishrebel) that have had good experience with them. I am just afraid to try them, as its a lot of money to spend/lose if the tank bust at the seams.

Now you've got me worried. :eek2: Where did you read that people had their AO tanks burst at the seams? I checked (PM) with about half a dozen people with AO tanks who had posted on RC and all but one said they were well pleased with the quality of the tank and the customer service. One guy was complaining that his bank charged him a foreign currency transaction feed because the amount was charged in $Canadian. What bank doesn't -- or if they don't it's hidden in the exchange rate which is what my bank (Wachovia) used to do now they show it a separate fee (and it's only 1%). Some did say that AO were a little slow getting back to them.
No deal breakers. But tanks bursting at the seams -- now that's a different story. I would like to know where you heard that.

 

[GlassReef]

I, personally, have never heard anything negative about Aquarium Obsessed.

 

[edandsandy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14415921#post14415921 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GlassReef
I used a Fantech FR140 - draws 60W, moves just over 210CFM, and best of all - you can't hear it!.

Thanks Tom