DaveJ's 300G Build
- Thread starter DaveJ
- Start date
Thanks for the kind words guys.
I am running 2 vortecs, 1 tunze 6125, 1 Taam Polario (which is that long one) and then the wavebox.
No, it wasn't real expensive to do the glass that way, but keep in mind my friend owns the LFS where I got it and he was working some serious magic on the cost and the distributor we had to go through. I've seen this exact tank at twice what I paid for it, without the customizations and starphire additions at other LFS's in the area.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14985138#post14985138 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jhardain
VERY nice job!! Love seeing new set ups, they always give me the wow wish I had done that syndrome, but still great to see.
Plus you are never finished and when I do my 'next' tank will have more ideas.
Yup, I still see things I would like to do... and a few I wish I had done a little different though I have to say I have only two so far on this build. The first is the sump length.. I went about 7 inches to long on it and then the composite connectors on the rack, not going with the steel core ones. I'm sure there will be others....
Welcome.
Here are some shots of some of the same corals above, plus some additional ones under MH lighting...
Tyree Peace Coral Favia
ATL Crown Jewel Favia
Tyree Pastel Peace Coral Favia
African Blues Zoanthids
Acan Lord
Rastafarin Chalice
Franks Deepwater Kryptonite Acro
FHI Predator Coral
Tyree Peace Coral Favia
ATL Crown Jewel Favia
Tyree Pastel Peace Coral Favia
African Blues Zoanthids
Acan Lord
Rastafarin Chalice
Franks Deepwater Kryptonite Acro
FHI Predator Coral
cayenne
Premium Member
Nice build. I am currently building a system with the same tank, only it wasn't custom built. You can check it out by clicking on my little red house.
I thought long and hard about having a custom one done with the exact modifications you did from the factory so I could do a peninsula. Now you are making me wish I had.
I thought long and hard about having a custom one done with the exact modifications you did from the factory so I could do a peninsula. Now you are making me wish I had.
Thanks... coming off the wall the side overflow and all around starphire was going to be a requirement for me. I had some issue with them on the overflow box, their standard dual for the side are semi-circular in shape and take up about an addition 3 or 4 inches into the tank, but some persistent wrangling and they eventually gave in. Not a bad company to work with really, once they did what I wanted and not what they felt like doing
My friend Frank made a surprise visit tonight with a local club member and we broke down the 140G. First we got the remaining livestock out of the tank, a single surviving chromis (out of 12) and my watchman goby (pink spot). The chromis went into the frag tank to keep the yellow tang company and the goby went into the 300G with his old pals. We then drained the water, then scooped out all the sand. Those of you who have seen the tank know that I had a pretty substantial DSB, it was 6-7" in most spots over the entire bottom of the tank. Surprisingly, the process wasn't that bad. It was a lot of work mind you, but the smell wasn't all that bad at all. You know the sign of a good sandbed when the bottom levels are pretty clean. There was some discoloration and a bit of a skimmer smell, but really it wasn't bad at all. No huge spots of black sludge. The sand was packed down pretty well in areas, but not rock hard so I can only surmise the bed was doing its job very well over the last couple of years in breaking everything down that made its way into it. Anyway, we then cut the PVC and hauled the tank out to the garage along with the stand. The chiller is currently in the garage and will be plumbed into the new system as soon as the frag tank and new plumbing is done.
Here is the before...
And afterwards...
And the old tank waiting for its new owner...
Here is the before...
And afterwards...
And the old tank waiting for its new owner...
Yep... we sent them the sketch of what I wanted... they quoted on it then sent back a drawing with that dual overflow you got. We went back and forth and told them they quoted the custom box so we expected them to do it the way we wanted. They eventually gave in.
No offense intended here, but that dual overflow they put on is really a monstrosity. It eats up way too much space especially when you take into consideration that first brace. They do have those overflow slats etc in them which is a nice feature, but I wanted the box for a couple of reasons, size and fit mostly. I have more room on either side for the wavebox and vortecs etc.. and I plan on putting up foam/eggcrate on the end to give it a rock face look and doing that with a box is easier than dealing with the curves etc. That dual box in the center on the long end would be fine, but on the end like I have it, it just doesn't work well and I hope they fix that. One of the guys in my club got one done in a similar manner and I told him about the box, he ended up with one like yours and appears to be happy with it, but when you start placing LR and lighting etc it causes issues.
How did you work around it?
I havent done anything yet. I just got the tank home last night. They might not be to big a deal for what im planning, which is almost exactly what your doing(seriously I think your reading my mind here!) Im just happy its here for now. It took 3 months to get it after they lost my order and didnt tell me for a month, then send me the wrong tank.
I am planning to do one return and 3 drains, so making it one smaller box wouldnt be to hard....
I will start laying out the wavebox and close loop piping this weekend and ill decide what if anything to do about it then.
On a side note, are you getting a good wave with a single wavebox? Im worried about needing a second since my budget is well....shrinking.
I am planning to do one return and 3 drains, so making it one smaller box wouldnt be to hard....
I will start laying out the wavebox and close loop piping this weekend and ill decide what if anything to do about it then.
On a side note, are you getting a good wave with a single wavebox? Im worried about needing a second since my budget is well....shrinking.
Shrinking budget... tell me about it...
Wavebox is doing fine firing the length. I get about 1" or so of wave which is all I want or need. Anymore than that and it might slop/spill over the edges.
Sounds like you had a rough time with them..... hopefully they made it right and gave you some breaks.
Yeah im doing this tank as part of my home purchase/renovation so money is going everywhere at high speed.
Do you get any splashing from the wave over the overflows? And im guessing you did two returns and two durso style drains right?
yeah ordering the tank sucked, but ended up not being a big deal due to other delays in the renovation and a nice discount
Do you get any splashing from the wave over the overflows? And im guessing you did two returns and two durso style drains right?
yeah ordering the tank sucked, but ended up not being a big deal due to other delays in the renovation and a nice discount
Thanks!
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14997556#post14997556 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EnderG60
Yeah im doing this tank as part of my home purchase/renovation so money is going everywhere at high speed.
Do you get any splashing from the wave over the overflows? And im guessing you did two returns and two durso style drains right?
yeah ordering the tank sucked, but ended up not being a big deal due to other delays in the renovation and a nice discount
No splashing on the wave, I had to make an adjustment on the dursos to keep them from sucking.. but it was tiny. Two returns, both durso style.. they plumb into a larger single drain under the tank, 2 1" go into a single 1.5". Keep in mind I have a bunch of flow that works against the wave, so when all pumps are off the wave is bigger, but with the vortecs, tunze and the polaris going in there the water moves around the tank in a crazy pattern along with some of the wave action back and forth.
The thing I don't like and will be changing soon is the anti-siphon hole was drilled into the 90 on the returns from the factory. With the return pump I use, the Hammerhead, it creates a bit too much force and it sounds like someone piddling in the overflow so I had to dial it down some. I'll see how it does once all the other plumbing, frag tank, media and chiller are hooked in. If its still annoying I'll swap them out and do the holes in the loc-line instead inside the tank.
JRaquatics
New member
Awesome build. I was looking into the 250g Marineland tank. Couple of questions, how much did the tank alone cost and did making special request make a big difference in the price? What do you think about the tank? Would you have went without starfire if you were to do it all over or is it really worth it?
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what exactly did you do to adjust them for the wave? Just move them up/down a bit?
I will have a dart setup with a bunch of eductors and a tunze for extra flow as well so.
and yes those anti-siphon holes SUCK. the one on my current tank JUST last week, got partially clogged and started spraying water up into the canopy. Which then dripped down and fried my DC-8 and DC-4HD. Screw those things, ill take my chances with a good check valve.
oh and how big is your overflow box now?
I will have a dart setup with a bunch of eductors and a tunze for extra flow as well so.
and yes those anti-siphon holes SUCK. the one on my current tank JUST last week, got partially clogged and started spraying water up into the canopy. Which then dripped down and fried my DC-8 and DC-4HD. Screw those things, ill take my chances with a good check valve.
oh and how big is your overflow box now?
Thank you, I appreciate that. My tank as I said above, was at a very good price. I got the entire tank, starphire and all the customizations for around $1600 delivered and with overflow kits. I've seen the standard tank at LFS's without side starphire etc for $2800. I know a few others here have got similar setups for around $1800-1900 or so. Anything in the $1800-2000 range for my exact setup could be considered a good deal. If I didn't get starphire and the customizations, the cost of the tank probably would have been a few hundred less, give or take.
Hands down, it is worth it for starphire in my opinion. My old tank was standard glass and there is a BIG difference is visual clarity and color contrast etc with the starphire. Interesting point here maybe.. but Marineland actually uses Starphire brand glass... Not all companies do.. some use low iron and call it starphire... but its more of a generic. Not all low iron is the same... I've seen some that were not nearly as clear from other vendors.
You mean for the vortecs?? Not much.. I adjusted the wave with everything off and my vortechs are set on reef crest at full power. That tunze I have is one speed... and the polario is down the other end of the tank firing across the 3ft length. All of that has combined for a pretty good flow pattern.
If you are going closed loop... I guess that would depend on where you place the input nozzles. If you keep everything on one end, you may end up canceling out the wave motion... but if you have the wavebox on the opposite end and/or the inputs up through the bottom or something like that, they should compliment it well. I'd run the design etc by Roger at Tunze and post it here to get feedback from others who may have experience with CL with waveboxes to get their input though.
Anti-siphon holes should always be pointed down into the water. Sorry to hear that happened... thats a lot of $$ fried. Thats a lesson I learned from others mistakes years back. The only issue with these is they are a little too far above the water with the wave going etc.. so I get that sound from them. No real spray or anything like that... just a sound of running water when the wave goes down. Its the sound that is annoying... there isn't a risk of spraying equipment etc.
