JRaquatics
New member
Wow you did get a killer deal. Did you deal with the manufacturer direct, supply house or through a LFS?
DaveJ's 300G Build
- Thread starter DaveJ
- Start date
I ment how did you adjust the standpipes?
My CL return will be on the same end but on the opposite side of the overflows, and the supply will be run along the bottom of the tank with 6 outlets in the rockwork, down the length of tank.
My anti-siphon hole is pointed down, BUT when it got a bit of crap in it, it started spraying more horizontal into the side of the overflow box, which then bounched up....yes very expensive problem, but that tank is over 20 years old and so rigged together Im amazed its still standing holding water at all.
Looks like your connections are as good as mine for the price. But they gyped me out of the overflow kits
My CL return will be on the same end but on the opposite side of the overflows, and the supply will be run along the bottom of the tank with 6 outlets in the rockwork, down the length of tank.
My anti-siphon hole is pointed down, BUT when it got a bit of crap in it, it started spraying more horizontal into the side of the overflow box, which then bounched up....yes very expensive problem, but that tank is over 20 years old and so rigged together Im amazed its still standing holding water at all.
Looks like your connections are as good as mine for the price. But they gyped me out of the overflow kits
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15005468#post15005468 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EnderG60
I ment how did you adjust the standpipes?
My CL return will be on the same end but on the opposite side of the overflows, and the supply will be run along the bottom of the tank with 6 outlets in the rockwork, down the length of tank.
My anti-siphon hole is pointed down, BUT when it got a bit of crap in it, it started spraying more horizontal into the side of the overflow box, which then bounched up....yes very expensive problem, but that tank is over 20 years old and so rigged together Im amazed its still standing holding water at all.
Looks like your connections are as good as mine for the price. But they gyped me out of the overflow kits
I lowered them so the hole was below the level of the slot holes in the box. At that level there is always water above the hole when running normally.. and when the wave hits it, it goes above it and brings it to the same level that way there is no open air around the hole unless the pump is shut off.
Thanks... current list is...
1 5" Dejardini Sailfin
1 7" Purple Tang
1 2" Sri Lankin Fairy Wrasse
1 3" CBB Butterfly
1 4" Lawnmower Blenny
1 4" Coral Beauty
1 5" Pink Spot Watchman Goby
1 Pair of mated ORA Black and White Clowns
1 5" Blue Throat Trigger
Soon to be added from my LPS Tank
1 6" Sohal Tang
Future Add List (as of now)
Mystery Wrasse
Achilles Tang
Lyretail Anthias 1 male and 6-7 females
I may add a couple of other smaller fish, such as wrasses or Mandarin down the road.
how big is your overflow box? Im looking at mine now and there is just barely enough room on one side to fit the wavebox, and the CL return on the other side.
Im wondering if its even possible to make the box any smaller thanks to how they drilled the holes for the drain/return.
Im wondering if its even possible to make the box any smaller thanks to how they drilled the holes for the drain/return.
Hi Ender.....
The box itself is 7 x 14 give or take a 1/2". The box actually contains two compartments that are 7 by 6.5 each with a pair of 1" overflow/returns drilled. Its fairly tight inside, but I didn't have any difficulty installing anything. It made the plumbing underneath a little challenge, but was pretty straight forward.
I have about 10 - 11" on each side of the box, plenty of room for a wavebox and powerheads etc.
Not at all... I stole some of them from another build myself
I had the sump made by triggersystems. http://www.triggersys.com/
A little historical catchup....
Here is the installation of the Tunze Osmolator. I purchased some Tunze Magnets as well for easier mounting and adjustment. I went with the Tunze product instead of using the JBJ unit I have on my tank now for added security since I am dealing with a greater volume of water. The product is probably the best ATO on the market, coming with a photo sensor for the water level, built in time-out (10 mins standard) and a backup float valve that shuts everything down when tripped and sends off an audible alarm if the photo sensor fails for some reason. The pump that comes with it is a pretty good flow rate pump, it pumped about 3G of water in 5 or so minutes when I set it up tonight. The pump is rated for 9ft, so placement of the RO holding tank may take some adjustment, but that will be taken care of when everything is re-arranged etc when the 140 is removed.
Unopened Box
All the stuff that came with it.
One gripe about the instructions on this thing, the power line to the pump needs to be assembled. Its got colored wires like everything else, but nowhere in the manual does it say which wire goes where. Turns out, via a search on RC, that it doesn't matter which wire goes where, but at least the instructions should say that!!!
Here is the Tunze Magnet. This is a standard Mag that comes on most of the Nano Streams, but has a couple of additional parts with it that make it usable for this kit, namely the screws and holes for them.
After reading the manual twice and a bit of trial and error, I got the assembly of the mounting bracket and magnet all set. The photo sensor goes on the bottom, with the float switch (backup emergency stop) sets about 4 or 5" above that and then the whole bracket is secured to the magnet with the nylon screws included with the Magnet itself. Took about 10 mins to get that all straight.
Here it is set into the sump in the return section. The nice thing about the magnet is you can move it up and down easily and its a strong connection on the side of the sump without any clips that can break or any glue needed.
You can see the low water level in the return section, it took about 5 minutes to fill it up the bottom of the bracket and the photo sensor worked like a charm. I'll still be keeping only 5g of water in the bucket for now, just to make sure and to test it over a few weeks before I run it with a larger container.
Here is the installation of the Tunze Osmolator. I purchased some Tunze Magnets as well for easier mounting and adjustment. I went with the Tunze product instead of using the JBJ unit I have on my tank now for added security since I am dealing with a greater volume of water. The product is probably the best ATO on the market, coming with a photo sensor for the water level, built in time-out (10 mins standard) and a backup float valve that shuts everything down when tripped and sends off an audible alarm if the photo sensor fails for some reason. The pump that comes with it is a pretty good flow rate pump, it pumped about 3G of water in 5 or so minutes when I set it up tonight. The pump is rated for 9ft, so placement of the RO holding tank may take some adjustment, but that will be taken care of when everything is re-arranged etc when the 140 is removed.
Unopened Box
All the stuff that came with it.
One gripe about the instructions on this thing, the power line to the pump needs to be assembled. Its got colored wires like everything else, but nowhere in the manual does it say which wire goes where. Turns out, via a search on RC, that it doesn't matter which wire goes where, but at least the instructions should say that!!!
Here is the Tunze Magnet. This is a standard Mag that comes on most of the Nano Streams, but has a couple of additional parts with it that make it usable for this kit, namely the screws and holes for them.
After reading the manual twice and a bit of trial and error, I got the assembly of the mounting bracket and magnet all set. The photo sensor goes on the bottom, with the float switch (backup emergency stop) sets about 4 or 5" above that and then the whole bracket is secured to the magnet with the nylon screws included with the Magnet itself. Took about 10 mins to get that all straight.
Here it is set into the sump in the return section. The nice thing about the magnet is you can move it up and down easily and its a strong connection on the side of the sump without any clips that can break or any glue needed.
You can see the low water level in the return section, it took about 5 minutes to fill it up the bottom of the bracket and the photo sensor worked like a charm. I'll still be keeping only 5g of water in the bucket for now, just to make sure and to test it over a few weeks before I run it with a larger container.
A major step towards completion is underway...
This time my 65G Frag Tank went into the garage for a temporary stay. Plan is to replumb everything this weekend and reconnect it. That room looks much bigger now!!!
Here is a visual of how I do my water changes on my system. I simply attach a hose to the spigot on the sump and then drain it out the front door. I then take the end outside, hook it up to the output on the tanks in the garage and pump new water into the sump. That will be plumbed this weekend, so all I will need to do after that is done is turn a valve and fill it up that way.
This time my 65G Frag Tank went into the garage for a temporary stay. Plan is to replumb everything this weekend and reconnect it. That room looks much bigger now!!!
Here is a visual of how I do my water changes on my system. I simply attach a hose to the spigot on the sump and then drain it out the front door. I then take the end outside, hook it up to the output on the tanks in the garage and pump new water into the sump. That will be plumbed this weekend, so all I will need to do after that is done is turn a valve and fill it up that way.
BigTuna321
New member
VERY NICE FRAGS DAVE :thumbsup:
BigTuna321
New member
VERY NICE FRAGS DAVE :thumbsup:
Made some big progress today courtesy of a local reefer who is a plumber. He was kind enough to offer up his services for plumbing and we got the vast majority of the complex plumbing completed today.
Today's plumbing included running the return to the remote equipment. This includes the frag tank (65G) that we re-plumbed now that the floor is finished. It also included the equipment area in the utility room for the chiller, the refuge and the media reactor setup.
Here is the drain line bringing all the plumbing back from the remote equipment into the sump.
Eric had a good suggestion of running the lines through the wall behind the 300 stand into the pantry, then into the utility room. We then came back through the wall behind the frag tank itself. This eliminated any visible plumbing into the room itself. We will patch the old access hole and texture/paint it so the wall looks as good as new next time around.
Return/Drain coming going into the Pantry.
Drain and Return for the Frag Tank hidden by the stand/tank itself.
Look Ma! No more PVC showing.... hole will be fixed.
Shelf in the Pantry... eaten up by the plumbing. But a single guy doesn't need pantry space
Here is the new plumbing where the old sump was. These lines include the return feed and the drain, along with the inlets/outlets for all the media reactors. Each of these has valves to shut off the reactors for maintenance. The trick on this setup was the drain line. Because the drain is gravity drain, the flow will push the water through the reactors and up into the drain above. Due to the 90 use to connect it to the drain itself, when the flow is shut off with the valves on the right, the drain will not backflow. We tested this out by opening the drains and sure enough, not a drop despite the entire thing running.
Here is the chiller. Given the temp I keep the house, Frank and I figured the existing chiller will be enough to keep the system in check. I will monitor it over the summer, but this chiller didn't run much at all before so I don't think it will have a problem even though its technically a size too small. Already it took the entire system down 2 degrees after having the house open and warmer add-on water put into the system.
Another feature of the new plumbing is going to be inline probes. Using the T's you see here, I will use compression fittings to insert the pH and ORP probe into the plumbing line. This will give a better and more accurate reading real time and eliminate the probes from the sump entirely. It will be much cleaner. The fittings are on order, so they will be installed once they get here, for now we just plugged the openings with screw plugs.
Today's plumbing included running the return to the remote equipment. This includes the frag tank (65G) that we re-plumbed now that the floor is finished. It also included the equipment area in the utility room for the chiller, the refuge and the media reactor setup.
Here is the drain line bringing all the plumbing back from the remote equipment into the sump.
Eric had a good suggestion of running the lines through the wall behind the 300 stand into the pantry, then into the utility room. We then came back through the wall behind the frag tank itself. This eliminated any visible plumbing into the room itself. We will patch the old access hole and texture/paint it so the wall looks as good as new next time around.
Return/Drain coming going into the Pantry.
Drain and Return for the Frag Tank hidden by the stand/tank itself.
Look Ma! No more PVC showing.... hole will be fixed.
Shelf in the Pantry... eaten up by the plumbing. But a single guy doesn't need pantry space
Here is the new plumbing where the old sump was. These lines include the return feed and the drain, along with the inlets/outlets for all the media reactors. Each of these has valves to shut off the reactors for maintenance. The trick on this setup was the drain line. Because the drain is gravity drain, the flow will push the water through the reactors and up into the drain above. Due to the 90 use to connect it to the drain itself, when the flow is shut off with the valves on the right, the drain will not backflow. We tested this out by opening the drains and sure enough, not a drop despite the entire thing running.
Here is the chiller. Given the temp I keep the house, Frank and I figured the existing chiller will be enough to keep the system in check. I will monitor it over the summer, but this chiller didn't run much at all before so I don't think it will have a problem even though its technically a size too small. Already it took the entire system down 2 degrees after having the house open and warmer add-on water put into the system.
Another feature of the new plumbing is going to be inline probes. Using the T's you see here, I will use compression fittings to insert the pH and ORP probe into the plumbing line. This will give a better and more accurate reading real time and eliminate the probes from the sump entirely. It will be much cleaner. The fittings are on order, so they will be installed once they get here, for now we just plugged the openings with screw plugs.
Well there was a bit of progress made over the weekend. My friend Hank finished up the shell for the side cabinet. This sits against the wall and butts up to the tank itself. The design wad done so it slipped in under the canopy and the bottom skirt will overlap it on the bottom. Again, the doors are not completed yet, but this is the main structure and the neat part, the control panel. The control panel is a door with slits/slats cut into it to provide mounting for various controllers and 2 DJ strips. I got most of the wiring transferred today, but it still needs some clean-up. I wanted to get everything in there and its not as a tangled mess as it seems in the photo, most of that stuff is just laying on top of each other. I will zip-tie much of it off tomorrow when I put the DC8's and DC4 up in there.
Control Panel from the front...
From the side (see how it butts up to the tank)
Backside next to the frag tank..
And the mess of cords that will be neatly wrapped up. You can also see the inside panel that I velcro mounted the vortec controllers to. The spaces on either side of that panel allow access to the vortecs, tunze and wavebox etc right on the glass.
Control Panel from the front...
From the side (see how it butts up to the tank)
Backside next to the frag tank..
And the mess of cords that will be neatly wrapped up. You can also see the inside panel that I velcro mounted the vortec controllers to. The spaces on either side of that panel allow access to the vortecs, tunze and wavebox etc right on the glass.
I also need to update the Stocking List....
1 5" Dejardini Sailfin
1 7" Purple Tang
1 2" Sri Lankin Fairy Wrasse
1 3" CBB Butterfly
1 4" Lawnmower Blenny
1 4" Coral Beauty
1 5" Pink Spot Watchman Goby
1 Pair of mated ORA Black and White Clowns
1 5" Blue Throat Trigger
1 3" Male Lyretail Anthias
6 2" Female Lyretail Anthias
1 3" Male McCoskers Wrasse
The Sri Lankin Fairy Wrasse and the McCoskers don't really get along too well, as the McCoskers hides most of the time, but he seems to be doing fine and eating. He's been making appearances more the last few days since I added the Anthias to the tank.
What I didn't count on was after adding the Anthias, my Blue Throat was chasing them around. Nothing serious, just bursts at them but he did butt into the glass when one juked and made a nice thunk/clink sound. I guess his teeth hit the glass They seemed to have worked it out now though as the Anthias swim all around and the Trigger doesn't even look at them anymore.
1 5" Dejardini Sailfin
1 7" Purple Tang
1 2" Sri Lankin Fairy Wrasse
1 3" CBB Butterfly
1 4" Lawnmower Blenny
1 4" Coral Beauty
1 5" Pink Spot Watchman Goby
1 Pair of mated ORA Black and White Clowns
1 5" Blue Throat Trigger
1 3" Male Lyretail Anthias
6 2" Female Lyretail Anthias
1 3" Male McCoskers Wrasse
The Sri Lankin Fairy Wrasse and the McCoskers don't really get along too well, as the McCoskers hides most of the time, but he seems to be doing fine and eating. He's been making appearances more the last few days since I added the Anthias to the tank.
What I didn't count on was after adding the Anthias, my Blue Throat was chasing them around. Nothing serious, just bursts at them but he did butt into the glass when one juked and made a nice thunk/clink sound. I guess his teeth hit the glass
They seemed to have worked it out now though as the Anthias swim all around and the Trigger doesn't even look at them anymore.
Thanks, it definitely has some movement and color! Hopefully everything will play nice with one another moving forward. I see no real aggression going on, just your normal stuff you see with tangs, some rushing an occasional tail flare but nothing worth noting really. I DO wish my McCoskers would settle in, but so long as he is alive and eating, I guess that is all I can ask for for now.
Onto today's update....
Got my media reactors up.. carbon had been running awhile, but in the sump. I hooked them up the manifold in the utility room tonight. Unfortunately I had to redo some of the plumbing... I made a mistake when picking out the barb fittings and I wanted 1/2 ID and ended up with 5/8 ID. A quick trip to Lowes and some new barb inserts, a bit of teflon tape and a pair of pliers and were in business.
This is running about 6 cups or so of Carbon and 3 cups of GFO pellets. I may switch to the high capacity when I run out, which won't be for awhile.
For those doing the math on their own GFO from BRS, they recommend 2 grams per gallon. I estimate 400g on the low side for water volume, so that equated to 800g, which converts to 5g per teaspoon which converts into 160 teaspoons or 3.333 cups
So I measured out 3 cups, again going to the low side.I adjusted the flow in the reactors, so the carbon is running pretty at a pretty good rate and the GFO is barely tumbling in the reactor itself.
And some new additions, along with some tank shots.
Here are some additional shots of some new corals and a few FTS's....
New Lobo via Franks Tanks of FW
New Lobo via Franks Tanks of FW
New Acro via Franks Tanks of FW
FTS from the side
FTS from the front/left looking to the back
FTS from the front/right looking to the back
Here are some additional shots of some new corals and a few FTS's....
New Lobo via Franks Tanks of FW
New Lobo via Franks Tanks of FW
New Acro via Franks Tanks of FW
FTS from the side
FTS from the front/left looking to the back
FTS from the front/right looking to the back
