"I Want a Divorce.....I Want a Reef"

Honestly, I think Im gonna go a little Old School. I think Im going to cut pvc pipe and use it as a stand, then egg crate wrapped in mesh. Then course sand like a "crushed coral" with finer sand on top. It will be a plenum of sorts. I may even leave a pipe up through the sand to the void under it, and push water through it. This way water is being reverse flowed through the sand bed. Im still in the planning stages of that aspect, and still doing some research on it. I think DSBs work great to help with excess nutrients. Its just when it gets full you have a problem.
isn't the purpose of a deep sand bed to create an area that is for anaerobic bacteria to consume the nitrates and if you do a reverse flow then aren't you defeating the purpose of a deep sand bed?. How about going with an algae turf scrubber? I tried a deep sand bed on a 180 gallon. Didn't have any luck with it maybe I did something wrong.
 
I don't understand pushing water through the plenum. That would totally destroy the plenum's ability to process nitrates. All you'd have left is a swimming pool-style sand filter.

I think there has been enough negative experiences with DSBs to warn you off them by now. They work great as anaerobic denitrators as long as you maintain sufficient water flow over the top of them, but they turn toxic and die if the water flow fails for more than a few hours - just too dangerous for my liking.

Dave.M
 
Some guys go out and buy a sports car after getting a divorce. ( points finger at self ) You get a fish tank? I wouldn't go spreading that around to the ladies :spin3:

Just joking :spin1: The build looks awesome! Subscribed!
 
I don't understand pushing water through the plenum. That would totally destroy the plenum's ability to process nitrates. All you'd have left is a swimming pool-style sand filter.

I think there has been enough negative experiences with DSBs to warn you off them by now. They work great as anaerobic denitrators as long as you maintain sufficient water flow over the top of them, but they turn toxic and die if the water flow fails for more than a few hours - just too dangerous for my liking.

Dave.M
I agree about the plenum. The whole purpose for incorporating one alla Jaubert, is to provide the anaerobic zone. I ran one for many years and it did what it was supposed to do. As for the DSB, there are some moments when I feel maybe I shouldn't have gone that route, but it's working. Our power lines are below ground and I do have backup, but I guess I'd worry if power was lost while I was away. I don't think I could expect someone left minding the tank to have the ability to handle such a situation.
 
Handsome boys ..... nice tank too. My sons, about the same age as yours, were totally psyched to get a big tank ..... for about a month. Fortunately I got it for me so no biggie. Good luck with the build.
 
Some guys go out and buy a sports car after getting a divorce. ( points finger at self ) You get a fish tank? I wouldn't go spreading that around to the ladies :spin3:

Just joking :spin1: The build looks awesome! Subscribed!

Well, some guys have to compensate with a fancy car to impress the ladies....I have my good lucks and my charm. :spin3:


Wow you guys are sharp. Unfortunately, sharper then me. I meant it was going to be or a reverse flow through the sand bed. Almost like a reverse under gravel filter. Im just tossing ideas out, and see who has the highest disdain for any of them. :celeb1:
 
Handsome boys ..... nice tank too. My sons, about the same age as yours, were totally psyched to get a big tank ..... for about a month. Fortunately I got it for me so no biggie. Good luck with the build.

Thanks. Im proud of my boys. My oldest son is excited about it. He's autistic so he's a little more focused then most. My youngest he thinks its cool for a little bit, then he moves on.
 
I did. I don't have much to update with though. Dad has been in the hospital for congested heart failure, and so Ive been spending some time with him. I haven't purchased anything because Im recouperating from my 2 week vacation as well that I took. So I get to sit and stare at this beauty empty, when Im home. Next week though when I get paid I will probably be getting one of my 300 gallon stock tanks. Im going to get it going and get this pukani rock I have in it. Im gonna start leaching out the phosphates and hopefully get some coralline growing on it.

But heres a pic of the beast in the house :)

<a href="http://s189.photobucket.com/user/Newmariner/media/478g%20Reef/photo10.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z243/Newmariner/478g%20Reef/photo10.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo photo10.jpg"/></a>

Actually maybe some of you will be able to help with the "blue tank" in the bottom of the pic. I have 3 of these tanks. The idea is that these will be quarantine tanks/breeding tanks(they will become breeding tanks once Im done adding fish). Im going to have a drain come down from the overflow in the back to fill up the QT tanks, but I haven't figured out how I am going to plumb it into the drain. To the right of a tank is a wall that separates the garage with the living area. The plan is to go through that wall to the other side and plumb the sump and refugium, but also to the drain out there for the water heater. This will give me an automatic drain. The problem is, I need the drain leaving the tank to be about 3 feet up off the ground to miss the "water heater stand". Obviously that 3 feet is taller then where those QT tanks sit, so how does one make water go uphill without a pump?
 
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Its been awhile since Ive posted.... Ive had some health issues going on preventing me from working/updating on my tank.

Tuesday, I will have my skimmer arrive. Its an SRO 8000EXT. Fedex Freight says its 150lbs :hmm4: Im hoping its 100lbs worth of crate to protect it....otherwise, its a very large skimmer.

So since it will finally arrive, I can finally start figuring out all the plumbing. The project has expanded a little bit since my last update. Im going to being plumbing in a 140g FOWLR, 110g tank, and of course the 478g. Ive got the two 300g stock tanks in the garage, with 1 tank full of liverock. Im hoping by mid february, I will be able to christen this tank with water! Stay tuned....
 
WOW that is going to make my current build look like a betta cup you win at the fair.

Subscribed

Yes, and my build is considered a betta cup compared to Bill Wann's tank. LOL. Theres an old saying around here, "Go Big, or Go Home". Ive gone about as big as I can go.
 
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Glad you are feeling better! Mid February seems quite aggressive. Hopefully that means lots of picture updates for us!
 
Glad to see you are moving forward.

With all that water in your house, you'll have half the water supply of Lubbock to yourself. :dance:
 
Glad you are feeling better! Mid February seems quite aggressive. Hopefully that means lots of picture updates for us!

Me too....I was having such bad abdominal pain I couldn't move. It was crippling. I was taking high levels of hydrocodone that wouldn't even touch the pain. Ive been diagnosed with Autoimmune Pancreatitis. They said Im one of few patients who get diagnosed with this because most everyone has damage to their pancreas due to drinking alcohol. I don't drink so for them it was an "easy" diagnosis.

Once I get my skimmer, I will get some pics of what Im working with....Tuesday is like Christmas all over again.
Glad to see you are moving forward.

With all that water in your house, you'll have half the water supply of Lubbock to yourself. :dance:

Heh, I was kind of worried about what they would say when we were under stage 2 water restrictions. I was very thankful when it started to rain so they would "fine" me for using more water filling all of this up...
 
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