Lightsluvr's 340G Upgrade

LL, I have enjoyed your thread over the last few days and am glad to say I am finally caught up. You've dont some very nice work on the tank, and I see a few ideas I may have to pilfer. The water change setup to be exact, is quite nice. I'm going to have to start checking out edandsandy(doing that from memory, hopefully its right) build thread as well. Your system is much larger then mine will be, but the fish room caught most of my attention.
 
Ruskin,

Borrow away - that's what I did. I was smart enough to begin studying the fantatsic threads on this forum when I realized the fish tank was going to be a reality...

Be sure to ask any questions you have. If you need close-up photos of anything, I will be happy to oblige.

Good luck!

LL
 
Thanks for the offer, I'm sure i'll take you up on it when I start my build in the new year. I enjoy checking out the build threads as well, plently of great ideas if you spend the time to look through them. I spend more time in the Large Reef Tank section then I should :P, but its the best place to find peoples fish room ideas, which I plan to have on my smaller scale tank.

Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the offer, I'm sure i'll take you up on it when I start my build in the new year. I enjoy checking out the build threads as well, plently of great ideas if you spend the time to look through them. I spend more time in the Large Reef Tank section then I should :P, but its the best place to find peoples fish room ideas, which I plan to have on my smaller scale tank.

Thanks again.

Good luck with your build. We'll look forward to reading your build thread someday soon. :bounce1:

LL
 
So are you going to upgrade your skimmer or just replace with new bigger and better skimmer

I have been studying the very fine LifeReef VS3-72, but I think it would be too difficult to modify my plumbing system to work with the LR.

Therefore, I think I am going to upgrade with the Orca 250 ProKit from Reef Specialty, especially if they offer the modified needle wheel for my optional Baldor pump.

I will update the thread and document any upgrade, with photos and narrative.

LL
 
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Here are the instructions on replacing the needle wheel from the Reef Specialty web site. It looks pretty straightforward...the most difficult thing might be step one, "Drain the skimmer" :beer:

http://www.reefspecialty.com/Protei...-Specialty-Orca-Needlewheel/product_info.html

LL
it looks like the new needle wheel will make a pretty good improvement with longer needles on the outside and more needles to it looks like that should really slice up those bubbles
keep us posted for sure
 
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it looks like the new needle wheel will make a pretty good improvement with longer needles on the outside and more needles to it looks like that should really slice up those bubbles
keep us posted for sure

That's what I am thinking. I hope for an e-mail response from Reef Specialty tomorrow about some questions I had... then we'll make the order if both parts of the Orca 250 ProKit are still available.

LL
 
hay i just wanted to say thanks for the water container pics again it really helped me out to do mine!
i didnt have the money i ran out doing all my dosing pumps and getting extra buckets of salt so i was only able to get one and i had my old MAG18 laying around not always in use it runs fairly well at this.

i wanted the 100 gallon but i got this and i have to say i like it its really buff!
anyways ive been upgrading to make this system more automated because in jan. i will be gone for 18 weeks getting my schooling for structural and pipe fitting welding and will only be home during the weekends.

i do have my girlfriend here but she knows very little about this hobby even though she really likes it and is all for what i want to do with my tank in the future" i was going to go with a 220 but now im thinking a 240 long" and even as im upgrading now THATS A BIG PLUS+++++! i will just have her keep an eye on temps water levels incase my float valve fails and to feed them while im gone.
so when im home during the weekend and i know i need to do a water change next week i just get it all going before i leave and let it mix and come up to temp until i get home the next weekend and all i have to do is get soem old water out and just plug in the pump and turn some ball valves!!:lol2:
there i go rambling again lol
anyways i have everything on unions so it can all come apart because i also us this pump for " very quickly"!!! pulling out water from the sump when i do water changes the sump isnt drilled and i us tubbing connected to pvc and a couple of ball valves and i connect the outlet to a union and pvc runs straight to my drain VERY SWEET!:thumbsup:

i promise i will be quite now and i know it isnt near as nice as yours or others ive seen on this site but here you go
yes this is a very unfinished basement "for now"
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Jim,

Sounds like you have a plan... In your recent thread, I saw your inquiry about window AC units in equipment rooms. Since your sump is located in your basement, does that room stay naturally cool? You might be able just use fans on the surface of your sump(s) instead of a big chiller.

In addition to temperature, you have to consider humidity in your planning. I took Melev's advice and put a pair of vent fans above the tank, just to exhaust warm humid air above my T5 lighting. In hindsight, I wish I had gone with larger capacity units. My equipment room already had a PTAC which also removes humidity in both the AC and heat modes.

LL
 
well it does stay pretty cool down stairs the thing is when i enclose the tank upstairs it will not have a hole lot of room after the tanks set and the new walls are up and i was going to put in some ventilation as well:thumbsup:
but since the DT room would be enclosed from the rest of the house i thought that a AC unit would keep the water cooler and i wouldnt need a chiller with all the watts of power i will be putting though the light setup
here is alittle bit of my plans at least you can see what i am going to do
it will be in my dinning room
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