Los' 360 reef CAD plans and setup
- Thread starter Los
- Start date
Los
New member
Thanks, Untamed. I took a lot of inspiration from your set up.
Thank you!
Thank you, Dudester. As Nick mentioned, they are connected with true unions, so we can pull them out. That said, I didn't realize they took a lot of maintenance. Reading up on it, it does look like cleaning out the occasional piece of sand is necessary. Thanks for the heads up.
Untamed12
New member
When I first started, I had to dismantle and un-stick the OM-4ways weekly. That lasted for about 2 months. It has now been maybe 15 months since I've had to deal with one.
My sand bed has settled, and the drums have worn in so they seem less inclined to get stuck. At this point, they seem maintenance free.
My sand bed has settled, and the drums have worn in so they seem less inclined to get stuck. At this point, they seem maintenance free.
Dudester
Premium Member
My experience with the 4-way is identical to Untamed. You can expect to have to clean it out in the beginning, but it will improve. A potential way to avoid getting sand in the drum is to dial the pump WAY DOWN in the beginning, and don't even plug the 4-way in so that it doesn't rotate. As the sand bed acquires its bacterial film, you can gradually dial up the flow through the 4-ways until they are where you want them. This will reduce the sand storm and will help to prevent sand from jamming the drum. At that point, go ahead and plug in the 4-way so the drum rotates, and again reduce the flow through the CL. Gradually dial up the flow until you're at your desired level, all the while preventing a sand storm. It will take some time to get there, but trust me, it's much better than frequent jams!
Los
New member
Thanks, Ryan. I hope your Korallin is up and running well. I LOVE the plugging system. I've been moving frags and colonies around at will and it works great.
I know I'm past due on an update and I'm *this* close to having my fish room integrated into the main display. I'm in Hong Kong this week and China next week, but when I get back I'll be sure to post a more thorough update. For now, my corals are thriving and I'm in the process of setting up an AquaController III Pro. It's already monitoring my tank, but I'm really looking forward to it controlling my systems. Pics to follow in a couple weeks when I'm back.
Cheers!
I know I'm past due on an update and I'm *this* close to having my fish room integrated into the main display. I'm in Hong Kong this week and China next week, but when I get back I'll be sure to post a more thorough update. For now, my corals are thriving and I'm in the process of setting up an AquaController III Pro. It's already monitoring my tank, but I'm really looking forward to it controlling my systems. Pics to follow in a couple weeks when I'm back.
Cheers!
Zach.Attack6
New member
Just read the whole thread tank is awsome and can't wait to see fish room, keep the pics coming, And that camera set up is awsome:thumbsup:
Los
New member
Thank you so much, Zach. I appreciate your kind words. It will be a few weeks before I get some more pictures posted, including the fish room. This project is pushing a year now! The camera is set up so that I can access it remotely. I'll open it up for people to look at as soon as I take the time to enable some of the security features (like not allowing viewing during the night and limiting the viewing angles to certain boundaries) so that RCers don't get to see my Dutch wife in her undies 
The security features are built into the camera and it's pretty easy to do, but right now I'm trying to get a few other things done before I leave on a trip to Brazil.
The ACIII Pro is also web enabled and it emails me the temp, pH, ORP, and conductivity (salinity) every hour. Between that, the camera, and Nick stopping by while I'm gone I feel pretty safe going on trips.
Cheers!
The security features are built into the camera and it's pretty easy to do, but right now I'm trying to get a few other things done before I leave on a trip to Brazil. The ACIII Pro is also web enabled and it emails me the temp, pH, ORP, and conductivity (salinity) every hour. Between that, the camera, and Nick stopping by while I'm gone I feel pretty safe going on trips.
Cheers!
Los
New member
Thanks, JCurry. My little girl is by far the best thing I've ever done. She's definitely slowed down my tank progress, but that's a small price to pay
The fish room is probably 50% finished. The room is set up, the chiller is connected, and I should have a Sfiligoi mounted over the frag tank tomorrow. It is running inline with the rest of the system as of a week ago and so far so good. If I get the rest of my stuff done tomorrow, I'll take and post some pics.
BTW, I see you are in Annapolis. Next time you go to Ocean City, I'm only a few minutes off of 50 in Salisbury. I'd be happy to show you the fish room and main display.
Los
New member
February Update
February Update
Today I hooked up my light downstairs in the fish room and hooked up my upstairs lights to the ACIII Pro. There's still a lot of work to do, so please excuse the mess, but I wanted to share my progress.
A few pictures:
This is the left side of the tank (front view):
And the right side of the tank (front view):
I have a couple towers in the middle:
Side view:
More to come...
February Update
Today I hooked up my light downstairs in the fish room and hooked up my upstairs lights to the ACIII Pro. There's still a lot of work to do, so please excuse the mess, but I wanted to share my progress.
A few pictures:
This is the left side of the tank (front view):
And the right side of the tank (front view):
I have a couple towers in the middle:
Side view:
More to come...
Los
New member
This is the back of the tank, visible when you walk in our front door:
This is the far right side of the back view, which was cut off from the previous pic:
This is the back side of the towers in the middle:
And I have some tonga plates (I know they are called something else, but can't recall the name right now):
I mounted my euphyllias to the plate so that they wouldn't sting my acros.
As requested, I'll post some pictures of the fish room next...
This is the far right side of the back view, which was cut off from the previous pic:
This is the back side of the towers in the middle:
And I have some tonga plates (I know they are called something else, but can't recall the name right now):
I mounted my euphyllias to the plate so that they wouldn't sting my acros.
As requested, I'll post some pictures of the fish room next...
Los
New member
Fish room
The fish room is downstairs and about 10 meters horizontally from the main display. Since I was remodeling when I installed the tank, it was easy to run 4x2" pipes through my floor
This is the view when you first walk in (again, please excuse the mess):
As you turn to the right:
Here's a close up of the frag tank. It's 40" x 30" x ??" high (can't remember, off hand)
To the right of the frag tank, I have two 55 gallon water storage containers. These things rock. One is inline and some of the water coming from upstairs goes through the inline tank and from there to my sump. The container to the right of that one is hooked up to the RODI unit and is always filled with RO water. There is a Mag 9.5 hooked up to both and the plumbing is such that when I want to do a water change, I turn a valve to divert the tank water into the frag tank, thus taking the inline tank offline. I then turn another valve and turn the Mag 9.5 on and it drains the water in that tank into the sewer system. I then turn two more valves and the same pump takes water from the RO storage tank and dumps it into the inline tank. When it's full, I turn one of those valves back and it creates a loop which takes water from the bottom of the inline tank and dumps it into the top of the inline tank. I then add one full bag of salt, let it mix, and then turn the valve which was diverting water from the frag tank back to the inline tank.
I know that just sounded complicated, but trust me - this is WAY easier than using garbage cans for water changes. When I want to do a water change, it takes maybe 5 minutes at most. I then grab a beer, let the salt mix for a while, and then I bring it back online. This was Nick's idea and it's my favorite part of the system. Anyway, here are the two tanks:
To the right of the tanks is the Barracuda which brings the water back up to the display tank. The Mag 9.5 is back there too and to the right of the pumps (not pictured) is my RODI system. Sorry, but the picture is sideways:
Under the frag tank is the second sump. I forget the dimensions, but I believe it's around 160 gallons or so:
A few more pics to go...
The fish room is downstairs and about 10 meters horizontally from the main display. Since I was remodeling when I installed the tank, it was easy to run 4x2" pipes through my floor
This is the view when you first walk in (again, please excuse the mess):
As you turn to the right:
Here's a close up of the frag tank. It's 40" x 30" x ??" high (can't remember, off hand)
To the right of the frag tank, I have two 55 gallon water storage containers. These things rock. One is inline and some of the water coming from upstairs goes through the inline tank and from there to my sump. The container to the right of that one is hooked up to the RODI unit and is always filled with RO water. There is a Mag 9.5 hooked up to both and the plumbing is such that when I want to do a water change, I turn a valve to divert the tank water into the frag tank, thus taking the inline tank offline. I then turn another valve and turn the Mag 9.5 on and it drains the water in that tank into the sewer system. I then turn two more valves and the same pump takes water from the RO storage tank and dumps it into the inline tank. When it's full, I turn one of those valves back and it creates a loop which takes water from the bottom of the inline tank and dumps it into the top of the inline tank. I then add one full bag of salt, let it mix, and then turn the valve which was diverting water from the frag tank back to the inline tank.
I know that just sounded complicated, but trust me - this is WAY easier than using garbage cans for water changes. When I want to do a water change, it takes maybe 5 minutes at most. I then grab a beer, let the salt mix for a while, and then I bring it back online. This was Nick's idea and it's my favorite part of the system. Anyway, here are the two tanks:
To the right of the tanks is the Barracuda which brings the water back up to the display tank. The Mag 9.5 is back there too and to the right of the pumps (not pictured) is my RODI system. Sorry, but the picture is sideways:
Under the frag tank is the second sump. I forget the dimensions, but I believe it's around 160 gallons or so:
A few more pics to go...
Los
New member
Here's a not-so-good picture, but it shows how the sump is under the frag tank:
You can't see it, but on the far left side of the sump, there's a bulkhead connected to a Reeflo Snapper. That pumps water from the sump, through the wall, and out to a closet I have outside. It's a pretty big room and in there I put a 1 hp chiller.
The water goes from the chiller room, back into the fish room, and it gets dumped into the frag tank. The frag tank then has some drains which go back to the sump.
Thanks for letting me share my progress on the tank!
Los
You can't see it, but on the far left side of the sump, there's a bulkhead connected to a Reeflo Snapper. That pumps water from the sump, through the wall, and out to a closet I have outside. It's a pretty big room and in there I put a 1 hp chiller.
The water goes from the chiller room, back into the fish room, and it gets dumped into the frag tank. The frag tank then has some drains which go back to the sump.
Thanks for letting me share my progress on the tank!
Los
Los
New member
Thanks, Smovie. It's worked out great. Something I'm not sure if I made clear or not before, but I'll mention it just in case: to get the rods into the rock fragments (the ones I attach the corals to), I drilled a 1/2" or so hole into the rock, added a drop of crazy glue, and then inserted the precut rod. It instantly locks in place and I can then glue a frag to the rock and insert the frag-rock-peg combination into my tank into the pre-drilled holes. It's been working great and I've already had to move a couple of frags, because of growth. This makes it easy as pie. I have a few dozen rock-peg combinations waiting in my sump for the next time I need to attach a frag and I also have another 50 or so of them in my tank occupying most of the holes I pre-drilled in my live rock. That way they don't close up with coraline.
I recently internet enabled both my Canon VB-C50ir camera and the AquaController III Pro. I travel a lot and this arrangement really gives me peace of mind. I was in the Republic of Georgia two weeks ago and I leave in a few days for Brazil. I've set up the ACIII to email me updates every hour and if something looks out of what I can log in with either my phone or a computer and take a look at the tank. The videos and pictures coming out of the VB-C50ir are generally better than the pictures I can take with my regular camera, since I can optically zoom in 26X. These two devices together a nice combination.
