Maroun.c 390 G build thread
- Thread starter maroun.c
- Start date
maroun.c
New member
And plumbing finsihed for the drains:
Returns will be over the top from the right side of the tank and will be made later on.
2 x 1.5" drains (one for backup)
1x 1 inch drain supplying fuge and water change tank.
Side view of the external overflow and plumbing to sump
Stand view
Still have to continue the plumbing to the water change tank when its done.
Returns will be over the top from the right side of the tank and will be made later on.
2 x 1.5" drains (one for backup)
1x 1 inch drain supplying fuge and water change tank.
Side view of the external overflow and plumbing to sump
Stand view
Still have to continue the plumbing to the water change tank when its done.
skidrow52
Premium Member
Will be waiting for your call before you come to Riyadh. How is your old tank doing?
PM sent with the latest video of my tank
PM sent with the latest video of my tank
maroun.c
New member
thats my tank.
It was fixed by doubling the braces.
maroun.c
New member
Will inform you for sure. Thanks for the video link will check it out. Old tank nearly taken down. All the corals are now in my frag tank. Fish rocks and sand will follow soon.
maroun.c
New member
Should be an easy fix. The ceramic epoxy was included with the shipment and looks easy to use with fast curing of 5 min. The rocks are cured as they are heated in an oven in the last production steps. They will leach small amount of phosphates initially so use of GFO is recommended initially. I was considering curing in a separate container but the size will make this difficult so I'll cure in the tank prior to moving livestock and my rocks and sand if time allows then make a small water change and run GFO and carbon. Not expecting a severe algae cycle as I'll be adding my 12 year old live rock from my 150 gallonbut you can never really tell as people using cured LE sometime end with a small or severe cycle.
I'm hoping plumbing won't become a mess when the additional plumbing from and to fishroom is added in a following step.
maroun.c
New member
Time for some updates.
Build is still delayed by some woodwork on the cabinets from the inside that requires being in the tank so filling it is not possible yet. As well as some work on the ceiling with drilling holes for bolts to support the light rack which I still have to finalize as well.
Another DIY was finished and that is the reservoir for water changes. 28x16x23” (70x40x57 cm) holding around 43G (160L) so a bit more than 10% display water volume which will be the weekly or biweekly water to change.
Build is still delayed by some woodwork on the cabinets from the inside that requires being in the tank so filling it is not possible yet. As well as some work on the ceiling with drilling holes for bolts to support the light rack which I still have to finalize as well.
Another DIY was finished and that is the reservoir for water changes. 28x16x23” (70x40x57 cm) holding around 43G (160L) so a bit more than 10% display water volume which will be the weekly or biweekly water to change.
maroun.c
New member
Back to the Ceramics I received a while ago which had a few pieces break in shipping despite the excellent packing the had. Luckily with the amazing support of Suzanne and Wolfgang from Riff Ssytem this was solved. They even took the trouble to check my thread to see if I was able to fix the rocks and sent me emails to make sure all went well.
An important factor was the amazing quality ceramic cement they sent with the shipping which cured in around 5 min and was able to support floating structures in that limited time.
The bridge:
was the mot difficult one to find out where each piece went as there was no clear line of break.
The largest structure had a broken edge and a broken foot. had to support the floating edge for around 7-8 min before I was sure the cement was hard enough to hold it. the foot was an easy fix.
and another broken foot of a smaller rock
Must admit that it gave me a real feel of how hard those structures were to construct...
All fixed
And finally the small ones went for some curing in my to be fish Q tank. Still looking for a container that can fit the large one to cure it in and then can't wait to see how they'll look in my tank.
An important factor was the amazing quality ceramic cement they sent with the shipping which cured in around 5 min and was able to support floating structures in that limited time.
The bridge:
was the mot difficult one to find out where each piece went as there was no clear line of break.
The largest structure had a broken edge and a broken foot. had to support the floating edge for around 7-8 min before I was sure the cement was hard enough to hold it. the foot was an easy fix.
and another broken foot of a smaller rock
Must admit that it gave me a real feel of how hard those structures were to construct...
All fixed
And finally the small ones went for some curing in my to be fish Q tank. Still looking for a container that can fit the large one to cure it in and then can't wait to see how they'll look in my tank.
Can you please elaborate on how the water change system works?
Glad to see you fixed the ceramics. I'm sure these would look amazing and give your tank a very unique look. what is the epoxy you used to fix them with and can you use it for LR? Would be nice to have something that hardens in 5 min... Nice to have good support from the makers.
Glad to see you fixed the ceramics. I'm sure these would look amazing and give your tank a very unique look. what is the epoxy you used to fix them with and can you use it for LR? Would be nice to have something that hardens in 5 min... Nice to have good support from the makers.
maroun.c
New member
One of the drains supplies a line that feeds the 2 fuges on the right as well as the water change tank. when I need to do a water change I justt stop the flow to the water change tank by closing the valve suppling it water will then just drop to the fuges instead (no difference in total flow to fuge as the water cahnge tank drains in them if that has any effects...) so basically now I have 40+ gallons that I can take out without stoping the returnn pump or any filtration in the tank. I can either fill it with RODI and add salt and mix in the waterchange tank or have new saltwater ready in the mixing tank in the basement and pump water to it directly. then just open the valve to restart flow to it and the water change is done without any hoses or buckets... having the drain closeby as well as tubing from the fishroom where the mixing tank will be is also key.
Couple more things:
I still have to verify that detritus should accumulate in the water change tank having the least water turbulence so then agitating it with a pump before drainign the water is good enough. once every few water changes I would stirr up the sand and blow water on the rocks to stirr detritus out and then drain water directly from the tank to avoid having detritus collection there...
If this proves to be too much wasted space or causes detritus collection in the tank due to insufficient syphoning I can always stir the sand and blow on the rocks hoping the strong flow will lead the detritus out till it settles in the water change tank.
worst case scenario i just use it as an additional fuge, introduction tank or an inline frag tank.
I remember that the box of the ceramics cement they sent mentioned it works fine on rocks and ceramics. Still not sure if you can use it underwater as it's just like cement.
Not sure of the name or type of cement but if I remember correctly it was called Ceramics Kleb in german.I can verify that when I fly back home. on Thursday. Yes very satisfied with the friendly customer service I got.
maroun.c
New member
I could automate the change but with my constant traveling I fear there are many aspects that could go wrong lwith teh controlers like the pump draining the WC tank getting stuck and draining more than I want, or the supplying pump dumping water after the drain pump fails to empty water in advance thus causing a flood. Or some mistake and having 40G of fresh water dumped in teh tank if for some reason salt is not added yet... I'd rather have my tank stay for 2-3 weeks without a water change than the risk involved.
As for the ceramics they're not the typical heavy ceramic like tiles are, I would say they're more porous and light weight than LR. They are baked in an oven in the production phase but still manufacturers recommend you cure it for few weeks with some GFO as it seems to leach phosphates initially. fI do run a filter on the water its curing in as it is old tank water which I'm using so basically I'm curing and seeding it at the same time.
As for the ceramics they're not the typical heavy ceramic like tiles are, I would say they're more porous and light weight than LR. They are baked in an oven in the production phase but still manufacturers recommend you cure it for few weeks with some GFO as it seems to leach phosphates initially. fI do run a filter on the water its curing in as it is old tank water which I'm using so basically I'm curing and seeding it at the same time.
marc18wheeler
In Memoriam
very impressed w/ the build... can you explain the sump... what all the sections are for... maybe your already did...but i am in the process of doing my sump and need to decide on a few design ideas... thanks
maroun.c
New member
Thanks Marc,
Heres the plan for the Sump,
in short water drains from the left in the skimmers partition then to return area, some of the water will drain to the left in 2 consecutive fuges (one planned to be cryptic) and then back to the return area. if the cryptic fuge ends up being a detritus trap migh just switch back to a regular fuge...
Heres the plan for the Sump,
in short water drains from the left in the skimmers partition then to return area, some of the water will drain to the left in 2 consecutive fuges (one planned to be cryptic) and then back to the return area. if the cryptic fuge ends up being a detritus trap migh just switch back to a regular fuge...
maroun.c
New member
Couple of weeks ago it was time to break down the 150G in my parents place and move the fish and some of the rocks to my sump...
Was shocked to see the amount of detritus my sand and rocks trapped despite 50x tank volume flow.
Another shock was to not find a single bristleworm or critter in my DSB. Could this be the cause of my nitrates struggle lately? tank was only moved (sand cleaned 1.5 years ago)
Found 1 10 inches long Eunicid (sp?) worm in a big rock which could explain the multiple clams deaths.Decided to wash the sand with freshwater for a clean start in the 390 and placed the LR in a barrel with circulation after washing the rocks with aged tank water.
Was a sad day to take this tank down althouh It only ran since 2008 when I upgraded from my 8 years old 80 G and was moved again in 2009 so never had the chance to really mature.
The Start in 2008:
at its best around Jan 2011:
As of one week ago:
Was shocked to see the amount of detritus my sand and rocks trapped despite 50x tank volume flow.
Another shock was to not find a single bristleworm or critter in my DSB. Could this be the cause of my nitrates struggle lately? tank was only moved (sand cleaned 1.5 years ago)
Found 1 10 inches long Eunicid (sp?) worm in a big rock which could explain the multiple clams deaths.Decided to wash the sand with freshwater for a clean start in the 390 and placed the LR in a barrel with circulation after washing the rocks with aged tank water.
Was a sad day to take this tank down althouh It only ran since 2008 when I upgraded from my 8 years old 80 G and was moved again in 2009 so never had the chance to really mature.
The Start in 2008:
at its best around Jan 2011:
As of one week ago:
maroun.c
New member
Filled up my sump and the Waterchange tank connected to it and placed some LR and a Turbofloater 100multi SL (should be replacing it with my hurricone Cat 1 after it's cleaned) and a Carbon reactor and some pumps for flow.
only 1/3 was new water and used the rest from my frag tank and a friends tank water for more bacteria diversity...
Watching the slow fill gave me nightmares of the the full tank fill to come
And all the fish went in. So far they look fine, had some aggression between the 2 yellow tangs so separated them in two partitions. Should replace them together once I add some more LR.
And a better picture of the plumbing with the Waterchange tank now connected to the sump.
only 1/3 was new water and used the rest from my frag tank and a friends tank water for more bacteria diversity...
Watching the slow fill gave me nightmares of the the full tank fill to come
And all the fish went in. So far they look fine, had some aggression between the 2 yellow tangs so separated them in two partitions. Should replace them together once I add some more LR.
And a better picture of the plumbing with the Waterchange tank now connected to the sump.
