Mike's 300 Double-D
- Thread starter prop-frags
- Start date
firebirdcrzy
New member
Mike this is goint to be one awsome tank. When I do my next upgrade I am going with the 250dd. If I may ask, where did you purchase the tank? Localy or did you order it?
prop-frags
SPS Slave
OK we had a pretty bad issue last night.
The breaker on one of the powerstrips for the 125 tripped during the night...main pump, skimmer, and heaters all knocked off line - not sure how long...worst case 8 hours, best case maybe 4?
Holding tank went to 64 degrees...drastic loss of oxygen.
Most fish were lying on bottom breathing very hard. One confirmed casualty so far - our 8 year old flame angel:
The Regal doesn't look good. Not sure if she's gonna make it.
We did an emergency 20 gallon w/c - that's all we had made up in the vat that was warm and ready to go. Moved over another 5 gallons from the sump. Some fish starting to recover and move around a bit. Corals look rough, but will likely be OK... too soon to know.
The breaker on one of the powerstrips for the 125 tripped during the night...main pump, skimmer, and heaters all knocked off line - not sure how long...worst case 8 hours, best case maybe 4?
Holding tank went to 64 degrees...drastic loss of oxygen.
Most fish were lying on bottom breathing very hard. One confirmed casualty so far - our 8 year old flame angel:
The Regal doesn't look good. Not sure if she's gonna make it.
We did an emergency 20 gallon w/c - that's all we had made up in the vat that was warm and ready to go. Moved over another 5 gallons from the sump. Some fish starting to recover and move around a bit. Corals look rough, but will likely be OK... too soon to know.
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blumoon reefers
New member
Mike, I am so sorry to hear about this. Any idea what tripped the breaker? Are you putting anything in place to prevent this from happening again?
prop-frags
SPS Slave
Thanks for the kind words, everyone.
As of 3pm, with four 300w heaters running, the tank was 77f.
And here's a real happy sight:
Milissa I balanced some of the equipment out across another breaker and power strip. We'll be keeping an even closer eye on the 125 out in garage.... This upgrade can't happen fast enough at this point. With all the delays on getting the tank, it's already been much longer than we had planned.
firebirdcrzy We're getting the tank from an LFS here in Richmond, FishWorld.
RichK We're really stoked about the reflectors. We're hoping that the 250w will be sufficient, but if it looks like we'll need more, we'll be in the market for some 400w ballasts...just don't want that added expense!
As of 3pm, with four 300w heaters running, the tank was 77f.
And here's a real happy sight:
Milissa I balanced some of the equipment out across another breaker and power strip. We'll be keeping an even closer eye on the 125 out in garage.... This upgrade can't happen fast enough at this point. With all the delays on getting the tank, it's already been much longer than we had planned.
firebirdcrzy We're getting the tank from an LFS here in Richmond, FishWorld.
RichK We're really stoked about the reflectors. We're hoping that the 250w will be sufficient, but if it looks like we'll need more, we'll be in the market for some 400w ballasts...just don't want that added expense!
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crvz
Team RC
I've been considering a very similar setup, and was hoping to run a trio of 250W as well. I have ballasts (lunatek) and bulbs (radium), and this weekend I snagged lumen bright mini wide to try it out (I just have a stock tank right now... waiting on a few things to settle out before moving forward). I definitely considered the lumen max, though. Hopefully you'll have great success!
You may have mentioned this, but I'm at a loss. What's the time frame on delivery of the tank?
prop-frags
SPS Slave
Hmmmm RC is really slow this evening...
We figured some long-awaited experimentation on the aquascaping while we watch the olympics. How about that downhill run this evening...wow! Bode Miller grabs the bronze...GO USA!!
For our aquascaping the new DOUBLE D, we have a couple of design principles in mind...
1) plenty of negative space for fish swimming, coral growth, and to give the viewer more of a real ocean reef feeling.
2) Three islands with somewhat of a "bonsai tree" / corkscrew look. This is difficult to explain, but essentially what we want is each island to have multiple levels around the core.
Inspirations for this are:
ChingChai
Crazy4Acros
Sirena
We certainly can go on, but you get the picture. Anyway, to pull off what we have in our design minds eye, we'll need to use some gravity-defying tricks to our rock to do what we need. We procured fiberglass rods and epoxy and zipties. Those are the typical tricks of the trade, no?
The rods are .5" and so we'll be using .5" long-reach bore bits on our drill.
Here's the tools for our first "Olympic experiment":
And here's how it came together:
We figured some long-awaited experimentation on the aquascaping while we watch the olympics. How about that downhill run this evening...wow! Bode Miller grabs the bronze...GO USA!!
For our aquascaping the new DOUBLE D, we have a couple of design principles in mind...
1) plenty of negative space for fish swimming, coral growth, and to give the viewer more of a real ocean reef feeling.
2) Three islands with somewhat of a "bonsai tree" / corkscrew look. This is difficult to explain, but essentially what we want is each island to have multiple levels around the core.
Inspirations for this are:
ChingChai
Crazy4Acros
Sirena
We certainly can go on, but you get the picture. Anyway, to pull off what we have in our design minds eye, we'll need to use some gravity-defying tricks to our rock to do what we need. We procured fiberglass rods and epoxy and zipties. Those are the typical tricks of the trade, no?
The rods are .5" and so we'll be using .5" long-reach bore bits on our drill.
Here's the tools for our first "Olympic experiment":
And here's how it came together:
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prop-frags
SPS Slave
Thanks, crvz! The way we're building the light rack, we can squeeze in four of the LMEs. Don't know if we'll need that - we're starting with just three. Keep us posted on how that lumen bright works out. Love to see one of those in action. The tank delivery is supposed to be this week...but man, we've had our share of delays so we're not holding our breath.
prop-frags
SPS Slave
Still looking for some suggestions on substrate.
We used to have crushed coral in our tanks back in the 80's with our under-gravel filters! But for some reason we really like the chunky look of it. Will that be a poor choice for a SSB (maybe 2")? There's going to be strong flow in the tank and we don't want those "bare spots".
Where can we get chunky in bulk that looks good?
We used to have crushed coral in our tanks back in the 80's with our under-gravel filters! But for some reason we really like the chunky look of it. Will that be a poor choice for a SSB (maybe 2")? There's going to be strong flow in the tank and we don't want those "bare spots".
Where can we get chunky in bulk that looks good?
PSU REEFER
New member
Mike where did you get your union ball values from? I saw them at Lowes/HD but wasn't sure if there was better ones out there? I saw you got Haywards for your bulkheads but is there certain ones you recommend as there seems to be "different" types? One last thing what's the diffence between sch 40 and 80? Thanks for all the help and hope you don't mind me taking alot of you pointers and using them. Great build thread
blumoon reefers
New member
Mike, we did go with the caribsea pink fiji. We started with 40lbs, but decided we needed a little more so we ended up with 60lbs. In our 150 it gives us about an 1-2 inches with more or less in some places. Under the caves in the rock, there is just a fine layer of sand. I really, really like the way it looks. When we added the tunze, we did have to do some fine tuning of the flow so that we didnt get the bare spots or the sand dune effect. Overall, I have to say we are really pleased with it. You are more than welcome to stop by sometime to see it.
Glad to hear that you were able to split some of the electrical needs to avoid any future problems and I am very glad to see the regal out and about.
Glad to hear that you were able to split some of the electrical needs to avoid any future problems and I am very glad to see the regal out and about.
blumoon reefers
New member
BTW, loved that the glass of wine is considered a "tool of the trade"!!!!
prop-frags
SPS Slave
RichK Rich, can you give me a link to where Sanjay talks about using acrylic rods for aquascaping? There are so few good sources of DIY out there on how folks do fabrication techniques with aquascaping.
PSU Thanks Rob - appreciate the kind words and it's great to have you along. Our TUBVs are from Lowes over here on Hull street. Many of the guys here used the sched-80 TUBVs, but personally I find that to be overkill. Most of those are really expensive (especially > 1"), and honestly I have never had one of the American Valve TUBVs ever fail. The Sched-80 are just thicker, which also reduce flow since PVC is standardized on outside diameter, and thicker PVC means it cuts into the inside diameter. As far as the b/h go, I picked up these Hayward units from USP. They are definitely very well made, very heavy, deep threads. Watch out, USP shipping and handling charge is outrageous.
blumoon reefers Milissa, did you buy your Fiji Pink locally or from an online dealer? If we go that route, I'm guessing that we will need maybe 100lbs for 2" depth? Those 20lb bags are kinda pricey... and yes, the Simi Savignon Blanc is recommended with all projects requiring an "open mind"
On a very positive note, our LFS wrote tonight and said the tank just arrived. We need to set up a delivery time...hopefully we'll be in business by this weekend! :beer:
PSU Thanks Rob - appreciate the kind words and it's great to have you along. Our TUBVs are from Lowes over here on Hull street. Many of the guys here used the sched-80 TUBVs, but personally I find that to be overkill. Most of those are really expensive (especially > 1"), and honestly I have never had one of the American Valve TUBVs ever fail. The Sched-80 are just thicker, which also reduce flow since PVC is standardized on outside diameter, and thicker PVC means it cuts into the inside diameter. As far as the b/h go, I picked up these Hayward units from USP. They are definitely very well made, very heavy, deep threads. Watch out, USP shipping and handling charge is outrageous.
blumoon reefers Milissa, did you buy your Fiji Pink locally or from an online dealer? If we go that route, I'm guessing that we will need maybe 100lbs for 2" depth? Those 20lb bags are kinda pricey... and yes, the Simi Savignon Blanc is recommended with all projects requiring an "open mind"
On a very positive note, our LFS wrote tonight and said the tank just arrived. We need to set up a delivery time...hopefully we'll be in business by this weekend! :beer:
PSU REEFER
New member
Mike thanks for the info. I'm putting Carib-Sea ARAG-ALIVE FIJI PINK in mine. Got 8 bags from PA when they had free shipping
Very exiting shapes.Similar threads
