My New 300DD!!!

[ChadRaay86]

Well, the time has come to throw my build thread up here on RC. My tank is a Marineland 300 DD Starfire and it will be a full reef setup (eventually). Its all still a work in progress so I'll upload pics as I make progress, albeit slow progress. This is going to be as much of a "œbudget build" as possible, at least in the near term as I just got married and moved into a new house. I imagine there will be plenty of time for upgrades in the future where I'll get a couple of MP-60s, Radions, etc. But for now, I'm just fine with getting the tank setup and upgrading to the perfect setup as I gather more experience and expertise from others.

Here are a few of the specs so far:

- 300DD Starfire

- DIY Stand, Dimensions 73"x37"x41" (Will be skinned into something beautiful when my dad comes down in March)

- 75 Gallon Sump with separate Refugium and Protein Skimmer chamber

- Dart/Snapper Hybrid Return

- LifeReef SVS3-24 Protein Skimmer (Eventually going to be the SRO-5000 when the bioload gets heavy)

- 4x Koralia evolutions to supplement the flow from my return

- 3x Evergrow D120 Custom Layout W/90 Degree Optics

- Tunze Osmolator ATO from a 5 gallon reservoir that is refilled from the garage

- Water Changes will also be done from the garage using a water change station that will be built while the tank is cycling

- I also setup a 20 gallon quarantine tank, where (as much as it pains me to do so) I will be monitoring/treating all fish going into the system for at least 21 days.

Now to see if this picture thing works"¦

 

[ChadRaay86]

Took four guys to get it off the truck and in the house, this thing is heavy!

I got two additional 20 AMP circuits installed

Used flat black latex paint in about three coats and it came out pretty well..

 

[RiddleEagle18]

Congrats. Taggin along.

 

[ChadRaay86]

Got the stand in the garage and ready for a nice thick layer of kilz. You can also see my first attempt at buying all my plumbing fixtures (more on that later).

After seven or so coats of kilz

Sump before and after the silicone massacre

Got the stand in the house and the tank on the stand. Amazingly we got this thing up there with just three people!

added two side panels for increased rigidity

Sump in the stand and ready for plumbing

New plumbing, I decided to go with 1 1/2" drains all around, so I had to return all my previous purchases. It sucks when there are so many individual items to return

 

[ChadRaay86]

I put a set of linkable lights from home depot in the top of the stand, I think it lights it up well enough...

Also, just finished picking up the last of about 400 pounds of LR that I've been collecting for the last month. Its pretty much all Fiji, with a few really nice pieces of Tonga branch.

got a few hitchhikers as well, but you I really can't complain considering I got 400 pounds for under $400 dollars

two more, I know they're not bad but I thought both were pretty cool

Here's a picture of where my water change station is going, pretty ghetto at the moment, but I have time during the cycle to clean it up a bit.

This was the most frustrating part of the entire process so far. The flex tube wouldn't fit and Home Depot was closed, so we had no water for the entire night. I'm still getting hell for that one lol

 

[Fishystuff22]

Welcome to the 300 gallon club! Looks like you've got a pretty well planned out build going. I'll be tagging along

 

[cfmx]

Looking great! Nice area to place a large tank.

 

[BobbyV]

Congrats!! I wish you all the success!

 

[raychaser1990]

Looking great! Tagging along.

 

[bpcardona]

I will follow along.....

 

[dtowsley]

Build looks awesome. What did u use to connect to ur water heater? I'm gonna do the same thing but not sure exactly how I wanna tap into it

 

[jduck]

What kind of linkable lights you use in the stand? Fluorescent/halogen/Xeon? Under cabinet lights?

 

[BobbyV]

Are you going to have a fish room connected to this tank? The only reason I mention this because there is only so much room under the stand. Make sure to use the paste material to screw in your Reeflo connection or they will leak. Also know that you will have 3 - 4 gallons of evaporation per day.

 

[ChadRaay86]

Thanks everyone! It has been a fun ride so far. I almost had a heart attack today plumbing the whole thing, wish I would have used flex tubing at this point :headwallblue:. I've got the RODI filling it at the moment, I'm sure it will take a few days though Hopefully I'll get to aquascaping sometime later this week. I'll be using rods to keep as much of the rock off the bottom as possible, so that's going to be another project in itself. Hopefully I'll have some fully plumbed pics up tomorrow sometime :thumbsup:

Build looks awesome. What did u use to connect to ur water heater? I'm gonna do the same thing but not sure exactly how I wanna tap into it

I took the hose off and put a T connector and linked that through a ball valve into a PVC hose connector and screwed the hose connector straight onto the PVC hose connector. I had to get a new main hose as the braided steel wouldn't flex, so be sure to not start this project when the store is closed like I did. Make sure you hook up to the cold water in and not the hot water out. Easy way to find this is by turning your shower on and waiting for one of the two to heat up Also, I had a lot of problems with leaks until I finally got everything as tight as possible. Let me know if you want to see more pictures of it, I can upload them in the next batch.

What kind of linkable lights you use in the stand? Fluorescent/halogen/Xeon? Under cabinet lights?

I went with a fluorescent puck design they had at Home Depot. They're meant for under cabinets and come in a nice 3 pack for 30 bucks. They have weird bulbs that click in and seem rather water resistant (at least humidity). The halogen and xenon lights were cheaper and brighter (by a little) but they added way too much heat for me to be happy. I figure that I'll be battling heat daily, no need to add additional heat sources.

Are you going to have a fish room connected to this tank? The only reason I mention this because there is only so much room under the stand. Make sure to use the paste material to screw in your Reeflo connection or they will leak. Also know that you will have 3 - 4 gallons of evaporation per day.

The tank is backed up to my garage, so it will serve as a pseudo fish room for the time being. As it gets warmer I'm going to get ahold of a cheap A/C unit and keep the garage at a balmy 80 degrees. The room under my stand went away rather quickly due to the 75 gallon sump Luckily I can plumb out to the garage and have everything that's normally tedious such as water changes, be an almost completely automated system. I wasn't sure how much I'd evaporate per day, 3-4 sounds scary but the tunze should be able to keep up :lol2:. We'll see on the Dart, I plumbed it earlier today with just heavy duty thread tape so sadly I'll have to risk it for the moment. If need be, I can always tear it all apart and put it back together again. I swear, this hobby has made me half plumber and half carpenter :lmao:

 

[dtowsley]

I think I got it but yes if u could upload a few extra pics it would be great

 

[ChadRaay86]

I think I got it but yes if u could upload a few extra pics it would be great

Sure, I'll try and get them posted today when I get home from work.

 

[ChadRaay86]

Tank update:

In between taking care of my sick wife and looking after our 2 crazy yellow lab puppies, I've managed to hard plumb my entire tank! It may not be as pretty as some, but it will hopefully do the job Shout out to bobbyv, the reeflo was the only part to leak thus far. I've remedied the problem by using a lot of Teflon tape and then putting silicone on after that. I'll test it when I get home today, hopefully it holds because I'm totally over this whole plumbing thing :headwally:

As far as the plumbing goes, I went with the Herbie overflow and used all four 1" holes as drains with two being the full siphon Herbie and two being the regular Durso standpipes it comes with, albeit with new elbows as the holes that are drilled into the stock marineland drain pipes are annoyingly large.

The 1" drains go down into 1.5" PVC (I was originally going to do an inch all around, but after some advice and much reading I have decided to go with the larger drain lines.

My return has two outlets (one to be used at a later date for other projects), with one going straight up into two separate outputs with Locline. These might or might not be modded to seaswirls in the future.

I've tested the return and will hopefully be able to test the drains tomorrow. I have about 200 gallons of fresh RODI in the tank right now and will hopefully have it full tomorrow night some time. After the test comes tons of salt and powerheads and eventually some tedious aquascaping :artist:

I'm aware none of this makes much sense without any pictures, so I'll get on that when I get home today

 

[BobbyV]

If your reeflo impeller starts to click or rattle - it will eventually settle and become whisper quiet. Some models have to break in - but once it settles - try not to touch it. Should be a rock solid for 5 years plus. To tweak the rattle - gently and barely lift the back motor - that is why it come with a 2 inch rubber foot - if the foot isn't tall enough, put a shim under it.

I own the reeflo dart gold - I think reeflo are nice and an incredible value but not as high quality engineering as the Japanese options out there.

(if you are not already) You should use both holes on either side of the tank as drains and convert them to herbie - check out my build for reference. Be careful not to leave the drain area's empty or the the silicone reinforcement will collapse or start to leak - as you fill it up compensate the pressure. You may develop some leaking from the drain bulk heads as pressure/water weight builds up. You may have to silicone them just to be safe. (I did)

I know you may have your preference with sand, but - please consider going bare bottom before you dump in all that sand. (that is the only regret I had)

Barebottom is really cool after you have it for a while - makes that beast of a tank super easy to maintain. My Nitrates are 0 and I just syphon up any loose sand/rock fragments or junk that accumulates in one corner when I do water changes.

With no substrate - I am less paranoid to scratch the tank when I use my TigerShark magnet. I do check the wet side before I ever move it - but less risk.

In regards to reactors or sterilizers/chillers - try to plumb them in with the return pump line. Less pumps you have to use - which means lower electric bills.

Nice work on painting that back of your tank and sealing your stand!

Very excited for you - I know the feeling of setting up a new system - very fun!

I think the 300G DD Marineland is the biggest I will go - all the other systems you are talking insane money! My monthly running/maintenance costs are about $50 a month once you have all the equipment on-line.

 

[biecacka]

Sweet looking tank, I just missed an incredible deal on a new 300DD a guy bought n never set up
Love the tanks man
Corey

 

[rogergolf66]

Going to be a nice build. Tagging along. Good luck