Pastey's 200DD

Hopefully I'll only ever have to do it once ;)

Lacking some odds and ends to finish up the salt mixing station but it can't be placed in it's permanent home until the tank goes inside anyway so no real rush. Waiting to meet up with a local so we can patch my sump and drill the new hole for return pump feed.

More hurry up and waiting.
 
I'd strongly recommend having dry backup drains in the overflows, and just running the return over the back of the bank. Better safe than sorry.

How do you like the monterey series canopy? I have the stand and absolutely love it, been contemplating getting the matching canopy.


too late.
Monterey stand and canopy in espresso color is discontinued.
 
That is correct. When I started shopping for a DD, they were still selling but after I bought this one, I found out not long after that they had stopped making them.
 
This is a quote copy/paste from Marineland's FAQ:
Unfortunately As of May 31, 2012 we no longer offer any custom services on any of our products. Only stock items in our standard product line are available. The espresso stands and canopies have been discontinued and our inventories exhausted. A retailer or their distributing warehouse might possibly still have stock, but we have no way of determining that from our facility.

After a little lull in the action, I ordered some more stuff today.

I finally broke down and bought the last remaining insert fitting from Amazon (and paid $8 shipping!!!) along with two 250w heaters (for the tank) and one 150w heater (for the mixing station). Ordered two 175g. buckets of Red Sea Pro salt, a ball valve for the RO tubing (so I don't have to go outside to start making RO/DI, an extra 15' of RO tubing, the last remaining Uniseal that I needed and Red Sea nitrate test. Most of my tests are 1-2 years old so I'm going to ditch them all slowly. I just needed to hit the $175 for free shipping
 
Saltwater mixing / storage setup is 98% complete. Only thing left is to add the hole in the salt barrel for pouring salt in. I'm still undecided as to where to put that so I'm going to wait until the setup in it's final resting spot to avoid the "Man, I wish I would have put it like this" situation. Other than that, both have been given a vinegar bath and leak tested at full capacity.

In other news, I went and got the supplies to take care of my sump this week so pending what day I squeeze it in, this thing might be getting wet this week to test the plumbing. I still have sand, rock, powerheads and lights to order before I kick off a saltwater fill. The lights are 100% neccesary as I have some but I would rather replace them now.
 
Got the sump squared away this afternoon.

Drilled hole for new (larger) bulkhead
81DA7363-E909-45BA-826D-7E761D5B1513-2431-0000043AFF2A6F6C.jpg


Patched the small hole:
E86187B0-263C-45F3-B30E-68FA872CBE0F-2447-0000043B64F7C10D.jpg


Increased the skimmer section depth:
8E39FEBA-4D01-47DC-9DB0-30EA2970D711-2447-0000043B6DCB6C31.jpg


Filling to check for leaks:
B627E4C5-E40E-4161-9FE3-E5F89EF66211-2447-0000043B7575453B.jpg


One part works:
7B77E6E7-2AC1-450E-93EB-9586DEAFCB58-2447-0000043B7F68C4ED.jpg


Patch and bulkhead sealed:
55F58A3A-59E3-4DCC-872A-E1CFC8AD927F-2447-0000043B98AA0C47.jpg


Only thing left before wet test is making two new return standpipes. After that, I fill 'er up and crank it.
 
Got the return/drain standpipes installed last night. Only thing left to do is get the sump back underneath the tank, hook up all the plumbing and start piping some water in it!
 
Tomorrow, you'll either see a post in this thread that goes a little soemthing like "Success! Everything went flawlessly" or a new thread labeled "How to Remove 200g. of water from your garage...."
 
Tomorrow, you'll either see a post in this thread that goes a little soemthing like "Success! Everything went flawlessly" or a new thread labeled "How to Remove 200g. of water from your garage...."

hahah, lets hope its not the latter.....

I really think of all the "off the selve" tanks this size has the best dimension....
 
At least my garage is properly sloped into the driveway ;)

I REALLY dislike skinny tanks. They really lack the front/back depth that helps you "get lost" in a tank. Really, this 36" front/back tank doesn't even fit where I'm putting it in my house but I wouldn't have it any other way.
 
Thanks for the encouragement. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I REALLY don't want to have to redo any of that nonsense.
 
The good: Everything works. After a couple of tightened bulkheads and some re-taped threaded fittings, there are no leaks. Best of all, I don't have to redo ANY plumbing. The pump is really quiet. I was worried about the hard plumbing causing vibrations but there is no problem there.

The durso standpipes can handle the Reeflo Dart at full tilt and it can do so RELATIVELY quiet. No super loud flushing noises or anything like that. It can legitimately keep up. I had anticipated using the Snapper (lower flow) impeller but I may leave the Dart impeller on.
 
The bad: There wasn't a lot of bad to go around. It failed the power failure test only because the return nozzles were put down deep and it siphoned down to where they were. Lesson learned, keep return nozzles up high.

One standpipe, alone, can not keep up with the Dart at full power. I kind of expected that. It does keep up with the amount of flow I plan on using. This was all I really needed.

Also, just for notational purposes, the tank was not 100% level. It sloped left to right, back to front. Garage is intentionally sloped out towards the driveway. It was pretty minor but still there. I have shims to get it perfect once it goes inside the house. It may not need any since the house is only 6 months old but, better to have and not use than to need and not have.
 
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