SC Aquariums Owners Thread

[wirewiggler]

Hmm I wonder if I drill a small hole pointing down on the return tee if it will stir the water in the weir so detrious will not accumulate at the bottom. I was going to put a tee in the return line and divert part of the return flow through a carbon/gfo chamber so a little more back presure may be of some benefit. That was part of the reason for a DC pump so I could fine tune the return flow rate. The Jebao DC3000 puts out 800 gpm but that rating probably with no head, I wonder if I should step up to DC6000 its max is 1585 fpm.

booyaa, I deliberated between the 2 as well not a huge jump in price. The 80 has the same footprint as the 66 just 4" more height that means your lights will have to penetrate 4 more inches to make the bottom, it also makes the tank higher to clean and service, that was my reason for going with the 66 gal tank.

Bill

 

[greaps]

Sounds good, but the 80 does have more volume, and that means more stability. ; p

 

[booyaa138]

Sounds good, but the 80 does have more volume, and that means more stability. ; p

This is the reason why I'm think this way. The only thing that I don't like is the 24 deep. I'm going to stick my whole arm in when putting in new corals!
But on the other hand it's only 4 inches more

 

[OceanWolf]

My sand, rocks and plumbing pieces arrived. I am ready to this thing together this weekend. I will go with Herbie if my 1/2 pipe would provide enough siphon.

 

[GoGo98102]

I got the 150g set. Steve accepted my $1600 shipped offer. However, if I had to do everything all over again, I probably wouldn't buy this again.

The good-

1. Tank is really nicely built with thick glass and nice silicon work.

2. Stand is solid wood and very sturdy.

3. Sump is big and roomy (57g).


The bad-

1. The whole thing came assembled in 2 pallets that weight 695#. It took a few people to move them.

2. The sump was BUILT into the stand. It was also a tight fit. You can't take it out without disassemble the stand. You can't fit UV sterilizer or media reactor into the stand.

3. The only thing not assembled was the canopy and it had no instructions whatsoever. I managed to put the biggest pieces together by matching their holes. There were 4 strips of wood left that I assumed was used to "sit" on the tank. I put them on so only 1" and the top was covered but I had no idea if I did it right or not. I ended up not using the canopy anyway. Too old fashioned looking.

4. The overflow is old school 1" durso stand with a 1/2" return. Well, not really- now this is the BIGGEST problem I have. This tank was made in China. I have no problem with that except they used a metric system. 1" is really 25mm, not 25.4mm. 1/2" is 12mm, not 12.7mm. When I went to a hardware store trying to make this a herbie system, I realized that none of their pipes or bulkheads fit. I ended up just use their durso stand.

Now, if I had to do everything all over again, I would take the seller's offer to seal the holes and take the overflow out. I would've drilled for BeanAnimal myself and use standard pipes and bulkheads. The tank is pretty noisy as it stands. It sounds like I am living next to a small stream. I can get used to it but it's not quiet. I wish I knew to make the durso pipe bigger before it reached the bulkhead to reduce the noise. As of right now, I can't see myself draining 160g (about 140g in the tank and 20g in sump when running) to redo the plumbing.

PS: I replaced the return pump because the vibration was pretty loud. I can see myself replacing the skimmer too because it had quite a big of vibration too.

 

[booyaa138]

My sand, rocks and plumbing pieces arrived. I am ready to this thing together this weekend. I will go with Herbie if my 1/2 pipe would provide enough siphon.

Post some pics of your plumbing. I want to see how the Herbie setup works with the 1/2 pipe.

 

[OceanWolf]

It will take sometime to get it working

Instead of using a 1/2 pipe, I glued a 1" pipe to the bulkhead. That gave me access to the full size of the opening. I also used 3/4 adaptor on the sump side, again leaving the bulkhead opening as large as possible. It is not going to be a 3/4" opening but it will be pretty close. I also have 3/4" true union ball valve on it.

Emergency is still 1" with 1 1/4" on the sump side. No valves on that. I need to find a low profile strainer for that one. Return is from outside with a 3/4" pipe to split into 1/2 loclines. I am planning to use a eheim 1260.

Of course this is all in theory. I don't have any water in there yet.

Onur

 

[imustbenuts]

I have the 66g tank. If I could do it over I would NOT buy this system. All the equipment is crappy. The glass is thick but I worry about the seams separating every day. The overflow has already started separating. All plumbing and return is metric. The locline that came with the system is metric and cheap. I had to replace it. The Skimmer and return pumps suck.i had to replace the skimmer impeller within a year. Seriously do yourself a favor and buy quality not this cheap Chinese crappy system!!!!

 

[greaps]

Looking forward to trying this system out, going with the 80- or possible 90 gallon system. Going to use my own return pump and skimmer most likely.

 

[OceanWolf]

Tank is filled with water. I didn't fill the sump yet, it will get the water from the other tank.

 

[postie1686]

I got the 150g set. Steve accepted my $1600 shipped offer. However, if I had to do everything all over again, I probably wouldn't buy this again.

The good-

1. Tank is really nicely built with thick glass and nice silicon work.

2. Stand is solid wood and very sturdy.

3. Sump is big and roomy (57g).


The bad-

1. The whole thing came assembled in 2 pallets that weight 695#. It took a few people to move them.

2. The sump was BUILT into the stand. It was also a tight fit. You can't take it out without disassemble the stand. You can't fit UV sterilizer or media reactor into the stand.

3. The only thing not assembled was the canopy and it had no instructions whatsoever. I managed to put the biggest pieces together by matching their holes. There were 4 strips of wood left that I assumed was used to "sit" on the tank. I put them on so only 1" and the top was covered but I had no idea if I did it right or not. I ended up not using the canopy anyway. Too old fashioned looking.

4. The overflow is old school 1" durso stand with a 1/2" return. Well, not really- now this is the BIGGEST problem I have. This tank was made in China. I have no problem with that except they used a metric system. 1" is really 25mm, not 25.4mm. 1/2" is 12mm, not 12.7mm. When I went to a hardware store trying to make this a herbie system, I realized that none of their pipes or bulkheads fit. I ended up just use their durso stand.

Now, if I had to do everything all over again, I would take the seller's offer to seal the holes and take the overflow out. I would've drilled for BeanAnimal myself and use standard pipes and bulkheads. The tank is pretty noisy as it stands. It sounds like I am living next to a small stream. I can get used to it but it's not quiet. I wish I knew to make the durso pipe bigger before it reached the bulkhead to reduce the noise. As of right now, I can't see myself draining 160g (about 140g in the tank and 20g in sump when running) to redo the plumbing.

PS: I replaced the return pump because the vibration was pretty loud. I can see myself replacing the skimmer too because it had quite a big of vibration too.

you would not need to drain the hole tank just whats in the overflow the standard size bulk heads fit right in the holes that were drilled in mine.

 

[GoGo98102]

you would not need to drain the hole tank just whats in the overflow the standard size bulk heads fit right in the holes that were drilled in mine.

It's true only the water in the overflow need to be drained. However, I can't move the tank off the wall to do any plumbing without draining the whole tank. With water, rocks, stand, sand, and sump, this thing weights around 2500#.

 

[postie1686]

i guess in not sure how there stands are made but i was able to all my plumbing with it in place. i would highly recomend trying it.

 

[wetWolger]

...standard size bulk heads fit right in the holes that were drilled in mine.

Did others try this as well? Are standard sizes fiting for other people as well? If so that would be fantastic.

 

[Underwoo]

80 Gallon Build

80 Gallon Build

I have the 80g SC tank. I had to add some adapters to the lock line return nozzles, because I couldn't get the ends to screw into the return pipe,that came with the system.I'm replacing the skimmer that came with the unit, with a vertex 150. I keep hearing about how noisy the return pump is. So i'm thinking about replacing it with the Eheim 1262 model. I appreciate the input!

 

[OceanWolf]

Yes, the standard sizes also fit. Don't complain about the metric bulkheads, just replace them and you are good to go. I am happy with my purchase. I might be happier with a c-max 250 with an LED, but that is a year away and would cost me at least another $1500 on top of what I paid. I am happy with purchase.

 

[wetWolger]

Underwoo, did you attempt to replace your bulkheads with standard sized ones?

 

[GoGo98102]

Can't speak for others but my bulkheads didn't fit. I couldn't screw them in the holes.

 

[wetWolger]

Can't speak for others but my bulkheads didn't fit. I couldn't screw them in the holes.

In case you wanted to try again (unless you already tried). Have you looked at using an ABS Bulkhead? They appear to require a smaller hole (in the case of a 1in bulkhead: 1.06in vs 1.25in for a schedule 80 bulkhead).

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulkh...-side-1-d880e783834172e5ebd1868d84463d93.html

I found out that some of the cadlights aquarium owners were using those bulkheads. I believe these aquariums are made by the same chinese manufacture as cadlights (they certainly seem to have the same issues and similar design aspects).

 

[OceanWolf]

ITEM DETAILS FOR THIS ORDER:
18985**1" SLIP BULKHEAD KIT
18983**1/2" SLIP BULKHEAD KIT

These are the items I ordered from Drs fosterandsmith. They fit perfectly.