Twiggy B's 225g build

twiggyb

Active member
Well, sort of. I didn't take any pics of the stand being built, but it's all metal and sooooper heavy. My dad built it so it can be taken apart seeing as it would take a small group of people to lift it up and take it down the steps. Here's some snaps of the tank and the stand. Tank is 72"L x 30"W x 24"H.

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and the 120 sump, ordered the glass Friday for the baffles and it should be here Tuesday.



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Now here's where I need some help. Here's the skimmer and calcium reactor



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Now there's an orange valve coming off the skimmer that I'm not sure what it's there for. Never had a skimmer, at least an advanced one like this ( I had a little HOB skimmer from petco in 03' on the back of a standard 29g), and all this plumbing is giving me a headache:headwally:

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Another question. This skimmer will be in the room shown, which is roughly 15 ft. from where the pipe will be entering the sump. Will this be too far for the skimmer to pull anything from the tank with those two pumps on it? Or will it be ok if I can get water through the pipes to create a siphon to the skimmer? If either of these ideas don't work, how would I plumb the main pump to the skimmer to supply the water?

Got 240 lbs. of tropic eden waitin to be wet once all is plumbed up and ready to go. All that's left to do is get the lights, thanks to Tater :thumbsup:, make the two rock pillars, and throw in a couple of mp 40s!
 
I'm tagging along for this one. I'm getting ready to start a build the same size with Tater's old tank.
 
Tagged! I'm excited to see this build!

Its hard to tell from the pic but it looks like that skimmer is recirculating. If the pumps' inlet and outlet are both connected to the skimmer body than it definitely is. The top ball valve is for feeding water into the skimmer either by using a separate pump, T'ing off your main pump, or letting it gravity feed from you overflow drain. The latter being the most energy efficient. Either way you should shoot for around 3 times your system volume per hour.

The lower gate valve is for regulating the water line within the skimmer, er... dialing it in.

Though you could plumb this externally, I wouldn't recommend it unless there is absolutely no room in your sump. A leak or cup overflow can really ruin one's day. ;)
 
Thanks everyone :D Nick, I'll try and get better pics, I just snapped these pretty quick to ask the question. I believe it is recirculating though. Also, another question. Is it ok to put foam for cushioning underneath the sump since it's glass? It isn't setting level and I put a towel underneath on one side for now until I figure out if it's ok or not.
 
Thanks everyone :D Nick, I'll try and get better pics, I just snapped these pretty quick to ask the question. I believe it is recirculating though. Also, another question. Is it ok to put foam for cushioning underneath the sump since it's glass? It isn't setting level and I put a towel underneath on one side for now until I figure out if it's ok or not.

No, that tank has a rim, so you should not put any foam underneath it. regardless foam or padding should never be used to level a tank. First, ensure that the stand itself is and square, plumb, and level.
 
The tank is level. Just making sure, before I tore the floor piece out to redo it. Somehow it got warped in the short time it was sitting out of the frame. Ho well, guess I gotta move this beast around a bit to get the wood out
 
I'm glad everybody likes it. Hopefully it turns out like I envision it in my head. I want a pillar on the left and right side. One will have all tabling acros, and the other will have plating montis. I got michaelpraters live rock from when he tore his tank down, about 220 lbs. all of that will go in the middle section of the sump. I might do a rock or two and perhaps an arch of sorts up top until the corals grow in so the ish will feel more safe.
 
I would probably cook that liverock because prater had a heavy bioload and lots of algae problems if I remember correctly.
 
Well they've been sitting in two brute trash cans with a powerhead and a heater in them, but I've never done a wc on them. When I cook the rock, do I change out all of the water or a percentage of it?
 
Here's some pics of the progress with this tank. Got the lights from Tater11, thanks man, but haven't had the chance to mess with them yet. Dad built a little platform to stand on behind the tank so we could put the plumbing underneath it so it wouldn't be in the way behind it.

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