500 gal update

[Salt-Reefer]

Just thought I would post an update od some progress of my tank, its been slow getting it together put I hope to be fresh water testing by the 27th.

Here are some pics and a few more in my gallery.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1867DSC01194__Small_.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1867DSC01195__Small_.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1867DSC01200__Small_.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1867DSC01201__Small_.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1867DSC01203__Small_.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1867DSC01204__Small_.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1867MR-6_Skimmer_and_water_tank__Small_.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1867DSC01211__Small_.JPG

[capture]

good luck with that man it looks sweet. keep us updated.

[invincible569]

Woul dyou mind posting dimensions again?

[Salt-Reefer]

Originally posted by invincible569
Woul dyou mind posting dimensions again?

96Lx30Hx40W

[hubris007]

Did you bond the flex directly to the solid pvc? Didn't know you could do that.

[bpatterson6]

SWEET!!!! Thats gonna Require some electricity!!
I Compeletly ENVY that Tank. NICE Setup!!!
Keep the pics coming.

[Foster]

Very Nice!

How tall is that skimmer?

[lilbuddy]

very nice....please keep us posted

[Bono]

Is that a Tuff Stuff sump you have? and if so did you have any trouble putting bulkheads in and sealing them?

[crescent1]

thats a lot of work you have there, i know how you feel, i went thru the same thing and i still have a headache from all the pvc glue.
looks great and keep us posted .

[Alberio]

The plumbing job is both impressive and scary. Can't wait to see the finished product.

mjd

[nathank]

:eek1:

[dgasmd]

That is incredibly nice man. I know you must have spent a small fortune in all those valve disconnects. They are very useful and a must ahve, ut their cost adds up very easily too.

What size/brand is that chiller?
What are you doing for lighting?
When are you filling it up?
Can you take a picture of the room from afar so we can see the lay out?

Keep up the good work. It will be worth it when you have it done.:D :D

[Salt-Reefer]

Some answers:

hubris007---Using fittings I did.

bpatterson6--- Its going to use alot of electricity and being in CA its going to suck! We had Solar Panels just put in to help compensate for some of it.

platapus--- If I remeber correctly its 48" tall its a MyReefCreations MR-6.

lilbuddy---Thanks and will do!

scubby--- Yes thats the manufacture. No problem putting in the bulkheads dont know about the sealing yet, will be doing the water test REAL soon I hope.

crescent1--- I'm still high from the stuff!!! and I'm not done yet. Didnt know it would be this much work, I thought it would be much easier but they way I wanted to do things didnt work after I started, O'Well.

Alberio--- Thanks and I agree with the scary :) I cant wait either, hopfully by Friday.

nathank--- I Agree!

dgasmd--- Yes those valves are not cheap unfortunatly and I'm just shy have about 20 of them I think for a total of around $450...OUCH!
The chiller is a 1HP Arctica.
Lighting will consist of 6 DE 250 4 10k and 2 12k and 1 10k 400. The 6 250 will be ran on Icecap ballast and PFO pendants. The 400 will be PFO ballast and pendant. The 400 ballast is also a duel so I can add another 400 if want/need too.
I will hopfully be putting in fresh water for leak testing this weekend I'll run that for a week then empty it and start making the RO/DI water and mixing in the salt.
I'll try and take a better pic of the whole room, but its hard to because of how its situated.

I know it will be worth it in the end, just when is that end though.........



Steve

[Salt-Reefer]

I finally got around to taking a little better pic of the room layout.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/1867DSC01236__Small_.JPG

For the most part you can see pretty much everything in the room.

I got a few other pics in the gallery as well. I have half filled right now I had some leaking from a couple of the bulkheads, which I have fixed now. I had some leaks from the threaded fittings as well, guess I didnt tighten them enough so I'm going to go back through and cranck them down and open the valves up and see what happens.

[lilbuddy]

I love seeing these setups come together. I checked out your gallery and saw the other pics....and the dog..... I tell yeah man you got a nice pile of bricks there.... the lawd is treating you a-ok

do you have a updated front pic of the tank?

keep up the good work
mike

[myreef]

Looking good Steve....Let me know how the Sequence pumps works with the skimmer....I just put the same skimmer on my 400 with an Iwaki 70 and I think the skimmer could take a ton more flow...so your sequence should be great! It is indeed the MR-6...Keep us updated on the progress!

[Jean-yus]

That is soo Cool, I hope to have something like that some day.

[tomasz]

Is this tank glass or acrylic?

[Salt-Reefer]

just thought id bring back this thread since over the last couple weeks I have been working on it.

The tank is filled with Saltwater and sand.
I bought some live sand a few weeks back from some local reefers to get some bateria growing.

I have everything running. The skimmer works great with the sequence pump pulling out all kinds of crap. Started up the Calreactor Sunday and it working good.

The lights are up and running 6 250 and 1 400. The only concern I have is the 400 and 2 of the 250 are over the acrylic bracing I felt the acrylic underneath the bulb and its hot but I can keep my hand on it and thats under the 400 and the 2 250s's so I think it will be ok. Also there pendants so that may make a differnce.

I brought home 300lbs of fresh off the plane Marshall island rock and was surprised to what I got as I was opening the boxes, some real nice big peices along with some medium and smaller sized ones. There where soem crabs that came with it along with a couple worms that made the trip which all went in the sump, the rock had some great colors orange,pink, green and red. Going to stack the tank this week right now the rock is in the sump and refugium.


Anyways I'll try and got some updated pics tp post.

Steve

[pch90265]

Wow Steve, your setupo is looking great!

You going to be open to the "public" for tours? I'm plumbing my 550G this weekend, and would love to compare notes... my business partner lives down in Canyon Lake, and I owe him a round of golf anyway.

Keep the pics coming!

--Sean--

[Knyght]

Looking good. Can`t wait to see a picture of your aquascaping.
Keep up the good work. And post pictures when you can.

[Julio]

Nice setup, what kind of pumps are you running?

[Loudz34]

Nice man... Keep us updated..... what kind of ca reactor?

[Salt-Reefer]

Some Answers:


You going to be open to the "public" for tours? I'm plumbing my 550G this weekend, and would love to compare notes... my business partner lives down in Canyon Lake, and I owe him a round of golf anyway.

Sure come on down.....If you would like to compare some notes no problem here :)



Nice setup, what kind of pumps are you running?

Using all sequence pumps, 4 total.



what kind of ca reactor

Its a My reef creations reactor.

Is this tank glass or acrylic?

Acrylic


I'm going to try and get some pics tonight, I got the tank stacked and I'm pretty happy with it. I got the openness I wanted for the bigger fish plus lots of places for coral, a big sandbed area for the clams with a nice area for a anemone (if it likes the spot) if I decide to keep one later.

Anyways thats all for now if there are any other qustions let me know.

Steve

[Typhon]

Great looking tank!!!!

Why did you decide to use elcctronic ball valves??

[dgasmd]

Steve:

Like I said before, awesome job. Would love to see some pictures of the progress since it has been literally 6 months since the last time you posted them.

By the way, did you used to have a much larger tank that was L shapped?

[mmgm]

Awesome plumbing job........ Please keep us posted on your progress......

I love to see thisngs like this come to life....... :D

[BAJA272]

Steve:

The progress looks really good so far. You inspired me to rearrange my plumbing and wireing. It looks a heck of a lot better now. Keep the updates coming this way. We are looking forward to the next pictures.

Jeff

[lovetoreef]

very nice setup ... what source did you use for your liverock and about how much was the cost for it?

[Salt-Reefer]

Here are some pics, not the greatest but here they are.

Here's the right side:

http://img53.photobucket.com/albums/v163/Sting2112/DSC01735.jpg

Center:

http://img53.photobucket.com/albums/v163/Sting2112/DSC01737.jpg

Left side:

http://img53.photobucket.com/albums/v163/Sting2112/DSC01736.jpg


Full tank:

http://img53.photobucket.com/albums/v163/Sting2112/DSC01734.jpg

Lights:

http://img53.photobucket.com/albums/v163/Sting2112/DSC01738.jpg

My main problem is micro bubbles in the tank, I've tried differnt things to get rid of them and still there. Any help with it would be great because it looks bad with them.

Steve

[Salt-Reefer]

Some answer to the questions asked

Why did you decide to use elcctronic ball valves??
best way i found to get random wave action with out anything in the tank.

By the way, did you used to have a much larger tank that was L shapped?
Nope

what source did you use for your liverock and about how much was the cost for it?
I have a friend in the industry so I got it for a great price.

Steve

[Simms142]

Since this is multiple pumps, you can isolate the buble problem if it is a leak somewhere creating a tiny venturi. I would go through the pumps tryin each one, and see if the bubble go away, if you can find the problem, you could try a good bead of silicone around the fitting.

[Salt-Reefer]

I have it down to the return pump( when I turn that pump off there all gone), i did the silcone and nothing so far, the only thing i can think is that its getting some bubbles from the skimmer, but i thought i had that taken care of.....maybe not. Anything i can try to stop it from sucking up bubbles? I'm using a stock tank for the sump so to put in partitions is not going to work.

[SHARKSRME]

nice!!!

[hwynboy]

want some help for micro bubbles...I had them and were driving me crazy...Heres the secret....

Filter sock.

In seconds all your micro bubbles are gone.