Not a typical doctor's waiting room... 450 gallon reef

[NYproDJ]

Man you guys are amazing... I wish I could join your team lol...

[melev]

I love that electrical panel. That's gorgeous.

[gkarshens]

When do I get my tour???

[Prismatic]

Awesome looking panel

[tanya72806]

looks like a great start cant wait until it done

[Bax]

That electric panel is inspirational!

[DrBDC]

Originally posted by gkarshens
When do I get my tour???

As soon as you make an appointment and pay your copay/deductable! If you don't have kids (he's a pediatrician) just tell them you're a kid at heart!

[Dudester]

Just for the record, I'm not a pediatrician.

Today's the office move-in party, and I'm heading over there to see all of this for the first time since I photographed the empty tank and sump.

[rppvt]

Just for the record, I'm not a pediatrician.

But I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night
lol

[thedude15810]

We worked on the tank all day today and pics will be forthcoming.

John

[longhornreefer]

Here is a top down pic of the return manifold. We decided to do it this way, because peninsula tanks ted to have surface proteins collecting at the end opposite of the overflow.



We had to cut out the overflow grates for safety. With the grate, the water level was just under the bracing and now it is about an inch below



Still a little cloudy, i think we used 220-240 lbs of live sand, John?



We have a 100 g reservoir with a float hard plumbed into the sump for quick, efficient water changes. Mixing is provided by a Mag 9er.



For anyone out there that thinks Deltec is too expensive, this is why.

NOGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!
How many skimmers actually pull out the actual sand in the water column?

[invincible569]

Originally posted by thedude15810
For those interested, we tried 60 pounds of Caribsea's latest sand (and I can't remember what it was called). It's not wet in the traditional sense but damp and came with a "bio-activator packet."

When the dust clears, we'll see if I like it.

thedude, I just used that with the bio packets. I love this sand. The one i got was from the Caribbean.

[longhornreefer]

invincible569, we feel graced to have you following this thread, and we are liking the sand too so far. Once both of our tanks are up we should do a tank tour in Htown and Austin. Between, this tank, green mako, and GMFett's, there are some cool tanks here, as i know there are in your neck of the woods.

[invincible569]

Originally posted by longhornreefer
invincible569, we feel graced to have you following this thread, and we are liking the sand too so far. Once both of our tanks are up we should do a tank tour in Htown and Austin. Between, this tank, green mako, and GMFett's, there are some cool tanks here, as i know there are in your neck of the woods.

Thanks for the kind words. I agree and I feel the same about Austin reefers. Looks like TX is the place to be. I think we are all in the setup stages with our tanks and will soon be ready for some tours. I am definitely in agreement and you guys are welcome anytime. Let me finish getting the rest of my equipment and stand finished up and I will be ready.

My water has been clear for a while now. I dont have any sandstorms with my flow. Everything is very stable. The good thing is that I didnt want to go over 1-2" of sand. Im at 1/2-1". Im amazed. My last tank with oolitic sand was such a pain to try and tame it.

[Brewen]

Wow what a great build thanks for sharing.

[asnatlas]

Originally posted by longhornreefer



We had to cut out the overflow grates for safety. With the grate, the water level was just under the bracing and now it is about an inch below

You plan on putting some gutter guard, egg create, or something else over the hole ??

[thedude15810]

First off, thanks to everyone for their kind words. It really means a lot to both Brian and myself that others are interested in what we're doing.

We actually ended up using 340 lbs of sand (unless my math is wrong and I'm pretty tired). 3 boxes of bahama oolite yesterday (40lbs a box or 2 bags) and 60lbs of Ocean direct. Today, we used 4 boxes of bahama oolite making for around 340 lbs of sand (more than I expected).

Asnatlas,

Nah, I figure if a fish gets caught in the pump, free food for everyone smart enough to not go in the overflow!

Just kidding, we'll come up with some kind of overflow guard.

[AJT]

I just looked at the prices of Deltec. $ 1,250.00 for a heavily stocked 200g. Since you have used these, are they worth that much? Do they perform that much better than the others??

Thanks

Andy

[jnarowe]

I like that reservoir. Do they have square ones? Got a link?

[thedude15810]

We got the reservoir local Jonathan, sorry.

Andy,

If you've never used a Deltec before, then I understand your concern with their price. They are above and beyond, the best skimmer on the market IMHO. They are worth every (and there are alot them) dollar.

John

[jacmyoung]

NOGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!
How many skimmers actually pull out the actual sand in the water column?

I am following your thread with admiration, however I have say even the most average skimmer will pull out the kind of fine sand nog as the Deltec.

Check out the post below I pulled from the Octopus thread, this skimmer sells for around $1,000 and the owner was testing it with fresh water:

Originally posted by tonyf
Just taken delivery of the my new 'big mumma'. Previously I have used the DNW-200-6540 and it was a beaut!

The packaging is as big as my current 5' tank. (skimmer will go on to a new 8' tank currently in planning)



Excellent internal packaging



Size of this thing compared to my JDM Technologies FI627 beckett skimmer



Freshwater and leak testing with 2 litre of vinegar in solution ... notice the foaming





Found this inside the skimmer ... does anybody know where it fits ins?



Tone

[thedude15810]

I have no idea as to how those pictures are at all relevant to this thread, but I'll elaborate on the Deltec.

I've setup tanks with many different skimmers and this particular setup was impressive for several reasons.

1. The water was relatively clear in 12 hours of the tank turning on. I attribute this to the surface movement and Deltec.

2. The skimmate wasn't your typical watery sandy skimmate associated with new tanks. This skimmate when tilted to the side (and we tried to show this) was actual a cup of sand in the collection cup. Water came along with the sand but I have NEVER seen a skimmer pull an actual cup of sand from a new tank.

Anyway, it was very impressive to me but the real NOG is yet to come

[jacmyoung]

Originally posted by AJT
I just looked at the prices of Deltec. $ 1,250.00 for a heavily stocked 200g. Since you have used these, are they worth that much? Do they perform that much better than the others??

Thanks

Andy

May be relevant to the question this member was asking?

[longhornreefer]

Originally posted by invincible569
My last tank with oolitic sand was such a pain to try and tame it.

Apparently this bahamas oolite is a larger heavier oolite from an area with cold water (or freshwater) upwhelling which causes calcium precipitation, as opposed to oolites created by living organisms. So its easier to tame.

Brewen, Thanks for the encouragement. Please tell us how you are using ozone in your bullet 1. We are considering O3 for some other projects and wonder about the typical considerations in using it; decreased skimmer performance, smell, human dangers, etc.

asnatlas, I am going to sleep on it tonight, and see if sometihing comes to me in a dream for the overflow. Not that there is anything wrong with eggcrate or g.g. but i want to come up with something custom.

AJT, yeah they're not exactly giving Deltecs away, and if you would have asked me a year ago when we started planing this tank, I would have told you we were going with the ER CS12-5. After using the larger deltecs, i will never go back. I will admit that I have not used a bubble king yet. We hungout with NAGA at MACNA last year and he really digs them, but uses everything else deltec. We'll have to wait til our next over 400g build and we will let our client be our guinnea pig.

Jnarowe, we got our res. at a feed supply store in dripping springs, Texas. It is the same manufacturer that makes the ones at Tractor Supply co www.mytscstore.com I am going to try to go direct to the manufacturer for a catalog. I'll let you know what I find.

Jacmyoung, That octopus skimmer seems like a lot of bang for the buck, I have seen them at another LFS and they seem economical and fairly well built (with the SCH 80 true unions and such). We'll all just have to wait to see how it works.

Owning a Deltec is like owning a hybrid car, it literally makes your farts smell like roses. Maybe that is why they charge a little extra than their competition.

[mrcrab]

Originally posted by longhornreefer
AJT, yeah they're not exactly giving Deltecs away, and if you would have asked me a year ago when we started planing this tank, I would have told you we were going with the ER CS12-5. After using the larger deltecs, i will never go back. I will admit that I have not used a bubble king yet. We hungout with NAGA at MACNA last year and he really digs them, but uses everything else deltec. We'll have to wait til our next over 400g build and we will let our client be our guinnea pig.

You may want to consider looking at the ATI Bubble Master threadwheel skimmers. Went from ER to BM on my 345 and absolutely love it, granted I can't personally compare it to a Deltec.