370G Tank Preview

[gketell]

I bought 2 cases of that stuff as my base-rock. Man is it HEAVY! Very Dense stuff.
GK

[kimoyo]

The stuff at www.reeferrocks.com is really good. It was live rock that is now dead. Its porous and the customer service is great. You guys should check them out. When I was getting my stuff he sent me a pic and then i circled (in mspaint) the ones I didn't want and he showed me new ones. He did it a few times, very good service.
Paul

[reefboy1]

I have 120lbs of the Hirocks stuff. It's not bad, but extremely heavy and not that porous. I did get some very big pieces though and I like that - Big is good for the bottom pieces.

I put 4 big pieces in my 215 a few weeks ago and they are already starting to blend in. One problem I had is that in addition to being heavy, they are very, very hard. I drilled into them to insert acrylic rods (as feet) and basically ruined a few masonry bits. I don't know what this stuff is, but it's harder than cement. I was able to drill through the live rock like it was styrofoam.

Art

[nbd13]

did you try drilling through the cermanic rock from Greg yet?

i am wondering how hard it would be to drill through and if i would even risk it!

i cant wait to get my rock!

any new progress on the tank this weekend?

thanks!

Nick

[SurfinJK92]

heck...I get dead live rock from my LFS fo' cheap- it is good if you don't like LR and if you don't want the taccy stuff

[SurfinJK92]

heck...I get dead live rock from my LFS fo' cheap- it is good if you don't like LR and if you don't want the taccy stuff

[SurfinJK92]

heck...I get dead live rock from my LFS fo' cheap- it is good if you don't like LR and if you don't want the taccy stuff

[SurfinJK92]

heck...I get dead live rock from my LFS fo' cheap- it is good if you don't like LR and if you don't want the taccy stuff

[reefboy1]

Nick,

I haven't tried drilling the cermanic stuff - but it really doesn't look like it'll be hard with a masonry bit.

As far as progress - I took a ste back last week. It turns out that the single entry union ballvalves I decided to use for each bulkhead are not really "unions". They union part is only to be used when the valve is dry for replacing the ball part of the valve. I found this out while doing the wet test and finding a slight leak in my old OceansMotions 4-way. I closed the ball valve and removed the union and had the ball fall out and water fly everywhere.

So, as it turns out I'm going to cut out all the ballvalves and replace them.

The good news is that Paul at OceansMotions really took care of me with the leaky 4-way. He's a real class act and has unbelievable customer service.

Art

[nbd13]

Yeah i just looked at how much i am going to spend on true union ball valves and its ALOT! but i guess its worth it. i think it will be about 200ish for the ones with unions on both sides. so i guess they are worth it.

Nick

[SurfinJK92]

sry for all the replys !

[SurfinJK92]

sry for all the replies !

[SurfinJK92]

sry for all the replies !

[kimoyo]

Art,
Have you considered how much noise will be coming from the tank?
Paul

[reefboy1]

Paul,

I have. Only a few sources for noise:

1. Overflows. I don't have room for durso's in the overflow chamber so I've put a 2" to 4" reducer on top of the 2" standpipe and have 4" mesh around the top of it. The water will only fall about 1" into the chamber. I've heard that this will stop most of the gurgling noise. If not then my next plan is to put a Stockman in there.

2. The closed loop pump. I'm using a Sequence Dart which is known to be pretty quiet. I doubt that I'll hear it through the overflow noise

3. The Tunze's may make noise since they're pushed up against the chamber wall. If so, put a gasket (made of 2" flexspa) between the Tunze and the wall to buffer the noise.

Other than that I don't expect much noise in the house. The sump room may get noisey, but who cares.

Art

[sidewinder770]

Originally posted by reefboy1
The sump room may get noisey, but who cares.

I hear ya! Gotta love that huh

Let me know how the drillinjg of the ceramic goes- I'm interested to know if it's easy or not.

[reefboy1]

Scott,

I don't plan on drilling the ceramic pillars. Is there any reason for me to?

I do plan to drill the live and base rock so I can put feet on them and lash some of them together.

Are you planning on using the ceramic rock as well?
Art

[sidewinder770]

Originally posted by reefboy1

Are you planning on using the ceramic rock as well?

I've thought about it and it does look like a great idea. We have actually been messing around with making our own rock (just some base rock). We're still trying that and if that doesn't come out the way we'd like it the ceramic is definately a possibility. We will have at least 100 lbs of live rock but that still leaves a lot of room. I think I'll wait and see how your turns out first . Should look great though and be sure to post some pics when you put them in.

[Fliger]

I love the pillars. There is an old Bubble King thread that had some pictures of German tanks with corals growing on the pillars. It didn't mention they were the ceramic pillars but I remember seeing them long ago and liking them, then I saw your thread, then I recently saw the pillars again and it clicked.

Scott, I'm pretty sure I'm doing the ceramic walling in the back so you can check out mine when it's in. Someone mentioned that it can probably done with a kiln but that's over my head. I'll LYK when it comes in.

[H20ENG]

Art,
You may want to put a piece of rubber tubing, foam, etc around the front outlet of the stream as well, for noise dampening.

[greg65]

bringin this thread back up.

Saw it last evening..............its got water in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The wave box/stream combo is incredible !!

Lets see some pics Art!
-greg-

[reefboy1]

Greg,

Thanks for coming over yesterday and chatting with me on my initial tweaking issues.

I decided to hold of posting pics until I get the aquascaping underway (this weekend) - otherwise it's pretty much just more of the same. I am pretty happy with the way all of the under tank plumbing ended up, it's neat and clean.

Art

[reefboy1]

Well, finally after a month since the last set of useful pics I have something to report - Water and rock in the tank!!! )

Most of the delays weren't my completely my fault:

1. Wrong plumbing fittings that took 2 weeks to reorder because they were backordered.

2. Leaky Ocean Motion (was very old). Paul at Oceans Motions took great care of me and fixed the problem.

3. Leaky Sequence Dart. MDM replaced the pump.

Anyways, now all the plumbing is complete and I'm pretty happy with it. Here are a few pics:

The Ocean Motion 4-way over a Sequence Dart. I originally had a version 1 drum, but the back pressure caused the magnets to slip occasionally (possibly because I reduced the output to 1" at the very end) so I modified the drum to a version 3 and now it works like a charm:


A pic of the drains, CL intake and one output as well as the back of the power panel:


The power panel under the tank. I still need to dress the cables:


After the freshwater wet test (only 1 leak I can call my own that was easily fixed), I filled the tank with natural Catalina saltwater - it took about 400 gallons for the whole system. I let the tank run for a week with no rock to give me time to install the skimmer (Grotech 300) and get the autotop off and other things in the sump ready.

The big day finally came on Saturday - Aquascaping! I started by taping out my tank dimensions on my garage floor and mocking up what I wanted there. This pic is pretty close to the final base, it gives a good idea of the available depth:



Once I got the mockup signed off by my wife, I tried my best to recreate it in the tank. I used acrylic rods and 1/2" pvc to keep most of the base pieces off the bottom. I was able to hide these in most cases, but their not intrusive for the most part. These pics were taken with the VHO's on (I apologize for the poor quality and many reflections).

Full frontal (hanging lights still askew as I haven't lowered them yet):


Closer pic of the ceramic pillars in front (you can see my wife peeking thru):


Full back pic:


Another pic from the back looking thru one of the crevices:


I'll take some pics of the sump and post them in the next few days.

The tank really surpassed my expectations on how beautiful it's turned out - even with no live stock (except a few disposable frags). It looks awesome from my dinner table

Left to do:

1. Cabinetry: measurements taken, just waiting for Greg to comlete.

2. Calc Reactor install: Got the Jetstream1 plumbed and ready to go, just need final adjustments.

3. Program Aquacontroller II: Need to read the manual.

4. Lots of clean up: reroute, and dress power cords, label things, etc.

Art

[tang_man_montreal]

reefboy1,
Lookin GREAT! I like how those ceramic pillars look. How porous are they? I've seen them online somewhere but can't remember. Can you direct me to their site?

I'd be curious to see how they look with coraline encrusting them...

[swillydiver]

Hi! very nice setup, if i may suggest. You may want to move the stone towers a little off center. I think this would make your setup even nicer. (remember the golden ratio) Good luck!