Justin's New Baby

[jleoni]

A good shot to see what I did here:

The water level before this was amost 3" from the top ... It's a 30" tall aquarium by golly I want my water at least CLOSE to the top so when I build the canopy it'll look like it's just WATER!

 

[SchnitzelReef]

U have 1 -200gph pump for all of ur flow? Or was that just for ur water changes? did I miss something?

I love big tanks! Gunna be sweet when it's a full reef tank

 

[jleoni]

Also today until I get the facade done and all the perm electral lines run I mounted my temp control unit, placed the probe and hooked in the heaters. Tomorrow I'll make the shelf for the chiller. I also placed one of two of my large capasity skimmers on the equipment shelf .. but I still need to plumb the intake but I'll do that with simple PVC stuff. And my kalkwasser doser!

 

[jleoni]

So a lot has happened on this project over the last month or so ... David I bet you thought I probably wasn't taking pics and going to update this anymore!!! Fooled you!

To answer questions now. No I have a 1600 gph brand new pump for my return lines. It's probably not pictured anywhere in any of these.

My tank drains to the sump and then flows via piping to the return pump. to complete the loop, between the drain and the return line a 2nd line comes off of my sump and loops to my refugium which is then pumped back to the sump making it a second loop. Both the refugium and sump will both have high capasity skimmers in them. I've tested my design and in cause of power failure and before I can get generators up and running ect the gravity fed 2nd loop will reverse flow if needed to supply the main sump and run off from the tank is all contained in within the system.

The return line branches to 3 out jets which I've plumbed with flow accelerators. Which produces a nice amount of flow but it's not enough for a reef system. In addition to that 4 Hydor pumps will be positioned on wave makers one on 5 second intervals and the other on 10 second which will give varing degrees of back and forth flow through out the system.

 

[jleoni]

please excuse any mess you will see in any of these pictures ... this is why i've had my shop closed to public browsing for over a month now .. and yes i'll need to repaint the floor!!

 

[jleoni]

if any of you have questions and I'm not around to answer them here look me up on facebook i'm always available there: https://www.facebook.com/jleoni

 

[jleoni]

And finally here it is as of last night

 

[jleoni]

It's up its running, according to the online calculator it's 472.5 total gallons of water.

 

[jleoni]

still a lot more work to do like dedicated electoral lines and a façade but I can rest a while now ... be a long 8 months!

 

[jleoni]

Well the pool has been running now for well over a month now. I've still got to work on dedicated electrical lines, finishing up my façade and redoing my light system with something more elegant, it's all in the words and will be done at some point this year but I thought I would share a photo update!

 

[jleoni]

I've also been creating my own salt and additives for several months now. Even though I run a retail shop, it's so much easier to just make your own stuff!!! Plus you know exactly what is going into your system. And honestly now that I've been daily dosing and keeping perfect ionic balance, my Acroporas and other corals grow like crazy!

 

[jleoni]

For those of you following this post see my new thread i actually SPAWNED stylophora yesterday with all my custom stuff!

 

[THE MAD REEFER]

Looks good

 

[FL_Reefer]

Following this one, great work so far!!

 

[jleoni]

I still haven't done a single water change the eco system maintains itself properly. I have in the last year cleaned pumps, and replaced the aqua-maxx biopellets twice and the aqua-maxx carbon, about every three months.. Im still using my own custom blend of now five supplements:

Alkalinity (NaHCO, NaCO, HBO, THBO)
Calcium CaCl
Magnesium (MgCl, MgSO)
Potassium (KCl)
Iron (FeGl)

Plus seachem reef plus for minor trace, which i hope by the end of the year to at least have product ready Mn - manganese and I2 ( iodide and iodine).

Ived added many coral frags such as acropora and tyree bubblegum chalice, symphilla brains. They all grow at break neck speeds.