270g FOWLR and Fish Room Build (image heavy)

Aardvark1134

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Going larger on the UV is always an option, but I felt it better to start with size that lifeguard recommends for my size tank. At this point I don't see the need to run a UV rated for nearly 3x my tank size. My UV will be ran off of a manifold, so if I need to upgrade in the future it will be easy to do. I would add an algae scrubber before upping the UV size if I find it to small to keep up with my tank however.
I think you miss understand how UVs are sized. That is the right size UV if you want 30K, but if you are looking to use it for anything other than basic clearing of water you will need to run it at more than 30K. For example if you want to help control disease and paracites you need to run near 90K-180K. It's the size they recommend for your tank based on running it only at 30K. But if you just want clear water than 30K will due just fine.
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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I think you will love the Jebao returns, I run many and they work awesome! The 13000 you got really moves some water!

I've got a smaller Jebao return running on my temp tank I just setup and so far so good. Longevity and reliability are my only concerns. We will so with time I guess.

Love this build, keep it up!
Thank you!
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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I think you miss understand how UVs are sized. That is the right size UV if you want 30K, but if you are looking to use it for anything other than basic clearing of water you will need to run it at more than 30K. For example if you want to help control disease and paracites you need to run near 90K-180K. It's the size they recommend for your tank based on running it only at 30K. But if you just want clear water than 30K will due just fine.
It's possible that I am reading their documentation incorrectly. Going off their PDF , the R450107 will control algae and bacteria at 30k with a max flow of 2100gph. According to Liveaquaria, for algae and bacteria control I would really only need a 18w UV, but preferably a 25w. I'll admit again that I could be wrong in this, but both of those sites tell me I should be good for my intended use of the UV on my tank.

This will be a FOWLR and all fish are being sourced from TSM Aquatics that do a full quarantine before shipping the fish to me. So, I am not planning to use the UV to control disease or parasites.
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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This is going to be an awesome setup. Exactly what I would want if I had more space.
Thanks man. I really wanted to do an in wall build, but it was just too much money to have someone cut up and reinforce the load bearing wall. I try to do as much of the construction stuff as I can, but I'm not messing with the integrity of my house for a fish tank. lol
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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I'm making progress on the dray wall. I've got all the joints taped and mudded with at least one coat of mud. The outside lower joints have two on them. I know now why I did not become a professional dry-waller.... cause I suck at it!

200gBuild-FishRoom-102142.jpg


200gBuild-FishRoom-102204.jpg


I'm not planning painting the outside as the rest of the garage is not painted. I am going to be painting the inside however. Also got my lights installed in the fish room. They are connected to a smart outlet and motion detector. No need to run wiring for a light switch (but I still have to wire a plug over on that wall to plug them and my room fan and RODI pumps into). It also means I don't have to turn a light on when I'm carrying something in there. I have it programed to turn off 15 minutes after it stops sensing motion. That way it does not turn off if I'm stationary in there while working on something.

I did drive up north to pick up my skimmer and temporary sump from Chris Brown over the weekend (Thanks for everything Chris, it was nice meeting you!). No pics of the sump, but here is the beat of a skimmer:

200gBuild-Equip-100520.jpg


My plans are to finish mudding and sanding the walls this week and hopefully get the fish room painted this weekend. I need to start getting things inside of it so I can straighten up the garage some!
 

Janci

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Great build so far and interesting to follow a FOWLR tank.
Love the rock scape.
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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Great build so far and interesting to follow a FOWLR tank.
Love the rock scape.
Thank you. I should probably start calling this a FOWLR+ build. I'm pretty certain that we will end up moving the GSP, ricordea, and all the nems over from the 60g cube to this new tank. The nems should be fine and I think the GSP will be okay as well with the fish. The ricordea, I'll just have to see if the fish end up messing with them or not.
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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Well, I just got this update on my tank from Planet:

"They are waiting for glass to come in for this tank. They have NO completion date listed at this time."

At 8 weeks in, I feel they should have mentioned not having the glass yet to even start the build.
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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This time when I asked them to order two 105g reservoirs, they wanted to pass the shipping on to me. Due to this and a 10 week shipping delay, I ended up ordering a pair of 100g that were on sale. The price came out about the same, but these will be here sometime this week or next. It still hurt paying $240 is shipping o_O

Well, the punches keep on coming. I called to check on the status of the RODI reservoir tanks that I ordered on 12Feb since they had not shown up. They informed me today that the ones I ordered were not actually in stock and so had not been shipped. Wait, what? I switched from the 105g tanks to the 100g because they told me they were in stock! I had even called back on 25Feb to check on them and they said they were going on the truck the next day. When I asked why no one called to tell me they were out of stock and not shipped, they said cause I never told them I did not receive them! what the heck. I've got to call you and tell you that you never shipped me something?

So now the customer service lady is check all her warehouses and stores to see if any 100g or 105g tanks are in stock. If not, I'm back to waiting 6~10 weeks for them to make the tanks.
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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I'm loving the build
Thanks. Hopefully some day soon I'll be able to get things really moving. I've been having all kinds of logistical issues lately. The tank is delayed, the RODI reservoirs are delayed, half of the floor tiles I ordered for the fish room were lost and now reported as being damaged beyond use. If that was not enough, I went through three propane tanks heating the fish room while I'm building it (it will be heated from the house once completed) and I've had to stop working out there because the local propane place was not able to refill any tanks for the past 4 days.
 

Super Fly

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Well, the punches keep on coming. I called to check on the status of the RODI reservoir tanks that I ordered on 12Feb since they had not shown up. They informed me today that the ones I ordered were not actually in stock and so had not been shipped. Wait, what? I switched from the 105g tanks to the 100g because they told me they were in stock! I had even called back on 25Feb to check on them and they said they were going on the truck the next day. When I asked why no one called to tell me they were out of stock and not shipped, they said cause I never told them I did not receive them! what the heck. I've got to call you and tell you that you never shipped me something?

So now the customer service lady is check all her warehouses and stores to see if any 100g or 105g tanks are in stock. If not, I'm back to waiting 6~10 weeks for them to make the tanks.
That's unbelievable way to run a company, guess business must be good to treat customer like that... if it was me, I'd cancel the order and take my business elsewhere. Who's the vendor if you don't mind me asking?
 

JumboShrimp

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I feel your pain. My Fiji Lo Pro Overflow caused me so many headaches, and it delayed my build beyond belief; but hang in there-- the joy will come when you can one day just sit back with nothing left on the 'To-Do Checklist' but feed your incredible fish. ;)
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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That's unbelievable way to run a company, guess business must be good to treat customer like that... if it was me, I'd cancel the order and take my business elsewhere. Who's the vendor if you don't mind me asking?
Plastic-Mart is who I'm going through. I think the issue is that they (and all the other online sellers) are really just brokers. They don't actually have the tanks and are just the sales outlet for multiple manufactures. So if they do not get good info from the manufactures/warehouses, they can't pass anything along to the customers.
 
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Oberst Hajj

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I feel your pain. My Fiji Lo Pro Overflow caused me so many headaches, and it delayed my build beyond belief; but hang in there-- the joy will come when you can one day just sit back with nothing left on the 'To-Do Checklist' but feed your incredible fish. ;)
Yeah, these are just little bumps in the road to building the tank. I do have other things to work on to get everything ready, so it is not like any of these delays are holding the build up at this time (except the lack of propane, I'm not going to mud and sand in 40° temps! lol). It is just frustrating herding all the cats to make sure they don't hold up the build in a week or so. It took me an hour on the phone this morning to sort out the floor tile stuff.
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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That's unbelievable way to run a company, guess business must be good to treat customer like that... if it was me, I'd cancel the order and take my business elsewhere. Who's the vendor if you don't mind me asking?

Plastic-Mart is who I'm going through. I think the issue is that they (and all the other online sellers) are really just brokers. They don't actually have the tanks and are just the sales outlet for multiple manufactures. So if they do not get good info from the manufactures/warehouses, they can't pass anything along to the customers.
Plastic-Mart (which is the same thing as tank-depot.com btw) just called me with some good news. They found a store in OK that had 18 of the 105g reservoirs that I originally wanted in stock and two of them will be shipping to me next Tuesday/Wednesday and should only take few days to get to me. Apparently when I first tried to order these, they were not in stock anywhere, but a shipment was already headed to this store.

As long as they show up in the next week or two it will work out better for me in the end.
 

mattgsa

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Thanks. Hopefully some day soon I'll be able to get things really moving. I've been having all kinds of logistical issues lately. The tank is delayed, the RODI reservoirs are delayed, half of the floor tiles I ordered for the fish room were lost and now reported as being damaged beyond use. If that was not enough, I went through three propane tanks heating the fish room while I'm building it (it will be heated from the house once completed) and I've had to stop working out there because the local propane place was not able to refill any tanks for the past 4 days.
Yet you make it all look so easy. :p You really do have a nice build, keep up all the great work, it will be well worth it in the end. Thank you so much for sharing.
 
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Oberst Hajj

Oberst Hajj

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I finished taping and mudding over the weekend, so painting will begin today.

In the mean time, I thought I'd post up what my current stock list looks like and get some suggestions to flush it out.

Currently Have
Clownfish pair (from the 60g cube)

On Order from TSM
1x One Spot Foxface
1x Naso Tang
1x Desjardini Sailfin Tang
3x Blue Hippo Tangs

Other Big Fish I'd Like
1x Powder Brown Tang
1x Emperor Angel
1x Blue Face Angel
1x Clown Trigger or Niger Trigger (can't decide if I want to forgo possible inverts for these guys)

Smaller Fish
This is where I'm not 100% sure what I want to do. A group of Anthias would be cool, but they seem to be harder to keep. A verity of wrasse could work as well.

Since the trigger and wrasse are know to go after CUC, I'd need to figure out some other tank cleaners if I got those guys.

What do all of you think for smaller fishes for my tank?
 

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