500 ltr tank build thread from the UK

[mcgaws]

Hi all going to start up a thread of 500 ltr tank build I am in the process of doing. I hope it will be interesting and everyone can help me out a bit with advice. I will start posting as soon as possible. Hope to hear from you all soon.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

Welcome to the forum. Please post some pictures.

 

[mcgaws]

Welcome to the forum. Please post some pictures.

I will do don’t worry [emoji12]

 

[jdpeters]

Looking forward to it

 

[SPR1968]

Welcome to R2R and as said above we simply NEED pictures!

 

[mcgaws]

Hi, sorry for the delay of this thread. I have been busy working. Please bear with me with this, as I have never done a build thread before. So the tank details are as follows. It is 30x28x30 (inches) custom build made by fit filtration. I am running 2 Oceanlife overflows on the tank and 2 return nozzles. This is what was advised by the person I ordered the tank from. If I'm being honest I shouldn't have gone for these and should have just gone with the standard weir box. I feel the surface skimming is very poor on these things and they can't handle the amount of water they are advertised for. However these are fitted now so I am going to continue using them and see how I get on. Like I said I went with these overflows as I am running pipe work through the wall into a separate sump room to keep the tank as quiet as possible. Nick Chan made the cabinet/stand over at Aquarium cabinet solutions. The stand is of good quality.

 

[mcgaws]

I wanted to go for a minimal look for the aquascape. I looked around at different types of rock. I finally made my mind up and decided to go with dry Pukani rock, as I love the look of this stuff. I spent quite a long time looking around for a supplier of this stuff and I finally found a company in Wales (Uk) that dealt in it. I gave him a ring to discuss the sort of look I was looking for. He said send him an email with some pictures of the design I would like for the tank. I did this and he then replied to my email with rock he thought was best for the design I wanted to go for. We agreed a price for the rock and he sent it out the same day with free postage. Great service. Once the rock arrived at my house the next day I started doing a dry aquascape until I found the look I liked. See attached pictures below. With this being only 3-4 pieces of rock this didn’t take too long which was nice. I did cut of the bottom of the rocks so it had a nice flat service to sit on the glass of the tank and make it stable structure. I then took pictures of the design I had come up with so I didn’t forget after I had cured the rock for the next 6-8 weeks.

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome to R2R, looks great and can’t wait to see it wet:)

 

[mcgaws]

I went to local hardware store to see if I could find a big enough container for me to put the rock into to start the cure process. I finally found a 100ltr dustbin. This would be just big enough. I bought this and took this home. Once I had managed to play tetras and fit all of the rock in I placed at the bottom of the bin an 8000 litre an hour return pump and a heater. I set the heater at about 28oc, as the higher temp should break down the organics slightly faster. I have a red sea max S-400 I also have up and running at home to which I use natural seawater in. So I thought I would go and get 100 litres of this and start the curing process. Once I had filled the bin up with water I turned the pump on the highest setting, turned the heater on and put the lid on the bin and forgot about it. I would do a water change with NSW every couple of weeks for the next 6-8 weeks.

 

[mcgaws]

So once was the rock was I the bucket curing I could start on the hard plumbing in the sump room. I already had some ideas of how I was going to do this, but thinking is one thing and doing is another (I’m not good at DIY). I went to www. Aqariumplumbing.co.uk to order all the parts I need. This is great website as the offer sizes in metric and imperial. I will be working all in Inches. So I ordered 5 metres of 1 ¼ inch PVC-U class piping for the over flows and 5 metres of ¾ inch PVC-U for the return pumps and manifold. I ordered all of the relevant attachments too. I think total cost for the plumbing was around a couple of hundred quid. The most expensive bits of this were the ball valves and unions. Like I said I’m not good at DIY so I knew this was going to take me a while to do all of this, which was not a problem as I was in no rush. I think from start to finish doing the plumbing I probably took me a couple of months, ordering different bits and waiting for them to turn up. I have 2 return pumps, one that feeds only to the tank and 1 that feeds the reactors, chiller and the tank. Because of the lack of flow the Oceanlife’s can handle I may have to redo this and just use one pump splitting into 2 pipes for the for the return feeds into the tank. I’m not too sure yet. I would like to see what people’s opinions are on this. Also with doing it this way my water height will not fluctuate due to reactors getting dirty and reducing the flow. I have also attached ball valves to the return pump feeds just to create a slight bit of head pressure and also as safety feature for when I am doing malignance. Also I have added ball valves on overflow pipes. I know you are you not suppose to add these but to make this as quiet as possible I had too. I would like hear people’s opinions on this too and experiences.


This system will be running with an Apex system on it. I am trying to keep the sump rooms as tidy looking as possible and I had an old kitchen cabinet that was never used so I thought I would build that and create a false back in it to hide all of the cables. I think it turned out quite well in the end. I did have to buy a new EB6 power bar as my old one decide it didn’t want to work anymore which was a bit annoying. But all in all I was happy with the outcome.


If you think I have missed anything important out please comment and let me know and I will reply.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

Nice setup. Keep it coming.

 

[mcgaws]

There has been a change of plan, I have ordered a new tank with a new overflow system. Can’t wait to get it and set it up, I will post as soon as it arrives. Should be within 4 weeks. Couldn’t be dealing with the oceanlife overflows anymore. RUBBISH

 

[mcgaws]

So the tank is built just waiting for a delivery. Here is a couple of pics

 

[mcgaws]

So the tank arrived yesterday. Great service and professionalism by aquariums for life. Can’t fault them at all. All I have to do now is wait for my schedule 40 adapters to connect to my overflow system. Sump room is nearly done too as I re arranged it. I will be running the bean animal overflow system. Does anyone have any advice for this system I should know about before I cut and glue all the pipes?