AllTheCoral's ManReef Build! 4000g+

[Fishinbob]

This morning will be spent testing out these two power heads to see how they compare to gyres which I’ll be using to keep detritus from settling in the bottom and ecotech powerheads. I use ecotechs on my home system, but find the wet sides to not be very reliable. They’re hard to place perfect without vibration. If the move the dry side dropping could be very expensive and the wet sides need replacing every year or two from the magnets going bad.

While expensive I’m hoping the stream 3 is a good option for random flow. The 5 year warranty is the longest in the industry and should pay for itself if there are any issues.

I think you will be happy with the tunzes
They have a much wider flow pattern then the vortechs and are very directional. No as much across the tank power with the wide flow nozzle but move some good water. I have 2 6095 and 1 6125 on the back glass with wide angle nozzles and 2 mP40S on sides for undercurrent up front it works quite well I think with the combination you'll be happy!

 

[AllTheCorals]

I have a local a.c. guy who is a close personal friend out of port Charlotte I'll pm him the details if your interested

I appreciate the offer! I’ve already given my word to a company that I’ll do business with them. They ordered everything today without even a downpayment. =)

Work begins on Monday, and hopefully they’ll be strong enough to combat 12 400watt halides!

 

[AllTheCorals]

I think you will be happy with the tunzes
They have a much wider flow pattern then the vortechs and are very directional. No as much across the tank power with the wide flow nozzle but move some good water. I have 2 6095 and 1 6125 on the back glass with wide angle nozzles and 2 mP40S on sides for undercurrent up front it works quite well I think with the combination you'll be happy!

I just finished playing with them in my current frag tank that’s 48x30x16. These things are POWER HOUSES! I’m shocked after all these years in the hobby they don’t have a large following like ecotech.

The stream 3 at 4ft at 75% is kicking water out of the tank. At 100% it’s insane! It’s more of a direct flow and should do very well for the long 8ft runs. It works well on my 1/2” tank, but the magnet wasn’t strong enough for my 3/4” tank.

The 6255 has a very wide flow like you mentioned. Disassembly for cleaning is a snap. Already a big fan! It has enough power to make it the 48” at 100%. The flow pattern is at least 3x wider than the stream 3. So I think these will be nice for the middle of the tank.


The game plan for now is 2 gyre 250s on the bottom side by side. With 2 or 3 stream 3s on the opposite end to create a gyre. In the middle of the tank will be 1 6255 pulsing and other side will have the return with a sea swirl to crest some random flow.

 

[Pigpen]

Hey Tamer , now that I see how you have everything set up let me know if you need some lids machined for those sumps . something like this with out any thing on top .

 

[AllTheCorals]

Hey Tamer , now that I see how you have everything set up let me know if you need some lids machined for those sumps . something like this with out any thing on top .

Thank you for the offer! Something I’ll consider in the future.

 

[AllTheCorals]

Today was productive! I setup two 300 gallon rubbermaid sumps to start prepping the rocks.

I’m still undecided on what I want to do for bacteria. In preparation for this about a year ago I added a ton of marine pure into my home system to seed the rocks. I will add those and a ton of biodigest. Lately I’ve been leaning towards adding some Tampa bay live rock since they’re local as well. Unwanted algae and pests has me hesitate. I have additional dry rock that I’ll put in the tanks themselves once they’re running. This rock will utilized in the sumps.

What do you guys think? Add live to speed things up and have stability or gamble with live rock too?

 

[Fishinbob]

Dosing some fritz turbo start 900 or the bio digest will certainly help with the marine pure blocks for a clean sterile esque environment but limited biodiversity, sponges and, micro fauna.

Tbs is all the diversity with some bad
Got 100 lbs of rock from richard hand picked up in tampa... was a 50lb minimum then. Great diversity not much nucience algae, tons of sponges and micro life. I definitely contribute some of my success with that setup to the live rock with diverse bacteria/micro fauna. But the pests are the problem gorilla crabs, stone crabs, mantis shrimp, pistol's, isopods that's what I experienced. Got out most of the soft invertebrates with soda water. If it's only used in the sump it will limit some migration to the display but risking it a little.

 

[AllTheCorals]

Dosing some fritz turbo start 900 or the bio digest will certainly help with the marine pure blocks for a clean sterile esque environment but limited biodiversity, sponges and, micro fauna.

Tbs is all the diversity with some bad
Got 100 lbs of rock from richard hand picked up in tampa... was a 50lb minimum then. Great diversity not much nucience algae, tons of sponges and micro life. I definitely contribute some of my success with that setup to the live rock with diverse bacteria/micro fauna. But the pests are the problem gorilla crabs, stone crabs, mantis shrimp, pistol's, isopods that's what I experienced. Got out most of the soft invertebrates with soda water. If it's only used in the sump it will limit some migration to the display but risking it a little.

The animals don’t worry me as much as the algae’s and anemones. I’ve had a rough 18 months with aptasia, bryopsis, vermetid snails, and turf algae. Thankfully I’ve managed to overcome them all.

What do you think about buy some tbr and qting it in their own tank for a couple months before adding to the rest of the rock? I think a couple months will suffice. I made a list of everything left to do today and I’m realistically I should be complete in 6 months. That’ll give everything 4 months to do its thing before dividing up for the 5-7 systems.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Whoa. ;Drool;Greedy;Wideyed

 

[AllTheCorals]

And we’re offically in the water business! Running at the suggested 250psi I’m very close to a 1:1 ratio. My city water must be having a bad day. My last couple tests have been 480-500 tds. I feel bad for those who blindly drink from the tap.

After a little magic my tds is at 4 before DI, which I may not even use after depending on the results of a icp test. I measured with a gallon and am producing 1 gallon of water in 28 seconds or just over 3000gpd.

Pending water test results I’ll run the second membrane in series or parallel. I’m currently only using one.

Next step will be at add power heads, salt and a protein skimmer. Once the rocks cleaned up I’ll add bacteria and my stash of marine pure blocks.

Still undecided at this point if I’ll be adding live rock.

 

[Fishinbob]

The animals don’t worry me as much as the algae’s and anemones. I’ve had a rough 18 months with aptasia, bryopsis, vermetid snails, and turf algae. Thankfully I’ve managed to overcome them all.

What do you think about buy some tbr and qting it in their own tank for a couple months before adding to the rest of the rock? I think a couple months will suffice. I made a list of everything left to do today and I’m realistically I should be complete in 6 months. That’ll give everything 4 months to do its thing before dividing up for the 5-7 systems.

Yeah if you qt it for a while it should be good... at most a little calurpa and halameda will be all you find on it. No bryopsis or hair algae nonsense!

 

[AllTheCorals]

Salt, skimmers and carbon are in! I need to build something to add filter floss into the mix too.

 

[BigJohnny]

Awesome build, I already asked this a while back but didnt get a response. I couldn't tell from your explanation, is this going to be a retail store?

 

[Algaewarrior]

Awesome build, I already asked this a while back but didnt get a response. I couldn't tell from your explanation, is this going to be a retail store?

No. Reef cave/family hangout

 

[BigJohnny]

No. Reef cave/family hangout

That's what I thought but it's a retail space with raceways so I was confused. Wild

 

[Algaewarrior]

To say it is epic would be an understatement.

 

[dantimdad]

I have actually toyed with doing the same thing in the past and opening it up to public viewing one day a week.

Sadly, the company that I worked for closed so it never came to be.

 

[mch1984]

Looking good and exciting to see the first water going in.

 

[wowkingjames]

Following, looks awesome....

 

[AllTheCorals]

Awesome build, I already asked this a while back but didnt get a response. I couldn't tell from your explanation, is this going to be a retail store?

Man cave! I think a store takes a ton of work and great employees in this business are hard to find. I'd still like to be able to travel =-)