Anderson Family Reef - Concrete Aquarium DIY 5K All The Way (Page 33)

[Skynyrd Fish]

Mind blown. Happy new year. I’m excited for you.

 

[Brandon Wilcox]

Awesome!!!!!!

 

[dca22anderson]

Happy New Year reef friends!!

 

[GBRsouth]

Happy New Year! And happy filling!

 

[dca22anderson]

 

[dca22anderson]

Couldn’t help myself… had to add a light, some pumps and a bubbler to look at in the meantime

 

[Yanos]

Bare bottom????
Now I’m officially upset

 

[dca22anderson]

Bare bottom????
Now I’m officially upset

Just a leak test so still may add sand when the time comes but it’s way down kind of out of view

 

[dca22anderson]

This is so exciting, I can't imagine how pumped you are!

Have you looked into what tap water testing looks like in your area? I know over in Golden, CO some people done even use RODI water, they'll just put on a 3 canister water purification system with sediment/carbon/di resin. If it's not bad you might be able to just use prime and let it sit for a few weeks as you test the silicone and not have to refill it. Just a thought, I get the want to fill with RODI too.

Do you know what 3 canister system they used? I’m really liking that idea!!

 

[Sltloser]

Do you know what 3 canister system they used? I’m really liking that idea!!

When I used to do it on my old 180 I found an old RO/DI system and stripped the membrane and added a 3rd canister for the DI resin. I was in an area that already had good tap water so just be sure to look up local testing to see if there is anything to worry about in doing this.

With how big your aquarium is I might just buy new canisters from BRS (or whomever your preferred vendor is) and get the 20" canisters so the cartridges last longer.

Reverse Osmosis and Reactor Canisters

We carry a wide variety of reverse osmosis canisters, and depending on your system or reactor we most likely have the canister to fit your needs. The most common RODI systems along with the BRS systems use the 10" Canister with 1/4" ports. The standard and dual BRS Reactors use the same 10"...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I used a handheld tds meter as a proxy for how "good" the water was.

My system looked like this:
5 micron sediment
1 micron carbon
DI resin

But you could expand the unit to 4 or 5 cartridges to add other larger/smaller sediment filters to help reduce turnover of cartridges downstream and then make your carbon block filter smaller if needed.

Hope that helps!

 

[dca22anderson]

When I used to do it on my old 180 I found an old RO/DI system and stripped the membrane and added a 3rd canister for the DI resin. I was in an area that already had good tap water so just be sure to look up local testing to see if there is anything to worry about in doing this.

With how big your aquarium is I might just buy new canisters from BRS (or whomever your preferred vendor is) and get the 20" canisters so the cartridges last longer.

Reverse Osmosis and Reactor Canisters

We carry a wide variety of reverse osmosis canisters, and depending on your system or reactor we most likely have the canister to fit your needs. The most common RODI systems along with the BRS systems use the 10" Canister with 1/4" ports. The standard and dual BRS Reactors use the same 10"...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I used a handheld tds meter as a proxy for how "good" the water was.

My system looked like this:
5 micron sediment
1 micron carbon
DI resin

But you could expand the unit to 4 or 5 cartridges to add other larger/smaller sediment filters to help reduce turnover of cartridges downstream and then make your carbon block filter smaller if needed.

Hope that helps!

Yes, that’s awesome, thank you!

 

[Sltloser]

Yes, that’s awesome, thank you!

Anytime, happy to help!

Wow, it's so cool to see this much water in the aquarium! Have you noticed if the bowing of the front panel has gotten better with how much water you have right now? Can you tell if it has straightened back to be touching the silicone at all?

 

[Bato367]

Amazing build!

You can probably get away with 2, maybe 3 tangs in there.

 

[Reefin Aint Easy]

Amazing build!

You can probably get away with 2, maybe 3 tangs in there.

He better not, or I'll call the Tang Police! The tank is to small for 3 tangs!

 

[dca22anderson]

Anytime, happy to help!

Wow, it's so cool to see this much water in the aquarium! Have you noticed if the bowing of the front panel has gotten better with how much water you have right now? Can you tell if it has straightened back to be touching the silicone at all?

It looks about the same but I ended up filling it at its natural position with additional silicone… still will need to test the top seam once I get the overflow in there, I’ll take a closer look tomorrow

 

[Sltloser]

It looks about the same but I ended up filling it at its natural position with additional silicone… still will need to test the top seam once I get the overflow in there, I’ll take a closer look tomorrow

That makes sense, not trying to beat a dead horse, just genuinely curious how it reacted to the water. I'm hoping to make my own plywood aquarium in the next year so trying to absorb as much information as possible. I know you'll get it figured out, and with the 4 inch seams of silicone around the outside of the panel I have a hard time imagining that fails (but I'm no engineer ).

 

[dca22anderson]

He better not, or I'll call the Tang Police! The tank is to small for 3 tangs!

Love that tang police pic! That’s been around a while. So far I have about 3600 gallons in there for the test until I install the overflow box then it will bring it up another 12-16”. I hope that’s enough for a few good tangs

 

[Reefin Aint Easy]

Love that tang police pic! That’s been around a while. So far I have about 3600 gallons in there for the test until I install the overflow box then it will bring it up another 12-16”. I hope that’s enough for a few good tangs

Haha it may be enough. Beautiful build you're doing and can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Love that tang police pic! That’s been around a while. So far I have about 3600 gallons in there for the test until I install the overflow box then it will bring it up another 12-16”. I hope that’s enough for a few good tangs

I think you are fine for 3 tangs based on size of aquarium, my concern is your current salinity level. ;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

 

[dca22anderson]

Water is a little more murky today… but love having water in there. I have a plan to fill up the drain holes this week in a way that hopefully I can just silicone over the top of them with the new overflow box from Bill Wann when it’s ready.