My 140 Gallon Build
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Jonathan G
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My Aquarium Showcase
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Wow looks great! Love the cute little helper!
Jonathan G
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Jonathan G
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Esage
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Are you still liking this tank? About to purchase one and came across your thread. Is the tank hard to do maintenance in? How did you mount your lights?
Jonathan G
Community Member
Yes I still like the tank. The stand, canopy, and tank are stunning and very well made. I've had no issues with it. That being said if I could go back to the beginning I would have gotten something larger (who hasn't said that) and with more room underneath. The Aquavim half cylinder stands are not totally open, they have a square section under the tank you can use and my sump filled that area totally so I have no space for the reactor, ATO equip, dosing equip, or storage that I now am looking to add. My solution will be some piece of furniture next to the tank to store that equipment but I'm agonizing over moving water between the 2 and would could happen if it leaks. Aquavim also encloses a lot of the top of the tank in glass, only leaving a section in the middle open. It's large enough to get anything in but I can't reach the bottom corners of the tank with my hand, and even reaching the bottom in front requires a ladder and my entire arm. I wouldn't change the depth though, that was one thing I wanted, I just wish the top was more open so I could reach in from the sides.
As far as lighting I just used eyehooks and then the hanging hardwarethat came with my maxspect and then later my reefbreeders LED's. Here is a pic of them.
Esage
Valuable Member
Yes I still like the tank. The stand, canopy, and tank are stunning and very well made. I've had no issues with it. That being said if I could go back to the beginning I would have gotten something larger (who hasn't said that) and with more room underneath. The Aquavim half cylinder stands are not totally open, they have a square section under the tank you can use and my sump filled that area totally so I have no space for the reactor, ATO equip, dosing equip, or storage that I now am looking to add. My solution will be some piece of furniture next to the tank to store that equipment but I'm agonizing over moving water between the 2 and would could happen if it leaks. Aquavim also encloses a lot of the top of the tank in glass, only leaving a section in the middle open. It's large enough to get anything in but I can't reach the bottom corners of the tank with my hand, and even reaching the bottom in front requires a ladder and my entire arm. I wouldn't change the depth though, that was one thing I wanted, I just wish the top was more open so I could reach in from the sides.
As far as lighting I just used eyehooks and then the hanging hardwarethat came with my maxspect and then later my reefbreeders LED's. Here is a pic of them.
Thanks for all the info, it looks like you have the moon view since the canopy opens from the front? have you been able to get good flow inside the tank? I noticed in your earlier pictures the large euro brace and was concerned it would be difficult to work inside the tank. I need to stop asking questions and pull the trigger
Jonathan G
Community Member
Thanks for all the info, it looks like you have the moon view since the canopy opens from the front? have you been able to get good flow inside the tank? I noticed in your earlier pictures the large euro brace and was concerned it would be difficult to work inside the tank. I need to stop asking questions and pull the trigger
Yes it's the moon view. I have had no issues with flow, I have 4 hydors on their controller now, 2 on each side. I would advise mounting them on the back as mounting on the sides ruin the look of the half cylinder. Any powerhead you can adjust is fine, not sure if you wanted to use Ecotech's as you can't direct them. I actually think the cylinder shape helps with flow. Are you buying direct from Aquavim? Did you see their clearance site?
Esage
Valuable Member
I will be buying direct from AquaVim. I was planning on using Ecotech's but I'm waiting to hear back on the glass thickness. I may try a Maxspect Riptide and mount it on the overflow.
Jonathan G
Community Member
This is the page I got mine from, it was about $1k less than ordering custom and they had exactly what I wanted.
http://www.4fishtank.com/specials.htm
http://www.4fishtank.com/specials.htm
Esage
Valuable Member
Order my half cylinder this week. Looking at your overflow, does it pull in water on the bottom, middle, and over the teeth at the top?
Jonathan G
Community Member
The slots at the bottom and middle pull water and direct it to the top of the overflow where it meets with the water from the top teeth and goes over into the overflow. I'm excited to see another build using the half cylinder tank, please post a link to your build once you start!
Esage
Valuable Member
I'll definitely start a thread. Thanks for all the info. Your tank looks great, hope mine turns out as good. Do you have your power heads centered on either side of the overflow? It looks like there mounted in the flat corners? When researching a lot of people said it was hard to get good flow in a half cylinder. I was wondering what your doing for flow? I was thinking about going with two MP10's on either side of the overflow.
Jonathan G
Community Member
I have 4 powerheads, 2 each in the top corners of the flat back and they are on a controller that runs one on each side at a time. I've not had issues with flow but I am going to be swapping out the Hydors for Jabeo DC to try and get some more random flow. I love Ecotechs and use them on my tank at work but I stuck with powerheads that are on a stalk so I can angle them in towards the middle of the tank. Here's a pic of the left side. You can't really tell from the pic but they are angled as far as they ca towards the center of the tank.
Esage
Valuable Member
The tank was delivered today. I'm excited to get it setup. I've got another question for you? When power is cut does the overflow stop draining once the water drops below the top teeth of the overflow? I'm worried about my sump size. Do you know how much yours drains when the power is cut to the return pump?
Thanks
Thanks
Jonathan G
Community Member
Yes the overflow will stop draining to the sump once the water breaks below the teeth. That being said I used loc-line for my return and it created a siphon which will draw water back until the loc-line is exposed. That was too much water for my sump so I added a GF Wye valve in the return line. this worked but I had the valve fail several times during feeding after about 6 months. I always caught it in time but it un-nerved me that I could loose power or the return pump would fail and too much water would back siphon out. I fixed this by drilling a hole in the loc-line on each run just below the surface of the water. This breaks the siphon almost immediately.
I'm not sure exactly how much water drains back, for me I would say its less than half a gallon, whatever is in the drain and the return already that drops back down in. I'm really excited to see your build, please ask away if you have any other questions or want to see detailed pics of anything that I've done with my setup.
I'm not sure exactly how much water drains back, for me I would say its less than half a gallon, whatever is in the drain and the return already that drops back down in. I'm really excited to see your build, please ask away if you have any other questions or want to see detailed pics of anything that I've done with my setup.
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