Hi everyone,
I'm semi new here on this forum but have been in the hobby for over 15 years but still consider myself to be a rookie lol.
We recently moved and I was able to setup my dream tank and wanted to share some of the build here with you guys. I'm not a big photo guy but did take some pictures along the way, but not as much as I would like to have. When I get into the zone of doing something, I just go and am not thinking much about taking pictures.
Most of the equipment and livestock came from my 180g which was setup and running for over 6 years and I had to tear down for the move.
the 300 gallon is an acrylic tank with dimensions of 96"W X 30"H X 24"D with a custom sump 48"W x 19"D x 18"H
I had the tank and sump custom build but will not mention the company because I was really not happy with the quality of their work they and their customer service. If anyone is interested, you can message me and I will reply back with the name of the company.
so here are some pictures:
Arrival day:
As you can see they send me the tank and sump all crated up but didn't put any shrink wrap around the tank before they boxed it causing it to have all sort of scuff marks all over it from the 2x4's. all minor except a large one that goes horizontally across the bottom front. Not what you want to see on your dream tank but unfortunately I had to setup the tank as soon as possible since I only had two weeks to get all my livestock and tank out of the old house and into the new one so I didn't have the time to have them pick it up fix it and send it back (which wasn't even offered to me when I called them). but i'm still excited
Here is my stand which was build with the help of one of my good friends who did a great job:
Tank and stand all setup:
okay so problem two as you can see is that they used two different blue color for the background and the overflow without telling me!
The kids having fun before setting it up
I drilled four holes on the bottom of the tank for my closed loop system. Two 2" for drains and two 1.5" for returns. The returns and drains got hidden under my rock work:
Plumbing for the closed loop drain and returns:
Overflow Plumbing:
Ready for water:
Halfway filled up I noticed that the overflow was being filled up with water as I was filling up the tank. Had to drain all the water only to find out that I was getting a leak from the tank into the overflow from the bottom of the overflow. Somehow it wasn't sealed properly. Called the company and the guy who made it tells me I have to try to patch it up and that I quote " He hopes that he didn't forget to put some weldon on the bottom of the overflow when he was making it"
This was the last thing I wanted to hear!! seriously? you might have forgotten to put glue? GREAT!!
As upset as I was, I dried the whole tank, got the sand out of the way, applied a S#*t load of weldon on the bottom of the overflow and let it all dry. It wasn't pretty but did the job!
3 days latter tank all filled up:
I ran a water line and a drain under my stand so I can have my RO/DI right under the stand for my ATO and water changes.
Full system test run:
My DIY skimmer delay timer:
The sump was really loud making a gushing noise when water was going through the filter socks so I made my own silencers which worked great!
Canopy, lights and full system running:
I'm semi new here on this forum but have been in the hobby for over 15 years but still consider myself to be a rookie lol.
We recently moved and I was able to setup my dream tank and wanted to share some of the build here with you guys. I'm not a big photo guy but did take some pictures along the way, but not as much as I would like to have. When I get into the zone of doing something, I just go and am not thinking much about taking pictures.
Most of the equipment and livestock came from my 180g which was setup and running for over 6 years and I had to tear down for the move.
the 300 gallon is an acrylic tank with dimensions of 96"W X 30"H X 24"D with a custom sump 48"W x 19"D x 18"H
I had the tank and sump custom build but will not mention the company because I was really not happy with the quality of their work they and their customer service. If anyone is interested, you can message me and I will reply back with the name of the company.
so here are some pictures:
Arrival day:
As you can see they send me the tank and sump all crated up but didn't put any shrink wrap around the tank before they boxed it causing it to have all sort of scuff marks all over it from the 2x4's. all minor except a large one that goes horizontally across the bottom front. Not what you want to see on your dream tank but unfortunately I had to setup the tank as soon as possible since I only had two weeks to get all my livestock and tank out of the old house and into the new one so I didn't have the time to have them pick it up fix it and send it back (which wasn't even offered to me when I called them). but i'm still excited
Here is my stand which was build with the help of one of my good friends who did a great job:
Tank and stand all setup:
okay so problem two as you can see is that they used two different blue color for the background and the overflow without telling me!
The kids having fun before setting it up
I drilled four holes on the bottom of the tank for my closed loop system. Two 2" for drains and two 1.5" for returns. The returns and drains got hidden under my rock work:
Plumbing for the closed loop drain and returns:
Overflow Plumbing:
Ready for water:
Halfway filled up I noticed that the overflow was being filled up with water as I was filling up the tank. Had to drain all the water only to find out that I was getting a leak from the tank into the overflow from the bottom of the overflow. Somehow it wasn't sealed properly. Called the company and the guy who made it tells me I have to try to patch it up and that I quote " He hopes that he didn't forget to put some weldon on the bottom of the overflow when he was making it"
This was the last thing I wanted to hear!! seriously? you might have forgotten to put glue? GREAT!!
As upset as I was, I dried the whole tank, got the sand out of the way, applied a S#*t load of weldon on the bottom of the overflow and let it all dry. It wasn't pretty but did the job!
3 days latter tank all filled up:
I ran a water line and a drain under my stand so I can have my RO/DI right under the stand for my ATO and water changes.
Full system test run:
My DIY skimmer delay timer:
The sump was really loud making a gushing noise when water was going through the filter socks so I made my own silencers which worked great!
Canopy, lights and full system running: