My Prostar Rimless 200 V2 build

[gfish]

I'm excited today the tank shows up so I can finally get started. I've already gotten my additional equipment purchased and ready.

Prostar 200 rimless V2 (white version)
Trigger 39 platinum sump
3 Hydra 32 HD's
Neptune WAV 4000GPS power heads (2 ea)
RO Varios 8 return
RO Regal 200 skimmer
Duetto ATO
BRS dual 300 watt heaters
Neptune APEX controller/energy bar
Hanna deluxe testing kit
75GPD 4 stage RO/DI

40lb Caribsea life rock arches
20lb Caribsea life rock shapes
40lb Caribsea life rock shelf
Aragonite special grade sand

My plan is I want to attempt to modify the overflow on the tank to a herbie setup. I'm big on automation so will see how it all goes once it's up and running. I'm just excited to get started with this project.

 

[BaysEndReef]

After reading your list of goodies up there, you have me excited for your tank to arrive tomorrow!! haha. I hope all goes smooth with getting it set up.

 

[gfish]

I got the tank today.. easy delivery into the garage.. wife and I got the stand taken off the top of the tank and brought it inside easy enough..

I took out the sump and put in the new trigger sump easy enough.. Took me awhile to level the stand but have it about as good as I can get..

I'm wondering if i need to get something like neoprene sheet to put on the stand to set the tank on... Seems like I saw or read somewhere that was a good idea to make sure there is no gaps between the tank and stand. The stand was kind of weird like it was a little tough to get level and the doors were not level but they are now. I'll probably take a lot of extra time to fill the tank and level as i go to make sure it stays level. I'm also wondering if i should put something under the sump to maybe protect the stand and maybe quiet any vibration from pumps etc.. I'm not sure if anyone has advice on that i'm listening..

I'll get the tank on the stand tomorrow my son is going to come over and help so there will be 4 of us to get the tank up on the stand safely and I have some backup plans in case it feels like it's unsafe to just lift it straight up..

After that I'll be trying to figure out my plumbing setup and get a list of plumbing material I need and get it on order.. Then working on the aqua scape some more and want to take my time to get it right.. I figure i'll have a few days between ordering my plumbing and getting my aqua scape the way i want it.

It's very exciting to get this thing going but at the same time so much going through the mind to make sure I'm not missing anything and trying to stay patient and take my time with everything. I know many have gone through this before so probably understand what i'm going through.. LOL

 

[Canuck007]

Congrats on the new build! I just bought the Prostar 230 but not taking delivery for a few months as I'm moving. I used to put those shower liners in the sump area so water spillage is easy to clean up before it soaks into the wood. I also put a thin anti-fatigue mat under the sump only to prevent vibrations.
Definitely take your time. You'll do things certain ways and then later feel like it could have been done better. It's always that way in this hobby. The fun part for me is figuring everything out and see if I can execute it and see if it works.
Best wishes with the build and post lots of pics! lol

 

[gfish]

I tried to find some neoprene at the stores but no luck so have to order some i have coming so going to wait until i get that to put the tank up on the stand. 1/4" neoprene sheet and i have enough to line the under cabinet area for the sump as well I figure that would help with the waterproofing and also quiet any vibrations from equipment in the sump.

so i'll just get the led light strips up inside the cabinet this weekend and set up the RO/DI in the bathroom area and continue to try and fine tune my aqua scape..

Yep just taking my time for sure I can definitely see this is a hobby of patience so it's good for me as I can always practice having more patience or at least that's what my wife tells me a lot

 

[gfish]

Have my tank up on the stand now and it looks great.

Problem is I cannot plumb yet. Trying to figure out how to convert it to imperial plumbing and not getting anywhere. The pipe that screws into the bulkhead I "thought" was 32mm but the 32mm union I have doesn't seem to fit the pipe it's just a tiny tiny bit too big so I have no idea what type of pipe (female thread) was designed to screw into the bulkhead.

I've got a call/voice mail and email into Proclear aquatics to talk to me about what kind of plumbing they are using on the bulkheads.

 

[Canuck007]

Following...I would like to know what sizes as well for when I get my tank...hoping it's not a big pain the butt! Where did you buy your tank?

 

[gfish]

Right now i'm just waiting to talk to someone at Pro clear aquatics so i'm at the mercy of them getting back with me unless I want to try and change bulk heads which i really don't want to do that. I just wanted to make the conversion via adaptors.

The specs say 32mm on their website I think it's not really clear if they are talking inner diameter or outer or something else.

There are 3 bulkhead connections at the bottom of the tank that are male threaded all the same size.

The pvc connections that came with the tank have 3 female threaded pvc pipes that are to screw onto the bulkhead connections. 2 of them are larger and appear to be 32mm pvc and 1 is smaller appears to be 25mm pvc but again the female threads on the side that is supposed to connect to the bulkheads are the same diameter.

These 3 female threaded pvc pipes have pre-glued bushings on the end for a union connection to the rest of the plumbing. So i have 32mm union's and 25mm unions and my plan was just remove these bushings on the 1 side of the pipe that came with the tank.. Use the 32mm and 25mm union's I had to connect to it.. then use the 32mm to 1" and 25mm to 3/4" pvc adapter that I got from BRS and then i should be good.. but that doesn't work because apparently this female threaded pvc that came with the tank is not 32mm or 25mm pipe.. I have no idea what it is.. but my 32mm and 25mm slip unions will not fit.. they are so close to fitting but won't quite fit.

I need to know exactly what size/type male threaded connections on the bulkhead are to use a different pipe/adapter or.. What size pvc pipe came with the tank that I can get an adapter for.. if that is even possible. There has to be a way to transition this plumbing but they sure don't make it easy with the way they pre plumbed everything. If all else fails then i'll have to replace the entire bulkhead I guess I just didn't want to have to go through that.

 

[gfish]

still no contact with pro clear aquatics.. I will be on hold for an hour before i finally gave up.. Left VM's and sent in emails and i get a automatic reply email that someone will get back with me but nothing yet.

I went to a couple of plumbing stores in town to try and find something to work and all i get is .. "what's this thing coming off of??" with a lot of confusion and no answers as to what would work.. It's not metric and it's not imperial.. Metric threads do not exist on PVC if anyone is curious. they are the same as imperial when it comes to threaded pvc but this is neither..

The threads for this specific fitting that starts the whole pre glued plumbing for this tank are the same as the bulkhead nut threads which has no standard apparently.. So the female threads on the pipe go onto the outside of the bulkhead not inside of it..

I guess I'm going to have to replace the bulkheads which isn't that big a deal i just wish i would have done that before i put the tank up on the stand it would have been much easier in the garage but it's what it is..

I'm just disappointed in pro clear aquatics customer service.. and i haven't even talked to anyone yet. If i had a real issue I'm not sure what I would do.. Probably would have swayed my decision on the tank had I known before hand.

 

[gfish]

Figured I would just give an update on my plumbing situation.. So i got me new bulkheads took the old ones out.. I can probably get my new ones to work they are 3/4" bulkheads double threaded.. However it appears that they used some kind of caulking on the old bulkheads so my new ones really don't want to go in.. I mean they caulked the heck out of these holes so instead of a nice clean hole in the tank, it looks like threaded rubber holes.. It's going to take me awhile and a lot of work to get these holes cleaned up good so i can use my 3/4" bulkheads.. I'm assuming they drilled with a 35mm blade which is really tight for a 3/4" bulkhead but it will fit but when you have a ton of caulk inside the hole it's almost too tight of a fit.. I didn't want to use chemical in there but I may not have any choice i have to clean these tank holes up so i can get a nice fit on the new bulk heads.

And i'm also 3 days now with not a single word from Pro clear aquatics customer support or sales or anyone that has gotten back with me on anything.. I feel like i bought a used tank from someone 100 miles away and i'm on my own for sure... I sure hope the tank seals are good if i had to file a warranty claim i'm pretty sure i'd be out of luck. Really regretting my decision to buy a pro clear tank at the moment but i'm going to get this thing ready one of these days.

 

[Two Tides Aquarium Supply]

Hey @gfish and @Canuck007

We are an authorized online dealer of Pro Clear, have been for a few years now. Found this thread earlier today and was excited to see another build thread of ProStar go up. But looks like there’s some big issues with plumbing here and a lot of confusion.

Seems like I found the thread a bit too late, so sorry in advance Gfish cause I believe we could’ve helped if we would’ve known. I did want to post some info here for anyone else looking to transition over plumbing on the ProStar to do it easily and successfully. We have been looking for a solid option for this plumbing transition for quite a few months, and just a few weeks ago we found something that will work well.

A few starting points on this plumbing:

• The millimeter ratings on Pro Clear’s website for Drain = 32mm and Return = 25mm are for the outer diameter of the straight black pieces of piping that come with the ProStar. This is my knowledge as we’ve had many calls with Pro Clear to confirm this. We were actually looking to create a “standard adapter kit” for the ProStars for a while, but couldn’t come up with anything that we could show them that was affordable enough to successfully make it through distribution.

• It sounds to me Gfish like you were attempting to match the threads of the Male end of the bulkhead itself with a female end of another fitting that didn’t come with the ProStar. If so, I don’t believe that would ever work well and we don’t recommend others try it. Matching threads in plumbing world is challenging, and matching metric threads is definitely not worth trying. Most likely either won’t fit, or will deceiving our fit nice then a few months down the road we walk by the tank one day and see the floor rotting away beneath because made it through micro cracks in the thread difference due to different bulkhead pieces. We’ve heard it happening too many times. Let’s explore other options.

• BRS Adapters we have heard won’t work with this plumbing as many clients of ours and other people we have talked to have tried it with the ProStars. For example, the ProStar Drain plumbing is OD 32mm and the ProStar Return plumbing is OD 25mm to our knowledge. To connect properly, we need a Slip 32mm - Slip 1” fitting for the Drain Lines, and then a Slip 25mm - Slip ¾” fitting for the Return Lines. Those BRS connectors are Slip Imperial to Spigot Metric (last I checked), not Slip to Slip like we need. This means that essentially the metric side of the adapter is the exact same diameter as the metric piping for the ProStar. So you put them up next to each other and they don’t slip inside, they just butt up to each other cause same Diameter. Here’s a video that gives a visual of the difference between Spigot and Slip (called Socket in this video) PVC Fittings and why we need a slip fitting in this case.



Not bashing BRS I’m any way, because a lot of our team learned a lot from their educational content, and we’d be lying if we said we don’t pull them up every now and then for reference material, but that’s the reality with these Slip to Spigot fittings.



We just recently finished up testing a plumbing kit we are custom molding right now for the ProStars. We've tested this with a few clients (3-4) and it's worked well every time. One of our clients, @Zagreus, said he had a really solid video of him converting over his plumbing to use a Clarisea filter roller with the ProStar, as well as hard plumbing in a Neptune COR pump. Maybe he can shoot that over here.

Hope it helps you guys, any questions welcome. And Gfish looking forward to seeing the build all up and running.



To Your Success

 

[gfish]

Hey @gfish and @Canuck007

We are an authorized online dealer of Pro Clear, have been for a few years now. Found this thread earlier today and was excited to see another build thread of ProStar go up. But looks like there’s some big issues with plumbing here and a lot of confusion.

Seems like I found the thread a bit too late, so sorry in advance Gfish cause I believe we could’ve helped if we would’ve known. I did want to post some info here for anyone else looking to transition over plumbing on the ProStar to do it easily and successfully. We have been looking for a solid option for this plumbing transition for quite a few months, and just a few weeks ago we found something that will work well.

A few starting points on this plumbing:

• The millimeter ratings on Pro Clear’s website for Drain = 32mm and Return = 25mm are for the outer diameter of the straight black pieces of piping that come with the ProStar. This is my knowledge as we’ve had many calls with Pro Clear to confirm this. We were actually looking to create a “standard adapter kit” for the ProStars for a while, but couldn’t come up with anything that we could show them that was affordable enough to successfully make it through distribution.

• It sounds to me Gfish like you were attempting to match the threads of the Male end of the bulkhead itself with a female end of another fitting that didn’t come with the ProStar. If so, I don’t believe that would ever work well and we don’t recommend others try it. Matching threads in plumbing world is challenging, and matching metric threads is definitely not worth trying. Most likely either won’t fit, or will deceiving our fit nice then a few months down the road we walk by the tank one day and see the floor rotting away beneath because made it through micro cracks in the thread difference due to different bulkhead pieces. We’ve heard it happening too many times. Let’s explore other options.

• BRS Adapters we have heard won’t work with this plumbing as many clients of ours and other people we have talked to have tried it with the ProStars. For example, the ProStar Drain plumbing is OD 32mm and the ProStar Return plumbing is OD 25mm to our knowledge. To connect properly, we need a Slip 32mm - Slip 1” fitting for the Drain Lines, and then a Slip 25mm - Slip ¾” fitting for the Return Lines. Those BRS connectors are Slip Imperial to Spigot Metric (last I checked), not Slip to Slip like we need. This means that essentially the metric side of the adapter is the exact same diameter as the metric piping for the ProStar. So you put them up next to each other and they don’t slip inside, they just butt up to each other cause same Diameter. Here’s a video that gives a visual of the difference between Spigot and Slip (called Socket in this video) PVC Fittings and why we need a slip fitting in this case.



Not bashing BRS I’m any way, because a lot of our team learned a lot from their educational content, and we’d be lying if we said we don’t pull them up every now and then for reference material, but that’s the reality with these Slip to Spigot fittings.



We just recently finished up testing a plumbing kit we are custom molding right now for the ProStars. We've tested this with a few clients (3-4) and it's worked well every time. One of our clients, @Zagreus, said he had a really solid video of him converting over his plumbing to use a Clarisea filter roller with the ProStar, as well as hard plumbing in a Neptune COR pump. Maybe he can shoot that over here.

Hope it helps you guys, any questions welcome. And Gfish looking forward to seeing the build all up and running.



To Your Success

Have you had good relations with Pro Clear being an authorized dealer? I did get a response back from LiveAquaria where I bought the tank from but I have yet to have a single response from Pro Clear. Between my plumbing questions and my request to verify that I've got a legitimate warranty registration... nada.. zero from them... After a week of absolutely zero response I'd have to say I would never recommend a Pro Clear tank at all to anyone..

I have finally figured out the plumbing and realized it's a mess and I've ran into this before with my pool plumbing where there is proprietary plumbing created by the mfg to where you absolutely MUST go to them for anything to work and I'm ok with that if I could get a response but in this case I couldn't get anything from them on conversions...

The bulkheads they used are metric with the plumbing they send which isn't a big deal but using the bulkhead threads which are supposed to only be for the bulkhead nut is a problem because those are not metric or imperial either one.. metric or imperial pvc threads are the same you can mix and match those all day long on metric and imperial threaded pvc.. but in this case you cannot use either as they used the bulkhead threads designed for the bulkhead nut only which is NOT standard. Why they made that decision is a complete mystery to me other than they didn't want anyone to modify or convert the plumbing? I mean why else do it? I know from a mfg point of view that it's not efficient or practical to create some proprietary plumbing like that but that is what they did and I'm the end result of trying to figure this out because I happened to want a better sump than what came with the tank.

So i've just resorted to replacing the bulkheads and just re-do the plumbing... So in replacing the bulkheads now what I've found is that I have 3 holes that are 35mm drilled or 1.5" or so diameter holes in the tank which equates to a 3/4" bulkhead (tight fit) which I'm not sure is going to be enough drain flow for this size tank making a herbie system overflow.

I've asked opinions in another thread on the site and the first opinion I got was disbelief that there is a 3/4" bulkhead drain in the first place. So now i'm wondering if i should try to make this work or should i try to drill a larger hole in the tank?.. I really don't want to do that because then I guess I'd have to take the overflow box off and that would just be a complicated mess not to mention I'd have to go buy a diamond drill bit to even do the hole and take off the overflow box that is completely sealed right now.

The original plumbing didn't have an emergency drain in the overflow and maybe
that's how they got away with having such small bulkheads is by using both drains all the time to get the minimum flow by giving up an emergency drain.. It just seems very risky to me and out of date..

I have 3/4" bulkheads I can make work.. I have plumbing to plumb it all in.. I just don't know if 3/4" holes and a herbie system is going to be enough flow for a Pro Clear 200 tank. I'm still debating what to do.. try to make it work as is or take the tank off the stand.. remove the overflow box and drill bigger holes for the drains.. Either way shouldn't be what I have to do after spending the money I did on this tank. If anyone read this whole thread you can tell i'm frustrated. i have a big decision to make on trying to make this work or trying to drill bigger drain holes.

 

[Zagreus]

Hey @gfish and @Canuck007

We are an authorized online dealer of Pro Clear, have been for a few years now. Found this thread earlier today and was excited to see another build thread of ProStar go up. But looks like there’s some big issues with plumbing here and a lot of confusion.

Seems like I found the thread a bit too late, so sorry in advance Gfish cause I believe we could’ve helped if we would’ve known. I did want to post some info here for anyone else looking to transition over plumbing on the ProStar to do it easily and successfully. We have been looking for a solid option for this plumbing transition for quite a few months, and just a few weeks ago we found something that will work well.

A few starting points on this plumbing:

• The millimeter ratings on Pro Clear’s website for Drain = 32mm and Return = 25mm are for the outer diameter of the straight black pieces of piping that come with the ProStar. This is my knowledge as we’ve had many calls with Pro Clear to confirm this. We were actually looking to create a “standard adapter kit” for the ProStars for a while, but couldn’t come up with anything that we could show them that was affordable enough to successfully make it through distribution.

• It sounds to me Gfish like you were attempting to match the threads of the Male end of the bulkhead itself with a female end of another fitting that didn’t come with the ProStar. If so, I don’t believe that would ever work well and we don’t recommend others try it. Matching threads in plumbing world is challenging, and matching metric threads is definitely not worth trying. Most likely either won’t fit, or will deceiving our fit nice then a few months down the road we walk by the tank one day and see the floor rotting away beneath because made it through micro cracks in the thread difference due to different bulkhead pieces. We’ve heard it happening too many times. Let’s explore other options.

• BRS Adapters we have heard won’t work with this plumbing as many clients of ours and other people we have talked to have tried it with the ProStars. For example, the ProStar Drain plumbing is OD 32mm and the ProStar Return plumbing is OD 25mm to our knowledge. To connect properly, we need a Slip 32mm - Slip 1” fitting for the Drain Lines, and then a Slip 25mm - Slip ¾” fitting for the Return Lines. Those BRS connectors are Slip Imperial to Spigot Metric (last I checked), not Slip to Slip like we need. This means that essentially the metric side of the adapter is the exact same diameter as the metric piping for the ProStar. So you put them up next to each other and they don’t slip inside, they just butt up to each other cause same Diameter. Here’s a video that gives a visual of the difference between Spigot and Slip (called Socket in this video) PVC Fittings and why we need a slip fitting in this case.



Not bashing BRS I’m any way, because a lot of our team learned a lot from their educational content, and we’d be lying if we said we don’t pull them up every now and then for reference material, but that’s the reality with these Slip to Spigot fittings.



We just recently finished up testing a plumbing kit we are custom molding right now for the ProStars. We've tested this with a few clients (3-4) and it's worked well every time. One of our clients, @Zagreus, said he had a really solid video of him converting over his plumbing to use a Clarisea filter roller with the ProStar, as well as hard plumbing in a Neptune COR pump. Maybe he can shoot that over here.

Hope it helps you guys, any questions welcome. And Gfish looking forward to seeing the build all up and running.



To Your Success

Here is the video Tyler. Hope this helps.

 

[Uncle99]

I love the Pro-Clear.
Just bought 3 gate valves which convert metric to standard.
Problem solved.

 

[gfish]

I didn't realize there was Japanese metric and Euro metric and they were different? I'm surprised he got it all to work in adapters I was not able to with the traditional 25mm to 3/4" and 32mm to 1" adapters they just wouldn't work on the plumbing that I had I guess because it was Japanese metric? I'm not sure I just know that it didn't fit like it should.. I "might" have been able to really force it or file down some of the pipe a little in order to make the adapters work but that just seemed like a recipe for future leaks. It almost looks like there is 2 adapters on there but I can't tell for sure..

The only other thing I would say is you have no emergency drain if something gets clogged in the drain pipes and that was my concern with the whole setup which is why I wanted to convert to a Herbie setup. Probably would be fine with a little smaller tank but the ProStar 200 that I have with only a 3/4" bulkhead for a drain just doesn't leave room for much flow so I'm going to just run an external return and make a modified Herbie type setup with 2 drains full siphon and the third will be the emergency overflow. That will give me about 1200gph or so capability.

I'm glad others have had positive experience with Pro Clear.. I have not.. I still haven't heard from them in all my inquiries so the customer support is.. well I have yet to talk to them put it that way.. but I will say the tank is really nice and thick low iron glass and the stand seems really well built I like the stand a lot.

 

[Two Tides Aquarium Supply]

@Zagreus , thanks for the video post man

@gfish First on your warranty registration, did you submit through the website? Here’s a link to their warranty page:

https://www.pro-clear.com/warranty

When you go here, just input your info. The UPC’s for the ProStar 200’s are:

ProStar 200 Standard Overflow in Black = 204120
ProStar 200 Standard Overflow in White = 204229
ProStar 200 Peninsula Overflow in Black = 150014
ProStar 200 Peninsula Overflow in White = 150083

Put in that UPC and then the order receipt that you should have received from Live Aquaria for Proof of Purchase and you’ll be all set. Their warranty claiming process is spectacular, and that’s one of the reasons why we work with them. It’s honestly very comforting to know that if there ever is an issue with a client’s tank (which is rare) that it will get sorted same day or next. It’s happened before as with any aquarium company and the same day response for stuff like that on the vendor side is one of the reasons they’re the brand that we have worked with the longest. That’s just our experience. I guess it’s because we have direct contact with them every day or two anyways.

As far as your question on our experience with them as a dealer, they’ve definitely been an instrumental part of our success. We were a pretty small brand before working with them back in 2018, and through the past few years both our Pro Clear rep (who’s been running aquatics distribution chains for almost 20 years now) and the owner (working with acrylic and running Pro Clear for 25 years this year) have spent countless hours with us over the phone training us in not only their products, but actually taking a concern in us and our brand’s improvement. Not only how many sales we make. That’s very comforting to know on the business side, and it is extremely unique and something you don’t find very often. We only have worked with one other brand that has been like that, and we recently acquisitioned them. When you find supporters like this, you learn to make them lifelong because they don’t come around very often.

I don’t know, maybe a bit too much info. But you asked so I thought I’d be honest and share.

Called our rep Gary over there this morning and also spoke with the owner. Today is day 14 of their work streak and the shortest day they’ve had the past 2 weeks has been 9am - 9pm. They were there producing till 3-4am this morning to get an idea, and back at it again at 9am today, so this is most likely why you haven’t received a response yet. I think the last time we talked to them about it, 2020 almost doubled their production numbers (like 80% or something crazy cause aquatics is growing, and that’s the biggest growth factor of any aquatics business we know of)...and their team is maybe 20-30% bigger. If that. So you can do the math on that. They’re working on getting more people in right now, but hiring good people in Florida is very tough with the virus and people shying away from factory work.

Now onto your tank because this is a build thread and we know that’s why we’re all here. Yes @Tagreus is correct. There are two types of metric fittings (technically there’s more but these are the two we need to know here). “DIN Metric” is used in Europe and “JIS Metric” is typically used in Asia.

Thing is, you have to pay attention to if you’re working with a “DIN” metric fitting or a “JIS” metric fitting. Because a DIN 25mm and a JIS 25mm fitting are literally two different diameters. I know...stupid right?? Welcome to plumbing world

The ProStars do use 25mm OD and 32mm OD straight piping in their plumbing, so @gfish perhaps you had purchased a few DIN fittings and just didn’t know it. In our search for fittings that would work, we found that many PVC retailers either didn’t know the difference themselves, or didn’t bother educating the customer (us) on the difference. Because of this, we made the same mistake for a few months.

Here’s a graph that shows the difference between the 2. Think of the “Nominal” column as the “Actual Diameter” of the part (even though it’s technically not quite, but for this example it’s a good benchmark).

That’s why I believe Gfish you were having so much trouble. I don’t know everything and am always willing to learn, but after dealing with this and hearing stories from many clients about ProStar plumbing conversions, that seems to be the case here.

Again, apologies I couldn’t make it to this thread earlier Gfish because now your plumbing is tore up. And fair enough because you hadn’t received any response from anyone over the past few days and had a beautiful empty tank in your place that you couldn’t set up because of this. So it’s understandable why you would go to seek out other options elsewhere.

For your build, would you mind PMing some pictures my way? I can take a look and either try to resolve with our team, or get in touch with Pro Clear to help how they can. Let me know because I’d rather you not drill your glass unless absolutely necessary. I believe I have an idea that could work for rectifying this whole situation, while keeping you from having to drill your glass. That is if you need help of course.

For everyone else here, if you’d like to convert your ProStar plumbing, we did find a set of fittings that we can have custom molded to fit the ProStar piping (they are what Tagreus used in his video above). I personally can’t post any info here about it because we are currently not an R2R Sponsor yet (on our list but not there yet) so we can’t self-promote in open posts like this. PM us and we can advise further.

The gate valve adapter fittings that @Uncle99 posted about will also work well too. It’s nice to have some standard couplers that will convert the plumbing at the beginning of the pipe so it’s more flexible, but it just depends on the plumbing setup and what the user wants to do.

In either case, if you get your hands on a set of fittings that successfully convert everything over, then this is the best place to put them on the ProStar plumbing.

Here’s the entire ProStar plumbing for the ProStar 200 Standard like Gfish has:

Here’s where we would put any adapters, circled in red. Directly after the Black Threaded Bulkhead Adapters, Grey Union Fitting, and the first 90 Degree Elbow Fitting. Place the adapter there and on this tank size you will essentially still have free reign on what to plumb in 1”:

We hope this is valuable to the community, and helps to make everyone’s situation a bit better with these tanks, so we can stop banging our heads against a plumbing pipe and we can get to building and watching our display tank grow.

Any comments or questions welcome. Talk to y’all soon



To Your Success

 

[gfish]

@Zagreus , thanks for the video post man

@gfish First on your warranty registration, did you submit through the website? Here’s a link to their warranty page:

https://www.pro-clear.com/warranty

When you go here, just input your info. The UPC’s for the ProStar 200’s are:

ProStar 200 Standard Overflow in Black = 204120
ProStar 200 Standard Overflow in White = 204229
ProStar 200 Peninsula Overflow in Black = 150014
ProStar 200 Peninsula Overflow in White = 150083

Put in that UPC and then the order receipt that you should have received from Live Aquaria for Proof of Purchase and you’ll be all set. Their warranty claiming process is spectacular, and that’s one of the reasons why we work with them. It’s honestly very comforting to know that if there ever is an issue with a client’s tank (which is rare) that it will get sorted same day or next. It’s happened before as with any aquarium company and the same day response for stuff like that on the vendor side is one of the reasons they’re the brand that we have worked with the longest. That’s just our experience. I guess it’s because we have direct contact with them every day or two anyways.

As far as your question on our experience with them as a dealer, they’ve definitely been an instrumental part of our success. We were a pretty small brand before working with them back in 2018, and through the past few years both our Pro Clear rep (who’s been running aquatics distribution chains for almost 20 years now) and the owner (working with acrylic and running Pro Clear for 25 years this year) have spent countless hours with us over the phone training us in not only their products, but actually taking a concern in us and our brand’s improvement. Not only how many sales we make. That’s very comforting to know on the business side, and it is extremely unique and something you don’t find very often. We only have worked with one other brand that has been like that, and we recently acquisitioned them. When you find supporters like this, you learn to make them lifelong because they don’t come around very often.

I don’t know, maybe a bit too much info. But you asked so I thought I’d be honest and share.

Called our rep Gary over there this morning and also spoke with the owner. Today is day 14 of their work streak and the shortest day they’ve had the past 2 weeks has been 9am - 9pm. They were there producing till 3-4am this morning to get an idea, and back at it again at 9am today, so this is most likely why you haven’t received a response yet. I think the last time we talked to them about it, 2020 almost doubled their production numbers (like 80% or something crazy cause aquatics is growing, and that’s the biggest growth factor of any aquatics business we know of)...and their team is maybe 20-30% bigger. If that. So you can do the math on that. They’re working on getting more people in right now, but hiring good people in Florida is very tough with the virus and people shying away from factory work.

Now onto your tank because this is a build thread and we know that’s why we’re all here. Yes @Tagreus is correct. There are two types of metric fittings (technically there’s more but these are the two we need to know here). “DIN Metric” is used in Europe and “JIS Metric” is typically used in Asia.

Thing is, you have to pay attention to if you’re working with a “DIN” metric fitting or a “JIS” metric fitting. Because a DIN 25mm and a JIS 25mm fitting are literally two different diameters. I know...stupid right?? Welcome to plumbing world

The ProStars do use 25mm OD and 32mm OD straight piping in their plumbing, so @gfish perhaps you had purchased a few DIN fittings and just didn’t know it. In our search for fittings that would work, we found that many PVC retailers either didn’t know the difference themselves, or didn’t bother educating the customer (us) on the difference. Because of this, we made the same mistake for a few months.

Here’s a graph that shows the difference between the 2. Think of the “Nominal” column as the “Actual Diameter” of the part (even though it’s technically not quite, but for this example it’s a good benchmark).

That’s why I believe Gfish you were having so much trouble. I don’t know everything and am always willing to learn, but after dealing with this and hearing stories from many clients about ProStar plumbing conversions, that seems to be the case here.

Again, apologies I couldn’t make it to this thread earlier Gfish because now your plumbing is tore up. And fair enough because you hadn’t received any response from anyone over the past few days and had a beautiful empty tank in your place that you couldn’t set up because of this. So it’s understandable why you would go to seek out other options elsewhere.

For your build, would you mind PMing some pictures my way? I can take a look and either try to resolve with our team, or get in touch with Pro Clear to help how they can. Let me know because I’d rather you not drill your glass unless absolutely necessary. I believe I have an idea that could work for rectifying this whole situation, while keeping you from having to drill your glass. That is if you need help of course.

For everyone else here, if you’d like to convert your ProStar plumbing, we did find a set of fittings that we can have custom molded to fit the ProStar piping (they are what Tagreus used in his video above). I personally can’t post any info here about it because we are currently not an R2R Sponsor yet (on our list but not there yet) so we can’t self-promote in open posts like this. PM us and we can advise further.

The gate valve adapter fittings that @Uncle99 posted about will also work well too. It’s nice to have some standard couplers that will convert the plumbing at the beginning of the pipe so it’s more flexible, but it just depends on the plumbing setup and what the user wants to do.

In either case, if you get your hands on a set of fittings that successfully convert everything over, then this is the best place to put them on the ProStar plumbing.

Here’s the entire ProStar plumbing for the ProStar 200 Standard like Gfish has:

Here’s where we would put any adapters, circled in red. Directly after the Black Threaded Bulkhead Adapters, Grey Union Fitting, and the first 90 Degree Elbow Fitting. Place the adapter there and on this tank size you will essentially still have free reign on what to plumb in 1”:

We hope this is valuable to the community, and helps to make everyone’s situation a bit better with these tanks, so we can stop banging our heads against a plumbing pipe and we can get to building and watching our display tank grow.

Any comments or questions welcome. Talk to y’all soon



To Your Success

Thank you for the information.. I did go to their website to register the warranty. The UPC is what I didn't have so i just put in the model number from the purchase and when I submitted the warranty I got the automated response that they would get back with me the same as all the other inquiries I sent in.
"

Pro Clear Aquatic Systems <[email protected]>​	Mon, Jan 25, 10:57 AM (5 days ago)
to me

Thank you for contacting us! We will get back to you shortly."

I still haven't heard from them but didn't expect to on the weekends. I'm going to re-register with the UPC you have on this thread.

The plumbing has been a challenge. I'm not going to try any drilling on the tank I don't feel comfortable doing that anyhow. I'm in the process of just cleaning up the drill holes so I can put in the new 3/4" bulkheads I have. I will say they do not use a standard bulkhead with gasket type install.. They use some kind of rubber compound black silicone type stuff and it is THICK.. I had to use a heat gun to loosen up the bulk heads to get them out and been working for awhile now cleaning up the holes all the glue/adhesive residue. Once I get that cleaned up good I should be ok..

The other issue I have is the plumbing that it comes with has no emergency drain the way it is set up just like the diagram you have.. I have way too much money invested in hardwood floors to not have a fail safe so I wanted to convert to a herbie overflow system. The problem with that is the bulkheads are only 3/4" bulkheads.. All 3 of them.. That would reduce me down to roughly 600gph drain using only 1 full siphon at 3/4". So 3 or 3.5 times turn over at best.. I'd really like to be able to do more than that so what I'm going to do is use all 3 bulkheads for the drain system and run an external return up the back of the tank and back into the overflow over the top of the tank.. That way I can have 2 3/4" drains with gate valves and the 3rd will be the emergency drain. I'm going to assume that I won't have both of my full siphon drains clog at the same time so I should be safe there.. That will give me roughly 1200gph capability on the tank.. Similar to how it comes without an emergency drain. If I need to in the future maybe I can drill a hole on the back of the tank for the return up near the top but honestly I dont' think i'll mind that much I think it'll be fine and I just really don't want to attempt any hole drilling in the tank.

The plumbing has set me back quite a bit but I"m getting there.. As long as I can get these new bulkheads to seal up good with no leaks I should be good. Like I said the tank is beautiful.. The stand is nice I really like the metal.. But I would highly recommend if anyone wants to re-do the plumbing to be prepared it is not easy.. I'd highly recommend they at least start putting in larger holes for drain for the Pro Star 200 at least.. That's just a really big tank to only have 3 small 3/4"/25mm bulkheads. 2 of those holes should be 32mm/1" bulkheads at least.

 

[-XENOMORPH-]

Wow. I was about to buy a Prostar 90 and this thread is making me think twice.... If I read them right... You ran into all this because u wanted to switch the plumbing... So my only question is .. if unused the plumbing that was included, would it have worked? I totally get the no emergency drain.... That's also a turn off.... Sigh...... I was so excited I found this tank, save cash.... but now I might have to go back and consider the Waterbox X 90.....

 

[Canuck007]

I think if you are not changing sumps it's a bit easier but even if you do you just have to get adapters at the points shown on Tyler's from Twotides reply to rework the plumbing to a new sump. The overflow is not ideal but seems to work ok from the threads that I read. People say the tanks are beautiful and would definitely do it again even with a few of the negative points.

 

[gfish]

Wow. I was about to buy a Prostar 90 and this thread is making me think twice.... If I read them right... You ran into all this because u wanted to switch the plumbing... So my only question is .. if unused the plumbing that was included, would it have worked? I totally get the no emergency drain.... That's also a turn off.... Sigh...... I was so excited I found this tank, save cash.... but now I might have to go back and consider the Waterbox X 90.....

I can't speak to the Prostar 90 just the 200 that I have and my own experiences. First off I'd have to say if you don't plan to change the sump or plumbing then it should work just fine as is.. If you want to customize or change the plumbing or sump then on the 200 at least you are going to have some challenges.

I had to switch the plumbing because I wanted to go with the Trigger 39 sump. I had planned to just "convert" at the bulkheads but that was not an option with the existing plumbing. I've gotten more feedback and options from the community than I have from Pro Clear aquatics.. Actually I've yet to talk to anyone from Pro Clear on any of my inquires they have never gotten back to me. Changing out the bulkheads was not an easy task due to the way they were installed. I can promise you those things would have never leaked the way they came and the way it was installed but it made it a real chore to clean up the holes for new bulkheads.

I also wanted to switch to a herbie style drain with emergency drain but then found out after changing the bulkheads that for my roughly 150gal DT they had only 3/4" size bulkheads for the drains.. That's really small for this size tank.. So I decided that i needed to use all 3 holes for my drain and I'm running an external return line. I have set up now for a bean animal overflow.

With my experience would I buy another Pro Clear tank? Probably not and i'm just being honest with my experience and the fact that I have not had a single reply email, call anything from Pro clear since I've had my tank.. I still don't even know if I have a warranty on the tank because I have no confirmation from Pro clear.. I've filled out all the paperwork but all I've ever gotten back from them is the automated response email..

I will say the tank is very nice and appears good quality. The stand has been really nice I like the metal stand that it comes with it's very sleek and nice.

Here's a couple of pictures of my finished plumbing.