ProStar Aquarium Diagrams for Easy Assembly

[Two Tides Aquarium Supply]

Hey R2R, this is Tyler. At the beginning of this year we were a bit worried as to the trajectory of the hobby with everything going on. However, now as 2020 is rounding to a close, we're very happy to see this wonderful hobby alive and thriving more than ever before.

We wanted to give a special thanks to David (AKA @revhtree) for keeping this great forum as active as it has been with constant giveaways and events that keep the community engaged in reefing, and bringing us all a bit closer to the reefs we all want. We also want to thank everyone that's been posting build threads and interacting within R2R because it's what keeps people in the hobby and growing, so keep posting! Appreciation from us at the Two Tides Team.

We've been interacting here and there, and thought it was time to begin our own thread. We felt a solid contribution we could have to the community as a start would be a few diagrams we developed concerning the relatively new ProStar Aquariums.

A lot of clients have been asking for a guide to help with plumbing setup, especially ones that are new to the hobby. So to make things easier for everyone as they're researching these tanks, we developed a few diagrams of the plumbing to help add some clarity. There will be more developed guides in the future on setup, and we'll post in R2R once they're finished to make the research phase go by quicker and save time.

We hope this helps, and feel free to post below with any further questions.

For now, here's a few plumbing diagrams to take a look at...

 

[Ron Reefman]

Maybe you should consider becoming a sponsor?

 

[Jynxgirl]

I bought a 200 gallon white Prostar off liveaquaria, and have tried to reach out multiple times to Prostar to see about having a separate stand built as my skimmer with auto cleaner head will not fit under the stand. I have not heard back from them after multiple avenue streams tried.

 

[mindme]

Great diagram and much better than the "instructions" that come with it.

 

[Two Tides Aquarium Supply]

Maybe you should consider becoming a sponsor?

It's on our To-Do List Appreciate the suggestion Ron

 

[Two Tides Aquarium Supply]

I bought a 200 gallon white Prostar off liveaquaria, and have tried to reach out multiple times to Prostar to see about having a separate stand built as my skimmer with auto cleaner head will not fit under the stand. I have not heard back from them after multiple avenue streams tried.

Sorry to hear bout your skimmer not fitting in If it's one of the Reef Octopus skimmers with neck cleaners, they can be quite tall when you account for putting them into the sump as well.

Did you reach out to Pro Clear Aquatic Systems? They are the manufacturer. They are ridiculously busy keeping up with demand right now so reaching the team can be tough at times.

Generally the stands that come with the ProStar are the only size that's made. It's a very specific process they use to make them and I believe their equipment is only specialized to make each standard size.

Not exactly the answer you wanted to hear I know @Jynxgirl , but wanted to help save some time in searching. They are usually reachable by phone after 2pm Eastern, so feel free to try calling again and asking.

Is having the skimmer auto neck cleaner, or keeping the ProStar model stand more important for you? We can see if we can't find a workaround for you

 

[Two Tides Aquarium Supply]

Great diagram and much better than the "instructions" that come with it.

Thanks a lot @mindme, we're finalizing a moc-up of a full ProStar Assembly and Installation Guide today to help with setup (a beautiful tank setup incorrectly is useless). We'll post a new thread and reply with a link here to anyone interested

 

[Jynxgirl]

From nearly 20 years of keeping a reef tank... the neck cleaner at this point is like do or die.

It is a reef octopus skimmer that I ran on a 330 gallon tank years ago that has been sitting in a closet for ten years. I am terrible at cleaning a neck every few days and the efficiency goes downhill so fast if you don't stay on top of a skimmer. It is sort of at a point that I am like, to have a skimmer or not have a skimmer type situation for me. I had a 180 I took the skimmer off for nearly two years that did just fine growing corals, so I am not against running without one for a while. Especially now with the auto roller filters and algae scrubbers....

 

[Uncle99]

Where’s the gate valves?
These tanks have two overflows instead of one and a emergency drain.
Impossible to silence the overflows without high quality gates, and with gates, still annoying to tune.
Not sure the logic in two overflows, but can work.

 

[Two Tides Aquarium Supply]

From nearly 20 years of keeping a reef tank... the neck cleaner at this point is like do or die.

It is a reef octopus skimmer that I ran on a 330 gallon tank years ago that has been sitting in a closet for ten years. I am terrible at cleaning a neck every few days and the efficiency goes downhill so fast if you don't stay on top of a skimmer. It is sort of at a point that I am like, to have a skimmer or not have a skimmer type situation for me. I had a 180 I took the skimmer off for nearly two years that did just fine growing corals, so I am not against running without one for a while. Especially now with the auto roller filters and algae scrubbers....

I hear ya there, after so long doing regular maintenance tasks, these new automation options are super nice to cut it down. And yes skimmers are excellent to keep everything stable but they inherently require a good amount of consistency to keep at peak efficiency.

Going skimmerless is definitely possible, as long as feeding is kept to a minimum and water changes (which can also be automated now) or other nutrient export like an algae scrubber or macro reactor is maintained regularly. Doing or automating these tasks takes maintenance from an every 3-4 days task to an every 1-4 weeks task, and the actual maintenance task itself isn’t as painful. Very good trade off for most, just depends on your goals

All in all I hope everything works out for you @Jynxgirl with what you decide on, let us know if any other suggestions would help

 

[Two Tides Aquarium Supply]

Where’s the gate valves?
These tanks have two overflows instead of one and a emergency drain.
Impossible to silence the overflows without high quality gates, and with gates, still annoying to tune.
Not sure the logic in two overflows, but can work.

Hey @Uncle99

The larger ProStars (the 150, 200, and 230 model) do have two drain lines, but only one overflow box, not two. Both of the drain lines are housed within the single overflow box in the center of the back glass. I believe you meant that each drain line is at equal height, which is true. We’ve luckily never heard of anyone experiencing issues with clogging in the 2” diameter drain lines (that reduce to roughly 1.25” diameter inside the stand).

Every ProStar comes with included Ball Valves for each drain line that can be optionally installed. We chose not to pre-install them because some people run things like a fleece roller instead of socks, so it would be a bit frustrating if the valves were installed somewhere that’s inconvenient for that setup. They serve the same purpose when installed. As long as the end of the drain lines are 3 inches below the sump water level, all is well on install. Here’s a diagram of the ProStar 150 Standard plumbing with Ball Valves to show where they can go.

Hope this adds some clarity to the plumbing setup (I wish R2R had a Thumbs Up emoji because it would be really useful)

 

[Jynxgirl]

Highly suggest to 'fix' the overflow. I have cut one of my drain lines about an inch and a half below the other. Added a gate valve. It is quiet now. I do wish there was a third for peace of mind but it is working and quiet now.

 

[Two Tides Aquarium Supply]

Highly suggest to 'fix' the overflow. I have cut one of my drain lines about an inch and a half below the other. Added a gate valve. It is quiet now. I do wish there was a third for peace of mind but it is working and quiet now.

Thanks for your feedback, we appreciate it. That's how the design turned out on the first version and it just hasn't changed yet. We made a note to go over it in our next design meeting. Glad you got it figured out on your end, and any more areas of improvement are welcome *thumbs up emoji that should exist in R2R*