Starting ~800 Gallon Custom Reef Tank Build

[Deezill]

question why is there PVC protruding the rocks? I am sure its some genius idea I don't know about yet. I am interested in knowing should I be doing this with my new build Thanks.

 

[ravi197699]

Thank GOD, so far so good, I will upload more pictures when I go back home and check again before I fire up the Vectra(Return Pump)

 

[ravi197699]

question why is there PVC protruding the rocks? I am sure its some genius idea I don't know about yet. I am interested in knowing should I be doing this with my new build Thanks.

Thank you for your question, I always had this worry about how I am going to mount corals on rock in tank this size, This tank is 8 feet wide, 34" high and 59" deep so I got this ideal from Top Shelf Aquatic and he used pvc couplings in his 1200 grow tank and mounted corals in those couplings and it make it easy to slide pvc pipe with coral mounted on pvc and I used same method and using 3/8" clear pvc pipes with 3/8" couplings, now I will just mount the frag on 3/" tube and slide the frag in coupling, if I need to move the frag on different location or height I will slide the pvc out of coupling and move around without struggling.. that is the reason why I went this route, I know it looks weird with all these pvc's but when it gets crowded with corals, it will be hard to see pvc couplings...

 

[New Jersey REEF]

That’s a great idea, I may do same on my tank. Are there any concerns with that dead water space within pvc pipe?

 

[Deezill]

This is an excellent idea. My frags fall off the rocks sometime so that should tell you what a great job I do with gluing them down. I think i like this idea too.

 

[ravi197699]

it is great idea and it is much easier to move frags around in case if frag require more light, flow etc...

 

[hatfielj]

LOL: "Honey, is it alright if I build a Heli-Pad in the house and park a giant aquarium on it??"
Insanely big tank! Will be pretty incredible though!

 

[ravi197699]

LOL...

 

[ravi197699]

Good morning R2R, I got my peristaltic pump and I bought Watson Marlow 505U, This pump lab grade and has digital control panel, I am going to use this pump for my calcium reactor and I will be pushing water through reactor with this pump, I turned this pump on yesterday and it is dead silent and pump head is solid, I am happy with this pump, I can control the speed for the pump in increments of 1 and lowest speed is very very slow moving head, this will give me an option to fine tune the drip rate out of my reactor... I will post pictures when I install this pump... here is the picture of the actual pump..

 

[Deezill]

I wish I had your budget, or better yet the money in your budget lol.

 

[crusso1993]

Good morning R2R, I got my peristaltic pump and I bought Watson Marlow 505U, This pump lab grade and has digital control panel, I am going to use this pump for my calcium reactor and I will be pushing water through reactor with this pump, I turned this pump on yesterday and it is dead silent and pump head is solid, I am happy with this pump, I can control the speed for the pump in increments of 1 and lowest speed is very very slow moving head, this will give me an option to fine tune the drip rate out of my reactor... I will post pictures when I install this pump... here is the picture of the actual pump..

WM are some awesome pumps for sure! Did you get yours off of ebay?

 

[ravi197699]

I hear you buddy, only difference in me and other reefers is that I planned this build 2.5 years before and I have been buying stuff online, surplus, ebay, manhattanreefs, reef2reef, Most of my equipment is from last build because I like to buy stuff which is overkill, I bought mp60's used at different times, winning auctions on ebay etc, I saved ton of money buying stuff used and it works. only few items are new which I bought on sale or asked for better deal since I was buying in bulk.. But this hobby is not cheap and if I calculate everything that I have in this tank/ sunroom/ generator/ filtration, it will be a lot but I spent that money in 2.5 year span...

 

[ravi197699]

WM are some awesome pumps for sure! Did you get yours off of ebay?

yes I won the auction on ebay.. I love this pump

 

[jd371]

The build is coming along nicely. If you ever need any help don't hesitate to reach out to me. Can't offer knowledge since I'm still new to the hobby at 5 years, but muscle can come in handy if needed.

 

[ravi197699]

Thank you jd371

 

[New Jersey REEF]

Ravi, why not get DOS?

 

[najer]

Great to see it wet, excited for you!

 

[ravi197699]

Thank you najer

 

[ravi197699]

Ravi, why not get DOS?

I like overkill and industrial products which can stand up to their task, DOS to me more of toy and too many things that can break.. I always used Cole Parmer pumps but this time I wanted to try Watson product and I can tell you i am happy with this pump...

 

[ravi197699]

Good morning R2R, Happy Wednesday, Tank is full and I fired up the L1 and I must tell you that pump has no sound at all even if I run at full speed, plenty of water comes down the drains and after testing my 3 drains if they can handle water drain from overflow if I run the L1 at full power and they 2 drain run full and 3 rd drain which is emergency drain which has very little water coming out, which means that i have plenty of room if I have to run the L1 at full power, so I dialed it down to 4 dots on the driver and still have good amount of turn over, I might dial in down even more because I want to give enough time for rock to process water in tank and in sump, I will see and play with the flow as it matures, drain pipes are quiet since I adjusted the gate valves which are right above filter socks and closed them to the point where I see no bubbles in both clear 1.5" pvc that comes out from the tank that assures me that pipe is full of water and it will have no splash till it comes out below the gate valve and i am going to make and add silencer pipes under the gate valves so that splashing water is quietly enters in sump, however I will have to remove those silencer pipes anytime I want to add filter socks to polish the water.. we will see how that goes that is my Saturday project. This week my goal is to bring hardwire internet cable to sunroom to program and install my Apex Classic, and then program my 3 EB8's outlets for each equipment, 2 lab grade ph probes and 1 ORP lab grade probe getting delivered today, I might have to buy extension cables but we will see if PH and ORP has enough length to reach tank as well as calcium reactor, I add salt in the sump last night 2.5 boxes of Fritz Pro Red Box and salinity this morning was 1.022 so I added 1/2 bag again and I will check when I get back home tonight, Water cleared up in the morning and did not feel like that I added salt last night and it dissolves pretty quick as well, after turning the L1 on and after mixing display tank water to sump water temperature starting dropping which was expected and lowest it dropped was 65 deg and I noticed that my hot water circulation pump kicked on and this morning temperature was 77 deg that was good test as well and only sound I heard at night was water splashing in filter socks after gate valves in sump... other that this sound it is dead silent. here are some of the pictures I took this morning....