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Matt's 225g Build Thread

meschaefer

meschaefer

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masterswimmer said:
I'm assuming you'll just let the overflow handle the RO/DI filling of the sump. It's one way to non-pressure test your plumbing fittings.

R
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If only I had all my plumbing done. I shorted myself two necessary pieces when I ordered from Savko. I am missing two 1.5 --> 3/4 bushings for the plumbing manifold and they won't be here until tomorrow. Unfortunately these are not something that HD carries.

If I did my calculations right, when I get home tonight the water level should be a couple inches short of the two holes for the returns. I will move the RO/DI to the sump and start adding a bucket of salt into the display tank. I will then set up the Vortech to get the water moving to help mix it up.

After the missing plumbing parts arrive I will finish off the plumbing and get the whole thing circulating for a few days before I start to add my rock this weekend, probably on Sunday :biggrin:. Once the rock is in place, I will let it sit for about three weeks before I start to stock it :( .
 
meschaefer

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ming said:
Great drill job!
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Thanks. I have to admit it is not that hard, it just takes a little bit of technique and patience. I did allot or research before I made the holes. If anyone is interested in trying this for themselves I highly recommend that you read a "how to" on using Diamond Core Drill Bits found here, in fact I would even suggest that it should be required reading.

Please note that I did not purchase my bits here, I found a place that had them for much less but I would assume they are of a lower quality. That being said, if you only need to do a few holes I don't see a problem with the bits I used. If you where going to do "production level" drilling you would need much better bits.
 
meschaefer

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Hooray... I am done with plumbing.

The first pic is a full tank shot from behind. You can see that I used a combination of SpaFlex and PVC.

back.jpg


The next pic shows the return pump. That is a Reeflo Dart that fed from a true union coming from a 2 " bulkhead on the sump. On the out side of the pump, is a 1.5 " true union that exits to 1.5" Spaflex on its way to a plumbing manifold. The other ball valve will be used for water changes.

Dart.jpg


The next two pics show the manifold. It is made from 5 x 1.5" "T"s. The first one has a 3/4" ball valve that is reserved for future use. The next two ball valves send water back to the tank. They are 1" ball valves connected to a union. I used Spaflex for the run to the returns, where I have another union. The last two ball valves are 3/4" connected to 1/2" hose barbs. These are so I can run water to a Phosban reactor and a Carbon reactor.

ManifoldSide.jpg


Manifold.jpg



You can see I have an external overflow which takes two 1.5" bulkheads. Each of these then goes to a union. The right side bulkhead then goes directly to the sump, while the left side is "t"d off with one side reduced to 1/2" with another ball valve and then a 3/4" hose barb. This allows me to gravity feed the skimmer.

Return.jpg



I planned this out in great detail, and even got my father involved to help with the theory behind the plumbing manifold. (He is an engineer working with natural gas and oil supplies for power plants) I was somewhat nervous when I started the pump up, but everything went off without a hitch. I am making some final adjustments to salinity, but hopefully my rock will make it into the tank tomorrow.
 
Awibrandy

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Matt, you have managed to mesmerize me with this plumbing job! And that is a heck of a compliment since I have no interest in plumbing, nor do I understand much of it. You have managed to gain my interest in plumbing. WOW

P.S. Your dog is so cute!
 
meschaefer

meschaefer

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Awibrandy said:
Matt, you have managed to mesmerize me with this plumbing job! And that is a heck of a compliment since I have no interest in plumbing, nor do I understand much of it. You have managed to gain my interest in plumbing. WOW

P.S. Your dog is so cute!
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Thanks, as you can see from prior posts allot of thought was put into the plumbing. The goal was to be able to run the entire system off of one pump. This required the ability not only to send water back to the tank but to also send water to the skimmer, phosban reactor, carbon reactor and have room for upgrades in the future.

I did all of my rock work yesterday, and I will try and get pics up tonight. My wife was on my computer last night and I couldn't upload them.

When I put the new Marco Rock in the tank, I only rinsed them somewhat cursorily. This morning I could smell the tank from the first floor of my house (tank is in the basement). When I went down to take a look, the bubbles in the first chamber of the sump had turned the sump into a protein skimmer. The amount of skimate floating on top of my sump would put the best beckett skimmer to shame. :eek: I didn't have time to take a picture, assuming it looks the same if not worse, when I get home I will take a pic and post it.

Good thing I wasn't planning on adding any livestock for a couple of weeks. I need to pick up ammonia and nitrite test kits, so I can follow the cycle. I haven't owned an ammonia test kit in about six years.
 
meschaefer

meschaefer

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House of Laughter said:
Matt,

I am in my third cycle of RO/DI water on my marco rocks and the water is still yellow - since they are dead colonies, and there is allot of die off still on the colonies, themselves, you'll need to fully cycle the tank - good luck and great job.

House
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I had thought about cooking them, (which I did to my old rock) I just didn't have the space/time/incentive...did I mention that I am somtimes lazy about stupid things..?
 
meschaefer

meschaefer

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You beckett guys need to get a "real" skimmer, introducing my Glass Cages 120. What you see is a little bit more than 24 hours worth of skimming. Look at that foam, your beckett or needle wheel can't compete.

sumpskimmer2.jpg


sumpskimmer.jpg
 
meschaefer

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I did all of my aquascaping yesterday. I was working about 88lbs of Marco Rock and probably around a 100lbs Fiji that I had from my prior tank. I started by spreading all of my rock out on the floor so that I could see what I had to work with. ( Actually this wasn't all of the rock, i had a number of smaller pieces laid out in another part of the basement, but I didn't use them)

laidout.jpg


The last thing i wanted to do was start putting in rock, only to have to pull it out again or move it around inside of the tank because I didn't like the way it looked. So i decided to build my rock structures outside of the tank. I started by taping out the footprint of my tank on the floor, and built the structure within the foot print.

outline.jpg


I wanted allot of swimming room, because I plan on allot of fish in this tank, my previous tanks had very little fish as I was always afraid that I didn't have any room. I decided to use PVC rods to help support the structure. This allowed me to build taller column like structures, without the need of a very big base. I choose some of my bigger rocks to acts as bases and strategically drilled holes in them to hold the PVC rods. I thin drill a hole straight through the next rock and stacked them over the PVC rods. This took a little playing around, but I eventually ended up with a structure that I found aesthetically pleasing.

rods.jpg


Once I was done with the structures, I carefully took them apart making note of how they went back together and rebuilt them in the tank. This is what I ended up with.

rockwork.jpg
 
meschaefer

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OK... a little over 24 hours after the rock went in I did my first set of water tests. They where limited, I only tested ammonia, nitrate and phosphate.

Ammonia - 1.0 (that should get the cycle going)
Nitrite - 0.0
Phosphate .71 - :eek:

I also got my skimmer up and running, and tomorrow I am going to try and get my phosban reactor running.
 
meschaefer

meschaefer

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After 48+ hours - the newest round of tests:

Ammonia: 2.0 (1.0 yesterday)
Nitrate: 0.0 (no change)

The water is pretty cloudy and has a yellow tint to it, although I didn't get my phosban reactor up and running, I did get my carbon reactor going. That should help with the yellow tint. My skimmer is going nuts too.
 
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meschaefer

meschaefer

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House of Laughter said:
see my post in he marco rocks thread about curing - mine are in thier 3rd week and still go yellow after about 4 days in fresh Ro/Di

Stay the course

House
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I have been patient thus far, after all I picked up the tank three months ago, and started planning this about a month before that, whats a couple of weeks more.
 
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