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New 225g zeovit reef
I know you guys like pics so here we go....
This is a pic of the tank filling up with RO/DI water after I finally shimmed the bottom of the stand. Before, the right side overflow was getting more water then the left, the water level was like 3/8" higher on that side. Wooden shims did the trick.
Next set of pics are the plumbing underneath the tank, starting with the left, center and right sides.
In the middle shot above, you can see my return plumbing on the top and the drains on the bottom. It was orignally the other way around with the drains on the top, with both overflows combining into one 1.5" pipe. This configuration caused me all kinds of headaches as the piping was straight and didn't allow the water to drain efficiently. I read up on Richard Durso's site and he mentioned that having a downward angle on the drain pipes would eliminate the backpressure in the standpipes, which were causing the flushing effects I was experiencing. So I redid the drain pipes and kept them separate using 1" spa-flex all the way to the sump. I saw immediate improvement and now the water levels in the overflows are dead even.
Next is a pic of my sump setup in the garage, directly behind the main tank.
This is a 60g sump that will be joined with a 40g (in the future) that will be placed on the wooden platform you see in the pic. The eventual plan is to have the drains from the main tank empty into the 40g where I will have the skimmer (which I am still waiting for) hooked up to. Yes, you heard me, I'm currently running the tank skimmer-less! The 40g will then drain into the 60g below and the Sequence Dart pumps it back to the main tank. It is configured and running as it is pictured untill the tank is fully cycled (I'm waiting atleast 3 months) and until I move all the livestock over from the 40g (which will be used as sump1). There is about 26 lbs of live rock that I have in the 60g sump2.
Here's a pic of the tank full and filled with about 180 lbs of deepwater Tonga live rock that I got at Jeff's Exotic. This was taken about last week.
And finally how it looks like today, after adding 23lbs more of rock and about 90lbs of aragonite fine sand.
So far, everything has been going smoothly. Nitrite was tested to be at 5ppm 5 days ago and has significantly dropped. I tested today and it was at 1ppm so I know the main cycle is near completion. The only thing I'm waiting for is my Barr Aquatic skimmer that should be here within the next two weeks, or so I'm told. I will keep you guys updated on it when it does arrive.
This is a pic of the tank filling up with RO/DI water after I finally shimmed the bottom of the stand. Before, the right side overflow was getting more water then the left, the water level was like 3/8" higher on that side. Wooden shims did the trick.
Next set of pics are the plumbing underneath the tank, starting with the left, center and right sides.
In the middle shot above, you can see my return plumbing on the top and the drains on the bottom. It was orignally the other way around with the drains on the top, with both overflows combining into one 1.5" pipe. This configuration caused me all kinds of headaches as the piping was straight and didn't allow the water to drain efficiently. I read up on Richard Durso's site and he mentioned that having a downward angle on the drain pipes would eliminate the backpressure in the standpipes, which were causing the flushing effects I was experiencing. So I redid the drain pipes and kept them separate using 1" spa-flex all the way to the sump. I saw immediate improvement and now the water levels in the overflows are dead even.
Next is a pic of my sump setup in the garage, directly behind the main tank.
This is a 60g sump that will be joined with a 40g (in the future) that will be placed on the wooden platform you see in the pic. The eventual plan is to have the drains from the main tank empty into the 40g where I will have the skimmer (which I am still waiting for) hooked up to. Yes, you heard me, I'm currently running the tank skimmer-less! The 40g will then drain into the 60g below and the Sequence Dart pumps it back to the main tank. It is configured and running as it is pictured untill the tank is fully cycled (I'm waiting atleast 3 months) and until I move all the livestock over from the 40g (which will be used as sump1). There is about 26 lbs of live rock that I have in the 60g sump2.
Here's a pic of the tank full and filled with about 180 lbs of deepwater Tonga live rock that I got at Jeff's Exotic. This was taken about last week.
And finally how it looks like today, after adding 23lbs more of rock and about 90lbs of aragonite fine sand.
So far, everything has been going smoothly. Nitrite was tested to be at 5ppm 5 days ago and has significantly dropped. I tested today and it was at 1ppm so I know the main cycle is near completion. The only thing I'm waiting for is my Barr Aquatic skimmer that should be here within the next two weeks, or so I'm told. I will keep you guys updated on it when it does arrive.
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