250 Gallon reboot

[brainchild24]

Well my fellow keepers, I am restarting my 250 gallon marineland deep dimension tank. It has been 4yrs since moving into our forever home and +2 children. I am now in a position where my oldest is asking what am I going to do with the large fish tank sitting in my office. I thought about it myself and told her that I will start it up this Christmas. So in tradition to the post I have seen in past, here is the equipment list:

tank marineland dd 250 - 60" x 36" x 26"
stand custom made (me)
remote sump 65 gallon / refugium 65 gallon
settling tank (20 gallon brute trash can with a 200 micron filter)
SRO XP5000 skimmer
Ecotech Gen4 Pro(s) x 2 [ new ]
Ecotech vortech MP40wQD x 3 [ upgrade from MP40W ]
Ecotech vectra L1 [ new ]

calcium reactor GEO 618 or AquaMaxx cTech t-2, I think I am leaning towards the aquamaxx but I am open to suggestions. I am moving from a 3part doser, the main reason for this move cost of calcium / alk / mag over the course of a year. Also mixing the raw materials got a bit tedious (remember I have two small kids.).

The other thing which will be added later quarantine system for fish and coral, this is where my old ecotech mp40(s) will be used.

[brainchild24]

Photos of the build are here:

https://goo.gl/photos/euixz9NQ5Vp1qZ7BA

[NeverlosT]

sounds like an awesome build!

Just make that stand perfect, level, and strong... some searching on here will reveal some DD 300 tanks that have had issues if the stand wasn't up to snuff.

Excited to see progress

[scuzy]

looking good. Have you thought about a vertex calcium reactor? i have one and it's a lot nicer built than the GEO.

[brainchild24]

@NeverlosT Thanks, as to the stand it is strong enough to hold twice the size tank, the legs on the stand are 6x6 with 2x6 cross ties, 3/4" plywood deck, and the whole platform is dead level http://www.pic4ever.com/images/tnp.gif.

@scuzy I thought the vertex wouldn't keep up with a tank of my size.?

[brainchild24]

Also in my research of calcium reactors, I noticed a few folks running parasitic pumps on the effluent side to draw water through the reactor to combat possible clogging issues.

Is this a new trend?

[brainchild24]

Equipment is on order, now time to wait ��.

[worm5406]

What did you decide on the CaRX?

[scuzy]

Yes I run a masterflex on mine and no clogging of the effluent line.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[brainchild24]

What did you decide on the CaRX?

I am going with the AquaMaxx cTech T-2.

[brainchild24]

New equipment has come in..

[brainchild24]

Well, time for the moment of truth, it is time to fill the tank and leak test the system....pictures to come.

[worm5406]

I hope he did not flood. No updates... LOL

[brainchild24]

Had to work on a couple things with my sump, so water was delayed until tomorrow....Happy New Year to all...

[brainchild24]

Wow..I am loving the new Vortech pumps they are really quiet. Also I am not sure why so many people hate on the reeflink module, I love how you can rotate between various profiles per pump, including the Vectra. Can't wait to get the Radions configured next.

[brainchild24]

Ok now that all leaks have been fixed and salt added last night, I need some help with sizing the heater for this new setup. The problem is that the sump is located in the basement which maintains a constant temp around 60F during the winter and 70ish during the summer, also the traditional sources of heat have also been removed, such as the two eheim pumps in the sump and the ATI powermodule. I would like to hear from you guys and gals who run remote sumps in a cooler location what you do to maintain heat in the system. Thanks in advance.

[worm5406]

I know of a person that wrapped his sump in the styrofoam insulation that you get from home supply store. He has the panels set to stay tight to the tank and the front is easy to get off. The other ones come off also, just takes more work.

[brainchild24]

Thanks, worm5406, that is a good fix for now and I will just have to finish off that room with insulation and drywall in the spring.

[brainchild24]

A couple more pieces have shown up...

[brainchild24]

The calcium reactor looks to be built really well, and after going back and forth in regards to a regulator, I ended up with the CarbonDoser as I really don't feel like messing with a needle valve.

[worm5406]

Ahhh interested to see it setup and getting feedback from you when you get it running.

[brainchild24]

worm5406 so far I have the reactor filled and it's been pretty straight forward to setup and dial in, I will know more once I get some coral added to the tank how much it will keep up with the demand. I am having Avast Marine make me an effluent chamber just to buffer.

[worm5406]

Ahh. I really liked the updated pictures and video!!! You should post them in here for others.

[brainchild24]

Yeah, I am going to finally be free this weekend, as most things are done with the tank, I will update most of the photos...hope folks bring their high-speed internet as there will be tons of photos....

[brainchild24]

Some picture of the stand I built..more to come.. :)

[brainchild24]

Stand continued...

[brainchild24]

Stand completed and tank mounted...Had a bit of sap make it through that explains the discoloration on the front panels. I should have ponied up more money for wood and finished it in walnut...

[worm5406]

Nice woodwork!

[ADVRESOURCE]

nice work.

[brainchild24]

Thanks guys.

[brainchild24]

200lbs of CaribSea Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand, which gave me a 2in sand bed to work with. I have always run a semi-deep bed in all my tanks which give my sifting animals a place to hide and scavenge for food. Then I have about 100lbs of what was my live rock, which is now base rock as it's been dried for three years.

[brainchild24]

Foundation jacks have been installed to prevent the floor joist from slumping.

[brainchild24]

A few pieces of equipment.

[vikinglord13]

Brainchild do you live in a manufactured home or is your house just raised to be "level" on a slope?

[brainchild24]

vikinglord13 my home is on a sloped lot, which gives me a partial basement, this was one thing on the list is a basement space to set up a fish room.

[brainchild24]

Here are a couple quick shots of equipment in the basement.

[brainchild24]

I must say that ecotech has done a great job with the new Gen4 Radions.

[Dapg8gt]

How do you like the calcium reactor? Looking at grabbing the same for my 300g...any issues or regrets? Thanks

[brainchild24]

Dapg8gt the reactor is well built and pretty simple setup, I like fact that the effuent is controlled on the intake of the reactor which should prevent clogging, there is also a sediment filter on the intake to keep detritus out. I do have to admit that the reactor should be dead level to make sure that all the air bubbles are vented. I had mine on a wire shelf and had to put a piece of plywood underneath. The unit took four days total to setup, first day plumbing and filling with media, second day running it wide open to let the dust purge from the media, this is even after an initial rinse, then the last two days to find a drip rate which maintained the calcium and ALK....Two days of small adjustments ��. No regrets in regards to the reactor, I would purchase it again.

[brainchild24]

Dapg8gt also getting the aquamaxx allowed for room in the budget to purchase the carbon doser which is an awesome regulator set it and forget it. The bubble count will not change.

[Dapg8gt]

Awesome thanks for the info.. Pulled the trigger right after I posted here lol..It was so cheaply priced compared to others I was curious on function since your initial impression on build quality was so good..

It will be an upgrade for my larger tank.. I already have a geo 612 running with a brushless Cole parmer and dual stage regulator so I'm golden in that dept =) ..

The tank looks like it's off to a great start and congrats on getting back into the unforgiving (on the wallet) hobby we all seem to love. Look forward to updates on the progression and growth of your tank..

Thanks

[brainchild24]

Dapg8gt, thanks, I am looking forward to getting a few frags in a week or two. Waiting on the diotoms to die off...I have performed a water change today which makes for the second one, next week I will perform another small water change.

I think you should be happy with the aquamaxx, the choices I narrowed it down to were aquamaxx and GEO. To be honest I couldn't find faults with either and what made the difference was the price.

[brainchild24]

So it's been about 12yrs since I last cycled a tank and for the life of me, I can't remember diatoms making the water cloudy.

Anyone have this experience. The water parameters as within norms.

[brainchild24]

I have been using a 50micron sheet, changing them out daily and that has helped somewhat, but the water is still cloudy. I am waiting on my new shipment of activated carbon to see if that will polish the water a bit.

[brainchild24]

On a positive note, I have finished my water mix station. I will post a picture tomorrow. Still cleaning up all the various messes from assembling everything in the basement.

[worm5406]

You are not carbon dosing are you?

[brainchild24]

You are not carbon dosing are you?

Nope, well if the media reactor with active carbon counts, then yes?

[brainchild24]

So the diatoms happened right after adding the 5 chromis, the tank was what I thought cycled and everything was clear. Then two days later the bloom happened. I am not overfeeding either, just what they can clear in 10~15secs and the hermit crabs take care of anything that slips through the grasp of the fish.

[worm5406]

Well after adding the chromis the amonia they pee'd out kicked started the bacteria.

How did you cycle it?

[worm5406]

Update your album when you get a chance. I am curious what it looks like.

[brainchild24]

Update your album when you get a chance. I am curious what it looks like.

So I had some setbacks with various things in the tank, new/(old rock) tank syndrome and once everything was started to look like it was going in the right direction had rtn issues so I let the tank run as a fish mostly tank for a few months aside from a couple of LPS and zoas. Then I contacted Adam @ battle corals asked him to put a box together of millis and man did he not disappoint. I will upload some photos tomorrow. But the tank is finally in a good spot, should be getting a couple m. caps in on Friday.

[jrme1212]

How do you like the Radions? Are the two fixtures enough? I'm starting up a 250 and am lost on how to do the lights due to the irregular footprint.

[brainchild24]

How do you like the Radions? Are the two fixtures enough? I'm starting up a 250 and am lost on how to do the lights due to the irregular footprint.

Hi jrme1212,

I ended up with a total of four radions, two xr30 towards the center, and two xr15 on the edge and I tell you the light spread is great. I have a pretty even cast of light/par across my rock work, I would say your aquascape will determine the total amount of fixtures needed also coral density. The main benefits I see with this many lights are that my total intensity is all the way down to about 40% from 80% and I get about 140par on the sand, with and an average of 240~ par throughout the rockwork. Hope this helps and good luck.