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My new project


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Well after what seemed to be forever away from the hobby I'm in the closing stages of having a full blown reef tank again! I was fortunate to come across Mojo's old 203 A.G.E. rimless tank designed by Mike and the team at Kingfish aquariums. The dimensions are 60" x 30" deep and 25" tall. Next week I will place and order with Kingfish and hope to have this tank wet within three weeks. Here is the list of equipment I'll be using followed by a pic I took of the tank today with the lights on.

203 A.G.E. starfire rimless tank with steel stand built by A.G.E.

O.M. four way with Barracuda

Tunze wave box

ATI power module 10 bulb 4' fixture

Bubbleking 200 Supermarin internal protein skimmer

Red Dragon 45m3 return pump

Deltec CA reactor

jbj arctica chiller

Tunze top-off

Controller (undecided)

I'll update this tread as the tank progresses.

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Nice selection of equipment. ;)

203 A.G.E. starfire rimless tank with steel stand built by A.G.E.

O.M. four way with Barracuda

Tunze wave box

ATI power module 10 bulb 4' fixture

Bubbleking 200 Supermarin internal protein skimmer

Red Dragon 45m3 return pump

Deltec CA reactor

jbj arctica chiller

Tunze top-off

Controller (undecided)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks guys I'm glad you like.

Lee- Ace will be skinning out the stand. As of now the plan is to join Pine so that the grain is going up and down and stain it ebony. There will be four panels identical to each other 30" wide and I'll have magnets on the back side so there are no screws and I can remove the panels quickly for maintenance. That will be down the road though, I need to recover from the plumbing cost first. :D

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Well I finished plumbing the closed loop this afternoon. I wish I could have stuck with perpendicular and horizontal lines but the angles of the closed loop on the left side of the tank did not allow for that. I guess it doesn't look too bad so I'm hoping you guys will tell me. All I have left on the plumbing is to hard plumb the return pump and figure out how to plumb the chiller........Should I hard plumb or use soft tubing??? What are your thoughts? The chiller will be about 4' away from the tank.

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Love the magnet idea. That sounds like it will look very nice!! I can understand on the plumbing costs. So many people forget how much plumbing can cost!!

Lee

Thanks guys I'm glad you like.

Lee- Ace will be skinning out the stand. As of now the plan is to join Pine so that the grain is going up and down and stain it ebony. There will be four panels identical to each other 30" wide and I'll have magnets on the back side so there are no screws and I can remove the panels quickly for maintenance. That will be down the road though, I need to recover from the plumbing cost first. :)

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I always use flexspa whenever possible as it reduces turns and gives me play (particularly with a chiller!) I love that it can still be glued. What size connections on chiller?

Since we almost always way overpower our closed loop pumps and return pumps I think you are going to be just fine on the turns and bends. The best thing is that you have kept it open enough that any maintenance issues will be easy to address.

I am guess the OM is powered? I have never used one so I don't know if they can run dry. If not, I would have the pump and OM on the same switch to make sure you don't turn off the pump and not the OM. Not sure if it really matters, but just something I thought of.

Did you put a "T" on the closed loop drain so you can automate water changes? I have always thought that would be a good idea but I have not had a closed loop yet. Just something to think about.

Lee

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Well Lee you made my mind up for me. I've decided to go with 3/4 gray spa-flex so all the plumbing matches. The connections are 3/4" and so is the chiller return on the tank.

You are correct the OM is powered. Good point about the OM and the pump, I wouldn't have thought of that.

As of now I haven't put a "T" on the closed loop, as soon as I make it by Corr Tech I'll get what I need and complete that project. As far as the water changes go I like to empty the sump and shop vac it during each water change. This helps detritus and other smelly stuff from building up in the sump.

I hope to have the return pump plumbed in by Tuesday and I'll follow it up with pics.

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I agree with shop vacing the sump, but you might look into these pumps they sell at Lowe's or Ace. They pump the water out to less than 1/4 inch (I usually would get completely empty) and you can put a hose connection to the pump. Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/Attwood-Power-Water-...e/dp/B0000AXSI9

Then the only thing you have to shop vac is the left over detritus.

Looking good.

You putting the chiller in the same room or running to different location?

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Lee the chiller will set in the in the breakfast room a few feet from the tank. I plan on having Ace design something to cover it up as well.

On a side note I'm not happy with the plumbing and plan on changing a few things up. I'll update once I'm done.

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I spent much of the day finishing up the plumbing and replacing the seals, bearing in my closed loop pump and it's safe to say I am worn out!

Mojo suggested that I re-route the far left closed loop so that it goes out the back of the stand. I am glad I took his advice as there is more room underneath and things do not look as cluttered.

I also picked up my Spectrapure five stage RO/DI unit and started making water. Since I do not have my mixing vat yet I have the product water going directly in the tank. Once I have enough water to run my return pump and closed loop I will be adding salt and letting my CL mix it up.

The rock selected was Vanuatu and I had a chance to check it out last week down at Kingfish where it is curing. I hope to have my sand by end of next week. That will allow me to scape the rock and get ready for fish.

Below are progress pics from today, it's getting close to becoming a reef!

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Well Gabe the excitement was short lived and followed by frustration. I discovered two leaks in my plumbing job, one at the fitting between my 1.5 threaded slip adapter and the top of the ball valve. The other leak is coming from the short 1 inch pipe coming out of the far right ball valve. :D Not sure what happened but I can't move forward until I get more parts from Corr-Tech. What's the most frustrating part is I've plumbed three other times using the good ole sch. 40 from Home Depot and never had a glitch.

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