Eric's 300Gal Build!

[vic5hands]

Really Nice

 

[E_Aquatics]

Really Nice

Thanks Vic!

 

[E_Aquatics]

A few others from today!



WWC ***** Berries




Same purple tip hammer as the the first pic.




Blue Tort


Strawberry Shortcale

 

[mmg3938]

I just read this thread from start to finish. Im super impressed that you documented this whole process. Beautiful tank.

 

[E_Aquatics]

I just read this thread from start to finish. Im super impressed that you documented this whole process. Beautiful tank.

Thank you for taking the time to go through my tank build thread. I appreciate it. Its always nice to go back and see step by step of how everything start it and where it is now.

 

[Bugsy_Barboza]

Awesome build. I would like to add a couple gfci outlets myself. You might have just gave me confidence.

 

[E_Aquatics]

Awesome build. I would like to add a couple gfci outlets myself. You might have just gave me confidence.

Thank you! And go for it, it's not as hard as you would think. Just make sure your main circuit is shut off and you're good to go.

 

[Bugsy_Barboza]

Thats was the only thing I was thinking. I know how to turn off breaker for the different areas of the house. But how do you turn off the circuit breaker.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Beast!

 

[E_Aquatics]

Thats was the only thing I was thinking. I know how to turn off breaker for the different areas of the house. But how do you turn off the circuit breaker.

There should be a breaker at the bottom of your panel which turns the entire panel off.

 

[E_Aquatics]

Update 11/29/2015

Over the past several months I've been having problems with low pH (mainly at night). I installed the pH probe at the same time I installed the calcium reactor, before installing the calcium reactor I was not monitoring the pH of the tank 24/7 with the Apex so Im not sure if the low pH during the night is due to the low pH effluent coming out of the reactor or if its because during the night I have the 4 wave makers in the tank go down to 30%. When the pumps run at 30% there isn't a whole lot of surface agitation so that could also be the problem. The pH drops to 7.65 thought the night and raises back up to just above 7.9, there are days were it goes up to 8.1 but that barely happens.


There are many variables as to why the pH is dropping at night and not going pass 7.95 during the day so instead of trying to narrow it down I decided to modified the air intake of my skimmer and have it draw air in from outside. I also made some changes to my water mixing station. I took out the old 30g tank I had for mixing saltwater and put in a 50 gallon glass aquarium. This will allow me to not have to measure salt every time I do a water change since I can just drop a whole bag of salt in the tank which makes 50 gallons. Now I'll be changing roughly 15% of the total water volume in my tank. I also had to redo all the plumbing in the water station so I decided to upgrade the pump to a Little Giant which I hope will pump water a little bit faster from the garage, up through the attic and down into the tank about 40 feet away.




Here you can see the 1/2" line that goes up to the attic.



Now to the skimmer air intake mod. In order to do this I needed to drill a hole on a exterior wall, lucky for me the wall to the right of my tank is an exterior wall. Since I was already going to be drilling one hole why not just drill TWO holes . The second hole will serve as a drain. I have a manifold with 6 ports connected to a DC6000. One of the ports on the manifold will be hooked up to the drain so that during water changes I can just open a valve and pump out 50 gallons of old saltwater.

A BIG drill bit was needed for this job! 3/4" in diameter and 12" long


I missed the center of the cinder block by half an inch, I guess I got lucky because that would had made this a lot harder.


Holes sealed and plastic flange installed to cover the hole and sealant.




Let me tell you that getting both pieces of pipe behind the tank and installing the metal holders was not easy.


Skimmer air intake connector




and the drain line connected to the manifold



Top pipe is for the skimmer air intake and bottom pipe is for the drain line.


I drilled some holes in a 1/2" cap to stop any outdoor critters from crawling there way inside my skimmer



I will report back and let you guys know if the pH stays more stable now or if the problem continues. I still need to extend the drain line on the exterior so that water doesn't pour out right next to the house. Not sure what damage this will do so better be safe than sorry, thats for another day since I have to dig a trench and run some pipe underground and away from the house.

 

[E_Aquatics]

Got some goodies during the WWC Live Sale….

 

[E_Aquatics]

I added this bad boy today because I just had to have one.



These two are also arriving on Friday but not from WWC

 

[E_Aquatics]

Some new pictures from today!

The Walt Disney Tenuis & Orange Passion just arrived today and I took the pictures 10 minutes after they went into the tank, same with the Rainbow Monti and WWC Dragon Slayer. Still need to settle in.


Walt Disney Tenuis



Sexy Coral's Orange Passion



Aquarium City Red



Pink Lemonade



Same Pink Lemonade just a closer shot



Rainbow Monti



Yellow Tort



WWC Hulk Monster Acro



WWC Dragon Slayer

 

[E_Aquatics]

Side shot of my ghetto frag rack!

 

[Saltgator]

Nice shots and frags Eric. Gonna have to swing by for frags when they grow out, lol!

 

[E_Aquatics]

Nice shots and frags Eric. Gonna have to swing by for frags when they grow out, lol!

Thank you!!! Some are growing fast, others are taking their sweet time but in a few months I'll have some frags

 

[E_Aquatics]

WD & SC OP under just blue lighting.

 

[elitegc]

Wow... Just wow...

 

[elitegc]

I don't know if you frag at all, but if you do, let me know, I have ultra high end and high end zoas, plays, some chalices... I noticed you live in Cape Coral... I live in miami, we could meet half way.