Following along. I bought the exact tank on Cyber Monday because I found your post. You sold it for me then I found a video from Reef Builder spotlighting it. Can’t wait to get it super excited. I was originally going to get the Xxl750 but with The issues everyone is having for the price u pay I would rather spend less on a tank and get awesome equipment. So I jumped all over this tank. Your build looks great!
Pro Clear ProStar 220 Build... A first on R2R I think........
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Big C
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Thanks. Got water in and going, will provide some updates this weekend. Thanks for checking in!
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Changed up the aquascape a bit, found some more rock around the house and added a few more elevations to break it up. Got some E-Marco-400 to bond it together and make a few of the shelves a bit more level. I hope to get to it this weekend. Looks like an elf found his way to the shelf........
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Well............... The scaping didn't go in exactly as laid out. At least it gave me an idea how to place most of the rocks. That E Macro 400 is some awesome stuff, easy to work with and sets up hard. After this would never use epoxy again for this amount of scaping. A few of the pieces I did wait overnight to make sure the bond was solid (especially the base supporting the rock shelf on the right) prior to adding more.
I still have a few more to add in on the middle right back. Once I cement in the right side the ruler with get taken out and and then salt water goes in. I think I left enough caves/holes to get some flow, especially when adding the Wavs. Any thoughts would be appreciated. About 150 lbs of rock went in.
I still have a few more to add in on the middle right back. Once I cement in the right side the ruler with get taken out and and then salt water goes in. I think I left enough caves/holes to get some flow, especially when adding the Wavs. Any thoughts would be appreciated. About 150 lbs of rock went in.
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Scape looks great!
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FINALLY!!! My wife is happy the rock is off the living room floor and I'm happy the rock is in the aquarium. Maybe used too much Macro 400, it may come out in one big piece.......
I do have a piece of rock upper right shelf rock at a slant we thought looked like the Millennium Falcon.....
I do have a piece of rock upper right shelf rock at a slant we thought looked like the Millennium Falcon.....
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Nice setup! Are the feet adjustable for leveling or do you need to use shims?
First I am grateful for your build thread on this new tank supplier. Watching with interest.
Sorry I am a bit late chiming in on your aquascape. I like what you are doing --particularly with spacing -- but will share one element you may wish to consider. Height of the stack(s). In my last build, I went too high and I am regretting it. Why am I regretting?
a) Blocks flow especially once corals start growing out
b) Visually, my prized acros are at the top and you have to bend over to see them. (Less of a problem if stand is real tall or you view from a seated position)
c) After 18 months, the acros and caps are growing out of the water (quite unsuccessfully)
At MACNA this year, one of the workshops was on aquascaping. Joseph Caparatta of Manhattan Aquarium was the presenter; I'd seen his stuff before it is awesome. He floored me with this statement: "The maximum height of your tallest stack should be no more than 1/2 the aquarium height." I asked for clarification and he listed my ABCs above plus a few more I forget. I built to about 2/3rds the height. Doh!
Sorry I am a bit late chiming in on your aquascape. I like what you are doing --particularly with spacing -- but will share one element you may wish to consider. Height of the stack(s). In my last build, I went too high and I am regretting it. Why am I regretting?
a) Blocks flow especially once corals start growing out
b) Visually, my prized acros are at the top and you have to bend over to see them. (Less of a problem if stand is real tall or you view from a seated position)
c) After 18 months, the acros and caps are growing out of the water (quite unsuccessfully)
At MACNA this year, one of the workshops was on aquascaping. Joseph Caparatta of Manhattan Aquarium was the presenter; I'd seen his stuff before it is awesome. He floored me with this statement: "The maximum height of your tallest stack should be no more than 1/2 the aquarium height." I asked for clarification and he listed my ABCs above plus a few more I forget. I built to about 2/3rds the height. Doh!
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Thanks for the input. You are correct, I also saw on BRS that you should go no higher than 2/3, didn't know about the 1/2. 70% of the rock work is below 1/2 and all but two small points are below the 2/3rds, I wanted some higher structures more for fish to swim in/out of and hiding. The larger roundish rock isn't cemented/glued and can be removed if needed.
I did purchase additional power heads and will have 2 Maxspect 250 and 2 Neptune Wavs.
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Yes.
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No leveling feet, used some composite shims. See picture below. I heard their future iterations will come with leveling feet. Have no idea if and when.
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Finally did it!!!!! After getting a quote from a local dealer to replace the sock holder poly carbonate sheet in the sump from Pro Clear's 3.5ish" diameter sock hole to a standard 3.75" for $207.86 I went to look for some more options and............
3 3/4" holesaw at Menards... $15 (and I got my 11% back
)
My previous attempt with a Dremel..... Way too much work and not very round......
After using the hole saw. I had the bit skip on me once and left a mark. Once water starts flowing no one will know. But it does bug me......
What do you know.......... They FIT!!!!!!!
Next is to silicone them in. Now I can use any standard sock (I can use the army of socks I have now) or media basket. All for a $15 dollar bit and $10 aquarium safe silicone.
3 3/4" holesaw at Menards... $15 (and I got my 11% back
)My previous attempt with a Dremel..... Way too much work and not very round......
After using the hole saw. I had the bit skip on me once and left a mark. Once water starts flowing no one will know. But it does bug me......
What do you know.......... They FIT!!!!!!!
Next is to silicone them in. Now I can use any standard sock (I can use the army of socks I have now) or media basket. All for a $15 dollar bit and $10 aquarium safe silicone.
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Big C
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Once last tank shot with sand. Going with a small bed, 1.5”. If anyone needs 75 lbs of washed (yes washed) sand let me know........ bought way and washed way to much.
IMO you have the right amount of sand in there. Now GET WET!
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Getting a little help on that. Luckily my new RO unit came in to speed things up, should be salty tomorrow.
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Going to try something different. Didn't know which is the best so I thought I would try all three. Hopefully adding 1/3 of each I get the benefit of all of them. Going to use the 2.5/3 month BRS method (didn't cycle my dry rock) but instead of the shrimp using the Ammonium Chloride from Dr. Tim as the food source.
Going to try something different. Didn't know which is the best so I thought I would try all three. Hopefully adding 1/3 of each I get the benefit of all of them. Going to use the 2.5/3 month BRS method (didn't cycle my dry rock) but instead of the shrimp using the Ammonium Chloride from Dr. Tim as the food source.
I like this idea intuitively and will be curious to see how it goes.
I am watching a similar multi-bacterial approach to solving cyano and even dinos. All very interesting.
