Mike's 300 Double-D

[110galreef]

Awesome build! Love the cabinet! Can't wait to see the growth of the tank!

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by 110galreef

Awesome build! Love the cabinet! Can't wait to see the growth of the tank!

Thanks! We're very happy with the build so far!

[prop-frags]

OK, We've been just incredibly busy but thought we drop a few quick updates in so you guys can see how things are unfolding.

Once we started kicking back and watching the tank, we became increasingly dissatisfied with the aquascaping on the left side. The right side had turned out so well, that it "raised the bar". So we burned a couple of weekends between chores and errands just trying to improve it some. Finally, Terry said "you know that the whole thing has to come out." Groan. Yes, she was right.

So, we pulled out the left side and went to work on rebuilding the left "tree". The design principles haven't changed - we still wanted interesting textures and the bonsai tree look with multiple levels. We ordered a couple more pieces of live rock, and shopped all the LFS's. Problem was, we just couldn't find the pieces that we needed. Thus came the research on what method to use to fabricate the branches that have that look we wanted.

We landed on hydraulic cement. We ran several tests for construction techniques, for strength, and changes to the water (pH, etc.). This took an awfully long time. On top of that, I needed to go out of town on business. While I was away, Terry took all that we had learned through our experimentation and built this:


This pic doesn't do justice to all the work that went into this. Most of these pieces had to be fabricated using fiberglass rods, epoxy, hydraulic cement, etc. Needless to say, I was very happy to come home and have this ready to go. So we've been busy over the past two weekends getting the aquascaping finished and the corals placed. Here's a look at where we stand so far:

Left side:


Right side:


FTS:


We have a lot more to post about in terms of other things we've done....
Just have to find the time to take pics and document our work.

[rholguin]

Amazing tank. Aquascape looks good. Real nice looking tank. Keep up the good work.

[Lytehouse]

very unique and great

corals, grown out, will make it outstanding

[BRISK495]

nice!

[crvz]

It looks great, Mike.

[dave.m]

Um ... not to be negative or critical in any way, but those two structures look the same to me. Maybe it's just my misperception.

Dave.M

[Leonardo_]

Very nice Mike, I know how much time it costs to create an attractive rockscape (that is stable )

Leonardo

[Reef Happy]

Mike, I am lovin your tank. How much distance do you have between your back glass and rock work?

[Soferik]

Hey Mike, the new tank is looking fantastic! I have been reading and re-reading your build thread lately trying to get some ideas for my DD project. I am only getting the 150 DD, so my build isn't on the same level as yours, but since all the DD tanks share the same overflows, 3' depth, and 27inch height, some aspects of the build are similar enough that I can get a pretty good idea of some of the obstacles I will face. So at some point, I would love to bring over some good beer/wine/single-malt, which ever you prefer, and lay eyes on your set-up and kick around some ideas! One question I have right off the bat is, I see that Joe drilled your tank so obviously the 300 is not tempered on the bottom, do you happen to know if all the DD tanks are the same in that regard?

[AfricaOffroad]

Mike, you've got a real quality build going there.
Really like you tank scaping and the cupboard design surrounding it.

Have to say though, from your pics posted, your support stand worries me.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of support for the tank base.
No doubt the vertical legs can take the compressive load, but how much deflection are you getting on the horizontal wooden support beams?
Any noticeable deflection accross the glass base?

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by rholguin
Amazing tank. Aquascape looks good. Real nice looking tank. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Robert - we really appreciate the feedback. It motivates us to keep on striving to make our project as best as we can make it.

Originally Posted by Lytehouse
very unique and great. corals, grown out, will make it outstanding

Lynn - thanks! We're trying to be choosy about the corals and placement. Honestly, this is one of the aspects of this hobby that we have not found a lot of guidance about. We totally realize that which corals and their placement is a very personal decision, but aside from Calfo's book, there isn't a whole lot of info out there we've found useful. Has anyone got any good references?

Originally Posted by BRISK495
nice!

Thank you Brisk!

Originally Posted by crvz
It looks great, Mike.

Chris- appreciate your continued support. We've learned a lot from you.

Originally Posted by dave.m
Um ... not to be negative or critical in any way, but those two structures look the same to me. Maybe it's just my misperception.

Thanks for the comments, Dave. All opinions are valuable. We took a few more pics with a flash this time that hopefully show a bit more definition of the 'scape.

Originally Posted by Leonardo_
Very nice Mike, I know how much time it costs to create an attractive rockscape (that is stable )

Thanks Leonardo. I won't kid you, there were times when we were dreading the work of climbing back into the big ol' double D, and pulling that whole thing out... But we just suck it up because we want it to be good and something we can look at every evening and really enjoy it rather than be distracted by something we wish we had done better.

Originally Posted by Reef Happy
Mike, I am lovin your tank. How much distance do you have between your back glass and rock work?

Thanks Doug. We left a lot of space back there, for a couple reasons. One, we wanted a lot of flow back there so no nasty dead spots. Two, lots of negative space was a key design principle. On both sides, there is about 10-12" between the trees and the back. The small off-center island is pretty close in order to cover the CL intake.

Originally Posted by Soferik
Hey Mike, the new tank is looking fantastic! So at some point, I would love to bring over some good beer/wine/single-malt, which ever you prefer, and lay eyes on your set-up and kick around some ideas! One question I have right off the bat is, I see that Joe drilled your tank so obviously the 300 is not tempered on the bottom, do you happen to know if all the DD tanks are the same in that regard?

Hey Jon - thanks for the kind words and we appreciate you tagging along. You're welcome to come by - I'll drop you a PM. I am fairly certain that all of the perfecto DD tanks are plate glass, since they all come reef-ready by default, but as always, you should check with them. Let us know what you find out!

Originally Posted by AfricaOffroad View Post
Mike, you've got a real quality build going there. Really like you tank scaping and the cupboard design surrounding it.

Have to say though, from your pics posted, your support stand worries me.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of support for the tank base.
No doubt the vertical legs can take the compressive load, but how much deflection are you getting on the horizontal wooden support beams?
Any noticeable deflection accross the glass base?

Yes, we were fairly negligent on posting good pics of the stand and it's construction. A few things to mention since you ask: First, there is no noticeable bend in the stand or the tank. Second, there was another 2x4 was added to the top of the stand prior to filling the tank (this was not done for structural strength, but rather the need to elevate the tank to the proper level for the quartz counters to fit flush against the lower tank surround). The stand also is highly reinforced at all joints (center cross brace, corners, etc.). We'll take some better closeups so you guys can see.



Here's a couple of new shots of the 'scaping with some better colors, contrast, etc.

Left:


Right:

[Rickyrooz1]

Looks good

[reefman66]

Nice work. Love the aquascape!!!

[lhcorals]

Hope you left some room for some of my corals . Tank looks great .

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by Rickyrooz1
Looks good

Thank you, Ricky.

Originally Posted by reefman66
Nice work. Love the aquascape!!!

Thanks Reefman! It's growing on us

Originally Posted by lhcorals
Hope you left some room for some of my corals. Tank looks great.

Don't worry Lynn...The big ol' double D has got PLENTY of room!!



As you guys may know, we are huge fans of the Panworld pumps. They are dependable as the sunrise, run like a top, and easy to maintain.
Our current main return pump is the PW150PS. With the install of the new 300, we split the return into two lines and now there's not enough flow to suit us. Here's an old pic of the return line plumbing - you can see the spa flex line coming up from the remote sump, and tee'ing off to each of the overflows:


Well, for payday, we indulged in a new return pump:


It's a PW200s, 1740 GPH. We installed it and put in a couple of penductors on the returns in the display...Here's a pic of the new pump installed under the sump:


You can see the main return is tee'd off to also feed the loop over to our 75g frag tank/refugium, and the little 1/4" quick connect fitting feeds the calcium reactor.

Results of the new pump are very satisfactory. This thing is a BOSS. We have greatly improved flow into the display, and we now have the 150PS sitting as our hot-standby pump in case of failure.

[prop-frags]

Today we tightened up the Tunze installation in the display.
The CL outlets are kickin' some terrific flow, but we still needed additional flow in a few spots:

1) across the back (there's a lot of space back there with the DD)
2) upper portions along the sides where the upper rock branches are

Along the back, we were using the two old-style Tunze 6105's. We love the massive flow those things generate. Problem is, we had to use the magnetic mounts inside the overflows to point them across the back and the vibration noise was annoying. This is where the new return pump comes in. We added penductors to each of the return outlets, and with the flow that the PW200s is generating, we can retire the 6105s. Two less pumps to clean and the noise goes away entirely! SWEET. Here's a shot of the 3/4" penductors we picked up from premium aquatics:



Yes, they are complete transparent! You cannot even see them. J/K, this is just the empty package.

Anyhow, we've been thinking over how to install the Tunzes into the stand. Remember, that there's no way to get wires down from the tank to underneath the stand without going into the wall. So we needed to drill another set of holes. This time we used the 2.5" hole saw:


Why you may be asking would we need a monster 2.5" hole for a few wires? It's a design flaw with the Tunze stream pumps. The pumps are hard wired to these clunky connectors:


The hole saw makes very quick work of the drywall though:


Notice that we taped a large piece of cardboard over the tank to catch all the drywall crumbs. All this maintenance we've been doing over the past few weeks would have been a tremendous PITA if we didn't have the slide-out light rack. This is by far the most useful element we put into this build. I can't tell you how much we've used it and how well it has worked out. The thing just slides in / out so easily - it rocks! And you have got to be able to lean over the sides of the tank to reach much of it, just due to the dimensions of the big ol' double D.

OK with the holes drilled, to pretty everything up, we use another set of these nifty computer desk grommets:


Next up, we run the 6055 connector wires from the canopy down to under the stand. Down below under the tank, we were able to reuse the the old hole in the wall that one of our old 1.5" drain lines was placed. Up above in the canopy, we simply drilled the upper hole on the same vertical line as the existing former drain line hole.

The 7095 controller has another one of those silly Tunze design flaws. The moonlight/light sensor is hard wired to the controller. Why they chose to not use small connectors on all of this stuff is beyond me. Anyhow, since the 7095 is under the stand, we needed to feed the moonlight up through the wall to the canopy. We just dropped a nylon rope down the hole, taped the moonlight to it, and pulled it back up to do the job. Next, we put the nice grommet in place and voila:



The last step was to use some little plastic wire clamps to secure all the wires up on the canopy so they don't flop around. It's a little hard to get a picture of this with the light rack in place, but you can get the idea:


Another chore complete. Now its time to grill out and enjoy a few cold ones and some wonderful Virginia spring weather!!



Thanks for watching.

[alton]

Maybe I missed this if someone already asked but have you had any issues with your Regal Angel and any corals?

[The Punisher]

Very impressive build and a great looking tank!

[Soferik]

Hey Mike, just a follow-up, I emailed Marineland to ask about whether the 150 DD can be drilled like the bigger DD tanks. They just emailed back, and they said that all the DD tanks are plate glass and can be drilled, however, if it is not drilled by them at the factory the warranty is void. This kind of stinks because I was considering moving the overflow and using the factory holes for part of a closed loop to better fit my install, but don't really want to void the warranty. On the flip side, I would custom order it from the factory,except the tanks are on sale right now and if I custom order, I lose the sale price!

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by alton

Maybe I missed this if someone already asked but have you had any issues with your Regal Angel and any corals?

She will occasionally nip at some of our corals but nothing too serious except for one set of zoos that she seemed to really enjoy, so we put those back into the prop tank for now and see if she grows out of that.

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by The Punisher

Very impressive build and a great looking tank!

Thanks for checking us out and taking the time to post!

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by Soferik

Hey Mike, just a follow-up, I emailed Marineland to ask about whether the 150 DD can be drilled like the bigger DD tanks. They just emailed back, and they said that all the DD tanks are plate glass and can be drilled, however, if it is not drilled by them at the factory the warranty is void. This kind of stinks because I was considering moving the overflow and using the factory holes for part of a closed loop to better fit my install, but don't really want to void the warranty. On the flip side, I would custom order it from the factory,except the tanks are on sale right now and if I custom order, I lose the sale price!

Jon, that does stink! I've heard many stories about how picky they are about what you can/cannot do in order to keep the warranty. Example is any stand other than the marineland stand voids the "limited lifetime warranty"

For the record, the warranty card that came with the 300DD says essentially that there is a "limited lifetime warranty" if you install the tank on their stand. And that there is a 1-year parts and workmanship warranty aside from that. Now there's a long list of stuff that voids the warranty of course...

Here's how we rationalized/justified the modifications... both the LFS and we were very careful in our examination of the tank prior to taking delivery to ensure it was free of defects. We knew our stand was better than the factory stand. Drilling the tank was something we have done many times over and felt comfortable in our decision. Although there was still that lump in the throat when cutting that GI-NORMOUS hole for the CL intake

[RichK]

Mike, the tank came together very nice! We move in a few weeks and then my planning begins. I'm gonna have to PM you about that light rack. It came out awesome.