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 .

@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]

Originally Posted by worm5406

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..