A Reefaholic's 1000+ Gallon Mixed Reef System Build

[Dustin1300]

Good looking baby. My grand daughter is a month older. She gets more fun and adorable everyday

Thanks David. They definitely grow up way too fast!

Hey Dustin he looks like a reefer!!

Good luck with the chromis. I tried 12 green ones in my old 220 and they didn't make it but your tank is bigger and I've heard if you feed em enough they forget to fit

Corey

I'm hoping they work out. I'm going to figure out if the Black Axils are actually an option this morning. If not, I've got another order of other critters coming in tomorrow and will tack on Chromis to that order. The other remaining fish I have on order should be available for pickup on Saturday!

Awesome, can't wait to see your fish. I have been tempted to grab some of those red dot cardinals from dd, but after seeing ORA's recent video of their black cardinals I must wait for those. The blue eyed cardinals are very cool as well. Your aquarium has been very uplifting for me being from Indiana lol.. very detailed and helpful for future plans


Jacob

Glad it's helped out and glad to have you along. Once the system is up and running feel free to PM me and you could check out the system if our schedules align.

Dustin,

Well, I'm going to be in on the experiment. Ordered 10 of the black axil to see how they do. If it's not a complete world war in there, i'll get a few more. Would love to have a steady school of 20-25 or so. I'm hoping my other big fish will keep them from focusing on each other.

Roni

I'm "patiently" awaiting PA this morning to ensure I get the fish I wanted. Another great benefit of the smaller fish is that they keep the big fish active so cannot wait to keep adding fish!

Under Armor outfit = Future Reefer + Athlete in making.

At this point my little chunker could be a linebacker without a problem He's going to have to be an athlete to afford his obsession he inherits from his dad. Maybe he'll have a Bill Wann sized tank and I can spend my retirement maintaining his tank!

[worm5406]

Originally Posted by Dustin1300

Just wrapped up water mixing station with 2 X 200 Gallon Vertical Tanks from Tank Depot and a couple DC10000 pumps for keeping the water moving/mixed. Also have a line from RO/DI tank and SW to basement to do fast water changes should they need to be done and to plump directly into reactors to rinse carbon/GFO with a couple flips of the valves.

Another step closer to having tank in full swing!

Full Picture:


Another angle. Valves on outside of each will have loc-line connected to them to fill a bucket for water/saltwater, etc...:

Guess what you just made me order. I had been on the fence for a few months anyway. Just did not know which one, but you convinced me a few months ago.


HAHAHAHA...

OK if you do not mind... can I get your part list for plumbing. More importantly the bulkhead sizes. I figure I can order those now and they should be here before the tanks are delivered. Which pumps did you get (DC10000 right??), in the pix above, how are they doing?

The only think I am going to add is two 1/4 turn valves on the exit of the tank at the bottom, in the event that maint needs to be done on all the pipe.

[Dustin1300]

Sure. Here goes! Don't blame me if I forgot something, I'm notorious for 5 trips to HW store.

- 2 X DC10000 Pumps
- 2 X Male 2" Threaded Adapters
- 2 X Reducers 2"->1"
- 4 X 1" Tees
- 5 X 1" Ball Valves
- 2 X 1" Ball Valves with Unions
- 2 X 1" Barbs
- 2 X 1" Thread/Slip Coupler
- 4 X 1" Unions
- 4 X 1" Elbows
- ~20' of 1" SCH 80 Pipe
- 1' of Nylon Tubing

Inside I used a couple 3/4 Lock-lines on each barrel that keep the water in rotation. During normal operation I only run them on the second speed setting. For 24 hours of mixing I run the SW barrel at full speed. Really you could make a design with 1 pump but I wanted to be able to pressurize two lines which feed to my basement. Also, I did not include parts above to have the feed lines to the basement...

[worm5406]

I have read conflicting reports. What is the connector for the pump(s)?

1" / 1.5" / 2" ???

Is it threaded or slip?

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by worm5406

I have read conflicting reports. What is the connector for the pump(s)?

1" / 1.5" / 2" ???

Is it threaded or slip?

They are threaded or barbed. It comes with Barbs/adapter for 1/2", 3/4", and 1". I've heard of threading issues but I did not have any issues with mine. I don't see ANY difference between a Speedwave and Waveline, just that the Speedwave is $60 cheaper.

[Dustin1300]

Added some life to the tank today with a the start to the first round of inhabitants since I've got all the coral glued down.

- 3 X Helfrichi Firefish
- 1 X African Midas Blenny
- 1 X Indo Feather Duster
- 1 X Hard Tube Coco Worm (Still has not opened...)
- 100 X Trochus Snails

Saturday I'll be adding the following:
- 1 X Starry Blenny
- 1 X Bi-Color Blenny
- 2 X Black and White Ocellaris Clownfish
- 2 X Naked Clowns
- 2 X Buckshot Clowns

Not much life but it's a start as my tank is way too sterile currently.

That all being said, what tips do you have for good full tank shot as I need to share with you guys/gals?!?!

[Anim8me2]

If you have a DSLR, take a series of panned vertical shots and assemble as a pano in something like Photoshop or a free pano app.
Can't wait to see it!

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by Anim8me2

If you have a DSLR, take a series of panned vertical shots and assemble as a pano in something like Photoshop or a free pano app.
Can't wait to see it!

I've got a Rebel T3i, external flash, and a few cheaper lenses (Nifty 50mm, 27-55mm, and 55-350mm I think). Editing, I'd be using CS3 Photoshop/Lightroom.

[worm5406]

Originally Posted by Dustin1300

That all being said, what tips do you have for good full tank shot as I need to share with you guys/gals?!?!

Can you get back far enough to do a FTS? or do you need to stitch a picture together?

Some cameras have a panorama selection on them.

[Dustin1300]

Going to try to play around a bit tonight. Since when were you on team RC?!

[Dustin1300]

Played with the camera a bit and got some shots tonight so I can start tracking growth/color on coral. FTS was a real challenge and looks like I still need to do some major research on taking a good FTS!

Tell me what you think and feel free to share tips. Before doing any photo processing this looked like complete garbage. Tried to adjust to the colors most representative of what they are.

FTS#1:


FTS#2:

[worm5406]

Mine does the same thing.

Next time I do pics I am going to turn OFF the UV and Blues.

See if my white balance comes out better.

Was that one pic or did you stitch two together?

I think it looks good. You see what I mean about the blues on the shadows under the overhangs though right? I wonder.

[david00061]

I set my lights at 20k and 14k both work pretty good for me. Good pic are tuff

[Dustin1300]

It was one picture and white balance is off and had issues getting it set right. I'll have to try some different colors on lights to see what comes out the best. Ive not yet uploaded photos yet as I'm out of space on photobucket and I'm frustrated they yanked unlimited storage. Considering paying for photobucket or going ahead and changing to smug mug. Since smug mug allows full res uploads up to 50mB think it might be better choice. Opinions on this too?!

[worm5406]

Use your picasa account: It is part of your google account. You do have one right??

Picasa

[roni]

I love the aquascaping...I don't know why but I find that LED and T5 lit tanks always look bluer in pics then in real life.

BTW, my black axil batch from live aquaria was a bust. I'm down to 2 fish out of 10 after 3 days

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by worm5406

Use your picasa account: It is part of your google account. You do have one right??

Picasa

Think I'm going to go ahead and start using smug mug to store all my personal/family photos and reef photos. $48/year and I can store my HD videos too so I don't have to worry about having drives go bad on my storage server.

Originally Posted by roni

I love the aquascaping...I don't know why but I find that LED and T5 lit tanks always look bluer in pics then in real life.

BTW, my black axil batch from live aquaria was a bust. I'm down to 2 fish out of 10 after 3 days

Thanks! It's definitely hard and think I might try without blues a couple times. Got old having to fix the white balance on all my pictures.

Sorry about the black axils. That whole deal fell through on the black axils so I did not get order in on the 50. I might just go ahead and order 50 regular chromis on my next order which should be ~next week?

[worm5406]

True.. Let me wonder over there and see what deals they have.

[Dustin1300]

I'll try to post a few pictures I got of the coral in last nights experimental shoot. I need to post some in the photo forum to get some additional guidance. I used aperture priority and shot at either 35mm or 50mm and really wanting that 100 mm macro lens! F-stop of f/9 and ISO 100.

Green Acro (Unsure on name?):


Tri-Color:


Rainbow Zoo:


Favia:


Orange Crush (Ready for tips to turn orange):


Two of the helfrichi firefish:


Season's Greeting:


Green Slimer:


Setosa:


Red Dragon (Bad Photo):

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by worm5406

True.. Let me wonder over there and see what deals they have.

Use discount code "SNAPKNOT20" to get 20% off first year.

[laugh]

Hey Dustin. I haven't posted in your thread in a while. The tank looks awesome! You need to update your tank info though. While I'm sure it will always be a work in progress it is now a functioning system. I would say your hard work has paid off.

[Dustin1300]

Originally Posted by laugh

Hey Dustin. I haven't posted in your thread in a while. The tank looks awesome! You need to update your tank info though. While I'm sure it will always be a work in progress it is now a functioning system. I would say your hard work has paid off.

Glad to have you swing by. You're certainly right on my signature....Tank has only been "live" for two weeks tomorrow so I've been doing a different project each night.

Tonight I added a starry blenny and bi-color blenny to the DT as well as three pairs of clowns. They are not too happy with me so hope I can snap a few pictures this weekend.

[Dustin1300]

Couple more...

Surf 'N Turf




Duncan



Ponape Birdsnest


German Blue Polyp (A bit bleached...)


Red Planet


ORA Green Birdsnest

[Cashda]

I'm glad I found your thread, but having a hard time leaving it to get back to work. Your tank is out of this world!

[sfsuphysics]

Originally Posted by Dustin1300

They are threaded or barbed. It comes with Barbs/adapter for 1/2", 3/4", and 1". I've heard of threading issues but I did not have any issues with mine. I don't see ANY difference between a Speedwave and Waveline, just that the Speedwave is $60 cheaper.

The threading issue is when you try to use a PVC fitting on the outlet side, but the threaded barb connections they supply work just fine. You can usually tell by looking at the threads on the outlet, you'll see one part where they're all offset from another thread by a fractional amount, for the life of me I don't know why that means their threaded nut works and PVC doesn't but it does

And yeah, Speedwave, Waveline, Diablo, etc etc... probably 4 or 5 brands that very obviously get all their pumps from the same Chinese factory that produces them.