Pickupman66's 180 gal Glass box - Update for July 2013

Going to be running 3 Icecap 250 watt ballasts with luminarc reflectors. the bulbs however are what came with it. there are two 14,000K and one 12,000K in the middle. I dont konw the brand. I do like the color of the 10K and the 14's look a little too blue to me.

 

Left

MIddle

Right

 

10k is gona give your the best growth, but ten to gor sticks... with little to no shape, well interesting shape anyway, but with the help of good flow you should be ok. I left the 10k scene for the 20k scene, i now run my tank with no suppliment and have blazing color. my tank is and ice blue very nice combination of white n blue light

 

yea,I got a feeling ill settle on the 12's or 14's. I like the color.. but for now, it will be alot about growth till it fills in.

 

Sump

So last night I tinkered with the sump. the tank came with a sheet of black plexi that was used as the tank backer. I cut it up and put it in the sump. Unfortunately, I could not find my jigsaw, so I had to cut all of this with my sawzall! Not bad for the circumstances. the black silicone adhered nicely to the tub. after glueing the last piece in on the bubbletrap, I realized it is about a 1/2" too tall so im going to cut some notches in it to help this. BTW, after I was done cutting, I found the jigsaw.

The tank water enters into the 10 gallon tank. water will perculate over the sides of that helping reduce the bubbles. i plan on putting a bulkhead in the tote and then piping the water from it into the tank or at least into the far corner of the area they sit in. this will help in the distance the water must travel to get back to the return.

 

Sump re-do

Ok. so i redid the plumbing form the sump to use just one big pump. I am using a barracuda from reeflo as my main driver for the tank. it will be split off 3 ways. 1. to the tank in teh neighborhood of 1000-1800 gph. 2. to the skimmer in the neighborhood of 1500-2000gph. 3. to the chiller in the neighborhood of 800-1000 gph.

Since the chiller is not in line yet, and the water it the sump is 87, I tested it on just the skimmer and then opened the chiller line wide open. the sump performed perectly. I think all the microbubbles are GONE! that is due in part ot the baffles im using in the sump, but also for the Skimmer mod to the MRC. the water in its bin is almost 100% clear. also, im running the exit valve 100% open and using the valve on the inlet side to adjust the water level. WOW! with pressure behind it, this thing makes a completely white foam in the barrel.

a photo of the MRC mod. it is basically 1 1/2" u-tube in the box.



The chiller will be located on the opposite side fo the sump. it is valved and has a union right at its outlet.

 

very cool

 

Wow, Didn't know you posted over here! I have not been on here in a while but will try and keep up with both sites again. Your build is coming along good when your ready i still have those frags for you, Although i sold quite a bit the other day and my frag tank is almost empty again, But Wallet Full LOL
Bill

 

Bill, over here it is much more than the massive oogle tanks they have on their build threads. I have some old salts here that I have worked with for years before going to RC. while not as busy, the varied opinion is good, and there aren't the Primadonnas who know it all and folks worship them here that can be present on RC.

 

wow this is coming along nice