Dream 525 gallon peninsula display with large fish room.

[Adam]

Got rock?

I finally got all the rock cooked and clean. The Marco is in front with Tonga on the left. It's arranged by size. Behind the front section is smaller Marco and shelf pieces. With all the Pukani, Figi and some man made pieces behind that.

Folding chair and old recliner in there for scale.

Here's a shot that better shows the size of all the rock. There's some really big Pukani in there.


I hope to be finishing the plumbing and water testing soon, then on to the rockscape. Feels good to be making some progress again!

 

[snarky shark]

Can't wait to see the scape made from all that. Options seem endless.

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[Rainblood]

How many pounds of rock do you reckon that is? I can't even begin to imagine how much that was.

 

[Adam]

How many pounds of rock do you reckon that is? I can't even begin to imagine how much that was.

Rough guess? 500 to 700lbs. This is rock from my old system and what I've been collecting for the last couple years.

I'm not planning on using it all but it's nice to have options building the scape and the ability to break pieces up without worrying about having enough.

Once the scape is done and I have what I need for the frag systems I'll probably sell some off.

 

[snarky shark]

Oh good. I'll probably need some.

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[lmm1967]

Oh good. I'll probably need some.

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I have quite a bit (more than a 32 gallon brute) sitting around. Most of it should be cured before using

I'll put up some pics in the for sale section this weekend.

 

[Trizzino]

Got rock?

I finally got all the rock cooked and clean. The Marco is in front with Tonga on the left. It's arranged by size. Behind the front section is smaller Marco and shelf pieces. With all the Pukani, Figi and some man made pieces behind that.

Folding chair and old recliner in there for scale.
View attachment 32792
Here's a shot that better shows the size of all the rock. There's some really big Pukani in there.
View attachment 32793

I hope to be finishing the plumbing and water testing soon, then on to the rockscape. Feels good to be making some progress again!

I spy quite a few familiar pieces I that photo.

What’s the latest update? How’s everything going?

 

[Adam]

I spy quite a few familiar pieces I that photo.

What’s the latest update? How’s everything going?

Besides getting the room where the display is painted, which was a lot more work than I thought it would be, there's just been minor incremental progress. Finished the HRV install, made holes in the wall for plumbing and getting started on the said plumbing. I had to wait for more fittings and pumps to arrive so I've shifted from the plumbing the display to the frag systems. I'm going to stay focused on those right now. With so much to do and being scatterbrained I need to get what I'm working on done so I can start check off boxes on the massive list.

Oh, I also got the 60B QT resealed and plumbed up. Had some issues with the stand that Justin helped me with last weekend and on Sunday I finished it up. Waited a couple days to let all the pvc dry and it's being leak tested now. Looks like all is good out the gate, three days and no leaks. Now I just need to tinker with the drain to quiet it down and stop the bubbling in the sump.

 

[urbanknight]

Oh boy! I hate to see you call yourself scatterbrained. That makes me plum crazy!!!

 

[Adam]

After having covid, progress has resumed. The weekend before last Austin and Justin came over. We got the returns from the display plumbed in and for such short runs there was a lot more thought that had to got into it than I had imagined. I'm really glad I had the two of them there for that. It's nice to bounce ideas off one another and had someone smarter than you there, aka Austin. As Justin humorously said, it was his 50% smarts to our 25% that got the job done.

This past weekend Justin and I got the balance of the return piping done to the display, some of the harder piping in the ceiling to move RODI and saltwater and a few other things. But most importantly, there be water in the tank!!!





The only hickup was a cracked housing in one of the Vectra L2's. I'm a bit irritated about it but this annoyance did provide a chance to test out the valves and remove the pump. The closed loop is working with the one pump in this pic.


There are a few things to fine tune but this was a huge exciting step forward yesterday. I'm going to let the system run for a few days just to be sure everything is leak free, there just so many bulkheads and valves I just want to be certain we've got everything right and tightened up. Things will be going full speed ahead from here on out. Next up is draining it, getting the rockwork in there, plumbing in the 60 frag & skimmer then finish up the RODI & ATO then she'll be ready for saltwater. That's the plan for the next stages. While the tank is cycling I'll get started with all the Apex stuff. There's no rush on that part as I want to plan the layout and wiring in a way that makes sense.

 

[Adam]

I've also got to say. I'm really liking the overflow MRC/Sea Atlanta did on the display. There are two Jebao DCP-15000's running at 50% in the pic below. I'm going to test it out with both of them at 100% tonight to see how it and the sump handles close to or over 4000gph. I'll probably never run it anywhere close to that but while it's empty with just water in it it will be cool to see. I figure with the limited height I'm pumping up, less than 6', most all the head loss will be in the piping. At 50% loss of total output it's just shy of that 4000gph.

 

[NanCrab]

“”I also put in an HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilator) that I hope along with the slightly over sized HVAC system will help with the humidity, but it will definitely keep any odors to a minimum and reduce co2 levels. I also have a dehumidifier that I'll have in there as well.””

How come I have 3 tanks on the middle floor of my house and it is dry as the desert in here? I just asked Tyler to buy a humidifier because I’m so dry I feel like I’m suffocating!

 

[Adam]

“”I also put in an HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilator) that I hope along with the slightly over sized HVAC system will help with the humidity, but it will definitely keep any odors to a minimum and reduce co2 levels. I also have a dehumidifier that I'll have in there as well.””

How come I have 3 tanks on the middle floor of my house and it is dry as the desert in here? I just asked Tyler to buy a humidifier because I’m so dry I feel like I’m suffocating!

What do you keep the thermostat set to? If the furnace is running constantly it will really dry out the air. Nat and I are both Yankees from up north. While our blood has thinned out in the 29 years we've been here we still keep it 72 during the day and 68 at night. The basement is 68 when I'm working down there and 62 otherwise, which will get bumped up once the basement is finished.

 

[NanCrab]

72? I would die if it was at 72. I keep mine at 69/70 during the day

 

[NanCrab]

BTW I’m really enjoying your update. Looking forward to seeing it in person!

 

[jcook54]

The stand really is nice too. We added 3000+ lbs of water and it stayed dead on level. Adding that much water is one heck of a way to test a stand but it preformed great. I remember filling up a 120g on a homemade stand and, well, it settled a bit and I had to redo the shims to get things all level again. It's an awesome setup @Adam and I'm glad I was there to watch it fill up. It was really fun hearing you say "This is such a milestone" sounding like a kit at Christmas.

 

[Adam]

The stand really is nice too. We added 3000+ lbs of water and it stayed dead on level. Adding that much water is one heck of a way to test a stand but it preformed great. I remember filling up a 120g on a homemade stand and, well, it settled a bit and I had to redo the shims to get things all level again. It's an awesome setup @Adam and I'm glad I was there to watch it fill up. It was really fun hearing you say "This is such a milestone" sounding like a kit at Christmas.

It's closer to 5000lbs with fresh water
I was so excited about filling it that I didn't think much about the level. When I put the hose in I looked at about the half way point and the water was level but when you said it was still dead on when it was full I felt good about the leveling legs.

 

[Trizzino]

Still makes me smile seeing water in the tank. Great job guys.

 

[Adam]

With both pumps on full I had to open the main drain gate valve wide open. The return chamber of the sump dropped 9 or so inches but everything is handling it fine. I have no idea what the true flow is but with the limited drop for the drain lines I've found the max the 1-1/2 drain pipe can flow. I'd say it's a good test of the plumbing. The only drips are from water splashing up in the sock chamber of the sump. There is some serious water flowing through there.

 

[NanCrab]

With both pump on full I had to open the main drain gate valve wide open. The return chamber of the sump dropped 9 or so inches but everything is handling it fine. I have no idea what the true flow is but with the limited drop for the drain lines I've found the max the 1-1/2 drain pipe can flow. I'd say it's a good test of the plumbing. The only drips are from water splashing up in the sock chamber of the sump. There is some serious water flowing through there.

I know you said it in one of the posts but which pumps did you go with?