Bryan's 541G build - in the wall??

[Guest]

I guess now is as good a time as ever…hopefully this will be cool.

I came home a couple days ago and found out my wife wasn’t kidding about our agreement that if I get a tank she gets to rip up our carpet and stain the concrete….

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So far I have picked up steel (5 20’ 2x2s and 3 18’ 2x3s). I have dropped the steel off at my buddy’s fathers house and will start the stand building sometime this week!

Getting ready to load

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Leaving with the loot!

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[washingtond]

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Bryan what is stained concrete? I have never heard of it before.

 

[DeMarcusR]

Maaan. If all you had to agree to was letting her stain the concrete, you got away easy. Most women would have demanded hardwood or something else.. Congrats!!

Lets see more pics!

 

[Guest]

@washingtond wrote:

ha, I said the same thing! I guess this is apparently not stained but painted concrete.

Here is what the kitchen looks like:

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1 of the many coats

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See metal halide isn't just good for fish!

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Of course the paint fight

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almost done

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clear coat

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the reason I have to get a bigger tank!

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[Guest]

@djr2001 wrote:

Well I promised her a plasma screen over the fireplace too since the 11' long tank takes the place of our current TV...still haven't figured out how I am going to afford that! :shock:

 

[washingtond]

Wow the floor looks really nice and is a great idea in a room where there are aquariums present because no matter what pre-cautions we take we always get some water on the floor.

I can see why you got a larger tank and can’t wait to see more pictures.

 

[Guest]

Well I think I have found a sump 240 long glass aquarium 96 x 24 x 25 tall with blemish $500 from glass cages.

They are going to drill it but I am trying to think of the best way to have them drilled. I think I am going to have two return pumps but should I have them 1 on each side or should I have 2 on one side?

 

[dp1416]

why would you need 2 return pumps? design your sump and put the fuge on one end, the skimmer on one end and then have your return in the center section and choose which return pump you are going to go with, mark it on the template and send it to them. I would think the dolphin ampmaster pumps would be a great fit for the aquarium. I run a dart on my tank and it works fine, dont need lots of flow through the sump, use powerheads or closed loop for that. A dart would work for your tank, i think try has two quite ones on his tank as well (total 3200gph). If you use the proper 2inch plumbing for the intake and 1.5 all the way up to the return nozzles the dart should do fine.

Now it would be trick to have a one inch bulkhead on the bottom front panel of each section all plumbed together so when you do a water change they all come from the sump and out the door!

You might want to go ahead and purchase the glass baffles from them as well, they have awesome prices on plate glass!

 

[Guest]

@dp1416 wrote:

b/c 11' is a long way?

 

[dp1416]

wonder if you could use a pressure rated pump, i know they work really well when dealing with line loss.

I would ask psteel, he knows alot about plumbing

 

[Guest]

hmmm I guess I need to pick a skimmer to design the sump...

choices I have seen:

ASM G5 700G rating $573
Bubble Master 250 500+G rating $839
Octopus DDNW-250 650G rating $599 + pump to run it
Trigger TS800 700-1000G rating 509.95 + pump to run it

open to others!

 

[jawdubb]

From the look of things I think the painted concrete floor is a bargain for your new tank. I like the look of the floor and can't wait to see the finished product. I am looking forward to following this thread for your tank as well.

 

[dp1416]

Here is my input.

ASM G5 700G rating $573 - saw it in person but think it will be too tall to fit under your stand unless you build a really tall stand

Bubble Master 250 500+G rating $839 - woowzers, still think you would need more of a skimmer than this one

Octopus DDNW-250 650G rating $599 + pump to run it - gotta love it, i have the DDNW-300 and it is friggin awesome. You dont need a pump to run it as you can run it off of one of your drains, save electricity

Trigger TS800 700-1000G rating 509.95 + pump to run it - love trigger systems, but the cost of pressure rated pumps and the electricity consumption puts this one on the back burner.


toss up between the g5 and the octopus, i really like the octopus for the money and it is recirc with no mods...if you can, go up to the 300 tripple pump model, it pulls out some nasty, nasty, nasty funk!

 

[DaveJ]

I'd recommend the Reeflor Dart... they are very good pumps and not that expensive considering the volume they put out. I know a lot of folks with larger tanks that use them.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~action~view~idProduct~MM1136~idCategory~FIWPEPOH~category~Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies-Water_Pumps-External-2000_GPH_and_higher~vendor~.html

As far as your skimmer... if you go internal, take a look at these... the only one on your current list I have experience with is the BM and I wouldn't recommend them as they tend to be very sensitive to water level and break bubble columns very easily and take a long time to rebuild.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=RE-D300-IN&Category_Code=bubbleking

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~SearchStr~~action~view~idProduct~ER1619~idCategory~FIPSISNW~category~Euro_Reef%E2%84%A2_RC500_(Recirculating)_Protein_Skimmer_Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies_Protein_Skimmers_In_Sump_Venturi_With_Needle_Wheel~vendor~.html

External

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~SearchStr~~action~view~idProduct~DD1551~idCategory~FIPSISNW~category~Deltec_External_Protein_Skimmer_AP702_Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies_Protein_Skimmers_In_Sump_Venturi_With_Needle_Wheel~vendor~.html

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SQ-OCT-PK&Category_Code=reefflo

 

[Wes]

dont know about him, but i did mine because it looks awesome and what could possibly be better for having a fish tank on...almost no worries...

heres a pic of mine

im interested to go see his in person, concrete floors are cool, the detail from the concrete through cracks and natural pores looks really neat

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oh, btw...GOOD LUCK! Bryan, you have entered the best stage yet, equipment selection, lol...you thought the tank was hard to decide on, now get the million details you need and its even better...i will second both of donnies rec's though on the dart and octopus

 

[Guest]

@dp1416 wrote:

that sounds wayy cool do you have pics of that??

 

[Wes]

you should really go check his out bryan, hes all of 10 mins from you and its quite the...ummm...[nice] plumbing job

 

[Guest]

i know but he is never home!

 

[dp1416]

i am always home! You are always at work!

 

[v320]

Interesting, when I first started to read the post, I didnt think I would dig the painted floor, but that looks amazing! Nice work!

Can't wait to see the new tank up and running... 8)