Cali Kid Corals

Leemar Starphire 290

Well, progress has been a bit slow waiting for various parts.....changing my mind, etc. ;) However I managed to get my primary pumps plumbed and hopefully ready for action.

Please go easy on me..........LOL! I'm NOT a plumber. I designed the tree's a bit tall because I really wanted to limit / eliminate any 90' bends. It will of coarse hit a 90 right at the top where it comes out of the overflow, however otherwise I was able to keep it fairly free. The tree's aren't finished as there will be a small 1/2" ball valve at the T at the base of the tree's when I get them.
This was the dry fit......
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The pumps are near a high traffic area and with the tree's being so tall, I felt some support / protection was indicated. It's all put together with screws, so it will easily be taken apart if needed. I just feel a bit better about the odds of this working with the added support. :)
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The pumps are both sitting on 3 layers of an old yoga mat! LOL! Yes, I am a bit of a nut.
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Hope it's not too far out there. ;) Just my crazy design.

Working on the Skimmer plumbing at the moment and hope to have that finished tomorrow. I am still waiting for some parts for the overflow that should be here wed.......so won't get to fully run the tank until then, however I will fill the sump tomorrow Once I get the skimmer plumbed. Getting excited to finally be finishing some of these things. Also getting nervouse about possible leaks, however it has all gone together very well, so I am cautiously optomistic. More to come!!!
 
Got the skimmer plumbed. ;) Unfortunately still missing a few parts that are due in tomorrow.

Just have to imagine a 1" ball valve on top of the return pump with a Tube connecting it to the skimmer. ;)
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Finally starting to look like a tank room. ;)
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Thanks Jim, it was 1.25". I couldn't find any. Even BRS didn't have any. LOL!

@ Erin, I hope I don't either! This has been quite an expensive and stressful little project. Just hope it works.
 
Wow. Looks so clean and neat and well thought out.
Somehow that just seems wrong to me. :)

>Just have to imagine a 1" ball valve on top of the return pump with a Tube connecting it to the skimmer.
Be careful that the pressure from the return pump does not reduce the air coming into the venturi.

Also, you might want to think about the humidity and salt spray from the air coming out of the skimmer.
Close to the drywall.

Are you planning a skimmate reservoir?
I see the tube from the skimmer, and am curios where that goes.
 
Water tomorrow tho right? Lol.
Nice progress. It's amazing how much time stuff like that can take up. Be patient, do it rIght the first time even if it takes awhile longer and costs a bit more it's worth it! Liking your gigantic skimmer btw. Looking at the 3000 for my system that will be about 275 total when it's all running.
 
Hi everyone. Thanks for all the nice comments.

Got the final ball valves from Gimmito today. BIG thanks to Jim for all the help with gear and advice. Tank is completely plumbed.........added water to the sump today...........put in the drains and built a couple durso silencers (might be temporary, but wanted to get things moving). Had a bit of a problem with the return in the overflow that slowed things down. I will explain that issue later. However I wanted to report................

I got the tank running today!! Still working on the overflow situation.......will have that dialed tomorrow. NO LEAKS!!! So far no leaks, no vibration, no major issues so far. I have had it running for about 4 hours now and the new Waterblaster pumps are SO freakin QUIET!! LOL! I am almost bummed out. I spent all this time and energy to keep them out of the room, and they make almost NO noise at all. I have them running wide open and the two 1.5" drains are handling the flow nicely. Also provides a nice gentle flow through the refugium with the amount of water the pumps are moving. Pumps are rated at 1300 gph each. I figure I am probably getting between 1500 to 2000 gph total. Approx 6' of head and reduced outlet from 1" to 3/4."

I am TIRED! :tired: Yet so excited to finally get this thing moving water. Even more excited that there are NO LEAKS!!!! 8) Let's hope it stays that way. I'll post pics and explain some of the above mentioned issues tomorrow or Friday. Thanks.

Kris.
 
Yes, aquascape should be done and in between now and Monday.

You got me nervouse about it John. LOL! I got to see Jims tank again and that last rock you guys put in is really impressive in person. Nice job. Hope the rocks SPEAK to me. LOL! :O
 
Ok, so the tank has been running for a couple days now. Very pleased so far.........had a couple small drips from some bulk heads after I was messing with them. A very light crank and they seem good again. The waterblaster pumps have really impressed me. They run so quiet and they are very cool to the touch. The overflow was a bit of a project......

The bulkhead placement and the opening in the teeth of the overflow were not ligned up. Not a huge deal, but annoying. Ended up just using flexible tubing for the offset. Still working to decrease the noise from the overflow. It's not terrible now, but I think it could be less.
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Skimmer is a BEAST!! Had to shut off the bubble blaster pump cause it's already skimming stuff out.
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Added an old 36" power compact light I had lying around just so I could see into the tank for now.
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Also put in the Tunze pumps and they are AMAZING! Can't hear them at all, and they have some serious power.
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Finally got to start working on the aquascape.......took me a bit to get my bearings on things.....picked up some fiberglass rods from Tap.

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This is my first creation, and I am pretty stoked about it. Looks great from many angles.
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I got cocky after my first aquascape creation, and the second was VERY difficult. I scraped everything and started over and came up with this one.
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Same one from another angle.
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More aquascaping tomorrow. I think I have enough rock for another couple large pieces. Plus the rock from my 110 (maybe 200 lbs). Excited to get them in the tank, and put in some sand. ;) Aquascaping definately takes practice. The Emaco definately needs to be a particular density to be effective. When you get it right, it is VERY strong. The Fiberglass rods are quite impressive as well. Those things aren't moving. ;)
 
Kris be careful not to build structures that are higher than 2/3 the height of the tank. Think of fish swimming over those rocks and the vertical coral growth. Tangs wrasses and rabbits dont like to swim too close to the surface. But things are looking very exciting.
 
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