500G Reef Tank in Puerto Rico

[JanVelazquez]

Originally Posted by Ram Jr

Sweet build so far. I have a 185 diy tank and have been running Miracle Mud from day one. Dont let people tell you its a waist of money because its not. You can run your skimmer as long as you want and it wont kill the cheato. I currently have mine on 24/7 but might scale it back to 20hrs. What have you decided about lighting???? I have LED's and they work great. reefledlights.com is who sponsored me and I get lots of comments on them. If you get a chance take a look at my forum and see all the you tube videos I have of my build. Hope this helps.

Hey Ram

The miracle mud is a must on my book. Thanks for your feedback on the subject. I didn't know how many hours to leave the skimmer on so I'll consider the 20 hrs. Got to do some research on that one.

As far as lighting I have 4 Hamilton Technology MH lamps 250W but I plan to add some more later on including LED's




I just saw you had a bunch of videos on youtube. I have to watch them from the begining, it's gonna take me a couple of days but I want to see the progress.

Thanks

Jan

[JanVelazquez]

Originally Posted by cougaran

Have you decided reef or FOWLR? If reef then LEDS all the way! For FOWLR I wouldnt spend the money on LEDS unless you plan on some corals. I was going mainly FOWLR and a few corals but im finding butterfly's really cool and the two dont mix well together, especially with the threadfin i have right now....I'm sticking with T5's for my setup.

Originally Posted by Ram Jr

Good point cougaran. you sure dont need to spend the money on LED's if you dont want a reef.

Cougaran & Ram

I already have some MH lamps so I'll start off with those and swap them out later on. I expect to continually make improvements on the tank so thank you for your recomendations. They are apreciated.

I will definatelly be having a reef, also I dont exp;ect to have large fish as it would minimize the size of the aquarium. I want schools of smaller fish and lost of LPS corals and softies.

Regards to both

Jan

[JanVelazquez]

After rechecking my meassurements the sump I have in mind fits inside the stand perfectly and with some spare room. The problem is that it wont fit through the opening by less than an inch.

I'll either have to lift the aquarium again so I cah move the stand and lisft it so that I can set the sum underneath or have a custom sump made.

I had a the area meassured for custom cabinetry so I expect to have some pics soon.

Regards to all

Jan

[luisgo]

Jan I read that you are considering runing the skimmer for 20 hours. I think that it is not a good idea to turn off the skimmer. The reason is that for four hour you will have water without movement inside the skimmer. That water sitting there without oxigen I think is not a good idea. I like the skimmer on 24/7.

[Ram Jr]

Jan,

I have talked with Lang who is the owner of Miracle Mud b4 I even started my system. He says and its so far been true. That you dont need 2 skimmers. In fact he keeps on pushing that you dont need a skimmer at all but my experiments have shown me that I do. He also says that you dont need bio pellets or a reactor. The Miracle Mud does that for you. If you were to use the bio pellets and Miracle Mud you would have a high nutrient system and too much is sometimes a bad thing.

Know this b4 spending a bunch of money on all the accessories for reef tanks. What might work for one person system can be a disaster for yours. Start with the basics or the must haves then add on if needed.

If you watch my video's on you tube you will see that I did not have a skimmer for 6 months and things were fine. But I also started with dry rock and later added 50 lbs of live rock to seed the tank. The reason for me adding a skimmer to the system is because I added lots of fish and corals too fast and the bio load for the age of my live rock was not up to par with the demand. If your live rock is very mature like 3 years or more then I have seen 3 or 4 local aquariums that run great without a skimmer. Yes I know people swear by there skimmers and will bash you up and down if you dont put one on your system but take your set up and your system and see what works out best for you.

Right now people are telling me that I need to get dosing pumps and or a cal reactor but I look at the parameters or do testing and because of the Miracle Mud, the salt and the size of my tank so far I stay in sea water range with only doing a 5 gal a week water change.

My last point is this...... dont let others tell you what you need because only you know your system best. Try and save as much money as you can with this hobby and only buy stuff that is needed after you do your research on what your system is lacking.

Hope this helps.

[JanVelazquez]

Originally Posted by luisgo

Jan I read that you are considering runing the skimmer for 20 hours. I think that it is not a good idea to turn off the skimmer. The reason is that for four hour you will have water without movement inside the skimmer. That water sitting there without oxigen I think is not a good idea. I like the skimmer on 24/7.

Thats a good point Luis

I'll have to think of some options for that. I was thinking of getting a skimmer that handles up to 2000gal but having that on 24/7 may kill all the bacteria.

I do plan in having a heavy stock of fish, corals and inverts

More researsh to do

Hey.... Didn't see you at the last AMEPR meeting. You gotta drop by my house when you get a chance to give me some advise.

Take care

Jan

[JanVelazquez]

Ram

Thanks again for all the advise. I'll try to keep everythong as simple as possible but I think that the skimmer will have to be a must.

One thing I've got going for me is that I am pretty patient so I expect to minimize mistakes that way.

You gave me a good idea of making a monthly video update to show the progress so thanks.

Saludos

Jan

[ruidos99]

hi

one is an orca proII and the other an orca pro III ill run them both 24/7

i will make my tank sps only with tangs with led lighting only

[JanVelazquez]

Originally Posted by ruidos99

hi

one is an orca proII and the other an orca pro III ill run them both 24/7

i will make my tank sps only with tangs with led lighting only

Ruidos99

That skimmer is a beast!!!



LED's only? is that for any particular reason?

[ruidos99]

well i have been using led for a few months now and i can say the RULE!!

I used to run 4 400w radiums and the heat was imposible ( i have no intent on runing a chiller! Bogota is at a max of 14C temp! )

colors are perfect and growth is good too!

also i dont have to change bulbs every 10 months.... give them a try! email Bill of www.reefledlights.com he will help you on your lights!

[JanVelazquez]

Hi everyone

Just wanted to update you on the progress of the tank.

1. Due to space limitations I decided against the EcoSystem 7222 filter and had a custom one made. It will be ready by next week.

2. I am making custom cabinetry inder the aquarium to hold the filter. (In progress)

3. I have all the MH lapms ready to be installed (4 x 250w) (3 x 400w)

4. Two 1/2hp chillers ready to go.

5. The rock is cleaned and ready to be mounted on the tank.

Next steps:

1. Create a cutom return system for water flow (I cannot drill the tank)

2. Finish the cabinetry and wall around aquarium

3. Install filter

4. Do all the plumbing to/from pumps

5. Install lamps

6. Get some live sand

7. Put it all together

8. Enjoy

[JanVelazquez]

Very exited.. just got my filter in

I was going to purchase an EcoSystem 7222 model but the dimensions were just a little bit too big (by less than an inch) so I decided to order a custom filter improving the 7222 model.


EcoSystem 7222 72 l x 22 w x 20 h
My Custom sump 72 l x 18 w x 18 h



I had a removable tray built for filter socks and a large opening in case these ever get cloughed up or if I just want to add any other intakes.



This is the tray as it fits in the sump.


I also had two 2" fittings and two 1" fittings drilled on the end 4" from the bottom (more on this later)



Full view




The protective film still has to be removed and I am hoping to have installed this weekend.

I will take some pictures of the process and update next week.

Regards to all

Jan

[Paolo Piccinell]

I love that filter!

[JanVelazquez]

Originally Posted by Paolo Piccinell

I love that filter!

Thanks Paolo

I havent's been able to fill it up yet because I have to finish some details on the cabinet but it looks great. I think it turned out better than the EcoSystem 7222

Regards

Jan

[JanVelazquez]

I was thinking of getting two of these pumps.

One for all the filtration and another flor a closed loop.

Any advise is welcome..



This a draft of the closed loop design I was thinking of doing. I just can't find the fittings.



Regards

Jan

[janey]

Hi Jan , I'm watchin every move you make.. LOLOLO.
Great Job.. and Yes love that sump...



Janet

[JanVelazquez]

Originally Posted by janey

Hi Jan , I'm watchin every move you make.. LOLOLO.
Great Job.. and Yes love that sump...



Janet

Thanks for following along Janet

Progress has been kind of slow lately but I'm almost about to finish up. I just need to get the pumps, do all the plumbing and fill it up.

The rest I will keep on doing on the go.

How's your project going?

Take care

Jan

[Tank2379]

Any Updates on this Build?

[temper76]

Que paso,se callo el building!! Lol j/j any updates on this old thread

[Madmak]

I use the Barracuda with a 1-1/2" inlet and 8 1/2" outlets plumbed trough a spa manifold and it works well.

[henrystyle]

Is this reef tank up and running yet? I'm leaving for San Juan, Puerto Rico this morning. Are there any nice reef tanks in Puerto Rico I can check out while I'm there.

Ant Henry

[worm5406]

OK.. Where are the updates??

[dirk_brijs]

Originally Posted by JanVelazquez

I was thinking of getting two of these pumps.

One for all the filtration and another flor a closed loop.

Any advise is welcome..



This a draft of the closed loop design I was thinking of doing. I just can't find the fittings.



Regards

Jan

with this design and only one pump feeding it (even a heavy pump like a Barracuda) wont be giving a lot of flow to the last few outlets.
A Barracuda (depending already how much flow loss from how far pump is installed from tank) would give maybe enough flow to about 5 or 6 outlets if more it is most likely a waist of an expensive pump. Better install internal flow pumps.

[theReefKing]

Looks like another 15th floor 500 gal tank build thread gone stale....
His last post was about adding water soon... I wonder if the prediction in the second post of the thread that the tank would end up on the 14th floor came true.

[JanVelazquez]

Hi everyone

I'm about to start up again updating this thread. It's been a while.

Had a kid so that had priority over the build.

Tank should be running before the end of the year.

Regards

Jan