Funny you mention Glassreef as he uses the Masterflex. I'm a big fan of the work he's done!

He actually gave up on the Masterflex. Take a look at the link I sent and you will see that he replaced it with his Litremeter which was doing the dosing. He then had to find pumps for dosing and chose the Drew's dosers off Bulk Reef Supply.

Wow really?

Well that might help me narrow things down as I didn't want to mess with ebay and putting together the darn things no matter how accurate they are. I'll have to catch up on why he ditched them as he was a real proponent of them before.

I might even look into hamsters on high-end german-built hamster wheels to drive a few dosing heads at this point. That way I don't have to make this tough decision!

--------

Just read that entire page and he spells it all out clearly thanks! It sounds like given the choice he'd have gotten another LMIII but it was too expensive. I'll have to read more on those dosers.

I actually have a profilux standalone (since I didn't know I would get such a good deal on a profilux controller bundle only a few weeks later), but the unit is absolutely rock solid and easy to use.

My decision was based in part by my tank size - 28g including sump. The litermeter's minimum dose is 50ml at a time - so not only would I really have to dilute things, but also have very large containers for everything.

Instead I chose the profilux as it's cheaper per pump, and more importantly it doses a minimum of 1ml instead of 50 ml (great for dosing things like VSV, vodka, etc), and great for small volumes like my tank.

I can't wait to see your build all come together. And now I wants all gray piping and fittings too :D

It's not hard to want our tanks to look better after reviewing this thread. There's part of me that is afraid to see the salt creep cluttering up the beauty of this tank..:biggrin:

Good thing you live in Alberta...Our previous NDP government grouped hamsters under our Minimum wage law and so that option is out for most of us.:wink:

LMAO!

Thanks again for the nice words guys. I'm really curious if some well aimed insults or criticisms might light a bigger fire under my butt and speed this thing up =) Feel free haha.

The Profilux is likely going to be the way I go. For a while comparing it to the LMIII I though the latter had machined metal rollers but they're plastic just like the Profilux so I'll likely choose based on looks (just like I did on pipe) and cost since they're close in almost every way.

Definitely one of my favorite tank journals! Some patience you got, one and half years later still no livestock :D

Awesome tank and thanks for all the details provided. I learned a lot already, and gives me ideas for my future setup. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Ok I just tested my Tunze Osmolator. I just think this thing is the GREATEST! Makes me feel much safer than my old setup with ro/di plumbed straight to a float valve!

Learnign curve to it tho. I had the emergency float switch mounted upside down in the bracket so for the first few minutes all I heard was the alarm sounding (since the float was sitting in 'too high' position) and my wife yelling at me to 'shut that thing up'.

I just love the Tunze website. Every manual there and they're well written. I figured it out and I have one salt bucket perfectly topping up another salt bucket!

WOOT.

Very cool toys in deed....probably the single best thing Ive added to my system so far.

I especially like this from the manual:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/manual.jpg

Don't let children play with the device. Lol.

Love it. I think I'll post that on the front door of my house!

I know someone who just ordered 120lbs of dry rock and a few other goodies. And I'm not talking about pheasant balls for those in the know =)

Sweet. What other goodies?

Quail Qubes?

HeHe! ...............or maybe Partridge Pieces.

Here I was thinking you guys knew me well enough to know I don't appreciate humour in a build thread :razz:

Hmmm...goodies includes:

- refractometer
- 100ft 1/4" tubing
- few parts,filters and a tds meter to get Snappy's old ro/di performing again

I wanted to get a big bucket of carbon, gfo and the dual reactor (this is all from BRS btw) but I want to get things running with the money my wife greenlighted so not right now!

After that I just need heaters, 2 buckets of salt and a few test kits! Waiting for this order is quite literally going to KILL ME =)

Now? All of a sudden now you want to get this thing going? :puppydog:

How long Are you in Vegas?

Scared yet?

:lol:

Well I can't go now!

Here's a couple pics of what I've been breaking my back on...literally. I have bad knees as well. You guys with fishrooms are onto something!

The pics show the two American DJ power centers I installed and all the gear in place. Ranco, Osmolator, Tunze powerheads and my light timers. The little shelf up top holds the transformers for the powerheads. The white bundled extension cord next to the Ranco is for a chiller if I ever need one (fingers crossed).

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/wires1.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/wires2.jpg

The return pump and skimmer pump are not tie-wrapped like everything else so I can remove them easily. Hypothetically though, if anything Tunze ever dies on me I'm in for a nightmare of a time removing it lol. All the slack for the powerheads currently hangs behind the tank. I have more than enough length to move them and place them in a bucket of vinegar on the floor without disconnection.

Next up is aquascaping and getting my ro/di up and going once my BRS order arrives in a couple weeks!

man thats a dream setup!!!!!! btw where do you get those slider rails for your doors, im sick of velcroing my doors on and off, how much clearance do you need for those rails?

Looks good. What model are those timers?

Thanks guys.

The sliders are just the longest ones I could find at HD. They are 1/2" thick which didn't matter much to me since my doors have the lip on the top so you see no gaps.

The timers are Intermatic. Says they are safe for outdoor use which seemed like a plus to me. $20 each at HD. HB800 series. What appealed to me was that they had a 24" cord on them which meant they could each reach to my power strip.

I think it looks good the way it is. No need to put water or salt in it, it will just get dirty and ruin the look.

I'm so impatient (even after a year and a half or whatever it's been!). I almost dumped the sand into the display to check it out but backed out last second. Told my wife I didn't wanna get in there and lay rocks out in the sand lol.

Voided a few warranties I'm sure doing all this. My light, power strips and osmolator pump all needed their power cables spliced and extended. One other extension I need to do is the osmolator return. I need it to feed into my display overflow because the reservoir is pretty high in the other room. Did a test last night and it siphons into my sump after the pump is shut off.

One other thing I haven't done yet is sort out my overflow. I need something to keep fish from going over. Right now I'm thinking of one of these:

- leave the weir as is (quiet). Just put a strainer on my pipe ends and fish out the odd fish etc that goes in.
- rig something using fishing line stretched tight across the overflow opening. Would not alter flow since it's so thin (quiet) but I'd need to be creative to mount it.

I used eggcrate on mine, but I'm thinking it might be better if the fish entered the overflow instead of possibly getting stuck on top of it and cooking under the lighting or flopping the the wrong way and ending up behind the tank.

Is it possible for you to get in there with a small drill bit? If possible you could just drill matching holes on either side of the acrylic and tie on your fishing line. It would be easy to snug up horizontally... not sure about if you want to go vertical or not.

Additionally, forgive me if I'm picturing your overflow problem in the wrong idea. Perhaps if you were to post a pic of what you're trying to solve it might give the great minds on the board some visual cues :)

I use gutter guard over the eggcrate on my overflows to keep small fish out of the overflows. Bigger fish it's not a worry. I find my FW tank some fish at first are small enough to still fit through, but it's better than nothing.

Problem with adding stuff water flows through (eggcrate, gutter guard or anything for that matter) is that it becomes a place algae can grow where grazers can't get at it. In my 110g cube I have to pour boiling water over the overflow eggcrate once every 2-3 months or so just to keep them clear.

Parker has a good point, something I sort of learned the hard way with my first eel - sometimes it's better to let them get into the overflow instead of somewhere else. I had had my eel tank locked down so that there was no way he could get into the overflow - so instead he ended up getting out of the tank some other way. Had he just gone into the overflow or sump, it would have been .. possibly less fatal for him. :neutral:

So there could be something to the idea of just putting strainers on the pipes and "just deal with it" when a fish inevitably finds his way in there. FWIW, that is my plan for my 280g - just eggcrate for the overflow, and strainers for the standpipes, and a net nearby. :lol:

Here's the only decent shot of the overflow cutout. It's all glass so no drilling.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/tank3.jpg

I'm really liking that idea. My water goes over so smoothly and quietly that I'd hate to disturb that. I think I'll screen the pipes somehow good call guys.

Anyone know if a bulkhead strainer could fit over 1.5" or do I need to prime and glue it?

You can get strainers for 1.5" for sure. The ones I have (got them from BRS, great supply of that sort of thing there) are threaded. Slip would be nicer just so it's easier to get off to clean once in a while. (Don't glue the strainer on.) With threaded sometimes it gets kind of hard to turn to get off.

Strange I couldn't find them to purchase on their site. I had looked when I originally got my plumbing from them. My pipes are sch 80 so I hope they'll still slip inside. If not I'll have to rig something but it's way easier than fishing line hehe.

Hmmm yeah now I can't find them either. Maybe I didn't get them there after all. J&L has them for sure: http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...t_ID=pl-bhst15

Surely Red Coral has them as well, since they're usually pretty good with obscure plumbing bits like that.

Yeah but chances are I'd run into Doug and he always gets so braggy about his tank. If I get desperate perhaps I'll try that thanks Tony.

You could think about adding one of these to your overflow.

http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/am...flow+Comb.html

Not sure of the details on them but at such a cheap price, you might be able to DIY something with one that will work for you.

IMO, those are worse than eggcrate... I used it on my 10G Nano tank, and was constantly picking algae out of the teeth because they are soo tight it can't flow through, plus they make a bit of noise as the water doesn't flow smoothly and cut back the overflow flow quite a bit.

+1 to all that.

I looked into these previously and considering using a few side-by-side but yeah they restrict a lot of flow and make things really noisy.

Another idea I have tossed around is some sort of strip of wood or plastic with maybe 50 pins stuck into it to form teeth. Then dip the whole thing in some epoxy or something. Very strong yet thin teeth to not impede flow and you lift the strip off for cleaning...

:blah:

Oh that's it.

ARM WRESTLE NOW AT THE BIKE RACKS!

After me move the racks to the side it's ass-kickin' time.