great tank and some great idears in this thread.

Bill

Is there any reason if I didn't have the same space you have that I couldn't bypass the sw mixing container and have that be sump #1. So I would just close sump 1, rinse and drain, add salt and ro water and then turn it back on? Love your setup, thanks for your help.

Yes, that would work. But it advisable to mix SW for 24hrs or more before you use it. This would leave that sump out of commission for that length of time. You would also have to design that sump to be a good "mixer" as well as a sump.

That sump would also tend to be clean since you would probably kill anything living in there each time you dumped FW into it. That would probably be a good thing.

Thanks for your help. Can I ask how tall your sumps are? One of my sumps is 60x24x24, 36" will be under my DT and 24" in my fishroom/closet, I was planning my stand 36" tall with a door on one end to access the part of the sump under the DT but if I use the 2x6 like you have on top I will not have alot of clearance, could I do the top frame in 2x4 for a 270g tank?

Did I ever tell you how nice your tank is...? :) Amazing!

I'm not an engineer, so I don't know for certain what you can and cannot do.

I believe it is the span of the top frame that drives the choice. In my case, that span was 4 feet and I used 2x6's on edge about 12" apart from each other. This turned out to be plenty of support. (overbuilt)

I don't know the dimensions of your 270 gallon tank, but I would guess that the width is less than 4 feet. So maybe you could use 2x4s. You could also use more of them..maybe every 6" or 8".

My stand is 40" high, btw.

Nice Photo...
 

I'm quite happy with how the tank is doing, but there are always things to deal with.

Last week, the CO2 solenoid stopped working. After purchasing an entire new solenoid, I discovered that the thing is removable and serviceable. It probably only needed a bit of grease. So, I guess I have a spare part now.

After that, I must not have sealed the regulator on the tank properly, because 3 days later I ran out of CO2 without warning. 500lbs one moment...0 the next. It is always something.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure. Here's Freckles doing what he does best..blocking the view into the aquarium. His tail streamers are really coming along now.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/100_0729.jpg

Def looks like the tank has turned around again nice pic. Freckles is one stunning piece of fish! And did I read that right...you have a 500lb cylinder?!

How large is the hammer coral across?

My tank used to do that all the time to me. It would read 500 for the longest time, then be completely dead. I just figured it wasn't sensitive enough to read anything in the "redline" below 500.

Freckles is quite the photogenic fish :biggrin: How big is he now?

You might be right about the sensitivity of the regulator. I may not have had a leak at all.

...and for Lastlight....500lbs is bad shorthand for 500 "lbs per sq. inch...psi". It is only a 10lb tank. It lasts me at least 6 months.

It is hard to measure Freckles, even though he poses nicely. I tried to measure him the other day and I get maybe 15" or 16". He seems larger.

You can see the right side of the hammer coral in the previous photo (back left). It is larger than a basketball...smaller than an exercise ball. It is probably 1.5feet diameter. When I carve a hole in it, it fills back in pretty fast. It expands steadily outward maintaining its overall ball shape.