New 225 Setup with Aquascaping Focus

[albert_dao]

Hey Keith, Like Rory said, you can get some great formations by making PVC frames and zip tying the rocks to it. Ask me about it next time you swing by the store and I'll show you a picture of a tank I aquascaped for a customer. His tank is pretty much the same size as your's and the rock layouts are quite dramatic.

[andrewsk]

Thanks Albert. I will do that next time I am in. Do you create the PVC frame first, then attach the rocks? What if they are huge rocks, like the Tonga Deep water? This sounds very cool.

I should mention that the tank is being made by Gold's as I have heard that their builder does great work. The tank will arrive on friday so watch for pics.

[albert_dao]

The frame is easy to assemble but you just have to make sure it will fit in the tank once it's assembled (I forgot to account for the Euro-bracing the first time around and had to trim off a lot of the frame, doh). But you gotta drill holes in the frame every 2-4".

As for larger rocks, you can set them near the bottom and... ahh bugger, it would be easier for me to show you in person.

[TheReefGeek]

Your Tunze auto top off will pump from a reservoir of water into your tank when water evaporates. This means you still have to use an RODI until to fill a reservoir manually. I ran like this for a while, but after forgetting to turn the RODI off sometimes, I got some small floods.

A really simple solution is to hook up a sprinkler solenoid between your water source and the RODI. Then put this on a timer, for just under the water usage you have per day, and plumb the RODI to your reservoir. This will keep the reservoir slowly filling up each day, but also the reservoir will slowly go down, but at least you are not manually filling it as often.

More complicated involves float switches in the reservoir to control the sprinkler soloenoid precisely.

Another way is to use a float valve in the reservoir, with a hydraulic switch in your RODI that will flip from pressure in the line when the float valve closes. But this can fail too easily IMO, especially when your line between RODI and reservoir is lengthy, like across your house, then you would need pressure bladders to keep the pressure up, like spectrapure setup use.

I have tried all 3 of the above methods, right now I just set my RODI unit to just below my daily usage, and manually crank the timer around to top up immiediately when I notice it is low. So a couple times a week I crank the timer, and all is well.

I have not run ozone (yet) but ozone clears up your water quality by breaking down organics in the water that otherwise would color it.

UV kill free floating "stuff" like bacteria, im no biologist, but this has cut down my slime algae by 1/10th at least, I rarely have to clean the glass, I actually clean the glass to get rid of coralline now, not green slime.

[TheReefGeek]

I have seen PVC frames too, but you don't necessarily have to build a whole frame if you don't want to

You could get a masonary/diamond drill bit that is just a bit smaller than 1/2" PVC outside diameter, then drill into rock #1 in desired connecting location. Then jamb a lenght of 1/2" PVC into it, should be a snug fit, and cut the PVC to lenth that the next hold depth will be in rock #2. Then drill rock #2, and connect the two pieces of rock.

If you end up with any visible PVC, you can glue on rubble rock to cover it, but if you do it right and pay attention to the surfaces this should not be necessary.

Make sure you use a really nice drill bit (maybe a diamond or carbide masonary bit would work best? Ask at the hardware store) so you dont fracture the rock, drill really slowly and test on smaller pieces first. It would be best to use a drill press with the rock in a vice, but by hand should work too if you are carefully. This is a great way to make long arches of rock, and allows you to make really clean looking connections between rocks, they don't have to overlap as much and you end up with your whole rock structure looking like it is just 1 solid piece of rock, very reef-like IMO.

[andrewsk]

Albert,

Can you post the pics here? I am sure others would love to see your handiwork!

[albert_dao]

It's printed... haha

[Tarolisol]

Thats alot of tunze gear, your tanks going to be rockin' like a hurricane. Keep us posted.

[TheReefGeek]

You mean it is going to be slick, like the Oilers.

Hope you got a good deal for ordering 1 of everything from their catalogue.
Tunze stuff is so nice, im soooo jealous.

[danny zubot]

Looks like a lot of fun! Keep us posted!