Bensons New Tank

Bit of an update...i went shopping at the weekend:

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Got myself a D&D RO Unit, LCD thermometer, Test kits, new return pipe and connector for my pump. And my korillia 3's finally turned up (albeit with an american plug on the end and the fact i had to pay an additional £11 customs charge...should have just bought them from UK!)

Installed the RO unit with the help of a guide from another reef site. Managed to let it run for a few hours before the container i bought sprang a leak all over my kitchen floor! So new container tonight and its time to start filling my tank up!! :)

Just out of interest, what order do you guys do things in? Do you salt the RO water in the tank? Or a seperate container? When do you put your sand in? Before or after live rock?
 
When setting up the tank for the first time, put water into the tank (nothing else) and then add salt to the required SG.

Next I used a little eggcrate and placed LR on that, then add sand.

When you mix water for water changes, mix in a seperate container and heat and aerate then get to required SG. Most of us leave water chnage water for about 24 hrs before using it.
 
if tank is empty then sort out salinity of water in the tank.

i'd put rock in then the sand.
 
Cheers for the replys people, ill get there eventually.

Just read through your thread Anguilla, cracking thread mate, youve done a top job there!

Ok cheers Ben, makes sense, as always, will take your advise!

haha filling up pics will be ready in about a year when my RO unit has created enough RO! lol. 50GPD and it trickles out like the end of a wee! haha thinkin about getting a pump to up the pressure but to be honest, seems like a waste when there is so much more stuff that i still need to get! But ill take loads of piccies anyway, seriously think it will take me about 2 weeks to fill the tank though as i can only get the RO unit going while im at home (which isnt all that often) as i guarentee the day i decide to just leave it on and go out, ill come home to a flood!

Once its full, i will salt the water and get it up to temp. Then its a case of waiting for some LR to show up near enough and cheap enough for me to go pick it up.

Hope you guys will be around later on actually as i need some advice on my skimmer!! Havent got a clue how to set it up! Infact, i think i have the pics lurknig somewhere, ill do it in a min
 
I havent got one! haha so its under the sink all plumbed in hidden out the way...and its spang a leak once or twice already (beacuse i didnt pay attention when i was connecting all the pipe work lol
 
Onto the skimmer....

Its a Deltec AP600 as you know, and it came in a fair few bits. Ive managed to put it together as best i can:

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Ive got a spare part left over (not the spikey wheel bit ive put that in the pump but what is the other bit???

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Ive asked this on UR aswel and i was told that i dont need the other bit? Which would you say is the input and which is the output? The pipe on the left has 2 hole and then you have the tapered pipe coming out the center at the front. So im really confused! How does this thing work?? Ive been told i dont need any media so how does this work? lol
 
Sooooooooooo annoyed!!

Ive just fired up my powerheads (that i got imported from america) and they made a hurrendous noise then switched off!

Took me a while to figure out why...and basically its because im a retard! Because they came from america, they run at 115v...so no doubt ive burnt them out!

And even if i havent, i went onto the site i ordered them off, and it said the last date i could return them was 28th! The joy! £100 down the pan :(
 
Oh man, that stinks. Might have killed them at that.

As for the skimmer, the extra part is just a different sized fitting for the inlet. No need for it
 
Only option really is to try and get a convertor and test them, see if i have actually burnt them out. How annoying! The fact i tried both of them because i thought one was faulty is even more annoynig! Then afterwards im like "ohhhhh of course!!"....one word for me....t**t!
 
I thought i would give you guys a bit of an update beings i forgot all about this thread!

Things still moving extremely slowly, I now have the LR scaped and sand in. Needs more sand though. Skimmer is still a problem! I cant gravity feed it so its being fed by the pump...which is too powerful and over fills the skimmer! So ive got some pipe work magic to do on payday.

I managed to source another koralia 3, but im still yet to test the ones i think i have blown (getting a convertor this weekend hopefully so i can test them!) if they dont work ill be buying another one on payday also.

Other things for the shopping list are:

Phos reactor
Miracle mud for the sump
the remaining test kits i need (calc and mag i think...cant remember off the top of my head)
TDS meter (i know...should have got this AGES ago!)
refractometer
Sump lighting

and i think im about done then! Once i have all my kit in plae and im happy with the params the CUC will be going in! Then its time to start thinking about my DIY lighting...currently running 2x T5's which im going to remove from the current lid, build a new lid and fix them on there along with some moonlight LEDs. Whilst im in the process of sorting that out, ill be sorting all my wiring / plugs out aswel.

Then the only thing i need to worry about is how the hell do i get a back on my stand now that the tank is full and extremely heavy! Theres no waw ill move it when its full but i need to get a back on the stand as its currently open and the noise fom the sump is driving me mad!

anyway...some pics:

Full tank shot:
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RHS:
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LHS:
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Ive got a few aptasias popped up so im nuking them later (if i get round to it...got my first ever parents evening tonight!) also got a fair bit of algea appearing!

other than that...things coming along slowly but surely. Its bad timing this month as id love to go out and buy all the bits i need...but with it being my sons 3rd birthday in a few weeks i doubt ill be able to buy it all.
 

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