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Start of my Oceanic 215 build
- Thread starter harryk
- Start date
Looks like you did a great job under the conditions you faced.
And the saga continues. Well i finally finished plumbing my tank and i filled it with water, no major leaks to report which is good. One of the return lines has a small leak that i think is at the bulkhead. I think tightening the seal more should do it i hope. if not i will have to redo the line.
But i have a larger issue. do to the sucky design of my sump, i have to throttle my return pump down by 50%. the last baffle in the return chamber is 2" lower then the rest (I have no clue why they design it like this) and when my pump is open all the way it drains the chamber and sucks air, so i have to keep the return line closed at least 50%. i'm so pissed. If i would have know that the sump couldn't handle 1200-1400 GPH i would have purchased a smaller pump like the 55D and saved some money. It's a waste to have such a nice pump throttled down. But i guess i have to accept it or sell my new pump and get a smaller one. It's a shame i'm amazed at how quiet the blueline 70D is, you can barely hear it when its on. I will post pics tomorrow. hopefully i can fix the leak and start placing my rock in there tomorrow.
Harry
But i have a larger issue. do to the sucky design of my sump, i have to throttle my return pump down by 50%. the last baffle in the return chamber is 2" lower then the rest (I have no clue why they design it like this) and when my pump is open all the way it drains the chamber and sucks air, so i have to keep the return line closed at least 50%. i'm so pissed. If i would have know that the sump couldn't handle 1200-1400 GPH i would have purchased a smaller pump like the 55D and saved some money. It's a waste to have such a nice pump throttled down. But i guess i have to accept it or sell my new pump and get a smaller one. It's a shame i'm amazed at how quiet the blueline 70D is, you can barely hear it when its on. I will post pics tomorrow. hopefully i can fix the leak and start placing my rock in there tomorrow.
Harry
Harry, sometimes the bulkhead being too tight causes the leaks.
The bulk head should be put on by hand and then tightened with the tool only a half turn.
I think your problem is only that the bulk head is not centered. Loosen it, center it, and then srew it back on.
The bulk head should be put on by hand and then tightened with the tool only a half turn.
I think your problem is only that the bulk head is not centered. Loosen it, center it, and then srew it back on.
well leaks aside and much frustration with my cursed sump, i decided to sell my pump and get a smaller one. I've come to the realization that the return chamber on my sump is too small for the blueline 70HD. back to the drawing board. It looks like i'm gonna go with the 55HD instead.
Thanks
Harry
Thanks
Harry
Good luck selling the other pump. I know this sounds weak right now but just remember, at some point you're gonna get it all worked out and finally be happy with the results. I know how much it sux to be in the middle of it when it's happening, though.
any new pictures of your tank?
Well after downsizing to a blueline 55HD, i re-did all the plumbing on my tank with no leaks so far. I added the rock and sand and will be adding fish next weekend after i am sure all the readings are zero. I decided to go with a 2 island design and left plenty of room for fish to move around in. I didn't want to overload the live rock. there is about 300lbs of rock in there so it might be a little deceiving, and not look like i have enough. Working with the large center brace wasn't as big of a pain as i thought it would be. It took me hours just to landscape i must have rearranged the rock 50 times until i liked it. pics are below, but im not the best photographer so bare with me
Full tank shot
close up of right side rock work
close up of left side rockwork
more updates to come as i progress
Thanks
Harry
Full tank shot
close up of right side rock work
close up of left side rockwork
more updates to come as i progress
Thanks
Harry
Looks good Harry. Hopefully all the bumps in the road are gone. Good luck with the rest of it.
malulu
NJRC Member
Harry,
rock work looks good...
just 2 notes:
- you can try to free up some holes in the rock work, fishes like to hide inside at night.
- make sure rock first, then sand, otherwise, over time, when the creatures move around the sands, the rocks would de-form, and may crash down... (i did not know that at that time, so i end up with redo everything later on...)
- here is the pic of my tank before i re-do them.
- here is the new pic of my tank AFTER i re-do them, i can't make them back to the old looks!!
rock work looks good...
just 2 notes:
- you can try to free up some holes in the rock work, fishes like to hide inside at night.
- make sure rock first, then sand, otherwise, over time, when the creatures move around the sands, the rocks would de-form, and may crash down... (i did not know that at that time, so i end up with redo everything later on...)
- here is the pic of my tank before i re-do them.
- here is the new pic of my tank AFTER i re-do them, i can't make them back to the old looks!!
malulu
NJRC Member
phil519,
for live rock, you may try this one - i believe his price is negotiable...
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=10677.0
for live rock, you may try this one - i believe his price is negotiable...
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=10677.0
thanks david (and sorry harryk for the hijack) - but I'm totally in "compare" mode right now. equipment purchases (tank, pumps, skimmer, reactors) etc. are the order of the day. Eventually I'll get LR - probably from Marco or maybe Dr. Mac - but I'm just lurking the forum and seeing what other people are getting and why. Therefore purchasing LR from a tank breakdown is definitely not on my to-do. Thanks!