my 1000 gal upgrade build

now for some full tank shots (sorry about the crappy cell phone pictures)


340 gal needs a few more weeks to cycle then ill tie it in with the rest of the system





250 gal agressive reef tank





110 gal softie/nem tank





75gal sps tank








next step is to finish the wall and trim around the 340gal and install lights over it. but as usuall it will be a little while yet

 

well I have a little progress to report. i finally finished the wall and trim around the 340 gal. its all primered and ready to be air brushed when i reach that stage.

















next step will be lights over the 340 gal. then intstall the drop ceiling and the floor. and final step will be to have all the walls, doors, and cabinets air brushed. I'm hoping to have all that done before the first of the year

 

Not really. I've been short on time and money. I did modify my skimmer to a dual becket feed. ill post pics of it in the near future. also just need to do a little plumbing work and ill have my ozone generator and reactor up and running.

 

i wasn't happy with the performace of my volcano skimmer. i had to run the water level way up in the neck to get any good foam due to having not enough micro bubbles.. after doing some research on RC i found out this was a common problem with these skimmers and one cure was to turn it into a beckett feed skimmer.


here is the skimmer before mod with the recirculating pump on you can see that there is not enough bubbles





if you look close you can see through the cup how high i had to run the water level in order to get good foam. excuse the dirty collection cup





so i decided to run a dual becket feed.


after taking the skimmer apart i marked where i was going to drill the holes for the 1" uniseals.





after lots of double checking measurements. i finialy built up the nerve to drill the holes. believe me i was very nervous because if i screwed up i just ruined a very expensive skimmer.

 

i installed the uniseals but i still had to drill the holes on the inside to the lower bubble chamber so i used a 3/4" pvc pipe and a level to mark exactly where the holes needed to be drilled





here is what it looked like after the inner holes were drilled





here it is with the inner pipe with 45 deg fittings facing oppisite directions to create counter current

 

ouside 90's installed





valves and becketts installed. i had the beckett housing custom built by geo. excuse my messy work shop





connecting t installed along with the 1" hose barb for the feed





i knew the stock bubble plate was not going to allow enough bubbles so i redrilled it


before





after

 

the beckets were not supported very well on there own so i had to build two custom brackets out of acrylic. here is what one looks like after it was installed the other side is exactly the same





here is what the skimmer now looks like after it was hooked up and running





it is working better then before but i'm still not happy. i am using a reeflo hammer head as a feed pump but its also running several other peices of equipment, my two frag tanks, and my tank upstairs. so i think the beckkets are not getting enough pressure to perform properly. so i plan on using a pan world 250ps high pressure pump to feed the skimmer. i will post pictures of it as soon as i buy it and get it installed


i will also have my upgraded ozone reactor installed in the near future

 

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