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RobB'z Reef
2500 Club Member
Klir's fit!
Rob's Really Rad 180 Reef Rally
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RobB'z Reef
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thanks @JoshH ! I'm getting a quote from Bashsea on a matching skimmer from them, but really depends on the cost. I'm not familiar with lifereef, I will check them out though. No decisions have been made yet on a skimmer haha. Going to work on getting this all plumbed up this weekend I think.
JoshH
Tank Status: Wet...ish, growing things....
Definitely worth a look, there are a couple threads around here on them, I have one and LOVE it. Any questions feel free to ask in one of those threads, or call Jeff at lifereef. He can be rather.... passionate about his products, so fair warning there lol
I think getting it all plumbed up this weekend is a good idea, but plumbing it today is a better one ;Smuggrin
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Reef370
Active Member
Reef Octopus........
SkiCatTX
Sustainable Reefkeeping
That's a really great setup, I can't wait to see it up and running!
I especially like the sump, it looks amazing. I originally wanted to go with Bashsea on my custom sump last year, but after a couple weeks of trying, I never heard a thing from them, so gave up. I ended up going with LifeReef, and I've been very happy with it so far.
I especially like the sump, it looks amazing. I originally wanted to go with Bashsea on my custom sump last year, but after a couple weeks of trying, I never heard a thing from them, so gave up. I ended up going with LifeReef, and I've been very happy with it so far.
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RobB'z Reef
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I get it, I would have done the same. I think with these places they're pretty small operations and they get swamped easily and can be inconsistent with regards to responsiveness. Lifereef is super solid, I looked at GEOS and synergy too. However Bashsea just appealed to me and I got lucky and got them to respond. Maybe it was the **** pics I sent of my gf along with the quote request...
I’ve heard that Jeff is really passionate about his skimmers but I don’t know what that means. I’m not in the market for a skimmer but hearing that again just makes me want to call him up just to see what everyone is talking about! I’d probably learn a few things in that convo.
SkiCatTX
Sustainable Reefkeeping
Yeah, he pushes them pretty hard. He means well, a lot of people like them, and he does good work, I just already had a skimmer, so just got the sump. Definitely a talker...
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RobB'z Reef
2500 Club Member
Diving into the plumbing... It's a work in progress and there's football tomorrow so we'll see how fast this progresses lol
WOW! I am definitely following this build thread. I just read through all 12 pages, and it looks GREAT. I just placed my order for a 220g+stand with Planet Aquariums about two weeks ago, and ordered the 24" Modular Marine overflow (shipped to Planet for sizing). Bashsea is my #1 choice for my sump, but I hate that their stock return chamber may/may not fit dual returns. If I might ask, what was the price difference between a stock Signature 60 and your custom layout? And, how did you make contact with them? My opinion... your return chamber setup should be there "stock" setup!
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RobB'z Reef
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Thanks for taking an interest! Really appreciate it. Hopefully I don't mess this up too badly haha. You must be excited about the new tank purchase! My top 3 contenders when I was looking was Miracles, Planet Aquariums and CDA. 220 is a great size, I shouldn't have chickened out and went to a 220 but oh well. I didn't ship my overflow out but fortunately they got it right. I'm wishing I would have had them move it up another 3/4" but that's my bad and part of the learning curve. This being my first drilled tank I figured I would have a few of those kinds of mistakes.
I think the two return pump thing is gaining traction but it's my perception that it's not been as talked about and a general practice as much as in the last couple years. BRS loves to sell pumps tho haha. Looking at everyone's standard sumps out there, none of them really seem geared to two returns. You can make it work with some but it's still not ideal. I definitely had Bashsea depart from their normal return setup. For the most part you start with one of their distributors (I used Premium Aquatics) and submit a drawing to them and request a custom quote. I cheated and did it along two fronts. I started the ball rolling with PA and also submitted an inquiry via Bashsea's website on a custom request as well. Then I started gently sending update requests to the email address i got an auto reply from I think. Eventually after a follow up, maybe two total at most I got Steve to reply.
They aren't a huge operation and they are typically swamped it seems from my phone conversations with him. From that point he was willing to work with me on design questions and offered a lot of insight and helpful advice. This was my first attempt at doing significant sump design and I would have done a couple things differently but he did everything I asked and more. The quality and workmanship is crazy good, it's obvious once you get it in front of you. You can PM me for cost details if you like. The shipping for these things was quite painful as the larger ones come via FedEx's LTL freight division due to size. There's no hard and fast on cost for these customs.... it just basically is proportional to how far you depart from the standard. I think if you're doing just a few tweaks and custom colors it isn't horrible. Without a doubt I ran my own bill up on this thing with what I was doing. I don't even recall, what does a standard SS-60 run?
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RobB'z Reef
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I think I came up with a solution for mounting my lights finally, some leg work yet but I have a vision lol! It includes something that looks like this and is 12' long! More to come on that soon...
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RobB'z Reef
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Lol, my extra fittings just came in this afternoon. So why not order more stuff and ponder my next move while waiting!
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RobB'z Reef
2500 Club Member
4-12 I believe... I wasn't looking for large ones. I got them for what-if short term use for carbon, gfo etc or some other potential short term fix applications. I wasn't intending on running anything in them long term. If i change my mind there, I'll probably get something slightly larger. They were only $65 each so I thought I'd try them.
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RobB'z Reef
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Big milestone! Plumbing is complete!
I have to put in a few braces/supports for the plumbing but I'll do that just before I leak test it. Few things I could have done better, but that blame goes back to the planning stages (that's all on me obviously). However I made the few minor annoyances I found work and will catalog that into the overall learning experience should I do this all over again. I was happy that I didn't have any ugly glue runs all over the place or obnoxious sharpie lines etc. small wins.
All praise painters tape!!
Next steps are tinting the back and moving the tank into place before I leak test. If i can find some local I might even be able to make that happen this weekend.
Following will be a short video tour of the plumbing and sump followed by general pictures. I'm no photographer so feel free to scoff at my feeble attempts.
Video
Photos
Basically same shot different light
Full view
Eventually I will get some controllable LED lighting installed under the stand once I get this thing up and running.
Thanks for viewing! Constructive feedback and advice for improvement is always welcome!
I have to put in a few braces/supports for the plumbing but I'll do that just before I leak test it. Few things I could have done better, but that blame goes back to the planning stages (that's all on me obviously). However I made the few minor annoyances I found work and will catalog that into the overall learning experience should I do this all over again. I was happy that I didn't have any ugly glue runs all over the place or obnoxious sharpie lines etc. small wins.
All praise painters tape!!
Next steps are tinting the back and moving the tank into place before I leak test. If i can find some local I might even be able to make that happen this weekend.
Following will be a short video tour of the plumbing and sump followed by general pictures. I'm no photographer so feel free to scoff at my feeble attempts.
Video
Photos
Basically same shot different light
Full view
Eventually I will get some controllable LED lighting installed under the stand once I get this thing up and running.
Thanks for viewing! Constructive feedback and advice for improvement is always welcome!
JoshH
Tank Status: Wet...ish, growing things....
Big milestone! Plumbing is complete!
I have to put in a few braces/supports for the plumbing but I'll do that just before I leak test it. Few things I could have done better, but that blame goes back to the planning stages (that's all on me obviously). However I made the few minor annoyances I found work and will catalog that into the overall learning experience should I do this all over again. I was happy that I didn't have any ugly glue runs all over the place or obnoxious sharpie lines etc. small wins.
All praise painters tape!!
Next steps are tinting the back and moving the tank into place before I leak test. If i can find some local I might even be able to make that happen this weekend.
Following will be a short video tour of the plumbing and sump followed by general pictures. I'm no photographer so feel free to scoff at my feeble attempts.
Video
Photos
Basically same shot different light
Full view
Eventually I will get some controllable LED lighting installed under the stand once I get this thing up and running.
Thanks for viewing! Constructive feedback and advice for improvement is always welcome!
Looking AWESOME!!! I think we all have things that come up in the plumbing stage that we have to overcome. No matter what even the best laid plans have issues. I'm just about to start my plumbing for my sump and after setting the sump on the stand I noticed immediately that a couple of the inlets line up perfectly..... ..... with the electrical outlets above them;Facepalm
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