Rowdy Reefing's 330g Basement Build

[rowdyreefing]

Your basement is pretty unique looking— looks like an ‘Art Gallery’ space. You should throw a couch in front of the tank and just chill there.

Thanks! Working on finishing it.

Couch will be on side, bar front and center !

thanks!!

 

[McPuff]

Thanks! Working on finishing it.

Couch will be on side, bar front and center !

thanks!!

Just make sure to have swivel chairs so you can easily switch from bar to aquarium and back to bar. :0)

 

[rowdyreefing]

Time to share some photos!

Plumbing:

Rocks:

 

[rowdyreefing]

The two concerns I have are

1. The tank on the floating LVP floor. I am not worried about indentations but worried about it not floating. I don't really have a way to cut the floor up, so I think I am going to go ahead and rock and roll with what I have!


2. I need to find a good way to hide the foam/plywood, it doesn't look great:

 

[JumboShrimp]

Nice!

 

[JumboShrimp]

Just brainstorming your question about covering the plywood/foam— maybe you could get long 2 inch wood strips and hollow out the back for magnets that would hold on to that metal stand, creating a wooden border that you could paint black. And some tanks now are going for a bottom frame look that actually covers the sand at the bottom, where algae can be hard to get to. You might be able to do that with a three or 4 inch wooden frame. Just a thought.

 

[rowdyreefing]

Just brainstorming your question about covering the plywood/foam— maybe you could get long 2 inch wood strips and hollow out the back for magnets that would hold on to that metal stand, creating a wooden border that you could paint black. And some tanks now are going for a bottom frame look that actually covers the sand at the bottom, where algae can be hard to get to. You might be able to do that with a three or 4 inch wooden frame. Just a thought.

I think this suggestion is money!!

 

[rowdyreefing]

help!!! I have a very tiny drip on the threaded connection into my bulkhead. It is less than one drop per five minutes. However there is a leak. Any suggestions on how to fix this? Obviously moving the tank is going to be a bit of a pain

 

[JumboShrimp]

I would be stunned if salt-creep alone doesn’t plug it within a day or two, at the most. I have had drop-per-30-seconds bulkhead leaks quickly stop. (If you want to speed it up, you could wrap plumbers’ tape tightly around it— not taking anything apart, just wrap the outside— and remove the tape in a few days; even use a strip of rag.) Best wishes!

 

[rowdyreefing]

I would be stunned if salt-creep alone doesn’t plug it within a day or two, at the most. I have had drop-per-30-seconds bulkhead leaks quickly stop. (If you want to speed it up, you could wrap plumbers’ tape tightly around it— not taking anything apart, just wrap the outside— and remove the tape in a few days; even use a strip of rag.) Best wishes!

This scares me a bit but I will take your word for it. I may actually be able to remove a couple of the overflow piping to get to it and re-Teflon

 

[rowdyreefing]

I was not able to to break the adapter loose to re - Teflon tap it, so here we go

 

[rowdyreefing]

Update: I think I’m going to replumb as I’m having issues with all off the return bulk heads.

I have not consistently let the water run yet, but I’m wondering if this is a better move since all 4 have slow drips

 

[mrbh22]

I feel your pain. My advice is to drain the tank so it’s slightly below the bottom of that bulkhead and then take apart and fix. I had the same issue on my closed loops. (Bottom of the tank!) when it comes to something so important as to not have water leaking out of your tank to a place where it shouldn’t be. You will be able to sleep better at night knowing you took it apart and fixed it correctly. Fwiw I took mine apart and used some heavy duty Teflon tape and I wrapped it more than I care to admit. But it’s sealed and doing ok now. And I can sleep well knowing it’s not leaking.

 

[rowdyreefing]

I feel your pain. My advice is to drain the tank so it’s slightly below the bottom of that bulkhead and then take apart and fix. I had the same issue on my closed loops. (Bottom of the tank!) when it comes to something so important as to not have water leaking out of your tank to a place where it shouldn’t be. You will be able to sleep better at night knowing you took it apart and fixed it correctly. Fwiw I took mine apart and used some heavy duty Teflon tape and I wrapped it more than I care to admit. But it’s sealed and doing ok now. And I can sleep well knowing it’s not leaking.

Thanks! I am draining the tank and moving it off the wall. I am looking at the reef octopus sch 80 bulk heads slipxslip

 

[rowdyreefing]

And it begins… draining tank, moving and replacing return plumbing. Kind of wish I would have used tapwater for the test instead of salt water.

 

[rowdyreefing]

Trying out the Reef Octopus bulk heads from CoralVue. CoralVue was not able to give a confident answer that these bulk heads will fit my 1.75” hole, but here we go!

tank is off the wall and returns are being re-plumbed. Hopefully for the last time ever

 

[rowdyreefing]

I am in the final stages. I’m currently running a water test. Seems to be no leaks. Any suggestions on how to clean up the overflow? How do you suggest the pvc enter the sump?
please note the zip ties and mix match fittings will all be replaced

 

[rowdyreefing]

Replumbed. Here we go! Christmas Eve and the cycle begins.

 

[rowdyreefing]

600w of heaters wouldn’t get the temp above 76.0, so I added another 300w.

 

[rowdyreefing]

Updates:
- SKY lights are hung! (Still need to clean and hide wiring)
- Added 2 clowns and their host frogspawn and octospawn from old tank
-picked up a used Reef Octopus INT 220 Skimmer ( this is not a forever solution, just something I found a deal I could not pass up)

I still have a lot of wire management to do, finalizing my rock scape and then start moving APEX and live stock from the old tank!