# Years in the making.....the 300g is here!



## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

So back story short, built a new house and dedicated some space to a fish room with a cutout in the wall to fit a large tank in to act as a room divider. 2 years after moving in, I ordered the tank. The standard 300g dimensions changed within that time so the hole in the wall had to be adjusted for the tank to fit. Tank ordered, arrived 3 months later in Sept. I just finished building the stand for it and we got it up on there and in the wall. Time to start plumbing and cleaning it up, prepping for water. Sump WAS going to be a 100g rubbermaid stock tank but that idea was quickly thrown out as I realized the stock tank was too tall and wide. Bought a new 125g and a baffle kit with dual 7" filter sock holders. 



http://imgur.com/a/cikO0p7


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Big project, looking good.


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## SenorStrum (Aug 14, 2020)

Yeah, we're going to need a LOT more info and pictures.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

Any updates on the project???


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

DutchAJ said:


> Any updates on the project???


Yes! New video with it fully running and few fish in it!

So on the outside wall in the basements hallway where I start, you see the gap between the ceiling opening and the tank. That will be closed up soon as I'm doing an accent wall to allow me to heat the room and not all the tanks minus the 300g individually.









So as I went over in the video, the stock tank was initially going to be used as a sump but after building the stand, I quickly realized that wasnt going to work and had to switch it up. Went with a 125g tank as a sump, ordered a baffle kit for it and got it setup. Should have tested it first in the open instead of hooking everything up but I was in a rush because I was leaving for Florida soon for a 39hr offshore fishing trip I had won through a livestream and wanted to get the tank up and running before our annual Halloween party we throw at our house. Rushing led to mistakes made and the K1 wasnt getting enough movement to fluidize. On top of that, I glued all the plumbing together without thinking I'd ever need to take it apart for maintenance or to possibly move the 125g sump again. Had to cut it all out, order new bulkheads, drain the 125g and pull it back out. Figured out that the main chamber in the sump for the K1 was too big, I needed to split it in half with another baffle to make 2 compartments to narrow it down so that the airflow was more restricted in order to fluidize the K1. Also had to experiment with different air stones, power heads, etc to figure out how to make the K1 move. I also had WAY to much in there, took two 5g buckets of it out and still had plenty. Settled on the marina brand of air stone bars that worked the best, powerheads had the K1 sticking to it, DIYing my own air bubble tubes didnt work well and other brands and types of air stones were inferior to the amount of agitation created by the Marina brand ones.









So while the sump was yanked out and being worked on, I discovered one of the overflows in the 300g had a small leak in the bottom of it. This would later cause a serious issue down the line if the power shut off for any significant time and the drain valves weren't shut off as that small leak would continuously fill the overflow up enough to drain down into the sump, flooding it eventually. So, drained the 300g back down and fixed the leak. Got the new bulkheads in, installed those while waiting for the silicone to cure holding the new baffle in the sump and got the parts needed to make sure the new plumbing for it all would be easier to take apart. Once the silicone cured, I filled the sump up with water and made sure to test out the various methods of moving the K1 enough like I mentioned and found the marina air stones worked the best. Drained it back down, moved it back into place below the 300g and filled everything back up, hooked up the new plumbing parts using union joints and turned it back on and hoped for the best. Problems.....problems everywhere! Most of the union joints and the new bulkheads were leaking and the new baffle I installed didnt allow enough water flow between chambers to run the return pumps at full power. I had to tighten the bulkheads down because I had only hand tightened them and forgot, the union joints had PVC glue in them in places that had hardened and didnt allow a solid connection or had softened the PVC and warped it. The pieces it warped I bought female/male adapters for them and replaced the damaged union joints. The return pumps I had to dial back a bit to allow the flow between chambers to keep up with the return pumps. So, with everything fixed, turned it back on and let it run for a day letting the temperature regulate before adding the fish that had been in quarantine. Added seeded sponge filters back in to help keep them cycled for use when I get the rest of the fish room tanks up and running. 









So, with that being done, I moved on to the automated water change system. I didnt realize you needed additional wiring to connect the solenoids to the Rain Bird module, I figured you just used the existing wires from the solenoids themselves. So I had to look all that up and educate myself lol. Got that figured out, reinstalled the manaifolds aftering wiring everything together and installed the control panel. 









Turned the water on to the filtration system to check for leaks because I figured the solenoids were off and wouldnt let water through due to the Rain Bird control being set to off. Well.....I didnt know they had manual controls all the valves were set to ON so after turning the water on, I soon had it shooting out the top of the manifolds all down the wall. Quickly shut off the water, deduced what happened, and installed some PVC shut offs at the top of the manifolds as a backup and turned the solenoids off from manually being ON. Thats enough progress for one weekend lol. The OCA(Ohio Cichlid Extravaganza) is this coming weekend in Cleveland which Im going to so hopefully I can snag a bunch of males and maybe a few breeding groups to stock the 300g with and get some of the tanks I still need to setup stocked. I'll be livestreaming it and make a full video on the convention once back home and post it on the forum. Any questions related to this build drop here and I'll answer them when I can!


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## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Whew.... you've got a LOT of technology invested in that one!
(I suspect El' Hefe is gonna love this one...).
So many ways to set up a 300 gallon aquarium.... You've got quite a bit more going on than Mo Devlin's old 300 gallon Umbee tank, running with a single Eheim 2260 canister and an in-line heater.
Just curious, are you using well water for this aquarium, or is the automated water change system running off of those RO (?) filter modules? And, is this thing set up as an overflow type thing with the discharge water from the tank (sump?) going into a drain somewhere?


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

Auballagh said:


> Whew.... you've got a LOT of technology invested in that one!
> (I suspect El' Hefe is gonna love this one...).
> So many ways to set up a 300 gallon aquarium.... You've got quite a bit more going on than Mo Devlin's old 300 gallon Umbee tank, running with a single Eheim 2260 canister and an in-line heater.
> Just curious, are you using well water for this aquarium, or is the automated water change system running off of those RO (?) filter modules? And, is this thing set up as an overflow type thing with the discharge water from the tank (sump?) going into a drain somewhere?


So the 300g is its own system. Traditional water changes for it. Only the tanks for the rack system are on the water change system. The plumbers made the drain too high in the wall leading outside to hook it to the sump or any tanks on the ground unfortunately. Also, I'm on city tap water where Chloramines are used so the filtration is mainly for Chlorine/Chloramine removal while keeping the PH up. I'm actually having a hard time finding a reliable testing kit for Chlorine/Chloramine to make sure my filters are running properly.....


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

Messy, but starting to look like a fish room!


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## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Whew......
Looks like your dream is starting to become actual reality.
Eye Candy! 
And it all just looks very nice to me!


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

Auballagh said:


> Whew......
> Looks like your dream is starting to become actual reality.
> Eye Candy!
> And it all just looks very nice to me!


It is finally becoming a reality indeed! Alot of work to be done still like eventually wood puttying the screws, sand the racks and stain them black before I get water in them all. Also going to finish painting the back and sides of the tanks black.


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

One step closer. Drains and water line runs for the 75s done, racks built and in place attached to the wall for bracing. Bottom row of tanks installed along with lighting. Work on top row later and might finally test the water change system.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Looking good, would love to hear details on air, water and drain pipe sizes as well as water supply hookup & filters as it looks like I can see something already mounted to the wall to the left of the pic.


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

Deeda said:


> Looking good, would love to hear details on air, water and drain pipe sizes as well as water supply hookup & filters as it looks like I can see something already mounted to the wall to the left of the pic.


I have some previous threads on them, prolly should have kept all that to one thread lol. Once I get the whole room up and running, im going to make a video and post pics of how it all works explaining everything.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I'm not sure which threads you are referring to but IF you want, I can merge them into one topic if you want to keep all the info in one topic. Completely up to you though I would need to know which threads you want merged into one.


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

Oh ok, i'll link them here, didnt know that was possible. 

1st thread: Years in the making.....the 300g is here!
2nd thread: Inc stock, 300g stock list once received, breeding...


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

Quick shot showing the hallway of the man cave with the accent wall on it along with the shark jaws hung. Still need to put the trim that goes on the side of the accent wall and touch up the borders around the tank.


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

Some of the males in the 300g


http://imgur.com/a/UvHg5wi


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

So ran into a snag. Hooked up 6 of the 8 75's and started filling them with water and ran the airline hoses. Barely any air coming out of them. Using a Jehmco LPH60 which is rated for 50 outlets and only around 14 are turned on currently. Roughly 60ft loop with 43 total air valves. Buddy I got it from had a similar setup, exact same rack heights and tanks and he had no issues with pushing air to even the lowest tank. Called Jehmco and asked their opinion and they said since the air line piping is just pushed together, thats likely the cause and that I need to glue it together. So thats my project after I get off work today is go through and glue each piece together and put silicone around the air valves to seal any leaks. Fingers crossed this solves my issue and I dont have to upgrade air pumps.


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

So, after doing the black accent wall, me and the wife came to the conclusion the black sand just wasnt doing it. So, this past weekend moved the fish over to some 75's I had setup and drained the tank and removed all the black sand. Put down some egg crate/light diffusors, redid the rock scape and started pouring in the new sand. Didnt bother rinsing it since some of it was live sand and knew I would just run the filter floss for a day or two to make it clear up. This morning it is actually crystal clear and ready for fish. LOVE the new look. Also over the weekend tried out my buddys 6ft Beamswork full spectrum light and fell in love with it also. Much better lighting and mood compared to my 4 LED flood lights I was using. Tried the DIY approach but in the end the tried and true Beamswork won out. Still using the LED shop lights for the fish room racks though. Anyways, heres a before and after of the tank. Putting the fish back in later today.


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## Auballagh (Jan 29, 2003)

Everybody wants the black sand to look like black velvet or something, with their colorful Cichlids suspended like crystalline jewels above it.
It just doesn't work.
The fish inevitably get this dark/drab coloration above the dark substrate, and the substrate itself winds up turning sort of a dull, muddy color. Oooo.... attractive?
-
Your tank has a nice, deep glow to it now. And, those new lights work extremely well with that light colored sand. Nice work!


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## Aussieman57 (Dec 18, 2021)

Looks real nice. Enjoy.


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

I can already tell they enjoy it more also as they love to sift through it more now it seems. However, one of my more dominant Dragonbloods seems to like it alittle too well and insists on digging a nest in the corner of the tank and chase off anyone that comes near it. Timeout he goes soon.


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## SenorStrum (Aug 14, 2020)

Never been able to figure out how to stop them from digging. Don't guess I care to, either. I find it an interesting behavior.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The digging is OK but the chasing? I know your tank is huge but you do have a bunch of look-alike males. Are you sure there are no females?


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

DJRansome said:


> The digging is OK but the chasing? I know your tank is huge but you do have a bunch of look-alike males. Are you sure there are no females?


There arent 100%. I put the problematic DB back in the tank and all is fine, he's keeping to himself now. Noones digging to make nests or endlessly chasing anymore but I do have more males to add soon. Also going to start removing some fish that are essentially duplicates.


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## Rockfella (Aug 4, 2021)

Epic set up! Yes the white looks better!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Sometimes fish colors show up brighter on a more neutral color...what about a gray with a hint of blue?


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## Hock (Mar 23, 2012)

Few updates. Firstly, air pump has been upgraded and DANG this thing is HUGE! This sucker is rocking now! Had to turn down the sponge filters and bleed off air with two open air vents. Was def a power issue with the LPH60 cause this thing powers those long drops like nothing and then some!

Noticed alot of flashing in every tank I have fish in now so going to dose each tank with Cupramine and slow down on feeding. The other tanks I had setup with no fish in will be drained, cleaned out, sanitized and possibly be repainted. I've seen a number of blue background tanks in person and on Facebook pages I'm strongly considering making the switch to blue backgrounds. Going to test on the 3 40g breeders that arent setup currently tonight. Color of choice is called Sea Frolic by Valspar but its really Carolina Tarheels blue lol. This with bare bottoms or white sand should make the tanks pop alot more.



http://imgur.com/a/P6Pjkby


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