Mr. Saltwater Tank

Mr. Saltwater Tank’s Ultimate Tank Overhaul Part 2


In part 2 of my Ultimate Tank Overhaul of Dave’s old 75 gallon tank, Dave comes home to what he thinks will be some simple tweaks on his tank. So much for that idea!

Links in this show: www.facebook.com/mrsaltwatertank, www.mrsaltwatertank.com/uto

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Comments for this article (67)

  • david decarli says:

    wow what I would give to have ONE radion :/

  • Kenny Williams says:

    Great job Mark giving back to people who love reef keeping but don’t always have the time to take the hobby to the next level…job well done!

  • Brian says:

    That’s awesome Mark. Thank you and everyone involved that made the build possible; Dave seems like a truly deserving person for such a great gift and it was a joy to watch you all doing the build for him. I will be incorporating many of these ideas into my build. Thanks again Mark!!

  • Matt says:

    Thanks Mark. I have a Red Goni frag that I am not getting any polyp extension with. You mentioned in the video something about them being difficult and a special food that you use. I can really decipher what you said in the video. What was it? Can you share a link?

  • Tim says:

    Glad it wasnt just an extra 2 minutes lol!! Great build and a deserving guy

  • Jeff says:

    I need to learn more about the carbon on the skimmer. Could this be adaptable with any skimmer? I have a eshopps S-200 sno cone skimmer. Similar size to the one shown. I do not use a cup overflow chamber.

  • Sam says:

    so do you have to lift up the hole light hood every time you want to feed the fish? would the light change not freak the fish out?

  • Patrick says:

    Wow!!Mark again amazing!! It’s really awesome to see this. I can’t wait to see more. You seam so busy, yet you find time to give someone a dream come true!!
    Again Mark your the Man!!

  • John says:

    Happy to see Leak Detector on the floor and one in on the pond liner.

  • Matt says:

    Could have happened to a nicer fella… 😀

    I’m not jealous in the slightest… not one bit 😛

    Well done and thanks to all that made it happen 🙂

  • Frankie says:

    Awesome Mark… This is going to take off… Can’t wait to see the next overhaul..

  • dave says:

    wow what a dream come true congrats. eco tech must of donated those mp40’s I have had the pleasure of dealing with jay @ eco tech and he is a top notch guy to deal with not to take away from mark and what he has done and all the other fine vendors. that’s very nice to see all these companys come together and do something like this. bravo gentlemen bravo. I only ask one thing. I hope that we can see this system in a six month and one year follow up.

  • Patrick May says:

    Question on the plumbing…. I may have missed it in the first edition…. did you use a durso on this tank?

  • Patrick…a durso was used on this tank

  • Joe Knight says:

    Mark,
    Do you have the equipment you used listed anywhere? My tank is simliar in size and equipment but I wanted to incorporate some of the sump design into my setup. I also need a taller canopy and that design looked great. Where did it come from?

    Joe

  • Marc says:

    How were you able to add so many corals on day 1 without cycling the tank?

  • Sean says:

    Any way you can do a product breakdown?

  • Brad says:

    Mark, when are you coming to overhaul my tank! LOL

  • Mark S says:

    A schematic of how it all fits together and a product breakdown would be great. Super build.

  • Merne says:

    Marc, in the first vid he saves the water/rock/fish. I imagine he reuses all of this, so no cycle is needed.

  • Ross Faverty says:

    Hey Mark, I loved the the roll-top canopy. I loved it so much that I went and emailed Jeremy at DFW to see about ordering one. Turns out he used to work at my local LSF in Indianapolis! I ordered it yesterday. I too have a couple radions (G2) that I want to mount in the canopy – I just wondered how you went about mounting them and is there space for ventilation between them and the roof of the canopy?

    Any help is greatly appreciated.

    Cheers

  • Mr. Microscope says:

    Wow! Thank you for getting out part two so fast. This was a fun build. It’ll be cool to see how his corals take off and start to fill up the tank. Well done.

  • Andrei C. says:

    Great video based on a great idea. I don’t think I would have settled for an aquascape done by somebody else.
    I think some of the links at the end of the video are missing a .com

  • George Barsi says:

    Awesome build!

    I am planning an tank move and with it I am going to be setting up a proper sump. I like the concept of running devices off the return pump but I wanted to get some clarifications.

    What did you use for a return pump?
    With everything that it is driving what kind of water volume do you think you are getting back to the tank?
    Regarding the reactor it looked like carbon was in there, is there a separate reactor in there somewhere running GFO?

  • Tim S. says:

    Mark, I think the two overhaul videos are my favorite Mr. Saltwater Tank features. You have all the best parts of “Tanked” (the before and after) without the trumped up work place drama and the impossibly overstocked displays. Dave is most deserving as well. Congrats on a cool show.

  • Josh says:

    I have 3 radions, 1 MP60, 2 MP40. I was wondering what this new gear is you set up that controls all of these components on a wireless basis. I have been waiting for this for a while! please point me in the right direction Mark.

  • Martin says:

    @Josh, it’s the reeflink, check out ecotech website http://ecotechmarine.com/products/reeflink/ also apex new firmware( somewhere in november ) is comming with something similar throught the WXM module. Not part of any compagny, just a geek waiting on the next toy!

  • Josh…Martin has it right. The reef link is what I used in the video. About Q1 2014 the new Apex Fusion will control the Radions

  • Broadwave says:

    Matt, I think the Gonipora food Mark was referencing in this video is Gonipower.

    http://reefbuilders.com/2012/07/18/goniopower-coral-food/

  • Hai says:

    That one lucky guy there Mark, so what the catch? That alot of your times set it up the tank..at the end of the day someone gonna get paid right? My point is how much u charge him of your time not counting all those freebie stuffs. Great stuff, but it seem there also two guys that does this show too called..mmm TANKS. Set up new tank and throw in corals already not my style. Those sps not gonna last, tank is not mature enough.

  • Hai says:

    Hai obviously does not understand what was just done just saying broad statements like sps not gonna last. My gatherings are that the previous tank was a mature tank. Now there is more water, Less bioload per water, and excellent lighting and flow. What he does next with livestock and additional rock is key, along with trace element monitoring, water changes etc.

  • Joel Fellows says:

    Mark: Awesome dude! Superstar show. Can I suggest that you have permanent links on yoyr website to the suppliers of these produces with links to the shows that you demonstrate them in.

    BTW my 2 75s went belly up along with my refugium. Don’t know what happened, over night the water turned super cloudy, tried water change but all live stock perished. So I put my saltwater tank adventure on hold until I relocate to Texas in 2015 (going to be quite a change from teh Alaska environment) where I plan on starting up a new single tank. But I will continue to watch your shows. Love them and please keep it up!

  • Pierre Bouic says:

    Really thoughtfully done Mark, Just a little curious about the T fitting used to take the overflow water down to the 2 filter socks. Is that T-piece going to send near to all the water down thru the inline section of pipe or is the T-piece somehow able to split the water. I’ve never seen a T-piece in that orientation equally distribute the flow. Hope I’m not opening a can of worms but I’ve always used T-pieces in the T upside down position to spread evenly. Or perhaps there is a line of thought that I’ve missed.
    Like everyone else I can’t wait to see this tanks growth in months to come. Keep on Tanking.

  • Pierre…thanks for the complement. You are correct that the T-fitting will make most of the water come straight down. The reason I set it up that was due to the space under the sump. I wanted to leave Dave some room on the right hand side of the sump to place equipment and other supplies. If I wanted to rotate the fitting then I would have had to shift the sump to the right, which would have eaten up the extra space.

    Since Dave was out of the house and didn’t know what was going on, I didn’t have the luxury of asking him if he wanted all that space under the sump. Therefore, I had to make a decision on the fly.

  • Jason says:

    Mark, So were can we find the canopy that was used in the build? When I do a Google search I am not able to find it. Also just want to say keep up the nice work!

  • Jason…if you are interested in the canopy, tank or stand, contact Jeremy @ Dallas Fort Worth Aquarium supply. Use this link to email him

  • George…I used an eheim 1262 return pump. Water flow to the tank is probably in the 300 gph range (that’s a guess). The reactor will house both carbon and GFO

  • Marc…as Merne said I re-used the rock and most of the tank water so any “Recyling” of the tank would be minimal.

  • luke says:

    hi mark just wanted to know why you used the reef link with the radions rather than the apex and the required module, do you think this is a better way to go? i know the reef link is obviously more compatible but was thinking it was a bit of a double up when it could all be under the same roof with the Apex and also a light wizard with the release of fusion for faster changes like the reef link app. do you find it better/easier using the app/fusion for the apex and a separate app for the reef link?

  • Luke…the Apex fusion isn’t available yet so I couldn’t use it.

  • Da'mon says:

    Mark,
    This is great but I never got a email with the link for part 1. It would be great if you could post it.

  • Jon says:

    Hi Mark, I tried to submit for the next upgrade giveaway but for some reason I can not access the form on ecotechs website threw my phone? Do you have a direct link to it please? I would like to be considered to help make my tank more accessible and automated since I’m disabled. I pretty much own all the gear I just need it all put together in the awesome way that you do 🙂

    Thank you.

    Jon Meadows

  • Jon…apparently Facebook won’t let you apply via mobile device (smart phone/tablet). You have to use a computer.

  • Jon says:

    Thanks. Can you tell how you mounted the Radions to the roll canopy please? Also what is the metal piece called that your Radion slide back and forth on? I try to explain it to my local hardware store and they think I’m crazy lol.

    It would be cool if you sold a kit for the sliding Radions like your setup, I would buy one 🙂

    Thanks

    Jon Meadows

  • Ross Faverty says:

    Hi Mark,

    I second Jon’s question. How did you mount the Radions in the canopy?

    Thanks,

    Ross

  • Ross and Jon…I bolted the Radions directly to the canopy.

  • Jon says:

    Ross I’m assuming that we just need to match the thread pattern and length based on what we are mounting on with washers and not being so long coming out the other side other side because I noticed the thread holes on the Radion are kinda shallow. I’m going go do it the smart way like Mark so they can slide from side to side. I just need to figure out what he is using to slide them on 🙂

    Jon

  • Ross Faverty says:

    I presume that a 1″ gap was left between the radion and canopy lid correct? I didn’t notice that mark set them up to slide though – it looks like they are bolted into place and cannot be moved.

    Thanks Jon & Mark for the response!

  • Jon says:

    The ones he did on the makeover canopy don’t move, they are bolted right threw. A one inch space would be nice just in case you need to get to the buttons.

    The slide I am talking about is on marks current tank. He did a video of when it was installed and showed his Radions sliding from side to side so he could put the lights where he needed them based on his aquascape. I just can’t find the video lol it was smart how he did it! If your limited on room you could just slide the lights out of the way on a thin canopy. I’ll look again for the video. If anyone else knows where it’s at post the link please 🙂

    Thanks, Jon

  • Jon says:

    I FOUND IT ROSS! look at how mark did his Radions on his new than. I’ve been trying to figure out what the metal was, now I know.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLK4t-Qg_EY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

    Jon

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