John: Hey folks, it's John. Last week we talked about getting this tank to our house and all of the shenanigans that ensued with that. It was a lot of fun, hope you got the chance to see that video.
This week it's all about getting it set up, getting water in it, getting it running, that's the fun part, but we did run into a couple of snags with getting this thing set up. I explained last week, I realized that there was a couple of parts that I forgot to order and so had to order those, have them sent out separate, they are here now, it's time to get this thing up and running.
Super excited about it and we're that much closer to getting my dream fish in here, so can't help but be excited. Let's just do it, let's stop messing around, let's get this thing running.
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I swear, the only luck I have is bad luck. Just ordered these pumps, got them in yesterday, ready to get the tank all set up.
This is the hose for my returns and this is the connectors that go into the returns on the tank itself, but the connectors on the pumps are too small, so it's another trip to the hardware store, shocker.
All right, took the trip down to the hardware store, got it, this is the connector that I need, testing it out now to make sure the thread is the right one, and it is.
I'm going to stick some Teflon tape on there and this thing will be ready to go, so let's get this thing going.
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The first thing that I wanted to talk about here before we actually install this, is this product right here, which is exclusive to custom aquariums. This is called their stealth box and it's basically a overflow box that gives you all kinds of options of things that you can do in there. I don't know how well that's showing up on the camera but you see all of those cutouts there. You can also see them on the bottom. This is where you can have multiple returns, you can have multiple drains, all different kinds of configurations that this can be set up in.
Mine has two drains; one will be here, one will be here, and the cat is messing with the lights, but you see these up here, one-- I set this up according to the manufacturer's specifications. One standpipe is going to be taller than the other because the bulk of the draining is going to be happening in the bottom one and then top-- I don't know, I don't really know. I don't understand the science behind it.
I think it'll make a little bit more sense once I have it set up and I actually see it running but that's what they suggested, one taller than the other, but these are just pipes that are put in there that fit into those holes. There's no real glue required on these because they're not under pressure. I am going to glue these down here just because I don't want them to get knocked out by the cats or anything like that.
I'm going to use regular plumbing glue to glue these on and then we'll get this thing installed and it'll be cool because I'm excited to see it running. I've never used one of these before but I like the concept, I think it's neat.
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Can you hand me that wrench that I've just brought up here that I left over there?
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The Old Man Parker: Be careful. Don't. They run all over.
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The Old Man Parker: [laughs]
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John: Here it is all set up and running with the lights on it, the background painted, everything is all set. Basically, folks, what you see right here is what it's going to be always. The only thing that might change is that piece of wood right there in the center. I might end up taking that out, not sure yet, kind of like the way it looks. With the footprint of this tank being as deep as it is, it's not going to really be a problem for the rays, I don't think, but we'll have to see.
I like it there, just one thing, simple, easy, I don't know, I like the way that looks but we'll have to see if it stays. Even if that is out, it's still going to be a really nice looking tank.
On top, you'll see I've got mounted the current serene lights. These are two six-foot lights and they light the tank really well. I was concerned as far as what the six-foot lights would do.
You can see over on the edges it is a little darker because there's no lights over there, but I don't know, I like the way that looks, gives it a dramatic effect. I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but I like the way that looks, and unless it becomes a problem, like, once the fish go in there, if they go to those areas and it's really dark, then I might consider getting something else.
You might also notice that the light is being propped up by a little piece of wood, that's because with the way this tank runs with that stealth box in the back, it sits right in the center, so I wasn't able to put one of the brackets in the center and it made the light lean and I didn't want that. What I've ended up doing is ordering, I've already ordered it, another one of the brackets to go here. They'll basically be four brackets supporting those lights. Three is enough but it needs to be two on the sides and one in the center.
I've got that bracket on the way, and once that bracket is here, I'll end up doing a video all about the current Serene system, but I like that a lot, it looks really good perched above the tank rather than sitting on top. I like that a lot. Anyway, let's go through how this tank works, how the whole thing goes. Here we are, I'm holding this backlight here from the Serene system in place so that you can see it. The stealth box is very nice, it's very quiet, it just sits there and it does its thing.
You've got the lid on it to help keep water noise down and it's great. I like the way that works. If we wanted to adjust the flow, if we wanted to move things around and change the way this thing operates, we've got all kinds of options with those extra holes there. We could change things up. Here are the returns that are going into these pieces here. Of course, the light wants to fall but I did end up gluing these in with PVC glue just because I'm paranoid like that but those go into the return.
I don't even know what they're calling them. They've got a special name for those. I probably should have found out before I did this video but it's like a no siphon return. That's what that fancy little doodad on the top is, to keep water from siphoning back down those hoses if you have some kind of failure. You do notice, no tops. That's one of the things I forgot to order. They are on the way or they're actually being made. They're being made specifically for this tank.
They sent the pumps and everything out in a separate shipment because they knew how important it was that I get this tank up and running for all of you to see. Those will be here soon enough and everything will work out just fine. Let's go through here, how the filtration works. We've got the two drains-- I don't have any lightning down here. The two drains that go into the sock tower. That's what I call it anyway, the sock tower. Those go through two filter socks in there.
Yes, that is a small glass lid on the piece again to help with water noise, help with evaporation. Once it goes through the two filter socks, obviously this tub fills up and overflows through that black pipe there into here where it goes through the baskets, the media baskets. The top one being the one that has the sponges and then the Purigen packets in it. The two packs of Purigen, and then it goes through all the bio media. The ceramic balls goes down here, raises up to this level and then spills over into the sump where we have the two pumps.
There they are. That's very efficient, it works really well. Then that tank, if you're wondering, that's a reserve tank. You see the water line right there, and it's all the same level. That's basically an evaporation tank. It's an extra tank full of water that if the system starts to run low, it'll actually-- It's constantly pulling from that, it's not like it's only in certain times, but that's always a reserve amount of water just to help with the time that you have to refill it if you have to top it up or something like that.
It's nice, maybe 30 gallons in there, I don't know exactly how big that is. Since it has the glass top on it, I've actually thought about putting it as small sponge filter in there and light and maybe storing plants in there. Something Lisa is getting very much into. It'll be a nice place to grow out plants and propagate plants and all that good stuff. I don't know about all that stuff. That's how the tank works. It's pretty simple when you think about it but it's also very efficient and there's endless options of things that I can do.
I will eventually put heaters in the sump. I don't have any in there right now because the room is about 78 degrees, it works out fine, I don't really need to have heaters in these tanks, but when it does get to be wintertime, we might need to put some heaters in there to help cut it a little bit, help it out but for now it's fine and it's ready to go. Get some fish in there soon and this is going to change the game for us.
That is the next step of the process, is going to be adding the Arowanas and the stingrays and potentially Oscars, not 100% yet but I don't think I'm going to be adding them all at the same time because they're really expensive and I just don't know that I'll be able to do that. That's going to be the next thing and this dream will be realized. Really excited about that next step. I don't know when that's going to be, probably a couple of weeks from now before we get those fish.
Definitely have to wait until the lids are on there because don't want a hundred and fifty dollar Arowana ending up on the floor. I've been there three too many times. Anyway, if you're interested in a tank like this, if you want to get one for yourself, not just like this but any size, any configuration, if you want to stand like that or if you want to stand like this, these are both custom aquariums and I am a retailer for them. If you're interested in a tank like this, email me [email protected], we'll get you set up.
If it's smaller than eight feet, we'll get it sent right to your house. You can't beat that. Thank you so much for watching. Thank you for going along the ride with me, it's been a lot of fun, still many videos to come. Make sure you subscribe to the channel so that you don't miss out on them. I'll see you next time.
