droyal1110's 90g mixed reef build

[droyal1110]

I have finally gotten over the hump and now its just bring the rest of it together, so I thought it was time to make a post about my progress.

 

I have had a 55 gallon with everything hang-on-the-back style, since early October of '08 and I am fortunate enough to be moving to a new place where I can have a sump setup and not worry too much about a potential flood (go tile). After the initial furniture move the following day will start early in the breaking down of the 55 gallon and transferring it 20 minutes away into the 90 gallon.

 

The new system is a used 90 gallon reef ready tank with a 30 gallon sump, I am going to be using 1" PVC for the drain, 3/4" PVC for the return, I am going to use a mag 7 on the return, an octopus 150 recirculating skimmer, at least a koralia 2 and 3, probably a 300 watt heater, 6x54 watt T5 setup, something like 110Lbs of live rock, 90 Lbs of dry sand, and I will be running a refugium in the sump. In the overflow I plan on having a regular standpipe with a loc-line hose for the return, and a durso standpipe at 24" for the drain.

 

I apologize for the quality of pictures, right now I have only had my cell phone handy and I wanted to record a bit of my progress. Also a lot of this handy work is a first time for me so don't expect professional quality =)

 

The canopy was sanded and revarnished. The front is on hinges for easy accessibility, there are also two drilled holes on the sides to attach fans for ventilation.

 

 

The tank was literally broken down right before I got to the guys house, his pipes were frozen at the time so he couldn't get everything out. It also looks like toward the end of owning it he did bare minimum cleaning, I had a lot of ground to make up to make this tank look newer.

 

Thanks to Jamesbuf I got a great deal on this skimmer. I was a bit weary at first because I had no clue where to go as far as skimmers went, but he talked me through it and convinced me why I should buy this skimmer and I am definitely impressed. Probably my favorite piece of equipment right now. (Please excuse the junk, I have this setup in the storage room for now)

 

 

This was after running it for about an hour, in the brute is just new saltwater, about 40 lbs of old live rock I had just picked up that wasn't in the greatest shape. It foamed up nicely and I am still impressed.

 

I was pretty proud of this (again the tank is 100% clean yet) I picked up some egg crate, got a knife blade and put it on a jiggsaw and cut these out. The top was kind of tricky, I ended up sanding down the edges. This worked out great because I have a snug fit and the edges aren't sharp.

 

I am still irritated by this. This is the original stand the tank came with. The previous owner was using the tank as a headboard on his bed so he had the tank backwards on the stand, as you can see he had to cut the lower right corner in order for the pipes to fit. I figured ok, it was on backwards so he had to cut the stand... well I turned the tank around and low and behold, I had to cut also. Only problem is the supporting joist is moved further up compared to the other side (if that makes sense). Basically I had a smaller cut available so the tank is sitting almost flush in the front with a big lip on the back =/

 

Here is where the tank will sit. I put the stand on plywood just to help distribute the weight, even though I doubt it would crack the tiles. I like the location because to the left of the tank is where my new room will be, to the right is the storage room and a door to go outside where I can pump water out of. The sump is not finished and the plumbing isn't glued, I was doing a dry fit, still trying to figure out what exactly I want to do with the plumbing.

 

Another shot of the drain line, the return is a pipe that goes straight up, simple as that just waiting on the pump to come in. Please if anyone sees anything on the drain line, let me know. Anything I should do differently? I'm thinking I should cut out a section in the middle and add a union. The part that attaches to the bulkhead is a threaded w/ slip, kind of like half a union. The piece threads onto the bulkhead and the PVC glues into it. Also the PVC sags a little bit during a dry fit, should I get a metal fastener or something and support the PVC?

 

I am also planning to do an ATO, but just haven't gotten that far yet. I want to keep my 2 true percs, 3 chromis, diamond goby, plus at least one tang, a wrasse, maybe some firefish, but not a ton of fish.

 

Please any comments or suggestions are welcomed, setting up a sump is all very new to me. I plan on gluing the baffles in on Friday, I hope scoring it will work out. I also plan on using lexan baffles on glass with AGA silicone, John at BRK said it would work fine since that what he uses in his huge sump at the store. I also plan on finalizing my plumbing hopefully Friday to be ready to do a leak test on Sunday. After that the tank will soak in a vinegar mixture with the return pump running probably over 24 hours so I can scrape everything off.

 

One more thing, does everyone hand tighten the bulkheads or do you wrench those on? I know I'll find out when I leak test but I just thought I would ask, I don't want to risk cracking the glass or ruining the seals.

 

Thanks for looking and more is to come in the near future!

Edited March 23, 2009 by droyal1110

[amos]

I don't have anything really constructive to add except to say that you've got a great start and look well on your way! I also think you got an incredible deal on that skimmer (looks like you've realized that).

 

Jon

[droyal1110]

Thanks! I definitely did get an awesome deal on the skimmer and I owe him big time.

[schulzjp]

Do you know if the skimmer has been modded any? Any plans to mod it?

[droyal1110]

No I don't believe the skimmer has been modded and off the top of my head I don't really know of any mods you can do for it. It is already recirculating and that is the only real mod I have seen on these type of skimmers. Other then that I guess maybe putting an air stone in the bottom and increasing the flow would possibly do something, its running off of an MJ1200 right now and it seems to work well.

[droyal1110]

Ok I've got some more questions.

 

First off is union placement and how many.

 

On my drain where should I put the union and how many? I know what a union does, how exactly it works I'm not sure, it looks like in some people's setups they wouldn't work because one end of the pipe is glued and the other end of the pipe is glued with a union in the middle... how could that work?

 

If you could please show me some pictures of your union placement I would appreciate it.

 

Also where should I put the gate/ball valve on the drain line. Does it matter where (on the vertical portion or the horizontal portion?)

 

Is it worth putting a gate/ball valve on the return line?

 

When I install the pump on the return line, do I want the pump resting on the glass or should I have it raised off of the glass?

 

How big should I make the return and drain zones? I want my fuge do be the largest size, I just don't want to make them too small.

 

Any flaws with this design? (also where should the stuff I asked go?)

 

 

I have been debating whether or not I should put another line off of the return line with a valve to help regulate flow in the tank. However with the head pressure and what not I think I'm only going to get 450 gph from the Mag 7 and since I have a 1" drain line with a maximum of 600 gph, I don't know that I would need the extra drain lain. However, I may plumb it to the fuge to help with flow issues in there if needed.

 

The nice thing about the mag 7 is the connection is threaded onto the pump itself. That's why I plan on keeping the pump about an inch or two off the sump floor, my dilemma is whether or not the vibrations will be loud from the return line vibrating or if I should dampen the sound by placing the pump on a sponge or something. What foam block did you use?

 

I definitely plan on using an ATO. I didn't think the return area should be too big since it won't be starving for water unless the (rare) drain line gets clogged. Does it matter where you place the ATO drain or just anywhere in the sump?

 

Also can anyone recommend the best way to cut lexan? I don't have a table saw so whats the next best thing? Is scoring it and breaking it really that hard?

 

Oh and can anyone recommend an ATO. I know Melev has a DIY ATO but I want to hear if anyone has had any problems with it. It almost seems too good to be true.

 

 

 

I posted all of this on reefcentral and haven't gotten an answer yet, thought I'd try here again.

[droyal1110]

Well for anyone following along I've got a few updates, no pics though, I need to get them off of a memory card from my old phone.

 

Big updates are as follows:

-Stand finally where I want it

-Electrical issue figured out (just going to run a cable to the adjacent wall and use a floor cover thingamabob to keep anyone from tripping on it)

-Skimmer working great

-Obtained some free water from Lanman's amazing reef

-Cut and glued baffles... then reglued.... finally got the leaks to stop

-Sump completed and placed

-Received my Mag 7 for return, some reef chili (figured I'd try it once the reef was setup), ATO unit, water pump for ATO, RO/DI unit, TDS meter, and some other goodies for the RO/DI unit

-Cut and plumbed all my PVC using 2 unions and 1 check valve in the mix

-Cut the power to my return pump and everything worked out, with the check valve I still have maybe 7 or 8 gallons left to go in the sump just in case it fails and my ATO happens to stick open

-Got the durso to work but not 100% happy with it

-Tank soaked for 48 hours with vinegar mixture, tank is spotless =D

-Both bulkheads are leaking and is currently driving me crazy

 

As it stands the tank is nearing completion, however the bulkheads are holding me back. I am going to work on the bulkhead tonight, removing the putty I used to help control the leak for the soaking purpose. Going to assess the situation and see if the bulkhead is salvageable, if not... off to BRK this weekend. My basement is littered with miscellaneous tools, parts, boxes, so on and so forth. My storage room has 2 brute cans full of water, I already had one tiny flood with my skimmate milk jug reservoir, no biggie, just smelly.

 

I'm thinking I'll hold on to my 55g for a few weeks to QT a tang, after that its history. The reason being is my current hospital/QT tank is only a 30g, and I know there are stores that hold tangs in these size tanks for a while, I just would feel terrible stressing it out that much. Not to mention I'm not brave enough to just drop a fish in my DT and hope for the best, no way.

 

As it stands, hopefully this week I will get the bulkhead straightened out, re plumb one section of my return (the pump is resting against the glass and it amplifies the sound x10), get the ATO setup, get my RO/DI unit rolling, and hopefully start filling the tank with water this weekend along with putting some liverock and sand in there. I don't plan on moving the fish just yet because my furniture move is being postponed yet again.

 

Hopefully I will have the video and pictures up by this weekend.

 

As always any comments or suggestions are welcome.

[Vader]

It's just my opinion, but I would remove the check valve. It will fail at some point, just put the return outlet as close to the top of the water line as you can and you will never have to worry about water back flowing into your sump and overflowing.

[droyal1110]

Yea I've been 50/50 on it. I was at BRK at I forgot his name, not Johnny, anyways he suggested it and said he uses it on his tank. I figure this is more of a fail safe feature, even if it fails, no biggie, I'm prepared for that. It was more of a luxury feature than anything, plus I put it on a union so once a month I can give it a good soak in vinegar or switch out as needed.

 

Plus on my return line I have the siphon break drilled in the 90* elbow where it starts to come out of the overflow box, works like a charm. Only issue is it sprays water out into the water flowing in and it sounds like a sprinkler, I may change where it shoots out or something, this tank has to be as quiet as possible.

 

Also, I will post the video when I get a chance but my drain line is always spewing bubbles, not sure why either. I use a durso standpipe, drilled a 3/16th hole I believed, it doesn't gurgle but it always spews bubbles in my sump. Not a huge deal, its just the popping will lead to more salt creep and what not. Otherwise my bubbles traps work great =D

 

Thanks!

[rioreef]

Regarding the siphon hole. I put mine in the loc line that is connected to a 45 degree elbow and the exit of the loc line is several inches below the surface. This siphon hole is just below the normal water level and will cause a break after some water has gone back down the return lines into the sump. This way the break hole is below the water and during normal operations no sound comes from it. Just remember to keep it clean and make it parallel with the water surface. Otherwise if on the top side and it is close to the surface you will get a fountain.

[droyal1110]

See I had originally planned on using an elbow in the water and drilling a whole in the elbow. Some how or another I wound up not doing that (I still might) and ended up with the lock line starting in the overflow and then into the DT. I thought of drilling a hole in the lock line but for some reason decided against it. Guess I'll be doing that as well tonight. Although I have to admit, having the siphon break where it is may be noisy, but it works quick.

 

Thanks!

[droyal1110]

OK, finally I am updating this with pictures and a video. I held off because I was trying to recover pictures from my old phone, but unfortunately I can't get them, so this will have to do. Sorry about the crappy pictures, again camera phone.

 

First this is the video I took the weekend I had the tank filled and running for the first time. The setup in the video is different from what the finished plumbing is now. You can also see the embarrassing attempt to stop a leak around the bulkhead. The durso drain is 1 1/4" thick but the actual bulkhead and drain line is 1". One thing that kind of irritates me is that the drain is pumping out a ton of bubbles, I don't know if this is because the durso isn't fine-tuned or if its because bubbles are being created in the overflow and its being sucked by the durso. Like I said I changed my setup a bit so hopefully it will eliminate it. Another thing that irritates me is on the second part of the drain line (second part from the union), I glued the wrong end to the half of the durso, so the setup is actually backwards. I had it all laid out perfectly, it was going to fit in the sump perfectly and it was going to look great... well I screwed up. Eventually I'll re-glue some pieces and remake the last part of the drain line the way I intended. Also the return line was modified because I didn't account for the return pump size, its actually resting against the wall of the sump, thus it is really loud. I also changed my return line in the overflow to eliminate the waterfall noise, hopefully this all works =D

 

 

The following pictures show some goodies I ordered and the changes I've made. It also shows the silicone job I went and re-glued, I wanted to make sure there were 0 leaks.

 

 

 

 

 

The part that I screwed up.

 

My makeshift brackets to support the drain line.

 

My new return line setup, the part that is on the left with the union (connects to the pump) is shorter so the pump is actually suspended in the water column.

 

My new return line coming out of the overflow.

 

My silicone job =D

 

The removal of the leaky bulkhead I decided to putty.

 

 

I actually ended up ruining my new 1" bulkhead again, I was moving the tank and I think I caught the pipe on something and it popped the bulkhead and I think stripped the thread or just dislodged the gasket, either way I don't mind throwing 7 bucks to a new one again, I can live with no leaks and a few extra dollars.

 

I should be moving in on Friday of this week and moving the tank Saturday.

 

Thanks for looking.

Edited April 22, 2009 by droyal1110