Tom's 11.4 Reef Build

[tpallas]

Soliciting some input here....I'm putting together the design for the sump.

 

Do I go with a refugium on this? Or leave room for a biopellet reactor?

[Chad]

I think it depends on your overall philosophy toward keeping a tank...

 

Do you tend to think of your tank as something that should be super clean or as diverse as possible?

 

If clean, go with the bio-reactor, if diverse go with the refugium.

[tpallas]

Reactor it is. CPR is supposedly coming out with a nano-version. Looks small enough for my needs. Hopefully it comes out soon.

 

I got some zip ties and Marco cement. Here's what I came up with. Is the right hand side too bulky?

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

[tpallas]

Trying to get the hang of the eMarco cement. We'll see how this works!

 

Mixed together to this consistency:

 

 

First joint:

 

 

Second joint:

 

 

Presuming (hoping?) it holds, I'll cut the wire ties tomorrow and put on a second slab to hold it together.

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

[tpallas]

Snipped the wire ties this morning, and it held! Quite strong.

 

Applied the second batch:

 

 

My stand is being delivered tonight as well.....maybe this will finally come together?

[roni]

looks good! I assume you like that cement? Do you have to do that outside of water or does it work like an epoxy?

[Chad]

Your attention to detail is great.

 

I can't wait to see this thing get wet!

[tpallas]

looks good! I assume you like that cement? Do you have to do that outside of water or does it work like an epoxy?

 

Thanks Roni! This is the first time I've worked with this cement. In my past tanks I've made the mistake of relying upon gravity to hold the aquascaping together. No more.

 

The cement does work quite well, sometimes I find epoxy frustrating (especially working with it underwater). This needs to be done dry as it's similar to concrete. Takes about 24 hours to dry but ends up rock hard and strong. If I was going a larger tank especially, I would use this over epoxy for the base aquascaping as it's much cheaper, bonds better, and is just as easy. Once the tank is filled with water, though, you have to stick to epoxy.

 

I will need to use epoxy for the top arch piece on the aquascaping as trying to make this one solid piece outside of water doesn't strike me as being able to work!

[roni]

Thanks Roni! This is the first time I've worked with this cement. In my past tanks I've made the mistake of relying upon gravity to hold the aquascaping together. No more.

 

The cement does work quite well, sometimes I find epoxy frustrating (especially working with it underwater). This needs to be done dry as it's similar to concrete. Takes about 24 hours to dry but ends up rock hard and strong. If I was going a larger tank especially, I would use this over epoxy for the base aquascaping as it's much cheaper, bonds better, and is just as easy. Once the tank is filled with water, though, you have to stick to epoxy.

 

I will need to use epoxy for the top arch piece on the aquascaping as trying to make this one solid piece outside of water doesn't strike me as being able to work!

 

 

Good to know. I may try some of this for my build. Got a link to the where you got the cement?

[tpallas]

Sure, here it is:

 

http://www.marcorocks.com/

[tpallas]

Your attention to detail is great.

 

I can't wait to see this thing get wet!

 

Thanks Chad! This is more the result of years of "I wish I had done this before I added water....." on my previous tanks!

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[LanglandJoshua]

Hindsight, sponsor for better tanks since day one!

[tpallas]

Yesterday, my stand finally arrived! I'm very happy with it as it was the look I was going for. Unfortunately, the builder wanted to cut the holes for the plumbing at my apartment, so I had to do some vacuuming before setting everything into place.

 

Here it is as delivered. It's made out of walnut, real nice quality wood.

 

 

A friend had struck upon the idea to make the stand deeper than the tank, and drill the top for the two plumbing lines. This gives the significant advantage - in such a small tank - of adding an extra 5" of depth for the sump, it is unnoticeable from the front. Here are the holes drilled in the top:

 

 

When you line up the plumbing from the tank, it looks like thus:

 

 

And the tank on the stand:

 

 

I'm a bad photographer with a worse camera, so here it is without the flash. True color is a bit darker, but a different perspective:

 

 

Moving onto the interior. I requested it be painted white as I much prefer that look, makes it easier to see inside, and looks much cleaner.

 

 

Here is the top shelf where I plan on placing the Proflux III and Profilux dosing unit. You can see that there are also two holes for the plumbing through the shelf as well. The shelf is adjustable on pegs much like a bookcase. The hole out of the back is to run electrical wires.

 

 

And finally the sump area, with another electrical wire hole. Ideally, wires will be more or less invisible/out of the way behind the sump back wall.

 

 

Here is the skimmer for size reference:

 

 

Return pump and plumbing came today too. The 1/2" black tubing is acceptable, but the 1" is too inflexible. I'll need to order another length of 1" from Lifereef, I've never found more flexible tubing.

 

 

 

Next step: the custom sump!

 

Cheers

 

Tom

[roni]

Tom,

 

looking really good. Very nice stand. Those eheim pumps are great but I really hate how hard it is to get the right sized tubing for them.

[tpallas]

Tom,

 

looking really good. Very nice stand. Those eheim pumps are great but I really hate how hard it is to get the right sized tubing for them.

 

Thanks Roni! I'm really happy with it, worth the wait. I'll need to play around with the tubing tonight to see if it matches....

[tpallas]

Spent some time hooking up the tank plumbing this weekend.

 

First, I wanted the external visible plumbing to be all black, so I painted the exposed portions of the barbs.

 

 

 

Next, glued in the barbs.

 

 

The tubing goes in about this far by hand:

 

 

So, with some hot water and elbow grease, managed the following:

 

 

Also started organizing the sump compartment to see how the sump layout will look:

 

 

I sent a note to Jeff at Lifereef to inquire about the sump. I'll need to pick up a 5.5 gallon in the meantime...

 

Cheers

 

Tom

Edited September 25, 2011 by tpallas

[tpallas]

I also did a mock setup of the rock and lighting. The standard mounting kit that comes with the AI Sol is pretty bad. Perhaps not so bad for hanging, but the mounting legs put the fixture an inch or so above the water. Mine will be hung higher, but you get an idea of how the tank will look. Forgive the poor camera.

 

 

As I live on the 17th floor of a tall building, I wondered what it would look like outside. Sure enough, on a huge building, you could see my room glowing bright blue looking as if a UFO was landing inside it.

 

Tom

[roni]

 

 

As I live on the 17th floor of a tall building, I wondered what it would look like outside. Sure enough, on a huge building, you could see my room glowing bright blue looking as if a UFO was landing inside it.

 

Tom

 

When I go to see people's tanks and am unsure if I'm at the right house, I always look for the "reefer" blue glow Like the aquascape. Cave would be perfect for some NPS.

[LanglandJoshua]

Some people are good at covering it. I chose to embrace it! I've heard that there is a 10k bulb with that great color, I really want it lol! Make the whole house glow blue!

[tpallas]

Well, it's almost impossible to believe, but this thing is about ready for water! Scratch that, it is ready, I've got the RO unit running right now.

 

I have my sump on backorder with Lifereef, but it won't be built until January. Their sumps are certainly worth the wait, but I'm not waiting that long to get this tank running.

 

I completed the tank plumbing:

 

 

And the whole setup ready to go. Not pretty, but functional:

 

 

Of course I'm missing the ATO and controller, but this shouldn't be a problem during the cycling.

 

Tom

[tpallas]

Well, put all the water in today, started it up, and discovered a leak caused by a crack in the return bulkhead. Need to order another one.

[hypertech]

If you are looking for flexible tubing, you can get silicone tubing in many sizes from mc master. Its about $2-3 a foot (if its less you probably have the wrong stuff selected). I use the black silicone rubber tubing. Its the best stuff around for connecting to the pump. Makes for a very quiet system and the black color should have less of a risk of stuff growing on the inside than the translucent blue color.

[John]

IS the drain bulkhead on backward, or is just me?

[tpallas]

If you are looking for flexible tubing, you can get silicone tubing in many sizes from mc master. Its about $2-3 a foot (if its less you probably have the wrong stuff selected). I use the black silicone rubber tubing. Its the best stuff around for connecting to the pump. Makes for a very quiet system and the black color should have less of a risk of stuff growing on the inside than the translucent blue color.

 

Great, thanks for the input! That's a great price too.

 

IS the drain bulkhead on backward, or is just me?

 

The overflow bulkhead is installed opposite the return bulkhead, which is why it looks backwards. This is per Glass-hole's instructions. Not quite sure why.

[tpallas]

Success! Got a new bulkhead in the mail and ran the tank leak-free.

 

Added the salt and sand....now just waiting for it to clear.

 

 

That's an ugly sump, but it will have to do for the time being.

 

Cheers