Crob5965 tank upgrade 125 gal

[Crob5965]

Ok so I recently picked up a 125gal and plan on switching it out with my existing 90gal mixed reef.

 

for the first time ever I am actually going to take my time and set everything up right the first time.

so look to see my new tank fully stocked No Later Than 4 June 2014....

 

Just kidding, I have been gathering bits and pieces for the build and should be ready to start in a week or 2, the biggest obstacle I have is that I plan on putting my new aquarium where my 90 gal is currently, I have an opening of aprox 8' 6"  for a 6' tank, I will be building an oversized stand wall to wall to store all my equipment and bits and pieces that my wife tries to throw away when I leave them on the dining room table. I plan on using 2 40 Breeders for filtration/ frag tanks but may go with a 40B frag tank and 55gal sump/fuge depending on what I can pick up cheapest.

 

ok so enough BS i'll post some pics and then I'll continue rambling about what I need to do and what I need to buy next.

 

 

picture of the new tank in my garage

Edited June 1, 2014 by Crob5965

[Crob5965]

here's my 1st attempt at drilling glass, I had a piece of scrap glass lying around from an old aquarium, it went surprisingly well, glass did chip a little on the back side but I think I was putting pressure on the drill, also adding some support behind the glass may help, but still not bad for a rookie

 

[YHSublime]

Looks slick! You're going to love it! I was thinking June 3 seemed more reasonable...

 

You have plans for lights, return pump, skimmer, rock, water movement?

[Crob5965]

Looks slick! You're going to love it! I was thinking June 3 seemed more reasonable...

 

You have plans for lights, return pump, skimmer, rock, water movement?

 

yeah, I have 4 D2040's currently and 1 D120 for the frag tank, I am planning on listing the D2040's (probably on WAMAS) and upgrading to  2x IT2080's I have a DC6000 running at 50% on my 90 hoping that that will do the job, if not I will upgrade to DC9 or 12K

skimmer will probably be upgraded to an AVAST, the one I have is a no name skimmer apparently good up to 300 gal and It works great on a 90 but not too sure about a 125 with about 80 gal of additional water volume underneath. 

 

I have about 50lbs of additional LR sitting in a 30 gal that used to be one of my frag tanks I have 100+ in my DT currently so hopefully that will be enough after all filtration needs are low seeing as I only have a pair of clowns lol

[Crob5965]

I picked up a 2400GPH overflow box, I plan on having 2 x 1" overflows possibly a 3rd emergency drain in the box

 

for returns I am planning on drilling  holes for 2 x 3/4" returns probably loc line running off of 1 pump

 

I have 2 x Jebao WP 25's on my 90 that I will also be using but may end up going to WP-40's if needed

[wildcrazyjoker81]

So sounds like your drilling a bean animal setup. I love mine on my 150. Dead silent and fail safe.

 

Also the flow on the WP25 is a bit narrow and direct and may not work as well in a 6ft tank to cover area. So look towards getting a WP40 or WP60.

[Crob5965]

So sounds like your drilling a bean animal setup. I love mine on my 150. Dead silent and fail safe.

 

 

 

Also the flow on the WP25 is a bit narrow and direct and may not work as well in a 6ft tank to cover area. So look towards getting a WP40 or WP60.

 

thanks for the info on the 25's

 

yeah I guess it's called bean animal lol, I read somewhere I think RC where they were calling it herbie or something, but yeah that's definitely what I'm trying to do. glad it works for you, that makes me a little more confident in my plans. 

[wildcrazyjoker81]

thanks for the info on the 25's

 

yeah I guess it's called bean animal lol, I read somewhere I think RC where they were calling it herbie or something, but yeah that's definitely what I'm trying to do. glad it works for you, that makes me a little more confident in my plans. 

 

Herbie is two drains (one full, one emergency) Bean animal is three drains (one full, one failover/trickle, one emergency) Just added protection.

http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx

[YHSublime]

yeah, I have 4 D2040's currently and 1 D120 for the frag tank, I am planning on listing the D2040's (probably on WAMAS) and upgrading to  2x IT2080's

 

Very nice! I ran 2x it2080s on my 6' 150 for quite some time, you will rock the socks off it and be able to grow whatever you want, and easily. Make sure you get the Evergrows with a 3 year warranty and not the crappy half put together Chinese deals, there is a difference, although they both carry the same "IT2080" label.

 

I have a DC6000 running at 50% on my 90 hoping that that will do the job, if not I will upgrade to DC9 or 12K

 

That's what I'm running on my 150. It's a little weak for my taste, but gets the job done. You should be alright. Plan on compensating for flow with pumps in the DT.

 

skimmer will probably be upgraded to an AVAST, the one I have is a no name skimmer apparently good up to 300 gal and It works great on a 90 but not too sure about a 125 with about 80 gal of additional water volume underneath. 

 

CS1 will be a good choice, you're going to enjoy that!

 

I have about 50lbs of additional LR sitting in a 30 gal that used to be one of my frag tanks I have 100+ in my DT currently so hopefully that will be enough after all filtration needs are low seeing as I only have a pair of clowns lol

 

Very nice! It sounds highly unlikely that you'll stick with just 2 clowns though, but that still sounds like plenty of rock!

[gmerek2]

nice tank! yea let the drill do the work little to no pressure and it will go fine if its held in place with a device. Just get a big enough sump and fill it shallow enough so there are absolutely no worries about an overflow crisis.

[Crob5965]

Thanks for the input guys, pretty sure I'm going BB on this one too, I have a DSB currently and although I haven't had any issues other that having pods getting so big they are stealing food from my fish, I like the look of a BB and it seems like less work, I saw a link where someone sparayed the underside of a BB with textured paint to look like sand/gravel

 

 

it looked pretty cool so I gave it a shot on an old 10 QT tank

 

 

 

looks a lot better in person lol.

 

 

[Crob5965]

Herbie is two drains (one full, one emergency) Bean animal is three drains (one full, one failover/trickle, one emergency) Just added protection.

http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx

 

Thanks for the clarification, did you drill all 3 holes at the same height?, I guess I could just read the thread you so kindly provided but I'm kinda lazy like that.

[gmerek2]

the sand paint looks good. Just remember the BB tank will get coraline spots on it and may mess up the look you are going for

[wildcrazyjoker81]

Thanks for the clarification, did you drill all 3 holes at the same height?, I guess I could just read the thread you so kindly provided but I'm kinda lazy like that.

The emergency and secondary are at the same height. The full siphon is 1/8 inch lower. You can keep them all even though as it doesn't matter. What matters is that the full siphon pvc sits just a little lower in the overflow box so it starts first when the pump is turned on.

[Crob5965]

ok so I did a quick skim of the bean animal, def going to go that route, just need to do a little homework 1st 

[Crob5965]

the sand paint looks good. Just remember the BB tank will get coraline spots on it and may mess up the look you are going for

 

Good point, the link I posted was for Freshwater, I guess it will look nice for 3 - 6 months 

[Crob5965]

The emergency and secondary are at the same height. The full siphon is 1/8 inch lower. You can keep them all even though as it doesn't matter. What matters is that the full siphon pvc sits just a little lower in the overflow box so it starts first when the pump is turned on.

 

wow that's pretty awesome, I have been doing a lot of reading and it sounds like a great design, hard to believe that 1" bulkhead can pull 2000GPH, how long have you been using the beananimal drain? sounds like your happy with it so I wont ask if your happy, did you encounter any issues setting it up that I could hopefully learn from?

[wildcrazyjoker81]

wow that's pretty awesome, I have been doing a lot of reading and it sounds like a great design, hard to believe that 1" bulkhead can pull 2000GPH, how long have you been using the beananimal drain? sounds like your happy with it so I wont ask if your happy, did you encounter any issues setting it up that I could hopefully learn from?

I run 1 1/2 drains on mine. It can handle more than I can throw at it with my dc12000. Been using the bean animal setup for a little over a year now. No hiccups at all besides making sure the full siphon is lower than the secondary, so it starts first. Using gate valves for tuning is way way easier than ball valves. And I only run a gate valve on the full and nothing on the secondary. And make sure the pipes are a little underwater in the sump. Other than that it works flawlessly every time.

[Crob5965]

sounds good I cant wait to get started, does the order/placement of the overflows matter? I've seen some pictures where the Emergency overflow is in the middle as apposed to being on the left or right? from your picture it looks like your main is in the center and your secondary and emergency is on the outside, also did you use the airline tubing like the link suggested on the secondary?

 

sorry about all the questions I just figure it's best to get them out of the way while I still have time 

[wildcrazyjoker81]

sounds good I cant wait to get started, does the order/placement of the overflows matter? I've seen some pictures where the Emergency overflow is in the middle as apposed to being on the left or right? from your picture it looks like your main is in the center and your secondary and emergency is on the outside, also did you use the airline tubing like the link suggested on the secondary?

 

sorry about all the questions I just figure it's best to get them out of the way while I still have time

 

It does not matter where you put them. There is no specific order. I just followed the website design as that was the easiest at the time. Yes I did the airline tubing. It just sits above the water level in the overflow.

[Crob5965]

sounds good, I picked up the fitting and air tubing at Lowes this AM, I have 1" bulkheads and plan on using 1 1/2" plumbing as the instructions in the thread shows, it all looks pretty straight forward, cant wait to get started, I think I'm going to buy 2 x WP 40's also, they sell them on ebay for $49 ea without controllers and power which I already have or $155 for 2 with a split controller, I think WP-60's might be a bit overboard

[Crob5965]

I picked up 2 gate valves for my bean animal overflow as suggested by wild

These things are a lot bigger than I expected does anyone know where I can find a 1.5" gate valve that is a little more compact or is this it?

[Crob5965]

nice tank! yea let the drill do the work little to no pressure and it will go fine if its held in place with a device. Just get a big enough sump and fill it shallow enough so there are absolutely no worries about an overflow crisis.

 

 

I got lucky on my 90, I have a 30(29) gal sump and I guess It wont overflow, I had holes drilled in my return to prevent back Syphon and I guess both holes were clogged with Coraline and during a feeding it pulled an extra 10gal or so from my return, my sump was filled to the brim when the tank finally stopped draining, 1 more gal and it would have overflowed.

 

I was looking at using a 40B for my sump but I may go with a 55 or 75 gal just to be on the safe side

[flooddc]

Looking good!

Bigger sump is better! Make sure you leave extra room for a bigger skimmer.

[HgrReefs]

Looking forward to the outcome of this build! Following along!