EXT 170 Build

[X-37B]

This tank will be mostly acros.
Tank is an IM 170 59×30×21.7. Actual tank volume is about 135g's as water depth will be 19".
Sump will be ran at 7" and hold around 25g's. So about 160g's total without anything in it.
Tank is made of 19mm, .76 glass and 22mm, .86, on the bottom with 3"×15mm .59 euro bracing around the perimiter.
I went with this tank as it fits the room well. Also easy to service and a great price for what you get, imo.
I went with the complete system.
Overall tank is impressive, imo.
I did run a bead of silicone over the gap between the acrylic and glass in the overflow. This may or may not have been why a couple people had the acrylic come off.
The sump is big but I do prefer an open sump. An 80g tank would have been my choice but the RFS 50 will do the job.
Only thing I dislike is the overly small overflow in the sump with heater area.
I ran caulking tape around the perimeter of the stand inside. So if water is spilled it wont go to the floor. I will run it around the bottom of the front and sides to hide the shims and prevent spilled water from going under the stand.

Stand went up well and I leveled it as it was off over 1/2" left to right and front to back on 1 side.
I did shim all the crossbars on the bottom. The stand is very solid and does not move like some have said.
I am still working on a 8020 cabinet frame for the back.
Tank will sit 12" off the wall. Easy access as im making this as easy to service as possible for my old body, lol.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Fishy Guy]

That's a dream tank! Excited to follow along.

 

[X-37B]

So on with my equipment list.
All equimpment is in stock.
I have 4 ADJ 8 plug units for power.
Ran 2 new 20amp boxes with seperate breakers.
Mounts on 8020 for all bricks. Nothing on the ground except my 10lb co2 tank.

Lighting:
I have 5 xr15 gen 5 blues and an Aquaticlife T5 hybrid I was going to run.
Those will now be used for a future frag tank.
I will run 2 Reefbreeder 50's on this system.

Flow:
2 Sea Sweeps
2 Tunze 6255's
Yes the 6255 is a beast. This should allow me to dialup the flow when the tank grows in.
On my old 120 I ran 6 powerheads, 2 6095's, 2 6105's, and 2 Jebao ow40's.
I did not want anything mounted to the wall and only 2 cords in the tank that run through the sweeps.

Sump:
RS50
2-48: led ship strips for light.
For the heater I will start with 1 150 watt ehiem, I have several.
May go with a larger titainium one though.
This will be attatched to an Aqualogic controller.

Sump has 3 4" cups. I will be running mesh 4" socks with the ability to add diffent micron sizes when needed. I have 100, 200, 300, and 400 micron mesh and various felt one.

First chamber will be for my skimmer.
Tunze 9430dc.
This is a beast and I ran it on my 120 and 80. As set and forget as they come, imo.
Second chamber will be my
Geosreef 818 calcium reactor with Reborn large media and no mag.
Im a Tunze guy but I got this barely used for a song so.
I will pull through the reactor with a Kamoer pump.
10lb co2 tank with ADA 2 stage regulator. No controller or ph probe needed. Set my co2 and let the Kamoer do the rest.
I did build a platform so the unit will not be in the water.
Last chamber is my return. I will run a Tunze 1073.060 pump.
I will be looking for 2-3× turnover so around 4-500gph.
Also in the chamber I will run an Avast Marine Mutiny ozone reactor.
Tunze ato, may upgrade to the new one, but I have 4 of the old pumps and the old controller has been flawless for 5 years so.
Advanced Acrylics15 gallon res for top off.
Note: I did cut and install a check valve on the return. Did this so 17+ g's wont flow back into the sump. I have several spares so swapping one out once a year is the plan
I did it because I am running both returns with no nozzles due to the sweeps and just dont want the back flow except for the overflow.The sump can handle it easily so if it does ever fail if the power goes out their wont be an issue.
Note: I am using the nozzle and 3 links now.
No apex or similar.
Aqualogic temp controller
Tunze powerhead controllers
Tunze skimmer controller
Kamoer carx controller
ADA 2 stage regulator
Milwaukee orp controller
Hanna monitor for:
Ph
Specific gravity
Temp
Posiedon ozone

⁸

 

[X-37B]

So now to the plan:
I will be ordering in the future around 100lbs of TBS base rock.
Actual lbs to be determined later.
I plan to put the rock centered over a 48×20 area. 6-8" height is what im shooting for.
No need for premium rock as im going to be growing acros, not rocks, so in 2 years time you wont see much rock anyway.
Tank will be BB and I will go with TBS, snail, hermit crabs, 4 peppermint shrimp and 1 brittle star after a few weeks with the live rock.

Parameters:
Temp 76-77
SG 1.026-1.027
Alk 7-7.5
Ca 400-450
Mag 1300-1400
K 400-420
Strontium 8-10
Iodine .06-.1
No3<5
Po4 <.1

I will use dsr ez trace. This is controlled by mag and K levels as I can test for them. Has worked well over the last 7 years.
I use esv strontium once a week to control this element. Again worked well for 7 years.
Drs ez trace has:
Magnesium
Potassium
Sulphate
Boron
Iodine
Manganese
I have done icp in the past and all levels were good. Was only dosing 6ml daily in my 120 to get desired levels.

Salt will be Red Sea blue bucket.
Water change will be low at 2.5% a months so around 4 gallons.

Esv 2 part will be used until I can bring the carx online in a few months.

Po4 control will be Phosgaurd when needed.
No3 control is handled by my skimmer.
Ozone will keep the water clear and I will shoot for 375-400 orp.

Fish will be added as soon as the live rock settles so around a month.

Most sticks will be higher end stuff with color. I will have some brain, and monti's on the bottom. Also a potato chip coral as I love the structure when they growout.
A few stags in the back also.
This is the area where the scape will sit. The goal is to cover the 48×19 cardboard with 6-7"'s of rock.
That dry rock is about 10×8×7.

 

[chipchipbro]

Looking really good and I cant wait to see this tank wet!

 

[mmpadi3d]

Wow, I wish I had this kind of resources. Looks really awesome. Noob question, what is the second return coming out of the right side of the sump?

 

[X-37B]

Wow, I wish I had this kind of resources. Looks really awesome. Noob question, what is the second return coming out of the right side of the sump?

That is the emergency overflow. One main one secondary and then the third is there in case the other 2 get blocked. Its called a Bean Animal drain system.

 

[spsick]

Excited to see the come along. Great tank dimensions and the sea sweeps are a nice touch!

Here’s to success with this tank similar to your last reefs!

 

[Tangy Reefer]

Looking forward to this one. Sounds like a solid plan!

 

[Mikeltee]

Looks like you have a solid plan. I really want to try ozone. I don't want to drop $1000 though. Even the used avast marines on here go for pretty much retail. Did you start out with a generator feeding a skimmer? I am considering it to see if it's worth going all in. For some reason, my new build noticeably stinks when you are near it. The previous 10 years ive never smelled it once. Im wondering if mature rock made the difference as I have a 3 month sterile build now.

I'm not concerned about the health risks. I can smell it a mile away and I'd only run it for a few hours at night. I've got lots of kids and dogs so every few months I use a large ozone generator when no one is home to refresh their rooms. It takes about 2 hours. When I used to smoke and have a rental car, I could get the new car smell within 30 minutes. Lol

I am a huge fan of ozone!

Ohh... why introduce brittle stars? Do you plan on getting one of those harlequin shrimp?

 

[X-37B]

Not much new but I did hang the 2 RB 50's.

 

[X-37B]

Looks like you have a solid plan. I really want to try ozone. I don't want to drop $1000 though. Even the used avast marines on here go for pretty much retail. Did you start out with a generator feeding a skimmer? I am considering it to see if it's worth going all in. For some reason, my new build noticeably stinks when you are near it. The previous 10 years ive never smelled it once. Im wondering if mature rock made the difference as I have a 3 month sterile build now.

I'm not concerned about the health risks. I can smell it a mile away and I'd only run it for a few hours at night. I've got lots of kids and dogs so every few months I use a large ozone generator when no one is home to refresh their rooms. It takes about 2 hours. When I used to smoke and have a rental car, I could get the new car smell within 30 minutes. Lol

I am a huge fan of ozone!

Ohh... why introduce brittle stars? Do you plan on getting one of those harlequin shrimp?

I like to have at least one brittle star in each system. I will probably get some small ones with the live rock anyway but always liked quarter sized ones.

I ran ozone years ago in a skimmer.
Everything in this hobby is 1K, lol.
I wanted a reactor and I think the Mutiny will work well.
I plan to run 24/7 and just did not want to run it through the 9430.

 

[X-37B]

On another note I am going to purchase a ext 50 that will be my frag system.
Going to run 2 xr15 blue since I have 5 from my other build.
Just started the fixture with 8020.

 

[Mikeltee]

Amen to the everything is $1k lol. I really like the new IM SR series for frag tanks. If I ever get a frag tank, that would be the one. You can't go wrong with IM! They are the best bang for the buck. I wish they would have been around 15 years ago as I'd have a 200 INT.

What is your opinion on ozone destroying skimmers? I have a brand new Reef Octopus EXT that I have about $700 invested in that I would hate to destroy. To be honest, I'm not too happy with it. The skimmate is too clear. I haven't attempted valving off some of the air though as it's not a DC.

 

[X-37B]

Amen to the everything is $1k lol. I really like the new IM SR series for frag tanks. If I ever get a frag tank, that would be the one. You can't go wrong with IM! They are the best bang for the buck. I wish they would have been around 15 years ago as I'd have a 200 INT.

What is your opinion on ozone destroying skimmers? I have a brand new Reef Octopus EXT that I have about $700 invested in that I would hate to destroy. To be honest, I'm not too happy with it. The skimmate is too clear. I haven't attempted valving off some of the air though as it's not a DC.

Many are ozone rated. The Tunze can run ozone. I would check with RO to be sure. Have you ever ran a Tunze dc skimmer? They are very underrated, imo.
The 9430 beast is rated to around 270g's for an acro system.
For me it has been the best way to keep nitrates in check.
I wanted the reactor because the sump is not glass.
The IM sumps are nice but I prefer a no baffle sump.
An 80g 48×24×16 would have been my preference.
This was on my 80g.
Dark coffe like skim.

 

[Mikeltee]

I did research them and I agree that from what I read that they are beasts! It seems that you really trust the brand. I have a small sump and decided to run an Algae Scrubber which pretty much took up the whole sump so I needed an external. I had RO and Bashsea to choose from. I ordered a Bashsea at first but canceled it when I found out it needed a 1000gph feed pump and no longer included a gate valve.

 

[X-37B]

I did research them and I agree that from what I read that they are beasts! It seems that you really trust the brand. I have a small sump and decided to run an Algae Scrubber which pretty much took up the whole sump so I needed an external. I had RO and Bashsea to choose from. I ordered a Bashsea at first but canceled it when I found out it needed a 1000gph feed pump and no longer included a gate valve.

Yea I am a Tunze guy and the 9430 wont fit in a 5g bucket, lol.
I could easily run a Life Reef venturi too. I would go to that brand if I needed to run it external.

 

[X-37B]

Not much going on. It will be a few months before it sees water though.
Did get the sump stands made and in place.
So I now have the 9430dc, 818, and the mutiny in place.
The Avast reactor is a nice unit.
I will run it from day one when I add the live base rock.

 

[X-37B]

I finally skinned the 8020.
I used 3m fasteners so all panels can be removed for servicing. 2 of the panels are sliders so I can acces the regulator and the ato container.
Regulator side is clear.

I also replaced the Avast media from the noodles to K1 hdpe media. The reason is the media will get dirty over time and I want to be able to remove it and replace it with new when it needs cleaning. I then have plenty of time to clean it and reuse it when needed.

It will be around june before this thing gets wet.
A few pics.