Upgrade from 75 gallons sumpless to custom 110 gallons + sump

[Idech]

Let’s start with the sump. It’s my first one so I have nothing to compare it too but I am very pleased with it. I even like to sit in front of it and look at the water flowing, lol !

They recommended I use a long filter floss for the first day, to catch as much detritus as possible, so that’s what I’m doing, After that I’ll just out some filter floss in the cups (3).

I want to run carbon as well so I’ll be doing that in a few days.

Left side of the sump.

You can see the removable tablet that I had them build. Very practical as there is 0 room available near the sump.

One of the pipes was not glued, so I’m going to have them do it when I do my first maintenance, probably in 12 months. Until then it’s barely visible and most importantly, it’s going right in the sump.

Simplicity skimmer is actually skimming ! I’m glad I ran it in a bucket filled with tank water and skimmate for 2 weeks. I could never get it to skim in the bucket, but it did right away in the tank. The skimmate is more a yellowish brown than the regular color, but it’s probably because the tank was filled 65% with new water and new sand.

Right side of the sump. The baffle is keeping every microbubble from entering the pump area.

I still have to test the battery back-up. Waiting for it to be fully charged (I don’t know how to tell yet). For now when I turn off the return pump, it doesn’t kick in. I don’t even know if it should. I have some research to do about that.

Vectra M2 is behaving oddly, but it might be something I’m doing. Twice, it reverted to it’s previous setting without me touching anything, thus completely destroying the stability I had to work so hard to get.

So I’m still fine tuning and trying to get the exact water level needed for my ATO to work. This is the level I need to keep room for all overflow, including full ATO malfunctioning. It might take a few more days but I’ll get there eventually.

Ceiling view of the stand. I still have 3 or 4 outlets available for reactors, a gyre or whatever.

Left side of the ceiling. You can see the cable tie that failed miserably to stick. They are sending me a long bracket that I will have to install on the left wall.

I am very scared to screw anything on this stand, as I might just destroy it. Yeah, I know. That’s bad. Maybe I’ll find someone to help.

Right side of the ceiling.

All the stuff that you almost never need to unplug went behind the tank. I still have room to go behind to do maintenance or adjust the lights.

You can see two different water sensors. The bigger one is a cheap one that makes a lot of noise. The smaller one works with an app that sends notifications (perfect when you’re away), but doesn’t make any noise at all. I have to buy a separate device that will sound the alarm. Which I will when my poor wallet stops crying…

 

[00W]

Let’s start with the sump. It’s my first one so I have nothing to compare it too but I am very pleased with it. I even like to sit in front of it and look at the water flowing, lol !

They recommended I use a long filter floss for the first day, to catch as much detritus as possible, so that’s what I’m doing, After that I’ll just out some filter floss in the cups (3).

I want to run carbon as well so I’ll be doing that in a few days.

Left side of the sump.

You can see the removable tablet that I had them build. Very practical as there is 0 room available near the sump.

One of the pipes was not glued, so I’m going to have them do it when I do my first maintenance, probably in 12 months. Until then it’s barely visible and most importantly, it’s going right in the sump.

Simplicity skimmer is actually skimming ! I’m glad I ran it in a bucket filled with tank water and skimmate for 2 weeks. I could never get it to skim in the bucket, but it did right away in the tank. The skimmate is more a yellowish brown than the regular color, but it’s probably because the tank was filled 65% with new water and new sand.

Right side of the sump. The baffle is keeping every microbubble from entering the pump area.

I still have to test the battery back-up. Waiting for it to be fully charged (I don’t know how to tell yet). For now when I turn off the return pump, it doesn’t kick in. I don’t even know if it should. I have some research to do about that.

Vectra M2 is behaving oddly, but it might be something I’m doing. Twice, it reverted to it’s previous setting without me touching anything, thus completely destroying the stability I had to work so hard to get.

So I’m still fine tuning and trying to get the exact water level needed for my ATO to work. This is the level I need to keep room for all overflow, including full ATO malfunctioning. It might take a few more days but I’ll get there eventually.

Ceiling view of the stand. I still have 3 or 4 outlets available for reactors, a gyre or whatever.

Left side of the ceiling. You can see the cable wrap that failed miserably to stick. They are sending me a long bracket that I will have to install on the left wall.

I am very scared to screw anything on this stand, as I might just destroy it. Yeah, I know. That’s bad. Maybe I’ll find someone to help.

Right side of the ceiling.

All the stuff that you almost never need to unplug went behind the tank. I still have room to go behind to do maintenance or adjust the lights.

You can see two different water sensors. The bigger one is a cheap one that makes a lot of noise. The smaller one works with an app that sends notifications (perfect when you’re away), but doesn’t make any noise at all. I have to buy a separate device that will sound the alarm. Which I will when my poor wallet stops crying…

Insanely nice and well done/thought out.
I'm jelly!

 

[00W]

My sump.

 

[Idech]

This is my ATO reservoir. I asked them to build something so it would be easy to pour water in it. Since I can’t rest the bucket on it because it’s glass.

The little hole (don’t know what it’s called) is exactly the size of a Python squeeze. The Python squeeze goes on a hose and all you have to do is depress it a few times, with the bucket elevated, to fill the reservoir.

Unfortunately it was defective so they are sending me a new one. I will keep the tool on the reservoir, for easy access.

 

[Idech]

My sump.

Wow, you’ll have to explain it to me !

 

[Idech]

And last but not least, here is the tank on the first morning.

Most fish were happily swimming the next morning when I got up. The only fish I haven’t seen yet is the yellow wrasse. It jumped while being captured to be put in the tank and fell a few inches on the floor. It was caught immediately and gently put in the tank. It has the habit of hiding in the sand for a few days whenever it’s stressed so I’m not worried.

All corals are also doing well. I mostly have easy and forgiving ones, so that helps. CUC is also doing well.

So basically I haven’t lost anything from the tank transfer.

I had asked for a way to hang my lights on the tank, and they glued a piece of glass for that purpose. It’s working very well.

I bought 20 lbs of live rock from the LFS. You can see one of the pieces in the above picture. Some are dead corals, which give a nice change of texture/look from the existing rocks.

The banggai cardinal looks small in this picture but it’s actually pretty huge. It’s body is thicker and bigger than my kole tang’s.

 

[kevgib67]

And last but not least, here is the tank on the first morning.

Most fish were happily swimming the next morning when I got up. The only fish I haven’t seen yet is the yellow wrasse. It jumped while being captured to be put in the tank and fell a few inches on the floor. It was caught immediately and gently put in the tank. It has the habit of hiding in the sand for a few days whenever it’s stressed so I’m not worried.

All corals are also doing well. I mostly have easy and forgiving ones, so that helps. CUC is also doing well.

So basically I haven’t lost anything from the tank transfer.

I had asked for a way to hang my lights on the tank, and they glued a piece of glass for that purpose. It’s working very well.

I bought 20 lbs of live rock from the LFS. You can see one of the pieces in the above picture. Some are dead corals, which give a nice change of texture/look from the existing rocks.

The banggai cardinal looks small in this picture but it’s actually pretty huge. It’s body is thicker and bigger than my kole tang’s.

Wow, it really came together nicely, I love your scape.

 

[Idech]

I’ve been trying to adjust my water levels in the sump vs the overflow box.

The Vectra M2 return pump is making things harder. It keeps reverting to different settings after I’ve gotten the perfect setting. So it throws everything off and I have to start over again.

I had decided to try the Mobius app even though I had read many complaints about it being junk. This morning I decided enough is enough, it has to go. It might not be the problem but at least it’s out of the way.

I’ve also removed the random flow generators on the outputs. The loc line is too short and they need to be too deep in the water and aimed almost vertically (or else they create noisy vortex). They blast the sand on the bottom in certain areas and are just too much.

I’m waiting for a longer loc line to be delivered and I’ll decide if I try the RFG again or just go with naked longer loc lines.

My ATO still needs to be turned off since I have not achieved the required water level in the sump. This morning I put 1 1/2 gallons of rodi in the sump to make up for lost water. I suppose that’s about the amount I lost in 1 1/2 day.

 

[00W]

And last but not least, here is the tank on the first morning.

Most fish were happily swimming the next morning when I got up. The only fish I haven’t seen yet is the yellow wrasse. It jumped while being captured to be put in the tank and fell a few inches on the floor. It was caught immediately and gently put in the tank. It has the habit of hiding in the sand for a few days whenever it’s stressed so I’m not worried.

All corals are also doing well. I mostly have easy and forgiving ones, so that helps. CUC is also doing well.

So basically I haven’t lost anything from the tank transfer.

I had asked for a way to hang my lights on the tank, and they glued a piece of glass for that purpose. It’s working very well.

I bought 20 lbs of live rock from the LFS. You can see one of the pieces in the above picture. Some are dead corals, which give a nice change of texture/look from the existing rocks.

The banggai cardinal looks small in this picture but it’s actually pretty huge. It’s body is thicker and bigger than my kole tang’s.

Beautiful!

 

[Idech]

I’ve fiddled with the Vectra pump and adjusted water levels so much it feels like I’ve had this tank for weeks, not 3 days, lol !

Now I think I’ve got the pump settings down. Mobius should never be used with this pump IMO. Calibration has to be done with the controller.

Even with the best setting possible, I still hear a little bit of water trickling from the overflow box. I can’t really raise the water level, or I’m afraid the Vectra pump won’t be submerged enough.

So I’m hoping with slime building, the noise will lessen a bit. It’s really not so bad, but annoying when there is no noise.

Battery back-up is not working. I’ve opened a thread about it and will call Ecotech on Monday. I’m hoping I don’t have to get it out from under the stand and send it back for a replacement.

Besides that, I’m very happy with this tank. The fish love it too. Not only is it beautiful, but also more practical.

 

[tsharpe291]

definitely a nice upgrade, I use the mxm module with Neptune to control my vectra pump. I feel I can dial it in pretty well that way, mobius isn't the greatest IMO

 

[Idech]

I feel I can dial it in pretty well that way, mobius isn't the greatest IMO

I couldn’t agree more !

Battery back-up is fixed, thanks to @JonsNano !

Now I can sit back and relax.

 

[Idech]

I’ve added two small fish today : a matted filefish (hoping it will eat aiptasia) and a tiny ruby red dragonet (raised on frozen food but I’ll get some pods too when I find some).

There was a smell that was getting stronger and stronger today. I hadn’t realized how much a skimmer can stink… I had a small one before and never had that problem. I guess it means it’s doing a good job, so I can’t complain.

I had cranked it’s speed today and the cup was 3/4 full so I emptied it. I wasn’t expecting the stench to be so bad… I also put some carbon on top the holes on the cover, so hopefully that helps too.

Next week I’m expecting my rehomed adult yelllw tang and swallow tail angel. After that, unless I need a very specific utility fish, or a tiny one, the tank will be full.

I had turned the lights down for the new fish to relax, so sorry about the Windex look. The filefish ate with a good appetite. Nobody bothered it. I guess they know it’s not to be messed with.

The tiny dragonet found it’s spot. It stayed right where it landed; it’s a huge house with lots of holes for it. I put food in front of it and it might have eaten a bite but I’m not sure.

It was only -1C today so a very good day to have fish shipped. The hand warmers were still warm in the box and both fish were lively. I floated the bags for 20 minutes and acclimated for 25-30 minutes.

The LFS gifted me a free hammer (2 heads) so even better !

 

[Idech]

Oh, and major breakthrough ! After fiddling with the gate valve for 8 days (so much that I had bad leg muscle cramps), I finally found the sweet spot where there is no gurgling in the overflow box nor sump.

The only thing that I dislike is I had to turn down the speed of the pump a notch to achieve that. I’m probably a little under 3 x turnover per hour and I find that a little low.

For now it will do. I’ll let time do it’s thing and try increasing the pump speed in a few weeks.

 

[Idech]

The little baby dragonet hasn’t eaten yet. At least in front of me.

I’m starting to panic so I bought some pods that I’ll go pick up at the store tomorrow. 80$ for a snack, I hope it appreciates it, lol !

I’m sad to report that the change of sand in the tank has cost the lives of many of the CUC members. I’m afraid there won’t be many left. I won’t be buying anymore before at least 3 months has passed.

 

[tsharpe291]

The little baby dragonet hasn’t eaten yet. At least in front of me.

I’m starting to panic so I bought some pods that I’ll go pick up at the store tomorrow. 80$ for a snack, I hope it appreciates it, lol

the things we do for theses mini eco systems, feed the tank the premium foods
and well eat the junk, lol

 

[Idech]

the things we do for theses mini eco systems, feed the tank the premium foods
and well eat the junk, lol

Almost sad, but true !

 

[Idech]

The tank is full light this morning. I just love it and can’t wait to start adding more corals to it.

Good news : the matted filefish has started eating aiptasia (and frozen food from day one).

I don’t have that many yet, but the fact that the rocks were turned over during the tank transfer exposed many of them and gave them fuel to grow. It was getting out of hand so that’s why I got the filefish.

 

[tsharpe291]

looks awesome! nice job

 

[Idech]

My phosphate is at 0.21 ppm and nitrates probably in the 20’s but I ran out of Hanna reagents and API isn’t precise.

So I decided to set up a refugium right away. I’m getting two mature fish tomorrow hopefully and will have to increase feeding so nutrients need to be exported more efficiently.

I ordered a Tunze 8831 refugium light, a baseball of chaeto and some reagents to test nitrates.

I will run the refugium light opposite of aquarium light so I needed a timer. I thought about using one of my old mechanical timers but they are huge and take up 2-3 spots on a power bar. I’ve found Govee smart plugs and ordered two. They are small and only take one space. One will be for the refugium ligth and the other one for the skimmer or maybe UV.

I can’t wait to set it up !