120G Reef from scratch - 48x24x24 - basement sump - 175g total volume

Fishable · Nov 26, 2017

Long time lurker, first time poster!

After being out of reef tanks for about 8 years i'm looking into a new build after buying our first house. Purchased a 120 Gal Marineland (48x24x24) w/overflow that I will be receiving hopefully next week. I am planning on setting up a basement sump that will likely be 55 gallon. I have the perfect spot picked out right above an I-beam that spans the house in the living room. I approximate that this build will take about 2-3 months so I'm in no rush.

Old tank that I had for 4 years in high school was a 90 gallon mixed reef that suffered a major loss after a heater thermostat failed causing the tank to reach a temp of 95+ degrees. I packed it away to go to college. After college I had a 12 gallon (max size allowed in apartment) budget build FOWLR for 2 years.

First off I am happily surprised to see the technological advances that have occurred since I was running my big tank 8 years ago, unfortunately I feel I may be behind so feel free to comment with suggestions or additions to my setup that I may be forgetting.

Also I have a background in automation engineering so I look forward to designing and building alot of hardware/software myself to make this tank as simple as possible to run. Most of the automation will be added after the tank has been setup.

What I own:
-Tank+stand
-Sump (w/o baffles or inserts)
-200# dry rock
-Chiller
-Heater for mixing tank

What I need: (chosen components to buy in parenthesis, all from amazon so far. I would like comments on my choices if possible)
-RO/DI (LiquaGen 5 Stage 100GPD $160)
-TDS Meter (HM Digital DM-1 $28)
-Pressure guage pre-RO/DI (Malida 0-220psi $12)
-Heater
-Water holding tanks (Brute 32g NSF $35)
-Misc pumps
-Return Pump (Jebao DCT-15000 $145)
-UV filter (Jebo 36W $60)
-1" Ball Valves
-1" Check Valves
-Skimmer (SCA-302 180g rated $180)
-DT Light (VIPARSpectra Timer control LED 300W $235)
-Refuge Light
-Sump baffles+inserts
-Reactors
-Doser+tanks
-Float valves

Attached is the plumbing diagram and some pictures of the tank location and sump location. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks!

Fishable · Nov 26, 2017

[Deleted]

Fishable · Nov 26, 2017

Since I will be moving the tank myself I bought some concrete blocks I'll be using with some 2x4's as cribbing. A floor jack and some 4x4s will be used to raise the tank to the stand with the cribbing underneath. I'll post pictures when I perform the move hopefully when I get the tank next week.

dbl · Nov 27, 2017

Welcome to R2R and good luck with the build. Looking forward to following along.

Fishable · Nov 27, 2017

Thanks David, btw love your 120g build!

Fishable · Nov 27, 2017

I forgot to include that i also have about 200# of dry rock from the old tanks that i'll be adding to the build, i'll add it to the list. Most will be in the sump with limited amounts in the DT since I really like the look of the near empty tanks. I'll be most likely incorporating a shallow sand bed.

Fishable · Nov 30, 2017

Tank is in! Was actually a lot easier than I thought. Had some guys help lift in into the car, got it onto a padded hand truck at the house and pulled it up the stairs. Sat one side up on the stand ledge and slide it into position. I feel silly now that I had a fancy cribbing system setup for lifting it onto the tank but oh well. I will probably still use the concrete blocks as support for the ro/di and saltwater tanks to keep them off the floor. I'm still waiting on getting my hole saw in and will be rough plumbing in the next few days. I'll post some more pics soon.

Fishable · Nov 30, 2017

Also thanks to the couple people that voted on the poll, I did end up deciding to go through the floor with your help.

Fishable · Nov 30, 2017

5 stage RO/DI filter, return pump, and light should all be here this weekend

dbl · Nov 30, 2017

Looks like you had the perfect spot...looks great.

Fishable · Nov 30, 2017

Wasnt really thrilled with any of the mounting solutions I saw online for the Led lights. Since there is raised sloped ceilings in the house, hanging from the ceiling wouldn't look great. Came up with hopefully something better. I think I'm going to run 2 hinged aluminum square tube tubes parallel to the floor above the tank lid and use the wire mounts that it came with to suspend it against the wall at a 45° angle.

Fishable · Dec 1, 2017

Found that Menards locally had the best price on the brute garbage bins, even better than their online price w/o shipping. Probably pick them up this weekend once I borrow the fiance's SUV.

Has anyone ever chained together Brutes? the price is like half if you buy multiple 25 gallons vs a single 45 gallon. I may use 2 25's for a mixing tank, not sure yet.

don_chuwish · Dec 2, 2017

2 separate Brutes for mixing just sounds like a hassle. Don't over complicate it to save a few bucks.
Looking good so far! Leak tested before hauling it upstairs?

Luno · Dec 2, 2017

Looks like a good setup so far! The one suggestion I would make is your uv filter. I've tried running them a few ways and the most 'effective' way so far has been making every bit of water pass through. So it has to be from the sump return to the display tank. I also ran into the problem with that of too much flow. So for my new build I am having two returns and 2 uv filters so all water passes through one. But again I have had reasonable success with the way your diagram shows aswell

Fishable · Dec 2, 2017

don_chuwish said:
2 separate Brutes for mixing just sounds like a hassle. Don't over complicate it to save a few bucks.
Looking good so far! Leak tested before hauling it upstairs?

Good call, I ended up getting the 44 gallon cans last night since they were the biggest I could find around me. I'd like to eventually get those 100 gallon vertical holding tanks but these will do for now.

Didn't have a good level place in the garage to leak test and it's supposed to snow outside any time now. Ill be leak testing in place with a pump ready to drain the tank in an emergency. (Not ideal , I know)

Fishable · Dec 2, 2017

Luno said:
Looks like a good setup so far! The one suggestion I would make is your uv filter. I've tried running them a few ways and the most 'effective' way so far has been making every bit of water pass through. So it has to be from the sump return to the display tank. I also ran into the problem with that of too much flow. So for my new build I am having two returns and 2 uv filters so all water passes through one. But again I have had reasonable success with the way your diagram shows aswell

This is a great suggestion! I never thought about this. I agree, for the price I'll probably just get 2 in parallel and split the drain before it hits the socks, then I won't have to worry about reducing the flow at all.

Luno · Dec 3, 2017

Fishable said:
This is a great suggestion! I never thought about this. I agree, for the price I'll probably just get 2 in parallel and split the drain before it hits the socks, then I won't have to worry about reducing the flow at all.

That's actual quiet interesting too. I always put mine on the return but on the drain line is a great idea as well. The only question I would put to uv on the drain is aslong as you have full syphon. With air in the drain line there is a chance that not full water contact with the uv and therefor may cause it's lifespan to be lessened

You get mixed responses on uv's from the general reefing community but I have successfully beat ich with it before and now would never have a tank without it. My current small holding tank it also helped beat cyano!

Fishable · Dec 3, 2017

Got the upstairs plumbing done and light/mount installed this weekend. Really happy with how the light mount turned out, only takes like 30 seconds to raise it to do big rock work. The front lid flaps are still usable with the light in position. I absolutely love how the tank stand is empty since the sump is gunna be in the basement. Starting on the basement now as the RO/DI came in today, wish me luck!