150 Gallon Reef Build

[freak1456]

I want to welcome everyone to my build thread. It that been a long (2.5 years) planning process. Well most of it was waiting for money to be able to buy my components, but I wasn't sitting idle the whole time. There was a whole bunch of modifications needed to make sure that everything was going to be able to fit and work together.

But I loved every minute of it.

My first task was to figure out what kind of display tank I wanted to use. I was originally thinking about using a shallow tank (18 inches deep) to insure that all the corals I plan on keeping (mostly SPS) were able to get the proper amount of lighting, but then I started to think that I may not want to restrict myself to just highlight corals. There are many moderate to low light corals I really enjoy looking at in the LFS's. I started to think that a deeper tank may be a better fit for me.

So the hunt for a display tank began, and where do you go when you want to get a good deal and you don't mind if it is used. None other than craigslist!!!! It took some digging and a lot of patients, but I finally found a display tank that I liked. 48"X24"X31" and they guy selling it was letting it go for a heck of a deal $300!!!! The only issue with it was that it had already had been drilled. Not in the back but on the side.

After speaking with the seller I started liking the concept he was planning for. He was planning on installing it like a peninsula so he has 3 viewing sides, and have it sitting right beside his couch. After sitting and looking at the empty tank in my living room this is the concept sketch I came up with.

The main display tank (150 gallon) is the blue cube surrounded by cabinetry. The smaller green cube on the right is to be a 20 gallon exposed refugium. I have never understood why people hide them in there sumps under the display tanks. There is just as much to look at in a refugium as there is in your display. Also people often let there refugium get out of control . . . Out of site out of mind. I want to keep my refugium clean and show worthy so people can see the entire ecosystem not just the corals.

I will try to get back on later to post some more.

 

[freak1456]

Ok let's get back to my story.

Sorry no pictures in this post.

Now that I had the display tank I needed to think about where I wanted it to be placed. I wanted it to have a good feel in the house so placement is very important. Not to mention the amount of weight the whole system will be. To calculate the weight, well it was more of an estimation, but the display tank took 4 guys to lift more so for the size than the weight. But I estimated that to be about 100lbs empty. Plus the water 8lbs per gallon, and 150 gallons. (150gx8lbs=1275lbs +100lbs=1375lbs). I was shocked when I got that number. This figure doesn't take into effect the 20g display Refuge, the sump, the stand or any of the other components (live rock, lighting, skimmer, reactors, top-off container). So I knew it was going to have to be installed on the foundation slab on my first floor. And that is quite alright, because my formal living room is on the first floor of the house right when you walk in the front door. That will make the aquarium the first thing you notice when you come into the house. Lol besides the shoes that you trip over lol.

 

[revhtree]

Looks like a good plan! Following!

 

[aslmx]

Is the fuge going to have an overflow box? What's your lighting plans? I like the peninsula tanks, I just don't have a place for one.

 

[Daddio]

Looks fun. Following along to see how you plumb it!

 

[freak1456]

Is the fuge going to have an overflow box? What's your lighting plans? I like the peninsula tanks, I just don't have a place for one.

I will most certainly get to this area of the plan in the coming posts.

 

[freak1456]

So I got the tank and where it's going to be placed planned out. Now I needed to figure out all the other things.

The System Stand
I can't stress enough the importance of a well planned out aquarium stand. This is the foundation that your reef to stand on, and if it fails then you will have a huge wet problem on your hands. Also if you do not take into account room for expansion then you are limiting the numbers of potential solutions to a problem that may come up in the future. There were a few requirements that I needed my display stand to accommodate. First was the hight. I wanted the stand to be tall for 3 reasons. First a had already acquired a Euro-Reef (Reef Dynamics) RC-135 protein skimmer that needed to be placed in the stand. These sit about 28 inches tall, and I needed room above to remove the collection cup. Second I wanted to install a closed loop system to reduce the amount of power heads I needed and that takes up space for plumbing under the display. And last but in my opinion the most important requirement was the display needed to be centered vertically on my standing eye hight so I don't have to bend over to examine the system. From all the skateboarding and snowboarding falls in the passed my back can't handle the bending over for long periods of time, and everyone know the we reefers can spend hours examining our systems.

 

[freak1456]

Not only did I need the stand to be tall but I also wanted to be able to remove the completely remove the cabinetry for easy access during cleanings. So the frame of the stand was required to be able to independently support the weight of the system without the help of the cabinetry panels.

 

[freak1456]

Not only did I need the stand to be tall but I also wanted to be able to remove the completely remove the cabinetry for easy access during cleanings. So the frame of the stand was required to be able to independently support the weight of the system without the help of the cabinetry panels.

 

[freak1456]

It wouldn't let me post more than 5

In this last pic you can see I installed a bathroom exhaust vent at the end of the upper portion of the C shaped framing. I wanted to be able to vent out the hot air from the lighting directly outside. A must in the summer time here in VA. The AC in the house already has enough work keeping the house cool. I don't need to be adding to its work load. An in the winter time I can just take the back panel off the back to help heat the house.

I want to put a louvered panel on the bottom end to draw air from the living room. My ultimate goal is to have the exhaust vent connected to my apex so it switches on when the temp probe hits it's limit. Bringing cool or at-least cooler air over my sump and thought the plumbing as kind of a poor mans chiller. Maybe even running the air supply line for my skimmer into one of the AC vents, and let the skimmer do some chillin.

 

[freak1456]

For those that may have noticed. . . Yea those are hard wood floors. I know that I am taking a bold move putting the tank in a room with wood floors. I have taken some precautions by fitting a pond liner inside the stand. With the top sitting about 6 inches off of the floor. With nothing in the stand that will hold about 45 gallons of water. With my sump that takes up about 50% of the stand that leave me with about 20 gallons that I can capture before it starts spilling onto the floor. I will certainly notice 5 gallons missing from the system by the noise of the return pump going dry let alone 20g missing.

 

[freak1456]

Also I wanted the center of the stand directly below the display tank to be free of obstructions. Meaning no vertical support column other than the 4 corners of the display tank. So I needed to make sure that my joists were capable of supporting more than 1300lbs without flexing.

I may have over engineered it a bit but better safe than sorry. The finished stand frame has the capability of holding well over 9000lbs. One of the things I have learned in my carrier is to work in a 5X safety factor. Meaning calculate the max amount of weight you anticipate your system to be and then multiply it by 5. This gives you the ability to add weight to your support structure without having to reinforce the structures skeleton.

 

[freak1456]

Custom Sump

I'm getting tired of typing on my broken iPhone. So just pix of the sump. If u have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Last image is of the sump in place. The rubber made container to the left of the sump is my auto top-off container.

 

[Wvuarmyeng]

looking great!

i miss havin my tank setup. i know the feelin to have to wait for money for your tank.

keep up the hard work. make sure to waterproof the wood do to all the moisture under the tank

 

[freak1456]

Waterproofing is a must to prevent it from rotting. I want to get some hydrophobic spray to waterproof the inside of the stand.

 

[freak1456]

Thank you for the complement

 

[freak1456]

Here are some pix of my 20g over they years. This is the thank that got me into reefing

 

[freak1456]

Looks fun. Following along to see how you plumb it!

Got some plumbing shots for you.

First set is of the closed loop system on the main display.

I can't remember the brand and model of pump I am using for the closed loop. In the next few posts I will compile a list of everything currently on the system.

 

[freak1456]

I will see if I can get some better shots of the plumbing these ones are not really good.

This next one is of the refuge. I drilled 3 holes in the bottom of the 20g. One (1) 1 inch and (2) 1-1/2 inch
The 1 inch pipe is my supply to the refuge. It has a 3/4 inch lock-line adaptor on it so I can simply change the flow pattern. The (2) inch and a half are my drains. The mane drain is fully submerged in the refuge and I installed a valve so I can control how much water can flow through it. There is also an emergency drain that maintains the water level in the refuge and only comes into play when the water flow for the main drain is reduced by a blockage of some kind.

 

[freak1456]

Lol forgot to ago the pic of the refuge