40g to 120g change

[SilverGryphon]

So, got the wife to buy off on me upgrading from a 40g breeder to a 120g. I got the 120 used from my LFS and it came with the return pump (generic Pond pump from Lowes), a sump tank (roughly 15g worth of water), some of the plumbing, and oddly a little 100w heater (now trashed). I spent today replacing all the plumbing; new loc-line on the returns (original pair were cracked), replaced the pvc on the return pump and fixed the T junction. I picked up 2 drain hoses for a Reefmat (future purchase). I have a temporary piece of clear vinyl tubing on one return as I misjudged how much I would need (more on the way). Ordered 70lbs of new reef saver rock and 90lbs of sand to bump up to where I need to be long term wise. I reached out to Coralife to see if I can order the mount for my UV sterlizer I picked up used, waiting to hear back on that. I plan to plumb that into one of the return lines once I have a means of mounting it. My little 75gpd RODI is now working overtime to crank out the water I need.

I'm hoping to have it fully going by end of the day tomorrow to get the cycle started. I have a bottle of Microbacter7 that'll go in to help get that started along with a few rocks out of the 40 to get everything jump started. Once I'm feeling comfortable with it being ready to handle everything moving over the existing rock and some sand will be transfered over along with all my fish and corals. A week or two before I move everything over I'm going to order more copepods to get a population started before everyone gets moved over, I know I'm going to lose some copepod population in the move and I don't want my Mandarin to go hungry after the move.

Old Equipment moving to the new tank:
2 Popbloom RL90s
SCA-301 skimmer
Maxspect MJ-GF308 Gyre pump

New Equipment:
Helios Heater controller with 2x 300W Titanium Heaters.

Future purchases:
Bigger Sump tank
Bigger skimmer
Return pump
Reefmat
Possibly a 48" LED panel, likely a Reefbreeder's model.

 

[UncommonSense]

return pump (generic Pond pump from Lowes

Might wanna swap this guy out sooner, rather than later! — they use low grade stainless steel impeller shafts, and sometimes non reef safe epoxies to cast the electronics in!

It’ll still make a great pump for moving freshwater around, though!

 

[SilverGryphon]

 

[SilverGryphon]

Might wanna swap this guy out sooner, rather than later! — they use low grade stainless steel impeller shafts, and sometimes non reef safe epoxies to cast the electronics in!

It’ll still make a great pump for moving freshwater around, though!

That is concerning. I do have a Hygger HG-915 still in the box new, not sure if that'd be enough for return flow.

 

[UncommonSense]

That is concerning. I do have a Hygger HG-915 still in the box new, not sure if that'd be enough for return flow.

Presumably the Hygger HG-915-3000?

This is 800gph, probably closer to 600gph after head losses; still 5x DT turnovers per-hour on your new tank!

 

[SilverGryphon]

Just pulled it out, it is the -4000 so 1060gph before head loss. Yeah that'll work perfectly then. Now just to get it plumbed in! Thanks!

 

[HARDY CORALS]

This is great!! Following!

 

[SilverGryphon]

Just drove 25 minutes one way to buy a $0.67 pvc piece to plumb the pump lol

 

[UncommonSense]

Just drove 25 minutes one way to buy a $0.67 pvc piece to plumb the pump lol

Oof!!!

I’ve become a fitting hoarder for this very reason… I just have a massive eggcrate of everything I might need, then some dedicated boxes of sized PVC fittings/specialty parts for quick reference!

 

[SilverGryphon]

Oof!!!

I’ve become a fitting hoarder for this very reason… I just have a massive eggcrate of everything I might need, then some dedicated boxes of sized PVC fittings/specialty parts for quick reference!

Yeah, I have some, but the wrong size for what I needed.

 

[UncommonSense]

Yeah, I have some, but the wrong size for what I needed.

Ah yes… a familiar problem!

 

[SilverGryphon]

So thoughts, will my gyre be enough for internal flow? Someone locally is selling a pair of Jebao SCP-70 for a decent price, might grab them.

 

[UncommonSense]

So thoughts, will my gyre be enough for internal flow? Someone locally is selling a pair of Jebao SCP-70 for a decent price, might grab them.

I know a local reefing buddy put two hygger gyre clones in his 5’x2’x16” Fiji Cube 95g… they were blowing a hole in the sand bed down to the glass in the front-center of the tank at 40% and 75% power, mounted to each short side pane of the tank! (It’s not a light or fine sand, either! — 2mm+, I’d say!)

He’s since had to stick a rock there to break up the flow across the sandbed!

— I’d start with your current gyre, and see if you need to even bother adding more!

 

[SilverGryphon]

It lives!! It lives!!!

Kinda. Finally got it filled all the way and got the pump running. I'm getting loud bubbling-gurgling-water rushing sounds occasionally from the drains. I've tried adjusting the height, doesn't seem to help. Any thoughts or assistance? The drains are aqueous for "megaflow aquariums". Look like durso style drains.

 

[SilverGryphon]

Also dealing with a minor leak from the union on the drain hoses below. Gaskets are there, unions are as tight as I can get them, but still getting some leakage. Really starting to consider just taking hoses off and running pvc to drain for now, it'll be a while before I get a reef mat and I can figure out how to reconnect the hoses then.

 

[UncommonSense]

It lives!! It lives!!!

Kinda. Finally got it filled all the way and got the pump running. I'm getting loud bubbling-gurgling-water rushing sounds occasionally from the drains. I've tried adjusting the height, doesn't seem to help. Any thoughts or assistance? The drains are aqueous for "megaflow aquariums". Look like durso style drains.

These duroso standpipes are notoriously loud and fickle, unfortunately….

The air vent on top of the standpipe is used to control the amount of air allowed into the standpipe, this is primarily for noise control! — if memory serves correct; you can put a small valve on it to control airflow!

Also dealing with a minor leak from the union on the drain hoses below. Gaskets are there, unions are as tight as I can get them, but still getting some leakage.

A union, not a tank bulkhead fitting, correct?

You can always hard plumb the first 1/2-3/4 of the drain piping in hard PVC then adapt to tubing/hose prior to the reefmat’s future location!

— or… you could always convert the drain system to Herbie, and plumb your return over the back rim?

 

[SilverGryphon]

I have a piece of pvc between the union and the bulkhead at the bottom of the tank. At first I thought i hadn't tightened the union enough, but after removing the reattaching the hose side it was still leakinging. I'm thinking what I may do is run pvc down to the top of the sump and drain into the sump for now. I do want to replace the sump eventually as it is small and doesn't have a good section for a refugium, and won't have space for one at all once a reefmat and my skimmer are in.

Changing the return is another option. I currently having it T off the pump to feed both returns, with plans of putting uv sterilizer on the shorter return line. I don't have a lot of room behind the tank to work but could get on my ladder and drop the tubing down from above to connect underneath.

My brain I snow stuck in scheming mode on how to progress forward with this.

 

[SilverGryphon]

Found the leak, it is where the hose twists on to the union connection. I got one side to stop but the other is still leaking after tightening, and that is the side I'm getting a lot of air out of the sump end of the hose. But I've decided I'm running pvc down to the sump for now and ill put the hoses away until I get the reefmat. Then all I will have to do is trim the pvc back and trim the hose into a short connection from just over the sump to the reef mat. I'll try with the pvc first and see if that helps the water sounds, and if not then ill probably end up pulling the dursos and running single herbies in each side for now until I can order yet more hose to do the hang over the back returns.

 

[SilverGryphon]

Well...now im gonna have to rush things a bit. Wife went and did a coral rescue yesterday, had a local older reefer giving everything away as they were in the hospital and wouldn't be able to take care of their tank afterwards. What i thought was a 4-5" toadstool from the pictures was actually more like 18-20" toadstool that is now shading about 1/4 of the 40. I had hoped to have more time to let the 120 settle in, but tomorrow night the blitz move begins.

 

[SilverGryphon]

Update with some pictures. Everything is moved over to the 120 and it is going pretty decently. Zoas all closed up fore the past couple weeks but are finally starting to open up. Lost a hammer coral for some reason, it bailed off the skeleton and vanished. The toadstool opened up and is huge! Might have to frag him down in the future. Need to shift some sand around, been busy on the weekends lately.