45 Gallon Shallow Reef Build

[CBonito]

Alright, so I had some time to get going on the plumbing here. Kind of a pain in the butt with all of the considerations I have to take. I have to have enough room on each side of the overflow to mount my lights to the aluminum, I have to have enough room to hang my refugium off the back of the sump and still not have it look like crap. I think it's coming along nicely. The plumbing is solid and self-supporting so I don't have to deal with any of that. It's a small tank, so that works in my favor here. I used unions so I can disassemble the plumbing in pieces if I wanted to take the tank down, do maintenance, or move it or whatever. Returns come apart into 3 pieces and the single drain comes apart in one easy piece. Ball valve on each return will enable me to balance flow since the plumbing isn't perfectly symmetrical. return nozzles are 1/2" and have RFG's on them.

Gonna plumb in my flow sensor and return pump now and it will be ready to water test. But there is a lot of work left to do as far as the Apex goes and all that. I may have some water in this thing by the end of the weekend depending on my motivation.

I have ways to suspend all wiring up under the deck where it will be out of harm's way and every wire can dangle straight down to where it needs to go, so no drip loops needed. Everything will merge into a giant "umbilical" to go into my control cabinet and everything will be secured together with velcro strips.

Whattya' think? I'm digging it.

 

[oliverout]

Alright, so I had some time to get going on the plumbing here. Kind of a pain in the butt with all of the considerations I have to take. I have to have enough room on each side of the overflow to mount my lights to the aluminum, I have to have enough room to hang my refugium off the back of the sump and still not have it look like crap. I think it's coming along nicely. The plumbing is solid and self-supporting so I don't have to deal with any of that. It's a small tank, so that works in my favor here. I used unions so I can disassemble the plumbing in pieces if I wanted to take the tank down, do maintenance, or move it or whatever. Returns come apart into 3 pieces and the single drain comes apart in one easy piece. Ball valve on each return will enable me to balance flow since the plumbing isn't perfectly symmetrical. return nozzles are 1/2" and have RFG's on them.

Gonna plumb in my flow sensor and return pump now and it will be ready to water test. But there is a lot of work left to do as far as the Apex goes and all that. I may have some water in this thing by the end of the weekend depending on my motivation.

I have ways to suspend all wiring up under the deck where it will be out of harm's way and every wire can dangle straight down to where it needs to go, so no drip loops needed. Everything will merge into a giant "umbilical" to go into my control cabinet and everything will be secured together with velcro strips.

Whattya' think? I'm digging it.

Looking good

 

[Ryebreadiest]

Looks pretty good, red plumbing is nice. Kind of random but what are you hoping to gain with the flow sensor?

 

[CBonito]

Looks pretty good, red plumbing is nice. Kind of random but what are you hoping to gain with the flow sensor?

The ability to have some idea what my flow rate is looking like, and to know that I have water flow when I check remotely. It's not super important, but I'm doing it anyway. I mean, I bought the Apex so I can monitor and control everything from my desktop or my laptop when I'm away.

 

[CBonito]

Ok, so all plumbed up! I forgot how much I HATE the smell of PVC Cement, Primer and how much I hate plumbing. It made me cranky.

It came out great though. It's very strong and supports itself. It's out of the way of everything, looks pretty darn good and I even got my flow sensor worked in there so I can experience crushing disappointment! I mean, what's a tank build without that? hehe

The drain has like a 1 degree slope on the horizontal and everything else is dead nuts perfect. It's basically ready for water right now. Glad I broke it up with some unions. It makes it so easy to take apart and put back together.

Tomorrow I have to find some screws to mount my light brackets onto the stand. I have t-nuts but no screws. I'm not a fan of mounting light brackets to the tank. It gets nasty after a while. I need a nice industrial power strip, and some live sand too.

I have to clean up and get rid of all these boxes first though.

Then I can get this puppy situated, level it with the leveling casters and get some water going.
I'm liking this rig. It's coming together nicely.

 

[dangit]

Man nicely done with the plumping! Big fan of the matching plumping to the sump…. BRS knows what they are doing with that colored plumping. It is looking great so far! I guess next up is rock work?

Also why did you decide for a hang on refugium when you got such a large sump? Other plans for the sump space?

 

[CBonito]

Man nicely done with the plumping! Big fan of the matching plumping to the sump…. BRS knows what they are doing with that colored plumping. It is looking great so far! I guess next up is rock work?

Also why did you decide for a hang on refugium when you got such a large sump? Other plans for the sump space?

Thanks Brother!

Refugiums in your sump (especially mud refugiums) usually means you end up with a mess after a while and I hate that. With the HOB it's all self contained and I can easily vac out the sump and keep it immaculate. It will hang off the skimmer compartment.

I've had a million things to do like getting my jeep ready for winter, so I haven't had much time, but I got my Kessils hung. It's like they were meant to be there. This is why I carefully drew everything out. I am so happy with how this is coming together. The brackets are mounted directly into the aluminum channel with t-nuts and they're solid! Perfectly straight and symmetrical. BAM!!!

Whattya' think so far?

 

[CBonito]

Gonna start messing around with my RO unit later and get the tank where it needs to go...
I'm having my chimney rebricked and my porch fixed today so...my whole house is shaking right now. lol

 

[dangit]

Man those Kessil light holders worked out perfectly. Some solid planning and I’m sure a little bit of good luck . What’s your cycling plans looking like?

 

[CBonito]

Man those Kessil light holders worked out perfectly. Some solid planning and I’m sure a little bit of good luck . What’s your cycling plans looking like?

I was thrilled when the mounting holes on the kessil brackets were on exact 1.5" centers just like the aluminum profile in the stand. It was like it was designed just for that. I enlarged the mounting holes in the brackets on my drill press and used allen capscrews to secure them. The arms do not touch the tank and they are SOLID. So the only thing that touches the tank will be wires for powerheads which is ok.

I decided NOT to go with a HOB refugium. I forgot I had a Bash Sea sump with refugium compartment in it, so I am switching out my varios 4 return pump for a varios 6, adding a manifold with 2 half inch ball valved taps to my return plumbing and running the refugium behind the tank off the main pump too on a little stand I built. It will dump back into the return pump compartment and return food mostly to the tank which is fine. Of course part of that will go back into the refugium, but not much. Ultimately, the refugium will keep my tank supplied with pods and plankton. I am going to order pods and phyto to get that started. I think if you are really serious about the health of the tank, a mud refugium is really essential. I'll be using miracle mud and crushed up live rock in there as substrate. I'll probably get some normal clams and mussels from the seafood market too as they are awesome for water quality and love the mud substrate. The nice thing about this refugium sump is that it gives me another compartment to add anything if the need arises.

As for how the tank will get started, I have 2 bags of caribsea fiji pink and my LFS down the street has live rock that isn't crap but it's expensive, so I'll grab my ankles and just start with live rock. This will ensure any cycling is minimal and I will just let it eat for a while until I feel we're ready to add corals, and while I am getting all of the controls tweaked. It can come right out of their tank there and straight into mine with no die-off vs how it would be if I shipped it overnight from somewhere...

Right now I am just laying some stick on leveling mat to the bottom of my sump, making some tweaks to a few things so the panels all fit nicely on the stand and we'll get water in it. I think my varios 6 will be here tomorrow. I bought it off a gentleman here almost brand new and he shipped it today so it ought to be here tomorrow. It even comes with a 1.25-1.0" reducer bushing to fit my plumbing. I know for sure the water flow will be more than adequate now, will handle everything and I can keep my varios 4 as a spare if the need ever arises.

 

[CBonito]

Ok, so she's in her final resting spot with her control cab next door. Floor is level. I think this will be great. I can clearly see everything going on without crawling under a stand which is nice. I have some drawers beneath for all my gizmos...I can power things on and off, and if I am really feeling lazy, I can do most of it through the apex on my desktop.

All the wiring from the tank will be neatly formed into an "umbilical" with velcro that will make its way into the control cabinet. All the wiring will hang neatly down from above into the sump. Looks like it all reaches fine. I have plenty of room to get around behind the tank and control cabinet if the need arises. I can get all the apex crap done after getting water in. I only need a pump and heater for now.

Swapped my varios 4 pump out with a varios 6 which required shortening my vertical stack a bit, gonna install a manifold out back to feed my refugium which will gravity drain back to the sump main pump compartment, and then I think I can start making some water. The varios 6 will give me the extra flow I need to feed both the refugium and the returns. Everything is valved so I can balance it out to work how I need. I still have one free 1/2" tap should I need to add anything else, like maybe a

I've only had a little time here and there to play with this, but I'm tryin'!

Anyway, that's the vibe.

 

[CBonito]

Got a manifold plumbed into my return. This gives me one half inch feed for a mud refugium which will drain back into the pump compartment through a 1" bulkhead. The idea being anything getting out of the refugium like pods or plankton can get picked up by the return pump easily and go to the tank or go back to the refugium instead of being skimmed out. And it gives me another valve for another device or to drain water for changes which is cool. It's not perfect, but it doesn't suck either. Not ready for the refugium, but the plumbing is there. I changed my varios 4 pump to a Varios 6, so there is more than enough snort to handle this now. I expect a good deal of flow loss, but I also expect to have a good residual amount of flow. My flow sensor will give me some ballpark of what I have which is cool. So the whole system runs on 2 pumps, one for the skimmer and one handles everything else. What speed I have to run the pump at for good flow? I dunno! We'll find out.

I got the wiring kinda how I want it, and I'll tidy it up as I move along bringing everything up one at a time. But the nice thing is the wiring will be up and out of the way so it won't get all funky. I aim to avoid the funkiness. Fight the funk! lol Still have probes, ATO and a couple other things to run as well, but that can come later.

Tank feet have been given a preliminary level...you know with a level.

I'm ready for water. Holy Crap Man! Gonna get my butt downstairs and hook up this RO and start making water. Plan is to add straight up RO, fill the system, test the pumps, leak check, play like a little kid in the bathtub with his model submarines and then add the salt to the tank until I reach the desired salinity. I'll add the sand after that and then I'm going to buy live rock directly from my LFS. I'm going to choose my first fish too, to get things going. Between the live rock and sand, I should be on my way pretty quick, but I intend to work slowly. Any suggestions? I really prefer non-aggresion. It's a lot cheaper. lol

This is going to be an SPS dominated deal though and there will be some current. I was thinking of maybe a trio of cardinals or some sort and I can make them up a nice quiet back corner to chill. They're usually almost always peaceful. I'm trying to avoid Clowns/Damsels because they can be SOBs too. But I want territories and diversity here. As long as everyone is peaceful, I'd like to have a bunch of fish for different purposes.

Ok maybe the next post will be pics of water in a tank. I'm feeling it!

Stay tuned. lol

 

[CBonito]

It's going down kids!!!! I'll tell ya what though man, this RO is slow as hell. I've already got a cart rolling up another batch of crap and another ro membrane is in order.

Looks like I'm just going to get hammered , rock some van halen and keep filling this thing. I hope nothing leaks. LOL
If there are no leaks then I'll mix up the salt, and throw in the sand.
There will be rock in this thing by tomorrow evening.

Gonna see if this nero 3 is worth a rip in a few minutes too after the next bucket. And all the magnets for these things suck. I have 3/4" acrylic and nothing works, so I have to get back to that. I procrastinated.

The shimmers on my ceiling are wild man! I love it.

So anyway, yeah, I'm doing it. LOL

 

[CBonito]

Playing around with the Nero 3 I have. This thing is definitely not bad, super quiet and is fine for a 2 foot section, but also not enough to move the whole tank by itself to my satisfaction. I need to get another one. Between this and the two returns with RFGs, I will have more than what I need. I'll set them up to alternate side to side and we'll be golden. Nice thing is the tank is shallow so it will be ALL flow. My LFS has a pile of Neros, so when I get my rock tomorrow, I'll grab another. I'm really happy with how things are going so far. This is not typical. hehe Oh, and the magnets are kinda weak through 3/4", but they hold, so we'll roll with it.

I can sit here at my desk and turn my lights on and off with my Apex at this point which is neat. The Kessils with the 55 degree reflectors are nice, strong and the perfect height and angle for my tank...I'm stoked to fire up the Varios 6 and see water circulate (and no leaks) but I need to wait for more water to be made. The water part sucks. Just sitting here watching my bald spot grow wider...

...and there's vodka involved so, yeah. haha! I needed some "carbon!"

 

[CBonito]

Alright, so I got her all filled up and there is a problem with my second tank man. These people have really got me PO'd. SOB!!...there is a small pin leak in the overflow box and I get maybe a drop every couple minutes or so. Here I was checking my plumbing like I screwed something up... I ordered some thick weld on and I am going to put a small bead along the area where the pin leak is inside and out, let it dry for a couple hours and that should do the trick. It's not structural, but rather just a small void where no glue made it. But I'm pretty mad, because until I resolve that I can't turn on the return pump and mix salt.

I should have just just had Bash Sea build it like I was about to...

The nice thing is that I did not add any salt to the tank that would probably make fixing this impossible. I can just dry out the overflow box, clean with alcohol and run a bead. Salt in the water would have made this a pain.

On a lighter note and speaking of the return pump, the varios 6 is a beast. And it's super quiet. I pressed the button the first time and thought it was junk...there's a soft start. It has plenty of power! Super quiet, freaking awesome! This tank will be pretty much silent. This one pump can more than handle my entire system. Very happy with that purchase. And I know my varios 4 won't suck if I ever need it.

The 2nd to lowest setting is the highest I need, maybe 3 with the refugium added, but I doubt it. There is a massive amount of water movement in the tank with the returns and 2 nero 3s. I am set in that department. SPS will be very happy in here. I hope the sand stays put. Jesus! It's all chaotic and random.

And ignore the noises, I have a fan running and I have just an open standpipe right now. It's fine!

Check it...

 

[CBonito]

Alright, the weld-on addressed my pinhole leak in my overflow and life is good. If you ever have something similar get the thick stuff in the tube with the applicator tip. Dries nice and clear and does the job. Awesome-O. I dried it out in there with a microfiber, then wiped it down with alcohol to clean it and laid a thin bead of this around all the joints.

Salt Added and Sand. Just waiting for things to clear up and I'll throw another picture. I ended up using 2 bags of caribsea "live" fiji pink and 1 bag of the Ocean Direct. I intend to keep things that like to play in the sand so I figured the fine sand would be well, fine. lol

 

[CBonito]

Ok, so we're up and running.

How does my aquascape look? I put the rock in the tank when I couldnt even see. It looks pretty good for just throwing it in there. It's all fake branch that's been running at my LFS for a while so it's already cycled stuff. I love the open branches. Lots of hiding spaces and space for water to flow. The whole structure is lit nicely.
Water is cloudy from the sand. My skimmer is picking up all the sand gunk which is good. I was amazed how much there was last night. Skimmer works fantastic. I'll let this clear up and I'll get my first fish.

Any recommendations for a first fish? I don't want a fish that's going to be a SOB in a couple months that I'll want to spear with a bbq skewer. LOL

I have pods and phyto ordered from Algae Barn that will be here saturday i'm thinking.
I have a new jumpguard lid and some other crap on the way too and a silencer for my standpipe so I can turn up the pump.

 

[CBonito]

Here you can get a good picture of the water movement and the effect i am going for.
The light is really strong and looks excellent.

I mocked the rock around a bit to get some more negative space and work better with the water flow.

This is going to be a great SPS display. I can already see what I am going to do in my mind.

I love the whole vibe. I think it will stay this way unless someone's got a better idea...

 

[Huskereef]

Here you can get a good picture of the water movement and the effect i am going for.
The light is really strong and looks excellent.

I mocked the rock around a bit to get some more negative space and work better with the water flow.

This is going to be a great SPS display. I can already see what I am going to do in my mind.

I love the whole vibe. I think it will stay this way unless someone's got a better idea...

Enjoyed reading through your build so far! Looks awesome and clean! For some reason the videos are not working. If you ever order SPS online, check out Battle Corals, Adams stuff is some of the best.

 

[CBonito]

Enjoyed reading through your build so far! Looks awesome and clean! For some reason the videos are not working. If you ever order SPS online, check out Battle Corals, Adams stuff is some of the best.

Thank You! I'm glad there are people taking interest.

I don't know why the videos don't work. They work for me and they turned out nice. They're mp4 format. That's a shame. I wonder what the problem is...