550G Display + Fish Room Frag Tanks = 900G of Fun

[Blue Tang Clan]

[I have a sock chamber cover -- it doesn't do much good]

I guess I was worried that if I set up the frag tank now with lights, coral, proper parameters etc. -- how long until I would really need to have the plumbing done to get proper filtration? With fish it would probably be harder, but I'm guessing coral could go for a few days without any issues.

Am I off on that line of thinking? I don't want to kill my corals in the transfer process!

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

My corals have been struggling in the frag tank since I moved them from my old house. Many of the SPS bleached pretty quickly, which I attributed to having my Kessil A360X lights 12 inches above the tank. That was the height over my previous 90G, but I realized too late that my 90G was 25" tall, and my frag tank is 12" tall. I turned down the lights to minimize bleaching, and everything looked gloomy. After the SPS died, I gradually turned up the lights, and everything came back to life. I think the SPS bleaching was just from the move -- they freaked out, but everything else should survive.

Also, my salinity was WAY off. I bought two refractometers a while back for redundancy. However, I used the same calibration solution for the last 3 years. Can you believe that the solution got old/stale and was almost 4 parts off? :mad: I perfectly calibrated my two redundant refractometers with the same incorrect solution!!! The paragraph above makes more sense now...

And...I just lit $125 on fire by trying once again to calibrate a Neptune Conductivity Probe. These things never work for me, and I have followed the directions and online videos perfectly. Ugh.

 

[Schnizzle]

Sorry to hear this. I’m about to try lowering my lights and I’m worried about essentially the same thing.
I’ve noticed my calibration fluid gets some salt creep around the tip of the bottle. I use an ICP test for verify my testing tools. Every quarter I’ll send off a test to ATI and do my own testing at the same time so I can compare results. Even salinity.
Lady Luck better be careful because I know one thing...
Blue Tang Clan ain’t nothing to *mess* with! haha I hope that joke makes sense and I don’t just look awkward.

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

The tank is now at that perfect inflection point with all three parts present during the startup cyclebiological filtration is moving along!

 

[Barnabie Mejia]

This is pretty awesome! my wife and I are planning our new home build in my hometown and surprisingly she is the one that mentioned a large display with a fishroom attached to it! I was thinking in the area of 150g and 75g sump, but she said that she wants 200+..... I learned a long time ago, you NEVER argue with your wife about interior design choices....

I'll be watching this thread for sure! keep it up!

 

[samson78945]

This is a wonderful build! Makes me rethink my new tank ideas. I need to go bigger. Much much bigger. Can't wait to see how it matures.

 

[JumboShrimp]

Any photo-updates?

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

Any photo-updates?

This probably isn’t the interesting photo you were looking for, but it has kept me busy while waiting for the cycle: Three fishroom-quality cabinets from Home Depot.

 

[aggieoil11]

This probably isn’t the interesting photo you were looking for, but it has kept me busy while waiting for the cycle: Three fishroom-quality cabinets from Home Depot.

What’s the rest of the fish room look like?

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

What’s the rest of the fish room look like?

 

[lakai]

Did you fix your issue with the drain noise ? Just add a pvc pipe extending no more than 2 inches below the waterline and it'll be pretty silent.

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

Did you fix your issue with the drain noise ? Just add a pvc pipe extending no more than 2 inches below the waterline and it'll be pretty silent.

not entirely. My sump is setup differently than your suggestion assumes. Water flows down into the sump and into a chamber — that overflows into socks slightly farther downstream which then drops to the sump water height 7 inches down.

Sock silencer covers to equalize water drainage, along with filter fleece stuffed high to catch some of the water dropping — has significantly reduced the noise.

 

[lakai]

not entirely. My sump is setup differently than your suggestion assumes. Water flows down into the sump and into a chamber — that overflows into socks slightly farther downstream which then drops to the sump water height 7 inches down.

Sock silencer covers to equalize water drainage, along with filter fleece stuffed high to catch some of the water dropping — has significantly reduced the noise.

What do you mean ? I have the same sump

oh wait, so you mean the hole from the socks into the skimmer chamber is at the top and not the bottom ?

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

What do you mean ? I have the same sump

oh wait, so you mean the hole from the socks into the skimmer chamber is at the top and not the bottom ?

All water must flow through the socks, and the drop from the top of the sock holders to the height of the water below (which matches the water height of the skimmer section) is too tall so it’s noisy.

if water must pass through the socks, and the sock neck height is 15” - that means that for a standard 8” skimmer water level, the water falls down 7”.

the sock holders are fixed and they are too high by design, so I’m mitigating the issue as best I can.

 

[lakai]

All water must flow through the socks, and the drop from the top of the sock holders to the height of the water below (which matches the water height of the skimmer section) is too tall so it’s noisy.

if water must pass through the socks, and the sock neck height is 15” - that means that for a standard 8” skimmer water level, the water falls down 7”.

the sock holders are fixed and they are too high by design, so I’m mitigating the issue as best I can.

So we have the same sump, Just add a 4-5" pvc pipe extending from the bulkhead and at least on mine, it is silent.

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

So we have the same sump, Just add a 4-5" pvc pipe extending from the bulkhead and at least on mine, it is silent.

We don’t have the same sump - mine has custom dimensions throughout, which I take the blame for. The noise is not from the bulkhead area, it is from the top of the sock to where it drops down to the water level of the skimmer. The socks and bulkheads are in different areas and the clearance does not allow them to be joined.

 

[rushbattle]

All water must flow through the socks, and the drop from the top of the sock holders to the height of the water below (which matches the water height of the skimmer section) is too tall so it’s noisy.

if water must pass through the socks, and the sock neck height is 15” - that means that for a standard 8” skimmer water level, the water falls down 7”.

the sock holders are fixed and they are too high by design, so I’m mitigating the issue as best I can.

If flowing water falls inches at a time it makes loud, annoying noise. I wish more manufacturers had this in mind. Could you raise the water level in the following chamber and put the skimmer on a stand?

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

This was a custom designed sump (all dimensions and specs) so the blame for that height differential lies with me alone. I didn’t consider the neck height of the socks. Lesson learned.

The noise is actually fine now. Between the sock silencers and the wadded up filter floss, the water doesn’t splash down anymore.

 

[Blue Tang Clan]

Onto the current issues: plumbing takes forever!

I think to myself every day, “These pipes would have been done months ago and for half the price if I had used white PVC from Home Depot”.
But, then I argue with myself and remember that our tank setups sometimes border on artwork, especially when the setup is in a dedicated room.

1st World Reefer Problems!

 

[ScottW]

Onto the current issues: plumbing takes forever!

I think to myself every day, “These pipes would have been done months ago and for half the price if I had used white PVC from Home Depot”.
But, then I argue with myself and remember that our tank setups sometimes border on artwork, especially when the setup is in a dedicated room.

1st World Reefer Problems!

I agree 1000%, I could have saved at least $500 going with white over the colors, but that is the best part, I don't want to see cheap looking white plumbing, I want to see the art work! It is only money right, we can always make more lol. That is what I keep telling myself anyways!