Build thread: 240G U.K. reef tank

[mr.salty]

Hi everyone,

I’m new here but not with the hobby, had a bit of a break from keeping a 30G nano reef and now decided after a house move I would step things up and buy a larger tank.

Tank is secondhand and was custom built for the previous gentleman.

8’x2’x2’ with optiwhite glass on the front and sides. Two triangular weirs in each corner with two holes drilled (going to use them as one main and one back up overflow)

Has a 6’x18”x18” sump that has previously had two overflows into either end with a central return chamber.

Pictures are from the previous owner as it’s currently sat in my garage but I have my work cut out:

• garage water mixing station build.
• tank stand reinforcement.
• sump/pipework redesign. (I would like both weirs to overflow into one side of the sump, take some glass partitions out to allow for a larger skimmer and then have an external refugium.
•buy the equipment I need to complete the tank
•move the tank and get it cycled.

Will try and keep this updated as much as I can!

Thanks for looking!

 

[DLHDesign]

Welcome to R2R!

That's a lovely tank; looking forward to seeing it come together.

 

[mr.salty]

Welcome to R2R!

That's a lovely tank; looking forward to seeing it come together.

Thanks! I hope the updates aren’t too far apart so people keep interested in the build including myself!

 

[mr.salty]

So I realised when buying the tank that the previous owner has had like 1300kg sat on top of a glorified kitchen cabinet, so with that I wanted to build an Inner stand made out of 2x4 to accommodate the weight but also have enough room for the sump.

A little sketchup and this is what I have:

Excuse the black and white print out it’s not the best!

This will basically slide inside the chipboard cabinet and screwed top and back to keep it in place.

Currently looking into stubby skimmers as I have 24” cabinet space to play with and contemplating on using the Jecod DC12000 return I got with the deal. I would like something a little quieter like a COR 20 or vectra but feel the added features will be wasted on just a return pump.

 

[mr.salty]

Bit of a late finish as I was loosing daylight but managed to get the reinforcement frame for the stand complete and pushed into the stand. Still needs to be secured to the stand itself and square everything up and get the doors back on but it fits like a glove so couldn’t be happier.

Followed my previous sketchup drawing but ended up changing a few little bits but I think it came out well.

Been looking through what got thrown in with the tank and I have a Evolution Aqua EVO55 Uv steriliser, it is meant for a pond but will it work with saltwater? Can’t find much about it online as it should be used with pond/fresh water.

Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1WildBill]

Looking forward to seeing this come together.

 

[mr.salty]

So the stand is complete and screwed to the chipboard original.

Now come the questions!

Return pump- I have a JECOD DCT12000 return pump lying around, would it be beneficial to buy a second one for a spare and just run one of these? Or get a better make like a vectra?

Lighting- I have the budget for XR30’s in time but are there any better options out there in terms of a trade off of price and quality?

What would you light this tank with? I want it to be a mixed reef with a little bit of everything in it.

Also is anyone using the EVO55 UV steriliser from evolution aqua?

 

[Fishpalace]

Nice build and bizarre how I am now following a fellow uk hobbyist on a us forum.

You could go for hydra 52HD’s as a cheaper alternative to ecotech although I am a radion man. Hydra get really good feedback and seem to be able to grow any type of coral.

Have you tried contact EA about the UV?

Paul

 

[mr.salty]

Nice build and bizarre how I am now following a fellow uk hobbyist on a us forum.

You could go for hydra 52HD’s as a cheaper alternative to ecotech although I am a radion man. Hydra get really good feedback and seem to be able to grow any type of coral.

Have you tried contact EA about the UV?

Paul

I think I am going to be a Radion man too, there are other options but they just seem to work and get the job done. I’ve looked at alternatives but keep coming back to them.

And yes it’s very weird! Do we have any busy UK reef forums?

I contacted EA and they said there is no issue using the UV as there is nothing that can corrode inside the unit so I will be using it just because I have it!

I have also started redesigning the sump and have replaced one of the outer panels with a fresh sheet of glass as the old one had cracked in transport and I didn’t like how the pipes came through the glass for no reason really.

Going to mount two 7” filter socks in that area and have the new pipework collect there instead.

 

[mr.salty]

Not a brilliant update but it’s another job that I needed to tick off the list.

I have soldered in a T piece for the water supply to the garage for my water mixing station, was lucky enough to use the outside hose pipe for the water supply that I will take up and over the side gate and into the garage when I will have mr RODI unit, two 600L IBC’s (one fresh and one salt) with a variety of piping and a pump which will return either ATO or salt water to the tank through the dining room wall. I will also have a utility sink for testing etc.

Quick sketch of where the pipes will run, blue been water to the tank and red is water to the RODI.

 

[mr.salty]

So things kind of got out of hand when searching for a QT tank. I was only after a 20G with foam bubble filter and walked away with a 94 litre Kent Marine bio Reef.

Still going to be keeping it bare bottom with some PVC pipe inside and altering the filtration to suit. (Came with sponge, bio balls, ceramic rings and carbon).

I also bought some Redsea Coral pro salt as that’s what I am going to be using going forward in the main display. Just awaiting new RO/DI filters and membranes so I can have some nice 0 TDS water and then I’ll get the QT cycling.

For the main display I took advantage of Charterhouse Aquatics 10% bank holiday sale and purchased:

4x Radion xr30w lights
Neptune apex 2016
A spare jecod dct12000 return pump
Reef octopus regal 200 external protein skimmer
Jecod dcp6500 pump for protein skimmer

I have also three jebao to apex pump modules coming from the states to run the two in sump pumps along with three SW20 power heads I’m thinking of purchasing.

I have decided to use the bio reef cabinet for the external skimmer and plumb it through into one of the sections of the DT sump.

Well that’s the plan, sadly I’m having to wait until 24th of the month for my charterhouse aquatics order but I still have the bio reef to play with so at least I can now get my sleeves wet again!

Thanks

 

[mr.salty]

Progress is happening faster than I expected although small updates I thought I should share it with you guys.

I’m currently in the early stages of planning my saltwater mixing station as you will of seen in an earlier post.

Part of the install involved pimping out my RODI unit I had bought with the tank and also buying the correct size water tanks for the RODI and salt mix.

Well today my two 600 litre IBC water tanks arrived and the rest of the parts to convert my 50 GPD four stage to a 100 GPD five stage.

Below are some pictures during the revamp. The new system has all new filters etc compiling of a 5 micron pre sediment filter, pre carbon block filter, 100GPD membrane, 100GPD flow restrictor, post activated carbon filter and the DI resin.

This is conjunction with the booster pump and TDS meter should hopefully see 0 TDS!

Stripping the old unit down for a good clean

Running the unit for an hour to flush the carbon and membrane (didn’t have the resin in for this as I didn’t want to waste it)

Thanks for looking!

 

[revhtree]

Very nice start!!

 

[mr.salty]

Very nice start!!

Thanks!

I was wondering if anyone knows the exact name for the plastic grate flooring you can use in fishrooms so you can create a drainage bind underneath incase you spill any water? Just fancy the idea of not getting soaked if things go wrong!

 

[mr.salty]

My charterhouse aquatics delivery came today which was like Christmas come early!

It’s made me realise that the external skimmer will need a new cabinet or a cabinet made for it on which the QT tank will sit when in use.

Also filled the QT tank and awaiting for it to hit 20 degrees so I can mix some salt!

 

[mr.salty]

Decided to pull my finger out and get the tank cabinet into place next door to the cabinet I will be using for the wiring and external skimmer. Can say it was made to measure although it was obviously more luck than judgement!

 

[mr.salty]

Today I had to overcome another obstacle as I wasn’t happy with the headroom between the bracing and the sump so I have cut a hole in the base of the cabinet and lowered the sump into it for some extra working room.

Ended the day fitting and levelling up the cabinet doors and refitting the strip along the bottom of the tank.

Ordered the plumbing for the manifold that will take care of the protein skimmer and reactor today so should have that plumbed in this weekend.

The next job is trying to work out a sleek way of mounting the four xr30’s, I was thinking of hanging some aluminium strip from the roof and bolting that to the lights.

Anyone done this before? Didn’t want to pay for the genuine mounts as they are a fortune!

 

[mr.salty]

Have been away for a couple of days and came back to a pile of deliveries so decided it was time to start some plumbing.

This is the manifold that will be ran off either a jebao dcp6500 or dct12000 depending on flows for the protein skimmer, media reactor and UV steriliser. I’m thinking about using the Neptune flow meters so I can properly dial everything in but it’s all money, money, money!

Also managed to get my Skimmer pipework glued together and a small stand to sit it on that brings the outlet pipe to the same height as the one in the sump.

Also got the delivery of the weir combs I’ve needed for the main overflows and for the sump, the weird comb for the sump is the largest divider from the refugium section that will actually be two smaller refugiums that will have two separate types of macro algae but of which I didn’t want ending up In the return section.

 

[mr.salty]

Still carrying on with various plumbing and wiring. Trying to take my time and semi plan where items and systems will be going, it’s beginning to take shape though!

Drain line for the skimmer is plumbed in along with the the start of the APEX install.

The skimmer drain goes from metric 50mm to 1 1/2 to 1 1/4” before ending up at the overflow chamber for the refugium.

The inlet for the skimmer will be on the opposite/right hand side of the sump where the main overflow enters and this is where the feed pump will sit, I decided on this method so that any other nutrients have chance to go through the refugium along with the main refugium flow from the left hand side over flow. That same feed pump will also deliver water onto the manifold you have seen in the last post for a reactor or UV steriliser etc.

 

[Sunny Goold]

Amazing tank / project. Interests me a lot as I also have a chipboard stand (and can't believe it can hold my tank even though I saw it with fish too). So I will be trying to reinforce mine - I think I will just wedge some wooden posts under just to give it slightly more support (as I am not handy at all). I love the quality of everything you have so far. well done