Building a 135 Reef

Wicky48 · Mar 20, 2018

Hi Reefers!, I bought a new 135 gal tank and am changing this out with my 75 gal. I am going to document the entire process on here as this system is something totally new for me I am gonna be having the sump in the basement floor and the tank upstairs. I know right? Gonna take a powerful pump to get the job done so I am looking at a Panworld pump which are good pumps or the Reeflo Hammerhead/Barracuda pumps. Any suggestions? This tank is also gonna have two sumps, one for total filtration, skimmer and media for bacteria and the next my refuge and return chamber. I am not sure if anyone has done this type of build before but again suggestions are welcome.

My 40 gal is going to be the main filtration sump with bubble traps and a large area with either bio balls or biofilter media and then the second tank will be my original 75 gal which will be a large refuge with a small area for the return plumbing.

135 gal

75 gal (original tank being replaced and also used for new refuge)

40 gal for skimmer and biofiltration (currently used for my eel, he is being relocated to a bigger tank)

basement where sumps will go

The fact is I just want everything a bit more open so I can get at things such as skimmers and media reactors easily but I will be pumping water to the main tank from about 10-14 feet so I know my pumps flow rate will be reduced. Are there any dangers or basic rules I am not seeing here? Thanks and this post will be updated with pictures as the build continues, main tank stand, sump design and overall video of the finished product. Cheers!

jsker · Mar 20, 2018

Congratulations on the upgrade:)

Wicky48 · Mar 21, 2018

Thanks jsker!!!

Wicky48 · Mar 21, 2018

Ok Reefers! A subject I wanted to touch on about builds. Don't you hate it when you build a great new tank everything is done then your wife says, "I want new flooring!" AHHHH! Gotta move tank, means emptying water moving fish and rock out, maybe only to move tank a few feet then back. When I am doing this build the first thing on my mind is what has to be done first before the build is done and complete so my tank doesn't have to move or be disturbed. This is what I am doing, I am painting the walls in the room and putting down new LVT flooring instead of the carpet I have. Its part of the build process but never gets mentioned I've seen. As well my existing tank needs to be moved while doing this so I thought it out how to move it once and that's it. So doing LVT on opposite side of room, moving tank there and the space where it was is where the new tank goes and my fish and animals don 't have to be disturbed until they move into the 135. Cheers!!

Wicky48 · Apr 1, 2018

Sorry for the long break I had some renovations to do. Now that my wife is happy I can start to make this new reef aquarium with no backlash. Haha Don't tell her I said that. So now comes the building of the stand for the 135. As this will be a showpiece and I have cats it will be totally closed at the top with lights inside and probably I am thinking either bird's eye maple or oak for finish. Around the corner will be a built in bookcase and wine rack in the same finish however these will be built after the tank is operational which I will show after all the tank is finished for those interested. So for now until I have pics of the new stand, here is pictures of the reno and now as it is finished. It took me one week, Carpet was ripped out and new LVT was layed down, new transitions and baseboards painted. Walls once white and now Copper Cider and Lion's Mane. The new tank with the blue background will look good against this color. More pics coming soon. Cheers!

mike newell · Apr 1, 2018

Nice colors!

Wicky48 · Apr 23, 2018

Ok reefers, I just ask patience on the build as I am also paying for a wedding soon. Next installment with be the build of the frame. Watch for posts soon.

mike newell · Apr 23, 2018

Wicky48 said:
Ok reefers, I just ask patience on the build as I am also paying for a wedding soon. Next installment with be the build of the frame. Watch for posts soon.

Good call, you have your priorities correct for future reef happiness.

Wicky48 · Apr 26, 2018

Ok guys got the wood for my stand build and top. No pics yet but I do have some news, have a look. World Wide Corals if you haven't seen the post is having a 1000 dollar giveaway for corals in their shop. Go here to enter and have a look at what they have. A lot of amazing corals!!! https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/the-w...eaway-enter-today-for-your-chance-to-win.444/ #reef2reef, #worldwidecorals,#mywwccontest

Wicky48 · May 14, 2018

Ok all orry for no update yet on build, still getting parts and pieces from everywhere to complete this. I will be sending more pictures net week though once I start the sump stand in the basement and aquarium stand upstairs. Thank you all for your patience!

Wicky48 · Jun 14, 2018

OK thought I would just say sorry for the long absence of pictures and the continuation of the build of this tank. I am currently paying for a wedding on July 21st this year which is soaking the funds. Lol. I would however like to hear any thoughts of my three big fish I wish to have in the tank. I currently have an Emperor Angelfish which to my suprise with my smaller fish is quite peaceful and getting big. I have a Chain link Eel in another tank I wish to add to the new tank with him and am thinking of having a Radiata Lionfish in the tank. Other fish possibly in the tank would be two tomato clown fish, two Bengai cardinals, a filefish, a Red fin Mandarin, a strawberry dottyback, and a diamond goby. I will be of course doing more investigating on the compatibility of these fish but I welcome any experience or concern you may have. I do realize the smaller fish especially may be food to the lionfish and another tank may be needed. I will be continuing the build and pictures plus a video in late July or early August. Thank you!

Wicky48 · Apr 1, 2019

Alright, been so busy at work and trying to make my build happen. Money is a factor especially with reef tanks but I did not cheap out on equipment. I did take a different road on the build though and decided not to do a basement sump and instead went with a 50 gal sump for my 135 tank underneath. Most of my concern was the distance the pump would have to push water, at least 15 to 20 feet which would be a loss of pressure for any pump. I have however decided to have my water changes automated from downstairs so I have a built in drain in my tank and a pump that will pump water for a change immediately from downstairs. My water changes should take about 2 minutes tops and no more buckets.

I took an older Hagen tank and drilled it as they do not temper there tanks. That is done as well I am using the steel stand supplied with it however this is on its own stand raising it much higher. Pictures are coming this week.

As far as equipment goes here's the products I have bought so far. I bought a Tunze RO controller, once the water has been changed from my saltwater supply I will simply open a valve to fill my saltwater mixing tank in the basement. Once my RO reservoir goes down it will turn on and refill my RO automatically. I have a 3/4 drain in the bottom of my tank which of course has a strainer on it, I open the valve to let water out from the bottom of the tank. then just flick a switch and the line coming from the basement pumps water into the aquarium. Easy!

Skimmer - Reef Octo 150 SSS. Of all the skimmers I read about, never saw a bad review and they do a really good job.
Sump pump - Reef Octo Varios 6 pump with controller. This comes with a float valve to turn off your skimmer if it is full or to turn it off if the water runs dry.
Light - Double effect, have 2 Kessil 360X and the Spectral controller. The spectral controller uses k-link for the Kessil's but also has a 0-10v connection for controlling other lights. Gonna go with either other led lights for that or T5 HO dimmable with the 0-10v connection and get my Spectral controller to control these as well.

As far as controllers, the three I am looking at are APEX, Reef Angel and GHL Proflilux. Also looking at individual controllers for cost reasons to control or monitor ph, orp, temperature and just using my pump and Spectral controllers for what they were made for.

The tank has been ripped apart and glass cleaned, put back together with clear caulking.

The thing I would like to get across most of all and you will see when I post pics is the amount of space now I will have under my tank. I will literally be able to sit on a chair and work on my tank underneath. And oh yes I am adding an algae scrubber to the tank from a DIY video I saw. It was really effective and easy to setup. I also have a friend here now who sells and has a large supply of Mangroves so will be adding these as well to the sump and maybe the tank.

I do have a lot of thinking still to do and I did order my schedule 80 fittings and colored pipe so it will look pretty underneath. :) So look for an update soon this week with pics. See you all soon! Bruce

Wicky48 · Apr 1, 2019

Ok all so like I said here are pictures. I also forgot to mention the original tank plastic bracing was removed and being replaced with euro-bracing which I had cut for the top. So here is the equipment and the tank. As you can see the tank below is a 50 gal so that should show you the amount of space I will have underneath. As well the steel bars that go across create a place where things can be put if I like such as lights or equipment. My skimmer has a 9.5 inch base and will fit right between them I tried already and lots of space to move things around. The drain for the tank and tubing will go down through the bottom stud in the wall and electricity outlet will be slightly above that.

This will have a set of doors and another door to the side away from the sump for electrical equipment giving me even more space. This build will now have more frequent posts because as you can imagine it took a while to accumulate all this stuff. See you all soon! Bruce

Wicky48 · Apr 9, 2019

Ok so here's an update. I got my top euro-bracing done. Gotta clean excess caulking away. This is also going to have a small wood trim around the top of the tank of press-wood and the topped with 1/4" birch plywood for more strength. Gonna look good I think. As well if you haven't heard I was one of the winners for the new Noopsyche lights which I just found out about.

Oh yes and here is the pic of the top of my tank.

Wicky48 · Apr 13, 2019

So tomorrow is a big day. I plan on cutting a small square in my living room wall and drilling a hole through the base plate to the basement. This will be both to run the electricity up to just below my tank and create a hole where I can run my tubing for automatic water changes. So keep an eye out in the next few days for pictures of the process and when I'am finished.

Wicky48 · Apr 13, 2019

As well you may notice from this post that at first I had bought a new 135 and you can see it already had bracing. Well this is where even the most experienced handyman can make mistakes. It turned out only the sides of this tank that I bought were not tempered so I should have checked that. That tank ended up in my basement and is soon to be used for breeding BERGHIA NUDIBRANCH. The tank I am using now is an old Hagen tank so I could drill the bottom. Some reefers have gotten away from drilling the bottom because of the pressure involved I think but I did it because I want the use of the nook the tank is going into and having an overflow in the back of the tank will push it out another 5 inches which I don't want. So as you can see the evolution of this build has been changing. :)

Wicky48 · Apr 30, 2019

Ok everyone. I have new pics of the building and will explain each. First pic,

So this shows the corner of the tank. I am using OSB for the inner wood and then I will finish with birch plywood, Here you can see a clamp holding the corner piece in as glue dries. As well you will see 2 pieces of OSB foing down the glass. The reason for this is because the steel stand I am using flares out at the bottom so I had to add one ro bring me out past the flare and then another to cover the steel so you cannot see it.

Again you can see the two pieces I use to build out the tank bottom do I can hide the steel. The area below this will be a door to hold all my electronics which will be away from the water and not under the tank with it.

This shows a picture of the trim going along the top of the tank essentially hiding the seem where the glass meets glass.

This shows a larger view of the top trim.

A closer look at my Euro-bracing.

This is the back of the tank showing holes for cords to pass through and keep them from dangling, As well my light mounts.

This is the main hole in the back where the cords will go through to power bars on the wall. I have always liked to hang my plugs and electronics in case of accidents. As well there are two smaller holes where my water change lines will go. This back part is strong yet flexible, taking into account the pressure on the glass from water. I didn't want something that was so firm it wouldn't allow the glass to relax a bit.

Again this is the door that will hold all of my controllers away from the water. I will be able to make adjustments simply by opening the side door and adjusting controllers for pump, lights and skimmer and whatever else I plan on putting in here.

Now you can see my light mounts more clearly in the back. There will also be 2 Kessil 360X pendants hanging down between the middle lights you see and the ones on the far outside.

Here you can more clearly see the spacing and where the Kessil LED lights will go.

So I have come along a bit but still have much more to do like plumbing and my sump as well as making the front and side doors and finishing in birch. I hope you like it. If anyone has any observations or questions, please send them my way. ;) Bruce

Wicky48 · Sep 4, 2019

More pics and details coming this week. This beast is almost ready to take water for the first time. :)

Wicky48 · Oct 6, 2019

Ok Everyone! i am so sorry I have not been on here recently but I have been working hard on my new reef setup. It has come along way since my last post and maybe now everyone will be able to see my idea. This is the time, if you have any suggestions or warnings please let me know, none of the plumbing you see is cemented yet just peaced together until I get the end result I want then I will do it all at once.

Ok so here we go pic1;

This is the support for my two tanks in the basement. Just to be clear there are four tanks in all in this setup. This is the support for two of my tanks.

This is one of the two tanks in the basement and is the one in the front. It will hold my Mangrove trees and is about a 50 gallon. It is a specially made tank only 10" wide by 4 feet with the overflow on the back externally.

As you can see this tank is raised higher then the tank behind it. The overflow fits perfect over the back and the bulkheads fit perfectly so I can direct the water wherever I wish. I also want to have an algae scrubber in this rear tank of course DIY. :)

Here again you can see the two tanks in the background. There are two here in the foreground which are going to be used for storing RO water, and mixing salt in prior to water changes. I am a true believer that you should premix your salt for at least 24 hours before you ad it into your main tank.

Of course I have drilled holes for my plumbing including a smaller hole for copper. My RO unit is going to be moved close to these two smaller tanks and I am planning on having a RO controller to automatically fill up the water once I release it into the mixing tank.

These are fans to remove heated air from my lights on the main tank. They will come on in intervals to remove heated air and for good air circulation. There is one on either end of the tank and were bought from a Hydroponics store. They do come with their own plugs and attachments.

So As you can see I designed this to have two doors which you just remove, they will not have hinges. I am not a big fan of hinges as any pressure on the door damages the hinge and then the doors do not close correctly. The bottom mis-shapen 2X4 you see here will be covered by OSB and then birch and the whole tank will be finished in Walnut stain. This bottom door will most likely stay in place and only be removed if I need to remove the tank below. The top door which is off to left out of the picture simply sits in that spot above and slip locks will hold it in place. The tank below has my skimmer in the middle where the water from the tank will be directed. There are two baffles to either side of the skimmer raised so the water will go under and rock will be put on either side to act as filtration as well before it goes ino the tanks downstairs. I may also try growing a lot of Cheto in here.

This is the inside of my overflows. The great thing about these overflows is they are designed to allow fish and other animals to swim behind them, not taking up all that space. I predict a great place for my eels to hang out. As well they will be hidden overflows cover by rock in the front hiding them. I plan on using Geotherm and acrylic to accomplish this.This particular overflow on the left side of the tank has both drainage and my return to the tank which comes through the 16" Storm drainage. Yes these overflows are designed out of 16" storm drainage, the kind you see when road crews are installing underground.

As you can see the design of the 16" storm drain once I cut it to shape is designed to handle the pressure of the water by curving outward. My overflow is only six inches deep and the strainers will remove the water inside while allowing fish to swim underneath. The kind of yucky caulking job which was impossible to avoid because of space will be covered by a piece of birch designed like a fish or something while still allowing you to look down the entire back of the tank to be able to see whats going on there.

So I still have a good deal of work to do but is is quite far along and I am hoping to have water flowing in a month or two. Again if anyone has suggestions or sees a problem please let me know. I look forward to finally making a video of it flowing and the final product with mangroves growing downstairs. :) Thanks all!

Gonzo74 · Oct 8, 2019

Looks like you are doing well. I had a similar set up in my basement when I was stationed in NY. I loved it! Should be easy for you to set up automatic water changes if your septic/sewage plumbing is in the basement also. Looking forward to seeing it done.

Wicky48 said:
Ok Everyone! i am so sorry I have not been on here recently but I have been working hard on my new reef setup. It has come along way since my last post and maybe now everyone will be able to see my idea. This is the time, if you have any suggestions or warnings please let me know, none of the plumbing you see is cemented yet just peaced together until I get the end result I want then I will do it all at once.

Ok so here we go pic1;

This is the support for my two tanks in the basement. Just to be clear there are four tanks in all in this setup. This is the support for two of my tanks.

This is one of the two tanks in the basement and is the one in the front. It will hold my Mangrove trees and is about a 50 gallon. It is a specially made tank only 10" wide by 4 feet with the overflow on the back externally.

As you can see this tank is raised higher then the tank behind it. The overflow fits perfect over the back and the bulkheads fit perfectly so I can direct the water wherever I wish. I also want to have an algae scrubber in this rear tank of course DIY. :)

Here again you can see the two tanks in the background. There are two here in the foreground which are going to be used for storing RO water, and mixing salt in prior to water changes. I am a true believer that you should premix your salt for at least 24 hours before you ad it into your main tank.

Of course I have drilled holes for my plumbing including a smaller hole for copper. My RO unit is going to be moved close to these two smaller tanks and I am planning on having a RO controller to automatically fill up the water once I release it into the mixing tank.

These are fans to remove heated air from my lights on the main tank. They will come on in intervals to remove heated air and for good air circulation. There is one on either end of the tank and were bought from a Hydroponics store. They do come with their own plugs and attachments.

So As you can see I designed this to have two doors which you just remove, they will not have hinges. I am not a big fan of hinges as any pressure on the door damages the hinge and then the doors do not close correctly. The bottom mis-shapen 2X4 you see here will be covered by OSB and then birch and the whole tank will be finished in Walnut stain. This bottom door will most likely stay in place and only be removed if I need to remove the tank below. The top door which is off to left out of the picture simply sits in that spot above and slip locks will hold it in place. The tank below has my skimmer in the middle where the water from the tank will be directed. There are two baffles to either side of the skimmer raised so the water will go under and rock will be put on either side to act as filtration as well before it goes ino the tanks downstairs. I may also try growing a lot of Cheto in here.

This is the inside of my overflows. The great thing about these overflows is they are designed to allow fish and other animals to swim behind them, not taking up all that space. I predict a great place for my eels to hang out. As well they will be hidden overflows cover by rock in the front hiding them. I plan on using Geotherm and acrylic to accomplish this.This particular overflow on the left side of the tank has both drainage and my return to the tank which comes through the 16" Storm drainage. Yes these overflows are designed out of 16" storm drainage, the kind you see when road crews are installing underground.

As you can see the design of the 16" storm drain once I cut it to shape is designed to handle the pressure of the water by curving outward. My overflow is only six inches deep and the strainers will remove the water inside while allowing fish to swim underneath. The kind of yucky caulking job which was impossible to avoid because of space will be covered by a piece of birch designed like a fish or something while still allowing you to look down the entire back of the tank to be able to see whats going on there.

So I still have a good deal of work to do but is is quite far along and I am hoping to have water flowing in a month or two. Again if anyone has suggestions or sees a problem please let me know. I look forward to finally making a video of it flowing and the final product with mangroves growing downstairs. :) Thanks all!