Caravan's 165 SPS dominant Reef in Austin

[Caravanshaka]

Hi All, I am already upgrading from a 6 month old waterbox 135.4 for a few reasons, but the main one is sump space. The waterbox is a great tank for most reefers, but I found that I have too much equipment and too much rock and livestock to be happy in that tank for long. In comes a 165g tank with a sump that can hold up to 90 gallons.

I am in the very beginning stages of the build, so you'll be able to follow along with me as I make decisions and changes to the plan along the way, because who gets everything right in their plan????

Here is the planned equipment list:

Tank - 54x30x24 SC Aquariums eurobraced tank with Modular Marine external overflow
Stand - 80/20 aluminum built from 15-series extrusions...Built like a tank! 68x36x38 tall to allow more space underneath and take up the whole nook in the area of the house it is going in
Sump - Custom 48x30x15 Modular Marine sump with filter socks, skimmer section, frag section, and refugium
Display Lights - dual 250w Radium bulbs in a reefbrite fixture, with a pair of 48" t5 bulbs and a pair of 48" actinic strips.
Frag Light - 4x24w sunlight supply t5 fixture with 4x 20k and 2x 14k blue acro LED strips running at 350ma for added punch and a little shimmer
Fuge Light - Kessil H380
Display Flow - 2x gyre 250's and an MP40QD along with Random Flow Generators on the returns
Frag Flow - 1x gyre 230
Return Pump - Cor-20
Skimmer - RO Elite 220-INT...oversized so may downgrade if it is stripping the water too clean
CaRX - Vertex reactor, masterflex effluent pump, carbon-doser regulator
Dosing - ATI Elements via dual Neptune DOS setups utilizing a Modular Marine dosing cointainer
Controller - 2016 Apex, Leak Detection, auto fish feeder for out of town feedings, and a Trident in the plans


Current Progress:

- I have completed the frag light with 2x blue + and 2x Coral + bulbs. considering adding a splash shield, but it is otherwise ready to mount
- Stand is built and sitting in my garage. Will be cutting the 1/2 boards and coating them in marine primer and paint soon. Will then be planning an electronics box in part of the stand.
- All equipment has been ordered. Tank is due in about 4 weeks, Modular Marine stuff is due in a week or 2.

Here are a few design drawings and a few pics to get us started:

Overall General Tank Plan:

Sump Design:

Frag Light:

Stand:
(Front left)

(Left Side)

(Back top)

 

[Caravanshaka]

I’ve also had rock cooking in my garage since mid-February. Here is a video of the aquascape I built (wood area is 48x24, so leaves space around all of it in the tank)



A few photos of how the rock looks today...full of pods and life, and growing coraline already!

A close up of the far top left rock in the video, which is in the middle right of the picture above

 

[coseal]

lookin good! i am also using acro strips in my build! curious as to what you used for drivers, power supply, controller, heat sink etc.. more info please..

 

[najer]

Loving this already, do as big a fuge as possible, rocks look great.
Love the stand, not sure people understand how strong section aluminium (England) is!

 

[Caravanshaka]

lookin good! i am also using acro strips in my build! curious as to what you used for drivers, power supply, controller, heat sink etc.. more info please..

Honestly nothing exciting here. The light only needs power for 8” of water, so I am running all channels at 350ma with no controllability. I’ve got an old blue Acro 4 channel driver on a meanwell 60w 24v power supply and I’m running 2 strips on each channel parallel so they are getting 350ma instead of 700ma. That leaves 1 channel open on the driver, but it’s about 50w if power so I won’t add anything else to the power supply. Heatsinks are small heatsink USA items, there isn’t much heat at that power so just passively cooled.

The nice part is I tapped into the 110v line in the fixture and have power supply and drivers in the housing so it is all inside the light...still just one power cord. The switch on the light only does the t5’s so I can do LED only or LEDs and t5’s together.

 

[Caravanshaka]

Loving this already, do as big a fuge as possible, rocks look great.
Love the stand, not sure people understand how strong section aluminium (England) is!

Thanks! This stand is insanely strong. It was about $1150 for all the materials shipped, but love the versatility and how strong it is!

 

[Caravanshaka]

Not a whole lot to update, been busy knocking out a project on the Honey-Do list and prepping for my 8yo daughters birthday party at our house Saturday. Built the wife some barn doors for the entrance to our media room:

Meanwhile, Brian at Modular Marine has been busy after losing a week to the flu:

 

[Caravanshaka]

Got word that the tank is on the way here and should be here Monday! Modular Marine should also have everything to me this weekend, so next week begins the real build process! I better get my honey-do list done so I can spend more time on the tank!

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

Looks like a great start. I'm a big fan of 80/20 - it really is Erector Set for grown-ups!

I see you are in Austin - are you on the local forum also (Austin Reef Club)?

 

[revhtree]

Very nice!

 

[Caravanshaka]

Looks like a great start. I'm a big fan of 80/20 - it really is Erector Set for grown-ups!

I see you are in Austin - are you on the local forum also (Austin Reef Club)?

@FarmerTy and @gig 'em asked me that as well...I check it out from time to time, but haven't seen much activity so spend most of my time here. I feel like I am closer to San Antonio than most of the Austin Reef club guys that are all up north anyway...I'm on the border of Austin and Dripping Springs. I love 80/20 as well, have used it for several light racks and finally went for it on a stand...can't believe how sturdy this thing is!

Very nice!

Thanks Revh!

 

[Caravanshaka]

Decided on a change to the equipment. I am getting frustrated with my Alk staying stable, but my Calcium Climbing. I've decided to ditch the Calcium Reactor and move to a simpler Dosing setup utilizing ATI Essentials. The other benefit of this change, is that it allows me to keep EVERYTHING in the tank room, instead of having an ATO reservoir in my master bedroom!

Oh, and tank arrives this afternoon!! ;Woot

 

[Caravanshaka]

Quick view of how the stand is shaping up (left side will have an identical panel, just no point putting it on in the garage):

All wood is coated in marine primer and paint. Stainless fasteners hold the walls in place. Once the stand is in its final location, I will caulk all the seams so any spills will come out the front where I can easily clean them up.

 

[najer]

Nice, can't wait for tank pics!

 

[Caravanshaka]

Nice, can't wait for tank pics!

Will get more pics when I get it on the stand....but this is fresh out of the crate!

They did 2 holes in the eurobracing that weren’t in the drawings, and I have no idea why. They appear to be sized for 1/2” bulkheads. Sent them an email to see what those are about. Fortunately, it’s in the eurobracing so it won’t really be an issue.

 

[Caravanshaka]

Since I added a dosing container to the modular marine order, I won't get that stuff until this weekend. It's quite a list from him now:
- Sump
- Frag Racks for sump frag section
- Overflow Box
- ATO container
- Dosing Container

 

[Caravanshaka]

Brian at Modular Marine is bringing the goods today!

 

[Caravanshaka]

Boy did Brian deliver!!! Quick photo dump:

 

[SlvrZ]

Following! What did you do with the reactor stuff, may be interested in some of it (Dallas here)

 

[Caravanshaka]

Following! What did you do with the reactor stuff, may be interested in some of it (Dallas here)

It is still running on my Waterbox, and will be until the tank transfer happens. Hoping that transfer is only a couple weeks away though, so will be for sale soon!