Dbrewsky's 120 Gallon Build

[dbrewsky]

Finally have tank filled with salt and cycling! It took a few days to fill the system with saltwater since I could only make 30 gallons of SW at a time in my Brute trashcan mixing container. I added a large shrimp to the tank, and have been adding a combination of Two Little Fishies BioPronto and Brightwell Aquatics MicoBacter7 (MB7). I only had a few doses of the BioPronto left over so I threw both in. I wanted to ensure I had a good diverse bacteria culture established in this system, so I haven't added any of my existing live rock to kick start the cycle like I normally do. So now we wait, and work on other projects while nature takes its time!

Here is a top down of the rock structure, I am happy with how it turned out and once this thing starts to grow in, it should look amazing!

I haven't had much progress this weekend, my reefing assistant got her lady bits snipped and has needed extra cuddle time. She is bouncing back quickly and should be keeping me on track on the projects shortly!

The first project I was hoping to have completed by now was replacing the receptacles near the tank with GFCI duplex outlets. This was a simple enough task until I came home with some 15-amp Leviton Weather-Resistant Heavy-Duty GFCI's and realized that they wouldn't fit!!! The wall behind the aquarium was skinned very close to the cement and there was barely enough room for the slim outlet boxes that were installed originally. I wasn't anticipating this since I could see the outlet boxes they had used in the furnace room close by and they were your standard depth blue plastic boxes.

SOOO...... needless to say I didn't get far.

I think what I will end up doing will be installing external outdoor gang boxes over these outlet boxes and feeding the romex through the existing outlet box into the gang box. I will then wire the GFCI outlets and install them in these boxes with weather proof in-use covers. I will then caulk the gang box to the wall for waterproofing. After some deliberation, I think I will mount a single duplex box and GFCI on the left side of the aquarium and on the right side below my equipment panel, I will install a dual duplex box with 2 GFCI's.

Each GFCI will be wired to trip that duplex outlet independently. This may seem a little extreme to have multiple gfci outlets on one circuit, however by doing so I will be able to plug the two Apex power bars into individual GFCI outlets and distribute heaters, pumps, etc equally between the two bars. In the event I get a nuisance trip, this should cripple but not fully disable the system in case my response time to an issue is slower than anticipated. This way the majority of my wiring remains on the right hand side of the tank and directly under my equipment panel. The outlet on the left will be used for water change pumps or other gear as needed.

Also, The circuit that feeds the 3 outlets and the ceiling lights in the room has a 15-amp breaker on the circuit box. I was looking and I'm pretty sure that the romex for the circuit is actually 12/2 not 14/2. I haven't confirmed this just yet on the complete circuit, but if in fact all outlets on the circuit are being fed by 12/2, I should be able to replace the breaker in my panel from 15 amp to 20 amp, correct? Im pretty sure I have plenty of amp capacity on the breaker panel and would need to confirms this as well.

Any thoughts on this or any electricians out there mind chiming in? I haven't had much time to do the research, but any advice would be very helpful!!!

Thanks again for following along and for ya'lls input, I hope to keep this thread updated with lots of progress as I finalize the build. I should have some pretty cool stuff coming up!!

 

[don_chuwish]

You could cover the whole circuit with an AFCI or GFCI breaker at the panel. But an outdoor box is a neat idea too.

 

[dbrewsky]

@don_chuwish- Hey thanks for the suggestion! My main reason for avoiding that route is simply if a ballast on a light creates a nuisance trip.... I would prefer that that device's power be cut, but the rest of the aquarium will continue to function. I haven't had issues with gfci trips in the past necessarily, but the one time I leave town for a week, it surely will happen and by the time I find out and have somebody come over there might be losses.

 

[gettaReef]

Any updates on that small ikea cabinet your using to store power displays/modules? I love that idea and am trying to find the same one at ikea. Would love to see how it all came out

 

[dbrewsky]

@gettaReef - no major updates on it just yet. The way I am attempting to build the equipment panel will be a build in itself. I picked up a 1/2" 2'x4' MDF board to make the actual floating panel that the equipment mounts to, however, I haven't had the time to cut it to size just yet. I will be keeping the thread updated with its progress for sure. I think the Ikea Besta cabinet will work great already!

 

[dbrewsky]

Small update this morning. I sent off one of my Vortech MP40QD pumps that was installed on the left hand side of the tank back to Ecotech Marine last week. I had them do the cord length modification on the pump. The cord between the driver and the motor was just long enough to reach my equipment panel, however, just barely. If I tried to work with the factory length, I would need to drill a access hole in the side of my equipment panel instead of feeding the cord through the bottom like I intended. I felt like this hole with its proximity to the tank could create a point where water could potentially enter the equipment panel and I didn't want to risk it. Also, it would look kinda like the cord route was half- a@@#d with an ugly hole drilled that was highly visible.

So for a small service fee that includes return shipping, Ecotech Marine was able to double the cord length leading between the Vortech dry side and the driver. They have no issues doing so and they warranty the work. Due to noise and rf interference, attempting to splice or otherwise DIY the cord yourself would be a bad idea and you will probably end up with a dead pump.

I received my pump back quickly and will have it back on the tank tonight.

 

[Jackcarp]

That's so cool that they would do that and that you appreciate how the finished product looks. Bravo.

 

[dbrewsky]

Got some goodies in the mail last night

It appears that most everyone is out of stock of the ATI Dimmable 48" 8 bulb fixtures..... however, one just came back in stock and I believe I have it coming now! I just happened to check one of the websites this morning and noticed it back in stock. Fingers Crossed!!!

I have found this bulb combination to be a pleasing color to my eyes and seems to be a successful combination for SPS color and growth- Front to back: Blue+, Coral +, Actinic, Blue+, Coral +, Actinic, Blue+, Purple+

I plan to mount the ATI in my canopy which is not the recommended installation from ATI. I do find that the fixture is very pleasing to the eye and would normally have no issues hanging it over an aquarium. I however don't want the light spill, especially since the couch would be sitting at the perfect height to get an eye full of t-5. So I have to improvise and I believe I have found the solution:

These are high quality AC powered fan systems that are designed to cool home entertainment cabinets. A total of 4 fans will be mounted on top of the canopy directly over the ATI fixture. Between the open back of the canopy, the ATI active cooling fans and 4 Exhaust fans located directly where heat would accumulate, I feel that the heat and humidity issues will be mitigated. This should allow me to keep the fixture heat from entering the aquarium and keep the bulbs cooled for max performance. The fans have there own thermostat and controller and can be set to kick on at a certain temp and fan speed or use a smart mode which will automatically ramp fan speeds as temperatures rise inside the canopy itself. On top of all this they are very quiet, quality fans with sleek brushed metal grills that look like they belong.

I have a smaller 4" single fan model which will provide the active cooling for the equipment cabinet as well to mitigate heat put of from power supplies, etc.

Finally had a chance to cut the mounting board for my electrical panel and will be painting it white to match the existing cabinet over the next couple days. I have a few more orders coming in with some odds and ends for wire management etc.

I did a test for ammonia on the tank last night and wasn't able to detect ammonia. I will test for nitrate tonight and see how far along the cycle is. I have been dosing MB7 daily to help seed the system.

 

[dbrewsky]

Confirmed that my ATI dimmable fixture is in stock and shipping out!

 

[dbrewsky]

Some progress shots from last night:

ATI fixture arriving friday, hope to have the canopy ready to rock by then!

 

[dbrewsky]

Small update-

It's been a busy, yet slow week for the build.

The ATI fixture came in Friday, however, the dimmable labeled box from ATI actually had an original sun power module included instead of the correct dimmable one I ordered. It was a bit of a shock and caused some frustration over the weekend. I called up BRS and they made it right and I have the correct fixture arriving this Friday. I thought long and hard whether the dimmable fixture was worth it, and decided that I would be dissapointed down the road if I settled with the Sunpower. The automatic fixture temp monitoring and fan ramping feature alone is worth getting the dimmable as well as the single plug. Surprisingly, the dimmable features were the last determining point in the decision.

I also found that my intended mounting solution for the fixture was not going to work the way I expected, so I will have to modify the canopy slightly when it arrives.

@gettaReef I was able to mostly complete the fabrication of the equipment panel and I am pleased with how it turned out. I still have an additional apex power strip and another few modules to add to the system before I would consider the panel finished. The small 4" fan does a great job at keeping it ventilated. My recommendation would be if possible, try to use the deeper dimension Besta cabinets as I had to do some pretty in-depth cord management and carefully measure and test fit things to ensure that there was room. All the power-supplies are mounted to the back of the cabinet behind the mounting board. I used super glue gel to adhere the cable grommets. I am glad to have my apex up and running, I feel much better knowing that I have at least basic control over the tank.

The tank has been tested this week for ammonia and nitrate. I confirmed 3 times this week that ammonia is undetectable and nitrate is hovering right around 8ppm. I plan to do a 30 gallon water change tonight and Friday and hopefully start systematically adding my existing fish over the next week/week and a half.

 

[dbrewsky]

The cord mess below the equipment cabinet is temporary! As soon as I have the extra Apex power strip I will tidy up the cords further. Any power cords or wires left visible between the aquarium and the panel after the addition on the second power strip will be hidden with white cable tracks.

 

[gettaReef]

Thanks for the info, it looks great!

 

[dbrewsky]

I'll try to get some better/more detailed pictures once I can get time to play with the dslr.

 

[revhtree]

Very cool!

 

[aaron23]

fancy i like it good job!

 

[dbrewsky]

Thanks for dropping by @revhtree and @aaron23! Hope to have some better pictures and more exciting updates of actual life here shortly. It has been a long, sometimes frustrating build but I have been happy with the results so far!

 

[dbrewsky]

Mandible fixture arrived on friday and hope to have the canopy and lighting completed by the end of the week. My clownfish pair were introduced on friday and are enjoying their new home. The rest of the fish are trying their best to not be captured and transferred over!

 

[dbrewsky]

Don't know where mandible came from? Dimmable is the intended word there lol

 

[dbrewsky]

WE HAVE LIGHT!!!!!

Well I had quite the productive evening working on the tank. I traded sleep for finally having the canopy and lighting installed! I ran into some issues originally as posted above with receiving the ATI dimmable 8x54w fixture and then discovering that my original idea for installing the fixture inside the canopy was a no go. So after some deliberation and conferring with my reef assistant (if you haven't already hired one, your really need to):

We decided to cut a large opening on top of the canopy just undersized enough that the fixture can sit on top safely while ensuring that all light was entering the aquarium. This placement also helps vent the exhaust from the ATI fixture outside the canopy reducing the heat inside the canopy greatly. This procedure required me to also relocate my canopy fans to the sides of the enclosure and was done during this time as well with my trusty Sawsall.

The next steps as you can start to see in the above picture was to route and secure the wiring and install the adjustable ball mounts for my two Kessil A360WE LED Pendants that will be utilized as a supplemental light in conjunction with the ATI t-5 fixture. The ball mounts allow my pretty unlimited ability to position and point the pendants to achieve the following goals:

1. Controllable accent lighting allowing me to fine tune color temperature throughout the photo period and assist in creating dawn/dusk effects
2. Create Shimmer lines that would be otherwise missing with t-5 only and thanks to their proprietary technology avoid the LED disco ball effect
3. Utilize the pendants as directional fill light to help ensure adequate light coverage to corals as they begin to mature and traditional overhead lighting starts to get blocked by colony formation/shading caused by other corals
4. Create the effect of the sun travelling across the tank in conjunction with a dawn/dusk cycle

Once everything was installed into the canopy, it was time for a test run!!!!