Emerson's 75 gallon to 90 gallon Upgrade

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

So...I'll start by saying this: When I set up my build a year ago with a used Marineland 75 gallon reef ready tank, I should have just started with the new tank I wanted, not the old tank I had. If I could get a do-over, I would start with a 120 gallon aquarium which would have used more or less the same gear that I used on the 75 gallon (and now my 90): 20 gallon home built sump, Iwaki MD-20XRT external pump, Tunze ATO, 2 x Tunze powerheads, Vertex 130 Skimmer, BRS Reactor, 3 x Kessil A360s [ended up using only two because of the crossbrace], 2016 Apex Controller, ALD module, PAR module. Also, since I had the stand custom built for the 75 gal 48" x 18" footptint, I'm stuck with that in the future. Aside from the greater water volume, I would have liked the 48" x 24" footprint for the 120 vs my 90 gallon when it came to aquascaping. The cost difference wouldn't have been much; with over $3,000 in, I thinnk I may have saved $300 (and added a lot of a** pain) in the end by starting with a used tank, then upgrading to a new one. If you follow this thread I'll tell and show you how much harder it was to upgrade versus when compared to a completely new build. It was a tough three day process staying up until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning.

That said, after months of planning, I decided to give up my unknown aged Marineland 75 gallon reef ready for a new Planet Aquariums 90 gallon. Why? The biggest reason was the 75 was a hand-me-down from a good friend and reefing buddy. I had no idea how old it actually was, how it'd been kept, and (after reading more than a few horror stories on tank leaks) I started to get concerned that a silicon seam might leak or just blow out. I travel frequently and if/when a leak did happen, Mr. Murphy would ensure it was while I was away. My wife, who kindly induldges my reef addiction, would be the one dealing with 85+ gallons of water in our study. The old tank also had plenty of scratches, and the upper trim was aged and cracking (probably from Metal Halide light exposure). Finally, the trimmed design required a brace front to back on the 48" length which gave me no place to put my third A360.
Here are the first few photos of the Marineland 75.
I completed the upgrade/build a month ago.

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

When I finally took the leap, I had my LFS (shout out to Elegant Reef in San Antonio, TX http://elegant-reef.com/ ) order a semi-custom 90 gal from Planet Aqaruiums (another shout out for them in Arlington, TX https://www.planetaquariums.com/ ). I was in no hurry, and the aqaurium arrived built and drilled to spec for a Reef Savvy Ghost over flow (http://www.reefsavvy.com/product/21-ghost-overflow-2to3-week-lead-time ). It came in to the LFS about six weeks later as advertised. I went with Planet on the recommendation of the LFS. Most of their tanks in the store are from Planet. The quality and workmanship are first rate. I did consider some others, most notably Reef Savvy, and while super, super nice, the freight from FL to TX added 50% to the overal cost putting it out of reach for me. There was already a distribution network for Planet in my home town of San Antonio, so there was no additional freight or packing cost.

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

Planning, planning and more planning. I have half a notebook with notes and ideas that I had been kicking around for months including drain and return plumbing layouts, sump design etc., with rough measurments. I made a few changes in the overall plumbing design when compared to the 75; I switched from an Iwaki MD-20XRT external pump (822 gph) to an Iwaki MD-30XRT (1140 gph) to account for the greater volume of water. I also went with two return lines versus one to spread out the flow. I considered using two of the smaller 20XRT pumps for redundancy, but ultimately was driven to one larger pump due to space constraints underneath the stand. I also turned the pump 90° when compared to my previous build to give a little more space for some dosing containers I intended to add. This added head pressure and two more 90° bends in the return (one out of the sump, and another out of the pump itself), but was worth it for the additional space. In the end I hard plumbed everything except a short sump-to-pump line and pump-to-hard plumbing with with black 1" SCH 40 pipe with gray SCH 80 fittings, including the bulkheads for the returns. While the SCH 80 fittings are a little bigger and heavier, I'm really happy I did this. The more robust SCH 80 fittings not only look good with the black pipe, I think the bulkheads specifically spread any load a little better on the glass. One of the return lines with bulk head is in the last picture below. The short runs off the pump I used 1" braided tubing onto nipple addapters.
As an aside, I stongly suggest you overbuy all your plumbing. You can always return them (I returned a bunch to BRS), and you'll be glad you have them after hous at 2AM on a early Sunday morning.

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

I wanted to put the tank on a sheet neoprene to help distribute the load on the stand. After looking at a bunch of industial options where I would have to start by ordering a 100' roll, it occured to me that a yoga mat would work. I got this at the local sporting goods store for $9.99, and cut it to fit.

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

The hardest part for me with the upgrade vs. a build from scratch, is like it or not, you put yourself on a time line. You have to remove your fish, inverts, coral and rock, put it on life support in another "tank", and bust your but for a couple days to get the new build set up. "Go slow to go fast" was my mantra. I had intended to get it done in two days over a weekend. It took me three long days with late nights... but I digress. The old tank is down, and my livestock is in an 110 gallon trough I borrowed from my LFS (thanks again to Elegan Reef, San Anontion, TX). They assured me everyone would be OK with a heater, some power heads, and maybe a carbon reactor. It was a leap of faith, but they were right.

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

Next, I'm measuring, cutting, and cementing PVC plumbing. Measure twice, cut once. I used a good miter saw that I clamped to a work table just outside. The miter gave me a straight cut. I then used a file and some 200 grit sandpaper to clean up any burrs and ensure there would be a good fit. There was a lot of walking back and forth between the study (where the tank was) and my work place in the back yard and garage. I used PVC primer and cement from Lowe's for all the slip fittings and aquarium safe silicon sealant on any threads. I didn't mention before, but you'll see later, UNIONS ARE YOUR FRIEND! Anywhere it seemed to make sense, and some placed it didn't I put a union to allow me to adjust and angle and allow me to break the tank down or add new plumbing with out having to cut the plumbing... I worked to hard on this to cut anything out.

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

Getting ready to assemble all the plumbing in place.

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

I showed these pictures out of sequence before to illustrate the placement of my return pump and line. Here is the final underneath plumping with a look at one of the return lines. Again, the return line goes into a SCH 80 bulkhead and has a George Fisher Wye Check Valve. The drain plumbing is a Bean Animal setup using the Reef Savvy Ghost Overflow, the main drain line going through 1" pipe and a Spears gate valve, tuning drain, and an emergency overflow.

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

At this point, I'm three days into my swap, and it's 11:30 PM. I'm more than a little concerned as to how long everything in the 110 gallon trough is going to live. It's time to put most of the water from the trough back in to the the new display tank, then add back the rock, and new live sand. Here's the mostly empty trough. Only the fish, corals, and inverts are left. Now I'm committed.

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

I've added the new live sand with about four cups of my old sand to help with "seeding" more of my "old" bacteria colony. I'm looking at the water (including the scum/sludge on the surface) and wondering what I've done? Maybe I should have kept the old 75 gallon and just lived with the consequences. At this point, I'm 99% sure I've just nuked my tank. If this happened on my original build, I'm not remembering it. It's now 12:30 AM.

FredsNJReef · Apr 4, 2018

Hi!

I believe that is from the new sand. Did you rinse it thoroughly?

jakeh22 · Apr 4, 2018

You should have started the new tank with fresh sand. With that said you should have soaked the sand in water to eliminate the suds that gets created. The suds are from the bonding agent used to adhere the live bacteria to the sand. Then you should have used mostly existing tank water as well as new water let that sit and cycle while running the pumps and skimmer and let the particles filter out. Then place the Coral and fish in. I see you don’t have enough water to cycle the tank. Always have plenty of oh **** water ready when doing this. I just did the same swap 75 to a 90 In a few hours and went fine because of preparation nothing was spared. You will be fine just get that water filtering asap. Some fish might die ya but that’s how we learn

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

After taking a deep breath, I decide at this point there is nothing I can do but continue to fill my new tank with the 30 gallons newly made saltwater I have on hand. I'll let it settle a while and hope for the best. It's 1:00 AM. I fill the tank to capacity and it's time to test my plumbing skills and turn on the pump. Water begins shooting from a union that I didn't tighten all the way, and I lose about a gallon of water on the wall and floor before I can get the pump turned off. I tell myself again to "Go slow to go fast" and re-check every union (ten of them). After firing up the pump again, a steady trickle of water is leaking from the Ghost Overflow. I try to tighten the bulkhead, but it seems to make it worse.
Somehow, now at 2:00 AM I am able to figure the issue out. I have used SCH 80 fittings to set up the Bean Animal drain. The center pipe with the two 90° Street/Slip fittings don't quite fit in the slim profile of the overflow box, and the bulkhead nut is actually against the fitting causing a gap between the tank and the external overflow box, in turn causing the leak. I removed one of the 90° fittings so it no longer presses on the side of the overflow box and re-tightened the bulkhead nut. Problem solved. The design of the Reef Savvy Ghost Overflow is intentionlly low profile. This would not have happened had I used SCH 40 fittings on the Bean Animal overflow (I'm still glad I used SCH 80 everywhere else). I'm living with a modified setup (less the one 90° fitting), and it's no problem.
Sorry no pictures from me of all this. It was crunch time, and I was ready to jump head first off a bridge if things didn't start to go smoother. You might be able to tell from these images from the Reef Savvy website to get an idea as to the tight fit; the exterior box is only 2 3/4" wide. My issue was in the center drain hole, under the small crossbrace. This is a great product and overflow, with unbelievable craftmanship, and truly dead siletn. The issue I had is not any type of design flaw, just installation error on my part.

jakeh22 · Apr 4, 2018

**** man my dad and I moved his 250 and in the middle of it I placed the skimmer in the tank on rocks just to clear it up. Just proceed you will be fine try and get some filtration on it

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

So, the sand finally settled and things started to look quasi-normal. It was almost 3:00 AM and I found one more leak. In my elation to be done with plumbing, I had forgotten to cement the very last fitting (nipple adapter) into the T fitting. It was only a small drip when I found it, and I was lucky it didn't just blow out. Fortunately I only had to turn off the pump, got under the stand and cemented the fitting on site.

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

At last, I had everything set up. After a last leak check I went to bed at 4:00 AM. That was a month ago, and I can finally talk and write about it. Botttom line: it all turned out great! I had zero livestock losses! 1 x yellow coris wrasse, 2 x percula clowns, 2 x fire fish, 1 x sailfin blenny, 1 x cleaner shrimp, 4 x zoa colonies, 2 x lobophylia, 2 x ricordea yuma, several SPS, plus snails and hermit crabs; they all made it. I've added a DOS and made some DIY dosing containers. I have the Aquatic Life DIY retro fixture waiting to go up once I'm able to get mounting arms/brackets figured out.
Thanks for reading; it's a litte cathartic to put all this out there. All comments welcome. Happy Reefing to all of you! Here's the end result:

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

FredsNJReef said:
Hi!

I believe that is from the new sand. Did you rinse it thoroughly?

No, I didn't rinse it. It was the live sand from Carib-Sea, and said on the bag specifically not to rinse and you should dump the whole thing in. It all turned out!

Emerson · Apr 4, 2018

jakeh22 said:
You should have started the new tank with fresh sand. With that said you should have soaked the sand in water to eliminate the suds that gets created. The suds are from the bonding agent used to adhere the live bacteria to the sand. Then you should have used mostly existing tank water as well as new water let that sit and cycle while running the pumps and skimmer and let the particles filter out. Then place the Coral and fish in. I see you don’t have enough water to cycle the tank. Always have plenty of oh **** water ready when doing this. I just did the same swap 75 to a 90 In a few hours and went fine because of preparation nothing was spared. You will be fine just get that water filtering asap. Some fish might die ya but that’s how we learn

I did end up using 95% fresh sand. I thought a little of the old sand wouldn't hurt. I can't say it was right or wrong, just that a month later I've had no fish or coral deaths.
The suds were scary, but ended up being a non-issue. I used a filter sock to get most of the suspended particulate out, and what it didn't catch settled in the sump which I cleaned later. The tank water was all but 5 or so gallons of my original 75 gallons, plus another 30 gallons I had made on hand.
Man! Nice work doing a swap like that in a few hours. I thought I had it all planned out, but like most things it didn't go quite as smoothly as planned, and everything took longer to do (i.e. modify the back of the cabinet to account for the new plumbing scheme, whoops no jig saw blades, leaks, etc.).