So I've finally transferred my corals into my 150g DT yesterday and I thought it was finally time to throw up a build thread.
I started a "planning" thread HERE back in May but I wanted to make a separate build thread for all those impatient people like me who don't want to subscribe to a thread and then have to wait for weeks and weeks between updates... That thread has some pictures and details of my system before it was set up in its current form. but A LOT has changed, so I wanted to document the updates here, and use this thread to track progress moving forward.
I'll start off with a full tank shot from yesterday after transferring all my corals to the display from the frag tank in the basement (I'm really limited in my photo skills and using my iPhone 6s, sorry...):
System Overview:
Tanks:
Display -
--150g (60" x 24" x 24") SCA low iron glass aquarium (purchased used from a local member with custom cabinet)
--Lighting: 60" Giesemann Aroura (4x80w T5 + 4x75w LED panels), reefbrite XHO 50/50 strip (and adding one more RB XHO Actinic strip to balance the fixture)
--Filtration: Reef Octopus Regal 250 SSS, Dual BRS media reactor with only GAC at the moment, lots of live rock in the system too
--Sump(s): the system utilizes 2 sumps - an Eshopps 300-ADV and an emerald 34 by Trigger
--Cal/Alk maintenance: Vertex RX-C 6D with Aquarium Plants carbon doser electronic regulator; deltec kalk stirrer fed by Auto-aqua ATO from fresh RO/DI tank
--Flow: 2 x MP40's + 2 x Gyre xf250's (still figuring them all out!)
--Return pump(s): 2 x Sicce SDC 9.0 dc pumps running in tandem from the basement to the main floor.
--control: Apex 2016 model, 2 EB8s, WXM, PM1 and PM2 that I'm not really utilizing yet
Frag Tank -
--90g acrylic custom tank (60" x 12" x 18" I think?) with built in overflow box on the back
--lighting: ATI 6 x 24" with supplemental RB actinic strip, and 2 x reefbreeders blak box LEDs (ancient but they work)
--flow: 2 x MP40's, 2 x eflux wave maker powerheads, and an icecap gyre 150 (i.e., TONS)
--return: the frag tank is plumbed into the system but runs off it's own return from the Emerald 34 sump with a Neptune Cor20
Water change Tank (WCT) -
--60g glass cube and stand, drilled
--Flow: tee'd off the main DT drain from upstairs into the tank, then overflows via a large durso into the Eshopps 300-ADV sump.
--other: drain is at the bottom of the tank and plumbed through the foundation wall to a storm drain outside. I can turn a ball valve and drain all 60 gallons in a few minutes. Currently the WCT also houses extra live rock I didn't need for my display, so it serves as a great refugium.
Water change station -
2 x 65g water tanks from the storage tank depot. Connected to my 6-stage RO/DI and booster pump with a solenoid controlled by my apex that only opens once per day for an hour to make up for top off. One tank keeps fresh and the other is also fresh until time to mix salt. I can switch on a pump to mix and then fill the 60g WCT. I can do a 60 gal water change in about 5 minutes the way I have it set up.
Set up:
So it took me a long time to get to this point mainly because I kept wanting to do more. At first the "fish room" was just a room in my unfinished basement (concrete floors but no insulation/drywall/HVAC). However, I want to use that space eventually for more living space, so while I temporarily set up my filtration room and frag tank there and started growing corals, I also finished out a completely unfinished, dirt floor 10' x 10' room I literally discovered behind a plywood board...
The other thing that increased my build time is the simultaneous home renovation I'm doing on my 100 year old bungalow... Including removal of the house's central load bearing wall and installation of a manufactured beam (contracted that out!), and new floors in the kitchen among other things...
But working around those things, what I ended up with is a finished 10' x 10' fish room that houses my water mixing station, 90g frag tank, 2 sumps, and 60g water change tank.
Flow is as follows:
Main tank has three holes drilled for 1" bulkheads, so I plumbed it Herbie style with one full siphon, one emergency standpipe, and one return (split into two directional nozzles). The full siphon has a gate valve to tune the flow, then it drops through the floor to a wye, where it splits off to feed the 60g WCT and the rest dumps into the main sump where the skimmer is. When I want to do a water change, I close this wye via a ball valve on the 60g side, and all the water from upstairs gets re-directed to the main sump. The beauty of this system is that I don't have to take the system offline at all while I do a water change! I just close the valve and nothing else changes. That lets me drain that tank via one valve, then fill it back up with a pump from the storage tank and then open the valve again from upstairs and it's back online!
The main sump is plumbed via 1.5" PVC to the secondary sump where all my probes and heaters are. This sump has one internal return pump (COR20) for the 90g frag tank, which drains back into it, and then two Sicce 9.0 DC pumps that are externally plumbed with their own 1" bulkhead each. These come back together in a wye and push through a 1" wye check valve (medical grade Greg Fisher), then back through my floor to the main display tank return upstairs.
And that's basically that! I have had the system operating for a couple months now and am really happy with everything so far. But because of the home renovation upstairs, I had the tank covered with a tarp to keep dust and debris out, so all the corals have been thriving in my frag tank until yesterday when I aquascaped and turned on the lights.
Pictures of various stages of the process in the following several posts. Thanks for looking, and I welcome your questions and feedback!
I started a "planning" thread HERE back in May but I wanted to make a separate build thread for all those impatient people like me who don't want to subscribe to a thread and then have to wait for weeks and weeks between updates... That thread has some pictures and details of my system before it was set up in its current form. but A LOT has changed, so I wanted to document the updates here, and use this thread to track progress moving forward.
I'll start off with a full tank shot from yesterday after transferring all my corals to the display from the frag tank in the basement (I'm really limited in my photo skills and using my iPhone 6s, sorry...):
System Overview:
Tanks:
Display -
--150g (60" x 24" x 24") SCA low iron glass aquarium (purchased used from a local member with custom cabinet)
--Lighting: 60" Giesemann Aroura (4x80w T5 + 4x75w LED panels), reefbrite XHO 50/50 strip (and adding one more RB XHO Actinic strip to balance the fixture)
--Filtration: Reef Octopus Regal 250 SSS, Dual BRS media reactor with only GAC at the moment, lots of live rock in the system too
--Sump(s): the system utilizes 2 sumps - an Eshopps 300-ADV and an emerald 34 by Trigger
--Cal/Alk maintenance: Vertex RX-C 6D with Aquarium Plants carbon doser electronic regulator; deltec kalk stirrer fed by Auto-aqua ATO from fresh RO/DI tank
--Flow: 2 x MP40's + 2 x Gyre xf250's (still figuring them all out!)
--Return pump(s): 2 x Sicce SDC 9.0 dc pumps running in tandem from the basement to the main floor.
--control: Apex 2016 model, 2 EB8s, WXM, PM1 and PM2 that I'm not really utilizing yet
Frag Tank -
--90g acrylic custom tank (60" x 12" x 18" I think?) with built in overflow box on the back
--lighting: ATI 6 x 24" with supplemental RB actinic strip, and 2 x reefbreeders blak box LEDs (ancient but they work)
--flow: 2 x MP40's, 2 x eflux wave maker powerheads, and an icecap gyre 150 (i.e., TONS)
--return: the frag tank is plumbed into the system but runs off it's own return from the Emerald 34 sump with a Neptune Cor20
Water change Tank (WCT) -
--60g glass cube and stand, drilled
--Flow: tee'd off the main DT drain from upstairs into the tank, then overflows via a large durso into the Eshopps 300-ADV sump.
--other: drain is at the bottom of the tank and plumbed through the foundation wall to a storm drain outside. I can turn a ball valve and drain all 60 gallons in a few minutes. Currently the WCT also houses extra live rock I didn't need for my display, so it serves as a great refugium.
Water change station -
2 x 65g water tanks from the storage tank depot. Connected to my 6-stage RO/DI and booster pump with a solenoid controlled by my apex that only opens once per day for an hour to make up for top off. One tank keeps fresh and the other is also fresh until time to mix salt. I can switch on a pump to mix and then fill the 60g WCT. I can do a 60 gal water change in about 5 minutes the way I have it set up.
Set up:
So it took me a long time to get to this point mainly because I kept wanting to do more. At first the "fish room" was just a room in my unfinished basement (concrete floors but no insulation/drywall/HVAC). However, I want to use that space eventually for more living space, so while I temporarily set up my filtration room and frag tank there and started growing corals, I also finished out a completely unfinished, dirt floor 10' x 10' room I literally discovered behind a plywood board...
The other thing that increased my build time is the simultaneous home renovation I'm doing on my 100 year old bungalow... Including removal of the house's central load bearing wall and installation of a manufactured beam (contracted that out!), and new floors in the kitchen among other things...
But working around those things, what I ended up with is a finished 10' x 10' fish room that houses my water mixing station, 90g frag tank, 2 sumps, and 60g water change tank.
Flow is as follows:
Main tank has three holes drilled for 1" bulkheads, so I plumbed it Herbie style with one full siphon, one emergency standpipe, and one return (split into two directional nozzles). The full siphon has a gate valve to tune the flow, then it drops through the floor to a wye, where it splits off to feed the 60g WCT and the rest dumps into the main sump where the skimmer is. When I want to do a water change, I close this wye via a ball valve on the 60g side, and all the water from upstairs gets re-directed to the main sump. The beauty of this system is that I don't have to take the system offline at all while I do a water change! I just close the valve and nothing else changes. That lets me drain that tank via one valve, then fill it back up with a pump from the storage tank and then open the valve again from upstairs and it's back online!
The main sump is plumbed via 1.5" PVC to the secondary sump where all my probes and heaters are. This sump has one internal return pump (COR20) for the 90g frag tank, which drains back into it, and then two Sicce 9.0 DC pumps that are externally plumbed with their own 1" bulkhead each. These come back together in a wye and push through a 1" wye check valve (medical grade Greg Fisher), then back through my floor to the main display tank return upstairs.
And that's basically that! I have had the system operating for a couple months now and am really happy with everything so far. But because of the home renovation upstairs, I had the tank covered with a tarp to keep dust and debris out, so all the corals have been thriving in my frag tank until yesterday when I aquascaped and turned on the lights.
Pictures of various stages of the process in the following several posts. Thanks for looking, and I welcome your questions and feedback!
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