Member No. 1's 120gal Ver 2.0

[Member No 1]

Ok, not much to see. This will be more of an ongoing diary vs a build thread.
More details to come soon.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Details?

 

[Member No 1]

Details?

I did a build thread on another forum, I haven't updated it in quite a while. I'll cross post here, and try to stay current.

 

[Member No 1]

Posted 17-Dec-17

And it has begun!
Over the course of the upcoming weeks/months, I will be replacing my current 80 gallon with a 120 gallon.
My current 80 gallon has been up and running for over 3 years, and while there aren't any problems with it, I wanted to redo a few things.
A few of the main reasons for the upgrade/redo:
1: Change the sump/overflow/plumbing to a easier to maintain, and quieter system.
2: Redo the current aquascape
3: Since all my SPS are overtaking each other and growing out of the water, time to weed the coral garden.
4: Reduce the current fish selection. No way in hell to catch them now.
5: And this is the main reason.... Rid my tank once and for all of all the PITA mushrooms that take over everything! Trust me, I've tried all the methods, only sure way is to never let them in in the first place.

The new 120 Deep Blue with a Synergy Shadow Ghost Overflow on the end will still be bare bottom, running (2) 250w DE MH with 2 T-5 Atinics, and Calcium reactor. Just the basics as this work perfectly for me.

My 80 currently is under full control of my Apex Classic, but the new 120 will get the full on Apex 2016 system. Flow meters, Cor Pump, new optic sensors, PMUP, etc...
However, I'll still be using my MP-40's for water movement.
A few new items will be:
Synergy CL-34 Sump White/Red
Eshopps new S-200 Skimmer
Vertex RX-6D Calcium Reactor

So follow along if you want... enjoy the adventure with me.

It's a start!

 

[Member No 1]

Posted 17-Dec-17

For reference, this was taken 02-Feb-17.
Pretty much all the coral at the top of the tank is now at the water line.
Hence the redo.
Sorry to say, I don't have any up to date pics, since I already started the weeding process.

 

[Member No 1]

***** UPDATE 19-Dec-17 *****
Diamonds are a girl's best friend...

Unless of course you're a Reefer and it's a diamond tipped hole saw!

More goodies have arrived!

 

[Member No 1]

***** update 20-dec-17 *****
More stuff.....

1½" Schedule 80 Unions for the plumbing from The Shadow Overflow to the Synergy Sump.

2" x 2" Raceway to help manage/hide the wires and cables.

 

[Member No 1]

***** Update 21-Dec-17 *****
My new Margarita Mixer arrived!

Eshopps S200 - very well made. Looking forward to the day I can fire this baby up!

With a Sicce pump, this should not give me any troubles what so ever.
Notice the bubble plate on top of the pump. Eshopps claims it rotates the water to give it more dwell time. We shall see.

Note the clear venturi. Easy to see any calcium buildup. A nice feature!

Hope it works as good as it looks!

 

[Member No 1]

***** Update 22-Dec-17 *****
Lots of goodies today!

Tank arrived, drilling two holes in the end for the Synergy Shadow Overflow.

Drilling....

First hole done! No cracks!

Hole 2 done! My heart started up again!

It's getting hot up in here! (2) 250watt Eheim (Ebo) Jägers.

EcoTech Driver Mounts.

HDPE - I run a bare bottom! ½" for the bottom of the tank, ¼" will be to build the mounting board for the Apex and modules.

Red 1½" for the drains, 1" for the returns under the stand, 1" black for the returns inside the tank.

Misc. 1" black fittings.

 

[Member No 1]

***** Update 29-Dec-17 *****
Nothing like the sound the back-up alarm makes as the UPS truck backs into my driveway! 5 Big boxes!

Opened the first one, pictures of the other stuff tomorrow!

Such a pretty box!

Well packed!

I'll post an assembled picture when I set it up in a few weeks.

 

[Member No 1]

***** UPDATE 27-Jan-18 *****
Well it's been about a month since my last update. Lot's going on, new stuff arriving weekly, just been to busy with priority stuff.

One item on my "Upgrade Tank" To Do list was to upgrade my RO/DI system and increase my water supply storage tanks. I had (2) 44 gallon brutes and (2) 55 gallon drums, but I wanted to upgrade to all 55 gallon drums. Also redo the transfer system from my mixing barrel to my storage barrel.
So I upgraded my RO unit to a second RO membrane plumbed in series to increase my daily production from 75 gallons to 150 gallons. Now I know the values are probably lower, but you get my drift. Because of the second membrane, I needed to get a larger Booster Pump. So the Aquatec 8800 is replacing the 6800 I had. That is being used on the 3 stage Di to push water thru. See below. I also put in a Auto Flush valve. I run this in parallel to the manual flush valve. I installed a manual by-pass to bleed off the product that is high in TDS so it doesn't go into my RO water storage barrel. I use a Triple In Line TDS meter to determine when to close the by-pass an open the flow to the RO storage. One meter is on each product line coming out of each membrane, then the 3rd is on the product line of the 3 Stage DI.
I have well water which is high in Co2. This will burn thru DI resin like crazy. So I have to produce RO only water that goes into a 55 gallon drum which gets aerated to de-gas the Co2 before I pump it thru the 3 Stage DI. From there it then goes to either the make up water barrel or the salt mix barrel. Since I do AWC of 4 gallons a day, I can't be mixing salt in the same barrel that I draw the NSW for the daily changes from. So I mix in one barrel, then with a 3-way ball valve, divert the water to the holding barrel.
So here is the set up with added details.

RO Unit. Right to Left - 5 micron pre filter(filter is clean, plastic housing is stained) into the boosting pump, then thru 1 micron final filter, then thru a 1 micron carbon filter. The (2) 75 gallon/day membranes are plumbed in series. Waste from the first is plumbing to the inlet of the second. Then product water from both are sent to the RO barrel for de-gassing.

RO storage on the left which in turn get pumped thru the 3 stage DI to the salt mix barrel on the right or the fresh water make-up barrel (not shown).

Salt mixing pump and 3 way ball valve. This makes transfer to the holding barrel a snap! (Tank on right is a friends that is here only temporary. In other words, not my mess of wires!)

3 Stage DI. Since my well water is high in Co2, I de-gas before I pump it thru the resin. Left is Cation Resin, Middle is Anion, Right is mixed bed. BRS did a great video on why this is a good way to process the RO water.

Entire RO/DI Unit

 

[Member No 1]

***** UPDATE 25-Feb-18 *****
A few more pieces of the puzzle arrived!

I'm on a first name basis with the UPS Driver!

Look at all the pretty Aluminum! Erector set for adults!
80/20 tank stand. My design, lets hope I figured right!

If your stock in Ecotech went up, you can thank me!
(Shameless plug to BRS lower left)

Aqua Ultraviolet Classic 25 Watt UV.

 

[Member No 1]

***** UPDATE 06-Apr-18 *****
COR Ver. 40.0

Getting closer to filling this thing!

Custom terminal block I made to connect the (3) 24v LED understand work lights. These are connected
and controlled by the APEX via one of the 24VDC accessory ports.

Since I was tearing down my 80 gallon, I needed a place to put frags of the mother colonies. So this happened!

Innovative Marine Fusion Lagoon 25
Innovative Marine Stand
ESHOPPS Nano Skimmer
Ebo-Jagger Heater
Apex Controlled
DOS for ATO
Radion XR15 G4 Pro

 

[Member No 1]

***** UPDATE 27-Apr-18 *****
Well I'm getting closer! Tank is full of freshwater, been running leak free for over a week. Still twerking a few things before I drain, move to it's final resting spot, and fill with SW.

So I needed an adjustable mount to hold 4 Neptune optical sensors, and it had to match my Synergy Reef Systems Red/White sump.

So this happened!

Mount: HDPE and Nylon Thumb Screw

Adjustable Bracket - Acrylic

Components - Mount, Thumb Screw, Bracket, 316 SS Flathead Screws

Assembled

Mounted In Sump

 

[Member No 1]

This was a reply to a question on how I was going to mount the UV.


The UV is mounted horizontally under the stand on the right side on a custom mount I machined. You can see it in this photo.

I am using the COR20 for the return pump. It's running at 70%
1-1/4" from pump to 1-1/4 "T" then reduce to 1" for the remainder.
One side goes thru a 1" flow meter, gate valve, then return over left rear the tank.
Other goes thru UV, then 1" flow meter, gate valve, then return over right rear of tank.
It's a 25w Classic by Aqua Ultraviolet and the recommended flow rate is 800-1200 gph. I'm running about 600 thru it.

I believe in a lower flow thru the sump, so I have the other return adjusted to about 375 gph.

I'll post more pictures soon, but here is a screen shot of the COR and flow meters from Fusion.

 

[Member No 1]

***** UPDATE 04-Jun-18 *****
Well, it's been a long process, but since this was a makeover of my 80 gal, and the goal was to change all that I didn't like with that set-up, I took my time to be sure everything down to the smallest detail was covered.
It's been up and running for a couple of weeks now. I put in all new rock, but seeded it with some rubble from the 80's sump. Never saw a cycle, none of the typical nuisance algaes either. All parameters are good. I added some small frags that I took from the 80, along with some of the fish. These were a mated and breeding pair of Banggai Cardinalfish, Royal Gramma, and a Mimic Tang (that's changing to it's adult coloration) The others I re-homed. I have added 2 new fish, a Purple Tang, and a Magnificent Foxface. Planned additions are a pair of juvenile Lamarck Angels (I lost one during the transfer, he jumped one night from the holing tub) and a Six Line to round out tank. Only other possible addition would be a Stripped Blenny.

Here are some pics of the stand. More pics once I breakout the DSLR.

Basic Bare Stand

Back - HDPE

UV Mount - Top

UV Mount - Bottom

Other Miscellaneous Pics

 

[Member No 1]

***** UPDATE 14-Aug-18 *****
Well nothing much to report, tank has been running a little over 3 months.
I've been slowing moving some of the frags that I saved from my 80 over.
Still trying to figure out the Radions. I did pick up an Apogee SQ520 Quantium Par Sensor. It is the model without the meter. It plugs into your computer via USB and you download their software to log the readings. Need to figure out what I getting for lighting intensity. Weekend project.

I never had a cycle due to the rock from my old tank was in the tub along with the new rock during the transition to the new build. I only used the new rock in the new tank. Also to my surprise, I never got diatoms, or any hair algae. Tank and rock are spotless. I even added a few more fish and (2) Maxima's. On top of that, my mated pair of Banggai Cardinalfish spawned! I was able to save (1) baby. He's doing quite nicely in my frag tank. He's a pig! He won't touch live food, but loves flake! The parents are wild caught, and won't touch flake, go figure.

This Friday, I have a package coming from Pacific East Aquaculture. This should be interesting.

The skimmer I brought for this build an ESHOPPS S-200 is working very well. However, despite the fact they state it's Ozone safe, I can't run it with this skimmer. So I've been looking at the new Avast Ozone Reactor. However after doing a bunch of research, and for about the same price, I've decided to change out my ESHOPPS Skimmer for a LifeReef SVS3-24. It's a Venturi style, and I plan on driving it with a COR20 which I already have. This will also be good, because my return is a COR20, and if it was ever to go down, I can pull the one from the skimmer. I can leave the skimmer off a few days until it's repaired or replace. Another plus with a LR Skimmer is you can use any pump you want as long as it's meet's the minimum flow of 1000gph.

Hope to have more pictures soon. Need to dust off the DSLR!

 

[Member No 1]

***** UPDATE 04-Sep-18 *****
Where's Waldo?

Ordered a Lifereef SVS3-24 Skimmer.

Jeff customized it to mated my sump.

Mine is in there somewhere!

Hope it ships this week.

Pics once I have it in hand!

 

[Member No 1]

***** UPDATE 12-Sep-18 *****
Returning home from work last night, as I drove into my driveway, much to my delight, this was sitting on my front step! I felt like a 6 year old on Christmas morning! Hope the neighbors weren't watching!

I hope to get this fired up tonight! Once running, I'll post some more pics.

All the necessary fittings, hoses, and clamps you would need to install.
(Note: I had the COR 20)

Quality craftsmanship for sure! Jeff did a great job!

To connect the COR 20, I didn't want a bunch of adapters, so I whipped this
up this morning.

 

[Member No 1]

***** UPDATE 03-Oct-18 *****
Everything is going very well.
LifeReef Skimmer is working like a champ! One of the best
investments I have made. Very easy to dial in, and once set, it
has not changed. Even when mounting frags, feeding, etc that
would have drove my needle wheel skimmer into a frothing frenzy!
Corals are encrusting.
Coraline is starting to show up.
Still no algae issues.
I'll post pics once I find some time to break out the DSLR.