Mode Aquarium 100Gallon Build (first tank ever)

[shrive81]

Hey Guys and Gals,

So it has begun after research and saving and wondering if i even know what i am doing i pulled the trigger on purchasing all my items for the build. i have been trying to take pics of everything along the way to do a big build thread for you guys. I want to be able to see what you guys think and get any knowledge of advice I can and if anything just be a good build thread to help anyone or keep people entertained hahahaha

The Items:
Tank: Mode Aquariums Inifity 100 gallon with large sump
Pump: Reef Octopus varios 6 controllable pump
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Regal 200INT with various 4 controllable pump
wave pumps: Reef Ocotopus octo pulse 2 x2
Filtration: Sump with two socks running fleece
Media: Marine Pure balls ( alot of them )
Control: System controlled by the new Hydros Control 4 and Wave Engine
Lights: two Geismann Verve One LED lights with tank mounts
ATO: 5 gallon controlled by control 4 ATO system
Sand: Non live sand
Rock: carib sea Life Rock, ( non live rock)


I will post pics in a few minutes

 

[shrive81]

So after all the items showed up I finally was able to pick up the tank from Mode aquariums in southern cali which is nice cause they are only 30 minutes from my house.

Everything was packaged great and they also fixed a few items that they had some issues with. One was ther holes in the tank that are drilled for the return lines used to be off and need to be filled but now they are perfect and the bulk heads slide right in. The other thing they added was they added a lid to the overflow box with is just a plastic cover but it helps stop splash from the infinity design overflow.

 

[shrive81]

Pics of components

 

[shrive81]

Tank finally here

 

[shrive81]

Next part was building the stand, the Mode tanks come with a aluminum stand that is very very easy to put together like it took me 20 minutes to put the entire thing together. It has magnetic panels that fit on the frame and can be removed from all sides. Very sturdy stand and also has adjustable feet on the bottom to level the stand once in place....

 

[shrive81]

Stand

 

[rapid]

lol sweet build following along !

 

[shrive81]

After I got approval from the wife on stand placement and a lot of moving around I was able to have my buddy come up and help me place the tank on the stand.... they send a leveling foam matte that is designed to sit under the glass tank to help with any uneven areas. They provide it way bigger then the base and my first though was to cut it to size but then realized it would be way easier to just put it in and make sure it over hangs on all sides then after all said and done take a razor blade and trim it to size...

 

[shrive81]

The next part was the sump which slides in from either side. Which is very handy if you ever wanted to remove it or pull it out for any reason... the sump is pretty nice as it is a 3/8” thick glass tank then is wrapped with white acrylic for appearance purposes... it has two 4” filter socks that go into a small holding area then a larger area that then flows into the return pump section... nice thing is that it also looks like it will hold a lot of extra water which will come in handy when turning off return pumps for maintenance etc.... also have a 5 gallon ato that fits on the side that I got but I am thinking I will probably want to double that if not triple that if I can

 

[shrive81]

the next part is the plumbing. these tanks come with all the plumbing that is needed to get it up and running... Now a few things that I will say. They do use metric size plumbing which is a huge pain in the butt if you want to source any extra parts. But they nice thing is they do use Upvc which is nice and the color combo looks good. The Infinity overflow box they use is said to be dead silent but uses a Dorso (i think that is the name) overflow with an emergancy drain as well. The main drain has a very nice gate valve for adjustment and also is serviceable and can be completely taken apart and cleaned. all the pieces were cut to size you just had to figure out what pieces went where and I think I only cut one piece that connected the two return lines....

 

[shrive81]

Plumbing

 

[shrive81]

So after it was all setup and plumbed (dry) i do wish they included one more union for the emergency drain so it can be broken down if i needed to remove the sump. as for everything else it is straight forward and went together easily and pretty standard. I might one day redo it if I decide i need more options but i think it will work well... One thing I did do was pain the bulkhead piece that is in the tank black so it wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb inside the tank

 

[shrive81]

Painted bulk head piece

 

[shrive81]

So one of the first things I did before i even put the tank on the stand was I added LED strip lights that I bought off amazon that has 3m sticky back and a door sensor switch that turns them off when the panels are put on. The reason i did this first was basically so I can see. it was a very smart decision cause I was able to see the plumbing and sumb area amazing working into the evening and made a huge difference in the overall look

 

[shrive81]

Led lights

 

[shrive81]

So next was getting all the lights and equipment in the sump and attached. I didn’t realize how much wiring was going to be involved in a tank like this. Since I am running the hydros control 4 and wave engine it did help reduce the amount of power supplies but between the control wires, sensors, power cables etc the wire management begins to get a little overwhelming. Wanted to make it as clean as possible and make sure the wires were secure and not going to be hanging all over the place...

 

[shrive81]

man quiet crowd hahaha

 

[photo_reefer]

Looks great! I just put water in my Mode 100 yesterday. I've had the tank sitting for some months and finally had some time. I did find I messed up gluing the plumbing together, I have tiny leak at the T from the return and at one of the 90's. I'm now trying to figure out if I should just go ahead and redo all the return plumbing and build a manifold or try to spot repair. I planned on a manifold in the future anyways.

 

[Fred2482]

Looks awesome! Love your fish!

 

[shrive81]

Looks great! I just put water in my Mode 100 yesterday. I've had the tank sitting for some months and finally had some time. I did find I messed up gluing the plumbing together, I have tiny leak at the T from the return and at one of the 90's. I'm now trying to figure out if I should just go ahead and redo all the return plumbing and build a manifold or try to spot repair. I planned on a manifold in the future anyways.

Ya so I had issues with the drain setup they provide as you can control the water level to stay consistent so I cut the main drain approx 5-6" and took about 1" off the emergency drain and made it into a full Herbie style and it works WAY WAY better now...