My first build110g acrylic!!!!! Yaya BUDDY.

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Aight guys here’s the start of my build as some of you fellow reefers know. The wife let me pull the trigger on a bigger tank. I had been eyeballing this used tank and stand and was reluctant because it’s acrylic. Well I said blah I’ll check it out, and today I purchased the tank stand and canopy sump and a closed loops system with a big honkin UV sterilizer. And all for 300 and the guy even delivered it to me score.

so I e got a few decisions to make with the tank because the bottom has been drilled. I have spoken to a few reefers here for ideas. And thank you all for the ideas and support. (Best community ever, the office ain’t got **** on reef2reef lol). Hopefully some of you guys get that analogy if not sorry. I think I’m going with the route of drilling a few more holes on back panel for circulation to the sump. With that figured out what do you guys think about leaving 2 holes unplugged on bottom and hooking up a gate and such for easy water changes? I know I’ll still have to siphon sand and such every other change?

the stand I’m going to have to make a new one because I have 20 inches headroom and sump is 18” tall no bueno. Which sucks because that stand has some awesome features to it. So my inside compartment is 6’L x 14”D x 20”T. I would prefer to keep at least the ends open for turning into shelving for supplies on one side and the controllers and such on the other side. Which would shrink my length down to between 36-48. I would like to keep stand and sand and repaint black.But I’m a carpenter by trade so building one is also enticing to me. But any who enough jockeeing around here are the pics.

I will be updating as the tank progresses through its stages. Thanks all for the support and ideas and ideas to come.

The tank that’s up and running is my current little guy it’s a 32g biocube has 3 clownies and a blue mandarin dragonet and there is a bta in there to but he’s small and hiding in a shell lol. And Georgie the curious coral banded shrimp. Lol

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First off, great setup! What a steal! I think I'd be pretty worried about draining from the bottom in case you pull a fish, invert, or if you start draining sand in addition to water. However, if you can find a way around those concerns, it sounds fascinating!
 
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Thanks I’m pretty stoked about being able to do this tank my way. My wife isn’t to thrilled she don’t like fish. I got home and said to her come see the fishes new mansion and she glared at me lol. I looked at her and said hey were married so if I’m enthusiastic about something you should be to that’s what it means to be married. lol I kept a straight face for as long as possible.

Ya I spoke with a few reefers and they gave me some awesome ideas but I’m thinking I’m going to plug em and drill 3 more holes in the back just so I don’t get and oh **** scenarios lol.
 

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Thanks I’m pretty stoked about being able to do this tank my way. My wife isn’t to thrilled she don’t like fish. I got home and said to her come see the fishes new mansion and she glared at me lol. I looked at her and said hey were married so if I’m enthusiastic about something you should be to that’s what it means to be married. lol I kept a straight face for as long as possible.

Ya I spoke with a few reefers and they gave me some awesome ideas but I’m thinking I’m going to plug em and drill 3 more holes in the back just so I don’t get and oh **** scenarios lol.
I will be using my closed loop drains for water changes/emptying the tank if the need arises. Putting a Tee in the down pipe under the stand with a 1" gate valve coming off the side that I can hook a hose up to and drain straight out of the house. You could use one of te holes in the bottom to do that with, however, I would add a section of pipe to raise the drain above the sand a couple of inches, then add one of the strainers you posted in your other thread to keep any creatures from being sucked in.
 
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I will be using my closed loop drains for water changes/emptying the tank if the need arises. Putting a Tee in the down pipe under the stand with a 1" gate valve coming off the side that I can hook a hose up to and drain straight out of the house. You could use one of te holes in the bottom to do that with, however, I would add a section of pipe to raise the drain above the sand a couple of inches, then add one of the strainers you posted in your other thread to keep any creatures from being sucked in.
Does it matter what holes I use I was thinking the end ones just because less likely to have rock much further or even higher than the drain.
So my common sense and stuff is telling me that When I drill the 3 holes for the drains into sump I’ll be running an elbow off that is that safe to assume?
 
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“Fish mansion.” Lol. (I assume you told your wife that HER mansion wasn’t too far off in the future?) Best wishes— you got a steal of a deal.
No I didn’t tell her that but I did agree to her quitting her job and remodeling the downstairs bathroom for her lol.
 

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Does it matter what holes I use I was thinking the end ones just because less likely to have rock much further or even higher than the drain.
So my common sense and stuff is telling me that When I drill the 3 holes for the drains into sump I’ll be running an elbow off that is that safe to assume?
Depends on what you plan on using for an overflow. If your thinking of just drilling holes and installing bulkheads to drain to the sump, yes you can do that, but not really the most ideal way to do it. If you want to do that, at least consider the overflows I posted on your other thread, or at least maybe DIY something similar. Ideally you want a large amount on surface skimming via a weir of some sort. But, to answer your question...lol...it depends on what you use for an overflow on whether you use a 90 elbow or not. If you go the route you're thinking about, then yes a 90 down to the sump...hang on back overflow or similar set up, drains will go straight down to sump. Hopefully I'm not confusing you too much. If you need more info, I'll be in and out of here off and on tonight as family allows.
 
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Depends on what you plan on using for an overflow. If your thinking of just drilling holes and installing bulkheads to drain to the sump, yes you can do that, but not really the most ideal way to do it. If you want to do that, at least consider the overflows I posted on your other thread, or at least maybe DIY something similar. Ideally you want a large amount on surface skimming via a weir of some sort. But, to answer your question...lol...it depends on what you use for an overflow on whether you use a 90 elbow or not. If you go the route you're thinking about, then yes a 90 down to the sump...hang on back overflow or similar set up, drains will go straight down to sump. Hopefully I'm not confusing you too much. If you need more info, I'll be in and out of here off and on tonight as family allows.
No worries just reaping at yourself leisure family first.
But yes I get what your saying I didn’t get a chance to look at the overflow you posted but I’m going to check it out. What you’re saying with surface skimming makes perfect sense. My brain is in and out right now got about 3 hrs sleep lol. And for futures sake I want a return pump that can handle roughly 10x total tank volume? And then Calc in the head pressure. The research I did said 5-10x volume so I’m thinking if I went 10x I should still fall within 5-10 range.
 

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No worries just reaping at yourself leisure family first.
But yes I get what your saying I didn’t get a chance to look at the overflow you posted but I’m going to check it out. What you’re saying with surface skimming makes perfect sense. My brain is in and out right now got about 3 hrs sleep lol. And for futures sake I want a return pump that can handle roughly 10x total tank volume? And then Calc in the head pressure. The research I did said 5-10x volume so I’m thinking if I went 10x I should still fall within 5-10 range.

I ditched the family for a couple of hours ;) ...pops is asleep and my wife and mother took my niece and nephew out for milkshakes...so now I have peace and quiet ;Hurting
The whole 10x turnover rate is a very debated subject, and sometimes very sensitive subject, and the answers you get will vary depending on who you ask. I personally shoot for 5x-7x through my sump/fuge, usuallyshoot for 3x-4x in my fuge and the rest straight into my skimmer section . I do not rely on my return pump for actual flow in my display tank and I dont really count the return flow as part of my circulation flow in my display, I only count the flow from my closed loop, have done it this way for 20+ years and it has always worked good for me, so no point in changing it in my opinion. That being said, if you are going to shoot for 10x, then get a pump capable of 20-25% more than what you want to make up for friction loss and head preasure.
 

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So just checked out that overflow man those are nice. I actually may get that one and bam one step closer lol.
I love mine, and once you get everything set on it, not difficult to do, and I can send you pictures and measurements for the drains once I get them back in place next week, you will have zero issues out of it, and it will be dead silent :cool:
 
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I love mine, and once you get everything set on it, not difficult to do, and I can send you pictures and measurements for the drains once I get them back in place next week, you will have zero issues out of it, and it will be dead silent :cool:
Nice that’s one thing the wife said was to make sure it’s quiet. I hooked up a gyre2k and it’s considerably louder than the one I had in there. So for the overflow box than I want to make sure that the flow rate will support the pump correct?
 

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Nice that’s one thing the wife said was to make sure it’s quiet. I hooked up a gyre2k and it’s considerably louder than the one I had in there. So for the overflow box than I want to make sure that the flow rate will support the pump correct?
You want this one ;Sorry


It is basically the same as the one on my 75 gal...mine is one of the early models and has a few differences, but overall set up is same as mine.
 
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You want this one ;Sorry


It is basically the same as the one on my 75 gal...mine is one of the early models and has a few differences, but overall set up is same as mine.
Ok ya that’s what I was thinking as well after reading the descriptions on each. My brain is about fried lol no sleep and way to much thinking. To plug bulk head I’m good to just screw caps and stuff on the ends right? Or because it potentially house baddies should I cap and put a plug on the other end?
 

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sleep on it,think if going to use as drain,stub pipe ,valve,fitting to connect hose
 
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I might do that but before I sign out of here I’m going to leave you all with my dilemma lol. I’m trying to figure out what size pump I need for return and I’ll have 10ft worth of head pressure should I watched dang video that showed a chart but I can’t find a chart that will work for me. Does anyone have a chart or know where one is.
 

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i' m going to say mag drive 1,2jeboa/jecod but buy 2of jeboa "back up"3 blue line in pumps,lets see what others have to say in morn.. pic and size of sump n uv,skimmer,i'm interested in the lights pic of ballasts,sea ya tomorrow ;)
 
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