o00brandon00o | 50 Gallon Build Thread

[o00brandon00o]

First R2R post, ever!

Thread to document, share, and receive community feedback on current build.

Thanks!


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UPDATE:

Current

Removed sand, added second MP10, soaked rock, Chromis died.

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Morning tank shot.

#godblessamerica


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Re-attached loose fitting hood panels on front and left side. Right and back temporarily open for access and ventilation.


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Morning sunlight across the house from the stainless steel grill lid on the pool deck!




5/31/18 - 5/20/19: Bare-bottom conversion, new fuge, ATS, chaeto, skimmer, soaked the live rock in darkness to deal with Red Turf Algae, through wall chiller, doser, and ATO

5/31/18: Skimmer installed, hood panel hinges, access panel designed, built and installed

5/30/18: Upgraded sump to 10-gal (blink.blink.), re-org stand internals, and setup QT for next tank mates. Waiting on Aquamaxx 1.5 to HOB of sump.

5/27/18: Ghost died, Spot is recovering, Hole is new: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/blue-green-chromis-hole-in-head-advice-please.396800/#post-4769640

V3 of the ATS screen 7-pt sewing plastic, roughed up with frayed nylon strings and ATS LEDs on-18/off-6.

5/26/18: E-mail from MD, "HOB1.5 not avail." Site says in stock west coast wearhouse. Don't pay MD for overnight and trust online stock levels. Canceled and ordered from another online store and arriving Thur 5/31.

5/25/18: #hobbylobby trip to re-design and build ATS screen. Waiting on grounding probes and HOB 1.5 delivery tmrw Sat, 5/26. Working through algae cycle, lights off.

5/24/18: Snapped the latest pic for another thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t-a-r-d-i-s-blue-50-gal-build.396007/

Lights off: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/vacuum-sand-algae-cycle-in-new-50-gal-build.396044/#post-4765948

5/23/18: Build Thread started and thread started for Chromis, Spot: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/blue-green-chromis-spots-help-identify.395421/#post-4761723

5/22/18: NC

5/21/18: NC

5/20/18: Test & WC

 

[NY_Caveman]

Nice! Welcome to R2R!

 

[Captain Quint]

Greetings, and hope you keep us in the loop on the progress.

 

[o00brandon00o]

Tank:

50 Gallon Starfire Tank With Center Overflow 24" x 24" x 20" 10mm
http://www.scaquariums.com/SCA-50-Gallon-Starfire-Tank-p/sca-50g.htm

I could not be happier with the quality of this SC Aquariums DT, it is absolutely beautiful and competitive for $499 shipped! It was delivered exceptionally packaged on a pallet with a plumbing kit for the supply and return lines.

I originally browsed craigslist and considered used but with my luck I would get home only to then notice a gouging scratch across the front panel. No thanks.

The location warranted a cube versus rectangle DT due to the rounded wall behind. This provides excellent viewing opportunities on all three (3) sides throughout the house from the entrance, dining room, kitchen, and living room.

The front doors face west as the picture shows the sunlight on the travertine, however, the angle of sunshine coming through the doors throughout the year will not make it to the DT.

Any other info on the DT?

If not, moving on to the custom stand & hood build.

Tank

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Plumbing Kit

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Overflow View

 

[o00brandon00o]

Stand & Hood:

Make or buy? Everything I researched lead to the conclusion of a make versus a buy. The market for 'aquarium stands' did not seem to have anything in the dimensions I was shopping for.

One stand design limitation was the footprint of the tank at 24" x 24" and being 6'7" myself, I could afford a stand height of 40" and still reach the bottom of the tank (barely). I am really happy I went with the 40" height as everyone who watches the DT seems comfortable looking straight ahead, more or less, rather than having to bend down or kink-the-neck to the side.

Stand design aesthetics are probably the lowest priority at the moment. I repeat, I know it's ugly. I wanted to design a structurally basic, load bearing frame that I could add-to once I decide on a façade (stone, finished wood, paint, T.A.R.D.I.S., etc etc).

Stand structural design elements include unfinished 1" x 3" pine framing distributing weight to the ground, hidden pocket hole fasteners, loosely installed 1/8" internal panels and a heavy-duty, fully extending drawer slide to house the sump: the idea was for maintenance, the design would allow a user to open a drawer to have top-down access to support equipment. Bad idea (or good idea, poor execution) as I removed the drawer (after a full build-out).

The hood was designed and built to match the unfinished framing of the stand, with matching internal panels and bracing for the light fixture (Shh, SPOILERS). I ended up removed the 1/8" internal panels on the inside of the hood as an uncontrollable amount of condensation was accumulating on the installed reflective mylar liner. I'll figure out an improved design for appropriate hood ventilation... ...later, psh boring.


Stand Footprint

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Stand Frame

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Stand and Hood w/ Panels

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Pocket Holes

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Stand Internal

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Hood Internal

 

[GoVols]

Tagging!!

 

[Dystinction]

I feel a little funny when I say your username out loud....so I'm just gonna say: Looking good, Brandon!
Everyone is getting their built faster than me, but I'm gonna follow along anyway!

Do you have any stocking plan/ideas for this tank?

 

[Sherman]

Nice stand build..

 

[o00brandon00o]

I feel a little funny when I say your username out loud....so I'm just gonna say: Looking good, Brandon!
Everyone is getting their built faster than me, but I'm gonna follow along anyway!

Do you have any stocking plan/ideas for this tank?

Thank you, @Dystinction!

The first and last "o00s" and "00os" are silent in pronounciation, so you're spot on!

My build thread is lagging time now by 1-2 weeks. You can still create a build thread with some ideas to get a solid plan and iron out issues with feedback before committing big $$.

As for stocking plans, at the 50,000-fit level your super-typical mixed reef, chromis, clowns, and gobies with SPS, LPS, and clams. That is what I would like, however, as this forum will attest, it will depend on how I keep this water!

 

[Dystinction]

Well, if I can add any advice to the build process, just take your time, think it through, and enjoy the ride!
If you're not getting any external pressures, don't feel rushed....it'll pay off in the end.

 

[o00brandon00o]

Plumbing & Electrical:

Quick word on electrical, using a dedicated 900w 1500mva UPS in a dedicated GFCI to backup the entire system. Behind the UPS is a whole home 14000w propane generator with 400-gal of buried LP. FL power outages, right? Thoughts behind the UPS are to bridge the kick-on time of the generator. Equipment is plugged into generic 6-outlet power strips as their cords demand. Ordered grounding probe on 5/24, will update with install.

Any other electrical details I have overlooked?

Utilizing the 3x 1" drilled holes and provided bulkheads I tried to model the drain after the Herbie Overflow with a dry emergency standpipe only to quickly realize I plumbed it to the primary standpipe (posting my mistakes as well!!!) I have since separated the two (2) standpipe drains to the sump. I am very thankful I noticed, could have been messy!

Return line with primary and emergency standpipes.

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Top down view of drain and return lines.

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Dry DT, pre-fill with UPS, temp probe, and (incorrect) drain visible.


A new, 29-qt container served as a temporary sump to allow adjust plumbing levels and setting primary drain height to drain only what the sump would allow safely should the pump stop. The return line tap to ball valve and 1/4" line has proved incredibly useful so far! That is a very dangerous ball valve though!

The sump container houses 2x 300w heaters, return pump, and temp probe. I ran clear tape along the outside of the container to mark water levels as I dialed in drain ball valve and power outage effects on water levels.

As of this posting I have switched from sump container to cheap 10-gal glass aquarium from big box store. Pooling water under the lid on the plastic containers was an immediate attention grabber.

I have a legit sump added to my backlog as I'm beginning to suspect I overlooked micro-bubbles in the DT and room for extra equipment.

Temporary sump with return ball valve. Pump off, removed 1/4" T, added return hose clamps.


Since I did not build the stand level to the ground I was working on, I studied, shimmied, and leveled the build - stand, glass pre-fill DT on stand, and wet DT throughout fill - to account for variations in floor grade. This build required two (2) shims, and some others I had to remove as I figured out the correct corner/side.

For the first fill, I connected my garden hose up to the community irrigation system, you know the purple pipes with reclaimed water? I figured the more nutrients and dissolved medication the better. ...not quite.

A 200-gpd 4-stage RODI flowing 000 TDS is the plasma to this circulatory system. For sport a calibrated refractometer measured 1.0 SG, 0 per-mille at 72 degF.

First fill.


Leak check with first fill passed! System run for 24 hours dry. Added a bag of Instant Ocean until 1.026 SG, 35 o/oo ar 79.5 degF.

Smartphone camera up to refractometer.

I let the salt dissolve over the next 24-36 hours with the pump running while I installed and played with the fan!

 

[siggy]

Smartphone camera up to refractometer.

wondered how to do that, tagging along

 

[o00brandon00o]

...
If you're not getting any external pressures, don't feel rushed....it'll pay off in the end.

My wife is due with our first child Oct 30th. I would like to have it as ultra low maintenance by then.

Shortly followed by another child calling every fish, "NEMO." Just for spite I will teach him/her to say the scientific name of all the species in the tank! "Honey! Baby's first word is Zanclus cornutus!"

 

[o00brandon00o]

wondered how to do that, tagging along

Incredibly frustrating for me, no caffeine before if it gives you shakey hands!

 

[NY_Caveman]

My wife is due with our first child Oct 30th.

Congratulations!

 

[o00brandon00o]

Light & Flow

Several minor pieces of equipment and supplies but Ecotech at her core. Reviews on equipment are all over the internet.

• Ecotech Radion XR15 Gen 4
• Ecotech Vortech MP10wqd
• Ecotech Reeflink
• Generic 700 gph pump

Guess which one is getting replaced the soonest! I am open to the best Ecotech S1, M1, and L1 replacement pump sizing suggestions (can I get away with only the S1?)!

Light and fan were an easy choice, I have tried to keep up with reefing technology and planned accordingly for when I got the build green light (different story).

I knew at the beginning some equipment would have capabilities beyond my need, however the Reeflink (a LFS last minute pickup) changed the game sooner than I thought! LFS guy, "Reeflink makes [it] way more fun!"

Being in the software development field, I truly appreciate, boarderline giddy about, everything Ecotech put into the capabilities, connectivity, and UX of their products.

I have the fan to the right of the overflow box. Short Pulse mode, 100% max power, 0.0380s pulse time resonates a left to right wave, where as closer to 0.045s will resonate a back to front wave. I wish the waves had a bit more oomph, anyone have thoughts? This is where I imagine an upgraded pump could fill in any perceived flow gaps.

Ecotech Radion XR15 Gen 4 inside hood lined with reflective Mylar.

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Ecotech Vortech MP10wqd to the side of the overflow box.

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Generic pump and heaters in temporary container sump.

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Teaser picture for the next build thread section on filtration.


Next, I will address ideas, design, and build around filtration and dosing! Please let me know if there is more detail I can cover, pictures you want to see, or feel free to provide any feedback I may have looked over!

 

[o00brandon00o]

Dosing & Filtration

Filtration is of the most complex, in my opinion so I will start with a quick word on dosing:

To start, a 5-Channel programmable auto-doser came installed with flex lines attached to the pumps that couple to 1/4" airline; pumping from 5x individual dosing containers to the sump.

Ch. Name, Dose
1. Part-A, 5mL 6x /day, 30mL /day
2. Part-B, 5mL 6x /day, 30mL /day
3. Mag, OFF
4. RO/DI, 65mL, 24x /day!!!, 1,560mL /day (0.4-gal /day)
5. ___empty___ Thoughts??

Generic 5-Channel programmable auto-doser runs RO/DI at 65mL every hour on the hour to keep up with evaporation.

I can fill the RO/DI container and leave it for a week before needing to have someone come fill up the (front!) container. The other 3x have to be filled less often. Plan is to make 1-gal ea of a widely popular and available homemade 2-Part recipe by @Randy Holmes-Farley here: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

The three (3) containers, excluding RO/DI, have small gph pumps to keep the solutions mixed, with the 1/4" airline tube ziptied to the pump suctioned at the bottom.

I'm sure it was here where I first read (paraphrased), "...don't add what you don't test."

May 20, 2018
Temp 79.4/26.3
SG 1.026/35
pH 8.0
NO3 0.60
PO4 0.04
Ca 360
KH 5.9
Mg 1600
10% WC

I am pretty confident the nitrogen cycle will happen with or without me testing, so, not planning to test for NH3 or NO2 - just tracking NO3 every week, expecting a testable rise when nearing completion.

Results point to monitoring and adjusting Ca and KH over time and shutting down Mg for now, weekly 10% WCs should slowly dilute 1,600 PPM.


Filtration

I am including dry LR and live sand in filtration:

• 44-lbs Florida dry LR
  • Soaked in SW pool for 24 hrs, released a lot of debris
• 40-lbs Live Sand 1.0-2.0
  • Rinsed and lowered bag, cut slit in corner, slowly tipped and raised bag to empty, 48 hrs to completely clear

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I would like to maintain two (2) primary filtration systems in tandem. Since my research on ATS began, the reefing community seems to have majorly leaned toward an either/or side of the fence when it comes to ATSs and Protein Skimming (in most cases without having real, measurable, long-term, hands-on, user experience).

Since I am bringing a deep-seeded fandom of ATS systems along with a, "I really don't want to ignore something that so many people have success with" feeling about Protein Skimming, I want to also use this build to feature an attempt THAT real, measurable, long-term, hands-on user experience (may end up being another thread or article if the science turns into something).

"Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind." - Covey

I would like to end with a fine-tuned, complementary balance of ATS and Protein Skimming working together to maximize nutrient export. We'll see! #watergoals


Protein Skimmer

AquaMaxx HOB-1.5 Hang-On-Back Protein Skimmer

Arriving 5/31, FedEx. ITMT researching protein skimmers on timers.

ATS

The 1" main standpipe with gated cover in the DT pictured previously, runs down a wide-angle PVC assembly to a ball valve proceeding bulkhead to an electrical junction box. On the adjacent side of the box another 1" bulkhead flows down to the sump.

Legit bio-hazard sticker for what this will soon grow!


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Junction box description from eBay for all the detail junkies.


The inside door houses two (2), 12w 660nm LED PCBs wired to a timer and behind acrylic sealed with silicone.

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The LED PCB Drivers are attached with velcro to the back of the filter box. I originally stacked 3x big box store carbon pads but wanted to see what a roughed up screen would do this soon. Thinking of waiting on the screen until after my algae bloom cycle finishes and keeping clean carbon+filter pads, feedback welcome.

V1: Roughed up tank divider, OG.


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V2: #11 Sewing sheet and nylon thread. Surface area n' stuff.


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V2 ready to flow.


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V3 with the correct fabric, plastic.


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Sized carbon filter pads can stack and seal in the container.


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The drain to the sump super-aerates the water and I know my DT could be cleared of these residual micro bubbles. I'm sure to come across the solution on this site eventually - maybe a properly designed sump.

Next post will bring us up to time now and will cover first stock and present day issues!

Teaser picture for next build thread section on livestock.

 

[o00brandon00o]

Any other electrical details I have overlooked? Thoughts on grounding probe(s)?

5/24: On-order, Amazon Prime!

 

[o00brandon00o]

Nice! Welcome to R2R!

@NY_Caveman Thank you very much! Glad to be here!

 

[o00brandon00o]

Greetings, and hope you keep us in the loop on the progress.

@Captain Quint Hello, and be careful what you wish for! I tend to be long winded and have a lot of catching up to do (slowly getting there as you may have been keeping up)!