Pepa's 120g Corner Tank

Pepa · May 7, 2020

I have been planing this build for quit a long time and now I was finally forced to start because of some other home improvement projects.

As I have known since the beginning that the display tank will be in the living room and sump and all the equipment bellow it in the cellar, now technical / fish room, I did some piping already when we rebuild the house. It was the only thing done on this build for a few years.

And finally last fall things started to move forward.

Aluminum stand.

As I had to tear down the old tank I set up a temporary tank and sump, both Ikea Samla, to hold livestock during the build.

With Radion G1.

And a full temporary setup.

Pepa · May 8, 2020

Because my RO/DI was quite old I decide to replace it. The new one is 4 stage RO/DI with booster pump and twin DI, 20" and in-line. I also plan to build an Automatic Water Station so there will be some more solenoid valves and automation.

Pepa · May 10, 2020

There will be a 30" x 26" x 14" frag tank on the aluminum stand. Space below is for 26" x 26" x 20" grow out / fuge tank. Sump will be to the right from the stand. I am going to use my G1 Radions for these two tanks for now as they are still fine. Because of that I have build a Radion bracket out of aluminum bar and a carbon rod, that can slide in the grooves of the stand so the light is as high as possible giving me as much space for the tank below as possible.

I also made a cable and tubing holder from 2" PVC pipe.

Pepa · May 17, 2020

I have never used much automation on my tanks except top off. My biggest upgrades so far were Digital Aquatics Lifeguard for monitoring temperature and PH in 2013 and Vertex Libra Stepper dosing pump year later. This time I decided to go all in and automate as much as possible. Because my goal is to automate water testing as well I was considering Alkatronic, Apex, GHL and ReefBOT. After some research I have narrowed it down to Apex and GHL and between these two I decided to go with GHL in the end. Two main reasons for GHL were both related to the fact that I live in Europe. They provide full featured power bar here and not just a stripped version and also have a better support. Another reason was cost of reagents where GHL and Alkatronic were clear winners.

I had an opportunity to buy heavily discounted open box ProfiLux 4 Mega Set and Doser 2.1 a few months ago and just recently I had some time to set them up. So far I am measuring temperature, controlling heater through the power bar and using it as an ATO.

DIY level switch for GHL ProfiLux.

Pepa · May 30, 2020

In some spare time today I finally managed to draw both frag and grow out / fuge tanks. SketchUp is great tool for this and it took just a few hours to learn it and make it happen. It is free for what I need and not as complicated as other free or commercial CAD softwares like Blander, AutoCAD or NX.

30" x 26" x 14" frag tank (drawing in millimetres)

26" x 26" x 20" grow out / fuge tank (drawings in millimetres)

Pepa · Jun 8, 2020

So both tanks will be ready in a two weeks. Said that, I have to hurry up with the other stuff. I just installed new switchboard with circuit breakers, new outlets, power backup for GHL boxes and I also made DIY power cut monitoring for ProfiLux 4. I have tried to set up the email notification but due to restrictions in ProfiLux settings I have to find other email sending service than AWS SES. Issue submitted to GHL support. I also have to figure out how to program maintenance modes in ProfiLux so I can do water changes without triggering ATO and then top off automatically with salt water.

Pepa · Jul 3, 2020

A lot of goodies arrived recently. Will have fun in upcoming days.

Pepa · Aug 19, 2020

I had some extra time during summer holidays so I was able to move forward.

Further moving to temporary system and I found one unwanted guest – Leopard Polyclad Flatworm.

I also have finished a pipework through the ceiling.

And now it's time to finally fill the grow-out/fuge tank.

Pepa · Sep 2, 2020

Last weekend I finally installed both frag tanks and moved all the inhabitants back from the temporary tank.

Pepa · Sep 4, 2020

As a safety precaution I have decided to apply hard anodic coating on both Radion bracket and cable holder so yesterday I have picked them up from local galvanic plant.

Pepa · Oct 9, 2020

My previous 100W heater was not able to keep up with the new setup so I have ordered custom build 300W Schego titanium heater with 10ft cable. No thermostat but ProfiLux control will be just fine.

Pepa · Oct 19, 2020

So finally everything is up and running and now “just” fine-tuning and waiting.
In a next weeks I would like to add more fish and CUC. Also setup ATO with kalkwasser, build a proper sump and start working on saltwater mixing station.

Pepa · Jan 13, 2022

Last year happened so fast so here are a few updates.
I was able to get 3 more used Rations G3 Pro so I have added second one to frag tank and also replaced both ageing G1 (purchased 2012 and still OK) on grow out tank.
Collected a few corals and growing them for the coming display tank.

Pepa · Feb 5, 2022

I have finally finished an outside air intake for my skimmer. Effect on pH is the same as having the window open 24/7 which was fine in the summer but not now in the middle of winter.