Ron Reefman's new 90g build

[Katrina71]

I'd almost want to drill out that pvc securing your eggcrate and feed a pump into it.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Following now!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Interesting idea Katrina. I did something similar to that in a build I did long ago. I had a 180g tank and did a massive rook slope that went way up the back glass. This was before I started using egg crate platforms, so it was a lot of rock! Also, this was back before we had wavemaker powerheads so random flow was hard to come by.

Well, the return from the sump came over the back glass. Rather than nozzles I made 2 square 'S' shaped pipes that ran down the back glass inside the tank and behind the live rock. I drilled lots of holes the entire length of the pipe starting with small holes near the top and bigger holes at the end along the bottom of the tank. Then I hooked up one of those cheap flow changers that switches the flow back and forth between two out flow pipes.

I think I may have a photo of it. That tank also had a closed loop with Ocean Motion Revolution heads that came in over the top of the tank and the return from the chiller went deep into the tank as well. It was a pvc jungle, but it ran fairly maintenance free and provided lots of good random flow.

The square 'S' shape we called 'spray bars' the pipes over the top of the tank are connected to an Ocean Motion flow diverter. The Revolution heads are not attached to the ends of the 4 overhead pipes yet.

And I'll take back my comment about not using egg crate platforms... there are a couple small ones in here along with a big pvc pipe 'cave'. And not the Revolution heads are now installed on the overhead pipes. There are 4 pipes and you could set the Ocean Motion to run them one at at time, alternate between two and two, or run 3 at a time and rotate which one is shut off. The revolution head would float and when water pressure was applied, it would rotate about 15 degrees ("revolve... thus the name revolutions). So water never sprayed out the same direction 2 times in a row. The head would do a full 360 degrees over about an hour!

You can see kind of where the build was going in this photo.

This was the switch mechanism to make the return from the sump switch back and forth between the two 'spray bars'. It was cheap, ran on flow from the return pump and worked for several years. Eventually I removed it and ran the return to both bar all the time.

This was the entire system in it's prime.

Here is a close up of just the 180g tank.

 

[edgewater]

Looking forward to watching the build!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Looking forward to watching the build!

It's going to go slow as I'm trying to make this a quality build and make it different than most other tanks. Most of the corals will be ones that fluoresce well under blue leds. I love the look of the current 40g cube at night when the house is dark and the tank glows in colors like neon!

 

[btmedic04]

Following along to see this awesome build come to life! Also Aquatic life fairly recently released their DX18 hybrid fixtures. They have 0-10v control for dimming capability, but you need an apex in order to have the dimming feature. Its another option to consider for hybrid T5/LED lighting if you are wanting to go that route

 

[starypotter]

I'm excited for your new system!! Good luck

 

[Ron Reefman]

Following along to see this awesome build come to life! Also Aquatic life fairly recently released their DX18 hybrid fixtures. They have 0-10v control for dimming capability, but you need an apex in order to have the dimming feature. Its another option to consider for hybrid T5/LED lighting if you are wanting to go that route

Thanks for the lead, but I'm not running an Apex. I had one and sold it as I didn't see much advantage to it for me.

I'm excited for your new system!! Good luck

Glad to have you along, I hope to keep this interesting.

I should be getting my acrylic base back early next week and then I'll be ready to assemble the glass! I'm going to try and get the overflow done this weekend.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Slowly but surely I'm moving forward with my new build. Yesterday I dropped off the bottom glass for the guy who is routing and cutting to size my acrylic bottom. He said it will be done by the end of the week.

I stopped in at an aluminum welding shop and asked about getting a new light hanging system cut, bent and drilled. I have the Current attaching blocks to the back rim of the tank (thank you Current) and the shop is going to make new attachment frame that will fit into the Current clamps but be taller and extend further out over the tank and be drilled to attach my Photons V2+ fixtures. I'll either have them polish the aluminum and then clear coat it or just have it powder coated white.

Pictures to follow.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I finally got through to the shop doing the work on my acrylic base and they expect to have it done on Monday. To be honest, I'm not holding my breath yet. We'll see.

But good news, the shop that is making my new led fixture mounting system called and they are done. So I picked them up today. I'll be using Current Orbit clamps to attach them to the back of the tank. I had them made with 1/4" polished aluminum. Here is what they look like. I'll drill the mounting holes in the top once I decide which fixture(s) I'll use and how far forward from the back of the tank I want them.

I was planing to use my Reef Breeders Photon V2+ fixtures. But I got an email from a builder in Portland, OR called ReeFi, who I bought a high end DIY fixture from about 18 months ago. It was a pendant and the case was made by a 3D printer and we had some issues. He treated me very well, but after the fixture ended up in my tank a second time do to brittle 3D printed parts breaking, I gave up on it. ReeFi Lab opted to design a new fixture and really go the extra mile in terms of quality. They have just been released and I'm giving it some serious consideration. Here is the ReeFi Lab website.

ReeFi Lab – Smart Aquarium Solutions

www.reefi-lab.com

If you know anything about the new fixture, I'd like to hear about it. I've read Jake Adams' and Dana Riddle's reviews and it sounds promising. But I have questions I'll present to ReeFi Lab before I pull the trigger as these aren't cheap leds.

 

[Ron Reefman]

OK, it's been a few weeks and until 2 days ago not that much had happened.

The shop that was going to do the routering just delayed and delayed. I finally got annoyed enough I gave up on them. So U cut the acrylic base down to be the size of the bottom glass + 1/2" on all four sides so the 3/8" glass and some silicone could sit on the acrylic lip. I was impressed I could cut it so accurately! This is the bottom glass being bonded to the acrylic base (white) with an adhesive silicone. The wood is just a board under the acrylic.

Then I clamped the edges and set 30lbs of dive weights on it. I gave it a couple of days to cure before I did the test fit of the side glass and overflow.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I dry fit the tank together and made sure all the seams looked reasonably tight and that everything fit together. I set the overflow in and even the egg crate pyramid with a rock on top. I need to do some trimming at the back end of the egg crate so it fits around the overflow. I'm also considering trimming down the lowest step of the pyramid by 1 or 2 rows so I have more room for open sand out front and maybe even on the sides.

Almost all the rock in the 40g cube will end up in the new 90g tank, but I'll need more. So I found a guy on craigslist selling off his system and 75lbs of dead rock. The price was too good to past up. Most of it is fairly good rock, some is man made and way too solid. That's already sitting out in the garden. Our gardens are lined with native coral rock which is what most of Cape Coral is made of.

I'll soak the rock in a Brute full of freshwater and rinse it and do water changes a few times, but so far it seems pretty clean. Then I soak it in saltwater and test for ammonia, nitrate and phosphate. If that checks out, I start doing a cycle in the Brute since the rock will be going into a tank with lots of live coral, anemones and other critters!

Up next: final assembly of the glass using a Locktite adhesive silicone that is water proof and white in color.

 

[Ron Reefman]

The tank is now put together with Loctite silicone adhesive. It's been 24 hours and the initial cure (24 hours) seems to have gone very well. The full cure time is 7 days so I'm leaving all 12 clamps in place for at least 2 or 3 days. There will be quite a bit of clean up to do as I tried to make sure I had silicone squeezing out of every seam. I didn't rub them down with my finger except along the outside of the white acrylic overflow and around the bottom rim inside the tank. I don't plan to have an inside bead of silicone up the vertical seams of the side glass. I intend to use a razor blade to remove all the excess so I end up with clean corners. That said, I'll probably leave the inside bead of silicone at the bottom glass as it will be below the sand and won't show much.

I'm busy drilling lots of holes in my rock and rinsing them in fresh water (reclaimed landscape water with no chlorine). After I have them all drilled I'll do a final rinse and then put them in the Brute with saltwater and a pump. Then I'll start testing for ammonia, nitrate and phosphate and start the nitrogen cycle.

 

[Junglejim]

Looking great, I am trying to understand the white silicone you are using? Is it for the seams?

 

[User1]

Nice updates.

Question on the overflow. Why slots and not a smooth weir?

 

[C. Eymann]

Nice build so far! always enjoyed reading your threads/projects from "the other place" years ago. Definitely looking forward to seeing more of this build's progress

Subscribed!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Looking great, I am trying to understand the white silicone you are using? Is it for the seams?

@Junglejim, It isn't really white silicone, well, I guess it is kind of... and yes, it's for the bonding of the glass to the base acrylic and base glass and the seams between the glass sides. I'm using white just to be different, ha! And because all the cabinets in our house, including the aquarium stand are the high gloss white enamel finish. So I thought the white tank seams would fit in better.

The material I'm using is not RTV silicone, which is what I've used on all my previous tank builds. This time I'm using a product made by Henkel Corp in Canada. It's called Teroson MS 5510 and it cost double what RTV silicone cost. But besides being an elastic sealant, it's also an adhesive. I think it will bond well to both the glass and the acrylic base.

Nice updates.

Question on the overflow. Why slots and not a smooth weir?

@saf1, I've done smooth weirs on a few tanks. They work fine and I love the look. But I've had animals get over the top and into the space behind the weir. Then I end up making a 'screen' out of gutter guard for it. I'm hoping that these oval holes will work as well as the teeth of conventional weirs and still keep animals from getting washed into the area behind the weir.

Nice build so far! always enjoyed reading your threads/projects from "the other place" years ago. Definitely looking forward to seeing more of this build's progress

Subscribed!

@C.Eymann, Thanks. I enjoy sharing and I hope it gets people to ask questions. Especially about some of the more 'unusual' things I end up doing.

The tank will probably get water tested today, sit full for a couple of days and then get drained.

At that point I'm off to the SCCA Runoffs at Virginia International Raceway as a photographer for a couple of regional magazines. The Runoffs are the national championships for amateur sports car racing. They run 24 classes with practice on Monday, qualifying on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and the 8 races each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They usually get 600 to 800 entrants that come in from all over the country. When I was younger (30 to 50 years old) I used to race with the SCCA and qualified for the Runoffs in 1995!

 

[User1]

@Junglejim, It isn't really white silicone, well, I guess it is kind of... and yest, it's for the bonding of the glass to the base acrylic and base glass and the seams between the glass sides. I'm using white just to be different, ha! And because all the cabinets in our house, including the aquarium stand are the high gloss white enamel finish. So I thought the white tank seams would fit in better.

The material I'm using is not RTV silicone, which is what I've used on all my previous tank builds. This time I'm using a product made by Henkel Corp in Canada. It's called Teroson MS 5510 and it cost double what RTV silicone cost. But besides being an elastic sealant, it's also an adhesive. I think it will bond well to both the glass and the acrylic base.



@saf1, I've done smooth weirs on a few tanks. They work fine and I love the look. But I've had animals get over the top and into the space behind the weir. Then I end up making a 'screen' out of gutter guard for it. I'm hoping that these oval holes will work as well as the teeth of conventional weirs and still keep animals from getting washed into the area behind the weir.



@C.Eymann, Thanks. I enjoy sharing and I hope it gets people to ask questions. Especially about some of the more 'unusual' things I end up doing.

The tank will probably get water tested today, sit full for a couple of days and then get drained.

At that point I'm off to the SCCA Runoffs at Virginia International Raceway as a photographer for a couple of regional magazines. The Runoffs are the national championships for amateur sports car racing. They run 24 classes with practice on Monday, qualifying on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and the 8 races each day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They usually get 600 to 800 entrants that come in from all over the country. When I was younger (30 to 50 years old) I used to race with the SCCA and qualified for the Runoffs in 1995!

If you can share any picks that would be great. I friend of mine runs these on a 65 Mustang he built just for these events. I always wanted to run a SCCA car but never did. I did as of last year though run my '15 Mustang GT/PP frequently at HPDE and closed track events. Felt it was safer to get the need for speed at a proper place than being stupid on the street. So still got to wrench on the car as I wanted to yet keep it comfortable enough for a daily driver or wife and I long distance road trips.

Sounds like a blast and have a great time!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Cool! Following!

 

[Victoria M]

I am following too. I forgot to write it! I love your tanks, and I am enjoying this journey too. I will have some questions for you about visiting the keys in the spring of 2021.