Rookie 750 Gallon Build Thread

[Mareshow]

Oooooooooook! So, after my sump builder who promised 3 weeks didn't deliver in 9 weeks, I got my money back (thankful for that) and went with a friend who got it done in a week. Here is a pic of the tank (now full of DI water and running ) with the final design for the rock scape. if the salinity stays where its at I'll add the sand tonight. Filter cups I had to order so they'll be in this week. along with the ATO system. Planning on setting up the quarantine system to cycle as well here soon.

as soon as the electrician is done with all the new plugs, I plan on installing the lights and lid. it'll be on actuators and with the push of a button be able to go up and down, dependant on what I'm doing with the tank.

Note the closed loop pump under the tank works like a charm, I can push up to 3200 gph through that thing

I do have some questions though:

1) for a mixed reef tank what is the preference for salinity? (heard lots of conflicting numbers) I'm currently sitting at 1.027. Is that too high?

2) I know the rule of thumb is 10x flow through the sump per hour. But that seems insane on a system like this, I'm currently sitting at about 8.5

3) any recommendations on the drains in the overflows. its currently single pipes and its loudish

3.5) advice on hiding power cables from flow heads?

4) any other advice you can think of

 

[R0C95]

Awesome setup. I'm very interested to see this thing progress.

I was always told 1.023 - 1.027 was ok to run in a mixed reef tank. I run mine at 1.025. But I dont think your salinity is an issue.

I'll be following this closely since I'll be ordering my 48" wide tank here shortly as well.

As far as the flow and cable management, and since you have all that great room in your garage, have you thought about replacing powerheads with a carlson surge system or 2? I know on my design, I'll have 2 separate surges timed to fire at different times. It's a thought to look into for your tank as well. Either way, awesome setup so far!

 

[Mareshow]

Awesome setup. I'm very interested to see this thing progress.

I was always told 1.023 - 1.027 was ok to run in a mixed reef tank. I run mine at 1.025. But I dont think your salinity is an issue.

I'll be following this closely since I'll be ordering my 48" wide tank here shortly as well.

As far as the flow and cable management, and since you have all that great room in your garage, have you thought about replacing powerheads with a carlson surge system or 2? I know on my design, I'll have 2 separate surges timed to fire at different times. It's a thought to look into for your tank as well. Either way, awesome setup so far!

Thanks! I hadn't looked at the Carlson I'll have to check it out!

 

[John08007]

Oooooooooook! So, after my sump builder who promised 3 weeks didn't deliver in 9 weeks, I got my money back (thankful for that) and went with a friend who got it done in a week. Here is a pic of the tank (now full of DI water and running ) with the final design for the rock scape. if the salinity stays where its at I'll add the sand tonight. Filter cups I had to order so they'll be in this week. along with the ATO system. Planning on setting up the quarantine system to cycle as well here soon.

as soon as the electrician is done with all the new plugs, I plan on installing the lights and lid. it'll be on actuators and with the push of a button be able to go up and down, dependant on what I'm doing with the tank.

Note the closed loop pump under the tank works like a charm, I can push up to 3200 gph through that thing

I do have some questions though:

1) for a mixed reef tank what is the preference for salinity? (heard lots of conflicting numbers) I'm currently sitting at 1.027. Is that too high?

2) I know the rule of thumb is 10x flow through the sump per hour. But that seems insane on a system like this, I'm currently sitting at about 8.5

3) any recommendations on the drains in the overflows. its currently single pipes and its loudish

3.5) advice on hiding power cables from flow heads?

4) any other advice you can think of

For the overflow i would suggest you look up a herbie or bean animal. I have used a herbie design for years, super quiet and i havent needed to adjust it in years

 

[Nhltc99]

Oooooooooook! So, after my sump builder who promised 3 weeks didn't deliver in 9 weeks, I got my money back (thankful for that) and went with a friend who got it done in a week. Here is a pic of the tank (now full of DI water and running ) with the final design for the rock scape. if the salinity stays where its at I'll add the sand tonight. Filter cups I had to order so they'll be in this week. along with the ATO system. Planning on setting up the quarantine system to cycle as well here soon.

as soon as the electrician is done with all the new plugs, I plan on installing the lights and lid. it'll be on actuators and with the push of a button be able to go up and down, dependant on what I'm doing with the tank.

Note the closed loop pump under the tank works like a charm, I can push up to 3200 gph through that thing

I do have some questions though:

1) for a mixed reef tank what is the preference for salinity? (heard lots of conflicting numbers) I'm currently sitting at 1.027. Is that too high?

2) I know the rule of thumb is 10x flow through the sump per hour. But that seems insane on a system like this, I'm currently sitting at about 8.5

3) any recommendations on the drains in the overflows. its currently single pipes and its loudish

3.5) advice on hiding power cables from flow heads?

4) any other advice you can think of

Regarding specific gravity of your saltwater, I think consistency is more important than the number you choose to keep it at if you are in the right range. Most keep it at 1.025-1.026.

10x display tank turnover is a common number ever since the Triton method came out. I would say most people are more in the 2-5x turnover range after head loss. If you are specifically asking about sump turnover, I would say there is even less agreement in what to target for this number. I wouldn't expect any issues at your 8.5x turnover.

With a system of this size, I would definitely recommend looking into Bean animal overflow with a primary, secondary, and emergency drain. Use a gate valve on the primary syphon drain, and just barely restrict the flow so some water trickles into the secondary. You want a decent height difference between primary and secondary to make it easier to tune.

 

[John08007]

Too late now, but why the small pipe on the suction side of the closed loop pump. The suction should be as large as possible, the discharge can get smaller, it would just affect the flow and psi in the discharge pipe.

 

[Mareshow]

Too late now, but why the small pipe on the suction side of the closed loop pump. The suction should be as large as possible, the discharge can get smaller, it would just affect the flow and psi in the discharge pipe.

I did it due to lack up 1.5" fittings, I know not ideal, but with that short of run of 1" before the 1.5" will increase my flow rate through there and decrease volume slightly. but not by much.

 

[Mareshow]

Update! Tank is Officially up and running, I'm super impressed with the refugium, it just sucks nutrients out of the tank!

Current Parameters are :

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 6 ppm
Phosphates 0.1 ppm
Alkalinity 8
Calcium 450
Magnesium 1300
Salinity 35%

PAR is sitting at 480-520 across the top of the rocks
the left mount is 230 mid height and about 170 at the bottom
the far right is between 150-210 across the low rock
front rocks are 180 +/- 30
mid of centre is 350-390
bottom is 250-290

So far all the corals seem very happy, fully extended with feeders out at night

had a brown algae outbreak but it was quickly dealt with by my crew. I went away with the tank covered in it (like everything!) and came back six days later to it being spotless Lights are currently on for 12 hours and on max intensity for four hours.

Current fish stock is:

2 Blonde Naso Tangs
1 Dejardini Sailfin tang
1 Lieutenant tang
1 Blue Tang
5 Purple firefish
1 red headed wrasse
1 purple wrasse
1 striped goby
2 common clowns
1 black ice
1 DaVinci (haven't seen it in a week though but no crusty fishes out side so I dunno?)

Inverts stock is:

80 Ast Snails
40 hermit crabs assorted
15 emerald crabs
15 Nassarius snails
1 Arrow Crab (hes such a grump its hilarious lol)
2 cleaner shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
1 pistol shrimp
2 RBT
1 rock flower nem

Corals are:

3 Zoa frags
3 Lobos (1 large and two small)
2 Hammers
1 Candy cane
2 Birds nests sps
1 mushroom
1 asteroid encrusting (still gotta work on my coral names)

future stocking coming is:

1 Sohal Tang
3 Yellow tangs
1 Powder Blue tang
2 Custom clowns
1 watchman goby
assorted wrasses
10 Anthias assorted (maybe)
1 Achilles tang
3 Purple tangs
1 crosshatched trigger (IF I can get one)
Various tangs



and possibly more

 

[McPuff]

Looks good so far. Following.

 

[revhtree]

YES! Congrats on the new tank!