Ryan's Reef - 112-gallon SPS Tank

[The Roaming Reefer]

Yep! I love the dimensions of this tank! Can't wait to get it up and running! Do you have a build thread going?

I do:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/im-112-ext-the-lettuce-lagoon.957129/I'm focusing more on shrooms, zoas, and gonis so I'll be getting the SPS fix from looking at your thread haha

 

[Ryans Reef]

I do:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/im-112-ext-the-lettuce-lagoon.957129/I'm focusing more on shrooms, zoas, and gonis so I'll be getting the SPS fix from looking at your thread haha

Awesome!

 

[Ryans Reef]

Something I've been debating back and forth is how I want to orient the sump. I love dimesions of the tank and stand, but it does open pandora's box a bit as to how best to use the space. There's just "so much room for activities!"

Conventionally you'd just plop the rectangular sump in your rectangular stand and call it a day. But with this being a cube, having the sump pushed all the way back feels off to me. Mainly because I'd have to open the side doors, or lean/reach through the front to work in the sump. And when and if I want to add any reactors and other equipment it'll be even harder to reach in from the front. This placement also leaves me little room for a shwanky controller board, shelving, dosers etc. However it does make plumbing the sump to the tank very simple.

This is what the sump looks like placed in the back:

 

[The Roaming Reefer]

I like having the sump pulled forward. I went back and forth on placement for a while. It does complicate the plumbing a bit but it was worth it to have an unobstructed view of the sump

 

[Ryans Reef]

My plan is to instead orient the sump perpendicular to the back of the stand, pushed to one side, and put up a partition cutting the space under the stand in 2. This will make plumbing more complicated... But it'll give me very easy access to the sump, and help me compartmentalize the space. Having a partition up would also give me something to build shelves off of, mount controllers and doser to etc.

Here's a mock up with the partition/shelves/controller board etc:

 

[The Roaming Reefer]

That's going to be awesome. I thought about running the sump perpendicular but I couldn't work out a way to have the UV sterilizer not be in the way of everything.

 

[Ryans Reef]

That's going to be awesome. I thought about running the sump perpendicular but I couldn't work out a way to have the UV sterilizer not be in the way of everything.

That's a good point for sure. I haven't entirely decided whether I want to install a UV... If I did, I wonder if it would fit somewhere in the back behind the tank

 

[The Roaming Reefer]

That's a good point for sure. I haven't entirely decided whether I want to install a UV... If I did, I wonder if it would fit somewhere in the back behind the tank

That's true. It would probably be easier to plumb the sterilizer off a manifold but I like to put the full return flow through it. You might be able to incorporate a unit vertically behind the tank

 

[ScottD]

My plan is to instead orient the sump perpendicular to the back of the stand, pushed to one side, and put up a partition cutting the space under the stand in 2. This will make plumbing more complicated... But it'll give me very easy access to the sump, and help me compartmentalize the space. Having a partition up would also give me something to build shelves off of, mount controllers and doser to etc.

Here's a mock up with the partition/shelves/controller board etc:

View attachment 3024743

I’m planning on running my sump just like you, perpendicular to the back. I’ll have a full side panel that comes off to make maintenance easy on it.

 

[rynosreef]

I’m planning on running my sump just like you, perpendicular to the back. I’ll have a full side panel that comes off to make maintenance easy on it.

Nice! Do you have any mock ups of that? I'd love to see how the removable side panel works.

 

[rynosreef]

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[rynosreef]

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[Ryans Reef]

PVC has arrived!

 

[Ryans Reef]

The finished 1" bulkhead mod to the sump, with some dry fitted pvc to the return.

 

[Ryans Reef]

On my current tank, I installed some magnetic reed switches. This let's me have LED's automatically turn on when the doors are opened and back off when closed. Connecting those reed switches to an Avast Marine breakout box allows the Apex to program the lights to turn on or off under certain conditions.

So I have them programed to turn on anytime there's an issue. For instance, if the temp is too hot/cold, alk or ph is too low etc, the lights in the cabiniet will turn on. It's a great indicator when you're sitting on the couch watching TV and suddenly the tank stand lights up!

Amazon Reed Switches

 

[Ryans Reef]

On this tank I want to do something similar. This go round though I'm going to try using programable full color LED's instead of just white ones. I'm not entirely sure how the wiring will work but hopefully it's doable.

I'm also planning to use a WLED board to program the lights to do some interesting things as well.

This is the aluminum track I plan to mount the LED's to:

Amazon - LED Track
Amazon - LEDs
Amazon - WLED Control Board

 

[Ryans Reef]

A fun video on how the WLED's work

 

[ScottD]

Nice! Do you have any mock ups of that? I'd love to see how the removable side panel works.

I have a rendering in my build thread of what the stand with doors is going to look like but nothing in detail on what I’m going to do. Basically I’m going to have z clips on the bottom of the door that will slide over a block on the bottom to hold the bottom and then plan on using the magnetic child locks on top to hold the top in place.

 

[ScottD]

Scrolling back through all your pictures I saw the ones of your stand, wish I had those a couple months ago when I was designing my stand. I definitely am overkill on what I built compared to yours.

Your plumbing is coming along nicely, seems like you’ll have some water in it soon. I like the idea of the led lights underneath your planing. I’ll have to look into that when I get mine built.

 

[Ryans Reef]

Scrolling back through all your pictures I saw the ones of your stand, wish I had those a couple months ago when I was designing my stand. I definitely am overkill on what I built compared to yours.

Your plumbing is coming along nicely, seems like you’ll have some water in it soon. I like the idea of the led lights underneath your planing. I’ll have to look into that when I get mine built.

That’s partly why I’m posting closeups and such. I wish I’d had more detailed pictures to go off of as well. Maybe these posts will help somebody in the future.

Hopefully the LEDs come out okay. I’m fine wiring single color LEDs, but I’m not quite sure if RGB LEDs, 4x reed switches, and a WLED control board will all work off one power supply.