Saint's 110g Reef Build - Another Break Down

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4/9/2019

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3/6/2019

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12/13/2018

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Hello All,

I am nearing the completion of converting my tank from the black 75 below to the new 110 below. Here is the journey.

New (to me):
1) Unknown 110g tank (tall)
2) Unknown stand and canopy
3) Trigger 36E sump - modified
4) Radion XR15 lights x2
5) Vortech MP10 x2
6) Aqueon Pro heater x2
7) Bubble Magnus Curve 7 - modified
8) ADJ power bar 8 plug
9) GFI power strip adapter
10) Grounding Probe
11) Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper lite
12) Vortech battery backup x2
13) AutoAqua auto top off

My return pump broke so i threw in a generic high flow one for now while i recover funds.

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saintsreturn

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I had the luxury of time in between the tank breakdown and setup. I decided to use this time to focus on a couple things that have always annoyed me on my setup. Here are my general thoughts and the direction path I wanted to take to overcome them, where possible:

The height of my Marineland 75 majesty made it so you had to look down at the tank and the stand was a PITA for working in. I had several things set around inside or off to the side to make it all work. The only way around this, was buying a new tank and stand... at least this is what i told the wife :D Luckily she agreed... so here we go.

With the taller system, i already dislike the height when it comes to setup and sand maintenance, but wow i love the room in the new stand and the straight viewing angle. So how do i address the other issues?

1) Wire hiding makes everything look great, but holy PITA for managing equipment changes or adjustments. I want to create something that simplifies this but accomplishes the same task.

2) The sump I had was a well built Trigger Crystal 30. I love it, but i have knocked the auto top off line off a couple of times, resulting in a mess and i hated the way wires ran all around the components. This needed more thought and design in the new layout.

3) Hard plumbing looks amazing, IMO, and i cannot see the benefit of going any other way. But without the right couplers in the right place, maintenance is a beating that involved cutting pipe and having the system offline too long.

4) The sump just has everything laying around... i need to find a way to make permanent homes for the necessities.

5) Refugiums... man i hate them... Why? Well because light creep causes things to grow in places i do not want them to grow and i want a system that i am not always messing around with so i can enjoy it more.

6) Open backed stands allow air exchange and keep it lighter and blah blah blah. They also make a mess with splashing and salt creep. So i need to find a way to keep things inside the stand and not on the drywall.

So i want to built and electrical box that stores everything neatly, but accessible when needed. So the design is something like below (pics coming). I also need to modify the sump to hard plumb the essentials and route the wires.
 
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Making changes...

I had some pieces 3D printed to fit in the new sump. I wanted the stealth sumps that come ready to go, but holy crap thats money i am not ready to spend right now. So i took my Trigger 36E and modified it with the following:

1) Heater brackets
2) Refugium lid
3) Probe holder
4) Filter sock holder. I know the benefit of running "dirty" water into the fuge, but as i do not run much in the filtration category, i keep a filter sock in place to catch debris as it enters the sump.
5) "Blacked out" refugium
 
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With the wife weighing in, we decided to paint the existing all wall/ceiling color to something that matches a little better with the tank. After tactful negotiations, we chose a color and i started the process.

Then parts starting arriving, so I inventoried what I had and the changes that were about to take place.

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I took the stand apart and stripped the mold build up and sanded down the horrible spray job that was done inside. I decided to Flexseal the interior and add in a back wall.

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Now that everything is dry, i decided to kick it up a notch and test fit the sump.... bummer

The sump doesnt fit... So time to remove the back wall, redo the flexseal and silicone and do this right. Its also time to start on the electronics cabinet.

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I got the tank positioned into the room and wow, what a difference!

So then on to temporary rock scape. The most annoying part of this build is that I was maintaining two tanks, the first being one that had all the livestock and the coral. Since this is an established tank, the coral was rooted onto their homes in a way that i could not remove them easily. So this first round of rock scape is going to be used for the base.

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As i started filling and getting everything ready, a member of the family came by to express his dissasisfaction with the level of attention i have been putting into the tank and not him. I reminded him that he is my favorite and he is back to loving me again.

Now fill water and test...

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Luckily, the tank shares some dimensions with my previous break down, so i was able to borrow the canopy that had the lights mounted in it while i work on cleaning and prepping the new one. So here it sits. (Sorry for the fat guy reflection, i was Fn exhausted)

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Last update as we have caught up to current time. The tank kick started with Fritz 9, which goes against my core on tank start ups, but I have already sold the 75 and needed to get things moving along. This build took place over the last 6 weeks, which was about 3 weeks longer than it should have. After 6 days of testing and comparing, i acclimated and moved everything over. This morning before i left for work, i took this picture. Everyone is doing great, eating healthy, corals are opening and the 75 is gone. Sad but happy day all at the same time.

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Still need to make the cover for this and put on the labels, but here is the front of the box. Hoping to have the other part drilled out today... but lets wait and see what the wife has in store for me first.

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"I" made them. I have access to a 3D printer and my buddy loves doing things like this. So we worked up a deal and he printed them. He can do pretty much any color and since I had samples for him to copy, he knocked them out quick
Where did you get the blue parts for your curve 7?
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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