SkiCat's Dream Build: [Saving The] Planet 180 - The Making Of An Epic Aquacultured Mixed Reef

[SkiCatTX]

Very nice setup! Following!

Thanks.

The hardest part is waiting on the equipment to arrive or be built! I cleaned out the garage this weekend and installed new high output LED lights, all ready for the stand build. Still working on painting my office and keeping my current tanks running well...still have a bit of initial equipment to research and plan for, when to order, etc.

Coming along though...

 

[SkiCatTX]

Next on the list of pains in the backside...

Planet Aquariums has decided they refuse to drill the glass until they have my custom overflow box onhand. I have offered to guarantee them in writing that, assuming they drill the holes exactly to spec, I will not hold them responsible if the box doesn't fit. No good. They are now holding the tank build ransom until they get the box...what a pain...Planet made sure to stress that if I wanted to buy one of their boxes, this would not have been a problem...nice guys, but no thanks...

So, I contacted @TaylorPilot at Exotic about paying him to send a stock or old box just to get Planet going. He said since he just got my acrylic in he'll go ahead and build mine and send it out right away...awesome! So, problem solved, with just a minor delay.

 

[Jimbo662]

Next on the list of pains in the backside...

Planet Aquariums has decided they refuse to drill the glass until they have my custom overflow box onhand. I have offered to guarantee them in writing that, assuming they drill the holes exactly to spec, I will not hold them responsible if the box doesn't fit. No good. They are now holding the tank build ransom until they get the box...what a pain...Planet made sure to stress that if I wanted to buy one of their boxes, this would not have been a problem...nice guys, but no thanks...

So, I contacted @TaylorPilot at Exotic about paying him to send a stock or old box just to get Planet going. He said since he just got my acrylic in he'll go ahead and build mine and send it out right away...awesome! So, problem solved, with just a minor delay.

Taylor is great to work with!

 

[SkiCatTX]

Taylor is great to work with!

Yeah, it's gone well so far. He's making me a custom version of one of his designs, in white!

 

[SkiCatTX]

Got me one of these babies...

Ender 3​

I had been putting off getting a 3D printer, thinking it would cost thousands to get a good one that did what I wanted. But I started seeing a lot of people using the Ender printer and claiming it was just about as good as any of those. You do have to do a few more things manually, like feed the media, level the bed, and program all the settings, but it does handle ABS and PETG, which are what many people print aquarium parts with, and cost just over $200!

So far it has been working great! It does have a bit of a learning curve, and you have to build it from parts, and align it, and find software, etc. I have just printed a few segmented return line parts in PLA, just to get the hang of it. Dealing with things like "raft", "support structure", "heated bed adhesion", etc. have been "fun"...

However, after trying for months to find sources for white plastic Loc-Line, Random Flow Generators, and other fittings, I figure I'll just print my own.

 

[Jimbo662]

Yeah, it's gone well so far. He's making me a custom version of one of his designs, in white!

I was replacing the Tideline box (HATED THAT THING!) on my PA tank. Sent him my measurements and he sent a template to make sure he had the holes right. They were off 1/4" so he redid it and sent a 2nd template which fit perfect.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I've been racing against time and coral bans. Hoping these corals can be aquacultured one day. Sooner would be a miracle. Beautiful corals but still stubborn to make thrive in closed systems. Carnation corals, dendronephthya sp.



1 of 33 carnation corals, dendronephthya sp.

 

[SkiCatTX]

I've been racing against time and coral bans. Hoping these corals can be aquacultured one day. Sooner would be a miracle. Beautiful corals but still stubborn to make thrive in closed systems. Carnation corals, dendronephthya sp.



1 of 33 carnation corals, dendronephthya sp.

Yes, they need to work out some kind of aquaculture license for companies or research groups, where they can harvest a small number of animals, bring them into their home countries, and research reproducing them in captivity. Then they could even send back and replace the amount, or more, that they originally took for the research back to the reef.

One major issue is the discrepancy between wanting to stop collection just for the sake of the reef, and stopping any kind of captive reef keeping all together, aquacultured, for research, or otherwise...

 

[SkiCatTX]

Got some early pics of the sump progress from Jeff!

Those are 7" sock holes, and with the depth of the box makes it look smaller in the images. It could hold 67 gallons full, probably more like 40 in use.

The front chamber is for a refugium with adjustable height/flow, in the back are the skimmer and return chambers. Water flows directly from the sock chamber into both, then both skimmer and fuge chambers dump directly into the return.

 

[SkiCatTX]

Also, @TaylorPilot sent me a pic of the overflow before sending it on to Planet for drilling:

 

[SkiCatTX]

Few more Sump pics:

 

[Salty Lemon]

Can't wait to see what happens next. This will be a fun one to watch. I love it! ;Watching

 

[SkiCatTX]

Can't wait to see what happens next. This will be a fun one to watch. I love it! ;Watching

Me too! I'm excited! Never had a big tank like this, should be fun, and maybe a bit painful here and there, but I guess that's what it's all about.

 

[SkiCatTX]

This is the hardest part, waiting for the tank, stand, sump, and other equipment to arrive. Not that there is nothing to do, I have been doing research for the rest of the equipment, working with SketchUp trying to plan the plumbing, at least rough sketching to determine the first round of fittings and pipe that I'll need, and making sure everything will fit in the stand, or in the closet nearby.

The first casualty is the UV sterilizer…I realized in the CAD that the original SmartUV 80w HO that I wanted will not fit in any usable way being 6" around and sump is too tall…so, I'll likely be getting two 40w StartUV that are 3.5" side-by-side. That might be better anyway, as that allows me to run them at different flow rates if I want, like one for parasites and the other for algae.

I got the CAD drawing for the tank this week, approved. Interestingly, after all the effort of getting Planet the actual overflow box as they demanded, they ended up with exactly the same measurements that I sent them originally…so all for nothing really, what a waste of time and effort! The drilling will proceed exactly as the template from Exotic specified…just two weeks later…

The LifeReef Sump is finishing up. I sent bulkheads and some pipe to Jeff this week so he could test the holes and trim up the drain pipes nicely with slots and all. We'll hopefully get some nice pictures and get that shipped out in the next week or two.

The stand was powder coated and should be just waiting for the tank to arrive, at this point I'm guessing that won't happen before the first week of December or so. Still trying to get some pictures made of it, since I haven't seen it yet.

I'm now looking toward the upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in the US, which with excellent timing, are just a couple weeks away. I will order most of the equipment on my list that I either need now, or is on sale. Anything less urgent, or that is not on sale, can wait for another month or two.

Moving slowly, but some progress…P

 

[SkiCatTX]

I'm embarrassed to share these very early drawings, but I'm now trying to work out the plumbing, trying to fit as much of the equipment into the stand as possible. I'm not regretting not making the stand slightly taller, or the sump slightly shorter, or both. I do actually have one more inch vertically inside than shown, as this is drawn with 2" steel, and the stand is actually 1.5", but it's still tight.

The problem with the UV sterilizer is evident here. My original plan was to mount a single 6" 80 watt from the top, but that clearly wouldn't fit, so instead I'm considering using 2x 3.5" 40 watt units in the front on the bottom. Alternatively, I might try to mount the two of them vertically in the back between the tank and the wall, maybe one to each return, though getting them out to clean would be a pain.

The space on the left of the sump in the front image would be for the chiller and electrical, maybe with a wall separating them. I have an exhaust vent in the wall already for the chiller heat, so that shouldn't be an issue, though I may still choose to mount the chiller remotely with a closed loop.

Not sure where a CaX would be, maybe either on top of the UV tubes, or on the right between them and the return pumps.

Note there are no fittings, including unions, in the drawing, as this is just for me and it's quite obvious what they are when I go to order them. At least one of the UV tubes could fit here on the left in the rear image. On the right though, I would have to rearrange the gate valve for the full siphon drain. I could access from below instead of from the side as shown.

 

[GlassMunky]

I’ve got a pretty identical setup going on
The UV is running on the QT tank right now but will go in front of the sump where the Grey brackets are, and just use a small pump to pull from the slimmer area, and return the water to the return chamber in the sump.
managed to also fit my carx on the left side as well as the 20lb CO2 tank. My biggest thing I’m still not sure about is my ATO... it’s only a 10g tank right now and it’s a tight fit to get it in and out with the sump and UV.... might end up getting a custom sized one that’s taller and thinner to give me easier access.

 

[SkiCatTX]

I’ve got a pretty identical setup going on
The UV is running on the QT tank right now but will go in front of the sump where the Grey brackets are, and just use a small pump to pull from the slimmer area, and return the water to the return chamber in the sump.
managed to also fit my carx on the left side as well as the 20lb CO2 tank. My biggest thing I’m still not sure about is my ATO... it’s only a 10g tank right now and it’s a tight fit to get it in and out with the sump and UV.... might end up getting a custom sized one that’s taller and thinner to give me easier access.

Yep, it's a bit of a pain trying to get all the equipment under the tank, and I do have an area nearby that I could run a closed loop to and back, but I'm trying to avoid that as much as possible. But if packing everything together makes it a pain to service, that's bad too, because I'll be less likely to do the work...

Ultimately, no matter how much prep I do, it'll come down to having the stand and equipment in hand, and just fitting everything. I just want to know what to order now, and what definitely won't work, which is what the CAD is for...time consuming, but helpful while I wait for the tank to arrive. Looking like early December right now, fingers crossed...

 

[GlassMunky]

Yep, it's a bit of a pain trying to get all the equipment under the tank, and I do have an area nearby that I could run a closed loop to and back, but I'm trying to avoid that as much as possible. But if packing everything together makes it a pain to service, that's bad too, because I'll be less likely to do the work...

Ultimately, no matter how much prep I do, it'll come down to having the stand and equipment in hand, and just fitting everything. I just want to know what to order now, and what definitely won't work, which is what the CAD is for...time consuming, but helpful while I wait for the tank to arrive. Looking like early December right now, fingers crossed...

Yea. As is, there’s no way I could fit all that equipment and all the electronics for it (controllers, ballasts, etc) so in addition to the stand face, we had our carpenter also make up a small electronics cabinet that will go next to the stand to house the apex and all that stuff, which saves, I think, just enough room in the stand to make working on it bearable lol

Hopefully will have the stand face completed and installed my thanksgiving so I can get the cycle underway!

 

[Beckio]

This build is actually something else. I'm excited for this!

 

[MrWheelock]

Super excited! Gotta say since you like white and will be away for periods of time give @Battlecorals a shout for the new deltec skimmers. They have a safety feature that when the water level rises too high it sucks water instead of air so the skimmer cup wont overflow back into the sump. I just got the 1000ix and it is a gorgeous piece of equipment!
Excited to see the rest of this super clean build come together!