Starting ~800 Gallon Custom Reef Tank Build

[ravi197699]

thank you Willam DeCoursey

 

[ravi197699]

Man, sounds like you got no rest this past weekend! Thanks for the update. I'm really enjoying following your build.

No rest man! but as I am getting close to finishing this build work is lesser and lesser just minor tweaks with stuff,

 

[BeejReef]

Wow, just binge read your thread. Unbelievable. Just like mine really. We both use the same pump for our saltwater mix barrel.. lol.

Happy for you that it is wet. Great timing too. You can enjoy the summer while your system begins to settle in.
I'm familiar with the principles, but the scale is hard to conceive... looking at you buying a pallet of bio-bricks The nitrate controls you've built in are SO robust, you may be ordering stump remover by the truckload as well!!

Very sorry you lost your last tank to mother nature. I've never seen anyone stocking a tank this size from scratch. The possibilities are amazing. With the space you have to play with, almost anything is possible. I mean, someone with a 120g that crashes out of the hobby and needs a home for their livestock, you could do that seven times and not quite be full!

Best of luck. Hope the kids and family love it

 

[ravi197699]

Wow, just binge read your thread. Unbelievable. Just like mine really. We both use the same pump for our saltwater mix barrel.. lol.

Happy for you that it is wet. Great timing too. You can enjoy the summer while your system begins to settle in.
I'm familiar with the principles, but the scale is hard to conceive... looking at you buying a pallet of bio-bricks The nitrate controls you've built in are SO robust, you may be ordering stump remover by the truckload as well!!

Very sorry you lost your last tank to mother nature. I've never seen anyone stocking a tank this size from scratch. The possibilities are amazing. With the space you have to play with, almost anything is possible. I mean, someone with a 120g that crashes out of the hobby and needs a home for their livestock, you could do that seven times and not quite be full!

Best of luck. Hope the kids and family love it

Thank you William, please share the thread of your build, I always learn new ideas from other reefers, my kids have only 1 question, when I am going to add more fishes, Mistakes I made in the past I wanted to make sure I don't repeat those again, so I am trying cover all the corners to make it easy and make my life easier...

 

[BeejReef]

I appreciate your humility, but you don't have anything to learn from me . Maybe someday when I've been at it for more than a month. If you want to go back in time and remember when, https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/65g-dream-errrr-reality-build.552444/

I need to update it a bit. I have a drain next to the tank now and I just spent "crazy money" on a Tunze ATO.
Yes, wife and kids all clamoring for more fish and corals here as well! My oldest is only 3. He mostly likes the "yucky bubbles" in the skimmer. I'll show him a pic of your skimmer!

 

[ravi197699]

big tank small tank does not matter, every hobbyist is creative and have new tricks and ideals up their sleeve, I always watch youtube videos and takes what works for my system..

 

[ravi197699]

Hello R2R, little update on few of the items, I had to take the skimmer apart and I am going to change the design of the skimmer to make it simple and reduce the height, height as of now is 6.5 feet high, wife did not like that sitting in sunroom so I will cut the height down to 4.5 feet high including collecting cup, Collection cup it self is 18" x 6" in height. I will post pictures of the new design when I put it together, I am waiting for all the parts, pump, needle wheel impeller etc. more to come on that part, at the same time I order some 3d printed parts for auto top off, float valve holder, reefbreeders remote control holder, Milwaukee salinity meter holder etc, I will be working this weekend to plump my ATO and find permanent place for my ro system, I will decide if I am going use 30 gallon containers and place them in closet outside the house or inside the sunroom, Wife is not too happy about that either, unless I am able to hide this in the cabinet that I am going to use for frag tank. time will tell which route I am going to go with, I bought 2 bottle holder and this is 3d printed as well, I will be using VOSS 850ml water bottle and I will use those bottles for vinegar for nitrate reactor and second bottle with for phosphates remover that will go directly into the skimmer, I will post pictures when I mount those on the wall . here are the pictures of the parts I received...

 

[ravi197699]

Hello R2R again, I got my Reeflo Gold Dart Pump and needle wheel impeller that I bought from Reeflo. I will be sending this impeller to my resource and we will try to make some enhancements on this design, I want to make this slightly bigger and add more needles. we will see how that goes, but there are the pictures of the impeller and pump that I am going to use on my redesigned DIY skimmer...

 

[New Jersey REEF]

That should work nicely ! Can’t wait to see how much foam that thing will pull out...

 

[ravi197699]

I have used this pump with this impeller in the past and this makes excellent froth like foam, I might be able to improve that via new and improved designed impeller, I will post picture of the design when I get that back.

 

[ravi197699]

Hello GM R2R and happy Monday!, Past weekend I had guest visiting us and I did not have any time to work on anything, I have few important items pending that I have started working since past Saturday, I have put together the skimmer yesterday and pretty much design is done, plumbing for pump, drain, air injection is in place, I have utilized white uni seals for the plumbing and then connection unions for easy disconnect, 1/2 "emergency drain is added on the bottom as well incase if I have to drain the skimmer, I have wired float switch wires for apex breakout boxes, I will be utilizing 2 float switches and 1 float valve for back up redundancy, I will be using 30 gallon blue container as ATO water holder and run the output to the sump which will connect to 1/2" float valve, I need to find cabinet which is 24" deep by 48" wide which will hold frag tank and under frag tank I will hide my ATO container and my RO system. I have drain pipe for my frag tank in place already and I will be using 1 of my manifold output to feed frag tank, I don't have any frags yet but it will be plumbed and ready for frags and light will be mounted on the tank as well. more pictures to come, here are some of the pictures of the skimmer that I have put together..

 

[crusso1993]

Hello GM R2R and happy Monday!, Past weekend I had guest visiting us and I did not have any time to work on anything, I have few important items pending that I have started working since past Saturday, I have put together the skimmer yesterday and pretty much design is done, plumbing for pump, drain, air injection is in place, I have utilized white uni seals for the plumbing and then connection unions for easy disconnect, 1/2 "emergency drain is added on the bottom as well incase if I have to drain the skimmer, I have wired float switch wires for apex breakout boxes, I will be utilizing 2 float switches and 1 float valve for back up redundancy, I will be using 30 gallon blue container as ATO water holder and run the output to the sump which will connect to 1/2" float valve, I need to find cabinet which is 24" deep by 48" wide which will hold frag tank and under frag tank I will hide my ATO container and my RO system. I have drain pipe for my frag tank in place already and I will be using 1 of my manifold output to feed frag tank, I don't have any frags yet but it will be plumbed and ready for frags and light will be mounted on the tank as well. more pictures to come, here are some of the pictures of the skimmer that I have put together..

Man, I don't know what we're going to do with you and how much you hardly get done. Lol

Skimmer is looking good after the "chop" on it. Did you get the modded impeller for the Reeflo for the skimmer?

 

[ravi197699]

Man, I don't know what we're going to do with you and how much you hardly get done. Lol

Skimmer is looking good after the "chop" on it. Did you get the modded impeller for the Reeflo for the skimmer?

lol, I got the impeller from reeflo but I am having 3D printed version as well which will have more needles fins and it will be 1 inch bigger in diameter, i will post pictures when i get that in mail and i will replace this impeller with 3d printed version...

 

[crusso1993]

lol, I got the impeller from reeflo but I am having 3D printed version as well which will have more needles fins and it will be 1 inch bigger in diameter, i will post pictures when i get that in mail and i will replace this impeller with 3d printed version...

Yes, the 3D one is what I was referring to and should have been more clear. My bad. Will be cool to see side by side pictures after you get it!

 

[ravi197699]

Yes, the 3D one is what I was referring to and should have been more clear. My bad. Will be cool to see side by side pictures after you get it!

I will post side by side pictures of the impeller,..

 

[ravi197699]

Hello R2R happy Monday!, I made some progress and got a lot of pending stuff done, I spend few hours Saturday and continued Sunday and I am happy that I was able to achieve set goals for Sunday, I fired up my nitrate reactor and checked for any leaks and no leaks found which is good thing, I plumbed my ATO return with 1/2" pvc that runs along the back wall and comes around and then I have 3/8" RO fitting that will run to float valve that is mounted on custom bracket, Flat valve is my last defense if my 2 float switches and apex does not shut of my ATO pump, float switches are wired and when I connected to break out box, I don't get signal when i move the float switches up and down, so that is easy fix and i will check the soldered connections, I have built my own CO2 regulator and bought surplus parts on ebay, I am using stainless steel dual stage AirGas regulator with step down valve that it came with, I bought 24v Parker stainless steel 1/4" NPT solenoid valve and HOKE metering valve that will connect to calcium reactor, I am happy so far and I fired up the solenoid and it functions as it should, all the parts were bought used except solenoid valve, it was new old stock which I got at very fair price, I have completed my RO system hard plumbed, RO water container ( 30 Gallon Blue Container) and RO system will sit under my frag tank, I ran 3/4" PVC pipe from feed and ran along the wall and now It is feeding 60 psi water to RO cartridges and ro cartridges feeds my commercial booster pump that feeds my 600GPD membrane at 150 PSI which feeds my commercial DI resin filter ( 6" x 18") which has TDS Meter which gives me the reading of water coming out of membrane and after DI, readings as of today are membrane "004" and after DI "000", I will connect 110v solenoids valves to be able to start feed water and my booster pump from my phone by using KASA wifi controllable outlets, I will add float switch in my ro container that will send me email if it is empty, that is in future plans and these enhancements will be done cone tank is running on cruise control, I have not tested my water parameters yet and my salinity is 1.026, tank is cloudy due to no skimmer or any other filtration, Skimmer is plumbed and ran water through the skimmer and no leaks and I am pretty excited about no leaks, I did my best while installing uniseals, I gave 3 days for silicone to cure on the base and I started the pump and ran fine, I am having issue with air pump not able to push air down in the skimmer chamber, this skimmer holds 25 gallons of water and my air pump is not cutting it, I need to buy high pressure air pump that can push air down to skimmer body, I was looking into Thomas piston air pumps which produce 3.5 cfm air at 45 psi max, I will do more research later today, here are the pictures of the items I got done past Sunday... Happy Reefing...

 

[ravi197699]

Hello R2R happy Monday!, I made some progress and got a lot of pending stuff done, I spend few hours Saturday and continued Sunday and I am happy that I was able to achieve set goals for Sunday, I fired up my nitrate reactor and checked for any leaks and no leaks found which is good thing, I plumbed my ATO return with 1/2" pvc that runs along the back wall and comes around and then I have 3/8" RO fitting that will run to float valve that is mounted on custom bracket, Flat valve is my last defense if my 2 float switches and apex does not shut of my ATO pump, float switches are wired and when I connected to break out box, I don't get signal when i move the float switches up and down, so that is easy fix and i will check the soldered connections, I have built my own CO2 regulator and bought surplus parts on ebay, I am using stainless steel dual stage AirGas regulator with step down valve that it came with, I bought 24v Parker stainless steel 1/4" NPT solenoid valve and HOKE metering valve that will connect to calcium reactor, I am happy so far and I fired up the solenoid and it functions as it should, all the parts were bought used except solenoid valve, it was new old stock which I got at very fair price, I have completed my RO system hard plumbed, RO water container ( 30 Gallon Blue Container) and RO system will sit under my frag tank, I ran 3/4" PVC pipe from feed and ran along the wall and now It is feeding 60 psi water to RO cartridges and ro cartridges feeds my commercial booster pump that feeds my 600GPD membrane at 150 PSI which feeds my commercial DI resin filter ( 6" x 18") which has TDS Meter which gives me the reading of water coming out of membrane and after DI, readings as of today are membrane "004" and after DI "000", I will connect 110v solenoids valves to be able to start feed water and my booster pump from my phone by using KASA wifi controllable outlets, I will add float switch in my ro container that will send me email if it is empty, that is in future plans and these enhancements will be done cone tank is running on cruise control, I have not tested my water parameters yet and my salinity is 1.026, tank is cloudy due to no skimmer or any other filtration, Skimmer is plumbed and ran water through the skimmer and no leaks and I am pretty excited about no leaks, I did my best while installing uniseals, I gave 3 days for silicone to cure on the base and I started the pump and ran fine, I am having issue with air pump not able to push air down in the skimmer chamber, this skimmer holds 25 gallons of water and my air pump is not cutting it, I need to buy high pressure air pump that can push air down to skimmer body, I was looking into Thomas piston air pumps which produce 3.5 cfm air at 45 psi max, I will do more research later today, here are the pictures of the items I got done past Sunday... Happy Reefing...

 

[ravi197699]

Hello R2R, I am setting my ATO with dual float switches and breakout box, 1st switch is to turn the ato pump on and 2nd is redundancy back up switch if 1st switch fails for any reason, Please see the below programming I have, Please let me know if this is correct. I am not very good with coding apex. Please provide your input..

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Sw1 CLOSED Then ON
If Sw1 OPEN Then OFF
If Sw2 CLOSED Then OFF

 

[ravi197699]

anyone ? just want to make sure that code is going to work....

 

[mch1984]

Hello R2R, I am setting my ATO with dual float switches and breakout box, 1st switch is to turn the ato pump on and 2nd is redundancy back up switch if 1st switch fails for any reason, Please see the below programming I have, Please let me know if this is correct. I am not very good with coding apex. Please provide your input..

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Sw1 CLOSED Then ON
If Sw1 OPEN Then OFF
If Sw2 CLOSED Then OFF

Sorry I'm no help here. I have not implemented a break out box yet on my apex.