Stevorino's 280g 10-Year Anniversary Tank

[Stevorino]

Most Recent Tank Picture (9.24.23):

Previous Tank Picture (5.20.23):

Table of Contents Post (Click Here)

4/7/23 - The Original 2013 Tank Story

4/10/23 - Old Fish Room Pic and Update on New Fish Room Build

4/23/23 - Fish Room Progress Update

5/20/23 - Automatic Refrigerated Food Feeder

5/20/23 - Tank & Fish Room Online (Pre-Fish)

9/24/23 - Lights Turn On and New Fish Additions


New Build Overview & Story:

The bug bit me in early 2013 after being inspired by a trip to the Georgia Aquarium. I couldn't believe it was possible to keep a reef tank, and quickly discovered you could do it at home. As we've all done, I binge-read books and message boards to learn as much as I could.

Despite my budget being TINY at the time, I eventually decided on a craigslist, scratched-to-hell tank 120 gallon tank for Christmas 2013.

Here we are 10 years later, and while the majority of my setup has evolved many times over, I am still on my original scratched-to-hell glass.


My situation has a handful of interesting wrinkles I hope you enjoy:


- The tank will reside on our main floor (above a basement) and I have hired help to build additional floor support. It is the first thing you see when entering our house, so the tank must look wife-approved.

- I have a Fish Room located in the basement, on the other side of the house. I have had this fish room running successfully for ~5 years, and am rebuilding it with a new custom sump before delivery of the new glass.

- My travel requires that the tank thrive without my presence for up to 8 weeks at a time. My current setup has a DIY automatic feeding system that doses ReefNutrition refrigerated food. I’ll be updating this component as well.

- The new tank is going in the same place as my current tank. My old sump will act as a temporary holding tank the week of delivery. The display tank will be ‘off-line’ from all of my systems for about 2 months before the new tank arrives.

- Within a month of delivery, I will be out of town for a few weeks. The goal is that all systems will be live ASAP after delivery so I can let problems happen before my departure.


The new tank will be a 280g Planet Aquarium 72 x 30 x 30 Aquarium with accompanying stand and canopy.

I mentally committed to the project in early December 2022, with the goal of having the tank installed and running in May 2023. A lot has already happened as of the time of the thread start. I will try to catch you all up with details before the tank arrives in a month!

There will be links in the next post to help navigate the journey. I hope you enjoy following along!

 

[Stevorino]

Links to Specific Posts/Updates:

4/7/23 - The Original 2013 Tank Story

4/10/23 - Old Fish Room Pic and Update on New Fish Room Build

4/23/23 - Fish Room Progress Update

5/20/23 - Automatic Refrigerated Food Feeder

5/20/23 - Tank & Fish Room Online (Pre-Fish)

9/24/23 - Lights Turn On and New Fish Additions

 

[Stevorino]

Saved

 

[Stevorino]

Since it is an Anniversary Tank after-all, here is a look back at the O.G. Tank:


This is a picture of the tank the night I declared it 'cycled' and we put in our first 2 clownfish - Tink & Nemo.

120g - 4 x 2 x 2

I had to clean and re-silicone the tank, and painted the back blue (what was I thinking?!)

Say hi to 'Tink'

My daughters were obsessed with Tinkerbell at the time. So they named her Tink.

She is still with us to this day, which I am super proud of

Later that year my wife rightfully declared the black stand/canopy super ugly (she was right) and found an entertainment center on craigslist she asked me to repurpose into a cohesive stand project.

You can see the parts of the new stand below and the OG Tank placement in the room behind it with the original florescent lighting I got with the tank. I was using bulbs from home depot. Dino was out of control. We did lose a fish or two, but Tink (above) and Daisy (yellow tang) made it through.

Overhaul complete (except for lighting):

Tank after the move:

2020 Picture:

Fast forward to December 2023, this is what the tank looked like shortly around the time I decided to start a new build:

 

[Stevorino]

Old Fish Room Pic and Update on New Fish Room Build (4/10/23)

Back in 2017 the corner overflow of my display tank started to leak. I decided to remove it altogether and replace it with an external overflow on the back glass .... while this event should have inspired me to get new glass, instead it naturally snowballed into building an entire 'Fish Room'

The room evolved over the years, and here's what it looked like right before breaking it down:

General layout:

22g Nano tank with clown, some LPS, and my Reef Octopus Skimmer. This had it's own overflow/return from the Sump.

80w Pentair UV Sterilizer (over-bought last year anticipating a new build was on the horizon).

150g Rubbermaid Sump

A pair of 150 Reservoirs - One Mixed Salt Water and One RODI

Mini-Fridge with a pair of Apex-Dos's feeding @Reef Nutrition (shout out to Chad)

Almost-Always-On Bathroom Exhaust fan (installed by 'John' - more on him later)


This thing was such a mess

The original layout was never designed to be very slightly ... and as it expanded it just got worse....

For the new room I am trying to make it much more organized in function and in look.

Here's an in-progress pic as of today (4/10/23):

The Nano is broken down and clownfish moved into containment in the display tank (more on 'Marlin' later)

The Reserve tanks have been moved to the corner of the room on reinforced stands.

John, My AMAZING handyman/HVAC/Contractor/Awesome Guy/Now Friend, helped me build the rest of this out. I designed and he turned into reality.

Hanging across the back of the room is what I have dubbed 'The Power Wall'

John ran a separate breaker from the panel to this wall. The top row of outlets are always-on.

The bottom outlets each have their own switches. I want to use these for things like water-station pumps, LED lighting, etc.... anything I only need when I am actively there, and don't want to control it with Apex.

The slots in the wall will provide for better cable management behind the wall. I will mount all of my electronics on the wall between the slots: Apex, Controlled outlets, Dosing pumps, etc

John donated the cabinetry from another job he was helping with. To the right of the cabinet is the new auto-feeder mini-fridge and a pump stand. My design has the return pipes running directly over(into) the fridge and then into the return pumps' inlets. I will detail this part of the build more when I install it.

The 80w UV filter is mounted overhead. I really, really tried to avoid this and I've legitimately lost sleep because of it, but I cannot find a better way to fit this beast in the room. This thing is 8 feet tall when you consider the clearance needed to access the UV Bulb. Putting it anywhere else seemed to cause more problems than the risk of overhead water. I reserve the right to change my mind


On top of the cabinets will rest my new Synergy Reef SK-60 Clarisea SK5000 & Filter Stock Sump:

I decided on Synergy Reef after reading about them from @rocket098. The 60" x 18" x 18" sump is designed for a pair of Clarisea Roller-Mats. I have one ready to go and am willing to get another down the road as necessary.

It's a super cool sump and easily exceeded my already high expectations. Synergy Reef has been wonderful to work with and I couldn't be happier with their service and the end-result.

This sump will sit on the cabinet with water moving from left to right.

The grey and orange (Go Vols!) will be a theme throughout the room when it's complete. I plan to paint all of the exposed wood in the Fish Room with a similar grey color and then paint all the pipes a similar orange.


Pre-Cycling Rock:

When I mentally committed to the new build in early December, I decided to start cycling immediately. I didn't want to bring over live rock from my existing tank since I have an Aiptasia issue and generally wanted a truly clean start after a decade of detritus.

The first week of December I went out and bought a pair of BRUTES and a pair of CaribSea LifeRock Tree Kits

My incredible LFS was cool enough to give me some Matrix rubble from their no-light coral tank sump and I used Dr. Tims to start the cycle in one of the BRUTES.

In the other BRUTE, I bleached/reset all of my favorite rocks from my main display tank.

After bleaching was complete, I added the cleaned rock, another life rock tree, and 2 more bags of Matrix Rubble to the cycling BRUTE. I've been adding more live copepods every month and dosing Phyto along with some @Reef Nutrition food every couple of days. ~50% water changes every few weeks to keep Nitrate around 5ppm.

The oldest rock/rubble will be 5-6 months old when placed in the display. The newer rock about 3 months old. I don't plan to turn on lights in the display for coral until the fall.... I'm less concerned with the ugly stage and more concerned with just getting an optimal start for the system.


Adding Support

The 120g only mildly concerned me with the weight, but 280g and a full stand/canopy had me beyond nervous.

The tank sits against an exterior wall on the main floor of my home, above a drop-ceiling'd basement. We hope to Re-Finish the basment with drywall ceilings and other upgrades in the next year or so.

I contacted a number of engineers in the area that had been referred by local reefers, but nobody would call back after multiple attempts. I eventually reached out to John, who has done a ton of projects for us over the years and has a background in residential building/remodeling.

He ended up putting a pair of 4x4 support beams directly underneath the tank, attached to a runner across the floorboards:

We tried to come up with something functional to do with the space between the beams, other than just bookshelves. We decided on putting in a Murphy Bed in between the beams. We had already contemplated making this a guest room, so it seemed like a natural solution.

Here's a during-construction picture of the Murphy Bed/Fish Support.

When we get around to Re-Finishing the basement, we will be putting in drywall ceilings and putting either bookshelves or some other kind of built-in to conceal the beams into the design of the room.


That's it for today - I will update again soon, likely once we make more progress on the Fish Room plumbing/paint or when the tank arrives in a month or so.

 

[rocket098]

What flow are you planning for through your sump

 

[Stevorino]

What flow are you planning for through your sump

I'm thinking the display overflow is going to be a bottleneck?:

The return pumps will be a pair of Iwaki MD-100RLTs. On my existing build I have just one and it can push some serious water despite the distance/height.

The internal overflow on this tank has a pair of 1" outlets.... I've tentatively planned for one of them to be an emergency overflow.... so if I only have a single 1" drain that is plumbed into a 1.5" pipe ..... maybe ~1000gph?

What has your experience been on your gph/sump?

 

[rocket098]

This sump will work well for 1000 gph.

 

[Stevorino]

Lots of progress made this weekend on fish room.....

Everything is painted and most electronics are hung and wired up to power.

Not in this pic is the skimmer, rollermat, and RODI filter that were all installed after taking the picture.

I ****** up the auto-feeder mini-fridge pretty good.... After drilling the first two holes successfully, I was bonehead and went too far towards the back of the fridge with my last hole and hit the gas line. This thing is trash now and a new one is ordered.

If anyone else decides to build a version of this, the two holes to the left are just barely too far back. I'm using the 3.2 cu. ft. Magic Chef Fridge without a Freezer.


I also finished plumbing the waste pipes. There's a 1" PVC pipe going from next to the display tank direct into the sewer so that I can vacuum directly out. I haven't figured out yet how I'm going to start the siphon on this thing, but the hard part is done. Also have the AWC feed going into this as well:

Display glass should be here in ~2 weeks.

Things left to do before it arrives:

- Install Fridge/Auto-Feeder system
- LED lights in Fish Room
- Connect Tubing around fish room
- Move old Sump up next to current display tank and move over fish

 

[rocket098]

I didn’t realize your tank is that large. I hate to tell you but 1000gph will not be enough to really get that water crystal clear. Expect small particles always hanging around in the water especially with a tank that tall

 

[Stevorino]

Once I get the

I didn’t realize your tank is that large. I hate to tell you but 1000gph will not be enough to really get that water crystal clear. Expect small particles always hanging around in the water especially with a tank that tall

I don't disagree... At this point I'll just have to see what the overflow can handle, and maybe use that second 1" outlet if necessary.

 

[rocket098]

If the tank is not in yet I would drill bigger. You will regret later no doubt. One inch overflow can’t handle very much via gravity and you definitely want an emergency overflow. My tank is 40 tall I will tell you right now I planned for 2000gph but quickly realized that ideally you want 3500 gph if you want that crystal clear water. FYI that sump with rollers will max around 1000

 

[Stevorino]

If the tank is not in yet I would drill bigger. You will regret later no doubt. One inch overflow can’t handle very much via gravity and you definitely want an emergency overflow. My tank is 40 tall I will tell you right now I planned for 2000gph but quickly realized that ideally you want 3500 gph if you want that crystal clear water. FYI that sump with rollers will max around 1000

This is great feedback and I super appreciate it

Since the tank will have a canopy, I may just run the returns up and over the back glass and use the overflow 'return' holes as extra overflow.

With Dual-Mats, Synergy claims the sump maxes at 2600gph - Do you think that's realistic?

 

[rocket098]

No it’s not I have the setup the way the sump is designed now the ideal flow is 1000gph. above that and issues start to arise like bubble trap between skimmer section and return not able to work well. The filter rollers cant handle that flow anyway. You can plum them in directly to the drain pipes to up the flow a bit but the way the drain pipe section is designed now the 1 inch bulkhead into the rollers is to restricted and there is not enough water weight to force push the water into the rollers.

 

[Stevorino]

No it’s not I have the setup the way the sump is designed now the ideal flow is 1000gph. above that and issues start to arise like bubble trap between skimmer section and return not able to work well. The filter rollers cant handle that flow anyway. You can plum them in directly to the drain pipes to up the flow a bit but the way the drain pipe section is designed now the 1 inch bulkhead into the rollers is to restricted and there is not enough water weight to force push the water into the rollers.

I think in that case I am just going to wait and see how it goes once I get it.... if the Sump can only handle 1000gph as is, then it seems like that'll be my bottleneck no matter what I do with the overflow.

I'll just make sure to setup the plumbing under the tank in a way I can modify it easily should the overflow end up being the bottleneck. Appreciate all the feedback!

 

[Stevorino]

5/20/23 - Automatic Refrigerated Food Feeder Live!

Finally got this bad boy up and running. Here are some pics:

The water runs from the sump left-to-right, so after the water moves through the sump, it passes over a mini-fridge before the return shoots it up to the display tank upstairs.

I have two holes drilled into the top of the mini-fridge: One for the pipe/food tube, and one for the cables (1 Aquabus to Apex, and 2 power cables). So far this fridge has been great, but I learned the hard way that there are internal pipes that run along the back, so be careful if you go drill more than half-way back with this particular fridge.

Inside the fridge has a pair of Apex DOS pumps that can feed 4 Reef Nutrition containers.

The tubing all manifolds together before it connects to the quick-connect fitting at the base of the orange pipe.

The tubing is never exposed to air outside of the fridge. Once a pump pushes food forward, it goes directly into the pipe and spills into the display.

I currently have the drilled holes filled with crumpled paper towels. After a few more days of successful operation, I'll use some spray foam to truly seal it off.

This system has allowed me to continue to feed my fish even when away for weeks.

Big shoutout to Chad @Reef Nutrition who helped me figure this out and made recommendations on which products were best for my setup.

I subscribe to have fresh bottles delivered every few months. This latest batch had a surprise bonus 3 bottles of Copepods, which was ****ing awesome because I was about to go buy a bunch from the LFS the next day!

 

[Stevorino]

5/20/23 - We are Live!

I gotta find my phone camera filter, but everything is finally up and running.

I'll be testing later today and see if the pre-cycling rock worked as planned or if it needs more time before I move over fish who are still chilling in my old sump just outside of the picture.

Fish room is up and running (here is a picture of the before).

I have some small leaks in the reserve tanks to the left I am sorting through, but otherwise everything is operating as I had hoped!

Right now I only have one of my two return pumps running, which is moving more water than the both the overflow & sump can handle when not choked by a ball-valve slightly. Once I have all of the essentials dialed in I'll be circling back to optimize it.

 

[Stevorino]

Can't believe it's been ~4 months since my last update... a lot has changed!

The tank is doing great and has been really stable for the past few months:

Current Parameters:

Temp: ~78.75
Salinity: 35
pH: ~8.3 (Low 8.25. High 8.41)
Alk: ~8.5
Nitrate: ~12-18
Phos: .02

The lights are still ramping up after a ~2.5 month dim start. As they have ramped up, so has the diatoms/brown algae, as expected....

I've been heavily adding pods from my LFS, @Dinkins Aquatic Gardens, and @Reef Nutrition.

I ordered a ~100 gallon clean-up crew from John @ @reefcleaners last week to make sure they'd do the trick with this particular algae...and they are definitely helping, especially the snails!

I ordered more reinforcements today with some more ornamental fun guys as well.


New Additions:

As a reminder, I had been housing my clowns from my ~10 year tank in the sump until I was able to get them paired up with an anemone.

Once we started really ramping up the lights in early August, we ordered a STUNNING Colorado Sunburst Anemone from @Vivid Aquariums.

Once the anemone arrived, I put it and the clowns into a small tupperware in the fuge. About a week later the clowns were all into the anemone. I gave them a week to bond and then moved the entire group into the display.

The anemone and fish explored for a couple weeks, but seem to have settled into a good place:

Tank (bigger, female I've had ~10 years) tends to kick out Nemo frequently so she can sprawl about.

Nemo is a gentleman and has no problem moving to the torch coral next door AKA his man cave.


After the clowns were sorted it was time to start adding our first new fish since the install in May.

The first addition was an easy choice: Belle, Copperband Butterfly:

Belle had a rough start.

Despite using an acclimation box, our resident bully in the tank, Pinocchio (Longnosed Hawkfish) nearly bullied Belle to death in the first ~30 minutes.

I'm not gonna lie, I thought Belle was a goner..... but my wife insisted we put her in the refugium and she nursed Belle back to health with live brine shrimp. After 2 weeks of regularly going to our LFS for fresh brine shrimp, she fattened up and eventually started chomping frozen.


While Belle was nursed back to health, we eventually caught Pinocchio.... It took weeks.

I was literally planning on breaking down half of the rockwork the day we managed to catch him:

We have the best LFS ever and they gladly took him in and gave us some store credit.

I sincerely hope Pinocchio is alive and well..... and being bullied by someone else!

Belle has been doing amazing since her reintroduction. She gobbles up frozen brine and mysis without hesitation and has been getting along well with everyone.

Another new addition is our super active Diamond Goby, Olaf:

Olaf built a burrow right in the front of the tank and is a total hoot. I've had diamonds before, but this guy is definitely the most active and hilarious to watch.

I gave him some lawn decoration zoas above his burrow, but he did not appreciate the installation process!

We also have a few anthias (pictured above).

Our most recent addition is Mirabelle, the White Tail Bristletooth Tang:

I was nervous to add another tang to the mix, but she's been doing great since day one. She's only been with us a week or so, and is still a little shy, but she's eating great and there's no worrisome aggression.

We added in some soft corals and birdsnests over the past couple of weeks from @jfox and @YourReef and have a HUGE package coming in with goodies in mid-October.

I've also installed a kalk-stirrer for alk/calc. I plan on ordering a calcium reactor in the weeks ahead as the corals start to push the limits of the kalk stirrer.