Susan's Grand Adventure--125 Reef Build

[Flippers4pups]

Okay, redid design. See what you all think. My hubby is good with final plumbing but not with the design needed for a tank. I'm using unions where I can so if I need to replace ball valves that stick, it's easy to remove whichever section I need.

I like!

 

[Fin]

I like the flow of that one better. A wood partition between the end of the sump and your electronics would be nice, if you can fit it in. The environment around the sump is hard on electronics. As an example: My sump frag section LED light after a couple of years ...

 

[Susan Edwards]

good point Gary. Will make sure I do that if possible. Stand on order. Couple more questions based on a response in the same basic sump thread question I posted in main forum.

Do ball valves on the inlet to sump make sense if I ever need to lower flow or have an emergency shut off of flow?

Suggested that the media chamber follow the fuge but wouldn't that limit pod return to DT? Pods being trapped by sponges or floss? REasoning was to allow more nutrients into fuge

Suggested combining rubble rock bubble trap with fuge and using media after fuge as bubble trap. Combining the two maybe makes sense. I was sort of counting it as part of the fuge anyway, just extra filtration

Thoughts?

 

[Fin]

I would say the valves probably aren't necessary and most would say not to use them on a drain, unless you are fine tuning a siphon in a Bean Animal style overflow (which you don't have). You really need clear, unobstructed drains to the sump.

A lot of people nowadays use filter socks instead of floss or sponge. Some people don't use any mechanical media at all. You can add carbon or GFO in reactors if you have the room. Kind of a personal preference there. Socks & floss do catch pods, but you can always collect them and return to the refugium before cleaning socks or discarding pads.

I am not a big fan of rock rubble. Collects detritus. I would put some live rock in the refugium, if I wanted a little additional surface area for bacteria to grow. You can also use things like Marine Pure blocks, or other artificial bio-media in other areas of your sump.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Fin how in the world would you be able to see the pods <g>. I'm leaning away from filter socks as they are prob. nitrate factories and I tend to be a heavy feeder. Was planning to vacumm sump of gunk often with a water xfer pump. If water goes right into skimmer section, the skimmer should get most of it? This is all new to me. With the Red Sea, I don't worry about it. Good thought on the marine pure blocks. Would those be good to use in place of rock rubble?

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Will Milberger you'll either laugh or think I was having either a blond or senior moment but I thought you were referring to my sump design, not the old sump! Yeah, shipping to texas would not be practical

 

[Fin]

@Fin how in the world would you be able to see the pods <g>. I'm leaning away from filter socks as they are prob. nitrate factories and I tend to be a heavy feeder. Was planning to vacumm sump of gunk often with a water xfer pump. If water goes right into skimmer section, the skimmer should get most of it? This is all new to me. With the Red Sea, I don't worry about it. Good thought on the marine pure blocks. Would those be good to use in place of rock rubble?

• Copepods, not so much. Amphipods, you will be able to see easily. Some get rather large.

• Socks are a method of nutrient export - when you change them. Change them a couple of times a week and they are beneficial to reducing nutrients, instead of the other way around. Skimmer will get some of the detritus, but definitely not all of it. I like to have a powerhead in my skimmer compartment to help keep detritus in suspension longer, so more of it can be collected by the skimmer.

• Depending on how much rock you have in your display and how heavily stocked your tank will be, you might not even need additional surface area in the sump for biological filtration. Something that you can plan to maybe add in the future as your bio-load grows, if you have the room in the sump. I ran my 140 for more than 10 years with no additional biological filtration media in the sump. I do use Siporax in my nano sump and plan to incorporate it in my new build, but because I plan to have less rock in the display.

 

[LDH]

Time for an update. Today I hosed out the tank. Man, it was gunky! And even worse, after hubby struggled to get the plumbing out, the overflows were disgusting. Inches deep in cr**. Esp. the inner one--not sure why there is a inner one that doesn't connect to the main. Must have had a good 5 inches of ick that came poring out the holes in the overflow box. Still need to spray and soak with vinegar and use razor to get glass clean and overflows as clean as I can. I'll save that for another day. I think I'm going to toss the dursa standpipe and get new ones, unless I can clean them. But might be easier to go with new. Plumbing comes later--Jan/Feb.

Decided not to use the sump that it came with. I don't think it is a standard 40 gal or 40 gal breeder and I figured I'd put in as large as I can so will be using a 55 gal. This week I worked on my sump design. I have tons of questions but at least I have a starting point. I have no idea how tall to make the baffles. The image below is my first try. Would love feedback. There is no real plumbing at this point as the focus is deciding what baffles I need and where to get what I need.

Sump drawing equals 48" but isn't totally to scale, and might need tweaking here and there for exact measurements

So my Dec. priorities are:
-clean tank as good as it will get
-plan the sump
-figure out where to order baffles
-order the cabinet--R& J at Petco
-purchase the 55 gal sump
-order rock at end of month

Have a good start

Not ready but better. See the inner overflow, water enters through the cutouts. Why? What is the purpose? You can see it on the full length photo

Sump Plans

Hi Susan! Cool build and planning so far! Question: I am designing my sump right now and yours is the second design I have seen where the refugium is after the return pump... is there a reason for this? Thanks for sharing.

 

[Fin]

Hi Susan! Cool build and planning so far! Question: I am designing my sump right now and yours is the second design I have seen where the refugium is after the return pump... is there a reason for this? Thanks for sharing.

Check out her second, revised diagram.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@LDH I'd seen some sump images of the refugium after the pump. My original reason was to allow pods to enter pump chamber and up into the DT. After feed back on the design I changed it. See the second design above. There is also a post I added into the main forum--Reef Discussion--that has various thoughts from others. I'd check it out so you can see what others said. I'll be tweaking this design to put the media chamber after the fuge to allow the fuge to get first dibs at nutrients. Just read all you can. I also saved images from google to get ideas.

Still have to figure out the baffle heights. I've never had a below tank sump. Rather scary!

@Fin I do have some huge ampipods in my current display! Figure they are too big for my pod eaters but they produce small babies <g>. Okay, will prob. go socks. I plan to sew my own to save $ Could even toss them

 

[Susan Edwards]

Okay, I think I have a workable design. The only thing I could tweak is making room to put the ato back into the sump and save myself 5 inches of cabinet space. I could do:
7 inches for pump chamber instead of 8. says 7 but it is 8--forgot to change text. Maybe even 6"?
4 inches for media chamber
13 for skimmer chamber
18 for fuge

That would give me 5 inches for the ato section.

Worth putting it back in, or keeping the sump as is

 

[Susan Edwards]

 

[scuzy]

I would remove the ball valves on the drain. It's not needed.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@scuzy I plan to. Forgot to do that.

 

[Fin]

Is there a way to relocate a larger reservoir outside of the stand? Maybe inside of a remote cabinet, stool, or something else? You are probably only looking at a few days of top off capacity, if that. You could free up more space in the sump too. Think “outside the stand.”

Like this... (borrowed the pic from ReeferEric’s thread). I thought this idea was very clever.

 

[Susan Edwards]

@Fin that is a very cool idea!

 

[Susan Edwards]

Finally managed to learn the inside dimensions of the stand which are 68x16x26 which means no 55 gal or 40 breeder. All that time and effort of the last 2 weeks! Ah well, all a good learning experience. I'm going to have to find a 36x15 or 16 by 15 or 16 tank for this. Or just delay some of my build and order a sump already to go. But probably too much money. So this is the final workup with everything in cabinet and plumbing plan. Lots of adjustments will be made as I actually put it all together: pipes shifted, unions/balls shifted etc. But at least I have a workable plan--Maybe? Final input always welcome

Got rid of entertainment center to dump, moved the qt tank, and TV will move to my office this weekend so the wall is ready for the arrival of the stand. Stand leaves petco warehouse on the 21st so not before xmas. Pricing what plumbing I want/think I need. Tomorrow will clean the 2 durso pipes and see if they are okay to reuse and figure out the bulkheads needed. Might go to OSH and play with pvc fittings so I know what I need. I think I'm ordering colored for final.

 

[Fin]

Well, that sucks. Something to consider... Elite Aquatics RRS-33 model - 33 x 15 x 15 with refugium. I have one of Tyler's sumps and I believe I got good quality for the price. I don't know what shipping will cost. When I got mine last year, there was no shipping costs. That may have changed. He also does custom work, or can make small changes to existing designs.

http://www.elite-aquatics.net/index.php?route=product/product&path=58&product_id=46

 

[Susan Edwards]

thanks Gary

 

[Susan Edwards]

Okay, some updates. This will be the sloooowest build ever! Stand is on its way. Should be delivered by fed ex on Wed. next week. Next week I'll also order my sump. Decided by the time I try to find a 36" tank with a width of 15-16" and then baffles I'll have spent close to 200 bucks if not a tad more. I found a Bashsea bio fuge 36x14x16. I like the one Gary posted a pic of above but its pricier. This one is 360.00 and the fuge area is huge, largest of any sump I've yet to find in the size I need. Looks smokin' hot too. So I'll redo my sump design with their measurements and plumbing just so I can get an idea of what I need and how much. here is some info on the sump
http://www.fishtanksdirect.com/bash...DpiVOLdDY-9glUHN3j8JCv_pbuWLWf3xoCHdgQAvD_BwE
Overall: 36"X14"X16"
Material thickness: 3/8"
Return: 8"X6"
Skimmer: 15"X13.5"
Refuge: 20.5"X13.25"

See pic below

So my goals for this month are coming together which was to get the Tank, stand and sump and do my design. Big Goal and nearly complete.

These next goals will take me through January seeing how it's nearly end of the year now....
1-Do what I want inside the stand:
-paint
-tray for the sump to catch spills
-add a box to the right to separate electronic/electrical from water
-add a power center, the Red Sea replacement one to each side. Has a plastic cover to protect all outlets and switches. Might see if there are some cheaper ones. Pic below (I have a red sea and love that aspect)
-add shelf for doser
2-Prepare livingwall where it will grace my house
-take down TV (put in my office) and repair holes and paint
-install a sheet of acrylic to protect wall from saltwater spashes. Will need 2 sheets
-see if I want to add a pc under stand to protect flooring and evenly distribute weight(vinyl strip flooring so water proof)
3-Cut holes for drains/returns in stand if needed. Get neoprene so tank can get up on stand
4-Start plumbing

Feb. goals
Rocks and rockscape. Egg crate on bottom of tank
Upgrade water change system
--bigger water storage--50 gal--store outside-cover or paint black for algae or something
--30 gal brute--fill from 50 gal via hose from outside to kitchen

Mar goals
Equipment for sump and tank (return pump, heaters, powerheads)
Start Cycle

April
More equipment and lighting
Cuc
Fish to start in qt

Hopefully I can work this and keep to schedule