Zibba's Reefs -- ADA 90P & Envision 100g

[zibba]

First off, I want to apologize that I haven't updated this thread. I had such a busy summer with work and 7 out-of-state weddings that it never seemed like a good time to set-up these tanks. Anyway, things have mellowed out a little bit now and I've made some progress over the past month or so.

The best thing about taking some time away was that I decided to move the Envision to the main living room after I finished painting the ugly (orange) brick fireplace and white walls. When I moved the Envision over, I realized that just on the other side of the wall is the main entrance to the master bedroom. A few measurements and I realized that I could actually plumb both the Envision and ADA together into a community sump. Not only would this reduce equipment costs, but it would allow me to have the noisier equipment outside of the bedroom. The stand was built so it could be taken apart relatively easily to fit through narrow doorways. So the first step was to disassemble the stand, move it into the new room, reassemble and begin painting:

Now, time for prime & paint:

I wanted a glossy finish. I wish it would have turned out little smoother, but I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[zibba]

Next I started made the sump out of a 40br:

I let the silicone cure overnight.

 

[MarvinsReef]

nice. glad you're making progress. looking forward to seeing the tanks with water.

 

[zibba]

Next up, I painted the back panel on the ADA:

The paint was oil based so I was really careful to completely cover the interior of the aquarium. And, I was really careful when taping the edges so I wouldn't get any bleed over the beveled ADA edges:

I put a flashlight inside the tank and shined it through the glass to determine how many coats I need. Ended up using 3 coats.


Here is it's final placement. The recessed light above the aquarium is going to me moved to the right about 3.5' so that I can hang the new fixture. The Envision is just through the beige wall to the left of the ADA, so I'll drill some holes through that wall for the overflow and return.

 

[zibba]

nice. glad you're making progress. looking forward to seeing the tanks with water.

Thanks Marvin. You're tank is a real inspiration and I've used it as a guide for aquascaping.

 

[cdrewferd]

How did those baffles hold up in the sump? I would think that glass that small would just break.

 

[zibba]

The next big step was plumbing both tanks together. When it comes to plumbing, I have a hard time conceptualizing the design, drawing out a diagram and listing the needed parts before I make the trip to the hardware store. So, I pretty much go into the store and play with the adult erector-set (aka, pvc piping). I laid out the parts in the aisles, bought what I thought I needed, went back 3-4 more times and finally got the plumbing the way I envisioned it. From my past experience I knew I wanted to run a "Herbie" style overflow, however, I teed off the main drain with 3/4" pvc running parallel to the sump so it would dump into the far chamber (the refugium) and could potentially be used to feed an external skimmer or biopellet reactor if I decide to go that route later on.

For the return lines, I utilized spa-flex where I could and several ball valves. The return lines entering the Envision are 3/4" but I used 1" spa-flex from the (temporary) return pump as far as I could to reduce head pressure. Similarly, for the ADA, which has a 1/2" return line, I used 3/4" spa-flex regulated by a ball-valve, through the wall and all the way to the bulkhead. I had a Rio 3100 laying around, which is only a 900 gph pump, and there is PLENTY of flow in the return lines. I will be upgrading this return pump, but will reconsider how big the return pump needs to be.


Here are some pictures of the plumbing -- sorry I was kind of in the zone and didn't take too many pictures during dry fitting and my layout.


Far drain is the emergency, which has a ball valve on union fittings that will drain straight into the first chamber of the sump via 1.5" spa-flex. It can handle 100% of the water should the main drain fail. The main drain is regulated by a gate-valve that is teed off to another gate valve to control the flow to the refugium. The two outer drains are the return lines on ball valves on union fittings. Spa flex primarily connects these to the return pump.

 

[zibba]

How did those baffles hold up in the sump? I would think that glass that small would just break.

The baffles only bow slightly when there's water on one side only. When the sump is filled and running, there's zero bowing because the pressure evens out a bit. I talked with a few other local reefers who said they built 40br sumps with this glass and haven't had any issues. I just bought a simple glass cutter, some oil for the cutter and cut to the dimensions I needed.

 

[MarvinsReef]

very cool! 1smile1

thanks for the kind words too. :bigsmile:

 

[zibba]

With the plumbing all primed and glued, it was time for a leak test!

The Envision's first drops of water!

Filling up the ADA:

There was only one small leak in the ball valve for the return line to the ADA -- easy fix. The leak actually dripped into the main chamber of the sump, so I continued on and filled up both tanks. I set up the plumbing so I can take the ADA off-line at any time with a few twists of ball valves and unions. It worked out pretty slick!


The Herbie style overflow on the Envision works flawlessly and is nearly silent. I tested the emergency line by completely closing off the main drain -- worked like a charm!


Once both tanks were running fresh water through them in "full operation" mode -- I pulled the plug on the return line to make sure I had enough room in the sump. I'll have to make sure that my return lines aren't too far below the water, but there was certainly enough room to hold the excess drainage.

I was really impressed to see both tanks in in operation.

 

[zibba]

After passing the leak test, I drained and dried it, then began slowly filling it up with fresh RO/DI:

Just breaking the overflow:

Ready to rock!

 

[MarvinsReef]

wOw! nice... I'm having fun following this build. 1smile1

 

[zibba]

The final big project was the canopy for the Envision, which is what I worked on this past weekend.

The Envision is being lit by a single 250w Radium in a large Lumebright reflector and supplemented with 2 36" VHO UVL Super Actinics. This is old-school and inefficient but I absolutely love the end result of this bulb combination.

A local club member gave me a great deal on an ARO VHO 4-lamp wire harness and a large Lumenbright and I picked up a lumentek balast that can run the Radium on the 250-hqi setting (~270-275 watts). For this build, I only wanted to run 2 VHO's, so I had to figure out how to wire it properly. Wiring is not my strong-suit, but thankfully I found a wiring diagram online. Once I confirmed that the ballast and bulbs worked, I started installing the wire harnesses.


I wanted the canopy to be built so none of the wires would be visible so I had to find a way to make cut-outs through the plywood that could be filled. The wire harnesses are pretty big, but thankfully my neighbor had the right tool for the job, which he referred to as the "cut-through-anything"/"Jesus" tool.


Safety glasses -- check.

The "cut through anything" tool:

Attached the bulbs to the endcaps to makes sure I mounted them at the correct length:

Success:

I used paintable caulk to plug the holes I made with the "cut through anything tool":

I let the caulk dry overnight and started securing the wiring on the top-side:

In the image above you can see a little bit of the cabling that will be used to hang this from the ceiling. I don't have any pictures of this, but it's 3/32" coated (1/8" od) wire fastened together through two eyes on the top side that are secured with 1-1/4" fender washers. I was very precise with the length of the cable because I read that the optimal height for the LumenBright was to have the bulb 16" off the water. I attached the cable through another eye-bolt in the ceiling that goes through wood in the attic so it's really secure. I'll try to get better pictures of this sometime.

The lumenbright being unwrapped:

Shiny

 

[revhtree]

Keeping an eye on this!

 

[zibba]

With the wiring completed and the cabling all secured, it was time for the true test. We *carefully* hoisted the canopy over the Envision and fired it up:

Sorry the water is so cloudy -- I added rock/sand to the ADA (pictures to follow) and it's still settling -- and the acrylic is dirty. I took these before cleaning everything up.

 

[zibba]

I wasn't very happy with my first few attempts at aquascaping the Envision so I decided to order some more rock (awaiting delivery) and instead try using the rock I had for the ADA. Busted out the masonry drill bit, cut up some fiberglass rods (from HomeDepot -- they're actually used for holding drive way reflectors), and played legos for awhile:

Here's what I came up with:

I added in about 35-40 lbs of sand to the ADA to create a 1-1.5" sandbed. I'll be removing the Koralia powerheads from this tank and running a single MP10. For the corals and fish I'm planning to keep in the ADA, I think this will be sufficient. If it's not, I'll add another powerhead (maybe another MP10).

That's all for now. I'm waiting on more rock to scape the Envisions. I still need to purchase a top-off (leaning towards the Tunze), skimmer (looking at options still), controller (Apex or Apex Light) and the lighting for the ADA (considering the 27" Maxspect Razor). There's still a lot to be done, but the really big projects are mostly out of the way.

Stay tuned!

 

[MarvinsReef]

I added in about 35-40 lbs of sand to the ADA to create a 1-1.5" sandbed. I'll be removing the Koralia powerheads from this tank and running a single MP10. For the corals and fish I'm planning to keep in the ADA, I think this will be sufficient. If it's not, I'll add another powerhead (maybe another MP10).

That's all for now. I'm waiting on more rock to scape the Envisions. I still need to purchase a top-off (leaning towards the Tunze), skimmer (looking at options still), controller (Apex or Apex Light) and the lighting for the ADA (considering the 27" Maxspect Razor). There's still a lot to be done, but the really big projects are mostly out of the way.

Stay tuned!

how about just picking up a MP40 and just turn down the dial a bit, instead of having two MP10's?

Tunze Osmo is probably my favorite for ATO. my SRO 2000 INT is a nice skimmer. there's plenty of choices out there. I'm sure you'll find one you'll be happy with. good luck with the rest of the project. I'll be tagging along.

 

[zibba]

how about just picking up a MP40 and just turn down the dial a bit, instead of having two MP10's?

Tunze Osmo is probably my favorite for ATO. my SRO 2000 INT is a nice skimmer. there's plenty of choices out there. I'm sure you'll find one you'll be happy with. good luck with the rest of the project. I'll be tagging along.

That's a good call and, to be honest, I'm thinking about moving the MP40 from the envision over to the ADA, selling the MP10 and getting 2 Tunze 6205s for the Envision because the Envision has a coast to coast overflow limiting the Vortech's placement to the bottom half of the tank and the sidewalls are 1" thick acrylic -- the Vortech simply won't hold. A local club member is selling a SRO3000 that I'm seriously considering. A SRO2000 went up for sale a month ago but I thought it would be just a little too small considering my total water volume is in the 150ish range. Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I'm happy to hear you're satisfied with the SRO2000 since that entire line is on my radar.

 

[zibba]

The tanks have been cloudy ever since I started mixing in salt. I was hoping that it would clear up over time but it didn't. As you can see I added in dry live rock hoping that would help and I added about 35 lbs of sand to the ADA and about 5 lbs of sand to the refugium. That made everything really cloudy. I thought I'd let things settle for a day and see if it would get better. It was still really cloudy last night so I picked up some filter pads and carbon to run passively over the sump's baffles. The tank was still cloudy last night, but I'm hoping thing will start clearing up. Keeping my fingers crossed...I really don't want to do a 100% water change...although I will if necessary.

 

[MarvinsReef]

That's a good call and, to be honest, I'm thinking about moving the MP40 from the envision over to the ADA, selling the MP10 and getting 2 Tunze 6205s for the Envision because the Envision has a coast to coast overflow limiting the Vortech's placement to the bottom half of the tank and the sidewalls are 1" thick acrylic -- the Vortech simply won't hold. A local club member is selling a SRO3000 that I'm seriously considering. A SRO2000 went up for sale a month ago but I thought it would be just a little too small considering my total water volume is in the 150ish range. Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I'm happy to hear you're satisfied with the SRO2000 since that entire line is on my radar.

speak with Jeremy over at PremAquatics. I was originally gonna go for the SRO 3000 INT but he said that the SRO 2000 INT would be more efficient for my tank size. so far, I'm very very happy with the SRO 2000 INT's performance. whatever you think will give yah the best flow, do it. sometimes, it'll be trial and error but I'm sure you'll get it situated in time.