Walkthrough of my 180g Setup

[skeets]

This is the story of my 180g from start to continual progression. I will continually update this thread as I add livestock, or any new equipment and such. Eventually I will get a website for my tank, but for now this is it.

I want to first off start by saying MANY thanks to Mike O’Brien (mojoreef) for truly making this tank happen. He influenced this tank through the works and really helped me get on track and get the resources together to get this tank up and running. I also want to thank Innovative Aquarium Products for supplying me with a great tank and great customer service, and also thanks to Cory at Premium Aquatics for helping me out.
My warmest thanks are to my girlfriend Meghan for helping me out so much on something she really did not want to. You put in so many long hours with me and I love you sooo much! She gave up her whole spring break to help me out… and if it had only ended there.

WHY?
So this whole thing started from a perfectly good 120gallon. This 120g was my starter tank into Saltwater, and then into sps. Here is a picture of my 120g when it had some sps in it. This was a few months before I decided to start on the 180g.

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/120g.jpg

During the planning of the 180g I ran into some DSB issues whether it was my fault or just the nature of the beast I do not know(and definitely don’t care to discuss in this thread heeh). I ended up draining the tank, and removing the sand. In my 120g I had all the pests imaginable. I had flatworms and eradicated them through Flatworm Exit which worked great and was completely safe to my reef. I had aiptasia like you wouldn’t believe and bubble algae. For this reason I decided to get rid of all my liverock and start completely fresh with this new tank. Every SPS I had was broken off its rock and rinsed before put into the new 180g. The zoos and ricordias and rock were given to a local reefer who was fully aware of the aiptasia and bubble algae. Once the rock was out of my tank I put in eggcrate shelves to keep my sps up near the metal halides. The most recent pest I had was red bugs on a few of my sps and while my corals were still in the 120g I decided to use Dustin’s method of using dog heartworm pills to eradicate them. This worked great, and after one treatment they hadn’t returned after two weeks, but I did it again just to make sure.

Here is a picture of my 120g after I drained the tank, took out the sand, and put the water and corals back in
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/2current.JPG

Here is a pic of the rock curing tub that sat in the house for nearly two months. Here in AZ it’s too hot out even in the spring to leave it out in the garage. It had very high flow, 120g of water and a large skimmer that helped along the curing process nicely. I didn’t actually get a foul smell in the house for more than the initial day I put the rock in.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/rocktub.jpg

INITIAL PLAN
Now that the boring stuff is out of the way onto the 180g! The tank always was planned to be 180g but went through a different phases of planning. The first initial phase I was going to go with a DSB again and run my tunze streams and two sea swirls in the front corners as my flow. The tank was also going to be a leemar glass tank. I happened to talk to Mike O’Brien about my plans and he said it looked great, except why the hell would I want to do that? We talked for several weeks, and I really bugged him calling like everyday and he finally talked me into going barebottom with a whole different philosophy on the tank. The tank was going to now utilize a motorized ball valve for dynamic flow, use a spray bar to keep detritus from collecting under the rock, have a big skimmer with lots of water movement to utilize lots of nutrient export, and be acrylic not a glass.

[skeets]

DESIGN
So now came the redesign phase. I needed to first figure out how the plumbing was going to work logistically, and figure out where I needed holes drilled, what dimensions to make the canopy and cabinet.

I use metal halide pendants and I wanted the canopy to have the appropriate cross beams to hang my pendants from. I do not like the look of Radiums by themselves, yet I wanted a little bit more of a crisp white than just a 10k bulb gave me. On my old tank I ran a 10k/20k/10k combo. On this tank I am running 10k/20k/10k/20k with the bulbs staggered as to get them to blend as much as possible. Let me say that it worked OK. It didn’t work great, but once my canopy gets enclosed I think the transition will be less noticeable. Also once my VHO’s are fully functional the actinics will help blend too.
Secondly on the cabinet I wanted the bottom to have a board to keep my sump and equipment off the floor, and thus I needed bracing to support the board on the bottom. Here are the drawings I gave my stand builder.

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/Canopy.JPG
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/standbottom.JPG

My stand is made out of 1.5’’ thick steel square tubing. The stand was powder coated, and it stands 40’’ tall. I REALLY like the height. It makes it much more pleasant as the tank is at eye level, and having it built out of a metal frame allows for easy access to equipment.
My canopy is made out of 1’’ tubing and was only painted as I don’t worry about it rusting, because it doesn’t have a load on it. The canopy is only 17’’ tall and will house 4x 4’’ icecap variable speed fans (2 on each end) once my wood work is done.

Next was designing the tank and holes for John at innovative aquarium. Now this was a chore deciding where the holes needed to go. It was a lot of planning, and I still ended up messing up by a smidgen(.5’’)! It wasn’t a big deal, I just had to modify one of my elbows and make it shorter. So BEWARE there is a mess-up in the plan showing all 12 holes across the front.

There are three main flow systems in the tank. The first is a spraybar that is on a closed loop and pumped via a sequence 4300. The second is my return via a mag18 from my sump. The third system was my dynamic flow system and has 2 banks of 6 outputs. A motorized ball valve switches between each output to create some nice flow. My dynamic flow is pumped by a sequence 5800.

Here is the outputs measured out on my floor for the dynamic flow
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/12outputs.JPG

The mess-up is on the 7th hole from the left. It should have been at 38.25’’. Luckily this isn’t noticeable when you look in my tank, I can see it but that’s because I am looking for it. No one else has noticed it, even when I have pointed it out.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180front.JPG

The initial design for the spraybar was to come up through the bottom and just have the piping lay on the bottom. As I was piecing it out this didn’t work and I needed to make it a stand, which worked WAY better. It really suspends my rock up nicely(more on that later). I ended up using 1’’ tubing once in the tank for the spraybar.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180RockDown.JPG
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180topdown.JPG

I couldn’t decide where the inlets to my closed loops should be, So I sent a picture to John at Innovative and told him to decide and surprise me. He picked the 4 holes closest to the edges of the tank(2 to the left and 2 to the right). Thanks John those were GREAT spots. My concern was I wanted them easy to access, I didn’t mind seeing them. I was able to cover up the top ones with a rock that will be easy to move and the other two lower ones are visible, but don’t look bad. Here are the choices he had:
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180holes.JPG

[skeets]

TANK BUILD TIME
So the tank was ready to get built after a couple months of planning. John at Innovative Aquarium Products did a great job. He put together my tank, my sump, and two top off tanks for me. He also packed it up and shipped it all the way down to me in Arizona. I don’t have a picture of the packing, but it was superb. Looked like I had two coffins shipped to me! Here are the pictures John took of my tank in progress. He did an excellent job. Thanks John!

The tank was made out of ¾’’ acrylic, and the dimensions of the tank came out to be 72’’long x 24’’deep and 25.5’’ tall. The top bracing of the tank was made out of 1’’ thick acrylic. The perimeter bracing is about 2.5’’ wide and the center brace is 11’’
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tanksides.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/overflowresivoire.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/coastocoast.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/roundedcorner.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tanktop.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tankholes.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tankready.jpg

[skeets]

ADULT LEGO TIME
Everything had finally arrived to my house. The tank, stand, canopy, plumbing pieces, and most the equipment. It was the beginning of my spring break, and time to start pieces this thing together.

This first picture is of me and my little cousin before the work began. Yep that’s us both smiling, however I think we are smiling for different reasons. I am smiling because I think this tank is going to be awesome, and my little cousin is smiling because he thinks its funny how much I am going to work my butt off to get this thing running.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/smiling.jpg

This is about when that smile dropped off my face. Cutting all those damn small pieces of 1.5’’ tubing to put together my plumbing parts! I never want to do that again… I need to get a bigger pipe cutter lol.
In the background you can see two white boards. One is for my tank to sit on, and the other was for the bottom of my cabinet. They were painted with primer and then some behr paint to seal the wood. They are 3/4’’ board.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/cuttingpipe.jpg

I didn’t take as many pictures of the plumbing progress as I should have. I was so frustrated and putting in so much time that I was a grouch. Here is the beginning of putting together my dynamic flow system. This thing was really hard to do! The way it is designed(thanks Mike, lol) each bank has to be put together perfectly, and at the same time which is not an easy task because the pvc glue dries so fast. Here is the first picture of it dry fitted on.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/dryfit.jpg

This next picture is of me gluing it together followed by the end result. It is hard to tell from the pictures I took, but each bulkhead has a slip fitting onto it that this bank of outputs has to fit onto. So I had to put each Tee or Elbow together one at a time and glue it and then quickly shove it in place and let the glue dry. Then I needed to take it off and move to the next piece until I had the entire bank of 5tees and 3 elbows done. Once this piece was done I had to glue all the slip fittings and inside of the tees and elbows REALLY fast, and get that bank of 6 outputs shoved on and banged into place. This was a pain in the butt. Did I do it right? Is it going to leak? You will see later!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/glueing.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/bankdone.jpg

I didn’t end up documenting anymore of the plumbing. It was a long grueling process getting everything to work and fit. Flex PVC isn’t the easiest thing to work with, but it sure made this job a lot easier. It took me about 2 days to finish all my plumbing up.
The next step was to move it outside and get it hooked back up. Here is the end result in the driveway.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightfront.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightfrontclose.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightopdown.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightback.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightdone.jpg

[skeets]

FRESHWATER LEAK TEST
Since it was dark I called it a night and waited until the morning to do my freshwater leak test. Better outside than in the house right? I covered the tank up and went to bed. The next morning first thing I did was start to fill the tank up. That look on my face is a somber realization that I could be doing this entire plumbing gig over again if this thing leaks. I was so uptight that morning it wasn’t even funny!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/fillup.jpg

The sump filling up
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/sumpfill.jpg

Woohoo, return turned on and some water movement. After I checked the tank for leaks and the plumbing for leaks I turned on my sequence4300 and sequence 5800.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/return.jpg

This is my custom MR-3 skimmer from myreefcreations. It now has dual injectors and works great. Produces lots of nice gunk. It is powered by a genx8500 pump.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/skimmer.jpg

So were there any leaks? Well I let the tank run for the entire day and I did have two leaks, however they weren’t a big deal. I had leaks at the nipples entering my pumps, so I just put new Teflon tape on them and tightened them down more and goodbye leaks. I was very happy that day that I didn’t have any leaks. All that hard work had paid off! So the next step was to get this thing drained and apart again so it could be moved into the house. Here it is taken apart that night
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/takedown.jpg

[skeets]

TIME FOR THE TANK TO GO INSIDE
So it was finally time to get the crew to move the tank into the house. This was really awkward because we needed to come in through the front door up several stairs and a few tight turns, into the house and down more stairs. What we ended up doing was taking two of the large folding tables and slowly transferring the tank from one to the other by sliding it on towels, worked out great.
Here is the moving crew… the guy on the left is my dad, next is me, my uncle, a crew member on our race car, and then his dad. Thanks guys!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/crewinside.jpg

Of course the floor isn’t close to being level, but I knew this before hand and planned it out. Here is one high tech item supporting this tank! SHIMS! But no wood shims for me because I slop water all over and that means they will swell up. No that’s right, I need my shims custom made by Tom Yancer Racecars, who is our chassis builder. The floor got measured and he milled these shims down to match the gap between the tile and the tank perfectly. Thanks Tom!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/shims.jpg

I also had to have the house re-wired for this tank… again! There is one 40amp wire running to this room for my metal halides. This is a normal wire on our regular breaker box. This is the aluminum strip on the wall. Then there is a 30amp wire that leads to the two black power strips. These strips go to a generator panel so if we loose power I can start up the generator and power everything I need to my tank(minus the halides). We are soon upgrading to a larger generator that will kick on automatically if the power goes out, right now I have my aquacontroller setup to call me and tell me if the power goes out. I am not finished with the electrical part, I am going to have all my items that are not hooked up by x-10s on a switch panel next to the tank so I can turn on and off stuff without having to unplug things and get behind the tank. That will happen soon.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/electrical.jpg

Just so everyone knows this tank totally ruined the living room. Goodbye to our 70’’ big screen TV and surrroundsound! The room was also a total mess for months, and still isn’t quite back to normal. Here is a picture of the trio of tanks in the living room. My 150g stock tank that was used to cure my liverock, my old 120g and the new 180. Wow that 180 isn’t much bigger… for all that work you should of gone 2 feet longer and a foot deeper… what a dummy!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/trio.jpg

[skeets]

FILL IT UP!
So with everything in place time to get this thing filled up. I had to fill this up slowly, I make my own RO/DI water. I had problems during this stage though. I got the tank about halfway full and ran into some issues and the water stood stagnant for a couple days. I then finished filling it up and let it run for a while. It was about a 2 week process. I poured my saltwater in, and let it run. UH OH MICROBUBBLES!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/bubbles.jpg

I resolved this issue by taking my drain lines and putting two elbows on them, making a U shape so that the water came out and was directed to the top of the surface. This worked wonders!

The next problem was the water was milky and I had some bacterial slime! Was it due to airbubbles? Was it due to my salt? I checked my water parameters and everything checked out fine. It didn’t settle well with me, and I ended up draining the tank and starting over. This time I didn’t waste time and got the tank filled up ASAP and made sure the water was 0ppm on the tds meter in the tank. Time to pour in the salt AGAIN!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/salt1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/salt2.jpg

I got my salt in, and hooray its milky again. So this time I decided to take the advice of Mike and others here on the board and just put my rock in. The rock did cause the water to clear up after a couple days. Evidently there are particles in the salt that don’t dissolve, and with all the flow in the tank and nowhere for the particles to settle, it floated around. After a few days of the rock being put in it settled and has been good ever since.

Before I got the rock put in however, I ran into another holdup! My water temp was 84.7 without any lights on!!!!!!! After a couple days of testing I found out my sequence pumps gave off a total of 11degrees of heat between the two of them. WOWOWOW! I talked to sequence they said that would be normal on my little water volume. I decided to bite the bullet and buy a 1/3hp artica chiller. I like this thing… it is quiet…when its off! But seriously I think it is quieter than other products out there probably. It does a great job at holding my reef down at 80 where I want it. It is controlled by a 3digit medusa controller so that I can keep the temp flux down to .5degrees. The artica is nice because it is safe to do this with, it will cause premature wear on other chillers. The chiller is fed via a mag 12 that sits in he middle of my sump, and the outlet is in my last compartment where my return pump is. I keep my temp probes in the first compartment and the chiller doesn’t affect it or make any false readings. I like the medusa because it doesn’t get crappy VHO interference like the aquacontroller does. You think for 500 bucks they could get knock the price up 2 more dollars for a shielded temp probe cable.

[skeets]

ROCK TIME
Before I put my rock in I wanted to paint my spraybar with the purple pvc primer so it would blend in better. Now I will tell you about the spraybar design. This isn’t much of a spraybar now I guess; its more of a mini rack. My rock sits on this and is not touching the tank anywhere in the middle of my tank. My rock only touches in the front to hide the pvc rack. I have about 98% of the rack hidden by my rock. This rack/spraybar has worked great and I recommend it to everyone with a barebottom!

Here are the pics of the spraybar. I drilled ¼’’ holes at 45degree angles to the bottom to create constant flow and keep any detritus in the water column and pushed out from under the rockwork. The last pic is of the rack painted with the pvc primer. Looks better in the tank than white.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/spraybar1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/spraybar2.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/sprabar3.jpg

Putting the rock in I expected to be a pain since it was barebottom. I figured the rock wouldn’t sit on the bottom well, and it would be hard to stack. Well because of the rack I had made and the large pieces of rock I had it was quite easy! I had really big pieces of rock though to work with, and I couldn’t imagine having to stack a bunch of small pieces. I got lucky; I think and it worked out good. The pictures don’t show the good rock qualities, it is hard to show depth when it is just rock. I have some really nice overhangs and such. Here is a pic with the lights off.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/rockin.jpg

This rock is premo stuff. I hard about 160lbs of show kaelini I used.

I am able to see the entire bottom of my tank, even under the rockwork because of how I got the rock placed in there. So I can see if my spray rack is working… and well it works GREAT! No detritus is building up in there, it gets pushed out to the front in one corner for easy vacuum access. Here is some views of how I can see the entire bottom. It is hard to tell but on the first pic I can literally see down the entire length of the tank. It was just too hard to get the camera to take a pic of it.
(NOTE: I have to bend down and really look… all this piping etc isn’t noticeable just looking at the tank normal)
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/lookthroughrock.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/lookthroughrock2.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/lookthroughrock3.jpg

Here are two side shots of the tank with two 400w radiums on it. The 250w 10ks were still on my 120g keeping my sps alive. I have since moved them over though. Man that rock looks white and ugly.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/light11.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/light22.jpg

[skeets]

LIVESTOCK TIME
So finally now that everything is stable and running good its time to test out this water by ordering 200 bucks worth of a cleanup crew. I made 3 orders. The first order was for worms, pods, small reproducing snails, etc from inland aquatics. The other two orders were from dr foster and smith. One order from etropicals the other from liveaquria. Get this… by ordering from the two different places I got 20 more snails and saved 35 bucks even though they are owned by the same company. Shipping was free on both orders. Here is what I ended up getting
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/boxes.jpg

Astrea Snails
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/astrea.jpg

Cerith(liveaquaria) and Turbo Snails
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/turboandcerith.jpg

Cerith(etropicals) and Trochus snails. It is interesting to note that the etropical and liveaquaria snails are different. I wanted a lil diversity. The black ones are from liveaquaria and the white ones are from etropicals(even though their sites show different pictures)
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/trochusandcerith.jpg

Peppermint Shrimp. I ordered 4 and got 5!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/peppermint.jpg

Emerald Crabs. I love to watch crabs
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/crabs.jpg

Margarita snails. I forgot to take a pic of them in their bag so here they are once released. See the crab?
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/margaritas.jpg

Cleaner shrimp. I ordered 3 of these guys, I love them. And after all this hard work I think I deserve a little pampering right? My shrimp thought so too!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/cleaners.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/cleaning.jpg

[skeets]

OLD LIVESTOCK
So after adding all the new livestock and seeing how they did, which was terrific, it was time to tear down the 120g and move everything over. Now that was a project! Meghan and I started at 2pm and went to bed at 330am when we finally got my livestock moved over. As I had mentioned before I was careful not to bring any aiptasia over to the new tank. I also didn’t transfer over any snails or anything that could possibly have it as a hitchhiker. Lets hope it doesn’t live on sps tissue!
No pictures of the move but it was a long grueling day. Thanks again to my baby for helping me on this one!

So did everything do good on the transfer? To be honest… no! My corals have had a hard time adjusting to the light. Most corals have acclimated and are fine now. My piece that got hit the worst was my samoensis colony. In my 120g it was in a spot that the bottom wasn’t receiving much light. I ended up placing this on the bottom of the tank thinking it would be fine because it was much higher in the other tank. Well was I wrong! The light reflects off the acrylic and the white board that the tank rests on so it got a lot of light. Here is a before picture in my old tank.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/samoensisbefore.jpg

Here is a picture of it now. It is not getting worse, and it is definitely getting better. As long as no algae or anything grows on the branches I wont break them off. The white stuff on the bottom of the colony is epoxy to cover up any chance of aiptasias being under there since it hadn’t encrusted all the way.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/samoensisbleach.jpg

Now for some pics of my stuff. I have a lot more pieces, these are just a few things I took some snaps of quick.
This pic is of my acuelus. It used to be teal with purple tips and I hope it regains that color.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/aculeus.jpg

This is a pic of my blue milli. I have two of these, and they were much bright before. They should color up again, I do have them lower in the tank this time however.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/bluemilli.jpg

This is my steve elias LE stag. It used to be much more blue, it is light sensitive so I am working it up as high as I can get it and it should color back up.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/eliasstag.jpg

Here is my Seattle/Oregon tort. It lost color in my 120g when I had it close to the surface. It tends to prefer medium/low light I guess. I have another piece that is much bluer, but was in a bad spot at the moment to take a picture of.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/seattletort.jpg

Here is my pink birdsnest. This thing is more pink in person.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/pinkbirdsnest.jpg

This is my yellow with green polyp poccilipora. I have this piece as low as I can get in a somewhat shaded area. It isn’t getting as good polyp extension as normal. It was looking pretty bad, but now seems on its way to recovery.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/poccil.jpg

Here is my orange with purple polyp montipora. It is a cup coral, not an encrusting. The white area you see is where I broke my piece in half when removing it from its rock. I was quite upset.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/purplepolypcap.jpg

This is a closeup of my yellow sameonsis polyps. One of these days ill get better at macro shots. This is the one that bleached some.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/samoensispolyps.jpg

[skeets]

CURRENT EQUIPMENT
So now ill go over some of the equipment and setup.
My flow consists of:
Sequence 4300 for the sprayrack,
5800 for the dynamic flow with a 1.5’’ Hayward ball valve.
I am using a mag18 as my return.
My skimmer is a myreefcreations skimmer with special dimensions, measuring out to 30’’. It has dual becket injectors and works well. It is powered by a genx8500 pump that sits in the first compartment of my sump.

My sequence 4300 and 5800 are sitting on a carpeted board to reduce any noise vibrations. Works good, my 4300 is a little loud because of the backpressure it has from the plumbing design, which was inevitable. You can see on my pumps that I used a double union ball valve. These babies are sweet! However a 1.5’’ one will set you back 25 bucks a piece lol. They are so easy to turn as compared to the cheap white ones, and they are compact with the ball valve and unions being in one piece.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/pumps.jpg

Here is a pic of everything fitting nicely in the stand. I did a LOT of planning on this… I made sure that it would be easy to get the skimmer in and it would clear once I had a stand made to suspend it up out of the water some. I also made sure that all the equipment I wanted would fit under there.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/insidestand.jpg

Here is a picture of one of the holes going to my sprayrack. I have to holes drilled in the bottom of the tank. I needed to cut a big enough hole in my wood to allow me to get my hands in there to tighten down the bulkhead. I used all sch 80 bulkheads on my tank. You can also see how the wood was painted and sealed.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/bottomhole.jpg

Here is my CA reactor and topoff setup. My CA reactor is a myreefcreations cr2. It has worked pretty good, and I am running a 5lb co2 bottle which is being upgraded to a 10lb bottle next time I need to fill it up. I run ARM media in my reactor. The reactor has a external mag2 and also is pumped by a mag 3.5 that sits in the sump.
My topoff tank is a 12g tank, and currently I am evaporated like 2 to 3 gallons a day without any fans. I am using a tunze top-off system that has worked great.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/careactor.jpg

The tunze system is kinda like a float valve. It uses a optical eye however to know when it needs to fill the tank. This is sitting in the last compartment of my sump. The float switch you see is a emergency item incase water gets left on and floods. It really is useless up there, if that much freshwater got in there it would be a mess. I could put it on another rail and lower it if I was truly worried about it.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/opticaleye.jpg

[skeets]

Here is my 1/3hp artica chiller. Like I said before this thing is quite… when its off(its off in the pic). It is noisy, but I think its probably quieter than any other thing out there. It also looks nice too. I am unsure of where its permanent home will be so that’s why I have the extra tubing currently. It is pumped by a mag12
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/chiller.jpg

Here are my luxury items for this tank. My aquacontroller and my 3digit medusa controller. My medusa controls my chiller and turns it on at 80.5 and off at 80degrees. I like to keep a tighter degree range than the 2degree that comes with the chiller.
My aquacontroller controls my lighting and allows me to check PH and temperature swings etc. The temp is off from my medusa because there is no point in changing it. The aquacontroller gets horrible interference from the VHOs when they are on, and truly sucks as a temperature controller, so I just use it as a reference to see temp swings over the day. I do have it setup however if the tank gets 81 degrees to shut off my MH just incase.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/controllers.jpg

This is what my lighting looks like. I have two 250w DE AB 10k bulbs powered by a dual PFO 250w HQI ballast. I am also running two 400w 20k Radiums powered by a dual PFO 400w HQI ballast. My lighting goes 10k/20k/10k/20k. It does an alright job of blending. I also have 2x 160w VHO actinic bulbs that are powered by a icecap 660. I had to send the ballast back to get a dimmer modification made to become compatible with my solar dimmer 750 that I bought. Eventually that will work.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/lightsetup.jpg

Here is my drain lines from the tank into the sump. I wanted to keep down on the evap in the cabinet so I had the first compartment in my sump made into a box, with water flowing under the first baffle that extends to the top of the sump. I also had a lid made, and drilled 3 holes in it. Two holes were for my drainlines and the other hole was for my skimmer pump hose and electrical cord. This is turning out to work great, it keeps down on 99% of the saltspray and evap etc that I had in my old tank.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/drainlines.jpg

Here are some pictures of the detritus that has accumulated in my sump. I have been blowing off my rockwork daily to try to get all the detritus out. So far the detritus is collecting in my sump in the first compartment(where my skimmer pump is… grrrr), and my middle compartment where I have some extra liverock placed. This liverock helps cut down on any skimmer bubbles that might try and make it to my return pump
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/detritus1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/detritus2.jpg

I am not running a refugium for critters or macroalgae. I do however have a separate 10g bug tank with large populations of different pods and worms. It is actually a really cool tank, I love watching all these little guys running around. Also it is cool to see the worms crawl out of the sand and stuff when I feed. It has a aquaclear mini filter on it, a ebojagger heater, and a LOA 65w light.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/bugtank.jpg

[skeets]

WATER PARAMETERS
So here are my water parameters as of 5-12-04
Salinity- 1.025
CA- 430
ALK- 8.8 DKH
PH- 8.25
Phosphates- 0
Nitrates- 0
Nitrites- 0
Ammonia- 0

FUTURE THINGS
Now that working on the tank has calmed down my task is to find a cabinet maker. The stand and canopy will be enclosed by veneer wood panels. I am unsure of what type of wood or stain yet, but it will be nice. Both the cabinet and canopy will have doors for everyday use but for heavy maintenance all of the woodwork will be accessible to pull off. I plan to attach all the wood paneling with magnets or strong Velcro. This will keep it so that working on the tank will be easy. Also on both sides of the tank will be bookcases/cabinets and they will have somewhat of a fake back with a false door so that I can get behind them to get to the back of my tank. The cabinets will also eliminate the visible gap from how far away the tank is from the wall which is a lot. The tank is 26’’ away from the wall.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/backspace.jpg

Here is what it will look like from the front and sides with the cabinets and such. It should look nice.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180g.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/180gside.jpg

I had ordered a solar dimmer 750 for my vhos, however wasn’t aware that the icecap ballast needed to have a dimmer modification made to it. So I sent mine back to icecap and they are adding it for free. So in the meantime I will not be using my VHOs for a couple weeks. The dimmer is purely an aesthetic thing, and to be courteous to my inhabitants.

I have a deltec FR509 that is on order and should come soon. It is a phosphate reactor. I will post pics of it once it comes in

I plan to be adding quite a bit of sps pieces to this tank, and id like to get some zoos and ricordias to cover the bottom of the tank. I will add a couple more fish aside from my flamehawk at a moderate pace. So far I am looking at getting a CBB just incase I do get aiptasia, and a bellus angel. I haven’t decided if I am going to get a tang yet, but am sort of against it. I really like the lyretail blenny so I may get one of those, but I have a while to chew on the idea.

THAT’S IT FOR NOW
So that’s it for now. Ill keep an eye on the thread and update it with more info as the tank keeps progressing. Hope you guys all enjoyed the journey through my tank setup… it hasn’t been easy ill tell ya that much. Lots of time and money.
Thanks,
DR Bott

[sagitariuscbc]

way to go man! very nice:thumbsup:

[fishsoldseprtly]

yea I agree, and very detailed

[polymorphus]

Very well planned lets see some full tank shots :-D

- g

[1diverdown]

this is one phenominal post! great, clean set-up. thanks for taking the huge amount of time required to put this all in pix/writing. looking forward to future updates.

Doug

[Loudz34]

Nice job~ alot of flow in that bad boy~ Lol.... Keep us posted...

[gig]

nice job, wow...your presentation was spectacular!

what kind of fish are you going to add? any?

[invincible569]

Great Job!!! I love your pics! post more!!

[playa]

Awesome! Great job!

Mike is a great guy. He has helped me a great deal as well.

Congrats on your set up and cheers to a great future!

Luis

[skeets]

Thanks guys. I put all the time and effort into documenting it so that someday it might help someone out there. Plus people can see some problems that I run into etc.

I am not sure on fish, I do not want a large bioload. I am going to go slow adding fish too so I have a while to chew on what I want to get but so far i think:
Bellus angel
copperband butterfly
lyretail blenny

Right now I have my flamehawk and royal gramma in there from my old setup.

[sharkboy11]

Wow thats awsome! Are you selling the 250w?
How hard was it 2 build the tank. Im thinking about building a tank myself.

[dieselfish]

Holy crap , it must be nice to have that kind of money when your a teenager. I cant afford equiptment like that now.

[skeets]

First im not a teenager =D i am 21, going on 21 in a few months lol.

sharkboy11, I didnt build the tank myself. It was built at Innovative Aquarium Products (http://www.innovativeaquarium.com)
John did a great job building it.

[Loudz34]

Skeets~ what did he charge you for the tank? also 21 going on 21~I tell my self that everyday....lol....

[Julio]

I love the back wall overflow, great looking setup, i wish i was that handy.

[Julio]

I love the back wall overflow, great looking setup, i wish i was that handy.

[Julio]

sorry about the double post.

[skeets]

I actually got a cheaper than normal price because of some other connections on the tank
So I couldnt comment on the price, however I do know that their prices are good and competitive. They will treat you first class too, I couldnt recomend them enough.

[Fish-o-holic]

Very nicely done. I love the way you documented everything. Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

[Brewboy74]

skeets the tank is a work of art. Very nice setup. Where did you get your hose for you chiller? I am just getting ready to set up mine and that stuff looks nice.

Thanks

[skeets]

Originally posted by Brewboy74
skeets the tank is a work of art. Very nice setup. Where did you get your hose for you chiller? I am just getting ready to set up mine and that stuff looks nice.

Thanks

The tubing has metal or such in it to reinforce it so it doesnt kink and keeps a nice shape. I went to home depot to get mine, however they didnt carry 3/4'' of it so i went to ace hardware. Home depot did carry some of it, so i dont know if they were out or dont carry the size i needed period

[Brewboy74]

cool looks like it is pretty readily available thanks for the info.

[kanankeban]

skeets,
just one questons....how much did you put in in that thanks? I see you have all new shiny equipment....
Regards,
Hector

[skeets]

My tank costs... Well more than I would like to say actually, haah.
I cannot break down all my specific costs like I wanted too, because I ended up getting price breaks and such that most people would not have gotten. It’s not fair to break it out that way to vendors and such.

So I will give you a running total, which we could say would be about 12grand. I mean this cost includes everything(except 3 things) down to my salt, barb fittings, teflon tape, paint, etc. This price even includes my deltec reactor which I haven’t actually received yet. What it doesn't include is the cost of the generator and the electrical work, it does not include my cabinetry work yet that hasn’t been done(does include the metal stand/canopy), and doesn’t include any of my old livestock.

Now I want to tell you that my costs are skewed in two areas. 1st it’s skewed in that I got special discounts as I had mentioned. Second it is skewed because I bought extra items that I haven’t used yet, won’t actually end up using, or isn’t actually needed. I went all out to make everything first class that I could. Here are some examples....

I ordered PFO ballast extension cords that I didn’t end up using but am holding onto. $30 bucks.
I ordered a couple extra MH/VHO bulbs-$300.

My plumbing was 500 bucks alone. But 100 dollars was getting those nice ball valves with the unions on them. I didn’t need to spend 25 bucks a piece for those. I have a lot more plumbing than the typical tank does, and I used all shc80 bulkheads instead of sch40 which are much cheaper.

I used tunze streams on my old tank and don’t need them on this tank, but am going to use them anyways since I have them $600.

I have an aquacontroller, a solar dimmer, and a 3digit medusa controller. That’s like 1grand there in stuff that isn’t completely necessary.
So it could have been done cheaper, but I don’t want to cut corners and wanted to use the very best of everything. I want my tank to be as healthy as possible and I feel the more time I don’t have to mess around with dinky equipment the more time I can have as practicing good husbandry.

[Mdwannabe]

Great post!, Makes me think I should put the time into my project, a custom 175. I'm looking at 5 grand sitting in boxes on my basement floor, waiting for a 75+ year old cabnet maker to finish my hood. When it's done, I start!
Why did you decide to go without the DSB? I have 300 LBS of southdown waiting for it's new home, and was going to order 150 LBS of live sand to seed it, something I should know? Just wondering.

Thanks:
Rick

[skeets]

Originally posted by Mdwannabe

Why did you decide to go without the DSB? I have 300 LBS of southdown waiting for it's new home, and was going to order 150 LBS of live sand to seed it, something I should know? Just wondering.

Thanks:
Rick

I first want to say that I beg of everyone not to turn this thread into a DSB/Barebottom debate. There are numerous other threads on here that I will gladly reference everyone too so they can come to their own conclusions. Those threads are:
DSB Related Journal, Newspaper, Articles, etc... (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=263482&highlight=barebottom)

Who out there goes with a bare bottom tank. Just liverock and no substrate? (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=210605&perpage=25&highlight=bare%20bottom&pagenumber=1)


DSB Heresy (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=289910&highlight=barebottom)

I actually have 9 bags of southdown sitting in my garage, that were going to be initially used on the tank before I redesigned it.

Okay now to my reasons why I went barebottom...
1. I had a lot of algae breakouts on my sand in my 120g. I had what I thought were plenty of critters, and an acceptable sandbed(4.5'' of purearragonite). I didnt have a large bioload, and I didnt feed that heavy. I also found that I had quite a bit of detritus in my sandbed when I took some scoops of livesand out to put in my bug tank, and once I placed those in the bug tank cyano started growing rapidly(and only grew where I dumped in the scoops). I didnt like how my sandbed had turned into a nutrient sink. Now this could have been my fault in not allowing the sandbed to work properly. Too much liverock covering the sand, and possibly the fact that maybe I didnt actually have enough critters(but I swear I had a ton).

2. I had lots of problems in my 120g with the sandbed getting kicked up. I wasnt able to provide as much flow as I wanted too. I am a flow nut! So by going barebottom I could get as much flow as I wanted in my tank. I could place my tunze streams on the bottom of the tank if I wanted and not have to worry about a sand mess. So since the tank is a SPS tank, I wanted as much flow as possible!

3. The other flow issue, was a matter that I wan to remove as much nutrients in my tank as possible before they break down. To do this I need lots of flow, which could cause the sandbed to kickup. Also I wanted to run a spraybar so that the tank was nutrient free under my rockwork. There would be no way to do this with sand, atleast not in the efficient manner I wanted to.

It took me a while to decide what I truly wanted from my tank. The barebottom look has to grow on you, I didnt like it at first. Now it is nice, and it actually makes my lighting more effective(note the bleaching samoensis).
I settled that on this tank I wanted to remove nutrients, and provide as much flow as possible to my sps. This lead to the necessity of ditching the dsb for flow issues. And I can attest If I had sand of any kind(even cc) it wouldnt stay on the bottom very well.

So I am not saying a DSB doesnt work, or cant work. This was just my reasoning for going barebottom.
Its a tough decision.

[gwrulzmylife]

Kudos on the tank! It really pays to plan it out before hand... I wish I had!

[Mdwannabe]

No debate start up intended, just looking for input before I go through everything you just went through. My wife has made it painfully clear that if this start up does not go well I will be living in the tank not corals!....LOL

[imsqueak]

That is a truely impressive job. I'm slowly building a 300BB and everything I do, I have to re-do, even though I thought I planned it out correctly in advance.

I just wonder how long you'll be content on 180...

[skeets]

Mdwannabe,
No problems asking the questions. I think it was a good question, I just wanted to make sure I came off sounding diplomatic about it, because it is purely my oppinion and preference. Hope that helped you some in deciding what you want to do.
I have yet to totally find out if I will have nitrate problems etc because of a lack of a dsb. I plan not to, by being aggressive with my nutrient removal. Time will tell though. Good luck


Originally posted by imsqueak
That is a truely impressive job. I'm slowly building a 300BB and everything I do, I have to re-do, even though I thought I planned it out correctly in advance.

I just wonder how long you'll be content on 180...

I wish the tank was bigger already. It would have been about the same ammount of effort to make it 2feet longer and a foot deeper.
However Seeing your first comment, I dont know if you are implying how long I will be happy with the way I planned everything out and did it.
I was very patient and careful in planning, I did not rush antyhing. I did make changes as things on the project progressed.
I can say that I wouldnt change anything. I did end up spending more money than I had planned, but oh well. I really took a lot of care and effort to think about every aspect, and most importantly how to make husbandry more effective and efficient at the same time. I might make tweeks here or there such as adding my tunze streams, getting that deltec setup etc. But I wouldnt take back any of my planning of flow, sump area, my equipment and such. I really enjoy this hobby and love to just sit and watch my reef. I also enjoy helping others out(why i started the thread), and eventually get my coral collection big enough to start fragging out. I think it will be years before and if i decide to take the step to a larger tank. This is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby, and I enjoy lots of cognition.

[bigtimelarry]

I just wanna say FANTASTIC Post and thanks for sharing your system with us!

[djfrankie]

Very good planning. Gotta love that skimmer though!..

When you're ready for the website it will just be copy and paste from this thread.

Good luck with the rest and keep us updated.

[lilbuddy]

nice work...!

[SkinyChinaMan]

awesome! nice looking aquascaping also!

[derek]

If I read correctly, initially you said you were going to use a glass tank. Can I ask why you went with acrylic? I apologize if you already answered this and I missed it.

Derek

[skeets]

I wanted to go with glass because I thought it would be cheaper and originally I wanted to use Sea Swirls.

I ended up being able to get a good deal on a acrylic tank plus It would have been hard to get that many holes drilled like that with glass. Acrylic had to be the way to go, and since I was able to get it with perimeter bracing and cheaper than glass I went acrylic.
I am also glad I went acrylic when lifting that thing too lol!

[derek]

Thank you for the answer. Acrylic has a lot to offer. My problem is that on my old 175 keeping the coraline algae at bay was such a hassle the thought of being able to use a metal scraper on a glass tank is appealing. But you raise some good points and it looks like IAP makes some nice tanks.

Derek

[skeets]

Acrylic is really clear, thats another big plus.
But as you are worried about scratches and corraline, I already have some light scratches on mine(can be buffed out) on the outside.

I would be really weary of having a acrylic tank with sand... itd be easier to scratch....

If you are consistent with your maintinence you shouldnt get a corraline problem. If you get a magnet and everyday or everyother day go over your glass that will be good... thats the habit i am getting into so that i never have to do any heavy duty cleaning like i used to on my glass since i let algae build up.

[clkwrk]

Hey Skeets everythings looking great ! Took forever to see all the pics on dial up but was worth it. I have a question how do you like the MR skimmer ? I was thinking about going with the mr-2 for my 120.

[skeets]

clkwrk for the most part I like the skimmer. I have run into a few issues with it, let me get back to you on that later this weekend when I can get some pics up...

[skeets]

SKIMMER

Okay so ill talk about the skimmer on my tank, which is a myreefcreation skimmer. It is a mix between a mr2 and a mr3, it was made to custom dimensions. I didnt want to risk going as tall as a mr3 because It would have been a tight fit, so I had my skimmer be 30'' tall. It worked out real good.

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/mr2probs.jpg

Good Things-
The quality of the skimmer is pretty good. It looks really nice, and seems to work real good once you get the height of the water dialed in. I have gotten some really good gunk out of this thing.

Bad Things-
1. I paid 40 bucks for the quick release, which is not worth it. The quick release is the grey union you see... It is so big that it is hard to get on and off, and I cant do it in the sump. So it is literally useless for me. You have to get it on SUPER tight or it will leak too.

2. The becket injectors have a really chincy ring on them that holds them together. This ring holds them together when you are tightening them down. I snapped both of the rings on my injectors and in the picture if you look at the injector housings(left of skimmer) you can see a green object in there. That is my replacement for the becket ring. It is from a hose repair kit, and it has metal screws wich are now rusting and I dont like that. I have been told that if i get 1'' sch80 pvc it will work instead of needing a hose repair kit. I plan on trying ths asap.

3. The injector housing itself on my reactor sucks. If you look at the injector housing thats duct tape on there! The housing is cut there so I can slip the beckets in and out. The cut wasnt even or something, but air leaks in through there and it causes my reactor to go insane because there is just too much airflow. So i have to duct tape it off, which is really tacky.

So overall I would say that I am moderately happy. It works good, but I have had to deal with a few lame details. Better bang for my buck however than any other reactor most likely though.

[Julio]

i was thinking of upgrading and switching my skimmer brand to Myreef creations i been hearing lots of great things about them.

[Gujustud]

Great work. Love the pictures! Nice to see some good documentation!

[RJARMAN]

What size is your sump, dimemsions?

Excellent set-up, hope it is doing great.

[skeets]

The sump is 44''L x 17''W x 19''T

[Desert Fox]

If you don't mind me asking, what was the reason(s) you went with IAP instead of ******* locally? I'm also curious if the price was more attractive through IAP than the 20% off you could have received through *******? I don't mean to make this sound like an ad for them, rather just looking for some info. :)

[skeets]

First IAP makes a far superior product in my opinion. They also specialize in doing coast to coast overflows, which I havent seen done at many other places, and I was able to talk directly to the person building my tank and that was crucial, as I had so many holes and special items that needed to be done perfect.

I think there are better people locally here in phx that are better than ******* on quality and price, but I still maintain that IAP has a far superior product to anything that I could get locally.
The customer service has been great. I couldnt imagine having to work through a LFS and getting these holes correct. John did a great job, and did everything to spec perfectly. He has also been there for any follow up questions I have had down the line.

[skeets]

NEW CORAL


I got an order from www.aquadesignz.com in this week. I got a few zoo colonies and a nice sps colony. I got some pretty good pieces, and hope to get another order from him soon.


My favorite, green with blue center
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/greenbluezoo.jpg

Green with a purple center
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/greenpurplezoo.jpg

Pinks
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tanpinkzoo.jpg

Green with pink center. These are really hard to get a good pic of, this doesn’t look nearly as vibrant as it does to the eye.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/greenpinkzoo.jpg

Blues
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tanbluezoo.jpg

Green and orange mix.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/greenorangezoo.jpg

Some nice peach colored zoos. These things really glow
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tanorangezoo.jpg

Orange with gold center. These things are really bright.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/orangegoldzoo2.jpg

Red w/ purple ring. These is a awesome, quite unique piece. I cannot get a good pic of these things. This thing looks really sweet in person and is probably one of the most true reds ive seen out there. Thanks a ton Anthony!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/redpurplezoo2.jpg

Pink w/ blue tip table. This is a small little guy, but looks great. Ill be working him up on the lighting and flow slowly over the next 2 weeks and then get him placed in his new home.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/redbluehyacinthus.jpg

[Brewboy74]

nice looking corals. Who is IAP? When I get my house built I might want to go with for my big tank.

Thanks

[gbr]

I am truely impressed. I will have to document my setup as well when I get my 180 off the floor of the garage :). I cannot believe that there is a custom acrylic tank maker in Bremerton WA (10 miles from my house). I spent two months looking at all the tank makers and had mine custom made by a place in Minnesota and then truck shipped here. Although I am happy with my tank I wish I had that over flow. Mine is going to be a room divider and therefore I only have one overflow. You may want to pass along to John at IAP that he needs to update his search engine submission because in the two months that I searched for a local tank maker from this area, IAP didn't come up on any search.

Depending on the Tunze that you are using for flow, aren't you somewhere around 10-12000gph flow (that's like 60x) WOW!

Have you talked to Andy about your concerns with the skimmer? As you probably know, he is more than accomodating, and you spent a ton there.

Are you happy with the CR? That is my next purchase. Did you get the package from MRC and if so are you happy with the quality of the gauges, solenoid, tank etc.?

Thanks again for a great documentary style post.

[Brewboy74]

Still in the dark.......IAP?

[skeets]

Originally posted by Brewboy74
Still in the dark.......IAP?

Not to sound like a jerk, but if you had read the thread you would know who IAP is. I have a whole little write-up on the tank being built, and that it was by Innovative Aquarium Products.



Originally posted by gbr

Depending on the Tunze that you are using for flow, aren't you somewhere around 10-12000gph flow (that's like 60x) WOW!

Have you talked to Andy about your concerns with the skimmer? As you probably know, he is more than accomodating, and you spent a ton there.

Are you happy with the CR? That is my next purchase. Did you get the package from MRC and if so are you happy with the quality of the gauges, solenoid, tank etc.?
Well for my flow, I have broken it down like this:
1500gph return
3400gph spray rack
5200gph dynamic closed looop
2403gph tunzes(one on 100% other on 30% since they pulsate)

So I have 4,900gph static flow(27x turnover)
7,603gph dynamic flow(42x turnover)
For a total tank flow of 12,503(69x turnover)

When the new tunze magnet mounts come out I am going to get two of the 6100's. Now I will be able to mount the tunzes on the back of my tank like midway down partly hidden in the rock etc. So itll be nice. I also think Ill be getting that wavebox and trying it out too. I wouldnt mind being at like 200x turnover =D

I have talked to Andy about my skimmer problems. We have talked alot and he hasnt come up with a solution for the airleek other than duct tape. It was his idea for the hose barb fittings, and he just let me know sch80 1'' pipe will work. I need to pick some of that up yet.

I got the CR package from andy(no co2 tank tho). It was nice getting everything from him. On the first regulator I had the solonoid stuck ON. So if power went out it stayed on... He replaced it with no questions asked. Sent a new regulator our and then I sent mine back. He does have great customer service.

Hope that helps everyone.

[Brewboy74]

Thanks for the info, I read alot of stuff on here and it all doesn't stick in my head. I didn't remember that you did the write up in the begining. Wouldn't have been easier just to answer the question than give me a lecture???

[steve68]

SWEET !!!!!

[asmodeus]

Well there I would have to disagree its not a excellant tank . But a amazing tank to take the time that you have done and turn this into a truly remarkable piece of the ocean in your house. Amazing I laughed atthe pic of you FW testing the tank you had that look like OMFG i laughed :) Lucky it wasnt a big leak that you had. Its'good to see that every thing is working out all the equiptment is hauling butt i take it. \

Now you owe us some completed pictures of the tnak with the wall unit..

mike


well done :bum:

[gwrulzmylife]

cool tank, very well documented!

[skeets]

Well today is a sad day...

While cleaning my tank I noticed two of my three cleaner shrimps dead, sucked up into one of my strainers on my closed loop.

My shrimp normally hang out on the left of my tank together, however I found them on the right side of the tank, in one of the inlets for my sequence 5800. I never turn this pump off during feeding or anything.

It makes me wonder what happened. They are completely intact and dont even seem to have any sign of damage etc. I wonder why they got sucked in, if they were too close or what. I find it odd that it was 2 of the 3 where in the same inlet, and in the strainers by the place they normally hang out. I dont know if it happened during the night or the day.
I guess this is one reason why big pumps may not be good =/
I thought having the suction divided between two inlets would be good enough but I guess not.
Poor lil guys, I loved them. It was just this week when I put my hand in the tank one night that all 3 of them jumped on me and started cleaning me.
Everything else looks healthy in my tank and all my peppermints are accounted for, and my crabs. I have only lost 2 snails out of the whole lot that I got too.
Wish I had answers...

[qwuintus]

Nice plumbing, but damnnn, thats a mess of wire back there!!

[gumbybc]

man, that is a bummer to hear. I love my cleaner shrimp, probably my favorite thing i have in the tank. I would be so sad to find either of them gone.

[skeets]

Originally posted by qwuintus
Nice plumbing, but damnnn, thats a mess of wire back there!!
I have all the wires cleaned up and on their new switches etc. Everything is routed really nicely. The switches will get mounted in my cabinets when they are done, and ill post new pics of my electrical then.
Yea way to messy in the pics, I couldnt leave them like that =D

[gbr]

Do you think maybe your cleaners died and then were sucked in?

When are you going to post more pics of everything all cleaned up?

[scbauer]

Just out of curiosity, am I the only one who noticed that there is a floating car in two of the pictues?

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/nightdone.jpg

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/takedown.jpg

Do you have a lift at your house? I know you mentioned something about your race team, but at your HOUSE??? That is AWSOME!!!

Sweet tank, too... can't wait to see you get the cabinets set up.

-Scott

[reeftechie]

very nice tank bro, very nice!!!!

[skeets]

Originally posted by gbr
Do you think maybe your cleaners died and then were sucked in?

When are you going to post more pics of everything all cleaned up?

I find it hard to believe that two of my cleaners died in the same spot and got sucked up. If it happened where they normally hang out maybe. And if it was just one, I would probably decide that was the cause. However under the circumstances I am not sure what to think.

Well the cabinets wont get done for like 2 months. I probably wont post anymore setup pics untill then, as not much has changed except I put on my streams, and cleaned up my wires. The wires and switches will end up getting mounted into the cabinets.

Originally posted by scbauer
Just out of curiosity, am I the only one who noticed that there is a floating car in two of the pictues?

Do you have a lift at your house? I know you mentioned something about your race team, but at your HOUSE??? That is AWSOME!!!

Sweet tank, too... can't wait to see you get the cabinets set up.

-Scott

Yes we have a lift at our house to work on the car. It is the only way to go =D. And can serve as a extra parking space.

[reeftechie]

what type of racing do you do? website for it?

[Moretank]

Very informative thread along with great pictures. Great job.

The dead shrimps could be a result of the flamehawk.

[A Reef Scene]

Great job on the tank, its killer.

[A Reef Scene]

Great job on the tank, its killer.

[A Reef Scene]

sorry of the second post.

[willra]

Yeah, the flame hawk probably did it....my freckled hawk almost killed my shrimp so I took the hawk out immediately.

Will

[Jive Turkey]

WOW! Thats a first-rate setup. Good observation and documentation. keep it up.
I like how much flow is going thru the spray rack, with the Sequences, good choice. Great selection of zoanthids. They are a fav of mine.

I have a 120g BB in the works for when I move in 3 months. I will be using a piece of HDPE as the bottom, coated with PVC glue and crushed coral. This is the first BB I have tried, and I will be using a spray bar/rack also within the rock.

I have a question or two;
Where did you find the purple primer and how do you like it? Looks nice, but maybe even better with a few coats.

BTW, I too have been forced to make the difficult choice of Hawkfish vs. Shrimp.
Due to aiptasia, I chose shrimp, yet the the only dead aips have been killed by me.

Please keep us informed as you continue stocking.

Joe

[skeets]

Originally posted by reeftechie
what type of racing do you do? website for it?

Okay not to stray off subject, but since asked by a few people here is the pic of our drag car.
It is a 98 mustang. It is an all motor car(no power adders) and with the motor currently run 9.30's-9.40's on quarter mile.

This season we will only hit a few races, but next season we plan to tour at Fun Ford Weekend and run in the street bandit category. Our new motor which will be done in the next few months is aimed to run 8.60's on the quarter mile.
I dont work on the car, my dad does... I am just the driver =D Its nice lol.
From one extreme hobby to another.

No website now. The car this week just got shot(pictures), and will be in muscle mustang and fast fords magazine within the next few months.
Any other direct ?'s please ask through PM's, Thanks
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/dragcar.jpg

[skeets]

Originally posted by Moretank
Very informative thread along with great pictures. Great job.

The dead shrimps could be a result of the flamehawk.

Originally posted by willra
Yeah, the flame hawk probably did it....my freckled hawk almost killed my shrimp so I took the hawk out immediately.

Will

I can gurantee the shrimps are not casualties of the flamehawk. In my previous tank my flamehawk lived in great harmony with all my shrimp. He did so in this tank too, as they would always hang out near him etc. I know the flame could have possibly done it, "animals gone wild" but under these circumstances I can gurantee he didnt. He is well fed first of all, Second there was no damage to these guys of any kind. I am pretty sure I would have seen something. Also the fact that he got two of em in the same spot I dunno. The only thing I can figure is they went chasing food in there, or something. Or one got sucked in and the other wanted to eat him. I dunno, but either way it sucks. I dont plan on adding anymore of them for a while, I want to see how my last one fares first. I would hate to have another careless problem.

[skeets]

Originally posted by Jive Turkey


I have a question or two;
Where did you find the purple primer and how do you like it? Looks nice, but maybe even better with a few coats.

BTW, I too have been forced to make the difficult choice of Hawkfish vs. Shrimp.
Due to aiptasia, I chose shrimp, yet the the only dead aips have been killed by me.

Please keep us informed as you continue stocking.

Joe

The purple primer is PVC primer from homedepot, or any other place like that. You could do multiple coats, but I didnt feel it was necessary. I didnt mind the drip lines either because I planned on getting most of the rack covered up. And I did a good job of it. The purple does help in the few angles where you can see a little bit of pipe. The purple doesnt stand out like white would.

Yuck, aiptasia =/
I will definitely keep posted on the stocking and how everything goes. And I plan to keep up on any problems that happen in my tank, because I feel this should be a learning experience for all.

And that being said, hawkfish can be prime killers of shrimp. Knowing the personality of this fish, and the circumstances I can rule it out. Flame Hawks in general are one of the least likely to be a pain in the butt with shrimp etc.

[Jive Turkey]

Originally posted by skeets

http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/dragcar.jpg

Is that a P-51 Mustang fighter plane in the background? All about the Mustangs I see...
Maybe an Airshow is the extreme hobby you meant besides racing.

Joe

[XsploveReefin]

RIght on man thats cool I should post pics of our race car. And oour daily driver. The mustang and the supra would be a good race.

[minfinger]

Good looking tank!!

[beaver]

Nice.............

Good documentation
Beaver

[Nanite]

Hi

Wow, thats some tank that you have there, i like you idea for the dynamic flow. good stuff, Goodluck with the 180g tank.


Regards from Len (Australia)

[Conano]

looks like a p51 mustang to me.... fromt he shape and color scheme anyhow, but would have to be closer to make sure.

[Fliger]

Skeets - any new pictures or updates?

[skeets]

I have gotten some more new colonies of zoos and sps. Ill get new pictures over the next few weeks. I have been really busy lately.

SOLAR DIMMER 750
As far as equip goes, the Solar Dimmer 750 sucks. I have to send it back because it wont work off of a timer. It only works when I physically plug and unplug the cord. I talked to blueline about this and they dont have a answer. So far it was the worst 180 I spent on the tank. The few times I did get it to dim, it didnt work very well either.

ALGAE
I have been getting quite a bit of film algae on the glass. I have been way overfeeding I think. I will be scalling back some, and I actually think getting a few more fish in there might help, more of the food will get consumed that way. I am only getting some film algae(more than normal), and some fuzz on the rocks. No hair algae or bubble algae, nothin too nasty.

I also am not running any rowaphos yet, which I plan to once I get my reactor. Yes I have read the threads too. I plan to try to acclimate the tank slowly.

I have been doing biweekly small water changes to get some detritus out that collects in the sump, and one area on my tank. I am going to bump that to weekly maintinence.

I am not quite sure why I am getting the algae bloom, but its not too major. I will work on my husbandry a little more and see how that goes. So far my water is crystal clear, and my skimmer is pulling out amazing ammounts of gunk.

Thats about it fow now... all the pieces of coral that lost color, or had probs are fine now. I havent had any casualties, and my bleached samoensis is almost back to normal. It is a slow grower, wich is why it is taking so long... but it is very healthy.

[Homey the Reefkeeper]

Great looking tank and awesome documentation Skeets!!

You spent quite a small fortune on the setup and I'm totally with you on going with top of the line products. Just out of curiosity though, how much extra would it cost if....hmm if you had doubled the size of the tank? I'm fairly new to the hobby and I originally wanted a 75g and I budgetted about $1500, but I saw a 120g and I ended up going with that. As a result, my setup costs more than doubled so I'm itching to know if there is a relationship between doubling the cost if you double the tank size.

-David

[skeets]

Well doubling the tank would be quite a bit more. I would need more/bigger pumps, more lights, bigger chiller, more plumbing, and of course a bigger tank and stand.

I would say though that it wouldnt double the cost to go from a 180 to a 360. But it Would probably be 50% more atleast. I know I could double the cost though if I really wanted to get radical =D
Dont get me started on planning out the bigger tank yet lol.

[wwwatcher1]

Skeets
your post dated "05/13/2004 01:43 AM", not sure if the time is right but

I am looking for a power strip like the ones on the wall specially the one where the outlet is right angle? What brand is that strip?

thx

[skeets]

Originally posted by wwwatcher1
Skeets
your post dated "05/13/2004 01:43 AM", not sure if the time is right but

I am looking for a power strip like the ones on the wall specially the one where the outlet is right angle? What brand is that strip?

thx

I wish I could tell ya man. You are talking about the silver strip on the top right? My electrician hooked me up with that one. The two blackones are cheap 15amp ones from Fry's Electronics. The top silver one is like a 60amp or something. It is heavy duty.
Sorry

[wwwatcher1]

I was looking for the ones on the bottom (black power strips). time to look at fry's web page

I found it. It's a leviton KFL-A1398 for $25 available at outpost.com aka frys electronics

[linuxfisher]

How far is the complete setup from being finished? I like the cabinet idea so much that I may use it for a new 240, and am already getting a quote from a local vendor. I would like to see a finished picture of everything if at all possible. You have done an incredible job with this thread.

[skeets]

Originally posted by linuxfisher
How far is the complete setup from being finished? I like the cabinet idea so much that I may use it for a new 240, and am already getting a quote from a local vendor. I would like to see a finished picture of everything if at all possible. You have done an incredible job with this thread.

I finally got the cabinet builder picked out. Next week he will have the computer drawings, and different stains from me to choose. Unfortunately He wont begin building untill the end of july. The cabinets should be done, and installed by August per our contract. I cannot wait to see what this guy does, as we are talking completely custom setup with hidden doors on the side to get behind the tank from, removable panels, mounts for electronics, etc. It should be pretty sweet... it is about 75% of the cost of what I put in the tank already, so not a cheap setup. I am stoked to see it all finished up though!

[ReefWraith]

... just tagging along! :D

[overflowin]

sweet tank

donnie

[firemouth4416]

Did you consider a refuge connected to the system to help control algea and nutrient problems? Also, I understand the DSB issues in the tank but would you consider a remote one to help feed the tank?

[skeets]

ALGAE UPDATE

Okay, so I am definitely getting algae now. I don’t have any of this algae on my rocks. I have pics of two types of algae I am getting, and am open to a conversation on what these guys food are and why I am getting them. Like I said before many times, this thread is a learning experience for me and everyone else.

This type of algae is a dot, that has a string attached to it. It only seems to grow on my front and side acrylic panels. It doesn’t seem to be growing on my outputs, overflow, or rock. When I clean this with my magnet, I can get the string off, but the dot is really hard to get off. I have to get it off using my hand and a pad. This stuff is really annoying. Any ideas on what it is?
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/glassalgae.jpg

This algae is growing on my loc-line outputs quite a bit. It is slightly growing on my overflow. I don’t see any of this on my rockwork either. Ideas?
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/outputalgae.jpg

MAINTINENCE SCHEDULE
Seeing this algae growing now is really bothering me. I am going to do weekly(instead of biweekly) water changes to suck up the detritus that accumulates. I get detritus accumulating in one spot in my display tank(a back corner, and very easy to get too… only large chunks accumulate here), and the finer stuff accumulates in my sump. Most of the detritus in my sump has been in my drain compartment which is sealed off and a real pain to get into because I have to shut the returns down, disassemble the drains, pull the cover off, and then I can clean it. So I had let a lot of detritus accumulate in there. Earlier this week I took care of that problem! I cut about a 5’’ hole in the top of my drain compartment lid. This will allow me to get my hand in there weekly to siphon. If I stay ontop of it, I should be able to keep it really clean this way. I would also be able to put filter bags on the drain lines now easier if I wish to do this in the future. See pic…
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/sumphole1.jpg

I will be covering that hole up by getting a piece of acrylic to go over the top, and then I will use plastic screws in the 4 corners to hold it down. You can see how I have screws holding down my drain compartment lid, I will do it like that. For now I just have a piece of acrylic over it. The point of this compartment is to keep down on evap in the sump area, especially when I get my cabinets done.
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/sumphole2.jpg

My skimmer does pull out a lot of gunk. This picture is from 4days. However I have noticed once the skimmer gets to this level of gunk, it slows down and wont seem to produce a whole lot more. I can never get the skimmer to pour a lot of gunk down into that tub and into my waste collector. Maybe I need to wet skim more? Any ideas?
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/gunk.jpg

So I hope being more aggressive with my maintenance will help. I am also debating what to do with phosphate removers. Seeing all the bad wrap RP is getting now makes me wonder. Then people say phosban doesn’t work well. Everyone has an opinion, and its really hard for me to decide now, because I don’t know who’s word to buy into. I also don’t know if a deltec reactor is worth 240 bucks, or if I should just get the cheaper ones for like 50.

CABINETS
Well the cabinet maker has been nailed down, and we are in the stages of finalizing the design. It is going to be a really nice piece of furniture, and going to be very custom, with lots of goodies. I will save the surprises until we get pics, but ill tell you that its going to be made out of cherry. It should be installed by the end of august… I am so stoked because it is the last phase to truly finish up the project part of this tank.

TEMPORARY SWITCHES
Here are my switch panels for the tank. The switches are for my pumps, and everything that is not on a x-10. All the x-10 stuff is plugged into the back of the wall because I can manually control it with the aquacontroller if I need. My Aquacontroller, Medusa, switches, Tunze controllers, etc will be mounted in the side cabinets. It is going to be very organized and sweet. Lighted switches are going to be real nice in that cabinet!
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tempelectric1.jpg
http://www.internetsyndicate.com/personal/dr/eq/tempelectric2.jpg

[skeets]

Originally posted by firemouth4416
Did you consider a refuge connected to the system to help control algea and nutrient problems? Also, I understand the DSB issues in the tank but would you consider a remote one to help feed the tank?

I considered a fuge, but dropped that idea. If I had a DSB in there I would need to keep up on maintinence with it. Also I didnt want to run macro-algae because ultimately I want to get my phosphates down to levels that will stunt its growth anyways. Gotta decide what to do as far as RP/Phosband =D

As far as a remote bed feeding the tank, how is it going to do that? You mean with pods and such? I have a seperate tank that i culture pods in, that I occassionally release into my tank. I see plenty of pods running around the rocks at night however. The only thing a remote sandbed would feed my tank down the road is phosphates.

[Chip Douglas]

you did an amazing job with that, congratulations. I'm 20 and I wouldn't even trust myself with everything I just saw you do in those pics :P

[steve68]

run the water level higher & u will get alot more wet foam
i used to run a mag 24 on my MR-2 but went to iwaki 70RLT
& it is Solid now real fine Bubbles.

[skeets]

Originally posted by Chip Douglas
you did an amazing job with that, congratulations. I'm 20 and I wouldn't even trust myself with everything I just saw you do in those pics :P
I didnt either =D. But now I do!

[Mike_The_Reefer]

hey skeets great looking tank, congrats and the best of luck to you. i really like your closed loop system connnected to the spray rack. Do you possibly have any diagrams, pics, etc. I really like the design and how it provides such a stable structure. BTW this will be going on a 58 SPS dominated reef tank. thanks!

Mike

[skeets]

Originally posted by Mike_The_Reefer
hey skeets great looking tank, congrats and the best of luck to you. i really like your closed loop system connnected to the spray rack. Do you possibly have any diagrams, pics, etc. I really like the design and how it provides such a stable structure. BTW this will be going on a 58 SPS dominated reef tank. thanks!

Mike

All the diagrams and pics I have are posted up on the first page. What exactly are you looking for?

[Mike_The_Reefer]

the setup of your spray rack, basically the design etc.

[skeets]

Originally posted by Mike_The_Reefer
the setup of your spray rack, basically the design etc.
The design is all on the first page. I re-read my spraybar section and looked at the plans of my tanks, plus the spraybar and cant think of anything else to add. It seems to be all there.

[ksarauer]

skeets - any updates on this?

where did you get your MBV and how do you like it? I am looking at getting one.

[skeets]

Originally posted by ksarauer
skeets - any updates on this?

where did you get your MBV and how do you like it? I am looking at getting one.

Nothing really new on the tank, except I am finally getting around to slowly mounting coral where I want them and such. I also am going to be weeding through some of my coral to get rid of and such.
I am also curing some flatter pieces of liverock I plan to place on the bottom of my tank to mount all those zoo rocks too. Right now everyday I have to move them back because they get blown around. It also looks kinda silly with them just sitting there.
So aesthetically I am taking my time placing my coral and such.

On the algae and water quality, the water changes have helped a ton. That hole I drilled in my drain compartment helped out a lot on getting detritus out. I will continue my weekly water changes.
I am going to probably add carbon for a couple days here soon, since I havent had any in for a long time.

The MBV is from customaquatic, however you can get them at several places. You also need a repeat timer that I got from aquaticeco. I couldnt imagine the flow of this tank w/out the MBV. It wouldnt be near the same. I love it.

[Fliger]

Still liking the barebottom? I'm very happy with mine. On my new tank I'm doing the bottom in black acrylic. Copying from Travis.

Hey, LMK if you're gonna thin out. I could use some frags. I had a couple incidents and lost several of the corals I got from you. Then I put all my stuff in a Rubbermaid and the salinity fluctuated too much - didn't realize how much this would affect my SPS. All the corals I got from you were bulletproof and I feel horrible about it, hard lesson learned.

[skeets]

Originally posted by Fliger
Still liking the barebottom? I'm very happy with mine. On my new tank I'm doing the bottom in black acrylic. Copying from Travis.

Hey, LMK if you're gonna thin out. I could use some frags. I had a couple incidents and lost several of the corals I got from you. Then I put all my stuff in a Rubbermaid and the salinity fluctuated too much - didn't realize how much this would affect my SPS. All the corals I got from you were bulletproof and I feel horrible about it, hard lesson learned.

David I got a few pieces you might be interested in. Ya those corals I got you are some of the hardiest things I swear. I put them through the test =D

I really like the barebottom. I was going to go black also, however I decided I wanted the extra reflection. I cant believe how much more light it gives, and I have to be careful sometimes.
I got my new par meter, and par ratings of 200-400 are pretty good for sps(i have some corals in areas as high as 750 though). Anyways today I took the par meter, and tested what kinda reflection I was getting off the bottom... and it was about 190! Now I know why that samoensis bleached at first, it wasnt used to that kinda light from the underneath. It has healed up nicely.

I think next time I will try doing a tan color. It is more neutral. It wont be so reflective to the eye, but it wont eat up light either. I am happy as is though and glad I didnt do it different personally.
Got any pics of your tank with black David?

[Happy to see me]

What does that thing run in the quarter (gotta 67 camaro (small block w/supercharger and fuel injection) that runs 11.4 @ 130 on Nitto street tires (275/40/17)non drag radials!
I know this isnt race forums I'm just curious. By the way thats a kikass tank, first time ive seen one without sand bed looks kinda empty I guess you get used to it. And your tank has more holes than swiss cheese. Lots of leak points wow, would make me nervous. But definately an awesome setup, did you ever have leaks @ the coupler to Flex PVC??

[skeets]

The car is naturally aspirated, and our practice motor is running 9.50's in 100degree weather.
Our new motor will run 8.60's in good weather conditions. No power adders.

No I never had any leaks, besides some threaded nipple leaks on the pumps that was fixed by tightening the nipple down more.

[outdoorandmore]

Have you tried using diatom bags in your sump for the drains to help in collecting the detrius?

[qwuintus]

update?

[skeets]

I will update in a few weeks.
The cabinets should be get get installed in about 2 weeks I hope.
I made a few changes that caused some delay.

Ill get a big update ready though on tank maintinence, coral, the new cabinets, etc.

[deansreef]

looking forward to the update

[skeets]

The cabinet got pushed back another week.
The update will come... some day! heeh

[bananagoby]

this thing sounds amazing but i cannot see pictures is there something wrong or just my computer

[skeets]

The pictures still work.

[MarkS]

I don't know if it's been asked before, but what are you doing to prevent 100+ gallons of water from draining from the spray racks into the sump and onto the floor in a power outage?

[SHOmuchFUN]

I was thinking the same thing... I didn't see any check-valves or anything. I could've missed it though...

I would imagine that something is in place, even the process of shutting down the pumps manually would cause a back-siphon, at least some ball valves so that the pipes can be serviced if necessary.

[skeets]

The spray bar is on a closed loop.
My dynamic flow(through MBV) is a closed loop.

I only have two returns comming from my sump, and they are in the top of the tank.
I thought it was pretty clear what stuff was a closed loop and what wasnt... in fact I just found the quote for you.

Originally posted by skeets
DESIGN


There are three main flow systems in the tank. The first is a spraybar that is on a closed loop and pumped via a sequence 4300. The second is my return via a mag18 from my sump. The third system was my dynamic flow system and has 2 banks of 6 outputs. A motorized ball valve switches between each output to create some nice flow. My dynamic flow is pumped by a sequence 5800.

[MarkS]

Originally posted by skeets

I thought it was pretty clear what stuff was a closed loop and what wasnt.

You probably were. Too much thread and not enough time! ;)

[skeets]

Thats why I am getting so many questions... people arent reading before they ask =/

[SHOmuchFUN]

Edit:
Forget it, I'll keep my mouth shut. :rolleyes:

[skeets]

I spent probably 8 hours putting this thread together by cropping pix, writting text, etc.
And I keep getting questions that have answers right in my text.
I wrote this thread to help people, however not to hold their hand. I definitely welcome ANY comments/questions on information that I forgot to cover, or that you just want more indepth.
But so far most of the questions are answered right in the heart of the thread.

I didn't post the thread for my benefit, I posted it for everyone else. I have had lots of ppl PM me with more detailed questions, and have helped a lot of people out. Several people have designed similar parts of my system into their tanks. So a lot of good has come from this thread, but I feel insulted personally when someone says they didnt spend the time to read it, and want me to restate it for their benefit.
Thats the attitude, and I think it is fair.

[jwm2k3]

RIGHT ON, skeets.

[capt. insano]

skeets, what size is your tank? and is it SW or FW?

[MarkS]

Originally posted by capt. insano
skeets, what size is your tank? and is it SW or FW?
:lol:

OK, point taken!

[lovetoreef]

thanks again for taking the time to set up the thread, i for one love the detail you spent putting it all together and then sharing it with us. thank you.

gm

[skeets]

I promise I will get this post updated...
My cabinet maker was not able to install the cabinets today, and we have it set for next friday. So it looks like it will be another 2 weeks before I get a update.
I am wondering If i should just start a new thread and have it include all the old info, plus the new stuff(cabinets, coral, stuff thats gone one since setup). I think it would be nice to have a new thread that has everything on the first page instead of scattered throughout 6 pages.
Thoughts?

[lovetoreef]

should work out fine if it is not too much of a hassle for you ... if you could keep all of the old info like you said, then i think it would be great... kind of nice not to have to sift through all of the questions about something that was answered a page ago! but, we all do that at sometime i guess. or, you could start a web page!! good luck with the cabinets

[skeets]

some day on the webpage =D

[ksarauer]

Skeets, where ya been? I'm hoping you have some good updates? I'd hate to see this project go to the wayside.
Have you started a new thread? I'd love to see some updated pics of the setup.

Kevin

[skeets]

The project has definitely not gone wayside!
My cabinets are partly installed, and will get finished up the next few days. Lots of customization, and care is needed to make the cabinetry perfect.

I will have a large update comming up in the next few weeks. I have been very busy with a couple classes and havent had the time lately to write up a good quality update with pics. But It will come I gurantee.
My tank hasnt suffered from my business, just this thread =).
The tank is looking real good.

I think this is the 4th or 5th time ive said... a couple more weeks. Lol, itll come tho I promise.
It encourages to see people care to see them =)
thanks

[Zan]

skeets, the medusa controller you use. do you find that your chiller is on more often than not w/ such a small threshold of temp change? 0.5 vs 2.0 degrees? i have the same chiller and am considering a medusa, but figured that it would probably be on a lot more.

[skeets]

Originally posted by Zan
skeets, the medusa controller you use. do you find that your chiller is on more often than not w/ such a small threshold of temp change? 0.5 vs 2.0 degrees? i have the same chiller and am considering a medusa, but figured that it would probably be on a lot more.

My chiller is ussually on for 20 minutes and off for 20 minutes with the .5degree change.
If you only buy the 2digit medusa controller, you will only be able at minimum to do a 1 degree change. I bought the 3digit controller so I could do a .5 degree change, but the minimum could be .1.
If you want to get a medusa, you can set it to whatever you like. .7 degrees, 1degree, 5 degrees, etc. So the medusa could cause the chiller to kick on more often or less often. Regardless of what temp swing though, the chiller should be on about the same ammount. There will be a slight variation due to the math of bringing temp swings down, but it should be negligable.
Does that make sense?

[skeets]

Originally PMed by tri916
Man I wanted to say your tank is Awsome man, hats off to for every element of design.
I'm in the process of doing a 180 gal tank also. I had a question in regards to the overflow in the back if tank. The corners of the overflows are 8" high correct. and the middle section is 3" high. Can you elaborate why you went with this as opposed to having the whole thing being the exactly the same? If you dont mind can you take some more pics of the tank and its overlows in action. I would appreciate alot. I got alot of good plans from this thread and alot of ideas from you thanks.

Tri Nguyen



I wanted to respond to this PM on the thread for others to view.

There are a couple reasons why the middle channel is not as tall as my corner overflows.
1. I didnt want to loose all the space of a larger overflow across the whole back of the tank. It would have hindered my rock scaping. It also would have pushed my dynamic flow outlets way down into the tank, which would have been unnacceptable. I would literally have lost about 10-11'' of height on my tank, because everything would have been needed to be placed below the outlets.
2. The middle channel of the overflow is slightly slanted form the middle to help the water flow into the outlets. I dont think this overflow design would work as well if it was one height. It either would have been a lot noisier with water falling 8'' or the water in the overflow would have to be much higher.

I cannot take pictures of this anymore, as my cabinets are installed and they hide the overflow on the sides. Sorry bud.

[skeets]

PICTURE UPDATE
I have taken about half the pictures I need to take for an update. Everything is installed and finished on the cabinetry except for some crown molding on the top. The week after christmas I will spend a day and get the pictures finished up, and an update ready.
If anyone is still waiting for an update, thanks for being patient.

[Zan]

skeets, yes that does make sense. One more question for you. What did you end up doing w/ your chiller in terms of location? I know you had it inside, but did you or are you going to move it elsewhere? i am going to be moving my chiller outside, but wasn't sure if the temp probe would reach.

[skeets]

Originally posted by Zan
skeets, yes that does make sense. One more question for you. What did you end up doing w/ your chiller in terms of location? I know you had it inside, but did you or are you going to move it elsewhere? i am going to be moving my chiller outside, but wasn't sure if the temp probe would reach.

The chiller is built into my cabinet. I will show pics of it when I am do the update.
The chiller temp probe should be inside the chiller itself.
For the medusa, I wouldnt keep that outside... and the temp probe isnt all that long for it, like 5 or 6' maybe?

[zenguitar]

Your method of documention is excellent. I just saw this thread for the first time and a few of the things you did are similiar to what I intend to do on my next tank so I'm glad it's working for you. I'll have to comment on that later, don't have much time at the moment.

I'm looking forward to your next update after Christmas and by the way have a Merry Christmas :)

[skeets]

UPDATED THREAD HERE (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=496081&perpage=25&pagenumber=1)

I really wanted everything together since I have made some changes over the few months my tank has been running. Click the above link to see the new thread of everything, including a huge picture update!

[cbl]

awesome job!!!!!!!! I'm sure all of the time and hard work will pay off. I appreciate all of the info and details you provided and passed along to us. I think its great stuff!!!! I'm currently starting to plan out a 96 x 36 x 36 glass tank in my office. planning on viewing it from all 4 sides. was thinking about a center island overflow. all plumbing needs to come from bottom of tank. the equipment room will be downstairs approx 6 feet over and 8 feet down thru cement floor. with your above exp. do you have any ideas on best way to plan/develop circulation in a tank that will be viewed from all four sides? ie. try some closed loop cirs and bring all plumbing thru island or bring some thru bottom of tank ect?????(pretty detailed question) thanks again and look forward to hearing your advice!

[cbl]

awesome job!!!!!!!! I'm sure all of the time and hard work will pay off. I appreciate all of the info and details you provided and passed along to us. I think its great stuff!!!! I'm currently starting to plan out a 96 x 36 x 36 glass tank in my office. planning on viewing it from all 4 sides. was thinking about a center island overflow. all plumbing needs to come from bottom of tank. the equipment room will be downstairs approx 6 feet over and 8 feet down thru cement floor. with your above exp. do you have any ideas on best way to plan/develop circulation in a tank that will be viewed from all four sides? ie. try some closed loop cirs and bring all plumbing thru island or bring some thru bottom of tank ect?????(pretty detailed question) thanks again and look forward to hearing your advice!

[cbl]

sorry about the double post!