The best 90 gal log you will ever see! (image intense) [Archive]

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:06 PM

Hi guys
Well I’ve officially been in the reefing hobby for a year now, and I decided to celebrate by upgrading my tank from a 33gal system to a 90 gal!
First off, here’s a little bit about my old tank. It was a 33 gal running through a 40 gal sump/fuge with a 175 watt MH pendant and a Remora C hang on skimmer. It probably has about 50 lbs of LR and 40 lbs LS. I keep a BTA (who’s bubbles are long gone) along with some softy chorals. I grow cheato in the fuge and do weekly chem tests and water changes. The reef has done very well and has plenty little critters running around the sand bed when they think I’m not looking. As far as fish go, I have a pair of tomato clowns (Ping and Ying) hosting the BTA (which recently split), a pair or green chromis (Jerry and Larry) and a yellow tang (named Timmy…don’t tell tang police.. I figure I should get off this once since I just bought him a 90 gal).

Here’s a pic of the older tank.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/P1010030.jpg

I got a little ambitious (or was it lazy?) when I decided to build up the tank walls to accommodate an external overflow. This I did as an alternative to emptying the whole tank and drilling it.

Here’s a pic of the built up tank wall
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/P1010009.jpg

And where it drains into the overflow
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/P1010004.jpg

It was all done with acrylic, and actually worked (believe it or not). In retrospect it was risky and I wouldn’t really recommend doing this because a few months down the road and it started sprouting leaks. I would call the operation a success though, but for my next tank I will defiantly being doing a proper drilling job.

Here’s one last pic of the cabinet that I made, which I will be putting the 90 gal on once the 33 is out of the way. Should be plenty of room as it measures approximately 3’x5’x2.5’ HxLxW.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/P1010069.jpg

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:06 PM

Anyway, out with the old and in with the new. I neglegted to get a pic of the new tank before I started work on it, but I’m sure we all know what an empty 90 gal tank looks like. (48’x24”x18” by the way)

Here it is on the floor waiting to be painted. I used ‘marine blue’ spray paint I got at home depot. I was going to go with black but the name won me over.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/1q.jpg

And here she is painted. Took about 4 quotes, and there were still a few lighter spots, but I though it looked more natural that way (or was I just being lazy again?…yes).
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/2q.jpg

I decided to put some egg crate on the bottom of the tank. this will protect the bottom from rocks should an avalanche occur, and it will also help my anchor the rockwork and plumbing. Ignore the pvc pipe, its just there so I don’t forget about the internal overflow.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/3q.jpg

Here’s a pic of the internal overflow baffle I made out of smoke grey acrylic (I think it looks brown personally). The idea of an internal overflow was one I didn’t arrive at easily. I’m a stickler for tank realistate, and I didn’t want to take up much room with the overflow baffle, but after much consideration, and a threat from my girlfriend who does not want another leaky tank, I opted for the much simpler to make and less risky internal overflow. The baffle itself wasn’t too hard to make. This is the first time I’ve ever attempted to cut out teeth and I think they turned out pretty well. I used a ban saw for the teeth and molded the corner by clamping the acrylic sheet to a 2x4 and molding a 90 º curve with the blow torch. I is a pretty easy method as long as you measure carefully. It is a little risky if you haven’t tried it before because if you don’t get a perfect 90º curve the baffle won’t fit. Somehow I managed to get it right my first try.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/4q.jpg

Here’s the best I could do for an up close shot of the baffle sitting in the tank. It sits nice and flush on all edges, so I’m pretty happy (or lucky). I had to use the belt sander to round the edges that would stick into the silicone on the bottom of the tank. Nothing is glued yet, just try fitted. I plan to use 100% clear GE silicone to attach the baffle to the tank.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/5q.jpg

I’ve only began to ponder the plumbing for this thing, but I know that I’m going to go with standard 1 ½” black pvc for the overflow drain. Here’s a pic of the overflow assembly. I used plastic mesh that you can buy in the sewing or crafts section at Wal-Mart, and zippy tied it to the pvc to make a strainer. This should keep any fishies or enterprising anemone’s from taking a trip to my sump.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/6q.jpg

Here’s the overflow assembly all dry fitted behind the baffle. Everything fits nice. Hopefully it won’t be too noisy.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/7q.jpg

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:07 PM

Here's an update
Over the weekend i got busy installing some fluorescent fixtures. Once again my camera went missing so i didn't get any shots of the work in progress, but basically i used rivets to attach the ballast to the top of the canopy, and i cut out little brackets out of aluminum to hold the end caps and riveted them onto the inside of the canopy.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/we.jpg
and the inside. I used a regular 2x30 watt florescent ballast i bought at home depot. they fire two 3' florescent strips. these are just two spare bulbs i had lying around, i plan to use incandescent bulbs along with 2x250watt MH bulbs (if i ever get my balast).
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/wq.jpg
still plenty of room for the metal halide brackets and bulbs to fit.

and i replaced my acrylic guard with two glass pains ( i learned how to cut glass over the weekend too). It is regular 1/4" glass that i had lying around. My father, who runs a sunroom company (who knows a thing or two about glass) think this should hold up fine against the heat, even though it is not tempered. I plan to test it pretty Thoroughly without the fans on once i get my MH ballasts and bulbs installed.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/P1010330.jpg

I finally got my diamond whole cutting bit today from Lau’s eBay store. Took about 3 weeks to ship from Hong Kong, and only cost me about 20 bucks. It is a 48mm bit, which is the same diameter of 1 ½ pvc. I think I can also use it to cut holes for my 1” bulkheads, as they require a 45mm hole. Do you think 3 mm makes a difference? Or should I get the proper sized bit for the bulkheads?
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/ed.jpg

In cutting the hole I stopped every 30 seconds or so and pored some water on the glass and bit to keep them cool. I also dripped some 3in1 oil on as that supposedly helps keep the glass from cracking.. so says Dad (my glass authority). I think it turned out pretty good, and a breathed a sigh of relief when I made it through to the other side without shattering the side of my tank. 1 hole down, 4 to go.
That’s a nice hole if I don’t say so myself.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/ew.jpg

The hole was the perfect size for the pvc. I actually had to tap it lightly with a hammer to get it to go through the hole. It was probably pretty close to being water tight before I added the silicone. Some may ask why I didn’t use a bulkhead here, and I would say, because this works just as well. Just put a little silicone around the pipe and you have a waterproof seal (I hope). Anyway, I used this method when I did my sump and it works like a charm.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/etw.jpg

I threw a 1 ½” union on the other side, and ran a silicone bead around the edge touching the glass.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/trd.jpg

Next it was time to install the overflow bulkhead. First I ran a silicone bead around all the edges that would be in contact with the glass.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/dc.jpg

Then I simply stuck it in. It fit like a charm, but that didn’t surprise me ;)
Here’s a pic of everything put together.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/bt.jpg

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:08 PM

So I haven’t been as busy on the tank build as I would like in the last few weeks because I’m waiting for a rather slow shipment, but I did manage to get some stuff done. First of all, I got my Icecap ballasts! They are 250 watt metal halide ballasts.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/ballasts.jpg
I also got some morgul sockets from the local hydroponics store (funny story that goes along with that, but not really appropriate to be told in a public forum ;) ). I built my own brackets out of aluminum for the sockets and riveted them into the canopy. Here’s a shot of the reflector, I think its looking pretty good.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/reflector.jpg
I wired up the ballasts and riveted them onto the top of the canopy along with the fluorescent ballast. Initially I didn’t intend on putting them on top of the canopy as I thought the ballasts would be much bigger and heavier. When I got them out of the box and had a look at them, I decided it would be much simpler to stick them on top of the canopy.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/canopyback.jpg
I’m not quite sure why I put the fluorescent ballast off to the one side. I think I had good reasoning for it at the time, but I seem to have forgotten it.

It Works!!!
You might even think I knew what I was doing. This is an old 175watt bulb I used to test my wiring, it makes me really itch to get my bulbs in so I can see how much light the fully loaded rig will put out!
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/test.jpg

Here’s a pic of the 3 1/4” hole I cut (with a dremel, boy did that take a long time) for the 2”bulkhead I’m going to be using to feed my dart for the close loop. Hopefully I will get my package in tomorrow and start moving on the plumbing for my close loop. I had to cut away some of the black plastic at the bottom of the tank to make room for the bulkhead. I also scraped away the paint around the hole so the silicone will stick better.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/2hole.jpg

I GOT MY SHIPMENT!
Finally! And just in time. The people at the post office must have been pretty sick of seeing me walk in to check my box and walk back out with my tail between my legs when I didn’t find my package notice in there. Anyway, on with the pics!
Get ready for the craziest display of plumbing you’ve ever seen. My brother said my close loop looks like the international space station. I have a Sequence Dart being fed by a 2” pipe. The dart flows through an oceans motions super squirt. I put a bypass below the squirt so I get as much flow as I can out of the Dart.
Here are some pics of my plumbing skills (or lack there of.)
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/closeloope.jpg
and from the top
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/closeloope3.jpg
and the front
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/modpipe.jpg
whoever invented loc line must be rich. Its perfect for a close loop.

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:09 PM

Here’s an invention that probably won’t make me rich, but I think it’s a good idea anyway. I was worried about sand being sucked into the close loop and ruining my dart and squirt, so I made this little guard out of acrylic and topped it off with plastic mesh. It will cover up the close loop intake.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/sandguard2.jpg
I made a little strainer out of plastic mesh and zippy ties to protect the 2” bulkhead used as the close loop intake.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/sandguard3.jpg
and fitted like so. After I test the plumbing, I will silicone this thing in. I think my fishies will be safe from a ride though the plumbing. Should keep the sand out of there as well.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/sandguard.jpg

Here’s some shots of the canopy sitting on top.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/full1.jpg

my fans wouldn’t fit because the close loop returns running over the top of the tank were in the way, so I had to take them off. I’ll fine another place for them , maybe closer to the middle.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/full2.jpg[/I

I water tested the tank the other day with the close loop running
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/bubles.jpg
It worked great! The dart defiantly provides more than enough flow for the 90. the Squirt four way keeps the currents flowing randomly as well. I was watching some little pieces of saw dust in the tank wiz around, and I think my fish are going to enjoy it.

I had allot of fun tinkering with the mod pipe. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/ripples.jpg
Plenty of surface agitation.
Here’s a cool shot showing some of the different flow patterns generated by the different nozzles.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/endcaps.jpg
Listening to the water all afternoon kind of made me have to go to the bathroom. :p
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/wizz.jpg[/IMG

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:11 PM

the squirt takes almost exactly a minute to do one full rotation. I tried to take these videos of one of the lines shooting into the water during its rotations. hope they work
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/th_P1010375.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/?action=view&current=P1010375.flv)
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/th_P1010374.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/?action=view&current=P1010374.flv)

We left off with the tank sitting in the garage full of hose water. I’ve got allot done since then, but I will take things in a step by step fashion so you don’t miss a beat ;) .
So I’ve had a bunch of questions about the egg crate in the bottom of the tank. I had mentioned I would talk a little more about why I am putting it in there, and here’s my explanation. What I am attempting to do is create an anaerobic water layer underneath the sand bed that will (hopefully) reduce or eliminate nitrate. Nitrate is reduced to nitrogen gas only under anaerobic (without oxygen) conditions because the bacteria responsible for this cannot tolerate oxygen. I cut several ¼” pieces of pvc pipe that I put underneath the egg crate to hold it off the bottom of the tank.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/pvc.jpg
I then put a sheet of fiberglass over the egg crate. This will keep the sand from sifting through the egg crate.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/fiberglass.jpg
finally I covered the whole thing with sand. I used a mix of caribsea fine grain sand, and some of the crushed choral substrate I had left over from the 33 gal tank. there is about 65-70 lbs of sand in there now.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/sandbed.jpg
I’m no sure if the sand bed is deep enough to actually keep the water with high oxygen content from filtering down into the sub sand bed area that is supposed to be low in oxygen, but I can always add more sand if I detect nitrate.

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:12 PM

Aside from the sand bed, I also moved the old tank and got the new one up on the stand! This was a bit of an ordeal, and the next time I upgrade (lets face it, it’s inevitable) I’m going to build a new stand so I only have to move one tank at a time. Anyway, here’s a ‘photo journey’ of the tank moving process:

My last shot of the old 33 gal. looks a little rough doesn’t it.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/last33.jpg

bit of a mess
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/mes.jpg

The plan was to siphon the water and move all livestock into a Rubbermaid tub on the floor which acted as a temporary holding tank.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/temp.jpg

and here we are with the 90 gal up on the stand!
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/newhome.jpg

I filled the tank up with water and added the salt mix and let it run with the close loop and lights on for a few days. This shot is from the first night. I got a good deal on a Ushio 250W 10000k bulb (on the left), which has a kind of greenish glow to it. on the right , I have a used 10000k Coralife bulb that I am using temporarily until I get another Ushio. The color contrast is really obvious when the water is cloudy
. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/cloudy.jpg
here’s a shot of the business end of the canopy. As I said, I’m using 2x250W MH bulbs (icecap ballasts) and two 3’ VHO actinic bulbs.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/250w.jpg
Here’s a shot taken a few days later once the water cleared. Now that the salinity is a little higher, I hooked up the main circulation pump so the water flows through the sump/fuge. This, along with the mature sand from the old tank, should reduce the nitrogen cycle time to just a few weeks (or days hopefully).

So, a few days have passed and I’ve been checking my water regularly. Everything is in check! Salinity matches that of the holding tank the fish and chorals are in. Ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are undetectable, pH is 8.4 and salinity is normal. The time I’ve been waiting for since I started the project has come, and I’m ready to put my livestock into the new tank!
After acclimatizing the fish and chorals, I added them one at a time to the display, after I finished the rock work. The rock works didn’t take much time, I pretty much just piled it up. I am really happy with how it looks. This is all the rock I had in the old tank. there is about 50 lbs or so. I was thinking I’d like to add another 50, but after seeing what it looks like, I think I may only add another 20 or 30 lbs. I don’t really want a heck of a lot of rock in this tank so the fish have plenty of swimming room. Anyway, on with the first full tank shot
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/1stfulltank.jpg
the water is still a touch cloudy, but I am still really happy with it.

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:13 PM

A made a few videos so you can see the display the way I do. The fish seem quite happy in their new home. These videos were taken about an hour after I transferred them into the tank, they don’t show any sings of stress at all. They also happily accepted a well deserved brine shrimp meal.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/th_tank1mov.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/?action=view&current=tank1mov.flv)

and video # 2

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/th_tank2mov.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/?action=view&current=tank2mov.flv)

So I’ve been busy! I made lots of progress on the tank in the last week. First of all, I totally re-did my sump. The old one was a 40 gal tall tank and it was really tricky to get in and out of it, and it was a bit of a grimey mess, so with my new skimmer coming, I decided to re-do the whole thing.
Here she is:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/sump2.jpg
I took a relatively economical approach. Instead of buying a large new tank and baffling it out, I put two old 10 gals side by side and joined them up with a bulkhead. Beside those, I bought a 7$ recycling bin. The bin probably holds about 10 gallons or so (full). It was made from pretty hard plastic, and didn’t bow when I filled it up. I’m going to use this as my skimmer box because it has a pretty bug footprint (14”x13”) which should be plenty for the ASM G-3 that I have coming.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/skimmerbox.jpg
The 10 gallon tanks gave me a bit of trouble when I drilled them. The drilling went fine I should say, but when I went to stick the bulkheads on I got a bunch of cracks. The cracks had me worried for a while, but after silicone them up and water testing them I decided they were good for a trial run, and they passed with flying colors. Not a single leak when I tested out all the plumbing.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/sump1.jpg
One of the 10 gals I’m using as a fuge which has a deep sand bed and cheato growing under a daylight bulb. I’ll add another bulb and grow xenia on the other side (at least that’s the plan) because it has such good phosphate absorbing capabilities. The other 10 gal is simply there for water changing purposes. As you may be able to make out from the pic the return line is split to a garden hose behind a ball valve that I throw out the window when it comes time to change the water. The return pump simply pumps the water out of the 10 g tank (more like 12 gallons because it sucks a few inches out of the fuge as well) so I know exactly how much salt water to make up for my water change.

Here’s a pic of the return pump I’ve been using. Not quite sure what it is exactly, I bought it off of ebay for 35 bucks. It runs cool and quiet and when I opened it up after I took my old sump down it looked good as new. Probably puts out about 500 gph with 4’ head pressure.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/retunepump.jpg
And here’s my float switches for the auto top off circuit. I bought an auto top off kit from floatswitches.net and I love them. Very reliable. I was using them with my old sump for about 4 months with no problems. For the new sump I made a nice new acrylic bracket.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/floatswitches.jpg

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:14 PM

And finally, I got an RO/DI filter! I thought I’d be ok with buying water from the grocery store for my top offs, but boy was I wrong. My tank evaporated about 4 gallons of water per day, which sure adds up at $0.60 per gallon.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/rodi.jpg
It’s the Chloramine advanced by purely H20. I about it through NovaSea Supply and it is pretty cool. Installations was pretty easy and it has a built in TDS meter.

My tap water going into the unite measured 8 ppm
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/8ppm.jpg

and sure enough, going out of the system measured 0 ppm
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/0ppm.jpg

I got my skimmer today. For months I have been deliberating and researching and ‘raising money’, but I finally decided the most cost effective way to go was the ASM G-3. It is an in sump needle wheel skimmer rated for up to a 250 gallon tank. Here she is!
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/asmg3skimmer.jpg
24 inches tall, has a reaction chamber diameter of 6.5 inches and a footprint of 12” by 11 ½” (just barely fits in my recycling bin ;) .
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/inthebox.jpg

Here’s a shot of the needle wheel.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/needlewheel.jpg
I'm not done with this skimmer yet. I'm going to use it as is for a little while, but I plan to have the recirc modification (takes the regular needle wheel skimmer design and converts it into a recirculation needle wheel skimmer, which will give it far better performance). I may also have a gate valve put on which will make controlling the water level in the skimmer allot easier. But for now I’m just going to enjoy the tank for a little bit and take a break from working on it :) .

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:15 PM

Well so much for taking a break. Being my usual impatient self, I found myself this morning just itching to start on some of the modifications I had planned on doing to this skimmer. First of all, here it is in the box skimming away.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/inthebox.jpg
I took this pic about an hour after I first tried it out. I was super happy with it. It was foaming over in no time flat. I did notice however that some of the bubbles in the body were quite large, which isn’t ideal, so I’m hoping some of my mods will help with that.

After I tore it out of the sump, I took it up to the garage and began work. First off, I bored out the hole in the ventury (is that how you spell it?). This should help get a little more air sucked into the system, but it probably won’t make a noticeable difference. Of course I did it anyway.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/bore.jpg

Next I dilled a hole for the ventury to stick in to make this skimmer a true re-circulating skimmer. That means instead of sucking water in from the sump processing it for a few seconds then blowing it out, the water will continue to circulate around in the skimmer which increases the dwell time, thus the efficiency of the skimmer.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/cup.jpg
(ignore the cup in the middle for now, I’ll talk about that later)

Of course, If your going to recirculate the water with the main skimmer pump, you need some other method of injecting water into the skimmer. Another hole had to be drilled for the feed line. I used a ¾” male thread by ½” barb elbow fitting that I screwed into a ¾” female fitting on the other side. I used a belt sander to curve the fitting on the inside to the contour of the skimmer body, and glued it in with regular Pvc cement (asm skimmers are made entirely out of PVC).
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/feed.jpg

To feed the skimmer, some folks use a little pump of some sort, but I decided to have the main drain line from the display tank flow right into the skimmer.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/return.jpg
The small vinyl tube will feed the skimmer and the 1 ½” PVC will act as a bypass incase there is too much flow. The advantage of feeding the skimmer this way is A: I don’t have to buy a pump B: I don’t have to use up more electricity by powering a feed pump and C: The water from the display return is probably the scummiest water in the whole system because all the oils and proteins and other nutruients that float up to the top of the display will be skimmed off by the overflow and processed through the skimmer.

Now back to the recirc mod. Once again, I modified a piece of PVC to the contours of the skimmer body and glued it in place with PVC cement. In this case it was a 1” coupling that will accept the ventury of the main skimmer pump (which is a sedra 5000 needle wheel if anyone forgot).
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/recirc.jpg
No glue will be used to hold the ventury in place as I would like to be able to easily remove the pump for maintenance.

Now back to the weird cup thing you may have noticed earlier. It is a piece of 5” (or so) PVC pipe that I borrowed from a failed Kalk reactor project. I glued it right onto the bottom of the skimmer ‘floor’. The needle wheel pump will blow right into this cup and allow the air and water to mix before flowing up the middle of the skimmer. The water on the exterior of the skimmer will flow down where it will either be shot through the skimmer pump again or flow out the exit tube.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/cup2.jpg
some other skimmers like H and S and bubble kings have a similar design. I am toying with the idea of making a bubble diffuser to fit over the cup. Think it would work?

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:16 PM

The last thing I did to this skimmer was add a gate valve to the exhaust that will make the water level easier to control, and help reduce micro bubbles exiting the skimmer.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/gvassembly.jpg
It was super easy to make out of 1 ¼” pipe. Nothing is glued, just dry fitted (its in sump, who cares if it leaks). Normally one of the elbows (I don’t think it matters which one) is substituted with a T fitting, but the plumbing store was all out of 1 ¼” T’s so I drilled a hole in the side of an elbow instead. I’ll get a T fitting eventually, but being a touch impatient by nature, I’m not going to let it hold me up.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/gatevalve.jpg

Finally, here she is, my pimped out G-3
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/done.jpg
hope it fits in my recycling bin!

I just got back from a two week trip out west. While I was gone, I left the tank in the care of a friend, who did a pretty good job. When I returned, the hair algae had totally cleared up! This is partially because I left the MH light on a 4 hour photoperiod, so it was probably starved for light and died. The cheato in the sump grew like crazy, and I had to harvest it right away.
I got my Two little fishies phosban reactor today from NovaSea supply. This should suck up all the phosphates in my tank. To power it I got a Rio 180 mini pump (which came with a ton of little accessories and I think I’ll get another one to put some flow in my pico cube). I am going to try running Seachem phosphate remover media. I chose this media because it is pretty economically friendly and it won’t leach phosphates back into the tank water like many other brands will. I was originally going to go with RowaPhos, but decided not to because it is so expensive and I also heard it can dangerously lower alkalinity (not sure if there is any truth to this or not.)
Anyway, here’s a pic of the reactor and pump out of the box
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/tlfreactor.jpg
and here it is in the sump. It is a hang on reactor, so you don’t need to put it in the sump, but I chose to because I didn’t have any spare room (way too many wires and tubes running all over the place). I use ½” vinyl tube to plumb the reactor to the pump. It was super easy.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/tlfinsump.jpg
Here’s a full tank shot. Haven’t taken one in a while. Not much has changed from this view, if my cam wasn’t such a piece of garbage I would include a few shots of the little zoos and button polyps that have exploded in growth all over the tank.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/feb1st.jpg
I did manage to get this shot of a xenia frag. It has probably doubled in size since I put it in the tank 4 weeks ago.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/xenia.jpg

The tank is doing great. I am thinking of changing some of the aquascaping, and am researching calcium reactors. I will probably add some SPS frags (finally I know) this fall. I want to make sure I have all the gear I need and my water chemistry is in good shape before I do though.
I’ve been on and off the idea of putting a calcium reactor into the mix, but the price had always turned me off. I could pay $400+ for a descent reactor, plus the cost of the CO2 tank, regulator, and the pH controller. If I was going to use a Ca reactor, I was going to build one, and that’s just what I did:
Here she is
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/wmaxi.jpg
It was fun build. I pretty much copied the popular commercial design, but I chose the much cheaper Maxi jet pump to power the unit as opposed to the reactors that use Eheim or mag drive pumps, which are pretty pricey.

Here’s a look at the pump assembly:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/pumpassembly.jpg
I borrowed the maxi jet nozzle assembly that from the pump I’m using to power my auto top off system to mock up all the plumbing. The pump that powers this reactor won’t be here for another few weeks as its coming with my CO2 bottle and regulator.

Here’s a diagram that depicts the water and CO2 flow through the reactor.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/CaDiagram.jpg

This was my first real test of my acrylic working skills, and I think it turned out pretty well. Big thanks to ‘prugs’ on Reef Central who helped me out allot with the design. If I were to do it again, I would use thicker acrylic to make the top. I’m not sure if you can make it out, but the top actually cracked when I was drilling the hole for the ¼” ball valve and I had to glued it back together, but is good as new now. A friend of mine has commissioned me to build him a reactor once he saw it, so I guess I’m in business. I have lots more acrylic left over so let me know if you want one too . I think I may do some experimenting and try to build a hang on style Calcium reactor.

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:21 PM

Here are some more pictures.
First up, we have my refurbished reactor top. I re-made it with ½” thick acrylic… safe to say it won’t crack this time! Getting the plumbing out of the old top was a b****. Weld on 16 sure makes a strong bond with PVC.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/fixedtop.jpg

Here’s the line up of the reactors I made with the extra acrylic I had. They will be powered by maxijets, which should arrive in a few weeks. They are fairly big and hold lots of media, probably good for up to 200 gal.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/lineup.jpg
(The small one on the left is mine)

george1098

09/19/2006, 02:22 PM

Here’s some more pics of the reactors.

Profile
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/newca.jpg
Top
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/newtop.jpg
Diffuser plate
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/plate.jpg
Pm me with any questions !

hahnmeister

09/19/2006, 03:02 PM

Have you wet tested the reactors yet? I did some like that years ago and found that 4 bolts werent enough with 1/4" acrylic. The acrylic bows and creates gaps.

Looks like a great start. On the closed loop intake, if the mesh is pointed upwards, that means it will catch any sand that falls in it. You might consider having the mesh pointed down to allow sand to fall all around it, yet not get sucked in.

Oh, and on the Recirc modded G3, great job! But you should replace one of the elbows on the outlet standpipe with a "T" to leave an airgap, or the skimmer might have some 'surging' issues. Then again, the amount of flow through such large diameter pipes might make this a non-issue.

Henry22

09/19/2006, 04:42 PM

Thats a really sweet tank, and thats alot of pictures, thanks for posting those. That green bulb is kinda freaking me out, is that the ushio.

george1098

09/19/2006, 05:05 PM

Yea it's a Usio. I'm not sure if it's normal or not, I got it really cheap from another member of my club who had it sent to him by mistake. I've got two 12000k reeflux bulbs on the way, so that should solve the weird green thing i've got goin on.

george1098

09/19/2006, 05:08 PM

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8179528#post8179528 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
Have you wet tested the reactors yet? I did some like that years ago and found that 4 bolts werent enough with 1/4" acrylic. The acrylic bows and creates gaps.

Looks like a great start. On the closed loop intake, if the mesh is pointed upwards, that means it will catch any sand that falls in it. You might consider having the mesh pointed down to allow sand to fall all around it, yet not get sucked in.

Oh, and on the Recirc modded G3, great job! But you should replace one of the elbows on the outlet standpipe with a "T" to leave an airgap, or the skimmer might have some 'surging' issues. Then again, the amount of flow through such large diameter pipes might make this a non-issue.

I used 3/8" acrylic, so hopefully that will help. It is good and stiff. I learned from the first one I made that 1/4" is not strong enouph. You can see little air bubbles in the gasket when the cap is not right enouph, but when the screws are tightened, the air bubbles go way making a water tight seal. Hopefully It does the trick. thanks for the comment though, I'll look for that when I water test the reactors.

As far as the skimmer goes, I haven't noticed any surging. I think the 1" pipe is large enouph in diameter. . I have a whole thread deticated to the skimmer in the DIY forum, i'll make a link to it.

PITSTOP

09/19/2006, 05:21 PM

Very impressive work!

purebullet417

09/20/2006, 02:50 PM

beautiful tank also nice work on the reactor once i get my tank i think i might have to copy that design for mine

newtophish

09/20/2006, 03:29 PM

Great job documenting your progress. I will have a lot of things to try when I get ready to really start my 125.

george1098

09/21/2006, 03:17 PM

Thanks guys. The reactor wasn't too hard to make, as long as your acrylic working skills are up to par, it's not so bad.

yoboyjdizz

09/21/2006, 03:31 PM

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8180501#post8180501 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PITSTOP
Very impressive work!

I have to agree if only i could be as DIY as yourself i would of save tons and tons of money on my new setup... Great process and documation!

Holokai

09/21/2006, 05:19 PM

Wow, man. Nice. Thanks for keeping up the good documentation.

george1098

09/22/2006, 07:55 AM

my 512 memory card is full of tank pics. thanks guys!

Holokai

09/22/2006, 12:39 PM

Well that just means you should put them up on the web so you can clean that card out.

PatrickJ

09/22/2006, 01:08 PM

I am going to try running Seachem phosphate remover media. I chose this media because it is pretty economically friendly and it won’t leach phosphates back into the tank water like many other brands will. I was originally going to go with RowaPhos, but decided not to because it is so expensive and I also heard it can dangerously lower alkalinity (not sure if there is any truth to this or not.)

You would be better off with RowaPhos, it is expensive yes, but when you buy it in the large containers, the prices are much cheaper than the other products, like phosban, drsFS, ect.

I would also like to mention that Seachems phosphate remover is an Aluminum based and can potentially leak into your tank. Most people say (the pros on this forum, and the chemistry master himself) that Seachem's media are NOT good for SPS tanks. Great for fish only tanks. Fish will not mind the aluminum.

Some of the best tanks in the world use ROWAphos or other brands similar to it. Take a look at the TOTMs.

The whole Alk issue is that if you use too much of it in a tank and your calcium reactor, two part system, or whatever you use to dose calcium and alk, may not be able to keep up with it, unless you does the tank regularly. IMO a calcium reactor putting out 50dKH would be just fine and the tank should perform great. That you should not worry.

RowaPhos and other type can help with iron in the tank, which is good for your macro algae and other good types of algae.

In short, Seachems, phosphate remover is bad news for SPS and it is cheaper in the long run to use ROWAPhos.

PatrickJ

09/22/2006, 01:12 PM

oh yeah, this is a really good article. read this, and you shall be the master of phosphates.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php

george1098

09/23/2006, 09:47 AM

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8200162#post8200162 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PatrickJ
You would be better off with RowaPhos, it is expensive yes, but when you buy it in the large containers, the prices are much cheaper than the other products, like phosban, drsFS, ect.

I would also like to mention that Seachems phosphate remover is an Aluminum based and can potentially leak into your tank. Most people say (the pros on this forum, and the chemistry master himself) that Seachem's media are NOT good for SPS tanks. Great for fish only tanks. Fish will not mind the aluminum.

Some of the best tanks in the world use ROWAphos or other brands similar to it. Take a look at the TOTMs.

The whole Alk issue is that if you use too much of it in a tank and your calcium reactor, two part system, or whatever you use to dose calcium and alk, may not be able to keep up with it, unless you does the tank regularly. IMO a calcium reactor putting out 50dKH would be just fine and the tank should perform great. That you should not worry.

RowaPhos and other type can help with iron in the tank, which is good for your macro algae and other good types of algae.

In short, Seachems, phosphate remover is bad news for SPS and it is cheaper in the long run to use ROWAPhos.

Thanks very much. I do actually notice my corals shriveling up when I am running the seachem stuff. I turned my reactor off, and they bounced back. I'll probably give the seachem the boot and try rowa phos. thanks again

george1098

09/24/2006, 02:25 PM

My thread got a plug from melev from reefcast!
http://www.reefcast.com/episodes/reefcast13.mp3

the encarnation of this thread on my clubs forums that is
http://arrg.ca/showthread.php?tid=819
Reef on!

Lpabsolute

09/24/2006, 03:23 PM

Nice Looking setup, Keep the pics coming....

george1098

10/05/2006, 03:34 PM

It’s been slow, but here’s some more updates:

First of all, I finally got around to hanging the canopy. Well, technically it’s not hung, it still sits on top of the tank, but I can pull it up with ropes if I want to. I used I hooks screwed into the ceiling beams. Getting the holes in the T-bar paneling was a B****.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/ropes.jpg
Here’s a cool shot of the fans at night doing their moonlight thing. I don’t know why it took me this long to take a picture..
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/night.jpg
And here’s my favorite new gadget.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/floatvalve.jpg
It’s a Kent float valve that is hooked directly up to the line out of my RO/DI unite. The line comes in from the next room (boiler room where the filter is) goes under my desk, around the back of the stand and into the float valve, which is currently set up in a Home Depot bucket acting as my top off reservoir. I was filling 5g buckets and pouring them into the reservoir every second day or so, but all to often I forgot to turn off the filter feed and I ended up with a flood of RO/DI. This float valve works perfectly with the Purely H2O RO/DI unite I have. It won’t work with all unites, they need a special pressure release valve so they don’t explode under the water pressure. Research your unite, or get a Purely H2O unite to be on the safe side.

george1098

10/05/2006, 03:35 PM

New Lights! Wooot!
No more ugly yellow from my dud Ushio
I went with the Reeflux 12000k’s and I love them
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/reeflux.jpg
Before new bulbs
(I also changed the rockwork around by the way)

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/beforelights.jpg

After new bulbs
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/afterlights.jpg
I also changed the actinic fluorescents. The pics may not do the contrast between the two bulb types justice, but it made a huge difference. The BTA is super fluorescent green now as opposed to an ugly brown, and the fish are much much brighter.

msuzuki126

10/05/2006, 04:14 PM

The new lighting looks alot better.

sleevasteve

10/10/2006, 12:22 AM

Looks very nice with new lights!!

Snakebyt

10/10/2006, 03:11 AM

great thread

Genin

10/10/2006, 06:22 AM

wow the new lights made a huge difference. i like the rockwork the way it is set up as well.

george1098

10/10/2006, 07:14 PM

Thanks, I may change it again. I tried to go with something extreme yet natural looking, but I coudln't creat the exact effect I was going for without a high risk of everything crashing down. If I ever have the opportunity to take all the rock out and drill it, I will try to put everything together with pins to make some really extream overhangs and towers.

george1098

11/27/2006, 08:33 AM

Wow have I ever fallen off on my updates! There has been allot going on, including the addition of a calcium reactor, new ‘lagoon tank’ and numerous small upgrades.
We’ll start with the calcium reactor. This is the prototype of the design that I made for sale though NovaSea. It is a little smaller, but it works awesome. I use a Milwaukee sms122 pH controller to control the amount of CO2 injected into the reactor, which works awesome and I defiantly recommend using a controller if you’re thinking about adding a calcium reactor to your system.
Here’s a pic of the reactor in the sump. The green box just behind it is the pH controller. Also note, on the bottom left of the pic, the yellow stick sitting in a little acrylic cup. That is the pH probe which measures the pH of the effluent (water that comes out of the reactor).
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/car.jpg

I went with a 10 lb CO2 tank that is controlled by a Milwaukee regulator equipped with solenoid valve. The Milwaukee regulators get a bad rap, but it is not deserved. Allot of their users say that it is too hard to adjust the amount of CO2 the regulator puts out when the solenoid valve is engaged. The problem with them is that their instruction manual is written improperly. It says to make all adjustments with the large knob on the front (the black thing that looks like its nose) and keep the needle valve (brass knob on the far right, just below the bubble counter) wide open. I’m not sure if it is a boo boo in the manual or what, but I do the exact opposite. I keep the large adjustment valve wide open and do all adjustments with the needle valve, and it works great.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/co2.jpg
Finally, water needs to be pushed though the reactor at a very slow rate. For this I use an aqua lifter pump. I don’t have a pic of it, but it works allot like an air pump to move water through ¼” vinyl tube (airline tubing) at about 3 gallons per hour.

george1098

11/27/2006, 08:40 AM

Another thing I did in anticipation of fire fish and flasher wrasses (known jumpers!) is make an egg crate covering to the top of the tank. This should do the trick of deflecting kamikaze fish back down where they came from.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/t.jpg
I cut big holes for the lights to shine through. Remember I have acrylic water shields on the bottom of my canopy so there won’t be any fish frying themselves on my halide bulbs.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/q.jpg
The water guard does make feeding a bit of a pain because I have to raise a canopy, but better that than a fish landing in bed with me one evening.

george1098

11/27/2006, 09:01 AM

Some of you may recognize this picture:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/clamtank.jpg
This is a 23 gallon acrylic tank that I built with a 14º slant in the front pain. I tried to sell it, but there were no takers. I really wasn’t too upset because I wanted it for myself anyway :P. This will go on to be a ‘lagoon’ tank. Since the 90 gal is intended to be and SPS tank, I won’t be putting any softies of LPS in it, but I don’t want to miss out on a cool part of the hobby, so this tank is my answer to that dilemma. I intend to move my tomato clowns from the 90 gal, along with their BTA into this tank, which will sit beside my main display and be plumbed into the sump. Here she is filling up with RO/DI to be mixed with salt. I used Caribsea sugar fine sand for substrate.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/fill.jpg
For stocking this tank, as I said, it will be mainly LPS and softies. I would like to get a maxima clam as well. For fish, I will keep it pretty simple. Just the two clowns, and maybe a little goby or something. If I do put a clam in it, I may also get a 4 line wrasse for pest control, but we’ll see.
Here is the tank pretty much finished. More rock to be added as soon as I get the chance to go out and get some. Also, please ignore the light fixture. It is a fluorescent canopy for my old 10 gal freshwater set up (that is now part of my sump). For lighting I am going to build a canopy with 4 x 24W t-5’s.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/lagoon1.jpg

george1098

11/27/2006, 09:06 AM

Some more pictures I though I’d share
I think it is very important for fish to get their dose of dary
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/a.jpg
here’s fishy corner
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/P1010038-1.jpg
and finally, my extremely crowded and disorganized sump/ fuge. $10 to the first person who can guess what everything does.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/sump.jpg

george1098

12/07/2006, 06:04 PM

Finally got my t-5 gear for the lagoon tank. I was originally going to with a ready made t-5 fixture, but after some confusion with a supplier, I opted towards a retrofit kit in yet another home DIY canopy.
Here’s a shot of the business end of the canopy. As you can see there are 4 24 watt t-5 bulbs (2 actinic, 2 10,000k). The ballasts are mounted on the back of the canopy. This canopy will have a slide out acrylic water shield, but I have not cut it yet..
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/reflect.jpg

and with the lights off. The single bulb parabolic reflectors are amazing and worth every penny.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/reflector2.jpg

I wanted to do a before and after shot of the tank before and after the new light fixture, so

before
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/lagoon1.jpg

and after
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/t-5l.jpg

george1098

12/07/2006, 06:05 PM

Here’s a pic of the acrylic legs I made to hold the fixture off the tank. It sits about 2” off the top.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/legs.jpg

Here’s an updated pic of fish corner. Which do you think is brighter? The 2x 250 W halides or the 2 x 24W t-5’s
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/newfishcorner.jpg

techreef

12/08/2006, 09:59 AM

wow george, you've got some serious skills w/ acryllic. nice work.

i've just started adding my first corals, and am going to keep an eye on my calcium levels. I'd love to support a fellow RC member and get a calcium reactor from you, if you're still interested in making them. How is yours working out? I'll PM you if/when I decide to get one.

Looking forward to you stocking these tanks! And FWIW, I think T5's are darn close to MH brightness, but generate a lot less heat. I'm liking my T5's alot. Once my tank matures another 6 months, I'm taking the plunge on a crocea clam.

george1098

12/08/2006, 01:31 PM

Thanks
I need to add allot more rock, especially to the small tank, and I will slowly accumulate corals. I'm more for buying rare and colorfull (which means expensive) corals, and I think it is best to let the system mature before throwing more livestock in.

drummereef

12/08/2006, 01:43 PM

You are quite the handyman! Nice job on the tanks. Fun to watch their progression. Do you have any vids showing the Squirts in action on the 90 now that it's all running?

fishnut321

12/08/2006, 02:10 PM

is it me, or do those t-5's look way more intense?

techreef

12/08/2006, 02:22 PM

they do, but that's an acryllic tank, while the MH's are over a glass tank. I figured the clearer acryllic makes the lighting look brighter than the light shining through the glass.

impur

12/08/2006, 02:44 PM

Its amazing how bright T5s are. I changed from 250w MH to T5 and burnt a lot of my corals, even on the sand bed. Never had that problem with MH.

Well done on the tank, you are good with acrylic!

1badbrd

12/08/2006, 03:52 PM

damn i guess when you upgrade, you do it all the way.

george1098

12/08/2006, 06:09 PM

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8708336#post8708336 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drummereef
You are quite the handyman! Nice job on the tanks. Fun to watch their progression. Do you have any vids showing the Squirts in action on the 90 now that it's all running?

There's a few videos on this thread from a while back when I was testing my closed loop system. I'll try to take some of my xenia to show the random flow.

mpoletti

12/08/2006, 06:14 PM

That takes a lot work and too much patience, great work.

drummereef

12/08/2006, 06:15 PM

Cool, thanks george!

george1098

12/21/2006, 07:31 PM

Since I’m on my Christmas break, and I don’t have anything better to do, I though I would take some pics.
I guess I didn’t really mention it before, but when I built the t-5 canopy for the 23 g lagoon tank, I also installed a t-5 retrofit kit in my 90 gal canopy. Before I was using crappy HO fluorescents in the 90 gal canopy for actinic lighting. That ballast gave out on me long ago, so for months I didn’t have a proper actinic period. I was running my halides on 13 hour photoperiods, which is a big waste of energy. I installed 3 36” t-5 strips running off of a single ballast. I contemplated using individual reflectors, but I decided not to because there just wasn’t enough room in the canopy. Eventually, I will build a new canopy (just waiting for someone to encourage me and install the t-5’s properly with reflectors. Anyhoo, here’s a shot of the business end of the canopy with the t-5’s on.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/90t5.jpg
I am currently running 2 actinic and one 10,000k, but I have one more actinic on the way so it will be a fully actinic t-5 set up soon. Right now, I have my MH lights on for 6 hours, and my t-5’s on for 13.

Here’s a picture of the tank with both MH lamps and t-5’s on
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/90mh.jpg

and here we are with just the t-5’s. I took these pictures without a flash, and my crappy point and shoot camera’s shutter speed is way too slow, so in both cases I assume the camera was saturated with light. From these pics, you can’t tell the difference, but I can assure you when the MH lamps are on, the tank is much brighter…honest…. T-5’s are good but their not that good.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/90actinic.jpg

george1098

12/21/2006, 07:35 PM

Here’s a much better contrast between daylight and actinic. This is a pic of the 23g lagoon tank under 2 x actinic and 2x 10.000k t-5’s. It’s also the first pic of the new rockwork. I moved a few rocks from the 90 gal into this tank. I just plunked them in without even thinking about it, and decided it looked really good, so that’s the way it stayed. The tomato clowns just would not hold still for their Christmas picture.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/23day.jpg
And actinics
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/23actinic.jpg
note the rock frag thing in the front center of the tank. that’s actually a candy Cain frag. The tomatoes for some reason hate it and pick it up and pull it to the front of the tank every time I move it to where I want it. weirdoes

one final shot for this post
this is a 5 g acrylic nano that I made. I am putting on a workshop for my club and where we’re going to build nano tanks. Cool huh
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/nano-1.jpg

george1098

12/22/2006, 10:16 AM

I took some coral shots that turned out ok. Probably the best my point and shoot could produce. I can’t wait to get a real camera. Anyhoo, here we go. If anyone is up on their stony coral taxonomy, feel free suggest some identifications. I’m not really the best taxonomist.

Un-named acro.. this one has really started to branch out in the last few weeks.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/coral1.jpg

pretty zoos… growing steadily
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/coral2.jpg

A striped mushroom coral
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/coral4.jpg

Another un-named acro
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/coral6.jpg

I think this one is a millipora. Its kindof hard to see the polyps in this pic, but they are long and stringy
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/coral8.jpg

There are two in this pic, a nice bring lime green acro with a purple (body) and green (polyps) acro… I think
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/coral3.jpg
I wish I could have taken better pics, but I think these ones turned out reasonably well with a cruddy point and shoot.

george1098

01/14/2007, 06:35 PM

So it’s been a little while since I’ve done anything major to the tank, and I was feeling ambitious. I was getting a little tired of looking at my ugly old sump, and I was noticing allot of salt creep around the glass. Although my ASM G-3 was working great, I thought the tank would also benefit from as skimmer upgrade because of the addition of the lagoon tank. I decided that I was going to sell the old skimmer and bring in a new ASM G-4x (rated for 450 gal), as well as build an awesome new acrylic sump.
The goals for the sump were pretty simple, but it went through a few different design changes along the way. It had to be no bigger than 40”x 19 1/2”, It had to have a large skimmer compartment as the G-4x requires a 13x14” footprint (and I’m toying with the idea of adding a second needle wheel pump to the body). I also wanted an area for frag grow out, as well as a fuge, and some space for my Ca reactor. Finally I wanted some free space for things like phosban reactors, and possibly even a zeovit reactor (or zeolith) as I am interested in that system. I sketched out about 20 different designs, but when I put this one down on paper I knew it was the one. Here’s the blueprint
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/ubersump.jpg
This design also eliminates the need for power heads, which my old sump needed because it had a few dead spots. It is 40”Lx 19 1/2W” x 15” H. Approximately 51 gallons if my math is correct, but it won’t ever be full. It will probably hold around 40 gallons normally when all is said and done.

I used ¼” acrylic and Weldon 4. Santa brought me a jointer for Christmas, which saved me allot of time preparing the edges, and in the end made for beautiful welds with hardly and air bubbles. Here are a few shots of the sump coming together:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/work2.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/work3.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/work.jpg

Car batteries are an acrylic workers best friend for forcing things into position.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/work4.jpg

george1098

01/14/2007, 06:36 PM

Some more shots of the sump nearing completion:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/work5.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/doneish2.jpg

tah dah!
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/sump-1.jpg

I’ve always wanted to do this for acclimating new livestock. Not more mouthfuls of water when getting the siphon started to drip acclimation.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/valve.jpg

george1098

01/14/2007, 06:37 PM

The water test went great. All compartments are water tight and not a single drop leaked. Probably the first thing I’ve ever build that didn’t need a few touch ups.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/watertest.jpg

Here we are with the final diagram
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/doneishlabled.jpg

stay tuned for the installation!

george1098

01/16/2007, 01:28 PM

After a bit of a struggle i got the tank in the stand and installed. I let the Ro/DI run overnight then started a new batch of salt water in t he sump and added all the critters in the fuge. Note the lack of skimmer. I sold my ASM G-3 and am waiting for a G-4x to show up in the mail. I also have to figure our how to re-position the fuge light. See the white bucket sitting on the bottom right? That’s my RO.DI reservoir which used to fit under the stand, but now there is no room. I’ll have to figure out something for that as well.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/installed.jpg
to the right of the sump, I used to be able to fit the RO/DI bucket, CO2 tank and return pump, but now there’s just enough room for the pump.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/noroom.jpg
I re-located the CO2 tank to the gap between the stand and the wall, which I think is a much better spot for it as the regulator was starting to show some oxidization (green rust). Un-doubtfully attributable to being so close to a big saltwater bath.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/noroom2.jpg