Reid's 120g Oceanic Tech Build

[reidcrandall]

I've been meaning to start this thread for a while. I've been working on the stand, and have most of the equipmen already. I have some pics that I will be posting soon.

My wife and I are building a new house, and we thought that this would be the perfect time to upgrade from our current 29g starter tank that we had in our starter home. It's going to be a long process. We're about 6 weeks away from moving into the home, but once we're in, I have a 6 week project to finish the basement that the tank will be in.

The equipment list so far:
- 120g Oceanic Tech Tank
- 2 x 250 Watt IceCap MH Ballasts (will most likely be using Reeflux 12k bulbs)
- 2 x LumenMax Elite Reflectors
- 4 x 24w T5 (will most likely be running 2 x Giesemann POWERCHROME Actinic Plus + 2 x Giesemann POWERCHROME Aquablue Plus)
- 2 x Tunze Turbelle Stream 6105
- Tunze Multicontroller 7095.000
- Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155
- 2 x Mag 950 Return Pumps
- Octopus Extreme 250 Skimmer

I will be making a custom arylic sump with refugium.

I am also considering some sort of internal closed loop circulation at low volume to supplement the Tunze Streams.

Stay tuned, pics and more stuff wil be added very soon!

Reid

[crvz]

Sounds like a great project, I'll pay attention. Good luck!

[reidcrandall]

A quick pic of the 120g Oceanic Tech:

I love this tank. It looks great. I would reccommend it to anyone who is looking into a new tank. The Starphire glass is awesome, and the lifetime warranty is a must. Worth every penny.

My dad and I are building the stand together. It's a great father/son project. We're going to be having quite a few of them coming up between this stand, finishing the basement and getting the tank/tank room set up.

My dad and I are big on planning. We take measure twice, cut once to the extreme from time to time:


The top support is made with a 2x6 frame with two extra supports running vetically for the width of the frame:


The legs and base are made with 2x4 material:


The semi-completed structure:


We added two 2x4 suports to the back side of the stand's frame. The veneer plywwod will extend along the back to cover these when the stand is complete. We also put a coat of Kilz primer and a coat of exterior latex paint on the entire interior structure in order to seal the wood:


We are in the process of covering the structure with birch veneer plywood. For cost-saving purposes, we are going to trim in poplar 1x material with poplar millwork. We had considered working with maple for everything, but we decided that not having as much woodworking experienceas some, we were more comfortable with a softer material. We will be staining with a full-bodied dark stain.

[Don-Coraleone]

looks like a good start..

[crvz]

It's good to see at least a couple outfits in that post... it took me almost 2 months of work to get the frame together. Great work! I skinned my stand in solid oak, and it worked pretty well. I've got some suggestions for attaching it to the pine if you're interested, as the different woods are going to swell at different rates.

[reidcrandall]

I'd definately be interested in the best way to attach everything. Let me know what your experience is.

More outfits to come!

Thanks!

[reidcrandall]

This is a simple layout on top of th blueprint of how things will eventually be plumbed:

I plan on having a valve on one ofthe return pumps plumbeed directly to my ejector pump pit. This should make water changes fairly simple. Switch the valves to pump water from the return chamber of the sump. Refill using gravity from the SW mix tank directly into the skimmer portion of the sump.

The RO/DI will refill the SW mix container and the ATO container using simple float switches connected to solenoid valves. There will be safety drains connected directly to the piping linked to the ejector pit in case the cheaper float switches fail. The Osmolator will control ATO from the ATO container to the sump.

This is a pic of the basement. The pink box is where the tank will be placed:

[Capt_Cully]

Nice work. I love that the tank is being built WITH the room. Shows your priorities. I have the 70 Tech and for my money, you can't beat the low profile center overflow. So much nicer than the AGA/Oceanic Megaflow overflows. I reeeeeeally hate those things.

I'll definitely be following along. Keep the pics coming.

[shag26272]

I would ditch 1 of the return pumps. There is no way both of those drains can handle 2 of those pumps.

[reidcrandall]

Originally posted by shag26272
I would ditch 1 of the return pumps. There is no way both of those drains can handle 2 of those pumps.

The overflows are supposed to be able to hangle 1200gph, and there will be several feet of head that I am pumping through with the distance and the height. Also, I wanted to have 2 pumps so that there would still be flow if one of them goes out. My calculations show that I will probably have between 1000 and 1050 gph flowing back to the tank, which I would hope that the overflow could handle.

Any other opinions?

[shag26272]

They handle 1200 GPH max. You shouldnt try to push it to its max or you will have one noisy tank. Also it looks like you have powerheads so if 1 goes out the powerheads will take care of the flow. It will also reduce your tank temperature by a few degrees if you stick with 1.

[reidcrandall]

Originally posted by shag26272
They handle 1200 GPH max. You shouldnt try to push it to its max or you will have one noisy tank. Also it looks like you have powerheads so if 1 goes out the powerheads will take care of the flow. It will also reduce your tank temperature by a few degrees if you stick with 1.

I wasn't really looking for flow through the tank with the 2 pump plan, but rather making sure that water from the tank was always flowing through the skimmer and refugium.

You do make a good point if it's true about that amount of flow making the overflow noisy. I only have a small tank with a hang on back overflow right now, so it's not an issue. I may want to look into getting 2 smaller return pumps. I could also put a valve on these mags to dial it in to the flow that I want. Of course that puts back pressure on the pumps and could reduce lifespan of the pumps and add heat. I'm not sure that heat is going to be an issue, however. I suppose we will find out.

What is everyone's opinion on where my flow through the overflow should be in order to maximize flow and minimize noise?

[shag26272]

valves do not reduce the life of the pump. Cutting back the flow on the output will make the pump use less electricity.

[shag26272]

also, maybe look in to a more dependable pump like an ehein 1262

[reidcrandall]

Originally posted by shag26272
valves do not reduce the life of the pump. Cutting back the flow on the output will make the pump use less electricity.

Really? I had always heard that it reduced pump life. Maybe that will be the way to go. You've given me something to marinate on.

[J.R.L.]

ill def. be keeping an eye on this one...kind of crazy how im planning a 120 myself and planned on making a good father/son project out of it...odd how similar things are lol

[reidcrandall]

Originally posted by J.R.L.
ill def. be keeping an eye on this one...kind of crazy how im planning a 120 myself and planned on making a good father/son project out of it...odd how similar things are lol

Great minds think alike

[reidcrandall]

I'm thinking since part of this project is my wife and I building our new house, I'll go ahead and post some pics of that process as well...

The lot:


Our beautiful hole in the ground:


Our dog, Baxter, checking out the progress:

[crvz]

Always exciting to get into a new home, I'm sure you're pumped! And I'm all kinds of jealous that you have a basement, that alone makes me want to relocate.

Originally posted by reidcrandall
I'd definately be interested in the best way to attach everything. Let me know what your experience is.

Not sure that I have the best way to attach it, but what I was concerned about was gluing or screwing the oak facing directly onto the pine stand, as it may move at different rates throughout the year and changing humidity ranges. What we finally decided to do was float the oak.

We built the oak in 3 panels, one front and two sides. Here they are after staining.



We made a couple insets in the pine stand and cut corresponding slots in the oak facing. The oak then sits on these insets to keep them in the correct vertical position.



Then, when we screwed the facing onto the pine, we drilled the holes in the pine a good bit larger than the diameter of the screws. This way, the screws could slide left or right, up or down, as the wood expanded. They were drilled tight into the oak, but the slop in the pine made sure there was enough room to move if necessary, hopefully eliminating the risk of splitting the wood due to expansion.

Not sure if that's clear enough of an explanation, but hopefully it will give you a few ideas. Mine has been attached this way for about 20 months with great success.

[macronut]

nice to see someone local with a project like this. Looking good. Congrats on your new home!

[spleify]

Oh I can't wait to see this thing come together.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Spleify

[reidcrandall]

Originally posted by crvz
Always exciting to get into a new home, I'm sure you're pumped! And I'm all kinds of jealous that you have a basement, that alone makes me want to relocate.



Not sure that I have the best way to attach it, but what I was concerned about was gluing or screwing the oak facing directly onto the pine stand, as it may move at different rates throughout the year and changing humidity ranges. What we finally decided to do was float the oak.

We built the oak in 3 panels, one front and two sides. Here they are after staining.



We made a couple insets in the pine stand and cut corresponding slots in the oak facing. The oak then sits on these insets to keep them in the correct vertical position.



Then, when we screwed the facing onto the pine, we drilled the holes in the pine a good bit larger than the diameter of the screws. This way, the screws could slide left or right, up or down, as the wood expanded. They were drilled tight into the oak, but the slop in the pine made sure there was enough room to move if necessary, hopefully eliminating the risk of splitting the wood due to expansion.

Not sure if that's clear enough of an explanation, but hopefully it will give you a few ideas. Mine has been attached this way for about 20 months with great success.

We are definately pumped. The basement was a must with this house. We don't have any kids yet, but we wanted to get into something bigger than our first house before we started. I have heard nightmare stories about trying to build a house and then move when you have young kids.

I am thinking that we may try something like your setup for the face, but with the sides and back, I want to have them screwed directly to the pine for added stability. I may be overly paranoid about it, but I'd rather overdo it now than have a disaster later.

Hopefully we won't see too much change in the interior humidity. We got a humidifier to help take care of the hardwood floors on the main floor. Hopefully that will help keep things throughout the house pretty stable.

[reidcrandall]

Originally posted by macronut
nice to see someone local with a project like this. Looking good. Congrats on your new home!

Thanks! I don't really know anyone here locally that is into this stuff. I know that there are a lot of people out there. Maybe I'm just not social enough... haha.

[reidcrandall]

First floor framing:


Second floor framing:

[Ratpack]

Building a house and a tank, two very fun projects. Can't wait to see the outcome of both.