120g wallet drainer

[shyland83]

I'm finally starting my 120g tank project, figured i'd keep everyone updated. Feel free to yell at e and tell me when i'm doing something wrong. I ordered a 120g from Glass Cages, with low iron on front and 2 sides. I'm picking up the tank march 17th. I plan on building my own overflow, probably horizontal about 36" long, and drilling for a closed loop.(with oceans motions squirt if i can afford it) I plan on using a 30g breeder as a sump, a 15g fuge, 20g frag tank, sequence dart for return, maybe an aptasia raceway... Here's a sketch of what the stand is going to look like and some pictures of what i've done so far. The only problem i've had so far is the floor in my basement is far from level, gonna take some creative shimming. I'll try to update it over the next few weeks/months

[woodworker1959]

Looking Good, but the wallet draining is only starting.

[DgenR8]

Some people like to save and record all reciepts, so they know exactly what this hobby is costing them. I suggest you don't do that.
Your design is really nice, and the bones of your stand look not only straight and level, but you overbuilt nicely. That stand will have no problem holding up your tank.

[DEXTER SOLIS]

are you using the dart to return water in all tanks? if your using it on you main display & if the sump is located in same level a Sequence Snapper is more than enough, saving you on electric bills.

awsome stand!

[Michael Mota]

looks like a nice setup is in the works

[eboonaman]

I burn all my reciepts, no evidence
so in theory, my tanks costs nothing...
chuck

[Spracklcat]

My tanks are for my son.

LOL

[shyland83]

I like your reasoning Chuck. I'm definitly not adding it all up when i'm done, I'd rather not cry myself to sleep every night.
The return pump has to run the display, the fuge and the frag tank.... for now. I dont exactly know how i'm going to plumb it yet but i have some ideas. I might have the frag tank drain into the fuge then back to the display. I might go with the snapper, should be enough for the return, then another snapper or an Iwaki for the closed loop. I have time to decide.

[DEXTER SOLIS]

two pumps with less watts in line is better than 1 with a higher wattage. this is also according to Sequence pumps. if you need to tone them down with a valve they actually require less power.

[olemos]

I also agree with having two smaller ones the on big, this also applies to to heaters and other equipment when possible.
Also use two separate circuits and plug one on each, this way if a circuit blows for any reason, you still have some thing going on in your tank.
Many times you hear people complaining that the GFI tripped when I wasn't home, the pump stopped now everything is dead.

[shyland83]

thats a good idea. I plan on wiring outlets into the cabinet with a GFI, i'll try to split them into two seperate circuits. I'm also hoping to run new wire to the panel and adding a breaker, because theres already a lot of stuff running on the circuit thats already in the room. I guess i could just plug one pump and one heater into the plug thats there and the rest on the new circuit. The snapper is looking better and better for energy consumption. Especially because i'm leaning toward getting MH which eats up more than it's share. I'll probably go with one snapper for the return, and another for the closed loop to run the oceans motions squirt. Thanks for all the advice, and keep it coming

[woodworker1959]

I have a 120 gal tank and have been using a Sequence Dart pump , The discharge supplies my tank return and a 40 Gal refugium. Seems to have plenty of volume which I believe is rated at 3600 gal/hr whith min head. It comes off the discharge of the pump part going to the tank and part to the fuge. Their is also a take off for my calcium reactor and one for a phosban reacto. All supplied by the Dart pump. The pump is very quiet I hardly know it's on. To assist in circulation in the tanK I use 2 Tunze 6000 Streams that I had gotten from Tony at Reef Exotics. I think that they are great circulators and with the multicontroller can really vary the flow. According to the Tunze website they claim that the pumps draw 15 Watts each.
Another thing you may want to consider is the Tunze wave box. I had seen one installed at Fishtown USA last weekend and was really impressed. I didn't think it could creat such a random flow but it does. All corals were swaying in one direction and then another. I would say better than anything else that I have seen. They had it in a 180 Reef Ready tank with Duel overflow. If you get a chance go there and check it out, I think you would be impressed. They had it for like $535 but you can get it cheaper else where I think Reef Exotics has it for 490 or 500 and I think Marine Depot had it for about the same price. Good luck their are alot of options out there.

[Randy1]

wallet draining never ends but its fun and your spouse if you have one must also enjoy it.

[DEXTER SOLIS]

hmm, I have been thinking about a Wavebox, but always thought my tank (180g) is to long, where was the overflows located in the fishtown tank? did it look like it would spill over?

[shyland83]

500 seems a little much, but i'll definitly get over there and check it out. If i really like it maybe i'll hold back on the oceans motions and save up for it.

And no wife to worry about, I'm only 23. At least now I can always say the fish tank was here before she was.

[woodworker1959]

I thougth that a six foot tank would be too long for one wave box also.But it was working much better than I could have imagined. From what I remember I think it was a perfecto tank may have been AGA not sure (just a little difference in location of overflows) The thing that amazed me the most was the volume of random flow. And they had a sponge like material down the overflow to break the overflow sound. I was always unsure how the overflow would work with a small wave action, but it worked much better than I would have imagined. Thats the only store that I have seen it in. I think that it's worth checking out. If I didn't already have the Tunze Streams I would think of the wavebox.

[DgenR8]

I don't understand why you'd think a 6' tank would be too long for a wave box.
I'd worry about a tank not being long enough, and having the waves spill out over the far end. In my head, if a tank is "too long" the wave would just sorta peter out as it headed for the far end.

[DEXTER SOLIS]

the way I saw the graph on how waveboxes work seemed like the longer the arm the higher the arc/angle. placing the box at one end, it pushes the level of water up & down, the longer the tank the higher the water level goes on opposite ends, this is the picture I had in my mind, I will be heading down fish town to see it.

[DgenR8]

The only tank I saw a wavebox on was a 120 (4' long). the effect was very cool. As I remember, you can adjust the box so not to get too much flow (causing an overflow at the far end).
I'd expect Tunze to have that worked out before they went public with the wave box.
We do have a guy here that can answer any/all questions on Tunze products. He's the North American distributor for (Germany based) Tunze corporation.

He's Roger Vitko rvitco
Tunze USA forum

[DEXTER SOLIS]

same thing, I saw it working in a 3-4' tanks, so seeing it how it handles a longer tank with really make decision easier.

[shyland83]

I just got a few of the doors done, I made the frames out of red oak and the raised panels are MDF. I know MDF isnt the best choice of materials but it's cheap and as long as i seal it well i think i'll be ok. The center piece between the 2 doors is removable for easy access. When the tank gets here ill build the canopy cabinet, add the cross piece for the tall cabinet and build the rest of the doors. I think i'm going to paint it black, but i've been considering white only because it's in the basement and i'm afraid black is going to make it darker down there than it already is. Has anyone seen a tank with a white stand have any opinions?

[olemos]

Check this thread
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...ghlight=island

[shyland83]

Ok finally another update. I'll get picks with the tank in place and the canopy on this weekend. But i just glued in my overflow and wanted to post some pics. I went with 36" in the 48" tank so i can't see into the overflow from the side. I figure you add 8 inches from the 2 sides and it ends up only being 4 inches shorter than running it the whole length. I used 1/4" dark tinted glass and black silicone. I'm gonna drill it tommorow or saturday.

[bigsink]

Looks totally Awesome!

[shyland83]

I drilled the tank today, went perfectly. I decided to use the drill press, definitly the right choice. I started plumbing it out and got it on the stand. I used street elbows and cut them and the bulkheads down by 1/2" to keep them close. I added the wyes for vents and i plan on drilling a hole sideways through the cap and the pipe so i can spin the cap and adjust the air flow. Now i'm going to spend an hour leveling the stand and piping it out.