First Reef Tank Pics

Liquid Hobby · 10/29/2006, 01:02 AM

Last thing left is to do is hook up the RO/DI unit and mix up some salt! It's been a years worth of reading and the last 2 months pulling it together. Very exciting times! Been looking forward to this for YEARS.

Anyway, the road was not without it's bumps and detours. I redid the closed loop plumbing completely, twice. Then got a new pump and did it over again, even went back and added in spa flex to eventual version 3.2 of that particular CL implementation. More on that later... It started like this:

Version 1.0:

Version 2.0 (a dry fit wet test...):

Version 3.2:

The CL pump upgrade:

I also tried 3 different returns versions all in various sizes and combos of sizes to see if I could make it silent. My original straight 1.5" was the the best and eventual winner.
Here's my DIY internal overflow Version 1.0:

Final water test before home entry!

Then I went to move the stand in to the house and like an idiot moved the tank from the stand to some saw horse by myself... and yes I broke it! Cracked it right off the 2" bulkhead. OUCH! I guess the tank isn't going in today after all!

A week later and a new one is in the house! It really worked out for the best as I then was able to incorporate more optimized solutions than my initial newbie attempts!!

For instance, I vastly quited the overflow box, centered it and almost doubled it in linear inches. I have an experimental return stand pipe, it doesn't really work. I'll be making yet another return, that'll be verison 5.0...
DIY Overflow Version 2.0:

I also went from 2 CL outlets to 4:

The plumbing looks like this, the return stand pipe is pretty quite when just the right amount of flow is set, but it siphons at higher flow:

Angel*Fish · 10/29/2006, 01:12 AM

Wow! That looks fabulous -- great job!

Liquid Hobby · 10/29/2006, 01:15 AM

That plumbing then does a nice turn away from the stand and through the wall into the garage. I now have a mini fish room in the garage. Huge improvement over running several pumps in my home office!

It ends up out here. The cabinet it is in is 8' tall. When I upgrade to Lrger system, I will have the room to vastly increase and improve sump, fuge, RDSB, etc. (return pump is not in it's final config, it's only in version 2.0...):

What should I do with the stand space now? I was thinking of putting a mini frig in there for fish food...:

It ends up looking like this as of today:

Rock comes Nov 6th... It needs a canopy, but my "honey do list" is seriously in arrears!!

I will update again when it actually becomes a reef!

golf4lyfe · 10/29/2006, 08:04 AM

looking great, whats the turnover rate going to be?

ga_reefer_guy · 10/29/2006, 12:22 PM

Beautifully done!!!

rcbones · 10/29/2006, 12:24 PM

Looks very nice. :-)

Chaotic Reefer4u · 10/29/2006, 12:58 PM

very nice...

Andrew · 10/29/2006, 01:09 PM

Nice

mg426 · 10/29/2006, 01:19 PM

Pretty darn nice !!!

Liquid Hobby · 10/29/2006, 01:52 PM

Thanks everyone!

Now I'm battling some micro bubbles...

Not a water leak in site anywhere and I have micro bubbles even in fresh water... Does it take a few days for the bubbles to go away, or am I in for some hunting with a silicone gun? I've done a few of the joins but still can't isolate it.

It's looks to be from the closed loop.

Suggestions?

Ti · 10/29/2006, 01:57 PM

lookin gewd!

Liquid Hobby · 10/29/2006, 02:41 PM

Noise: The closed loop, pressure rated pump (Panworld, ~1200 GPH) on the other side of the wall is barely audible when it runs all alone. However, the Mag 7 return, run through a SCWD is far, far louder. I have it on vibration iso within the sump, but it's still much louder.

Are the the Mags generally loud?

HornetMech242 · 10/29/2006, 03:53 PM

Loos good so far, what size is that tank?

Chris

Liquid Hobby · 10/29/2006, 05:57 PM

It's a 40 gallon breeder so it's 36" long, 18" wide and 16" tall.

I found the Mag 7 noise! A zip tie clipping. Still the vibration noise is worse than the much larger pump.

But those micro bubbles... ugh!

Would putting teflon tape on the union threads do anything? I did not do that.

TekCat · 10/29/2006, 06:15 PM

Looks very KEWL!

old salty · 10/30/2006, 08:19 AM

I' glad to see things are looking up for you.

BigJPDC · 10/30/2006, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Liquid Hobby

But those micro bubbles... ugh!

Would putting teflon tape on the union threads do anything? I did not do that.

LH - I am in the same boat after firing up my CL for the first time, the bubbles are killing me and I used teflon tape where I could. I believe bubbles are an indication that air is being drawn into the system, and a leak would be that water is being pushed out of the system.

For the life of me I can't find the source though. I'll watch here to see how you resolve.

My Mag7 is also the loudest part of my system.

jp

Liquid Hobby · 10/30/2006, 09:27 AM

Salty: Things are looking up! Just have to attach the RO/DI unit to the the house in the least invasive way...

JODC: I'm going to reseat the fittings that are threaded to the bulkheads to see if that is where the air is leaking in. I teflon taped everything with threads, except for the unions. This time, I will teflon tape and but a dab of silicone around all threaded fittings as an extra measure. I'm also going to service the pressure pump as there was a lot of debris floating around hte tank and something could be in the impeller causing cavitation which is resulting in micro bubbles. A lot of the noise from my Mag 7 was something in the impeller housing...

It looks like I may have isolated it to a single outlet nozzle, I'll know once AI reseat the fitting and refill the tank for it's final fresh water test.

Liquid Hobby · 10/30/2006, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by golf4lyfe
looking great, whats the turnover rate going to be?

Missed this question! My return does about 300ish GPH (Mag 7 via 3/4" pipe, run through a SCWD and about 4' of head) and the CL is rated to almost 1200 GPH. So, a lot of flow at about 30 to 35X turnover before either pump is dialed back. Both pumps are currently dialed back as the back pressure quiets the flow quite a bit.

BigJPDC · 10/30/2006, 10:17 AM

the bad news for me is that I don't know if the leak is in the return or the CL or both.

I may have to shut them both down long enough for the bubbles to go away, and then only turn on the CL.

Liquid Hobby · 10/30/2006, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BigJPDC
the bad news for me is that I don't know if the leak is in the return or the CL or both.

I may have to shut them both down long enough for the bubbles to go away, and then only turn on the CL.

You have to run each seperately to find out which one is producing the bubbles. When I turn off the CL the bubbles dissapate very quickly.

thor32766 · 10/30/2006, 10:37 AM

wow sweet setup

Liquid Hobby · 10/30/2006, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by thor32766
wow sweet setup

Thanks! I hope my husbandry skills will live up tp what I've built!

Vin7250 · 10/30/2006, 01:21 PM

looks awesome but i gotta ask you.....do u ever run your cars in that garage??? is that bad for your tank since your filters are out there. Ive always thought about plumbing my tank into the garage but thought the carbon monoxide and the cold winters in the garage would be bad for the water

Liquid Hobby · 10/30/2006, 01:57 PM

We never run our cars in the garage, at least not continualy, just to pull out or pull in. It does run cooler than the house though.

10/29/2006, 01:02 AM	#1
Liquid Hobby Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 810	First Reef Tank Pics Last thing left is to do is hook up the RO/DI unit and mix up some salt! It's been a years worth of reading and the last 2 months pulling it together. Very exciting times! Been looking forward to this for YEARS. Anyway, the road was not without it's bumps and detours. I redid the closed loop plumbing completely, twice. Then got a new pump and did it over again, even went back and added in spa flex to eventual version 3.2 of that particular CL implementation. More on that later... It started like this: Version 1.0: Version 2.0 (a dry fit wet test...): Version 3.2: The CL pump upgrade: I also tried 3 different returns versions all in various sizes and combos of sizes to see if I could make it silent. My original straight 1.5" was the the best and eventual winner. Here's my DIY internal overflow Version 1.0: Final water test before home entry! Then I went to move the stand in to the house and like an idiot moved the tank from the stand to some saw horse by myself... and yes I broke it! Cracked it right off the 2" bulkhead. OUCH! I guess the tank isn't going in today after all! A week later and a new one is in the house! It really worked out for the best as I then was able to incorporate more optimized solutions than my initial newbie attempts!! For instance, I vastly quited the overflow box, centered it and almost doubled it in linear inches. I have an experimental return stand pipe, it doesn't really work. I'll be making yet another return, that'll be verison 5.0... DIY Overflow Version 2.0: I also went from 2 CL outlets to 4: The plumbing looks like this, the return stand pipe is pretty quite when just the right amount of flow is set, but it siphons at higher flow: __________________ 120 DT/200 G mixed reef: birthed on Dec 1, 2010 * Neptune Systems controller * 40G Sump + 40G Fuge which gravity feeds into DT * Huge Reef Octopus Skimmer * Calc, GFO and Carbon RXs * 2x250W 20K Radium MH with VHO supplement * 3600 GPH closed loop with OM 4 way * 1700 GPH return

10/29/2006, 01:12 AM	#2
Angel*Fish Premium Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Houston Posts: 5,930 Blog Entries: 1	Wow! That looks fabulous -- great job! __________________ Marie So long, & thanks for all the fish! __________________________ Current Tank Info: Pairs: flame angels, cherub angels, Red Sea mimic blennies, yellow fin fairy wrasses, clowns, mandarins, blackcap basslets, shrimp gobies, damsels, dispar anthias, yellow clown gobies, threadfin cardinals --- Tanks: 100g reef, 2 x 30g refugiums

10/29/2006, 01:15 AM	#3
Liquid Hobby Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 810	That plumbing then does a nice turn away from the stand and through the wall into the garage. I now have a mini fish room in the garage. Huge improvement over running several pumps in my home office! It ends up out here. The cabinet it is in is 8' tall. When I upgrade to Lrger system, I will have the room to vastly increase and improve sump, fuge, RDSB, etc. (return pump is not in it's final config, it's only in version 2.0...): What should I do with the stand space now? I was thinking of putting a mini frig in there for fish food...: It ends up looking like this as of today: Rock comes Nov 6th... It needs a canopy, but my "honey do list" is seriously in arrears!! I will update again when it actually becomes a reef! __________________ 120 DT/200 G mixed reef: birthed on Dec 1, 2010 * Neptune Systems controller * 40G Sump + 40G Fuge which gravity feeds into DT * Huge Reef Octopus Skimmer * Calc, GFO and Carbon RXs * 2x250W 20K Radium MH with VHO supplement * 3600 GPH closed loop with OM 4 way * 1700 GPH return

10/29/2006, 12:22 PM	#5
ga_reefer_guy Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bainbridge, Ga Posts: 158	Beautifully done!!! __________________ Gerard "It takes time to succeed because success is merely the natural reward of taking the time to do anything well" Current Tank Info: 55 gal freswater, Starting first reef slooooooooowly

10/29/2006, 12:58 PM	#7
Chaotic Reefer4u Fish are friend's. . . Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hollister,Ca. Posts: 5,121	very nice... __________________ Live everyday as if it was your last, take time to smell the flowers, enjoy all things living, never take anything for granted, you just never know when your number might be up... Current Tank Info: 20, gallon Truvu Aquasystem, Sunlight supply Tek light-1x250w.HQI+Dual actinic T-5's, seaclone 100 protein skimmer, hydor nano powerhead, bare bottom, live rock, mixed reef 90g. Reef Ready TruVu tank with 30g. Platinum Filtration Series Sump

10/29/2006, 08:04 AM	#4
golf4lyfe Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Chaska, MN Posts: 175	looking great, whats the turnover rate going to be?

10/29/2006, 12:24 PM	#6
rcbones Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 50	Looks very nice. :-)

10/29/2006, 01:09 PM	#8
Andrew Team RC Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Lima, Ohio Posts: 13,673	Nice

10/29/2006, 01:19 PM	#9
mg426 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: maryland Posts: 6,958	Pretty darn nice !!! __________________ I found a way to make a small fortune running a reef tank. Start with a large fortune. Unofficial President of the SEACLONE haters club Current Tank Info: 125 mixed reef 110 lbs LR, 1x250watt XM 20K MH 2x175watt XM 20K MH on Magetics 2X96 watt actinic PC, 220 watt VHO actinic, 30 gallon refugium, closed loop system powered by Sequence Dart MSX 200 skimmer 38 gallon sump, Oceansmotions squirt

10/29/2006, 01:52 PM	#10
Liquid Hobby Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 810	Thanks everyone! Now I'm battling some micro bubbles... Not a water leak in site anywhere and I have micro bubbles even in fresh water... Does it take a few days for the bubbles to go away, or am I in for some hunting with a silicone gun? I've done a few of the joins but still can't isolate it. It's looks to be from the closed loop. Suggestions? __________________ 120 DT/200 G mixed reef: birthed on Dec 1, 2010 * Neptune Systems controller * 40G Sump + 40G Fuge which gravity feeds into DT * Huge Reef Octopus Skimmer * Calc, GFO and Carbon RXs * 2x250W 20K Radium MH with VHO supplement * 3600 GPH closed loop with OM 4 way * 1700 GPH return

10/29/2006, 01:57 PM	#11
Ti Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bay Area Posts: 7,977	lookin gewd! __________________ Hair algae is my Macro algae.

10/29/2006, 02:41 PM	#12
Liquid Hobby Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 810	Noise: The closed loop, pressure rated pump (Panworld, ~1200 GPH) on the other side of the wall is barely audible when it runs all alone. However, the Mag 7 return, run through a SCWD is far, far louder. I have it on vibration iso within the sump, but it's still much louder. Are the the Mags generally loud? __________________ 120 DT/200 G mixed reef: birthed on Dec 1, 2010 * Neptune Systems controller * 40G Sump + 40G Fuge which gravity feeds into DT * Huge Reef Octopus Skimmer * Calc, GFO and Carbon RXs * 2x250W 20K Radium MH with VHO supplement * 3600 GPH closed loop with OM 4 way * 1700 GPH return

10/29/2006, 03:53 PM	#13
HornetMech242 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Amarillo, TX Posts: 793	Loos good so far, what size is that tank? Chris

10/29/2006, 05:57 PM	#14
Liquid Hobby Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 810	It's a 40 gallon breeder so it's 36" long, 18" wide and 16" tall. I found the Mag 7 noise! A zip tie clipping. Still the vibration noise is worse than the much larger pump. But those micro bubbles... ugh! Would putting teflon tape on the union threads do anything? I did not do that. __________________ 120 DT/200 G mixed reef: birthed on Dec 1, 2010 * Neptune Systems controller * 40G Sump + 40G Fuge which gravity feeds into DT * Huge Reef Octopus Skimmer * Calc, GFO and Carbon RXs * 2x250W 20K Radium MH with VHO supplement * 3600 GPH closed loop with OM 4 way * 1700 GPH return

10/29/2006, 06:15 PM	#15
TekCat Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: MN Posts: 3,132	Looks very KEWL!

10/30/2006, 08:19 AM	#16
old salty Genius Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: The Island of Misfit Toys Posts: 3,368	I' glad to see things are looking up for you. __________________ "The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers." Thomas Jefferson Current Tank Info: Out of the marine aquarium hobby

10/30/2006, 09:27 AM	#18
Liquid Hobby Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 810	Salty: Things are looking up! Just have to attach the RO/DI unit to the the house in the least invasive way... JODC: I'm going to reseat the fittings that are threaded to the bulkheads to see if that is where the air is leaking in. I teflon taped everything with threads, except for the unions. This time, I will teflon tape and but a dab of silicone around all threaded fittings as an extra measure. I'm also going to service the pressure pump as there was a lot of debris floating around hte tank and something could be in the impeller causing cavitation which is resulting in micro bubbles. A lot of the noise from my Mag 7 was something in the impeller housing... It looks like I may have isolated it to a single outlet nozzle, I'll know once AI reseat the fitting and refill the tank for it's final fresh water test. __________________ 120 DT/200 G mixed reef: birthed on Dec 1, 2010 * Neptune Systems controller * 40G Sump + 40G Fuge which gravity feeds into DT * Huge Reef Octopus Skimmer * Calc, GFO and Carbon RXs * 2x250W 20K Radium MH with VHO supplement * 3600 GPH closed loop with OM 4 way * 1700 GPH return

10/30/2006, 10:17 AM	#20
BigJPDC Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 959	the bad news for me is that I don't know if the leak is in the return or the CL or both. I may have to shut them both down long enough for the bubbles to go away, and then only turn on the CL. __________________ Rock in the tank is money not in my bank. Current Tank Info: 65 RR AGA

10/30/2006, 10:37 AM	#22
thor32766 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Chuluota, FL Posts: 6,047	wow sweet setup __________________ "Live your life so no one has to lie about who you were at your funeral" click on my red house to see my tang compound! Current Tank Info: 29 gallon in Wall!

10/30/2006, 01:21 PM	#24
Vin7250 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Connecticut "The Big East" Posts: 1,068	looks awesome but i gotta ask you.....do u ever run your cars in that garage??? is that bad for your tank since your filters are out there. Ive always thought about plumbing my tank into the garage but thought the carbon monoxide and the cold winters in the garage would be bad for the water

10/30/2006, 01:57 PM	#25
Liquid Hobby Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 810	We never run our cars in the garage, at least not continualy, just to pull out or pull in. It does run cooler than the house though. __________________ 120 DT/200 G mixed reef: birthed on Dec 1, 2010 * Neptune Systems controller * 40G Sump + 40G Fuge which gravity feeds into DT * Huge Reef Octopus Skimmer * Calc, GFO and Carbon RXs * 2x250W 20K Radium MH with VHO supplement * 3600 GPH closed loop with OM 4 way * 1700 GPH return