Choss' 96 Gallon Reef Savvy Tank Build

[rus15.rb]

Originally Posted by choss

Ok, I know its been a while but I think I'm ready to get the tank wet tomorrow. First a few things that have been updated:

Electrical: I have mounted or wired up the following:

* 2 GHL powerbar 4s (one in Sump cabinet, one in fish room below controlling the AWC system shut off
* ATO pump - Controller under tank and ATO pump in fish room below connected via electrical running through the floor (connected to PB4)
* skimmer pump with controller mounted in sump cabinet (connected to PB4)
* Reef Octopus Varios 6 pump controller mounted to stand (connected to PB4)
* Heaters ( connected to PB4 4)

Plumbing: All plumbing finished and unions tightened

Sump Matt - I purchased a waterproof neoprene matt for under the sump. I have caulked it o the inside of the stand to ensure a relatively waterproof seal for small spills.

Lighting: Here is where I hit a major speed bump. I am connecting a Luxcore 250/400Watt ballast to the Giesemann Spectra. Unfortunately there are no instructions. Here is the connection between the ballast and the light:

full connection giesemann and ballast by choerenz, on Flickr

So after trying various combinations, and consulting the following color chart

Untitled by choerenz, on Flickr

I decided to ignore the advice of Reefbum's site (only source I could find for the wiring) and went white to blue, black to brown, and green to green (so reverse of the white and black wires in the picture above). I now get a brief flicker from the bulb. After testing another MH bulb, same result. I contacted Coralvue and Chris Conti got back to me today and suggested I may have a bad ballast. I bought the ballast from BRS who has indicated that despite buying from them, because it has been over 30 days, they cannot replace the ballast but will contact Coralvue on my behalf. This is a bit unfortunate considering how much money I have spent with BRS but we'll see, right now I'm optimistic that the problem will get resolved in due time.

So onwards! Leak test tomorrow & thursday. I'll also post a few pics of the finished Sump area and electrical cabinet.

Good luck with the fill!

[AZReef13]

Yes, Good Luck. Can't wait to see on stand with water

[choss]

Ok so yesterday was the day of trials and tribulations. And some stress. After speaking to Felix and getting reassurance on the tank situation, I filled the tank to the teeth of the overflow. The return lines created a siphon, as I had accidentally left open the manifold union ball valve. So first some water splashed on the floor. I shut the valve only to notice that water was pouring out of a union. After some panic and a gallon on the floor, I drained the water down some and began working on the union. I took it apart and reconnected. The only thing I could think of is somehow I had mis-threaded it. Having reconnected it I spotted a small trickle running down my left return line. Just below the ball valve I have there. Ok, no sweat - just take off the union and we'll see what's wrong. I was a bit concerned as the trickle looked like it was coming from the PVC connection....

Well it turns out, this was one of the last pipes I put in place and I forgot to cement the pipe to the union! It was just dry fit. So last night I glued it in place and today I filled the tank all the way and started testing the siphons in the Bean Animal. As i grew in confidence I filled up the tank some more wating the siphons kick in and fill the sump. No leaks this time! So i decided it was time to fire up the Varios 6 pump.

The Varios 6 is a DC pump that pushes a reported 1720 gallons per hour. I started it at 20%, then began increasing. No leaks, and the Bean Animal was quickly adjusting to the new volume. Lots of interaction with the secondary siphon (open channel). Initially the system was very loud. I decided to push the pump to maximum output (which is significantly less due to the 3/4" pipe, elbows, split lines, and check valve). Now that it was running full tilt I started restricting the gate valve to ease the primary siphon. Its now fairly quiet but not yet dead silent. I will have to play with it some more but I'm really happy that she's holding water and things are running leak free. Here is a video of the tank. I'd love some suggestions on how to further tune the Bean Animal. I also wonder if the fact that my pipes run down and then at a right angle, in some way affects the small amount of water that you want to run down the open channel pipe. Thoughts?

Enjoy.

Ok so yesterday was the day of trials and tribulations. And some stress. After speaking to Felix and getting reassurance on the tank situation, I filled the tank to the teeth of the overflow. The return lines created a siphon, as I had accidentally left open the manifold union ball valve. So first some water splashed on the floor. I shut the valve only to notice that water was pouring out of a union. After some panic and a gallon on the floor, I drained the water down some and began working on the union. I took it apart and reconnected. The only thing I could think of is somehow I had mis-threaded it. Having reconnected it I spotted a small trickle running down my left return line. Just below the ball valve I have there. Ok, no sweat - just take off the union and we'll see what's wrong. I was a bit concerned as the trickle looked like it was coming from the PVC connection....

Well it turns out, this was one of the last pipes I put in place and I forgot to cement the pipe to the union! It was just dry fit. So last night I glued it in place and today I filled the tank all the way and started testing the siphons in the Bean Animal. As i grew in confidence I filled up the tank some more wating the siphons kick in and fill the sump. No leaks this time! So i decided it was time to fire up the Varios 6 pump.

The Varios 6 is a DC pump that pushes a reported 1720 gallons per hour. I started it at 20%, then began increasing. No leaks, and the Bean Animal was quickly adjusting to the new volume. Lots of interaction with the secondary siphon (open channel). Initially the system was very loud. I decided to push the pump to maximum output (which is significantly less due to the 3/4" pipe, elbows, split lines, and check valve). Now that it was running full tilt I started restricting the gate valve to ease the primary siphon. Its now fairly quiet but not yet dead silent. I will have to play with it some more but I'm really happy that she's holding water and things are running leak free. Here is a video of the tank. I'd love some suggestions on how to further tune the Bean Animal. I also wonder if the fact that my pipes run down and then at a right angle, in some way affects the small amount of water that you want to run down the open channel pipe. Thoughts?

Enjoy.




https://youtu.be/fkPkJEmRAEA

[choss]

Refugium light in place. Nice little top down shot. Enjoy.

Sump Top Down by choerenz, on Flickr

[hbrochs]

I think you just gave birth to a 96 gallon tank, MAZEL TOV!!! Just like real childbirth, joyous and painful at the same time!


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[Reefpuck]

I always try running my lines with 45 degree angles of I can help it, but with a full siphon I don't think a 90g degree angle should be an issue. My experience is if you have air/ noise in the main drain... you need to close the drain valve more.

On my 90g, i use the varios 4 (wish I would've got the 6) but have my return line valve closes almost 50%. It's dead silent.

[choss]

Originally Posted by hbrochs

I think you just gave birth to a 96 gallon tank, MAZEL TOV!!! Just like real childbirth, joyous and painful at the same time!


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Yeah it was just about as painful as the real thing....or so my wife tells me. Happy to have it wet. I need to drain it today but its so much fun with water in it I don't have the heart to do it yet.

[choss]

Originally Posted by Reefpuck

I always try running my lines with 45 degree angles of I can help it, but with a full siphon I don't think a 90g degree angle should be an issue. My experience is if you have air/ noise in the main drain... you need to close the drain valve more.

On my 90g, i use the varios 4 (wish I would've got the 6) but have my return line valve closes almost 50%. It's dead silent.

I think I have it dialed in now. Pretty quiet. I did use 45s on the three bean animal drains but needed to add a 90 as it enters the sump. Once I enclose my sump fully it should be fairly silent.

I have my Varios 6 dialed up to maximum and still feel like I could have added more flow. I have the returns coming out of standard 45 degree 3/4" black PVC pipes. When speaking with Felix from Reef Savvy he talked me out of using Loc Line returns - they just don't look right on a tank like this. I agree but the flow is very gentle and broad. But I think I could have run a Varios 8. Anyway, its a great pum any way I look at it.

[hbrochs]

Can you put spin streams on the returns?


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[choss]

Originally Posted by hbrochs

Can you put spin streams on the returns?

I think i would need to reduce the diameter but at one point I was thinking spin streams. I may go that route. Here is what I'm thinking for now:

Varios 6 pump at full power (I measured today and I think with all the reducing pipes etc. I'm running about 700-800 GPH through the tank). I have both returns pointing towards the opposite corner and near the surface.

MP40 QD - Issue right now is it is pretty loud but I'd like to run it at close to 100%.

2 MP10s mounted to the back wall.

I hope that is enough flow for SPS. Let me know what you think.



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[choss]

Not a lot has happened in the last 30 days, which has been kind of frustrating but I have now made progress on two fronts - lighting and rock.

I'll start with the lighting situation. I finally received my ballast back from Chris Conti at Coralvue. CV checked the ballast but couldn't find anything wrong with it. Nevertheless they sent me a brand new ballast, which I wired up and tested last night. The radium 250 watt bulb now fires up so something must have been amiss with the old ballast. I'm just happy that I don't have to take the light down and send it back. I already had to pay for shipping on the ballast because BRS wouldn't honor the return due to the length of time between my purchase and testing the product.

Here is the light in all its glory. It is like having a small slice of the sun in my den. The only issue is that when I sit in my easy chair, I get a bit of glare from the reflector. The light currently is about 9" above the tank. I could move it down a bit but then I will have less coverage on the outside 6" of either side of the tank. Right now it looks ok at 9" and I'm particularly happy in that there is minimal light spillage beyond the tank.

spectra w. all lights by choerenz, on Flickr

So moving on to my rock....I was 100% set to go with TBS live rock. While I am very particular about the aqua scape that I want to create for this tank, the benefits of using live rock just seemed to great for me to go with dry rock. So I emailed Richard at TBS and found out that TBS is temporarily closed. Richard has had some significant surgery and can't dive for the immediate future. And I think its probably weeks or months out before he will be back on his feet.

So I started to explore a few other options. For my scape, I really want two dominant islands with a natural channel in between where I can showcase some white sand and a clam or two. I also like the idea of having a more dominant island that has a bit of height. My plan is to attach SPS higher up and have acans and other LPS mounted vertically or on angles off the island. The tank that really comes to mind is Chris Krien's amazing tank that he calls his 160 G algae farm. Here is his scape and I think you will see why it inspires me. The grown out tank is even more spectacular so I'd highly recommend searching for this build. You won't be disappointed.

Chris Kriens Aqua Scape by choerenz, on Flickr

So with the long wait for TBS rock, I started to inquire into some large Pukani dry rock as a backup plan. BRS was out of "jumbo" rocks but Aquacave had some in stock. In fact, they were extremely helpful and sent over a few pictures of the rocks they had in their warehouse.

Pukani Pic 1 by choerenz, on Flickr

Pukani Rock 2 by choerenz, on Flickr

While it will take me a few weeks to bleach, acid wash, and cure these rocks, I started thinking that at the end of the process, I will have the perfect rock for what I was envisioning for my scape - plus its porous, gorgeous rock that you can easily drill and affix sticks to.

I immediately contacted Albert from aquacave jumped on these pieces. I had them 2 days later! Best customer service I've had from a major retailer of aquarium products...ever! I still intend to try and get some of the benefits from adding live rock, so I'm also looking into a small order of live rock from Gulfliverock.com, which I would have air freighted and then added to the tank to ensure the system receive some of the beneficial bacteria and critters that I was hoping to get from the TBS rock. Gulfliverock seems to have good reviews so hopefully I can end up with best of both worlds.

So as I write this, my Pukani has been sitting in bleach since Saturday, and I'm just waiting for the weather to go above freezing to start the acid bath. More to come soon.

[wrxreefer823]

This is amazing! You've put so much thought and care into your system, something I have a hard time doing due to the excitement of a new fish tank. I love your proposed aquascape, that's more or less along the lines of what I strive to do with my next big build. Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see more progress!!

[choss]

Originally Posted by wrxreefer823

This is amazing! You've put so much thought and care into your system, something I have a hard time doing due to the excitement of a new fish tank. I love your proposed aquascape, that's more or less along the lines of what I strive to do with my next big build. Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see more progress!!

Maybe I'm overthinking it! Time will tell. I have been able to stay patient in part because I have a small frag tank that is allowing me to ad a few things that will go into the tank. I picked up a small yellow Kole Tang, which I can't wait to see in the main display. Its not the typical Kole (brown and yellow eye) - its all yellow. I will post a pic this weekend.

[AZReef13]

I can't wait to see pics of your new tang.

[wrxreefer823]

Originally Posted by choss

Maybe I'm overthinking it! Time will tell. I have been able to stay patient in part because I have a small frag tank that is allowing me to ad a few things that will go into the tank. I picked up a small yellow Kole Tang, which I can't wait to see in the main display. Its not the typical Kole (brown and yellow eye) - its all yellow. I will post a pic this weekend.

I tend to do the same thing with my tanks as well. This last weekend I picked up a used 30 gallon rimless setup off of Facebook Marketplace, that’s the biggest I can really justify until we get into a house next year. Anyways, I’ve been periodically making columns and such out of the rock until my stand comes in. Haven’t decided if I want to use the dry rock as it is, pick up a chunk from my LFS to seed, or do a bleach soak to completely kill off the rock. So many decisions!

Congrats on the tang! I have a soft spot for powder blue’s as well as emperor angels, but that will obviously have to wait... lol

[motortrendz]

following your doing an awesome job

[choss]

Originally Posted by wrxreefer823

I tend to do the same thing with my tanks as well. This last weekend I picked up a used 30 gallon rimless setup off of Facebook Marketplace, that’s the biggest I can really justify until we get into a house next year. Anyways, I’ve been periodically making columns and such out of the rock until my stand comes in. Haven’t decided if I want to use the dry rock as it is, pick up a chunk from my LFS to seed, or do a bleach soak to completely kill off the rock. So many decisions!

Congrats on the tang! I have a soft spot for powder blue’s as well as emperor angels, but that will obviously have to wait... lol

Powder Blues are my favorite as well. I'm on the fence about whether I should add a small one to this setup as he will eventually outgrow the tank. Of course that is a perfect reason to go bigger....

[choss]

Originally Posted by motortrendz

following your doing an awesome job

Motortrendz - great to have you along for the ride.

[wrxreefer823]

Originally Posted by choss

Powder Blues are my favorite as well. I'm on the fence about whether I should add a small one to this setup as he will eventually outgrow the tank. Of course that is a perfect reason to go bigger....

Funny, I’ve used that exact justification in the past to either buy a fish I REALLY want, or to upgrade the system. We reefers should probably start a support group...


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[choss]

I thought I'd share a pic from my frag tank. Its more a 20 gallon long QT system to make sure nothing bad gets into the main tank once its up and running. I couldn't resist this tang. It was sold to me as a yellow Kole Tang. He is really shy so its really hard to get a good picture. He's been with me 3 weeks now and appears 100% healthy and eats like a pig.

Kole tank by choerenz, on Flickr

[choss]

So the weather in NY finally turned for the better and went from about 15 degrees up to 45 degrees this weekend. That allowed me to spend the weekend getting the Pukani rock ready for curing. I had already bleached the rocks for about 5 days. Its really amazing rock.

Pukani closeup by choerenz, on Flickr

I rinsed the rock and I found all kinds of interesting relics. Here is a small crab and sponge that were wedged in the crevices.

Pukani critters by choerenz, on Flickr

I added the roughly 45 lbs of Pukani to a large brute. Filled it with water and poured in (very slowly) 1 gallon of muratic acid.

Safety first Choss selfie

Choss w. safety gear by choerenz, on Flickr

Muratic starting to work....

Cooking Pukani by choerenz, on Flickr

pukani bubbling up by choerenz, on Flickr

This is the third time I've cooked rock this way and its really not that bad. You just have to go slow and allow the acid to do its thing.

[choss]

I laid out my rock on a plastic board that I have taped off to represent the footprint of the tank. I am going for two islands. Based on the rock I have I want to attempt to create a natural looking chasm between two large rocks. I also want to try to make the islands very different - so not symmetrical. In taking stock of the three main pieces I will use, I have one large lower mound that will be great to grow SPS, and a natural tower piece that will allow me to attach corals vertically with SPS near the top. One of the most spectacular reefs that is inspiring this tower vision, is the amazing nano reef by Medred. Here is a picture from that build

Medred reef by choerenz, on Flickr

Here is a first pass at my scape. Looking for feedback!

scape first try by choerenz, on Flickr

Closeup of the tower.

tower closeup by choerenz, on Flickr

[wrxreefer823]

Originally Posted by choss

I laid out my rock on a plastic board that I have taped off to represent the footprint of the tank. I am going for two islands. Based on the rock I have I want to attempt to create a natural looking chasm between two large rocks. I also want to try to make the islands very different - so not symmetrical. In taking stock of the three main pieces I will use, I have one large lower mound that will be great to grow SPS, and a natural tower piece that will allow me to attach corals vertically with SPS near the top. One of the most spectacular reefs that is inspiring this tower vision, is the amazing nano reef by Medred. Here is a picture from that build



Medred reef by choerenz, on Flickr



Here is a first pass at my scape. Looking for feedback!



scape first try by choerenz, on Flickr



Closeup of the tower.



tower closeup by choerenz, on Flickr

I really like that idea for the scape. My LFS that I used to work at has a large rimless cube (somewhere in the 240G range) with a scape very similar, and it works out very well. It’s really neat to see monti’s and acro’s growing up high and the smaller fish using the “valley” as their shelter. Once the rock is in the tank and in sand, I think it’ll look great! One thing I absolutely can’t stand in a reef tank is the pile of rocks look, why spend all that money just to dump a bunch of rocks in?! It should be a work of art, and I think you, sir, will end up with a masterpiece


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[choss]

I hope you are right. This rock has so many small natural crevices and openings that its perfect for all forms of life.

[choss]

This weekend I also picked up 25 lbs of live rock from Gulfliverock.com. The main purpose for this rock is to add bacteria and beneficial critters to the system so I opted to have Dan from GLR schedule the package via Air Cargo to minimize die off.

I want the benefits of adding this rock to my system, but am struggling with where to put them considering the clean scape I hope to achieve. They may end up in my sump, or maybe I add them initially and then remove them a few months down the road.

The rock was delivered well packaged in plastic, some water, and paper towels to keep the rocks moist.

Gulf live rock unboxing by choerenz, on Flickr

Bag is open...

Gulf Live Rock first impression by choerenz, on Flickr

You can see lots of good color, sponges, some small corals, and a bit of macro algae.

I carefully unpacked everything and rinsed the rock in a bucket, and then into a 10 gallon tank with a heater, two HOB filters, and I borrowed my small Tunze Comline 9004 skimmer from my 40 gallon AIO tank.

rock in tank by choerenz, on Flickr

Gulflverock by choerenz, on Flickr

So far my Skimmer is pulling out a lot of gunk and the smell isn't too horrible (although my son said "dad it smells like poop"). I haven't spotted any bad hitch hikers yet but I'm going to play the waiting game and let the rock sit in the holding tank for over a week - then test a bit of food and see what comes out. If all is good, I will see about starting up the main system, and adding both the Pukani and the live rock at the same time.