Crazy George's 90 gal upgrade log (image intense)

[george1098]

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]

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

[george1098]

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]

Everything above represents about 2 days work ( work also includes shopping for the rest of my plumbing supplies). I was hoping to start drilling my tank with the diamond bit I have coming in the mail, but it still hasn’t arrived, so I fount myself beginning work on the canopy before I can start tinkering with the plumbing.
First off, I knocked up this sucker, which will make moving the tank around to avoid traffic coming in and out of the garage.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/8q.jpg

Benny the Benze isn’t happy about the tank occupying his parking spot during the day. Especially when it rains.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/9q.jpg

Here’s the beginnings of my reflector. It is sheet aluminum I bent on my dads bending jig. It is not the shiniest piece of metal, but it should reflect the light down, which is all it needs to do.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/10q.jpg

First I knocked up a wooden frame for the reflector and fitted it on top of the tank. should work well. This won’t be a full canopy, it will merely sit on top and hold the lights. I will have some ropes on pulley’s going up to the ceiling so I can rays it for easy tank access.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/11q.jpg

I will use an acrylic shield to protect the bulbs from splashing and misting, and the tank should the worst happen and a bulb explodes (I’m sure Mr. Icecap won’t do that to me though.) The shield will be able to slide in and out of the canopy for easy cleaning and bulb changing on ¼” grooves I cut with the table saw.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/12q.jpg

[george1098]

Continuing on with the canopy, I started to build up the sides and added the fans that will hopefully keep the lights nice and cool.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/13.jpg

Here’s a shot of the business end of the reflector. Should kick lots of light down at my reef with two 250watt MH bulbs. I’m thinking of adding a 3’ VHO strip with actinics, or possibly re-using my 175 watt ballast to fire a 20,000k bulb. What should I do?
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/14.jpg
p.s. I used the aluminum tape they use to tape up heat ventilation piping (or whatever they call it) to tape up the exposed wood. It makes a great reflector.

My camera seemed to go missing half way through the day, and I missed a few steps, but its not hard to see that I managed to get a bit done. I built up the back and installed a few more fans. The top and back will remain open for ventilation
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/15.jpg

Here’s a pic of the fans all wired up and running. They have blue LED’s in them which I’m hoping will kill two birds with one stone and act as a moonlight at night, but its not very likely that they are bring enough to light the whole 90 gallons like a proper moonlight should. The two fans on the back are mounted with acrylic brackets I made. They should blow across the surface water and provide some nice agitation for better gas exchange and evaporation (thus cooling).
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/16.jpg

And for my last pic of the night, here is yet another shot of the back of the tank. with the canopy roughly in the spot it will sit. Should be plenty of room to squeeze some plumbing back here. I’d like to install a wavy sea unite back here, hope there is enough room. Or I’ll just have to make some.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/17.jpg

[george1098]

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

[george1098]

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

[george1098]

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

[Rob]

awesome thread.. thanks for sharing all the details..

looks liek its progressing nicely.

i like the hood, i might just steal that design, if i stay with my MH lights.
what type of lights are going in yours, all i saw were what looked like a pair of NO of VHO bulbs?

[kj_yoda]

Very cool. Can't wait to see more.

[george1098]

Thanks guys,
For lighting I will go with 2x 250 W SE bulbs powered by icecap ballasts. I’ll use actinic VHO’s to substitute a little blue light.. I'm not quite sure which kind of MH bulbs I will go with, but I know they will be 10000k. Any suggestions on a good 10000k bulb?. I was thinking XM, but I know there are plenty more brands out there that I’m sure are just as good. The florescent strips I have in there now I was just using for testing as I had them lying around for a while. Unfortunately everything is stalled as I wait for some packages to arrive by mail, but hopefully I’ll be able to start plumbing the close loop this week.

By the way Rob, I wanted to say kudos on the site. I just hear about it recently in this months RC magazine and I though I would check it out. The pod casts are great and I’m sure I’ll be doing allot more posting around here ;)

[george1098]

I've been posting clones of this thread on reef central as well as my local reefing society forum ( http://arrg.ca/ ) . I have been getting lots of feedback from both places, and so far I have changed my design slightly. One of the issues that is currently being debated is about the shield that I am using on the canopy to protect the bulbs from being splattered by salt water. I cut a ¼” acrylic shield, as well as a ¼” glass shield. I can slide them in and out easily, so changing my mind is no big deal. I was wondering if you guys could give any insight into this? Should I go with the shatter proof, but possibly melt under the heat acrylic, or melt proof, but possibly crack under the heat glass?

[Rob]

well, i have the Xm 10,000K 250 w bulbs, and have been happy with them.
as far as the shield, i see most equipment uses acrylic, but i cant honestly say why.

[dreams]

i think glass conducts more heat than acrylic does.....and great thread, btw

[CarmieJo]

George, great thread!

[gwen_o_lyn]

:kewlpics: Very nice setup- really enjoying it so far!

[george1098]

I've got a little work done since the last pic post. I've installed morgul sockets and received about 50% of the gear for the closed loop. still waiting on my bulbs, plumbing fittings and icecap ballasts.
for the closed loop i'm running an OM super squirt off of a Dart. should be plenty of flow for a 90! I can't wait to get cracken!

[george1098]

Hi guys
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.

[george1098]

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

[george1098]

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]

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

[george1098]

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

[bmwaaron]

I decided to put some egg crate on the bottom of the tank. this will protect the bottom from rocks should an avalanche occur

Wow that sounds like a really good Idea, I have never heard of this being done. Is there any disadvantages to this?

[fat walrus]

Wow that sounds like a really good Idea, I have never heard of this being done. Is there any disadvantages to this?
only one way to tell, anyone want to experiment ?

[george1098]

haha, i think i have already volunteered.
there are two reasons i wanted to do it, 1, it will help protect the tank as i said before, and will help with frame work for the rocks, and 2 i hope it will help with denitrification. what i am going to do (and i will post pics of this when i get around to doing it) is put some fiberglass cloth (without the resin of cource) over the eggcrate, then put about 1 1/2" of sand over top of that. there should be little watter bubbles under the cloth in the eggcrate holes that will be havens for nitrate reducing anaerobic bacteria.

[fat walrus]

oohkayy....you not as think as me stupid you are. haha

[george1098]

I water tested the tank the other day with the close loop running
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
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/wizz.jpg

[george1098]

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)

[fat walrus]

nice flow.

[pham411]

hey george, is the squirt loud? and what kind of pump are you using for your closed loop?

[george1098]

the squirt isn't too loud at all. I actually used some Vaseline to lube up the rotating disk inside and it hardly makes a peep. I'm using a dart to power it. I love the set up, the flow is excellent. The only thing is you have to run a bypass (see the oceans motions website) to prevent a pressure build up in the squirt and blow a seam. The dart I believe is rated to 14 PSI which is pretty powerful.

[george1098]

Now. 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]

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

[george1098]

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).

[george1098]

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]

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)

[fat walrus]

george1098, so you have the squirt 4-way prewired? do the disks move constantly or is it intermitten?

[george1098]

yes i decided to go with the pre-wired, but the wiring is pretty simple. the disk moves constantly. mine actually got stuck in one spot once i started using it in the salt water, but it is easy to lube up with vaseline or KY.

[V]

u start talking like that & im going to start getting idea's blubber.

geo, thanks for the home vidcasts

[george1098]

:) do you think OM will pay me commission?

[fat walrus]

:) do you think OM will pay me commission?
haha...they won't give u didley. i'm not sure, are they the same people who made ocean currents?

[george1098]

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.

[george1098]

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]

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

[fat walrus]

looking cool.

[george1098]

FINALY FINALY FINALY! 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. It was $400 from Novasea 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 :) .

[V]

welcome to the G-spot! this is great, love the work your putting down for your project! one piece of info though! really watch where the electrical boards go, condensation & humity will kick in real easy! i would always stress to people if your going to use the gear in an enclosed housing, try to enclose it in ourdoor weather guards or something!
it rocks G, ur doing great!;)

[george1098]

Thanks Veriann, I'll keep an eye on that. I usually keep the doors open to the cabinet anyway, to keep the heat from building up, which i think will help keep the humidity down. I'm going to add a small fan aswell to the cabinet.
more pics to come later today I hope! :)

[george1098]

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

[george1098]

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]

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!

[Small Fry]

sweet looking mod's, i don't know if i'd have the ability to cut up a professionaly made skimmer :p. But knowing me and my daring-ness, i probably will.

Btw if this hasn't been mentioned already, it's venturi :D That's how i spelled it for like a year on other forums and i was writing up a list for my lfs guy, and i showed it to him and he's like no, its and i.

embarrased was me :p

[george1098]

A note to future readers, please substiture venturi for however I spelled it :p

[Small Fry]

A note to future readers, please substiture venturi for however I spelled it :p

that's substitute* as well future readers...... Lol, just yanking your chain there george :D

[RocketSeason]

Question.

I am curious how difficult its going to be to clean your closed loop intake. is the grating easily removed?

[george1098]

Question.

I am curious how difficult its going to be to clean your closed loop intake. is the grating easily removed?


nope. Its also burried under rock. It was made so it wouldn't have to be cleaned by design, but we all know that is just not possible in this hobby. I can actually see the intake at night with a flashlight, and so far it doesnt look like it needs to be cleaned but there is some stuff sticking to it. If it gets to the point where i notice it affecting the flow, I will move all the rock and cut the zip ties and give it a clean, but i really hope it doesn't have to happen too often.

[JeffDubya]

OK, George. I really like a lot of what you have done here. When I re-do my tank, I am going to copy you! :)

I have a question about your built in returns... LOVE them. But if the pump shuts off, what prevents those from flooding?

[george1098]

OK, George. I really like a lot of what you have done here. When I re-do my tank, I am going to copy you! :)

I have a question about your built in returns... LOVE them. But if the pump shuts off, what prevents those from flooding?

Thanks Jeff, glad to hear it. I'm not quite sure what you mean by build it returns though, the actual return pump from the sump / fuge is just a regular over the top assembly that is positioned above the water level so it won't start a siphon when the return pump is off. For the closed loop, I have 'stratigically place ballvalves that i can shut off to keep the water in the tank should I ever need to service the pump. Unfortionatly I never did install a drain valve for the closed loop so it gets a bit wet when I undo the unions. I hope that answered your question, If not, don't be afraid to get a little more specific :cool:

Reef on brotha!

[JeffDubya]

So all the locline is actually part of your closed loop then?

[george1098]

yupp, I beleive in a slow turn over to increase the dwell time in the sump/fuge. My retune pump is a little inline pump , there probably are pics of it somewhere.

[JeffDubya]

So which portions of the locline are the intake for the closed loop? If I had to make a guess, I would say top/center. Ya?

[george1098]

nopers, the top center is actually the outlet for the bipass around the super squirt four way. The bipas is in place so the pressure from the pump doesn't build up and blow up all my plumbing. the actual intake for the close loop is the small box right next to the overflow box witht he white plastic screen. the pump i used for the close loop (a reeflow dart) has a 2" intake, so I desinged the intake to sit at the bottom of the tank but not be able to suck up any sand.

[george1098]

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.

[Rob321a]

Nice tank. How are the clowns getting along? Do they fight at all?

[george1098]

Nice tank. How are the clowns getting along? Do they fight at all?

the two tomato's are great pals, but the Ocelaris is getting bullied. yesterday i even saw the yellow tang picking on him. I think i'll give him away

[george1098]

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.

[CarmieJo]

Very nice! You might want to post your design in the DIY forum too.

[george1098]

Wow, sorry guys, but I haven’t been keeping this thread up to date. I’ve made quite a few changes to the tank over the last few months, so here goes.

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]

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.

[george1098]

I added the calcium reactor to the system finally once I got a good price on a CO2 tank. 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]

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]

Here’s what I’ve been up to in the garage. A clam viewing tank!
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]

Some more pictures I though I’d share
I think it is very important for fish to eat lots of dary for strong bones and teeth... oh wait, do fish have bones?
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]

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]

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 fishy 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

[Brewer]

hey i just started my 90 gallon saltwater tank got any suggestions

[keyozoxmfc]

O man!!! your tanks are amazing!! i skipped to this page so sorry if i missed it...but is that 2 10 gallons for the sump???

[keyozoxmfc]

hahah whoops nevermind..its a 10 gallon...do you know where i could get 10 gallons drilled like that?

[Small Fry]

amazing differences in both tanks. Both are looking incredible.

Thumbs up, good job

[george1098]

hey i just started my 90 gallon saltwater tank got any suggestions


I would say go for a closed loop for water flow. Other 90 gallon tanks I've seen (members of my own club) use seios or tunze for water flow, but I find they take up allot of room (especially the seios) and look ugly. I think you can get away with submersible pumps for flow in bigger tanks, but the truth is in a 90 gallon tanks aren’t that big. You really want to maximize the space that you do have and the closed loops allow you to hide your pump for a more natural look. You will have to drill the tank, but don’t be afraid to do that. You can buy diamond bit hole saws on e-bay for pretty cheap (the sellers name is lau) and it really is easy to do, as long as you keep the glass surface and drill bit wet with a spray bottle.
Other than that, go with a big skimmer (I highly recommend the ASM’s) and defiantly a sump. Again it’s a good idea to drill a drain line for the sump with an internal overflow.

I know it sounds like allot of work, and it is, but take your time and plan everything out and you can have an awesome 90 gallon tank.

Ohh, one more thing. Paint the back of the tank black. If I could do one thing over again it would be going with a black background.

[george1098]

hahah whoops nevermind..its a 10 gallon...do you know where i could get 10 gallons drilled like that?


Yupp, they are two 10 gal tanks. The glass is only 1/8" thick, so it is really easy to drill them yourself. You can buy diamond coated dremel bits from home depot, they are used to cut ceramic tile, but work great on glass. The only thing is, the thin glass cracks really easily. I have two bulkheads installed, one for the return pump and one to connect the two tanks, and the glass around both of them cracked because I tightened the bulkheads too much. I had to silicone the crap out of the tanks to make them watertight. I think it would be best to go with one big tank as opposed to two small ones. Eventually I will build myself a new sump, but for now this one is working great.

[george1098]

amazing differences in both tanks. Both are looking incredible.

Thumbs up, good job


Thanks, I've been meaning to get an actinic shot because the tanks look even better under the blue light, but my camera sucks and it alwais wants to flash. I'll have to borrow a tripod so I can take a good shot without the flash.

[keyozoxmfc]

ohh ..cool...i would love to get a 20 gallon long or something for my sump for my 50 gallon...but 1 i cant get the damn thing in the stand and 2 i have no idea how to get water from my tank to the sump...

[george1098]

you'll need an overflow. I would HIGHLY recomend having your tank drilled for this. go back to page one of this thread to see how i did my overflow

[Danamck]

George -

Awesome thread. I love how you documented the whole process, and took tons of photos. You have inspired me to do the same as I "downsize" from my 240 to a 180. (I know - boo hoo!) Anyway, some really cool DIY stuff here. Keep it coming!

[george1098]

thanks,,
downsize? i thought that word was obliterated from the vocabulary of everyone in this hobby

[Small Fry]

Hey there george, realising that im going to be having a setup almost identical to yours (from a plumbing standpoint) have you been having any problems with the intake for your closed loop???? because i believe it is a good idea and if it hasnt given you any problems i will be using your nifty little invention on my tank.

Thanks

[keyozoxmfc]

oo yeah getting back to you george...you can look at my tank journal to see a picture...but i have a seaclear system 2...so overflow is out of the question..and i have no clue if i can drill it or where i would drill it..its plexiglass

[george1098]

oo yeah getting back to you george...you can look at my tank journal to see a picture...but i have a seaclear system 2...so overflow is out of the question..and i have no clue if i can drill it or where i would drill it..its plexiglass
It's super easy to drill plexiglass. You can use a regular hole saw made for wood. If you don't want to drill it, research overflow boxes. you can get them used at a pretty good price, they are rather expensive new (you could probably expect to pay $75 or more)

[george1098]

Hey there george, realising that im going to be having a setup almost identical to yours (from a plumbing standpoint) have you been having any problems with the intake for your closed loop???? because i believe it is a good idea and if it hasnt given you any problems i will be using your nifty little invention on my tank.

Thanks


I'm happy with my closed loop intake. Its great for keeping sand and other stuff out of the pump. the only problem i've ran into with it is it is a little tricky to clean. I have my rocks piled on it so i have to take them all off. The tank has been up since late may, and I have only cleaned the closed loop once, and it wasn't even that bad. I would say go for it, it works well and it is safe. I would do the same thing again if I had the chance.

oh yea, one more thing. In the pics I zip tied the eggcrate guard onto the acrylic baffle, but I ended up scrapping that idea, and now the eggcrate guard just sits on top and is heald in place by the weight of the rocks. this works fine and it makes cleaning easier.

[keyozoxmfc]

oo thanks a lot george but the problem with the over hob overflow isnt a problem with money, but its because it wont fit my tank. so if i were to buy that diamond bit, would i be able to drill my plexiglass tank with it?

[Small Fry]

oo thanks a lot george but the problem with the over hob overflow isnt a problem with money, but its because it wont fit my tank. so if i were to buy that diamond bit, would i be able to drill my plexiglass tank with it?

Sorry i didnt follow your other posts, but if you have other drill bits that would be much faster on plexiglass, as it is much less likely to break, or so ive heard.

[Small Fry]

i also dont know if you have immediate access to a glass drill bit, but you can buy a wood hole saw for like $10 (well, u can here anyways) and it will onyl take you like, not even a minutes if you're taking your time, theres no need to use a diamond drill bit on plexi, waste of time and money (unless you already have one :s)

[keyozoxmfc]

but what if theres already water in the tank? and where would i drill? (remember now, its a seaclear system 2) and the diamond bit thing was to drill 10 gallons like george

[Small Fry]

i dont know why it took me this long to comprehend your system. But I would drill near the bottom and then use a small durso, as for the water......hmmmmm....... if you did end up drilling towards the top (you could use a BIG hole and skip the whole overflow thing, well, u could figure it out later) you could drain the tank just below the hoole for like 10 minutes (it'll only take like 1 minute to drill and, if using a proffessional bulkhead, like ten minutes to install it) and then fill up the fuge and the tank and start up your system.

If you wanted a lower hole i dont think you can get to it without completely draining your tank. sorry. But if you do it my way, you'd have to have ALL the plumbing totally finshed so the very last thing you have to do is drill the hole and attach the blukhead, this will limit the time your tank is low on water.

Any questions dont hesitate to ask.

[keyozoxmfc]

uhh okay took me a while to think about that one toohahahah but..i think i get it. would you mean drill a hole herehttp://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/keyozoxmfc/Copyofsystem2-back.jpg..
because i could maintain my display side water, and then empty out the back compartment to drill?..if that works..and if you dont mind me asking..whats a durso? i have heard of it before and from my understanding, it is the J shaped tube that is behind the internal overflow and attached to the hole at the bottom of the tank?? is that right?

[Small Fry]

whats a durso? i have heard of it before and from my understanding, it is the J shaped tube that is behind the internal overflow and attached to the hole at the bottom of the tank?? is that right?

Thats the jist of it, we have a thread here that goes into insane info about how to make one, step by step, and what it does, take a peek in the DIY section. And i you drill through the side (you never know what the bottom is made of :s) Just put an elbow at the bottom and it will still function

but yess, that spot would be fine for a durso. And i didnt know you could empty the back section while still having the front full (ish) this will make it much easier for you to drill, but yess make sure you have everything assembled before drilling anything.

Good luck

[keyozoxmfc]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/keyozoxmfc/Copy2ofsystem2-back.jpg..so where that red dot is??? ok...and then do you have a reccomendation as to which compartment it should come back to...and also is it ok if not all of that water goes to the sump..because with the durso..i think some of the overflow water from the display side will not go into the durso and go through the regular cycle through the compartments..would that be fine?

thanks so all your help Josh! i really appreciate it

-Mark

[Small Fry]

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y153/keyozoxmfc/Copy2ofsystem2-back.jpg..so where that red dot is??? ok...and then do you have a reccomendation as to which compartment it should come back to...and also is it ok if not all of that water goes to the sump..because with the durso..i think some of the overflow water from the display side will not go into the durso and go through the regular cycle through the compartments..would that be fine?

thanks so all your help Josh! i really appreciate it

-Mark

Yes, where the dot is would be fine, that means you're getting the most raw water you can, as to the return, you have many options, you could run it into one of the compartments, or straights into the front of your display. I don't know if you have powerheads going in your tank but if you were to buy a stronger pumnp for the sump and run the return straight to your DT, yo8u could replace them (with enough flow of cvourse).

But overall, the point of return is all about preference. And do not worry at all about the back compartments getting water, that just gives you more options, either clear it out for more watert volume, or throw some live rock rubble in there. And if you were to do the latter, you could have a return from the sump (are you doing a fuge as well???) running straight into the rock, i dont know how much of an impact, but water coming from a sump/fuge, rich with stuff, running into a place with lots of surface area, cant be a bad thing IMO. Its basically all up to you, where it returns will not have a monstrous effect on things.

Now, when making your durso, i noticed that there are inlet slits for the water, make sure the inlet of the durso (im pretty sure) is below these slits or it will not get enough water/ suction to function properly

Oh, :p, NOOBCHECK time, i know that is a generic picture, and your ytank will be different, but you have removed the bioballs right>??? (if you said on your thread sorry, im a skimmer, what can i say :p)

but yeah, this shouyld always be done, and if it hasnt, just every week or so remove a quarter of them, and soon they'll be gone.

Don't mean to insult you or anything, just making sure all is well.

And don't worry about it,. i like to help other youngin's There aren't alot of us running around these forums (yet.......muhahahahahHAHAHAHAHA)

I do have a proposition, the next time you post, do it on your thread, lol, just realised we're kind of stealing the threads away from george:p

:OT: We'll have to switch before george.................. :slap:

[george1098]

:OT: We'll have to switch before george.................. :slap:

Haha,
well I was starting to feel like my thread had been hijaced:tongue2:

[Small Fry]

Haha,
well I was starting to feel like my thread had been hijaced:tongue2:

well then update her man :p

pics pics pics are always good :D (it does say image intense.................)

[george1098]

haha, touche, I haven't done much lately, but I'm on Chritmass holiday, and I have nothing better to do. I'll snap some pics

[george1098]

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]

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

[keyozoxmfc]

hahah thanks again josh..if i need anymore help i will post it up in my tank journal. haha thanks for letting us "borrow" your journal george...and now you can get back to your tanks =)..btw i LOVE your lagoon tank! was it hard to put together?

[george1098]

..btw i LOVE your lagoon tank! was it hard to put together?

this was the first 'big ish' tank i've tried to put together. I had a little trouble with a few of the plastic welds, but as long as it holds waster i'm satisfied. once you get the hang of it, building anything out of acrylic is easy.

[george1098]

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.

[keyozoxmfc]

can i ask how much the tank costed to build? nice corals too

[george1098]

haha, I tried keeping track for a while, but eventually gave up because I didn't really want to know. I would ballpark all the tank equipment at around $3500- $4000 (canadian) but it is hard to say as I am obveousely an avid DIYer. for corals, most of the corals in my tank (and there are not many yet) are from fragfactory.ca, check out the exotic collectors pack, which ran me about $275 canadian. I got a bit of a discount because my club put in a big bulk order with them. Club bulk orders and DIY projects are the best money savers in the hobby in my oppinion.

[keyozoxmfc]

cooll..you know your striped mushrooms..how they kinda curl up. mine do the exact same thing? is there something wrong? because i have hypothesized that it does that when it gets in some flow?

[Ocelot199]

Cool thread dude. It makes me want to go out and put a bunch of new stuff together for my tank :D

You have any problems with heat? You've got a lot of stuff going on in that tank... I haven't even got half the pumps and lights you have and I have a lot of trouble keeping the temp down :/ And chillers are wayyyy too expensive.

[george1098]

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]

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]

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!

[CarmieJo]

Nice work!

[keyozoxmfc]

whoa thats looks GREAT! im on my way with my sump too

[Danamck]

Very nice sump. How long did it finally end up taking you to build?

[george1098]

hmm, a solid 3 days from start to finish. I was mostly held up because I had to wait for things to dry. I've been guilty of rushing in the past, so i took my time with this one and it was well worth it.

[george1098]

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

[george1098]

Oh yea, and while I had the opportunity (with nothing under the stand) I stabled some poly sheeting to help keep any minor leaks from being absorbed into the floor. I’ve had a squishy floor on more occasions than I care to remember.

[keyozoxmfc]

WHOA GEORGE!:wow:
that looks great!

[george1098]

The skimmer has arrived!

This thing is huge. I’m pretty sure I could fit inside the box it came in. My poor post man hates me. Here it is straight out of the box. That’s a regular water bottle sitting beside it.
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/stockg4x.jpg

A few simple modifications later and we have a re-circulating skimmer. As with the last skimmer, I will plumb it so it is fed by the overflow:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/modg4x.jpg

Here she is in the sump. Lots of room left over in the skimmer compartment should I ever decide to add a second needle wheel pump to the skimmer (we all know it’s in the cards).
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b254/scubascott1098/mdg4xinsump.jpg

I’m thinking about trying the mesh wheel mod, but I will order in a spare needle wheel impeller should something go wrong. For now I’m just happy to sit back and watch this thing polish my water.

[keyozoxmfc]

wow..thats huge compared to that water bottle! lol howd you get that in the stand! and dont the ones that size come with 2 pumps?

[Small Fry]

wow..thats huge compared to that water bottle! lol howd you get that in the stand! and dont the ones that size come with 2 pumps?

Mine did, sad thing was, we had to bring it home from toronto (about four hours from me) in this little jeep liberty, with four people in it.....)

The box could have easily been like 4.5 feet by 2 feet, things were a bit cramped...

lol

[keyozoxmfc]

rofls!! i could probably fit in that thing!

[john_waggs]

very nice plumbing work. What type of PVC cement are you using? I noticed there is no "purple" primer residue on your lines...do you not use the primer? Or do you use something different?