Hello everyone,

I am not exactly new to Talkingreef. I actually joined the last Talkingreef Live episode and spoke with everyone about my 10G refugium and AQ Mod.

Anyway I have decided to venture on to a new endeavor. I purchase a used 125G Acrylic tank last Thursday 3/20. The owner of the tank was using it for saltwater, but I honestly think it was originally intended to be a freshwater setup. I was fortunate enough to see it full of water and functioning. After some discussions with my wife and some soul searching I decided to take the plunge again into another larger reef system. My previous tank was a 90G glass with an overflow box in the back and it was drilled (pretty much plug and play for the most part).

This tank is an entirely different story. It does not have an overflow box; however it is drilled with 5 3/4" bulkheads. Two of the bulkheads have a piece of 3/4" PVC connected, which one was being used as a surface skimmer (if you can call it that :( ). The other one is capped.

Here is a picture of the tank. I flipped it upside-down so you all can see what the bottom looks like.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4375-1.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4383.jpg

The first bulkhead (left to right) is a 3/4" whole with a piece of PVC pipe capped off at the top the thank. The second one is the overflow (drainpipe more like) to the sump. The 3rd one is another bulkhead connected to a piece of capped (closed off) PVC. The last two are capped off bulkheads. There are two 1-1 1/2 inch holes drilled in the back of the tank in each corner. I guess the tank was originally intended for freshwater.

After purchasing the tank I was going to just use the existing drilled connectors; however after doing some research about closed-loop systems I thought it might be cool to make some changes. Here is a list of the current equipment that came with the tank and some of the items I already purchased.

Existing (items I already have or things that came with the tank)
1) 125G Acrylic Tank
2) 30G Glass Tank/Sump
3) 29G Walmart tank (wife’s old freshwater setup)
4) Rio Pump (submersible). This was the pump the previous owner was using on the 125G tank
5) 200W heater
6) Light. Not much more can be said about it. It has two fluorescent light bulbs. One on each side.

New items I purchased for the tank
1) ASM G3 Protein Skimmer
2) Nova Extreme HO Light Fixture - 8 x 54W - 4 Lunar - 48 in.
3) Pond Mag Drive 950
4) Hagen Thermal Compact Heater - 300W - 13 1/2 in.
5) Neptune Junior w/DC8 ***Serial Port Upgrade***. I purchased the controller thinking I would eventually need a Calcium Reactor, but I realize I won’t need for a few more months
6) 4 Hydor Koralia 1200 pumps. The pumps are on order however they are currently out of stock. I may up canceling the order if I get a good closed-loop system in place instead,

So those are the building blocks. I am hoping all the folks out there can help me utilize this setup and give me some options. I am totally open to any idea within reason and budget.

Hi Dave and :welcome: to the forums!

There is another good thread going on right now about powerheads vs CL. http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/general-marine-discussions/6146-idea-flow-mixed-reef-tank.html

What model of a Rio came with it? I had 3 older Rio 2500's that I rotated between return, skimmer and mixing batches of saltwater. One day the one I was using that week to mix SW froze up and spewed black oily stuff into my batch of water. I IMMEDIATELY bought new pumps to use in the tank and relegated the Rios for mixing SW. The 2nd one eventually quit but did not spew the stuff out and I am still mixing SW with the 3rd. I have been told that Rio corrected this defect on newer models.

Did your wife ever use copper (ie to treat ich) in her FW tank? If so I would be cautious about using it in your system. It would however make a great QT tank for fish.

Plumbing is my weak point so I will let the ones who know more respond with that advice.

I've been reading the post that Amphibious posted in Feb 2006. His tank looks real nice and I was thinking of using the same concepts he used or is using.

I heard that about some of the Rio pumps and that is a real concern to me. I may go with another Mag Drive instead or go with a closed loop and put the Mag Drive into the 30G into a refugium.

I don't think you can go wrong by following Dick's (Amphibious) example and advice!

the mag 9.5 will do great for a sump return, you will want to make a decision though on whether or not you want a closed loop. Acrylic is cake to drill but CL are tricky to plan. If you do go with a closed loop you should return the koralias as you wont be needing them.

The biggest question is going to be what you want to do with the tank! You might be best off running a low flow refugium / sump where you can chain off your skimmer and future reactors, plumbing up a 5 or 7 outlet (7 is preferred) closed loop with piping large enough to fit the "largest pump you see yourself needing in the future" and running another Mag on it until you need something larger. That'll give you the best of both worlds and you can then wander off and focus on lighting and what nots.

I beleive the DC8 and the Neptune will run the koralia's pretty decetly in a wavemaker though, which may be more desireable than a closed loop. I've heard plenty of banter on whether or not koralias will last on a wave controller but the skinny is that Dkone has been running his for quite a long while now with no problems.

Before going in any route I suggest you do some reading on what Jake Adams has come up with, Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine - Feature Article: Water Flow is More Important for Corals Than Light, Part V (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature) I know the guy personally and he's done some crazy research into the actual harmonics of wave making. If not for anything the Gyre system seems to do much more with much less resources as well.

Great Article! Thank you very much.

I made a couple of stops tonight around town tonight. I spoke with a guy named Richard who is the manager of Fish Pros in Raleigh. He made some recommendations for my tank. He suggested drilling over the 3/4" hole with the screen and replacing it with a 1" hole w/bulkhead and screen, then setting up a closed loop system using the remaining 3/4" bulkheads and adding an Oceans Motions Wavemaker. He would then add an overflow box in the right corner and drill a second hole in the bottom of the tank for the overflow box. This would be the main feed for the Refugium. He also recommended replacing the 30G with a 55G tank and using that as a refugium. He sells a refugium retro kit you can install in yourself.

Here is a list of items I would need for the tank and the prices

1) Oceans Motions - $389.00
2) Dart 3600 GPH Pump - $250.00
3) Overflow Box - $45.00
4) Drilling for both 1" holes - $45.00
5) 55G Glass Aquarium - $65.00
6) Retro Kit for Fug - $50.00

Let me know what you all think. I really appreciate everyone's input.

on the ocean motion and dart combination, this is a great idea but costly

You may want to examine the possibilities of a Tunze wavebox or a pair of Vortech's for that cost comparison. In such a small tank if you want to run the Dart on a closed loop go for a minimum of 7 outlets and I'd push for a 2" inlet to the whole deal. Dont forget the hidden costs.... your going to need ball valves on each of the closed loop ports to be able to set it to any degree.

I've seen too many people attack this one with the idea that "I'll just dial the dart back" rather than adding more returns and/or a good manifold... it always ends up bad. If your going to drill for a closed loop you might as well drill for an overflow. Overflow boxes are typically reliable and great but they are prone to failure over time at a percentage much higher than my mind will allow me to accept. The only things that would make this a better choice would be if the tank bottom were Tempered (means no drilly). Even then there are creative ways around that with larger bulkheads ported out the side and an elbow to standpipe.

If you do go with the Ocean motion and get the right amount of returns drilled for the closed loop, you wont be dissapointed! Those things are nothing short of slick

Hey Dave, we must be neighbors. :)

We may be :).

I live in Cary. Where do you live?

You're right! This is getting very costly! I've heard of the Tunze, but I honestly don't know a lot about them. I'll need to some more research. The overflow box was going to be for the refugium and I was going to use the Mag Drive for the return back to the tank. Do you think it would be better to go with 2 overflow boxes in the back of the tank and have them Tee off to a single pipe, then plumb them into the refugium?

better off drilling tank for refugium and avoiding overflow entirely but if you do go overflow make sure and pick up a high quality one and keep it clean!

Okay guys I am beginning to re-think things. I am new to the whole plumbing thing so excuse my ignorance. I measured the PVC pipe and it is actually 1" not 3/4" as I originally suspected. The Oceans motions looks pretty cool, but it is very pricey. I was thinking of doing 2 overflow boxes in each corner and still doing to closed loop with just the 3600 GPH Dart Pump. I may also add some Koralia 4s to add some wave like motion.

How many Koralias do you think I would need to a 125G? I currently have 4 on order, but wasn't sure if I would need that may. I will still have 3-4 returns on the Dart as well...

I am still open to suggestions :).

Apparently the ASM I ordered won't fit under my tank stand. The footprint from the bottom of the stand to the top is only 22 inches.

Can anyone recommend a skimmer that would fit in that tight of a space?

Hey Dave,

I'm in Willow Spring in southern Wake County.

My Red Sea Berlin Classic skimmer is 20.5" without the carbon air filter cup. I have it on my skimmer but I don't have anything in it and it can be used without it. The Classic has been replaced by the X2 but you can still find it at some sellers. I don't know the measurements of the new model. I think it is a decent skimmer although it is the only one I have so I have no real comparison. It is pretty easy to operate and does not require a lot of adjustments.

I'd like to invite you to come visit the Raleigh Aquarium Society (http://raleighaquariumsociety.org/). We meet at the Vet School on the first Thursday of the month.

Thank you so much for the invite. I would love to come but I am down in Orlando this week with my family and won't be home until Sunday night 3/6. Perhaps you send me a private message with the information so we can meet.

Thanks again!

I was on the TRL earlier and been research about the SEIO controllers working with the Koralia 4s. I currently have 4 of the Koralia 4s and was wondering if the SEIO would be the good option. RIo says they ONLY work with Rio Seio Pumps, but it appears they would work with Koralia's since the unit decreases the power instead of shutting it off like other wavemakers; i.e. RedSea.

Would the Seio be a good option, or would it better to stick with the closed loop using a couple of the new 1" SQWDs and the 4 Koralia's?

the Hydor Koralia pumps are have a DC motor and the wavemakers use AC to turn the voltage to the pumps down but not off. so the controllers will not work without damaging the pumps.

So between the 2 SCWDs on the closed-loop and the 4 Koralia 4s would I have enough wave-like action to do the SPS tank? I really don't want to wait for the new Hydor Wavemaker...

i have 3 koralia #4s and a seio 1500 with a 1200gph return pump ... NO wavemaker. i am 90% SPS.

the new Hydor wavemaker is going to run around $400 JUST for the controller from what i am hearing.

I made some good progress over the last few days. I found a place in CA that sells overflow boxes and they gave me a great deal on the boxes, the 1" SCWDs, Reflo Dart 3600 GPH pump and various other plumbing supplies. Both Mike and Scott were great guys to deal with! I can't say enough good things about them and I can't thank them enough for all the help and guidance they gave me.

Here is the URL to their web site: Glass-Holes.com dope aquarium stuff (http://www.glass-holes.com/main.sc) if you anyone would like to check them out.

I also decided to go with a 33G long for the refugium. The dimensions are 33 Long 48 1/4 x 12 3/4 x 12 7/8. It would still give me some room below the tank for the calcium reactor after the tank is cycled and running for a few months.

I am going away for a couple of weeks but I will be checking in from time to time on my laptop and I will continue to work on the tank part of the plan.

Here is a crude drawing of my closed-loop that I made in Visio. Please feel free to make any comments or suggestions. I have not made it to Lowes or HD to pick up the remaining plumbing parts, but I hope to pick them up in the next week or so.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/TankPlan1.jpg

That looks like it would work, Dave. I have a suggestion for your 2" suction to the pump. Check it out here - Tractor Supply Company - 2 in Polypropylene Basket Suction Hose Strainer (http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_10551_10001_34217_-1______?rFlag=true&cFlag=1) It looks like just the thing for closed loop suction side openings.

Dick

the Hydor Koralia pumps are have a DC motor and the wavemakers use AC to turn the voltage to the pumps down but not off. so the controllers will not work without damaging the pumps.
Is one of us confused??? I use Koralia pumps and if they were DC I would not be able to plug them into my house AC outlets with out burning them up, I would suspect. Help me out here, Bobby.

Dick

That looks like it would do the trick. We have a place local here in NC called Agri Supply. They sell the heavy duty storage tanks and I will check to see if they have these strainers.

I was reading the post about your 135 setup. I noticed you have a UV sterilizer. Do you think this would be something I could incorporate into my closed loop, or would it be better to keep it separate because of the SCWDs.

Thank you so much for your help.

Yes, Dave, I think you could incorporate a UV into one of those lines without a problem. Any use of a UV is better than not using one, in my humble opinion.

I thought you'd like that strainer.

Dick

Is one of us confused??? I use Koralia pumps and if they were DC I would not be able to plug them into my house AC outlets with out burning them up, I would suspect. Help me out here, Bobby.

Dick

maybe i had it backwards, the NEW pumps that are going to be controlled by the new controller are going to be adjusted by the unit to turn up and down. the current pumps are not able to do this without wearing the motor out. this is WHAT I HAVE HEARD from a LFS owner that has spoken with Hydor directly about the new controllers.

Well I have basically everything I need to begin setting up the closed-loop except the UV Sterilizer and PVC. When I initially purchased the tank I was going to buy a new Protein Skimmer, but do to some unfortunate money issues I decided to use the Coralife Superskimmer that I came with the tank. I've done some research and checked with one of my LFS and they use one and it appears to be doing a good job on his setup had around 20 15-20G Fish Only Tanks on the single skimmer.

My next step will be setting up the refugium. My initial plan was to use a 55G to 75G display type tank, but due to costs I decided to go with a 110G Stock Tank. The tank sells for $49.95+tax at Agri Supply (the online price included shipping). The store is only 10 miles from my house and you can't beat the price!

Does anyone out there have a DIY or mod for one of these Stock Tanks so I can convert it to a refugium? I was thinking that I would need some acrylic from HD or Lowes to create the baffles and use egg crate to make the dividers for mineral mud/live sand.

110GAL HEAVY DUTY OVAL TANK L. - Agri Supply (http://www.agrisupply.com/110gal-heavy-duty-oval-tank-l/p/39391/ss/stock%20tank/)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have.

Dave,

It looks to me like the stock tank is $160, not $49. ??

Dick, I think that the price in the online catalog includes the shipping charges. But Agri-supply has a really nice brick & mortar store too. Their old store was basically a pole building warehouse stacked floor to ceiling that you could get lost in but the new one is bright and IIRC I can actually see over the shelves.

Oh, reread that. Got it. Thanks.

After looking at the stock tank I decided to go back to my original plan and purchase a display type tank instead. I was poking around on craigslist last week and found a 55G w/rod iron stand for $70.00. I exchanged some emails with the women who was selling it and got her down to $60.00. She had snakes in the tank prior to selling it to me. Thank goodness it was empty when I picked it up last week :o ! She also wasn't sure if the tank would hold water! I'll probably take it outside this weekend and fill it with water to check for leaks. If it is leak free, I'll go head and use it to start mixing my salt water.

Dick (Amphibious) was kind of enough to point me to a AQUA-SAFE MAXIMUS II REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER FILTER - eBay (item 160230935367 end time Apr-21-08 12:01:31 PDT) (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160230935367&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:US:1123) on eBay, so I decided to go ahead and purchase the unit so I can start making my own water saltwater and RO/DI water!

I opted to go with a better skimmer than the Coralife. I went with the Top Fathom skimmers (http://www.theculturedreef.com/skimmers.htm) TF200A. For the price and rating you really can’t beat it! I also did not want to shortchange myself when it came to skimming! It should be more than enough for my SPS tank. I also purchased the level-loc (http://www.theculturedreef.com/level-loc.htm) for Auto Top-off.

I also drilled my first hole last week. I decided to drill over an existing ¾ inch hole with 3 inch one for the 2 inch bulkhead. I had to put a plug in the ¾ inch bulkhead as a centering hole. This will be the main feed for the closed-loop system. I am going to use the remaining 1” bulkheads as the return for the new 1” SCWDs. Here is a pic of the tank with the new hole and stand.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/TankandStand.jpg

I was also thinking about building an addition/extension for stand. The existing stand is very short for a 125G tank. I was looking at some DIY’s out there to build a stand from scratch, but I think it will be more cost effective to make the addition.

Thanks again for all your help and support!

If the tank leaks you can re-silicon it.

i had to build a pedestal for my stand to sit on. my original stand was also very short. i built it from 2x10s and added a couple of center support braces in the middle of the pedestal. it worked out nice, but i think i would use 2x12s next time.

Thanks for the info. What kind of screws did you use? Where they wood screws? If so how long were they?

I was actually thinking of picking up some cinderblocks, but thought it might look kind of tacky.

I was wondering what the recommended height was for a reef tank? I spoke with someone today and he said my tank was very short and thought it would make a better frag tank. Does anyone know the rule-of-thumb when it comes to SPS tanks? My tank is about 20" H, 5' L, 18" W.

I am going to be using the Nova Extreme HO Light Fixture - 8 x 54W - 4 Lunar - 48 in.

http://www.current-usa.com/files/NovaExtreme.pdf

I would also like to have a DSB (around 4") aragonite and around 100 lbs base rock, 50 lbs live rock to seed the base rock, 55G refugium.

I think you are fine with a 20" tank!

I spent about 3-4 days working on the refugium and pedestal for the stand. Here are some pictures. Let me know what you all think.

Testing the tank for leaks… I purchased the tank on Craigslist $60.00. I filled it with water and I was happy to see there were no leaks.

A few days later I went to Lowes and had glass cut to make the ballasts. I also purchased some aquarium safe silicon to get them attached. Here is a picture of the finished refugium.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4428.jpg

In Compartment 1I wanted to create an area where I could add some filter media when necessary. I will more than likely add some live rock to this compartment and add activator carbon and a poly filter when needed.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4429.jpg

Compartment 2 will hold my mangroves that are in my 10G refugium. My current refugium is a little crowded so by moving them it will free up some much needed space. I am thinking of adding 2 mangroves, but I may add some more later on.

Compartment 3 will house the 4" DSB and macro algae and Compartment 4 will be a Bubble trap - Notice how I installed a piece of glass from top to bottom. It is going to extend about 1" from the bottom to allow water to follow under and over the last ballast.

Here's a pic of the Pedestal. I built the Pedestal using Bobby's suggestion with 2x12s. My plan is to put the regular stand on top of it. :D. This is the biggest thing I have ever built, but I am overall happy with the results.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4433.jpg

Here's a pic of the Pedestal.
That looks really good! I was daydreaming about adding a pedestal to my tank stand, but I was too scared, so I just deal with it being a bit lower than I'd like. :D

what a great thread! :agree:

Dave I think the fuge is well thought out.

that pedestal looks great. mine is just a basic stand for the stand, lol. no fancy trim or anything ... its really kind of boring or i would post a pic of it.

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone. This is by far the best saltwater forum on the web in my humble option :)

I hope the have the plumbing for closed loop done tonight or tomorrow. I will send some more pictures when I have the skeleton done.

Hello everyone I was able to get the stand on the new pedestal setup last night. I also installed the overflows and skeleton for the PVC. I want to send a special thank you to Dick for spending some time with me on the phone todaye to answer some questions about the PVC, cement, primer etc. I’m sure he's starting to get sick of me. He basically gave me some tips about gluing the pieces together 1/4 turn and to stay away from the purple primer because it looks some darn ugly. :agree:

Here are some pictures of the Stand/Pedestal and Overflow boxes from glass-holes.com.

Stand and Pedestal
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4439.jpg

Overflow Boxes - Right and Left side:
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4459.jpg
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4460.jpg


PVC Skeleton (framing)
Looking in from the left side of the stand with the door open:
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4456.jpg

Looking in from the right side of the stand with the door open:
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4457.jpg

Continued to next post...

More pics of the pluming... I am going to try to make a video and post it on YouTube as well. If everything goes smoothly.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4442.jpg
Left side of the tank facing in

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4444.jpg
Left side looking down at the pump

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4447.jpg
2" PVC connection from tank which eventually leads down to the pump. The previous picture show the connection to the 2" pipe

[http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4465.jpg
Close up of the right side

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4466.jpg
Looking down top (left side)

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4445.jpg
Looking inside from top (right side)

Next will come the fun part of cementing it together... I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Hello everyone I was able to get the stand on the new pedestal last night. I also installed the overflows and skeleton for the PVC. I wanted to send a special thank you to Dick for spending some time with me today on the phone to answer some questions about the PVC, cement, primer etc. I’m sure he starting to get sick of me. He basically gave me some tips about gluing the pieces together 1/4 turn and to stay away from the purple primer because it looks some darn ugly. :agree:
Hey Dave, never get tired of talking to my pipefitter apprentice. It's grading time and I give that piping job an A.

Everything you are showing us looks very professional. You are an accomplished DIY'er. Looking forward to seeing this baby as a reef.

Dick

Very nice looking job.

very nice and clean !! good job !! i too am waiting for this bad boy to come to life.

Thanks everyone.

I was getting ready to start cementing but I am having a slight problem with the big 2" ball valve. I think I may need to hire a gorilla to turn this thing :showoff: or I am getting old and weak... I guess I'll have to head back to Lowes tomorrow and swap it for another one. This time I will test it out before taking it home. I was also able to locate the clear PVC primer so once I get the new ball valve I should be good to go to start gluing.

I also haven't cemented the PVC yet, but with any luck I will be able to get started on it tomorrow night.

Looking Good!!!

you know what worries me - no glue marks to talk of..lol

Actually I haven't glued it yet. I am hoping to get that done on Saturday 5/17.

if i actually read your text instead of looking at glossy pics i should have known that already yeah! :rotfl:


interp for any ozzie folk, thats 17/05/08 lol

Well as you can see I changed the name of the thread because it my tank has transformed over the last few weeks and with any luck I will have it setup and running by the weekend.

I had some trouble this weekend with a leaky 2" bulkhead. I went ahead and hand tightened it the best I could, but it still leaked! I did some additional research and after speaking to one of the guys at glass-holes.com he recommended that I add some silicon the bulkhead. This should help stop the leaking. They also sent me some extra flanges free of charge which should also help. With any little luck I should have it up and running by the weekend.

I was wondering if anyone out there has ever tried using silicon to seal bulkheads to acrylic. From what I've read it is commonly used and recommended. Anyway I would really appreciate any feedback you all may have about this.

Thanks again.

I got into the habit a long time ago of sealing the rim of my bulkheads with silicone just to avoid the possibility of leakage. If done in a dry environment before water is pushed in it's quick and doesnt really take much at all!

One thing I've seen people get stuck with is when they wrap the outer threads of the bulkhead with teflon tape, while teflon tape is amazing stuff for threaded fittings on the bulkheads it's the rubber gasket that makes the seal and often a few peices of the teflon will get under that gasket and cause leakage. May want to check for that (though it's rare to see people use teflon on bulkheads).

Thank you for the tip. I purchased some aquarium safe silicon at Lowes when I built the refugium and it does not adhere to acrylic like glass so it should help. It says it cures in in 48 hours so hopefully that will help stop the leak around the big bulkhead. I believe the person who owned the tank before me used silicon as well because the fitting was very difficult to get off and it had some dry rubbery substance on it.

Hopefully once I get some additional washers on there and the silicon I will be leak free. :)

What a neat DIY. I love the way you raised the stand.
I van't wais to see this one up and rinning. It looks gorgeous.

Thanks Sunshine. I love your user ID! It's taken a little longer than I would have liked, but it is starting to come along.

he he yeah silicone can be messy for future changes, sometimes it turns into a nightmare! I typically apply it using my finger and wipe away the excess to make it clean, so long as theres no air gaps or bubbles you really dont need to use much. I've seen people coat the gasket with it too but that just turns into a nightmare, a simple bead around the hole before you press the bulkhead in will cause it to squish out around the edges and you can smooth it with your finger after that.

The less you use the better off you are for sure! (And for the record, the copepodgeek endorses Silicone I. as his favorite!)

I was able to get the plumbing done this weekend. I had some initial problems with the bulkheads. I actually had them installed upside down. I decided to bite the bulltet and reverse them all. I'm sure it will pay off in the long run. I initially thought I had them installed correctly, but after finding several leaks I consulted with Dick and a few others and discovered they were indeed installed wrong.

As you will see I had to go with the purple primer for the plumbing. Kind of tongue twister there… I looked everywhere for the clear, but all I could find was the purple. My first installation was a little sloppy, but things go better the more I did. (I must say I’ve learned a lot about plumbing and I have a new found respect for PVC and anyone who works with this stuff).

After double-checking the bulkheads and all the fittings I went ahead and filled the tank with water and amazingly there were no leaks! Lets just say I had the learn the hard way! I guess that's the best way to learn.

I am very impressed with Reflo Dart pump! It is very quiet. I actually had to throttle it back a bit using the ball valve on the main feed. I also like the alternating current with the new 1” SCWDs. The SCWDs are quiet as well.

My plan the week is the get the RO/DI system setup. I’m sure there will be another plumbing lesson to learn as well. With any luck I have the live rock, light, UV and all the other goodies installed this coming week…

Here are some PICs if you're interested

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4479.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4480.jpg
SCWD Flo Test

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4481.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4482.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4483.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4484.jpg
Plumbing - Left, Middle, Right

Thanks for reading.
Dave

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4486.jpg
Left side - Split View of Top and Bottom

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4487.jpg
Right side - Split View of Top and Bottom

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4487.jpg
Full View

Good observation about the bulkhead. You are definitely moving in the right direction.

I was able to get the plumbing done this weekend. I had some initial problems with the bulkheads. I actually had them installed upside down. I went ahead and bit the bullet and reversed all so are all now correct now! I initially thought I had them installed correctly, but after consulting the Dick and a few others, I discovered they were installed wrong. I've read and spoke with a few people that said you are supposedly have them installed in ether direction, but I didn't have much luck with them not leaking until they were installed correctly.

Thanks for reading.

Dave

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: THE WHO??? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: LMAO

Oh by the way, the plumbing job looks good in spite of the purple primer.

The Dick :rotfl: Still LMAO

Sorry about that Dick. You have been great and I appreciate you listening to my rants on the phone. :rotfl:

plumbing looks excellent!!! Make sure on that throttle ball valve that its on the OUTput of the Dart and not the INput as choking down input is a great way to burn out a pump!

as far as the purple primer goes... eh... nobody's going to see it anyways and if it really chokes you up wrap the pipe in insulation and claim it's for "temperature maintenance" (my god I'm getting good at these excuses, I just need to figure out how to come up with one for when my wife yells at me for having beers with friends... somehow I dont think "Liver Testing" is going to work.... I'll have to consult the Dick for advice on that one)

Here are some pics of the refugium and plumbing. As I noted in one of my earlier posts I built the refugium using a 55G snake tank. I split it out into 4 separate chambers.

The first chamber is where the water flows from the main tank. The second is going to be for mangroves. The 3rd for live rock and macro algae with a deep sand bed. 4th is the return back to the main tank.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4488.jpg
Refugium Plumbing

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4489.jpg
First Chamber

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4490.jpg
First Chamber - Pic2. I had a new filter sock that wasn't using and luckily fit perfectly into my main box which will house carbon (when needed).

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4491.jpg
Last Chamber (return back to main tank) - When I purchased the acrylic tank the previous owner was using a Rio for the return pump. I thought I might as well use it since I already have so much $$$ spent on other areas of the tank.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4492.jpg
Back of the main tank. Since the back of black you really can't see any of this plumbing from the front of the main display tank.

plumbing looks excellent!!! Make sure on that throttle ball valve that its on the OUTput of the Dart and not the INput as choking down input is a great way to burn out a pump!

> I installed ball valves on all the returns so I can throttle back one or all of them if I need to. Also from what I have read since it is a sequence pump you can throttle it back if you want and it will actually draw less current instead of burning out the motor. At least I think that’s how it is suppose to work.

as far as the purple primer goes... eh... nobody's going to see it anyways and if it really chokes you up wrap the pipe in insulation and claim it's for "temperature maintenance" (my god I'm getting good at these excuses, I just need to figure out how to come up with one for when my wife yells at me for having beers with friends... somehow I dont think "Liver Testing" is going to work.... I'll have to consult the Dick for advice on that one)

> Yeah the purple primer aint pretty. It served the purpose and like you said no one will ever see it anyway once I put the doors back on the tank :p

Thanks again for the positive feedback.

THEJRC,

You tell her you hate vegetables so you're drinking them in the form of liquified HOPS!

The Dick

Hi everyone,

I did some more work on the tank today. I added the aragonite sand bed, live sand and live rock. Then the sand storm began! It’s been so long sine I started a new tank that I can't remember if this is normal or not. From what I have read and remember it is normal, but I was hoping you all could confirm this.

I was also wondering if you think I should I turn the Reflo Dart Pump (closed-loop) off while I am waiting for this to happen? I noticed the SCWDs don't seem to be working real well since I turned the pump on. Water only comes out on one end one on SCWD and it comes out on both ends at the same time on the other. Could it be from all the silt clogging the mechanism to switches that switches the current or could it be too much flow coming from the Dart? The SCWD manufacturer says they can handle from 500/3500 GPH and the Dart is 3500.

I also wanted to mention that someone had responded to one of my earlier posts regarding ballvalve placement. He said if the ballvalve was before the pump you could burn it out if you adjust the pressure. I thought since the Dart is a sequence pump I could turn it back, but wasn’t if the placement was important. Should I have added a ball valve after the pump as well?

The storm you are experiencing is normal. It should clear in a couple of days.

A ball valve can be installed on both the suction and discharge sides of a pump, with unions on the pump side of the valves. This set up makes for easy removal of the pump for repair or replacement. BUT, the flow of water should not be restricted on the suction side of the pump. Restricting the suction side of the pump can cause cavitation within the impeller housing which will cause failure of the plastic impeller. Will it burn out the motor? Probably not, unless, when the impeller fails it freezes the shaft. Then maybe, if it doesn't cause a breaker to trip and save the motor. Smaller aquarium pumps are magnetically coupled and those probably will not burn out.

There are two styles of ball valve, "standard" and "full flow". Around the pump you should get the full flow when ever possible. What's the difference??? The standard 1" ball valve, for instance, has a smaller than 1" hole through the "ball", about 3/4". This is a built-in restriction for cost reduction in manufacturing. A full flow 1" ball valve is larger in size and the ball has a 1" hole through it for "full flow" of the liquid. Full flow ball valves are about twice the cost of standard ball valves. In most aquarium applications the standard ball valve is OK but, around the suction and discharge of the pump the full flow is recommended.

Dick

Well I got almost everything up and running except the Skimmer, Auto Top-off, UV and SCWDs. Maybe I should have said I got the tank full of water and the live rock, light and refugium setup :).

The SCWD has a bad gear thingy (don't know the technical term). I've been working with one of the engineers there and he is going to send me a replacement along with a flow enhancer. The UV was missing an O-Ring, the skimmer needs a larger rubber hose and I haven't gotten around to setting up the auto top-off.

I used Dick's PVC idea to raise the live rock. I will do a better job of hiding that later.

Here are pics if your viewing pleasure.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4508.jpg
Tank with T5 Light

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4510.jpg
Tank showing plumbing underneith

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4513.jpg
Refugium

Looking very good Dave. Woo Hoo, progress!

Thanks Dick. I appreciate the kind words.

Progress! :)

As you can imagine over the last few days I've seen pretty large diatom algae bloom. I was expecting this since it is a new tank. I added a couple of hermit crabs from my Nano and ordered 100 more blue legs and 100 Astrea snails.

The rock that was added was Walt Smith premium LR that I purchased locally. It should help reduce the cycle time. Slow and steady!

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4528.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4527.jpg
The blue streamers you see in the picture are bicycle tassels that I am using to gauge the time and flow that is be generated from the SCWDs.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4525.jpg
The Venturi 200A skimmer I purchased from Amphibious is working like a champ! I have been real happy with the skimmate being collected. I have also set it up a drain down to a 1 gallon container that is currently sitting beside the refugium.

I was wondering if you could answer a closed-loop question I have. As you all know I opted to go with 2 1” SCWDs that connect to a Reflo Dart 3600 GPH external pump. When I initially set it up the SCWDs they seemed to be working okay, but once I filled the tank with the aragonite DSB the SCWDs stopped alternating flow. After working on the problem with a rep from 3iQ he ended up sending me a new set of Gates, Swing Locks, Carriers and Drive Assemblies. I have been calling it the GUTS of the SCWD!

Anyway after installing the GUTS both SCWDs started working great, up until about a week ago. I contacted 3iQ and worked with the same engineer again, who has been awesome by the way, went ahead and took the SCWD off my closed loop and thoroughly cleaned it. But it still did not work! After speaking to the engineer again he is going to send me another new Drive Assembly. Sorry for getting so long winded here…

My questions are, do you think I need to add some kind of pre-filter on the intake of the closed-loop; i.e. sponge, cheesecloth, filter sock, mesh bag, etc. to prevent any type of debris getting into the SCWD? From my understanding a true closed-loop should not have anything impeding the Intake, but in my situation using the SCWDs that have very tiny gears in the Carrier. Should I should add something to prevent debris from getting in the intake? If I were to add something wouldn’t it impede the flow and could potentially burn out the Pump?

I included some PICs of my setup to refresh your memory.

Intake
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4594.jpg

Left side
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4595.jpg

Right side
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4596.jpg

Full Shot
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/125G%20Acrylic%20Reef%20Tank/DSCN4597.jpg

Thanks,
Dave

It's been a while since I updated my tank journal so I wanted to share with you all some pictures of my corals.

I hope you enjoy them.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00811.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00839.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00840.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00841.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00842.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00843.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00846.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00847.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00849.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00850.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00855.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00859.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00893.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00895.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00897.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg25/Dave1NC/Reef%20Tank%20-%20125%2008-19-2008/DSC00905.jpg

very nice !! you guys are making it really hard to not set up the 40 in my storage shed !!

I'm sure you will be back before you know it and if you decide to wait we're not going anywhere :)

I've come full circle Bobby. I started with a 90 gallon reef after keeping Discus fish for a couple of years, then moved and downsized to a Nano. Now I have 3 reef tanks setup and I am in the process of starting my own coral frag business. I don't know if I will be able to call it work because I love doing it.

Dave1NC the tank looks great. thanks for the pics

Now I have 3 reef tanks setup and I am in the process of starting my own coral frag business. I don't know if I will be able to call it work because I love doing it.

congrats on the coral frag business and the 3 tanks:)
Raymond

Dave, beautiful corals.

OOOOOOOOOO, Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. You wowed me with all the eye candy Dave. Looks awesome!

Thanks Carmie and Dog! The tank is doing great! I switched my top-off to Mrs. Wages and the levels have been stable and I'm getting phenomenal growth from my corals. My Neon Green Candy has split 3 times in the last month and Blue Xenia has stretched out across the middle of the tank.

I am having a little trouble with majano anemones. I bought some stuff called AIPTASIA-X and it seems to work pretty well. The problem with these majano's is they hide under other corals and rocks so they just seem to pop-up out of the blue.

My Yellow-eye Kole is still being finicky, but the other Tangs are growing like crazy.

I am glad to hear the kalk is working out for you!