100 Gallon Renovation

silentscream

silentscream

New member
Hello fellow Sacramento-area reefers. I'm in the middle of a renovation on my 100 gallon reef tank that is no longer a reef tank. It's really a fish-only tank at this point. As my daughter gets older and asks more questions about the fish (she's 3 years old) I really desire to have more to show her. She's just getting to the point where she wants to help feed fish and do the little chores that she can help with, and it's really pushed me over the side of the fence that wants me to stay in the hobby versus take an extended hiatus.

Items Planned
-New sump
-Display refugium
-Switch to LED lighting
-New rock/aquascape
-Recondition the stand

First up is the construction of my sump and refugium. I collected a couple quotes from various acrylic workers for a sump/refugium combo, and was smacked with reality when the price was going to be more than I hoped. I figured I would try and learn basic acrylic fabrication to save money, not to mention it is something I've always wanted to try. I enjoy wood working, so my tool arsenal was already pretty substantial. Wow, in retrospect, it would have been cheaper to just spend the money up front and have someone else build it. It's quite easy to get carried away on tools. 'Why am I even doing this?' I ask myself... too late now!

First you start with a trusted brand of acrylic.


Then you start the "welding" process.


It begins to look like a box.


A little bit of routing... (daughter calls it snow) then you more or less have what you set out to build: A 16x16x18" tall cube for a refugium you hope looks good enough to display.


Stay tuned!
 
The Sump

The sump was actually the first part of the project. I just failed to take progress photos. I also used a different brand of acrylic, Chemcast GP, which I learned later on is inferior. It just happens to be the most readily available brand. I'm not worrying much about using Chemcast over Polycast for the sump because the sump should really only be half full of water and not have the same pressures as a fully filled, and much larger tank. Since it was my first build, I will probably redo it sometime down the road.





Then the two pieces side by side. I plan to build a small platform to raise the refugium a good 4-6" so I can tie the drain from the refugium into one of the three drains in the sump.
 
Nice and clean work there. I like doing stuff myself also, but after buying the tools/supplies it is almost a wash. At least that 1st time!!
 
Saltwaternooby said:
Nice and clean work there. I like doing stuff myself also, but after buying the tools/supplies it is almost a wash. At least that 1st time!!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I've got a few more projects floating around in my head that aren't listed above. I think my only cost from here on out is acrylic and solvent. I'm just happy to learn some things along the way.
 
That looks awesome very professional. I really enjoyed building mine and I over engineered it so it works well. It's just no where near as clean and nice looking as yours though.
 
Wow! Very cool. Looks super clean!

What are your plans for the refugium? Just algae? Any critters you are planning on putting in there?
 
_divad said:
Wow! Very cool. Looks super clean!

What are your plans for the refugium? Just algae? Any critters you are planning on putting in there?
Click to expand...

I'm going to get "the package" from Tampa Bay Saltwater with an emphasis more of sea plants and algae rather than sponges, but I will still have to add more macro's to the package to fill out the tank. So that comes with a whole menagerie of clean up crew type critters.

I'm not sure exactly how much nutrient control the refugium will provide, but I'm hoping its biggest contribution to system will be biodiversity.
 
Rock

My current tank is setup with Bulk Reef Supply's Reef Saver rock. It is good rock, and I might have been inclined to reuse it after a bleach and acid bath, but I need some type of biological filtration for my fish in their holding tank while I finish this renovation. So I bought some dead fiji rock to change things up. Since it was once live rock from the ocean, it had a ton of algae, sponges, worms, etc. embedded all over it. So lets start cleaning it up!

Scrubbing the rock to remove as much debris as possible (tap water).


When first added to a 1:10 mixture of bleach and water.


Then 24 hours later the release of organics has subsided.


Not pictured, but after pulling the rock from the bleach I used a garden hose with a pressure nozzle to blast away the sediment. Afterwards I was left with surprisingly porous rock. I had no idea it would look like this when I first got the rock, as there must have been so much crust on the outside hiding its potential.


Currently, it is sitting in RO/DI water with Seachem's Prime to neutralize any chlorine left behind, after several daily additions of Prime, I will pull it and let it air dry until I can no longer detect any chlorine smell.

I'm thinking that while soaking in RO/DI and Prime I will test and see if any phosphates are leaching off the rocks, if there is I have Seaklear standing by.
 
Refugium completed

Spent the day working towards finishing the refugium. Most of my time was spent building the overflow box. I was very happy with how the teeth came out, as I thought that would be the toughest part of the project.

The overflow is about 5.75x1.75x4.75" and the lid is removable in case I need to service it.


Assembled with the bulkhead


After the overflow was done, I applied black vinyl to the back and left side of the refugium to keep light from bleeding into the sump. Here is the final product with the overflow installed and the light resting on top for aesthetic.


Finally for today, while the rock is soaking outside in de-chlorinator, I tested for phosphates and got 0.77 ppm from my Hanna Checker. Looks like I'll be starting my Seaklear treatments.
 
Been busy lately with non-reefing related projects. Spring time is here! The rock is in my garage in a lanthanum chloride bath soaking, but as far as my hanna checker can tell, its done leaching. So I'll pull those, rinse them of the lanthanum phosphate precipitate and figure out what my next course of action will be. With the tank down I need to deal with some minor rust issues on the current stand.

One last look


Set up a temporary home for the 5 fish in my old sump (40gal breeder)


Partway through the process


...and the deed is done. I have pictures that look like this from 6 years ago when we first moved into this house.
 
Mark, you of all people can sympathize with this: now that I see it torn down, it's nice and quiet in the house. It's going to take some real effort to set this thing back up. Look at all that space I can reclaim!
 
Inquiring about acrylic work is a compliment, after all I'm in every sense a beginner at this form of "art." Maybe one day I'll be skilled enough to sell, until then I must first see this build through. Thanks though!
 
Removed the overflow today. Keith really stuck that thing on there good!



Why am I removing the overflow? I'll show you all Friday when it is scheduled to deliver.
 
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