110 build

[spinnerbayt]

Ok guys my christmas took a wild turn when my brother wanted to get a tank. We went and checked out a 110g tank that brian@sen and wvdaisy had put up forsale. It was a RR tank and my brother wanted a FW tank so. I told him that if he got the tank then I would trade him my 125 FW tank for the 110 RR tank. Here is a pic of what went to my brothers house.

The reason I wanted to trade is my 55g reef is just too small and the addition to my house isn't finished so I can't start on the 265g yet. So here are some pic's of the 55 that will be moveing to the 110 and some pic's of the 110 as I start the build.

55g

110g with a 30g sump

 

[spinnerbayt]

The first thing I need to figure out is a pump. The sump is plumbed for an external pump. What would you all suggest as far as GPH and this tank is in the living room so I need one that is quiet also. I would like to keep it as cheap as possable as I just ordered the the rest of the stuff I needed to DIY a 2x250 MH fixture.

 

[Jimsreef]

genx mak 4 or a iwaki 55 would work. Jim

 

[LtPiper]

I have a mag 7 (maybe 9) on my 55 and is quiet and has good flow.

 

[radone]

Eheim 1260 or 1262 for quiet
a little more money but nice pumps

 

[spinnerbayt]

Ok, I was given a Little Giant 4-MDQX-SC but it looks like it could use a little cleaning. I have no idea how long its been just setting but i would say its been a while. This is a good size pump and I'm not sure how well it will fit under the stand with the sump. I'll post back later as to how and if it will fit. looks like it pumps about 1100 GPH at about 5ft of head. Give me your thoughts on this.

 

[carb850]

Your planted FW is beautiful, hate that you took it down but I understand.

Is the 110 a 4' tank?

 

[LtPiper]

That will be more than enough. You might want to consider putting a check valve so you can throttle it back some if it's too much.

 

[spinnerbayt]

Tank is 60x18x23 if I'm not mistaken. I'm not at home to verify. I still have a planted tank. I just moved the fish and some plants from the 125 to a 55 in the bedroom. I know its not the same but it will have to do for now. Also I can still enjoy the 125 as its only about a mile up the road and I'm there at least twice a week.

 

[carb850]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11474345#post11474345 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spinnerbayt
...looks like it pumps about 1100 GPH at about 5ft of head. Give me your thoughts on this.

If it has a single drain pipe, 1100 gph will probably be too much. Also, how do you plan on running your sump? Planning a refugium? If so, then you don't want near that much water going through it. Lower volume of water would be better. If your not going to do a refugium, or at least have the refuge seperate were you can control the flow, then the higher flow will not be a problem as long as your drain is up to the task.

I haven't decided for sure, but I'm thinking about 450gph on the 90G I'm putting together.

 

[spinnerbayt]

Yes its just one 1" pipe for the overflow. Its setup as a sump/fuge combo so I do think that 1100 GPH is too much. I'll just save that pump for the 265. So now I'm looking at Pentair Aquatics Lifegard Quiet One- 3000 or 4000 pumps or maybe a mag 9.5. My other option is just cap the the bulkhead and use my existing internal pump that does 525 GPH and put my money into other parts of the tank. Which is what I'm leaning toward at this point that way I can just save that money and get the external pump later.

 

[carb850]

Can a single 1" drain do 1000 GPH? I'm thinking that is too much for it.

 

[spinnerbayt]

Well I jumped in and started on the tank this morning and I was wrong about the size of the drain. It has one 1.5" drain and one 1" return. I think I'm just going to use the pump I have for now and will upgrade to an external a little later. Well I'm off to Lowes to get supplies.

 

[Altpers0na]

i have 1 inch drain and return lines on my 75, and a mag 9.5 for a return pump.

i have to restrict the mag's output for the drain to keep up.

i think its draining something like 500 - 600 gph... but thats from a bulk head near the top of the tank... farther down it would drain more gph.

 

[LtPiper]

I have two 1200 gph overflows with 1" lines on them and a single mag 9 (yeah I looked it's a 9) so if either overflow stops working for some wanky reason (they keep going even when an air bubble gets in them) I have the redundancy built in.

 

[spinnerbayt]

The tank is plumbed and it has some dead sand in the bottom. I filled it with fresh water for a test run and all seems good. NO LEAKS! Now here is my question. Can I just drain the FW back out and refill with SW and transfer all my live sand and rock over to the new tank and not have to worry about a cycle? Other tank is only about 10 feet away.

Progress Pic.

 

[J-Burns]

I used to have A Qxd4 on a 75. Just put a valve on the outflow and you can turn it down if you need to.

 

[firefish2020]

I would think it still will likely cycle at least some.

 

[spinnerbayt]

I guess the better question would be. Do you think everyone would be ok if I just transfered everything from one tank to the other? I just don't want to loose anything in the move. I'm not sure how much sand I'll be moving but I would say that I have around 125 - 150 pounds of rock that will just be moved from one tank to the other.

 

[mcox33]

use all the water from the original tank and mix enough to finish filling then run the filter from the smaller tank on the new one. Even if it is a second filter til the other one cycles in. Should be about the same as a 50% water change, small cycle still possible but with the old filter running while the new one cycles in and all the old water and assuming rock will transfer as well it should not be major.