120 Gallon design decision help.

[Tampico96]

I've had a few tanks in the past. Currently I am putting together a 120 in my living room. This has been a very long and slow process. Previous house I had a 75. I purchased a 150 with hopes of an upgrade. Then I ended up moving. Plans at new house was to setup the 150 in the basement game room. Then with most new homes that are 45 years old, house projects took priority. Sad when you spend $12k on a tank but its septic. :mad2:


So this build is going to be a mix of old parts I had, craigslist finds and some new parts bought a bit at a time. This was a 2 year purchasing trip to try to spread the hurt out. I plan on doing a full build log but with the time this has taken I will do a massive built post later. I'd like to hear some opinions on my direction as I near the end.



Here are my current design decision questions:

1. I have an Apex light. I also have a blue line titanium heater and controller. Do I use the blueline controller or plug the heater directly into the apex with no controller.




2. Drain is going to be a Herbie because I only have 2 drains. My choices are 1inch and 1.5 inch. Im planning 1 siphon 1.5 emergency. Correct decision?




3. The Sump is a 40 gallon. first chamber will be rubble and a DIY HOG type ATS Second is skimmer and third is return. I plan to do a raised 20 gallon as a refugium/land of misfit critters. I have a jebao dc-6000 for the return to display. I had planned on a dedicated pump to feed the fuge so a high water float could turn off just that pump. I could also feed it from a manifold from the DC-6000 Opinions of the best option for this?








I'm sure a few more questions will come up as I quickly near the point of filling this up finally.

 

[Art13]

I would use the apex to control the heater with a temp probe, i believe they are more accurate than the controllers.

 

[Tampico96]

I thought I had read some place about using both. That is more of the the thought. But adds something else to go wrong. But my thought was set controller and use apex to double check the heater controller.

 

[Tampico96]

Here is a good testament about the time elapse. This is the same kiddo as my avatar. Instead of observer he is helping with the build. adding magnets for the front panel.

 

[thegrun]

1. I suppose running both controllers would give you some redundancy, but I'm not sure how your blueline controller would react being constantly turned on and off by the Apex or left off for an extended period of time. I would simply use the Apex if the heaters have individual temperature control, if they simply plug in then I would use both controllers but be sure that the blueline controller works when turned on and off by the Apex.
2. Yes that is a good choice using the 1" drain as the primary and the 1.5" drain as the emergency drain. I use a 1" primary on my 120 gallon tank.
3. Yes you can also run the manifold from your return pump.

Here is a link to my tank which just celebrated it's one year birthday. I list all my equipment which may be of some help to you:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2575506

 

[Tampico96]

thegrun,

I looked through your post. I see a lot of the same things I wanted to implement in my build. I will snap a picture of the left side base cabinet when i get home tonight. The red box contains the start of my apex layout and wire management.

 

[thegrun]

thegrun,

I looked through your post. I see a lot of the same things I wanted to implement in my build. I will snap a picture of the left side base cabinet when i get home tonight. The red box contains the start of my apex layout and wire management.

I'll look for it. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or want better pictures of any of my tank's components.

 

[Tampico96]

Hmmm not sure why the img links broke thought I posted them right.

 

[Tampico96]

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h345/tampico96/120 Gallon Build/IMG_2622_zpssxs3ytuy.jpg


test picture

 

[Tampico96]

Here is the start of the Apex layout.

 

[Tampico96]

Finished up my RODI hookup last night.









Also started the return lines. All threaded so I may not leave it like this. Current test build. Waiting on parts for the drain lines so I may alter this.

 

[Tampico96]

I also made these small magnetic cable management parts. small magnet, ziptie mount and a bit of velcro. Hope this makes low wire count runs more tidy and easily replaced if needed.

 

[borderreef]

I know you didn't ask, but your stand really scares me. The way it is made, all the weight of the tank with water and rock is on the nails or screws. The weight should be on the vertical supports. Please, please, go to rocketengineer's thread on stands. Of course, the design is ultimately your decision, I would not take the huge chance.

 

[JMorris271]

The OP has already addressed that concern in an earlier post and has cleared things up.

 

[Tampico96]

Duplicate

 

[Tampico96]

I know you didn't ask, but your stand really scares me. The way it is made, all the weight of the tank with water and rock is on the nails or screws. The weight should be on the vertical supports. Please, please, go to rocketengineer's thread on stands. Of course, the design is ultimately your decision, I would not take the huge chance.

Not sure these 2 posts are for me. The stand is 1.5 inch square steel box welded together with cross supports. The wooden sides do not hold the tank. The steel substructure does and all the wooden sides hang from the steel stand via magnets. I think this stand is a beast. No nails or screws involved.

 

[borderreef]

Not sure these 2 posts are for me. The stand is 1.5 inch square steel box welded together with cross supports. The wooden sides do not hold the tank. The steel substructure does and all the wooden sides hang from the steel stand via magnets. I think this stand is a beast. No nails or screws involved.

Sorry.

 

[thegrun]

Very nice set up with the Apex! One thing you should purchase is a second DI canister; you will get a lot more use out of your resin. When you are only running a single canister you really should be discarding the resin as soon as your TDS jumps from zero to one. Even though the resin is allowing some solids past it, there is still plenty of life left in the resin. When you have two canister once you start seeing any solids past the second canister you remove canister #1 (first canister after the RO filter) and move canister #2 into the #1 position. Put new resin in the old #1 canister and place it in the #2 position. You will save enough money in added resin longevity to pay for the new canister in a few months.

 

[Tampico96]

Very nice set up with the Apex! One thing you should purchase is a second DI canister; you will get a lot more use out of your resin. When you are only running a single canister you really should be discarding the resin as soon as your TDS jumps from zero to one. Even though the resin is allowing some solids past it, there is still plenty of life left in the resin. When you have two canister once you start seeing any solids past the second canister you remove canister #1 (first canister after the RO filter) and move canister #2 into the #1 position. Put new resin in the old #1 canister and place it in the #2 position. You will save enough money in added resin longevity to pay for the new canister in a few months.

Thanks for the compliment on the wire duct. May remove the center trunk to add my wireless network box. Have more wire mold than I think I need in this build. Guess that is a byproduct of never having enough in the stuff I repair in field. I will try to work another canister into the budget next month.