150 Gallon Build Thread

[tralynne]

Since i am building the exact same tank dimensions i have 2 questions for you:

1.) Did you have issues with power cords being too short? i think you are following my thread...and you can see that i made an electrical compartment on the right side of the stand. I am wondering if i should get a few of the 18Awg/300v water resistant extension cords...or cut the cord and add more wire to it and solder and shrink/heat wrap the connection. did you have issues with short power cords?

2.) what size pipes did you use for your overflow and return? the bulkheads that the tank came with have female threads and it is 1 1/2" for the over flow and 1 1/4" for the return...should i reduce this to 1"? or to what size?

 

[inktomi]

I had no issues with my electrical cords being too short, and even though all my stuff is under the tank both of my DC8's are at one end without issues.

My drain is 1.5 inch PVC, and my two returns are 3/4" PVC. I think that the bulkheads you have will be fine for you. You don't want a huge amount of flow through your sump anyway. The 1.25 inch pipes might make it easier to use a larger return pump as well if you wanted to run lots of accessories off it - CA reactor, phosban, carbon, etc. My 3/4" pipes are as small as I'd ever want to go (but it worked for me because I already had a pump that needed 3/4" pipes..)

I'll take a closer look at your electrical over lunch and let you know if I see anything

 

[inktomi]

The Echinata is doing ok, but not as great as I'd like. It seems to be receding a little bit around the base. I'm going to raise the plug it's on up off the sand onto the rock somewhere this weekend when I do my water change. It has some slight polyp extension, but nothing huge, and has only the slightest hint of blue (though it wasn't blue when I first took it out of the bag either).

In my battle against the remaining algaes of the tank I've increased my refugium light cycle by about 3 hours, as well as cleaned out my skimmer and replaced my GFO and carbon.

From here on out, I think I'm going to replace my GFO every other week, and the carbon every week with the water change.

I also got a PH probe for my Aquacontroller, but it didn't come with any calibration fluid so it's not really useful right now. I should have that tomorrow

 

[inktomi]

Quick update.. PH probe is calibrated and installed. Now I can obsess over my tank's PH /and/ temperature from my iPhone!

Currently 8.13. I hope it doesn't go down as far as I think it will overnight. I have been imagining myself with low PH issues.. we'll see if that's true or not now that I have a real probe that's been calibrated instead of test kits.

 

[mnml]

slick setup for sure. love those duncans!

 

[inktomi]

Thanks! They seem to do well for me - I give them mysis every so often which they love.

My PH got down to 7.98 last night. /sigh

 

[maroun.c]

I would manually remove all those algae from the tank ASAP. most algae will get out of control if allowed to stay in the tank...

 

[inktomi]

That's what I've been trying to do as best I can. Some of them seem to have rooted into the rocks, but I'm removing as much as I can every weekend when I do the water change.

The only one that's hard to remove manually is visible in edges and upper left here:

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/4179549674_ef8049069d.jpg" />

It holds to the rock like glue, and is a very tough wire like algae. Nothing seems to eat it, so I'm stuck with manual removal for now. Luckily it doesn't seem to be spreading off the places it's already in so my manual removal seems to work.

 

[BigTankGuy]

I'm going to need to need to have an electrician come out and install a 20 amp circuit for my living room..

ATI Fixture - 6 amps
PanWorld 50px - 90 Watts
VorTech MP40w - 28 Watts (x 2 pumps = 56 Watts)
Skimmer - 21 Watts
--- 7.39 Amps ----

Television Stuff
Tivo - 34 Watts
TV - 226 Watts
PS3 Slim - 100 Watts
--- 3 Amps ---

--- 10.39 Amps Total ---
--- 15.00 Amp Circuit ---
--- 4.61 Amps Extra ---

The chiller I ordered is listed to use 4.9 Amps, so I'll for sure need the larger breaker if I'm going to be able to use my PS 3 or Tivo at the same time as having the chiller running =\

I'm really crossing my fingers that I can just have the breaker swapped out and that I don't need to have new wires ran. That'd really be a PITA. I'd probably have to move the tank to give the guy access to the wall outlet behind the tank...

Moral of the story: Calculate your wattage BEFORE you set up your tank and put it right in front of an outlet!


--- EDIT! ---

I've double checked my breaker, and it's actually a Type C120 breaker - which means it's a 20 amp breaker. Woot! I have amps to spare even with my chiller going full blast!

Just so you know, the wires are typically only sized to handle a continuous load of 80% of the rated capacity. If you had a 20 amp circuit and ran a 19 amp load for hours it would probably melt the terminals on the outlet, since these tend to be the lowest temperature devices in the average residential circuit.

The good news is that the numbers you are using are going to be peak loads, and especially the electronics should be well under their rated wattage normally. So chances are good your running current is well under the 16 amps you can draw continuously.

 

[inktomi]

That's good to know! As you pointed out, those numbers are peak loads. If I'm using the PS3 and television, it's likely to be in the evening, when the chiller and the lights are off.. etc etc..

Thank you for the comment though - I'm certainly no expert when it comes to electrical. I just added everything up and did the watts to amps conversion for a 110 volt line. I didn't know about the 80% constant use part.

Do you think it'd be worthwhile to 'upgrade' the outlet terminals to a more beefy outlet just in case?

 

[BigTankGuy]

I am not sure there is much that can be done now to make the outlet more durable. All of the ones I have seen are rated at 60 degrees. Typically I use oversized wire to lower the temperature and to make it possible to drive a continuous load that is close to the rated capacity. I don't do this in an attempt to push the limit, rather, I am trying to make sure the breaker will blow well before anything gets really hot should someone accidentally place too much of a continuous load on a circuit. Where I work this is a concern because we have a large number of power strips on each circuit and sometimes people keep adding small loads until the breaker trips.

You could shop around to see if you can find a 75 degree outlet. I can't say I have seen one, and you might have to go to Graybar or someplace similar instead of the normal Home Depot/Lowes type store. It is entirely possible you will have to switch to a GFCI breaker and use a standard outlet. GFCI circuits aren't typically used in an environment that would really give someone a reason to use a higher temperature grade device. Therefore, nobody may make a higher temperature grade GFCI outlet.

 

[imcosmokramer]

nice looking tank.

 

[Jared J]

That's some good algae you've got. I'd leave it alone if it were me.

 

[inktomi]

I think it looks nice too, but several people have told me that it can get out of control easily. Even with manual removal, it still grows (just doesn't spread)... so I may just keep at it so it doesn't get too big.

The long term goal is the fill out all that rock with SPS... so sooner or later I need that space =p

 

[Jared J]

I also received my trio of R. imitaor 'varadero' this week. So far they're doing well!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30998766@N03/4126692129/" title="DSC_0058 by inktomi, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2633/4126692129_69cb2ec322.jpg" width="500" height="428" alt="DSC_0058" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30998766@N03/4126596885/" title="DSC_0074 by inktomi, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2758/4126596885_6c0fc6f161.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="DSC_0074" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30998766@N03/4127458208/" title="DSC_0068 by inktomi, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2656/4127458208_2dca1f7b00.jpg" width="500" height="359" alt="DSC_0068" /></a>

Thats awesome! I used to have some Imitators also, as well as azureus and some leucs. All in all I had about 5 tanks. I was about to get some pumilios but the wife was fed up with all the snapple bottles I had full of fruit fly larvae on her china cabinet.

 

[inktomi]

Yea.. I tell people I just love cooking with freshly ground black pepper.... somehow fruit flies always seem to get out =\

They give the cat something to do while I'm at work...

 

[Jared J]

LOL on the pepper. My favorites were a group of 6 P. terribilis that ate 1/4" crickets and small flies. They were fun.

 

[inktomi]

I've purchased the centerpiece for my tank today... a pair of C. tinkeri (Tinker's Butterflyfish) from Live Aquaria Divers Den.

They should be here next tuesday due to the holidays. They'll be going into my QT tank from there, where I'll try to get some photos. I've never had any issues with divers den fish before, so I'm sure they'll be healthy and eating well when I get them.

/excited!

 

[Reefobsession]

SWEET!!! I am envious

 

[danrobberg]

awsome tank so far. you keep your temp at 72 degrees? that seems pretty cold to me. good luck with those butterflys, i thought they eat anemones? love the t5s on my next tank im thinking of going just t5. how do they do with the sps for you?