180 Gal Inwall project begins

[Rod Buehler]

Yep, I like to have the lamps running perpindicular to the front glass. Most of the light spills out the sided of the lamps, not the ends. So, If there is any extra spread/spill, Id like it to spread/spill into the tank/water instead of the front/back glass.

 

[fishgeeksrus]

grrr...

We went horizontal (shrug). If we don't like it, we can always change it.

Even the company suggested horizontal. Oh Well, it is not getting changed right now. lol Maybe later

Andrea

PS: Is it the same for (DE) bulbs as it is for (SE) bulbs?

We went with the (DE) this time.

 

[sellout007]

Oh man.. so my MH pendants shouldnt be going from left to right?? They should be going from front to back?? Like this...

|
|
|
|


Instead of this...

________

 

[Rod Buehler]

Its not all that critical, but yes, if space allows, its better to mount them perpendicular to the front. Reflectors also play a role... With something like a lumenarc it wont matter nearly as much, but most other reflectors are designed to spread the light out the "sides" and if you have them parallel instead of perpendicular the reflector is spreading the light toward the front glass instead of spreading it into the length of the tank.

 

[sellout007]

Gotch ya. Thanks for the tip. Changing them tonight and will see how the tank looks afterward.

 

[fishgeeksrus]

Here are a few pics. We have the tank in the wall and plumbed. We are just working out a couple of minor leaks.

Closed loop is up and running.

We stitched a couple of pics together for this one...

 

[abfleck]

looking good.............cant wait to see it in person!

AJ

 

[trueblackpercula]

how much water flow is going thru the sea swirls?

 

[FiberLux]

It's looking great! Can't wait to see it filled. Thanks for sharing it all with us!

 

[fishgeeksrus]

the specs on the sea swirls require 850 gph each. The Dart running the closed loop is rated at 3600gph @ 0' head. We've split the line from the dart to the swirls and reduced to 3/4" and head height is about 5'. So we truely have no idea exactly how much flow is going through each. They look to be moving a pretty good ammount of water now. I wish there was some way to tell for sure, other than filling a 5g bucket and timeing it then doing the calculations. I gave up that math in High school!!!

 

[trueblackpercula]

sounds like they are really working well for you. I was looking to get one for my set up. Any pros or cons about them?

 

[fishgeeksrus]

none so far. we've only been running tap water through the system so far, checking for leaks. Only one minor leak to speak of needing to be fixed. It does seem nice having that alternating current sweeping throughout the tank. Only time will tell how well they work with all of the livestock......

 

[Tagareef]

Dennis & Andrea,

Wow...what a great looking set-up! Looks like alot of fun.

Looking forward to more progress pix!

Luis

 

[fishgeeksrus]

Okay here are the Specs:

Tank
~180 Gal All-Glass Reef Ready
~Inwall
~Access panel in the front

Stand
~DIY - Consists of 2x4's and 2x6's

Lighting
~3 - Reef Optix III's pendants
~3 - Blue Wave III ballasts
~3 - 250W XM (DE) bulbs
~On bicycle pulley system (for maintenance)
~2 - 6' URI VHO Actinics run off of an Ice Cap Ballast
~Moonlights: 2 - PFO 1 Watt (flat mounts)
~Sump/Refugium: Coralife 9W fixture
~9 Watt daylight bulb
~Lights controlled with the AquaController II


Substrate
~2-4 inch sand bed. Arago-Alive
~Seed with existing live sand

Filtration
~Live rock
~Skimmer: AquaC EV 240 fed with Pan World NH-100PX
~Carbon (in filter bag)

Calcium Supply
~My Reef Creations - Dual chamber calc reac w/ spray bar &
Pan World NH-40PX fed by Mag 3
~Media: CaribSea ARM

PO4 Control
~ Deltec fluidized reactor fed by same Mag 3
~Media: RowaPhos

Ozone
~Red Sea Basic 200mg
~Controlled by AquaController II

Flow
~2 Megaflow Overflow kits
~Return pump: Sequence Reeflo Dart (Also feeding chiller and
future frag tank)
~Closed Loop: Sequence Reeflo Dart (running 2 - 3/4" Sea Swirls)

Temperature Control
~2 - Won titanium heaters 300W ea
~Delta Star In-line chiller 1/3 hp
~both controlled with AC II

Sump/Refugium
~Trigger Systems Sump with built in refugium

Source water
~SpectraPure Deluxe 5 - Stage RO/DI 90gpd
~SpectraPure Multiple tank replenisher
~Brute containers for reservoir and salt water changes

Electrical
~3 dedicated circuits

Monitor/Controller
~Aqua Controller II

Hopefully I didn't forget anything...

 

[jsbzmcdaniel]

Dennis,

Is there a reason you decided to go low budget with this project? LOL .


Looks good!

 

[fishgeeksrus]

Budget would have been a little lower if Andrea didn't do all of the research and ordering!!!! I was perfectly happy using some of the older stuff from the other 180g. I guess she isn't going to get those diamond earings for christmas anymore!!!!!

 

[mm949]

looks good but have some FOOD for thought.....
i noticed the closed loop pump might have some service issues
the valve on the intake side in too high...if you need to remove dart pump the water from the intake side will come blasting out the return side when you seperate the unions.....would have both valves same hieght to not incur this problem.....
ALSO you are killing the volume on the dart by spliting line to 3/4" so far down.....would get better performance if ran 1.5" pipe all they way up to the top and use a "T" and run 1.5" to the sides with the sea swirls and the bush down to 3/4" vinyl....
its personal preference on reflector mount- i like the PFO bell reflector run parallel with tank...i notice more algea on fronts and back glass when mounted perpindicular..

 

[fishgeeksrus]

Thanks for the tips, I too noticed that i'll have a water problem if i ever have to take out the dart, but for now, im too far along to change it . If the time comes that I have to take out the pump then I'll fix my mistake. As for the 3/4" lines, the dart already puts out too much flow for the sea swirls, so I didn't think that would be an issue. Thanks again for your input, it is highly appreciated.

 

[fishgeeksrus]

Ok, got all the leaks worked out. Shelves are up with the ballasts in place, wired for the aqua controler II. Going to tackle that tomorrow (I hope)

 

[fishgeeksrus]

Well after about 4 hours of reading and re-reading the manual for the aqua controler, dc4, and dc8, I think i've finally figured it out. Lights are burning for the first time and in an hour i'll know if i programmed everything right. (if they go out) But now, with the lights on, we can see what the water movement looks like. That closed loop with sea swirls make such a huge difference. It's nice to finally see progress. More updates to come....