75g In Office Build

[Bax]

Well, I had been collecting equipment for months for this tank and had just about everything together before Christmas and then life hit and everything sat for another six months. But, life aside, reefing must go on, so I have forged ahead and assembled all of my stuff and finally, after several months of staring at an otherwise complete tank, I am making RO/DI water as fast as my unit will produce it and filling the tank with SW. Yippie!

I had originally intended for this tank to be a FOWLR (with maybe some zoos & softies and most definitly clams!). However, on the spur of the moment, we bought a new house and moved in June. So... I had to move my 26 bow to the office and for now, I will be transfering all of that livestock in to the 75. The 26 bow will be retired for now as we are planning a large reef at the new house and I am trying to avoid fish tank ADD. Once the home tank is established I will go back to my FOWLR plans in this 75 system.

Here are the 75 g specs:

Display - 75 g AGA RR with one Mega Flow overflow in the standard just left of center position.

Stand - AGA stand (But I didn't like to oak for my office so it has been refinished along with the tank trim). I also beefed up the lateral support as I had to remove it to set the sump in the stand. Inside of the stand is sealed and painted gloss white.

Canopy - Is still in construction but will be DIY to match the stand and trim

Sump - 30 g DYI, undrilled, with a 14 g fuge section, a drain section with slots for probes, sponges or media as needed, a skimmer section, bubble trap and return section

Return Pump - Mag 7 feeding a 3/4" Sea Swirl

Skimmer - Euro Reef ES5-3 with gate valve mod

Closed Loop #1 - Mag 9 returning through a SCWD

Closed Loop #2 _ Pan World 55XP-X returning through a Anthony Calfo style manifold with 8 1/2" ports 2-3 of which will be plugged

Auto Top Off - A Ultra Life float switch and simple Rio PH will top off RO/DI water in the sunmp

Kalkwater - Kalkwater will be dosed at night with an AquaMedic peristaltic pump

Lighting - Dual Hamilton 175w metal halides and two 48" T-5 actinics (Reef Geek Tel light retro kit)


Here are a few pics of the progress.


The tank & stand

Closed loop pumps & GFI outlets

Here's the Calfo style maifold and over the top CL drain T's

Skimmer in sump you can see some of the reinforced bracing

One of two returns for the SCWD CL set at mid level in the display

Left side under the stand

Rght side under the stand

I'll post more pics as I move forward. all coments are welcome thanks for looking.

Happy Reefing

 

[Pistonkev]

Very nice it looks like you really know what your doing. I love your closed loop is the pan world 55 enough on your calfo manifold?

 

[Bax]

The Pan World will give me just about 1100 gph (without frictional loss) on a CL set up. I tested the CL with the Little Giant MQSC3X shown in the picture, which is about the same flow. It did pretty well with five of the outlests in use. I will probably run it with onlt the four or five open. At four open outlets I am in the recomended range of 300-350 gph per outlet.

I may upgrade the pump too if I don't like the flow. These pumps are just what I have.

I switch to the PanWorld from the LG because of noise that LG is loud. I bougth it to use on a skimmer for the house tank project.

 

[Pistonkev]

The only reason I asked is that I set up a Calfo with 8 heads coming off it on a 55. It was one system not a closed loop just one pump driving sump and all dropped the panworld 100 on it flow was great but tank sat at about 84 or so with that pump. I think I will change it to a closed loop.

 

[Bax]

Yes you get a lot of heat transfer. When I tested the different pumps heat was a big issue. The Mags are worse than the external type pumps. In hind sight I wish I had drilled the return section of the sump to run an external pump. I am considering using one pump to drive both the SCWD and the CL manifold as a CL. With the right pump, this would reduce heat and be more energy efficient.

 

[Bax]

I forgot to mention live rock & livestock.

I have about 50 pounds of LR in the 26 that will go into the 75. It's a combination of hand picked LR from an LFS and 30 pounds of TBS. I am also using 60 pounds of new base rock from Hiroks. It's nice looking base rock at a reasonable cost. I will probably add anoth 40 to 50 pounds of LR t this tank as move toward the final aqua scaping.

Here's my 26 a fewe months back

The 26 will become a QT.

I have:

Critters -
Orchid dottyback
o. clown
Coral Beauty
RBTA
T. Crocea clam
T. derasa clam
Fire Shrimp
Urchin (hitched in on the TBS)
several hermits and astrea snails and other TBS hitch hikers including Boris, a 2" Gorilia crab that lives in my sump return and munches on thel arge detritus and food that collects there

Corals -
Monti cap
Green Trumpet
Favia brain
Frog Spawn
Green star polyps
orange & green zoos

 

[Bax]

Finally I 've made enough SW and the tank is full!
Man that takes a long time with a total volume of 100 g compared to when I started my 26 g!
So this weekend I'll add the base rock and then some live rock and start cycling!!!!

 

[delor]

sounds like a nice set-up.. Now if you can just write the tank off as "work expenses" you will be all set

 

[Bax]

office furniture ?

 

[Bax]

Finally seeing the ammonia rise, I am picking up 40-50 more pounds of live rock this week and with the base rock (60 pounds) and what I have in my 26 g I'll have about 150 to 160 pounds of rock between the fuge and the display.

I'll post some more picks soon.

 

[120reeferman]

looks like an awsome start bro, keep posting pics!!

 

[Bax]

I'll take some pics today, I happen to have my digital camera with me. I'll have to post them later cuase I don't have the download cable at the office.

 

[Bax]

Here's a pic of the tank flled with SW and cycling with base rock and a few pieces of live rock from my current system. Not too exciting but use your imagniation!

I used 60 pounds of premium aragonite sand and 20 pounds of live sand.

I ordered a cleanup crew today ( will be held in my old system until I need'em, and I am picking up another 50 pounds of live rock this week yeeha!

 

[petergordet]

looks like things are comming along. i think with that much rock you shouldnt have to worry about any left over nitrate in there
as long as you move that rock over quickly because it sounds like the 26 is fairly established.

 

[Bax]

The cycle has been "small" I think because I used live rock and live sand from the start. When placing 10 pounds of new LR from the LFS did not start the cycle of real strong, I placed a casualty from my 26 g a crocea clam into the 75 g and let me tell you it was ripe! Still, only a small ammonia blip, no spike and now after 4 weeks everything looks good.

One of my CLs is sucking some air from somewhere so I have to address that, blowing bubbles all over the place! I've decided the Sea Swirl is real nice but the CLs gve me plenty of random flow so rather than burn watts on the swivling motion of the SS I am going to take it off the system. This should kick up my return flow just a few gph which should help with the occasional gurgle I get from the durso evry once in a while. Oh, and I am also gong to pull the Mag 9.5 off the second CL and replace it with a Little Giant MQSC-3X (because I have one) for now and eventually second a new PanWorld 55 PX-X as it is one quiet, cool pump. The Mag is hot, even run externally, and clicks a lot, I'd rather use it as a utility pump for SW mixing & water changes and stuff.

I've got a frame made for my lighting and a mock up hood is now holding the light in place while I make final calls on height over the water, fan placement, LED moonlights etc.

I plan to move the 26 g stock over in a week or two.

I picked the camera up from the house at lunch today and did not load the battery that was on the charger so I'll have to post pics of the lights later.

 

[Bax]

Oh, one more thing, thanks to Katrina, my clean up crew has not as yet been shipped. It is certainly understandable.

I'd just like to say to those effected or who have loved ones effected by her wrath that I truly feel for all of you and wish you all the best.

 

[Bax]

let there be light!

let there be light!

I have the lights up for testing the wood you see is just mock up to support the lights and shade your eyes from the burn!

Both T5s and 175 10K MHs

Just the T5s (sorry very washed out)

A shot of the lighting framing it's HD aluminum chanel

[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/580/4777075_Gallon_Construction_004_light_frame.jpg [/IMG]

... I know, I have to learn how to use the white balance on my digi camera ... one of these days in my spare time

Also here are the first sings of worms in the sand bed, yeha!!

Tons of pods crawling around in the fuge and on the rock in the display as well.

I haven't started skimming yet, do you think it is time yet? When I cycled my 26 g, which did show some what of an ammonia spike, I waited till well after the ammonia when to 0 before starting to skim.:bum:

 

[Bax]

an update ...

I still have to transfer the live rock and corals from the 26 g, I have just been so busy at work, there has been no time to play with the tank the last week or so except for basic needs (i.e. food and water).

I did turn on the skimmer and it's spewing foam and some grunge, I would not expect too much in the way of slimmate as yet as there is only about 20-25 pounds of live rock on top of the baserock and only a dozen snails or so making waste.

Thanks to Katrina and now Rita my cleanup crew is still in limbo and has not shipped, given the circumstances critters may not be shipping out of the Gulf area for some time yet.

I want to get all the rock and corals transfered before I begin transfering the fish, I hope to have everyone moved over by the end of this weekend.

Just got my Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper today. It's way cool! It will control my lights, backup heater, make up water/Kalk water top offs (alternating day/night) and cooling fans. I may use it to run a wavemaker setup but only if I am not happy with the water motion of the CLs.

So far I like the flow of the CLs. I still have bubbles from air being sucked into the manifold, but I have not yet had time to isolate and fix the offending fitting. I am sure it's one of the screw caps that closes off the unused outlets. I also still need to change ot the Mag 9. For the heat it kicks into the system & noises it makes, I don't like it and want to change to a better pump, preferably another PanWorld. This is the first time I have run a Mag externally for this long and from what I have read, I am lucky as it has not leaked yet.

 

[Bax]

Transfered some critters ...

Transfered some critters ...

Well, since I finally got a chance to spend a couple of days in the office, I took a little time out to transfer the corals, my remaining clam and most of the live rock from the 26 g into the 75 g. I also placed a male orchid dotty back fresh out of QT into the tank. He'll get to meet the female I have had since starting the 26 real soon I just wanted him to settle in first as she is real a tough customer.

Here are some pics ... I hope it's progress ...

Full tank ...

Right side ...

Center ...

Left side ...

Here is the sump showing the skimmer section (to the left) and the return. The tank drain enters the skimmer section, the skimmer flow and the return flow volume are similar, if you look close, the water flow is into the skimmer section from the return side. Water exits the skimmer into the return section but flows back to the skimmer section! This is a low energy, recirculating skimmer set up. The auto top off float is set up in the skimmer section as that's where the evaporation lowers the water level, not in the return section as in a typical setup. Once I start dosing Kalk, it'll be fed into the skimmer section that should even further enhance skimming!

Now, if I can just quiet down the vibration from the skimmer, all will be well. I'll try some rubber mat section when I get a chance and I may pull out the shallow egg crate rack I have the skimmer sitting upon, as I think it is only adding to vibration and will not minimze large detritus from entering the skimmer as I had thought it might. I can address the larger detritus earlier in the sump flow if needed.

 

[Bax]

Transferred some fish -

So far I have a male and female pseudochromis fridmani (orchid dottyback) and my coral beauty. I still have an o. clown and RBTA to move over which I will get to today or tomorrow. I hope to pick up another o. clown and maybe a couple of corals this week some time as well.

Sorry for the poor quality of the pics