I've had reef tanks for just about 8 years, but would still consider myself new to the hobby as my last tank was torn down and sold around 4.5 years ago and I've moved across the country a couple times for work. That being said, I'm starting a 90 gallon up and taking it VERY slow. Any advice or thoughts along the way would be greatly appreciated.
Here is the equipment I just picked up:
90 Gallon Reef Ready Tank and Stand
20 Gallon Long Sump
Vertex IN100 Skimmer w/ Stock Pump
Mag 5 Return Pump
Jebao WP-40 w/ Controller
Additionally, I picked up a larger sump as the 20 gallon has no baffles or anything else except for a return bulkhead.
MRC 36" Reef Sump
There are a couple differences between my old tank and this one. First, my old tank was a 72 gallon bowfront that was not drilled. This tank has an overflow with two holes at 1" and 3/4" in size. Second, the new tank will be going in my office, rather than at my house. I've always wanted to have an office with a tank, and once I got the green light to do so I started looking. This offers some benefits and challenges. I spend most of the day at work, except weekends, so I should be able to enjoy the tank more than if it was in my house. Additionally, being in my office gives me more incentive to make sure the tank, once setup, is in show condition and there aren't cords or pipes all over the place, along with it being relatively quiet. Unfortunately, there are hassles with maintenance from having a tank in my office. It isn't really feasible to have an RO unit hooked up there, so I'll have to transport water. I suppose if there is an emergency on the weekend or when I'm on vacation it could cause some interesting problems as well, but it wouldn't be much different if something happened with a tank at home while I was at work either. I will be looking at how to get a monitoring system hooked up to send me email notifications, with the biggest hurdles being cost and access to my company's LAN (Ideally, a solution where the monitor could hook up to my office PC and have the PC send out a notification would solve that particular issue.)
Tank setup - still empty as I plan this out
Current Plumbing - I plan on changing this to a herbie overflow or some modification thereof.
From this rear view you can see the simple durso style standpipe. In this setup, I am somewhat nervous because the overflow has two holes and one isn't even being used. There is a ball valve underneath going to nothing. Next, you'll see the 20L tank used as a sump. I have the new MRC 36" reef sump.
Finally, here is my hand sketched version of my vision for the tank in terms of plumbing and what needs to be done. I'm sure some things are incorrect or have been overlooked.
The questions I am asking myself (and anyone here) are as follows -
Is a 1" PVC return line enough? The overflows are 1" and 3/4", respectively and I probably don't want to change those.
The current setup has dual returns split off with a tee. I have read that a single return is sufficient and better suited unless the tank is very large. Should I redo the returns so only one return is used, or leave it as is?
The return pump that came with the system is a Mag 5, rated for 500gph. Is that too low of flow? I thought the rule of thumb was 10x the system. With a theoretical max of 90gal for the display and 55gal for the sump, lets say I have around 110gal of water after the tank is stocked. I would have thought the pump should have double the output after any head loss.
Similarly, the system came with a Vertex IN-100 skimmer. Rated for 100 gallons, it is probably a little undersized. I suppose I can try running it for a bit to see how it works, but I think this will be on my list to upgrade soon.
Check valves seem to get a bad rap here due to their propensity for failure, but having one on the return line shouldn't hurt any, should it? I'm not worried about a power failure with the system as I have a very high end UPS system that should be able to power it for hours (if not days.)
With the way the sump is configured, there is a 1/2" bulkhead separating the main water area from the refugium area. Others with this sump have commented on getting a small maxi-jet or equivalent pump to push water through, but my thought would be to tee off the return line and let a small amount of water go in the refugium that way. If I'm understanding correctly this would give the fuge a VERY slow flow.
On that same note for the tee for the fuge, I've thought to add an inline UV sterilizer in the future to the overflow. My logic behind this was that it would catch water BEFORE it goes into the fuge so if there was any detriment to the copepods, it would minimize this. However, as I think more, I'm concerned that with a gravity overflow the water flow would not be able to sufficiently hit a tee off and could cause the bulb to burn up due to lack of water. Perhaps a full siphon in the overflow would prevent this, but I'm not sure. If that is the case, hooking up the UV outside of the system plumbing may be the best solution so I can easily maintain it.
With the large size of the MRC sump (36L x 18D x 18H) it may not fit in the stand. The tank is 48W x 18D x 24H, so I presume there is a tiny bit of space lost for the stand. I just picked up the sump yesterday and will find out tomorrow. If this is the case, I will temporarily remove the back center wood brace and lower frame to move it out slightly. I'm not concerned with the stand's integrity as any modifications will only make it more secure.
I'm taking my time with everything and not in a rush to get fish in there at this point. Once the plumbing is completed, I will fill it with RO water. I am looking to purchase a nice RO/DI unit, along with some old food grade water barrels. Mostly likely I'll make a stand for the barrels, then raise them off the ground, allowing one barrel for RO water, one for mixed salt, and possibly a third for wastewater.
After the tank is filled and there are no leaks or noise issues, I will get my sand and live rock in the system and start the slow cycle process.
Still to do:
Finish plumbing
Acquire RO/DI unit and water holding tanks
Fill with water
Acquire Live Rock/Sand for cycling system
Acquire Glass cover and/or oak hood stained to match cabinet
Acquire LED lights
Acquire Fish and maybe some soft corals down the road once system is stable
Any and all comments or suggestions are welcome. Thanks for looking, Anthony.
Here is the equipment I just picked up:
90 Gallon Reef Ready Tank and Stand
20 Gallon Long Sump
Vertex IN100 Skimmer w/ Stock Pump
Mag 5 Return Pump
Jebao WP-40 w/ Controller
Additionally, I picked up a larger sump as the 20 gallon has no baffles or anything else except for a return bulkhead.
MRC 36" Reef Sump
There are a couple differences between my old tank and this one. First, my old tank was a 72 gallon bowfront that was not drilled. This tank has an overflow with two holes at 1" and 3/4" in size. Second, the new tank will be going in my office, rather than at my house. I've always wanted to have an office with a tank, and once I got the green light to do so I started looking. This offers some benefits and challenges. I spend most of the day at work, except weekends, so I should be able to enjoy the tank more than if it was in my house. Additionally, being in my office gives me more incentive to make sure the tank, once setup, is in show condition and there aren't cords or pipes all over the place, along with it being relatively quiet. Unfortunately, there are hassles with maintenance from having a tank in my office. It isn't really feasible to have an RO unit hooked up there, so I'll have to transport water. I suppose if there is an emergency on the weekend or when I'm on vacation it could cause some interesting problems as well, but it wouldn't be much different if something happened with a tank at home while I was at work either. I will be looking at how to get a monitoring system hooked up to send me email notifications, with the biggest hurdles being cost and access to my company's LAN (Ideally, a solution where the monitor could hook up to my office PC and have the PC send out a notification would solve that particular issue.)
Tank setup - still empty as I plan this out
Current Plumbing - I plan on changing this to a herbie overflow or some modification thereof.
From this rear view you can see the simple durso style standpipe. In this setup, I am somewhat nervous because the overflow has two holes and one isn't even being used. There is a ball valve underneath going to nothing. Next, you'll see the 20L tank used as a sump. I have the new MRC 36" reef sump.
Finally, here is my hand sketched version of my vision for the tank in terms of plumbing and what needs to be done. I'm sure some things are incorrect or have been overlooked.
The questions I am asking myself (and anyone here) are as follows -
Is a 1" PVC return line enough? The overflows are 1" and 3/4", respectively and I probably don't want to change those.
The current setup has dual returns split off with a tee. I have read that a single return is sufficient and better suited unless the tank is very large. Should I redo the returns so only one return is used, or leave it as is?
The return pump that came with the system is a Mag 5, rated for 500gph. Is that too low of flow? I thought the rule of thumb was 10x the system. With a theoretical max of 90gal for the display and 55gal for the sump, lets say I have around 110gal of water after the tank is stocked. I would have thought the pump should have double the output after any head loss.
Similarly, the system came with a Vertex IN-100 skimmer. Rated for 100 gallons, it is probably a little undersized. I suppose I can try running it for a bit to see how it works, but I think this will be on my list to upgrade soon.
Check valves seem to get a bad rap here due to their propensity for failure, but having one on the return line shouldn't hurt any, should it? I'm not worried about a power failure with the system as I have a very high end UPS system that should be able to power it for hours (if not days.)
With the way the sump is configured, there is a 1/2" bulkhead separating the main water area from the refugium area. Others with this sump have commented on getting a small maxi-jet or equivalent pump to push water through, but my thought would be to tee off the return line and let a small amount of water go in the refugium that way. If I'm understanding correctly this would give the fuge a VERY slow flow.
On that same note for the tee for the fuge, I've thought to add an inline UV sterilizer in the future to the overflow. My logic behind this was that it would catch water BEFORE it goes into the fuge so if there was any detriment to the copepods, it would minimize this. However, as I think more, I'm concerned that with a gravity overflow the water flow would not be able to sufficiently hit a tee off and could cause the bulb to burn up due to lack of water. Perhaps a full siphon in the overflow would prevent this, but I'm not sure. If that is the case, hooking up the UV outside of the system plumbing may be the best solution so I can easily maintain it.
With the large size of the MRC sump (36L x 18D x 18H) it may not fit in the stand. The tank is 48W x 18D x 24H, so I presume there is a tiny bit of space lost for the stand. I just picked up the sump yesterday and will find out tomorrow. If this is the case, I will temporarily remove the back center wood brace and lower frame to move it out slightly. I'm not concerned with the stand's integrity as any modifications will only make it more secure.
I'm taking my time with everything and not in a rush to get fish in there at this point. Once the plumbing is completed, I will fill it with RO water. I am looking to purchase a nice RO/DI unit, along with some old food grade water barrels. Mostly likely I'll make a stand for the barrels, then raise them off the ground, allowing one barrel for RO water, one for mixed salt, and possibly a third for wastewater.
After the tank is filled and there are no leaks or noise issues, I will get my sand and live rock in the system and start the slow cycle process.
Still to do:
Finish plumbing
Acquire RO/DI unit and water holding tanks
Fill with water
Acquire Live Rock/Sand for cycling system
Acquire Glass cover and/or oak hood stained to match cabinet
Acquire LED lights
Acquire Fish and maybe some soft corals down the road once system is stable
Any and all comments or suggestions are welcome. Thanks for looking, Anthony.
