90g Reef Rebirth

[MatesonG]

I wish i had the patience to set up a tank and let it cycle and just allow nutrients and pods and stuff flourish for 6 months to a year b4 adding stuff but I couldnt do that. That would be a pretty stable system if I did. Anyway, i have a 75g with my custom stand and want the 90g since the base is the same measurement. so ur doing what I dream of. I like your ideas! I am still stuck in college though, LAST SEMESTER!! Cant wait to see what all you do though!

oh yeah, what is the measurement of that 55?

 

[Reeftanks6]

THis looks good. Slow and steady is the way to go in the hobby. I think rushing things leads to mess ups and bad things in some places. JMO

 

[KnightReefer]

I wish i had the patience to set up a tank and let it cycle and just allow nutrients and pods and stuff flourish for 6 months to a year b4 adding stuff but I couldnt do that. That would be a pretty stable system if I did. Anyway, i have a 75g with my custom stand and want the 90g since the base is the same measurement. so ur doing what I dream of. I like your ideas! I am still stuck in college though, LAST SEMESTER!! Cant wait to see what all you do though!

oh yeah, what is the measurement of that 55?

Thanks for the support! I hope I will have the willpower to go slow once it is all up and running. Good luck with your last semester. The 55 measures 48 1/4 x 12 3/4 x 21 outside dimensions. Since it is slightly longer than the 90 gallon the stand had to be made a little longer to accomodate the sump underneath. The removable side panels will make removing and servicing the tank easier.

-Sean

 

[MatesonG]

Yeah when I built my stand I knew what I wanted it to look like and forgot to ad all te little extra feature like that. When I upgrade I'll be using some of urs! haha

 

[KnightReefer]

Well the tank is slowly filling with RO/DI water in preparation for the plumbing installation hopefully taking place the middle of this week. My initial plan is to feed the Skimmer section(far left) and the Refugium section(far right) with the drain line and the use of ball valves. I have read that the water should be horizontal before you tee it off so thats what I plan to do. When the drain bends to horizontal I plan to use a T to direct flow down towards the skimmer section and the horizontal run will continue to a 90 elbow to feed the fuge. There will be ball valves on both locations to control the flow. Does this sound like a reasonable design?

-Sean

 

[KnightReefer]

I figured I would make a very crude illustration quickly for my proposed drain plan.

Let me know what you think!

-Sean

 

[MrsHaggis]

Looking Good!

Just one thing I might advise you to do.
From the pictures the back panels on your unit go all the way from top to bottom. My advice would be to leave a space at the top otherwise you will have too much humidity inside the unit. It just lets the unit breathe a bit and I think that's quite important - otherwise you might get some mould or mildew in there.

Keep us posted.

Good Luck!!

 

[KnightReefer]

Looking Good!

Just one thing I might advise you to do.
From the pictures the back panels on your unit go all the way from top to bottom. My advice would be to leave a space at the top otherwise you will have too much humidity inside the unit. It just lets the unit breathe a bit and I think that's quite important - otherwise you might get some mould or mildew in there.

Keep us posted.

Good Luck!!

I see, it does have a 3x10 inch or so cutout for the electrical but I could add some more and I did wonder about the humidity. What about a series of 1 inch round holes made with a hole borer drill bit towards the top to let it breathe a lil more?

 

[IndianFeather]

Be careful with the electrical. I know I splash water all over the place when I play with the sump. I ended up putting all my electrical up higher because I kept getting stuff wet.

 

[MatesonG]

have you thought of maybe having your overflow go straight down into the sump (use that chamber for skimming since that's what needs to be skimmed the most) then use your return pump to feed your fuge with a "T" and ball valve?

here is an example. Its not to scale though

 

[KnightReefer]

have you thought of maybe having your overflow go straight down into the sump (use that chamber for skimming since that's what needs to be skimmed the most) then use your return pump to feed your fuge with a "T" and ball valve?

here is an example. Its not to scale though

I have considered that idea because it is appealing but I believe I have heard that for max efficiency the refugium should have unskimmed water that contains more organics for the DSB and the Macroalgae. With my current plan I would route only about 25% of the water to the fuge so the skimmer would get a majority of the water. Any ideas on this?

 

[KnightReefer]

Be careful with the electrical. I know I splash water all over the place when I play with the sump. I ended up putting all my electrical up higher because I kept getting stuff wet.

The outlets are about 6" lower than the top of the sump and only powerstrip power cords will be plugged in there. The strips themselves will be located up in the stand on the 2x4 frame. I hope this is all enough out of the way, I might have to devise some type of shield if it's going to be a problem.

-Sean

 

[ChuckG]

Although they can have their benefits with PH swings at night I do not plan to run a fuge on my new tank..

I do not see one on this tank!

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-03/totm/index.php

 

[KnightReefer]

Although they can have their benefits with PH swings at night I do not plan to run a fuge on my new tank..

I do not see one on this tank!

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-03/totm/index.php

That tank certainly doesn't seem to need a refugium. I already made the room in the sump for one so I'm going to go ahead with one. I have heard of many other successful tanks that are fugeless but for each of those there is atleast an equal amount of tanks with fuges that are equally successful. I guess the point here is we can all get to the same destination but not necessarily from the same road.

-Sean

 

[KnightReefer]

I went ahead and ordered the BRS Dual Reactor this morning along with a few other odds and ends. It isn't required for me to have it now but I figured the sooner the better. Hopefully it will be in sometime early next week. The plumbing effort should commence this evening if all goes well.

-Sean

 

[KnightReefer]

The plumbing is chugging along at a steady rate. I'm just taking my time getting everything nice and snug and double checking everything. The tank has most of the water in it and I started adding the salt. Hopefully the rock will go in this weekend if all goes well.

-Sean

 

[ChuckG]

I guess the point here is we can all get to the same destination but not necessarily from the same road.

-Sean

Your'e right.. I got a little carried away after having just read that TOTM article. There are alot of benefits to running a fuge. Things are looking good!

 

[KnightReefer]

Your'e right.. I got a little carried away after having just read that TOTM article. There are alot of benefits to running a fuge. Things are looking good!

No worries brother.

I have been working on the plumbing when I can for the last few nights. I also constructed the eggcrate/PVC stand for the skimmer section. Here are a few pics of the progress.

Skimmer Stand

Plumbing Shots

The plumbing is about 80% done. I just have to get the skimmer situated and plumb the drain to the skimmer section. I'm pretty happy with the results thus far.

-Sean

 

[KnightReefer]

Taking a break today from the tank to go catch a flick and do some other girlfriend activities. Every once in a while you have to make a little girlfriend time or they get angry. Hopefully I can stay on track and get the rock in the tank tomorrow and try some aquascaping.

-Sean

 

[KnightReefer]

Well aquascape version 1.0 has been done and the plumbing is pretty much finished up. Hopefully when the sand settles everything will be looking good.

Rock

Skimmer in place

Tank pre-rock

Post rock

More to come...
-Sean