90Gallon reef, part Deux

belgian_waffleman

belgian_waffleman

New member
After almost 3 years with the first setup, I'm ready for a big change.

My old thread: My first generation 90G build

For the newly remodeled 90G system I'm looking to use the same equipment I already have, for the most part. I have a new skimmer pump since the last one died a couple months ago and I'm not ready to give up on my ASM G3 skimmer.

Currently I have a mixed reef but mostly SPS, I'm looking to go with all SPS, some LPS's. Definitely no softies allowed.

For the hardware changes I had the following in mind:
1) Change the corner overflow to a herbie style overflow and have the return on the backwall, opposite corner, using a penductor.
This will require me to reverse the sump as the return pump is located directly under the corner overflow at the moment.
Question: will my Rio+ 2500 pump handle 5 feet + the penductor?
Question: is there a good way to get this done with an "over the rim" arrangement?

2) I already upgraded my canopy fans to a much quieter set. I used to have the icecap fans and they are very noisy. The new ones I bought are computer fans, Noctua Fans. You have to hold your hand over it to check if they are on. That's how quiet they are and the have the same CFM rating as the old ones. The life expectancy in this harsh environment is yet to be determined.

3) new T5's, I will stick with the same setup that I ordered last time.

4) I have 2 MP40's that I will keep using. I may want to add another pump to place low down in the tank as I will go bare bottom this time. This pump will run for short times to kick up debris that may accumulate behind the rocks.
Question: what kind to get? regular power head, with directed flow behind the rocks or a stream pump (koralia, SIEO, Tunze)

Next installment: live rock

Waffleman
 
Gary, I'm modeling the flow patterns after your setup, I hope you don't mind.

Does anyone in this area have a Herbie style overflow built into a standard corner overflow?
 
The live rock,

I'm basically starting from scratch with the live rock. I bought dry rock and it has been curing in a basement tank for a good 2 months now. It's a fishless cycle, I'm adding 5 ml's of Ammonia every couple days. Ammonia goes to 0 and nitrates go way up. No Nitrites.

It would be nice to have some other live things on the rocks, but i'm afraid to introduce xenias, mushrooms or aptaisia, so I have resisted. last week I added some coraline algea out of my display tank and put a small light over the live rock, so hopefully it will start spreading.

My setup for the live rock will be minimalistic, no more big wall of rock. It's not going to be extreme either, like Amano inspired systems.
I have mad a mock-up of the desired rock formation, but I don't have access to the pictures at the moment. I will post later in the week.


Waffleman
 
Unless something unforeseen happens, this weekend will be the rebuild weekend.

I'm planning on using a Eheim1262 pump with a 3/4" eductor/penductor, I believe that this pump will make enough pressure to make the penductor work properly.

I used the low pressure chart from this website KTH Sales to get me in the ballpark. I think I will end up with about 500GPH real flow from the sump, for a total flow of about 2000GPH. There will be a ball valve in the pump discharge side so that I can throttle back if I have to.

Waffleman
 
Finally, I'm getting around to posting a picture.

This is what I want the layout to look like when I'm done.

mockup_feb2011.jpg


The problem will be that I can never get it the same way again...

Waffleman
 
I'll be following your build Nico,great start so far :)

The best way I have found so far to stack rocks in a minimalistic scene is to use those driveway reflectors you buy at Lowe's and use the shafts,drill into the rock and glue them in place..Way better than the gravity stack :)
 
Step 1 complete, LR is removed, fish corals are removed.
New rock, fish and corals are in the 55G, it was quite a challenge to fit it in there. The tangs must be very unhappy. At least there are lots of hiding places.

Tomorrow empty the remainder of the tank (sand and about 20gallons of water), move the stand so that I can lay the floor down.

Waffleman
 
The floor is finished, repainted the walls where the tank stands, base boards are cut and painted. Need to install first thing in the morning. Then the"real" work can begin...
 
Just reading this now. I feel bad about recommending the powerhead behind the rocks in another thread. Great minds think alike, even though the timing of it would suggest plagerism. Anyway, I will cop to stealing the idea on the fans. I'm going to order up a couple two-chree of em.

Are they plugged in individually? or did you daisy chain em?

I like where this is heading!
 
Hi Cully, for the fans I used the old power supply that came with the icecap fans. The are both on the same power supply. 12VDC 500mA is more than sufficient for 2, you may want to bump up the size if you want 3 of them on the same power pack.

Nico
 
Progress for the day:

Cleaned the tank stand, put a piece of vinyl flooring in the buttom.
Cleaned the sump
Installed the sump in opposite direction
Installed all the plumbing ( 3 trips to Home Depot :-( )

Tomorrow: water back into the tank...
 
Water went back in the tank yesterday. I basically threw the rocks in the tank and the corals on top. I will be doing aquascaping later in the week.

I ran into some issues:
The Herbie silent overflow: Not silent at all
- to fix it, I had to slow down the return
The Herbie overflow didn't start a siphon on it's own.
- to fix it, I had to shorten the drain pipe, to just below the level in the sump, instead of way down in the bottom of the sump. Too much backpressure when starting and the pipe is low.
The emergency drain trickle was annoying and can always be heard
- to fix it, I made the line longer, so it is almost flush with the water level in the sump
The water is not very clear because there is no longer a filter sock.
- potential fix: I'm thinking of using an open cell foam in the bubble trap

The Eheim 1262 is noisy, I think it's vibration
- the fix: ? vibration pads that are aquarium safe?
The ball valve in the return line is getting stuck, I can barely move it even with both hands.
- potential fix: change the return line and install a gate valve

All by all a good experience, No fish died, corals seem OK for now.
 
Sounds like you've got everything under control for such a large workload. I've heard of people using mouse pads under the return pump (internally) to reduce vibrations.
 
Thanks for the tip on the fans. Think I'm gonna go with 3 of the 120mm units. Still not sure on the power supply, if you have any tips, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, I'm sure the vendor will shoot me straight!
 
Thanks Cully and Jon, good info on the vibration issue.

Cully,
My fans draw only 0.11 amps lets say the bigger ones draw 0.2A, which I'm sure they don't. A 1000mA 12VDC adapter will do the job. McmasterCarr has a cheap one (compared to Radio shack at least)
1000mA/12VDC 70235K69
I would look around the house first at the old adapters before buying one.

Nico
 
Finally some pictures

Finally some pictures

the empty space being finished up:

DSC00075.jpg



The temporary housing (55G) for the fish and corals. only a MP40 and a heater.
DSC00077.jpg



The new plumbing supplies
DSC00079.jpg


The new layout for the sump
DSC00082.jpg

The return section up close, befoire the modifications to silence it
DSC00080.jpg


The Herbie style overflow
DSC00084.jpg




Waffleman
 
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