A Living Room Reef: 90 Gallon Mixed Reef Build
- Thread starter troubadour11
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troubadour11
Member
I did consider that but there are 2 thoughts deterring me from running it that way.
-The main reason is that the fuge is tempered glass so I have to drain the water with a gravity siphon. This means the fuge needs to be lifted up higher then the sump which will basically be sitting on the ground. With the lift, the top of the fuge will be higher then the drain lines coming through the wall.
- My second thought was now I am planning a 2 inch or so sand bed in the display and a DSB in the 75 fuge. I feel by running the drain water to the sump where it can pass the skimmer first could be a good idea. Hopefully this will lead to less detritus making it's way to the fuge allowing it to do it's thing and not build up or trap as much physical waste inside the fuge.
But really, the first reason is the issue. I was going to sell the 75 tank. The whole reason for upgrading the DT was because of the tempered glass and lack of overflow in the old 75. I didn't see the benefits of spending the $ on an overflow system when I was building the fresh tank. Now I know better :hmm2: But then when I decided to put the filtration in the closet, it seemed dumb to sell the tank for pennies when I could up the amount of over all water in the system.
So I thought I was going to get a bunch of tank time in, but then I picked up a contract last week. I worked every day through till last night, so I'd been busy. But I gotta work so I can get money to spend on the tank :strooper: I managed to do a little something though...
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- I managed to get the self leveling siphon mostly done. It's not primed and glued yet, just a dry fit assembly. I also need to grab a tube of silicone and drill in a check or bleed valve on the up and over section. Next is to get that valve installed and the frame for the fuge built so I can test the siphon on the actual system.
I was going to go about that today, but I'm not so sure I'll be able to now. My wife's car won't start this morning :angryfire: So she's off in my car and I'm stuck at home. I can do what I can with what I have here I guess. :worried: I wonder how much this is going to cost... I may not be making much progress depending on how this goes. :worried: As my Mom used to tell me "It's always something."
On a more positive note though... This got delivered last week! My new RO/DI unit is here. So even though I've got a bunch of plumbing and things still to do, I'm getting pieces together so once it's plumbed, I can get the water in there and get the cycle going!
And of course any plumbers out there, I'm still open to any help :idea:
troubadour11
Member
Well since I'm stuck at home right now and can't get to the store to grab some wood and stuff for the refugium tank stand. I decided I could at least hook up a test for my self leveling siphon and see if it works.
So far so good! It's still out in the garage running and I will test power outages a few more times. But I think it will work just fine! The bottom of my bucket (or "sump") in the video is about 10-12 inches below the bottom of the cooler (or "refugium"). That should be pretty close to how it will be all set up. Check out the video of it working and passing a "power outage" test to make sure the siphon is maintained!
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p0YOz4l1hwo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
For now I crammed an old air line tube up there to suck out the air bubble and get the siphon started. But now that I know it works, I'll finish it off and drill in a check valve and get it all primed and glued. And for now, it seems like the old freshwater Fluval 305 will be useful to get water up to the fuge.
Pretty soon I will have the fuge up on a shorty stand with the overflow plumbing all hooked up to the sump! At least something in the system has had water running through it now! :bounce3: hahaha. Even if it is only fresh hose water for the test... it's still wet :thumbsup:
So far so good! It's still out in the garage running and I will test power outages a few more times. But I think it will work just fine! The bottom of my bucket (or "sump") in the video is about 10-12 inches below the bottom of the cooler (or "refugium"). That should be pretty close to how it will be all set up. Check out the video of it working and passing a "power outage" test to make sure the siphon is maintained!
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p0YOz4l1hwo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
For now I crammed an old air line tube up there to suck out the air bubble and get the siphon started. But now that I know it works, I'll finish it off and drill in a check valve and get it all primed and glued. And for now, it seems like the old freshwater Fluval 305 will be useful to get water up to the fuge.
Pretty soon I will have the fuge up on a shorty stand with the overflow plumbing all hooked up to the sump! At least something in the system has had water running through it now! :bounce3: hahaha. Even if it is only fresh hose water for the test... it's still wet :thumbsup:
Bello
New member
Can't see the vid Troub, its set to private .... :lol:
Glad to hear the overflow system is working :thumbsup: It looks pretty solid. Waiting to see it in action
I still don't quite understand how it works, so show me :lol:
No car? Reminds me of my time in the US, didn't have a car, and with nary a public transport system .... not fun!!! I had friends that knew the second I called, that I wanted to borrow their car :lol:...Yeah, I was pretty shameless.
It did make sense to use the extra volume of the 75G. DSB in there sounds good. I'm in the process of attempting 2 x rDSB's (in tupperware) in my sump at the moment. Hoping that helps out with the cyano issue I also seem to have.
When do you think you're gonna get that tank wet? Work? Ain't nobody got time for dat :lol:
About the RO/DI, did you get an inline TDS meter? If you didn't, I HIGHLY recommend getting a dual-inline TDS meter, setup with one measuring after RO, and one after DI :thumbsup:
Glad to hear the overflow system is working :thumbsup: It looks pretty solid. Waiting to see it in action
I still don't quite understand how it works, so show me :lol:No car? Reminds me of my time in the US, didn't have a car, and with nary a public transport system .... not fun!!! I had friends that knew the second I called, that I wanted to borrow their car :lol:...Yeah, I was pretty shameless.
It did make sense to use the extra volume of the 75G. DSB in there sounds good. I'm in the process of attempting 2 x rDSB's (in tupperware) in my sump at the moment. Hoping that helps out with the cyano issue I also seem to have.
When do you think you're gonna get that tank wet? Work? Ain't nobody got time for dat :lol:
About the RO/DI, did you get an inline TDS meter? If you didn't, I HIGHLY recommend getting a dual-inline TDS meter, setup with one measuring after RO, and one after DI :thumbsup:
troubadour11
Member
Ok, I switched over the setting and got the video off private. So you can give the embeded version up top another shot.
and here's the direct link too: http://youtu.be/p0YOz4l1hwo
Hopefully that fixes that :-D
Fortunately I have free roadside towing on my car insurance. So at least it doesn't cost us anything to get it to the shop. I'm pretty sure it's a sensor, idle control valve, or something like that. It would just click when we tried to start it. But the lights, radio, and electrical worked. I jumped it and the jeep turned over but stalled immediately. Unhooked the jumper cables, started it up, and it stalled. I put it in neutral, started it and gave it some gas and it kept running until I let off the gas. It stalled immediately as it hit idle. So maybe I'm lucky and it's just cleaning some valves or replacing a sensor. We will see... :sad2:
The RO/DI came with an in-line pressure gauge, flush valve, di-bypass, 100 gpd membrane, and the rest of the 5 stage filters. But no in-line tds meter. I did get a hand held meter that came with it. So I can manually check tap water, ro out put, and di output. In-line might be a nice upgrade after the tank is running though :thumbsup:
I want it wet right now. But electricity and money are the 2 things really holding me up. Once I get some stable contracts and can pay to get the electrical run into the closet, the rest can happen super fast. Right now I'm trying to get ahead of it and have it all plumbed so it's ready once I hit my next extended job and we get some POWER!!! :dance: So plumbing and set up now... then I can dabble with the Reef Angel and lighting while it cycles.
and here's the direct link too: http://youtu.be/p0YOz4l1hwo
Hopefully that fixes that :-D
Fortunately I have free roadside towing on my car insurance. So at least it doesn't cost us anything to get it to the shop. I'm pretty sure it's a sensor, idle control valve, or something like that. It would just click when we tried to start it. But the lights, radio, and electrical worked. I jumped it and the jeep turned over but stalled immediately. Unhooked the jumper cables, started it up, and it stalled. I put it in neutral, started it and gave it some gas and it kept running until I let off the gas. It stalled immediately as it hit idle. So maybe I'm lucky and it's just cleaning some valves or replacing a sensor. We will see... :sad2:
The RO/DI came with an in-line pressure gauge, flush valve, di-bypass, 100 gpd membrane, and the rest of the 5 stage filters. But no in-line tds meter. I did get a hand held meter that came with it. So I can manually check tap water, ro out put, and di output. In-line might be a nice upgrade after the tank is running though :thumbsup:
I want it wet right now. But electricity and money are the 2 things really holding me up. Once I get some stable contracts and can pay to get the electrical run into the closet, the rest can happen super fast. Right now I'm trying to get ahead of it and have it all plumbed so it's ready once I hit my next extended job and we get some POWER!!! :dance: So plumbing and set up now... then I can dabble with the Reef Angel and lighting while it cycles.
Bello
New member
That was a really cool vid!!! Great to see it working like that, despite the ghetto cooler assembly :lol:. That's a pretty good option, when you don't wanna drill.
My knowledge of cars is a little bit worse than my knowledge of plumbing. Ironic, since my livelihood depends on vehicle transportation :lol:. But, it does seem like a sensor issue. Doesn't seem like a battery problem. Hope its a cheap fix :thumbsup:
So, while on the topic of saving money, I recommended the dual unit, its like 50 bucks, since with the handheld meter, we tend to typically test the tap water and the final product water (after di). I was too lazy to disconnect the pipes and test after the RO. So in my case, the RO got exhausted, which then led to the DI being used up rapidly, and to make it worse, I didn't check the final product water.......dead sps. The RO membrane is pretty expensive, and testing after it exits, lets you keep tabs on its performance. So hope you pick one up later :thumbsup:
The weekends here, get that BBQ going, and get your buddies to get those electricals in :lol:.....Well, you did say that it would be a slow build :lol:
My knowledge of cars is a little bit worse than my knowledge of plumbing. Ironic, since my livelihood depends on vehicle transportation :lol:. But, it does seem like a sensor issue. Doesn't seem like a battery problem. Hope its a cheap fix :thumbsup:
So, while on the topic of saving money, I recommended the dual unit, its like 50 bucks, since with the handheld meter, we tend to typically test the tap water and the final product water (after di). I was too lazy to disconnect the pipes and test after the RO. So in my case, the RO got exhausted, which then led to the DI being used up rapidly, and to make it worse, I didn't check the final product water.......dead sps. The RO membrane is pretty expensive, and testing after it exits, lets you keep tabs on its performance
. So hope you pick one up later :thumbsup: The weekends here, get that BBQ going, and get your buddies to get those electricals in :lol:.....Well, you did say that it would be a slow build :lol:
biggles
Premium Member
This stuff Troub............ get it and put it in the tank before i do my nut at ya !
If you have the tank in place and your bulkhead fittings in there's no reason you can't fill it to below the overflow height and put a heater, pumps etc in and get your cycle going while you sort the other stuff out - not that i'm trying to hurry you up or anything mate......... hopefully we can get some water in there before Halley's comet next passes :thumbsup:
troubadour11
Member
Bello: I'm glad you liked the video. I think it will work just right once I get it set up on the actual tank. My ghetto cooler/bucket set up was pretty sweet though! I almost netted a few of my wife's fresh water fish from the 5 gallon tank to throw in there :lmao: She probably would not have appreciated that. :angryfire::uzi:
I wanted to build my platform for the fuge and test it in place on the actual set up. But with the Jeep not starting and me being stuck at home, it was the best I could come up with since I had no wood to build with. On the plus side, the jeep ended up being just a little shy of $400. So not a HORRIBLE price for a car with 145,000 miles not starting :thumbsup: But still a hit on my fish tank build pocket book with work being slow this summer :thumbdown
On the Dual TDS meter, I'll definitely consider it as a future upgrade for sure. I bought an extra Weir and 2 valves so I can make a DI by-pass valve. We are going to use that to fill a drinking water cooler for the kitchen with RO only water. Then the RO/DI for the tank. So for now, I'll have to suffer through the couple steps of manually checking it. But since we'll be constantly pulling RO only water, I should be able to fit in checking tap, RO-only, and RO/DI output in order to make sure my filters are working properly.
Yes Biggles, that is the ultimate goal! WATER :lol2: I would set it up in place like you mention, but I have a few things to take care of before I can fill it up I think. Like being able to access the wall behind it. I have to drill the cabinet (it has a solid back on it) and the wall behind it for the pipes. Plus there is an outlet behind the tank, and I'm thinking about swapping that out to a GFCI outlet just in case I decide to plug tank things into it. Even though everything will probably be getting juiced form the (still to come) plugs in the closet.
The bottom line is I'm deathly afraid to fill it only to find out I have to drain and move it for a 10 minute job later. I HATE re-doing work because I didn't plan correctly. And I know... excuses, excuses, excuses, right? :strooper: :lol2:
I REALLY hope I can book a nice semi-long contract for the fall that starts mid-summer here. This lull in work is killing my fish tank fund! But, I'm buying the wood next chance I get so the fuge can get all plumbed. Then it shouldn't be to tough to drill the return/drain pipes and I can at least get it cycling. Although until that electric gets run, I may have to hook up the return pump and skimmer on extension cords (not sure how safe that is). But it of course is not a long term set up...
I wanted to build my platform for the fuge and test it in place on the actual set up. But with the Jeep not starting and me being stuck at home, it was the best I could come up with since I had no wood to build with. On the plus side, the jeep ended up being just a little shy of $400. So not a HORRIBLE price for a car with 145,000 miles not starting :thumbsup: But still a hit on my fish tank build pocket book with work being slow this summer :thumbdown
On the Dual TDS meter, I'll definitely consider it as a future upgrade for sure. I bought an extra Weir and 2 valves so I can make a DI by-pass valve. We are going to use that to fill a drinking water cooler for the kitchen with RO only water. Then the RO/DI for the tank. So for now, I'll have to suffer through the couple steps of manually checking it. But since we'll be constantly pulling RO only water, I should be able to fit in checking tap, RO-only, and RO/DI output in order to make sure my filters are working properly.
This stuff Troub............ get it and put it in the tank before i do my nut at ya !
If you have the tank in place...
Yes Biggles, that is the ultimate goal! WATER :lol2: I would set it up in place like you mention, but I have a few things to take care of before I can fill it up I think. Like being able to access the wall behind it. I have to drill the cabinet (it has a solid back on it) and the wall behind it for the pipes. Plus there is an outlet behind the tank, and I'm thinking about swapping that out to a GFCI outlet just in case I decide to plug tank things into it. Even though everything will probably be getting juiced form the (still to come) plugs in the closet.
The bottom line is I'm deathly afraid to fill it only to find out I have to drain and move it for a 10 minute job later. I HATE re-doing work because I didn't plan correctly. And I know... excuses, excuses, excuses, right? :strooper: :lol2:
I REALLY hope I can book a nice semi-long contract for the fall that starts mid-summer here. This lull in work is killing my fish tank fund! But, I'm buying the wood next chance I get so the fuge can get all plumbed. Then it shouldn't be to tough to drill the return/drain pipes and I can at least get it cycling. Although until that electric gets run, I may have to hook up the return pump and skimmer on extension cords (not sure how safe that is). But it of course is not a long term set up...
Bello
New member
btw, what went wrong with the Jeep? Now, I'm curious :lol: 400 bucks is not too bad considering the usage of the vehicle :lol:
Wish I could convince my wife to use RO water, she refuses to have anything to do with anything that's fish tank related :lol
+1 on just filling it up some water, and just letting it cycle. Don't bother with fish, let the tank just run with saltwater. I'm assume that you'll be seeding the tank a piece of live rock or is that a no no?
Redoing stuff? Have you seen my Monti tank scape?? :lol:
Wish I could convince my wife to use RO water, she refuses to have anything to do with anything that's fish tank related :lol
+1 on just filling it up some water, and just letting it cycle. Don't bother with fish, let the tank just run with saltwater. I'm assume that you'll be seeding the tank a piece of live rock or is that a no no?
Redoing stuff? Have you seen my Monti tank scape?? :lol:
troubadour11
Member
Well, at first it was some sensor that went bad. The fuel pump and all that was working just fine. Because I could start the Jeep and keep it running if I was in neutral and gave it a little gas. As soon as I let up on the gas and went to idle, it died.
So they replaced whatever sensor and said some other piece (something like "the idle control valve assembly", this info was second hand from my wife) was dirty and needed to be replaced or cleaned. So they cleaned it all up and it was running again. So the sensor and cleaning came out to like $370. We got the Jeep home and used it for 3 days... flash forward to Saturday morning when I go out to drive it to the hardware store to get things to work on the tank... and it doesn't run! :angryfire: Fortunately it was the same symptoms. So back to the shop we went. They swapped out whatever piece they had tried just cleaning and say it's running smooth as butter now. So I dropped the wifey off to pick it up this morning. Only another $125 or so.
Outside of dealing with that and the on-going saga of attempting to refinance our house, I haven't been up to much. With the off and on contract work over the summer, money has been a bit of a hold up and I haven't been able to finish off the plumbing to get it going. If that ever finishes, I'm looking at having like $250-$450 extra a month when the mortgage is lower! Then we'll get this sucker WET in a heartbeat!
For now, I'm stuck dead in the (well it can't be "dead in the water" since I have now water yet :deadhorse
... how about "dead in the empty tank bomb shelter" :headwalls:I did go on an excursion to check out a new LFS the other weekend. About a 35 minute drive down the highway to the next town. It was a nice shop. Then we went to one of our usual stops to check out and drool over their corals.
biggles
Premium Member
That sucks about the stupid car Troub, i got rid of mine and catch the train now. It helps that the best SPS LFS in Melbourne happens to be 20 yards from a train station Last trip home a drunken idiot started hassling me to show him the fish in the poly box and when i pointed out there were no fish in the box despite the writing on the side saying 'Live Fish Handle With Care' he became a tad abusive and called me a F'ing liar - i assisted him 'gently' off the train at the next stop much to the delight of the other passengers lol.
The tank is last priority when it comes to the family mate so you do what needs doing before you worry about setting up your reef and i'll try to keep Bello off your back about filling the tank.
Last trip home a drunken idiot started hassling me to show him the fish in the poly box and when i pointed out there were no fish in the box despite the writing on the side saying 'Live Fish Handle With Care' he became a tad abusive and called me a F'ing liar - i assisted him 'gently' off the train at the next stop much to the delight of the other passengers lol.The tank is last priority when it comes to the family mate so you do what needs doing before you worry about setting up your reef and i'll try to keep Bello off your back about filling the tank.
Bello
New member
Damn! Troub, sounds like its been quite a headache
I kinda feel bad, cos' I know you're itching to get stuff done, and there's always something in the way. I hope all this works out soon, though. Fair warning, you're entering a very expensive hobby :lol:. Have any kids yet Troub?
I'll try and upload a couple pics on your thread of my basic tanks (not the cubes), so you can see what can be done with barely any equipment, and hardly any cost, just so you get your feet wet.......And add an angel too
I kinda feel bad, cos' I know you're itching to get stuff done, and there's always something in the way. I hope all this works out soon, though. Fair warning, you're entering a very expensive hobby :lol:. Have any kids yet Troub?
I'll try and upload a couple pics on your thread of my basic tanks (not the cubes), so you can see what can be done with barely any equipment, and hardly any cost, just so you get your feet wet
.......And add an angel too troubadour11
Member
- Hahahaha! Hi Fishmate! Yeah, that has provided plenty of good laughs. It did serve as a "scale" reference for everyone out here in the internet world that couldn't see it in person. But REALLY all that random stuff was there to actually hold up and support all the different configurations of the rocks before I mortarted them together. It was a giant and dangerous game of Aquascape Jenga. The only casualty was a nick (about the size of a pencil eraser) in my freshly painted from hallway when a stack of them fell once. Fortunately, now the rocks have all been chiseled :hammer: and cemented together. I don't think they'll be going anywhere now! :thumbsup:
- Yo Jason, thanks for the positive feedback! Right now I'm really happy with how it came out. Having never built a reef aquascape before, this was a fun and creative challenge. Especially with the limited footprint of my tank size. But I think I accomplished what I was hoping for... And at this point I am just DYING to get it wet and let it start maturing. I can't even imagine what it will look like in a year or more! But I sure hope you're right and it looks awesome when it matures :artist:
Biggles: That's a heck of an undertaking. Tossing a drunkard off a train holding a delicate coral specimen box. So if it wasn't a fish in that box (I don't know why you labeled it with live fish though :twitch
I'm going to go out a limb here and guess it was your second favorite thing... a SUPER GREEN CORAL!?!? :lmao:Bello: Yeah, it's definitely been a tough summer for me so far. But... just keep building, just keep building... just keep building... :facepalm: and I'll get there one day! And I definitely know it's an expensive hobby. But as we knew from the start, it was going to be a slow build. And that was mostly because I knew with the house re-fi and the summer coming up, it was going to be tough to have extra funds for the build. And no kids for us.... YET... I think that may be coming in the nearer future. Just another reason why I'm going nuts trying to get this thing wet over the summer!
I'm looking forward to tomorrow and this weekend. We have the Jeep back again. Hopefully I don't walk out Saturday morning and go 0 for 3 on attempting to start the damn thing and drive down the road to get lumber! I'd REALLY like to have some new things built and together after this weekend!
Bello
New member
How'd the weekend go? Get anything done? Well, at least you got the Jeep back. My son'll be a year old soon, and I've got my hands full with him, work, the tanks...oh lord, I need to simplify things
If you wanna start a family soon, AND have the tank, you'd better get cracking!!! This kid takes up so much time... but on the bright side, it makes you realize what your parents went through, to raise you.....
. My son'll be a year old soon, and I've got my hands full with him, work, the tanks...oh lord, I need to simplify things If you wanna start a family soon, AND have the tank, you'd better get cracking!!!
This kid takes up so much time... but on the bright side, it makes you realize what your parents went through, to raise you..... troubadour11
Member
How'd the weekend go? Get anything done? Well, at least you got the Jeep back
If you wanna start a family soon, AND have the tank, you'd better get cracking!!!
I'll be ready for this family thing as soon as the tank is filled and the lights and Reef Angel are installed :twitch: That's the race I'm in right now. I just want to get it up and running. I've been so patient with the build, I can be patient with stocking and watching it grow if that's what it takes to have both.
The weekend was not very productive for me :uhoh3: We did get the Jeep back in working order, but I skipped spending money for another week and just kept busy with what I could. I've been at the studio working as much as I can lately trying to make up for the downtime I had earlier this summer.
It is SOOOOO frustrating not being able to get this thing cycling right now. But I'm about to book a job from end of July to end of August (just waiting on the contracts to be sent over). AH-HA!!! Woah, that was weird... Speaking of which. My e-mail alert just went off and there are the contracts! SCORE!!!! :bounce1::bounce2::bounce3:
Now I feel like I can get some more work done on this build :fish1:
troubadour11
Member
Ok fellow reefers. Besides finishing up this plumbing work next and hopefully soon, it's time to continue preparing to fill the tank. I already have a RO/DI unit to filter my water. Just a few more essentials needed on the filling it up with H20! Any advice on the following...
I am going to be ordering up a shiny new refractometer and a bulk bucket of salt mix in order to be ready to fill the tank ASAP, once the plumbing is in place.
Seeing as how I've never bought salt or mixed it before, does anyone have recommendations based off their experience on what they feel is the best salt for a mixed reef set up? The place to order from, brand? etc. etc. etc.
I'm finding lots of choices out there and TONS of info and, of course, contradictory info/experiences as per the usual in this hobby. And I'm sure a successful reef can be kept with many of them... So what do you all use?
I'm just debating on which company to spend my money to hopefully aid in ease of success in a mixed reef for a newbie. CHEERS to your thoughts! :beer:
I am going to be ordering up a shiny new refractometer and a bulk bucket of salt mix in order to be ready to fill the tank ASAP, once the plumbing is in place.
Seeing as how I've never bought salt or mixed it before, does anyone have recommendations based off their experience on what they feel is the best salt for a mixed reef set up? The place to order from, brand? etc. etc. etc.
I'm finding lots of choices out there and TONS of info and, of course, contradictory info/experiences as per the usual in this hobby. And I'm sure a successful reef can be kept with many of them... So what do you all use?
I'm just debating on which company to spend my money to hopefully aid in ease of success in a mixed reef for a newbie. CHEERS to your thoughts! :beer:
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