Adventures of a Glass Box | My 75g mixed reef

K

kelp47

Member
I waited to begin my build thread until I had some consistent progress to share, but now that I have consistent progress, I've been too busy to share! So for documentation purposes, I'm backing up a bit.

As I began to plan my reef, I first decided that I would build my setup with three goals in mind:
1) The quietest reef possible. The aquarium is located in the main room of our house, directly behind the couch"”this is the best spot for it. My husband and I frequently listen intently to music, so we don't want too much (if any) humming and splashing interference.
2) A dependable system. I don't want to have to worry about equipment breaking down (beyond the inevitable, of course) or a flooded house, so my focus in on reliable equipment and an aquarium setup that is as failsafe as possible.
3) Low-maintenance. Yes, I know a low-maintenance reef sounds like an oxymoron. But relatively speaking, I want my setup to run smoothly without my constant tweaking and care. In other words, I don't want it to be such a burden that I cannot enjoy it.

After much research on each item, here is my equipment list:

"¢ 75g rimless aquarium, built by Miracles, drilled for a Herbie overflow
"¢ 40g acrylic sump, including sections for skimmer, return pump, fuge and integrated ATO

"¢ Skimmer: Vertex Alpha Cone 170
"¢ Return pump: Sicce Syncra 3.5
"¢ Powerheads: Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6055 (x2) with Multicontroller 7096
"¢ Lights: ATI Dimmable Sunpower T5 6x39w
"¢ Heaters: Cobalt Neotherm, 200w (x2)
"¢ Controller: Neptune Apex Lite, with added leak detection module and automatic feeder
"¢ ATO: Tunze Osmolater Universal 3155

"¢ RO/DI filter: Vertex Delux Puratek 100 RO/DI
"¢ Salt: Instant Ocean
"¢ Testing supplies: Sybon Salinity Refractometer; Hanna Phosphate Checker; Red Sea Ca, KH and Mg tests; Salifert NH4, NO2, NO3 and pH tests.

So, fellow reefers, am I missing anything???
 
from my reading and understanding herbie overflow can and will be quite but misses the mark on reliability/ flood prevention. look into the the Bean Animal just one more hole and you have less worry about floods
 
Redman88 said:
from my reading and understanding herbie overflow can and will be quite but misses the mark on reliability/ flood prevention. look into the the Bean Animal just one more hole and you have less worry about floods
Click to expand...

Well, the tank is actually already drilled and filled (I'm back tracking on my progress so I document it all). But I have tested power outtage circumstances many times to be sure my sump wouldn't overflow, and this won't be a problem. So as long as I keep an eye on my drain pipes to keep them clear, I think I'll be okay.

Thank you for the feedback!
 
The aquarium placement quandary

After much debate about where to put the aquarium on the main floor (and after deciding against an aquarium room in the basement, for various reasons), my husband and I decided that the best place was right in the middle of the room. Well, it is actually located between two cedar posts that kind of serve as dividers between our living room and kitchen. So the tank also divides the two rooms, and sits directly behind our couch.

This presented two problems: 1) there are no outlets in the center of the room, and 2) all standard tanks have overflows placed in a way that would be unsightly with all sides of the aquarium on display.

To solve the first problem, we drilled two holes in the floor and the base of the cedar posts (well, my husband did while I watched), and installed a GFCI outlet on each post. These are connected to a breaker shared by no other appliances in the house, so if something else causes a breaker to shut off, the tank will not go down with it—and vice versa. (Our home has a blend of nature and industry, so the galvanized metal boxes on the cedar posts fit in quite well!)

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To solve the second issue, I decided to explore the option of having an aquarium custom built. I considered having a center column overflow, but I didn’t want this in my aquascape or take over swimming room for my fish. So I decided to have the overflow put on one short side of the tank, opposite the front door, and without the box extending around the corners. After receiving quotes from three different tank manufactures, I was surprised to find that Miracles, though located in Canada, offered the best price and also had great reviews. So I sent my design to Derek at Miracles and anxiously awaited word on its completion and shipment….

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I would suggest a QT tank. A 30g should be big enough for any animal that you plan on having in your tank.

Also, you're going to need a container for holding RODI water, and a container for mixing salt (pump, heater for mixing / heating water in this one).
 
The QT tank is still on my to do list, so thanks for the reminder.
I do have containers for storing water. I have a large rubbermaid trash can ready for water changes now :)
 
Thanks! I hope to post the next update tonight... I'm trying to catch up so that I can get to my current scenario (cycling part 1 of "The Package" :))

As far as the GFI goes, all I know is that I have a new breaker in the box in the basement, and it run to two outlets on the main floor. One has the GFCI buttons on it, and the other is downstream of it. Sorry, I'm not very electrically inclined!
 
My Miracles aquarium arrives!

The day finally arrived that I could pick up my aquarium from the local freight company. With some help from my dad and husband, the tank made it safely to the room where it would be set up. It is a very well-made tank, and I am very pleased with my choice of Miracles for the manufacturer. Unfortunately, it sat on the floor for quite some time while I fine-tuned the stand.

I found the stand at a local aquarium shop and immediately bought it because it was taller than most, which was necessary for its placement behind the couch. But it was open on the back, which was an issue since the back would be seen. So first a sheet of wood and a few trim pieces had to be added. Next, the stand had to be stained. Also, when I sent a photo of the stand to Miracles, they would not guarantee the tank on this stand as it was built, so I then had to add some supports to it. Finally, in an effort to dampen sound from the sump and equipment, I placed a PVC mat in the bottom (also water protection) and lined the sides with foam.

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Next, I ordered an open sump about as large as I could fit inside the stand, planning to add baffles myself. So I also ordered some acrylic sheets cut the necessary sizes to section off the sump like this: drain/skimmer > return >< fuge – ATO water. It’s not a pretty gluing job, but it works! (The photo shows the sump from the back)

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Now with the stand, sump and aquarium ready, I am finally making progress.

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Thanks. Doing much better than my old one. Always put towels down to protect your woodwork. Especially when cleaning and water changes. Also dry test your plumbing setup before glueing. Use union ball valves keeping in mind taking apart for cleaning. Just want to help you protect that great view.
 
Yes, I'm learning this! My old beach towels have been converted to aquarium towels.
As far as plumbing goes, I'm actually using soft plumbing. I know most people advocate hard plumbing, but it just seemed more practical to use braided vinyl hose in such a small space. See next post...
 
Making clean water

Before filling the aquarium, I had to get my RODI unit set up and running. My plan was to connect it to the cold water line in the laundry room and leave the unit hooked up so that I could make clean water any time. This has worked quite well so far. I chose the Vertex unit for its lower waste water output, and it has performed well. It may be hard to see in the photo below, but I made a blue mark on each jug where the water line was when I turned the filter off. But there is also more water in the 50 feet of tubing leading to the RODI jug (explained below). In the case that I need RODI water and plan to do laundry soon, I can also move the drain line to fill the washer and actually use the waste water.

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So with the filter ready to go, I hooked up a 50 ft line of tubing to the RODI unit and ran it out of the laundry room, across the kitchen and into the tank. I turned the filter on, set a timer for every hour to check on it, and about 8 hours later I had a full aquarium!

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Plumbing and equipment dry run

After reading all of the pros and cons about hard v. soft plumbing, I decided that soft plumbing was best for my scenario. All of my plumbing must fit in a stand with a 18x48 footprint, with both drains and return at one end. So braided vinyl it is! Below is a photo of my plumbing job. I have two drain lines—one main and one emergency—that go straight down into the skimmer section. The water then flows through the baffles to the return section. The line leaving the pump is split with part going to the fuge, and the rest returning to the tank. The fuge then also spills into the return section. I found this setup as a recommendation from someone here on the forum—just another great tip from an experienced reefer!

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The dry run went pretty well. I had a little leak at one bulkhead, which only required a little tightening. There were also leaks where the hose bard connectors screwed into the valves, so I found some o-rings that seem to have fixed that problem. I have since found some large rubber washers that I think will work better, but since the o-rings are holding, I’ll probably just wait until I need to change them or do some kind of maintenance.

I had the plumbing locked into some plastic pipe holders that were drilled into the wooden supports in my stand, but even with soft plumbing there was too much vibration sounding through the stand when the tubing was clipped in. So now it’s just kind of hanging. If anyone has suggestions, I’ll welcome them. My only idea at the moment is to try attaching more of the PVC mat across the back (which could also redirect any future leaks back into the sump) and maybe attach the same pipe holders with the PVC mat in between the holder and the stand… if that makes any sense.

So once the plumbing was ready, I ran all equipment—return pump, skimmer and powerheads. Everything is working like a charm. And the Herbie drain was really easy to regulate. I then added the salt, and was happy to say that I officially had a saltwater aquarium, even if empty!

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Now it's time to add something!!!
 
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