BK's 110 Gallon Build

[Schplitter]

It's time to make it official. I started planning this tank several months ago as most of you know. As usual this is a going to be 95% DIY :headwally:

The tank:

110 Gallons 48X18X30. The footprint had to be 48X18 because of the space I have for it. I wanted a 90 or a 110 but not a 75. I didn't think a 75 would be tall enough as I love tall tanks.

Filtration:

I revised the filtration layout several times and came up with a final design about two weeks ago. The original plan was to have a 36" tank as a sump but that didn't work out. The new plan is to use a 55 gallon tank. Now that the tank is in my basement all it needs is baffles. Here is the plan for now.

The heart of this will be a Vertex IN100 Skimmer.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem.aspx?idproduct=VX1113&child=VX1115

I hope this skimmer will be able to handle my bio load. If it can't I will be building a custom skimmer as I still have my NW DART pump laying around form the last tank.

Circulation and Flow:

The return pump will be a Quiet One 6000.

http://www.marinedepot.com/pumps_pentair_aquatics_rainbow_lifegard_quiet_one-ap.html

For the flow in the tank I will be using 2 Tunze 6125's. I know this may be overkill but I can always face them up to reduce the amount of flow.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewi...ntent=TZ1337&gclid=COTCocHi67QCFe5FMgodGjAAlw

 

[Schplitter]

Lighting:

I still have my Lighting left over from the 135 so I will be using the 2- 250W HQI + Bluewave 7. I might try running just one of them to see how much light I will get. I still have to come up with some kind of actinic lighting.

 

[Schplitter]

The stand:

Today I had some time and I decided to go to Lowe's and buy everything for the stand. I planned this thing for several months now so the shopping took about 10 minutes

Here is what I built today:

FRONT

SIDE

ANGLE

Everything has been notched, glued and screwed together. I had to notch instead of going the traditional route of having three 2x4's as legs because of space. I also saved at least one tree by doing so.

 

[Schplitter]

Below the stand you can see the future sump filled with my DIY Live Rock. It has been soaking in water for about 6 weeks now. I do a 100% water change ever other day. This is with tap water only. The PH went from 14 to 12 in those 6 weeks. I have to get it to 9.5 or below to be usable in the tank. More fun water changes to come.

Here is some good reading if you are interested in making your own:

http://delreefclub.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=1

 

[SaltwaterChris]

Good start.Sump looks cool

 

[dbuesking]

Very nice start.:thumbsup: I love your sump design:artist:

 

[smoothdog]

Looks great BK! Will this be a mixed reef or are you focusing on particular type of coral? I think you'll be fine with the tunzes unless you are doing softies/lps only. One thought on the baffles before the return pump, have you considered adding a third so the water comes out of the baffles at the top? I only ask because with the skimmer chamber right next to the return I think it might help to bring any micro bubbles to the top instead of feeding them right to the return pump. I've been playing with the returns in my new sump to tune them and noticed that that third baffle really helps to push those micro bubbles to the top and out.

 

[smoothdog]

Also, you might be able to get away with one MH but you'd need a really good reflector and probably want it to be 400w, or else you'd need a heck of a lot of supplemental fluorescent. Here's a shot of mine with just one 250w light on and crappy reflectors. The second light doubles the coverage of about 75% of the bottom of the tank and without it I don't think much would live due to low par. I'm getting around 130-150 par on the sand with both (14k Phoenix) lights on (the fluorescents are PC and don't add any significant light at depth).


DSC_1321.JPG by ksw2005, on Flickr

 

[Schplitter]

Looks great BK! Will this be a mixed reef or are you focusing on particular type of coral? I think you'll be fine with the tunzes unless you are doing softies/lps only. One thought on the baffles before the return pump, have you considered adding a third so the water comes out of the baffles at the top? I only ask because with the skimmer chamber right next to the return I think it might help to bring any micro bubbles to the top instead of feeding them right to the return pump. I've been playing with the returns in my new sump to tune them and noticed that that third baffle really helps to push those micro bubbles to the top and out.

I agree with you. I'll add the 3rd baffle. I was thinking of flipping them making the flow under over but the 3rd baffle seems like a sure thing.

 

[Schplitter]

Good start.Sump looks cool

Very nice start.:thumbsup: I love your sump design:artist:

Thanks guys.

 

[Schplitter]

Also, you might be able to get away with one MH but you'd need a really good reflector and probably want it to be 400w, or else you'd need a heck of a lot of supplemental fluorescent. Here's a shot of mine with just one 250w light on and crappy reflectors. The second light doubles the coverage of about 75% of the bottom of the tank and without it I don't think much would live due to low par. I'm getting around 130-150 par on the sand with both (14k Phoenix) lights on (the fluorescents are PC and don't add any significant light at depth).


DSC_1321.JPG by ksw2005, on Flickr

Awesome example! I have the Lumenarc Mini reflectors. They are pretty awesome or at least they were back in the day. I plan on having a huge pile of rock on the right side bottom to top and a small one in the middle of the tank. The left side will not need light for coral. I'll try it with one and if it looks bad or there simply isn't enough light to cover everything I can always fire up the 2nd one. I would love it if it works out with just one because of the heat issues I had in the past with all of heat the MH's produce.

 

[smoothdog]

With that setup it sound pretty feasible then, especially with decent actinic supplementation. I thought about doing the dropoff setup with mine when I started but it just sort of turned into this. :hmm4: Sounds like it will be a pretty cool scape and the single light could give a bit of a dramatic look to it.

 

[Schplitter]

With that setup it sound pretty feasible then, especially with decent actinic supplementation. I thought about doing the dropoff setup with mine when I started but it just sort of turned into this. :hmm4: Sounds like it will be a pretty cool scape and the single light could give a bit of a dramatic look to it.

Yours looks cool but I want lots' of :fish2: so I'm going for the open concept. I hope it turns out as cool as the picture I have in my head.

 

[Schplitter]

Double

 

[Schplitter]

I made a some progress on the stand this evening. Some of the skin pieces are on.

1st I created a cut diagram to make sure I'm buying enough wood.

Then I bought it and cut it all up.

The sides went on 1st.

Then the front.

In this picture you can see the pieces are over sized to make sure they plastic trim on the aquarium is covered. Luckily I sent Smoothdog a PM before I made the 1st cut. I was thinking the trim is 1.5" tall when it's actually almost 2 " tall. That would have been a pain to fix.

Here is the stand with the doors just leaning on it. I have to router the edges of the doors to make them look nice and router out two huge openings on the stand where the doors will be. The openings will be 20"X30". That should give me plenty of access to the sump but I will still make the center piece between the doors removable just in case I need the extra space.

 

[tall_jason79]

How is your DIY rock coming along? I am thinking about going this route when i set up the 200 and the 120 again in the future. It would be nice to start making it now and have it seeding over a years time or so. Also have you heard of any side effects of using DIY rock over time promoting any algae issues or deterioration? Thanks ! Looks good so far let me know if you need me to make any holes !! lol

 

[Schplitter]

I made some more progress over the last couple of days. The main part of the canopy is now complete. I still need to cut the openings for the doors, buy and add some trim and paint everything.

This thing will be 7ft tall when it's completed. The tank will be 38" off the floor. The viewing panels will be between 40" and 67". It may be a pain to maintain but at least it will look pretty lol.

Here is a picture of the inside of the canopy. I added a whole bunch of supports to make sure nothing sags over time. I also added silicone/caulk to every single inside corner to make sure no moisture reached the wood. This will all be painted with acrylic pain to make sure it stays solid for years to come.

 

[Schplitter]

How is your DIY rock coming along? I am thinking about going this route when i set up the 200 and the 120 again in the future. It would be nice to start making it now and have it seeding over a years time or so. Also have you heard of any side effects of using DIY rock over time promoting any algae issues or deterioration? Thanks ! Looks good so far let me know if you need me to make any holes !! lol

Well it's definitely worth it if you care about the environment and have tons of time to do 3 water changes per week for 3-4 months to drop the PH down. I tested mine tonight and it's now down to 11.5. This took 7 weeks approximately. There are quicker methods out there but they require building a steam sauna for the rock and even then you are still waiting for at least one month before you can add it to a tank. As long as you have the patience and time I think it's worth it.

The known issues are the PH being high and people not being patient enough. You can't heat it above 150F because it will be brittle and you have to get the mixture right. Other that that it's pretty much live rock without the critters on it but after a few months in your tank the critters will take over and you wont be able to tell the difference.

If you are serious about it I would be happy to help. I also have a cement mixer you can borrow if you need to make a lot of it.

 

[tall_jason79]

Yeah I am looking to do around 400 lbs and end up buying 40 lbs from the store to seed it. I'm tagging along

 

[tall_jason79]

Is it cost effective?