Corndork2's little build...

[Corndork2]

After months and months of reading on RC I figured I should finally contribute something. And so, here is the tale of my little 90RR. Hopefully this is the last tank I will have for a very long time. My first tank was a small 10g, then a month after that I moved up to a 29g, and three months after that I upgraded to a 55g. My prime motivation for the move to the 90RR sizes is my rather large Volitian Lionfish. Hes getting to be a big boy and could use more space. We'll start this thread off with a couple shots of my old tanks and old fish.

Heres a shot of my old coral beauty in my 29g
IMG]http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff292/Corndork2/Build%20Thread/Old29001.jpg[/IMG]
IMG]http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff292/Corndork2/Build%20Thread/CB3.jpg[/IMG]

This was my old Dwarf Fuzzy Lionfish. He was also in my 29g

And a picture of my sea urchin and pink tip anemone. Again from my 29g

All of this livestock was given to fellow reefers once I moved to a 55g. I didnt want to risk loosing them in the move so I just found them new homes. Im sure they're all happy. I consider that 29g a learning experience.

I bought the tank and stand used and they are both in great condition. Tonight my goal is to get the background sprayed, and to clean the tank. Im a big fan of black backgrounds, so Ill be spraying mine on with a can of black Krylon Fusion spray paint. Ive used this several times in the past to paint backs of tanks and it simply works great

 

[Corndork2]

Sorry about the Coral Beauty pics...here they are

 

[Corndork2]

Good ol Krylon fusion. Works great, and dries really fast

After two good coats

 

[Corndork2]

I will be using a Gen-X PCX-40 external pump as my return from the sump. It is supposed to be comparable to an Iwaki 55RLT. The PCX-40 is rated for 1190gph. Assuming there will be a little head loss, Im assuming it will give me a 10x or 11x turnover rate. I got the pump used and it could of course use a cleaning.

My pump

With the cover off

Inside of the cover

 

[Corndork2]

A little bit with a wire brush and its good as new

 

[tydtran]

Nice start. Keep us updated.

 

[Corndork2]

I got started on the sump last night. The sump itself is a 30gal long AGA aquarium. Its build date was may 1989..its almost as old as me. All the baffles are 3/32" glass and are siliconed in with GE Silicone II. The return section is drilled for a 1" Sch 80 bulkhead. My Gen-X return will be pumbed into that bulkhead using Sch 80 Plumbing.

Heres a couple shots of the baffles drying

 

[Corndork2]

I originally wanted 1/4" glass but I found a difficult time finding it locally. I thought about using 1/4" acrylic, so I went to Lowes to check it out. Instead I found 3/32" glass. I knew I really didnt want to use 1/8" glass, and I knew I really did want to use 1/4" glass...so I decided to compromise. The 3/32" is actually really sturdy in the sump. Im sure Ill be fine using it. The first baffle is 14" tall, the next 13", then a little baffling to reduce bubbles, and finally a 12" tall baffle. Ill post exact calculations on the volume of the skimmer section, refugium, and return section in a few hours

 

[Corndork2]

The skimmer section holds 9.5 gallons, the refugium holds 4.7 gallons, and return section holds 7.5 gallons. Thus my total sump volume is 21.7 gallons, bringing my total system volume to a little over 110 gallons.

Heres a shot of the bulkhead and Sch 80 union

And heres a top down view of the sump

 

[Corndork2]

The inside of my stand was left unfinished by the previous owner.

Im going to paint it black to match the outside and to seal the wood from moisture.

 

[Corndork2]

As you can see the stand was built with six internal outlets. They are also tied to a GFCI....no fires in Corndork's place

 

[chrismunn]

cool

 

[Corndork2]

after the first coat of black paint

 

[Corndork2]

After the paint dried I put my sump under the stand to see how things fit

I also mocked up the drain plumbing. The bottom of the tank is drilled with two 1" bulkheads. One of them will be used as the drain bulkhead. That 1" bulkgead is connected to a durso standpipe. It is also connected to a 1" double union ballvalve to control flow.

 

[Corndork2]

as I previously said the return pump is a Gen-X PCX-40. It is connected to the sump via a 1" Sch 80 union. Flow from its output is controlled by a 1" ballvalve. The ballvalve connects to 1" flexible PVC. That PVC connects to a 1" bulkhead which then runs to 2 3/4" locline returns via 1" PVC pipe.

 

[crt81]

I like your coral beauty!

 

[Corndork2]

heres how the inside of the stand looks with the sump and plumbing in

 

[Corndork2]

after that was set up I dropped in my skimmer. It is a Euroreef CS 5-2 Needlewheel skimmer. Its driven by a sedra 3500 pump. I love this thing. It is my first real skimmer and all I have to say is wow. Its extremely quiet, and holy crap does it work. I started getting skimmate within 30min of setting it up

Heres a shot of the skimmer in action

And heres how it looks under the stand

 

[Corndork2]

After 30 minutes I started to see skimmate forming. A few hours later I have my first cup of extremely wet skimmate

over the next 12 to 24 hours my skimmer kept producing skimmate. The skimmate started out very wet, but after a few hours it started to dry out.

2nd cup of skimmate

And now a thicker dryer skimmate

Ive only had this Euroreef for a few days, but I can already tell it will be one indispensable piece of equipment

 

[Corndork2]

I also installed two heaters in the skimmer section of my sump. One is a Visi-Therm Stealth 100w heater. The other is a 125w Ebo-Jager heater. I have both of their thermostats set at 79 degrees farenheit. As of now they are doing an excellent job maintaining temperature.