Custom 240 Starphire Pennisula Tank: 5+ years planning
- Thread starter BrettH
- Start date
Painting your seen plumbing with Krylon Fusion may add a nice touch if it's not to late? 
And here is the end product. The refugium tank is also in place above the stand which I still need to drill and plumb. I am using a 40 gallon breeder tank for the quarantine system which will have its own sump and skimmer. I'll be using an AquaC 180 for a skimmer which I had from my old system. I guess tomorrow I'll start working on plumbing in the sump. tired....lots still to do, but getting real close...
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aandfsoccr04
Active member
Nice tank dimensions. Thinking about something similar. How thick is the glass and is it braced? Looking good and would love to see some updated pictures.
Who built it?
Definitely tagging along on this build!
I'm in the planning stages of an almost identical size and layout as your tank. I, too, want to use an OM4 and try to minimize as much wires and pipes showing in the tank. My sump will be in the basement directly below my tank.
Have fun building!
I'm in the planning stages of an almost identical size and layout as your tank. I, too, want to use an OM4 and try to minimize as much wires and pipes showing in the tank. My sump will be in the basement directly below my tank.
Have fun building!
Reviving the Build Thread
Reviving the Build Thread
For those who have not read D2mini's build thread, certainly worth a read. It inspired me to try and revive this thread that I did such a poor job at updating. I am not promising I will do a better job this time, but I'll try.
What I liked about D2mini's thread is that he showed the good and the bad. So with that in mind, I'll try and do a quick recap of where my tank got to and where I am now along with some of the challenges.
So I never updated the thread when the cabinet was finally built, so here is what the stand looks like now:
I got some reclaimed wood from VT and had my cabinet guy use it for the door panels.
One consideration in the hood was venting it, but then trapping the light with and avoiding light pollution. So we made 6 vents with a light trap for each vent.
Reviving the Build Thread
For those who have not read D2mini's build thread, certainly worth a read. It inspired me to try and revive this thread that I did such a poor job at updating. I am not promising I will do a better job this time, but I'll try.
What I liked about D2mini's thread is that he showed the good and the bad. So with that in mind, I'll try and do a quick recap of where my tank got to and where I am now along with some of the challenges.
So I never updated the thread when the cabinet was finally built, so here is what the stand looks like now:
I got some reclaimed wood from VT and had my cabinet guy use it for the door panels.
One consideration in the hood was venting it, but then trapping the light with and avoiding light pollution. So we made 6 vents with a light trap for each vent.
And the sump...
And the sump...
I designed the sump and then had it made by a local fabricator. They did a great job. They used a CNC machine to cut all the pieces, so it's real clean. I am pushing about 1200-1300 gph through it and it does a great job at trapping the micro bubbles.
Sump:
In side the sump I have three float switches, a low level switch that acts as a water leak/RODI problem and will shut down the main pump and alert me. An ATO float switch and then a high level switch that shuts down the skimmer and then alerts me. It works great. And I only have had to replace one switch in 2+ years. I keep a bunch of spare ones around in case one fails. I also recently added a fourth float switch on the main tank that shuts down the main pump before it can flood my living room.. So I have three fail safes in place to stop my tank from either running dry or flooding the house (One in the sump, one on the tank and then the second 2" overflow inside the overflow box).
Here are three float switches. I used 1/2"PVC So I could always adjust the various levels in the future. For example, I am taking the Dialyseas off line and I am probably going to use a simple AWC, which means I will need to adjust ATO level. More on that later.
The blue one shuts off the Skimmer. Oh, and there is a fifth float switch in the skimmer collection bucket. Forgot about that one. I love my float switches!
Three baffles. I was originally concerned that three would not keep the micro bubbles out of the display with 1200 gph pumping through the sump, but it does.
And the sump...
I designed the sump and then had it made by a local fabricator. They did a great job. They used a CNC machine to cut all the pieces, so it's real clean. I am pushing about 1200-1300 gph through it and it does a great job at trapping the micro bubbles.
Sump:
In side the sump I have three float switches, a low level switch that acts as a water leak/RODI problem and will shut down the main pump and alert me. An ATO float switch and then a high level switch that shuts down the skimmer and then alerts me. It works great. And I only have had to replace one switch in 2+ years. I keep a bunch of spare ones around in case one fails. I also recently added a fourth float switch on the main tank that shuts down the main pump before it can flood my living room.. So I have three fail safes in place to stop my tank from either running dry or flooding the house (One in the sump, one on the tank and then the second 2" overflow inside the overflow box).
Here are three float switches. I used 1/2"PVC So I could always adjust the various levels in the future. For example, I am taking the Dialyseas off line and I am probably going to use a simple AWC, which means I will need to adjust ATO level. More on that later.
The blue one shuts off the Skimmer. Oh, and there is a fifth float switch in the skimmer collection bucket. Forgot about that one. I love my float switches!
Three baffles. I was originally concerned that three would not keep the micro bubbles out of the display with 1200 gph pumping through the sump, but it does.
In October 2012, I had to deal with this little storm known as Sandy.
Note the type of sand bags supporting the plywood. Any reefer from the 2003 time-frame should recognize that as Southdown sand which we used to be able to buy at Homedepot and Lowes!
And who would like to have this floating in their garage!
The house generator allowed us to "weather" Sandy nicely and allowed me to do real time damage control through out the storm by diverting logs like these. I am a white water kayaker, so I am very familiar with current and things that can pin you under water. So I was very careful dealing with logs like these, and there were a few. Just outside my garage was a river and my driveway was the eddy! And I was diverting these logs back into the "river". I don't think my neighbors were too happy to find these logs in their yards! :lol2:
Basically where my car is in this picture, that's where the log was!
The water didn't come in high enough to flood out my sump, but half way through the storm I finally had to shut down the pump/sump area and rely on the powerheads and heater upstairs in the tank. About two hrs prior to the the peak of the flooding, I finally shut down the pump and removed it (It's about the only piece of equipment that is below the flood plane. The water came halfway up the sump, never got inside it and by early the next morning I had it up and running, alebit, the exterior was a mess. There was so much to clean up, I just wanted to get the tank online and then worry about the tank after the the major clean up was done. If you read my "design considerations" in my first post of this thread, you will note that the flooding/hurricane potential was a big consideration in the equipment layout and hence why most of the equipment is up high, off the ground above the 100yr flood plane. Thank I planned for it!
Note the type of sand bags supporting the plywood. Any reefer from the 2003 time-frame should recognize that as Southdown sand which we used to be able to buy at Homedepot and Lowes!
And who would like to have this floating in their garage!
The house generator allowed us to "weather" Sandy nicely and allowed me to do real time damage control through out the storm by diverting logs like these. I am a white water kayaker, so I am very familiar with current and things that can pin you under water. So I was very careful dealing with logs like these, and there were a few. Just outside my garage was a river and my driveway was the eddy! And I was diverting these logs back into the "river". I don't think my neighbors were too happy to find these logs in their yards! :lol2:
Basically where my car is in this picture, that's where the log was!
The water didn't come in high enough to flood out my sump, but half way through the storm I finally had to shut down the pump/sump area and rely on the powerheads and heater upstairs in the tank. About two hrs prior to the the peak of the flooding, I finally shut down the pump and removed it (It's about the only piece of equipment that is below the flood plane. The water came halfway up the sump, never got inside it and by early the next morning I had it up and running, alebit, the exterior was a mess. There was so much to clean up, I just wanted to get the tank online and then worry about the tank after the the major clean up was done. If you read my "design considerations" in my first post of this thread, you will note that the flooding/hurricane potential was a big consideration in the equipment layout and hence why most of the equipment is up high, off the ground above the 100yr flood plane. Thank I planned for it!
The Cyano battle...
The Cyano battle...
The tank made it through the storm nicely, I didn't loose anything. But then this showed up:
And Let the battle begin. :uzi: I wish I took some picture of how bad it got, but lets just say everything in the tank was covered in cyano. For about a year I battled it.
My bio load was low, nitrates 1-2ppm or less, phosphates about .15ppm or less, PH steady at about 7.9. So why did this show up?
I think there are a couple of reasons. But ultimately I think it was bio-pellets that caused the problem. After the tank was running for about a year and nitrates started to come up, I decided to give bio-pellets a try. So I added about a cup to a vertex reactor and then set an easy flow, enough to keep it tumbling, and just left it run for two months. Then wham, cyano
. I kept using bio pellets, I didn't want to change things just yet. But I siphoned all the cyano out and did a lights out routine. About the same time, for some reason I thought my powder blue tang got ich and I noticed my hippo with what also looked like ich. This really annoyed me because all my fish were quarantined!! So I decided to try and catch all my fish and quarantine again which meant I had to remove most of the live rock and corals. Well that was a really bad idea, it stirred up detritus that then caused an algae bloom. So now I was fighting cyano and hair algae. And in the end, my fish didn't have ich, they were fine, except I did loose the powder blue tang to something.
Here is shot of the PBT in quarantine.
So back to the Cayno war :uzi: ; It kept getting worse, so I killed the bio pellets and then started dosing Dr. Tim's re-fresh and then waste away. It actually worked. As directed by Dr Tim, I continued to use it even while it was gone, but then it started re-appearing. So siphoned the cyano, increased Dr. Tim's waste away dose and repeat. Cayno gone again for a couple weeks, then slam, it's back again even worse. So the cycle for some reason just kept getting worse and worse. In the end the cyano took over the tank and I lost a lot corals. I think the strain of cyano I had developed a resistance to Dr. Tim's treatment, hence why it came back stronger each time.
Ultimately I blame the initial problem on bio-pellets. But then it was my fault for not recognizing that the cyano was most likely building up a resistance to the Dr Tim's waste away treatment. That combined with not being able to keep up with the problem while I traveled for work and what not, I finally lost the battle. I pored myself some burbon, and accepted defeat--temporarily that is...:lol2:
The other issue I think I had was the use of pukani rock. I think that kept leaking a small amount of phosphate, plus the lack of coralline meant there was not enough of the good algae to out compete the bad. I am actually probably going to sell the pukani if anyone is interested. I have it in a 60 gallon container and it is still good rock that is alive. I am treating it with lanthum right now and monitoring PO4.
The Cyano battle...
The tank made it through the storm nicely, I didn't loose anything. But then this showed up:
And Let the battle begin. :uzi: I wish I took some picture of how bad it got, but lets just say everything in the tank was covered in cyano. For about a year I battled it.
My bio load was low, nitrates 1-2ppm or less, phosphates about .15ppm or less, PH steady at about 7.9. So why did this show up?
I think there are a couple of reasons. But ultimately I think it was bio-pellets that caused the problem. After the tank was running for about a year and nitrates started to come up, I decided to give bio-pellets a try. So I added about a cup to a vertex reactor and then set an easy flow, enough to keep it tumbling, and just left it run for two months. Then wham, cyano
. I kept using bio pellets, I didn't want to change things just yet. But I siphoned all the cyano out and did a lights out routine. About the same time, for some reason I thought my powder blue tang got ich and I noticed my hippo with what also looked like ich. This really annoyed me because all my fish were quarantined!! So I decided to try and catch all my fish and quarantine again which meant I had to remove most of the live rock and corals. Well that was a really bad idea, it stirred up detritus that then caused an algae bloom. So now I was fighting cyano and hair algae. And in the end, my fish didn't have ich, they were fine, except I did loose the powder blue tang to something. Here is shot of the PBT in quarantine.
So back to the Cayno war :uzi: ; It kept getting worse, so I killed the bio pellets and then started dosing Dr. Tim's re-fresh and then waste away. It actually worked. As directed by Dr Tim, I continued to use it even while it was gone, but then it started re-appearing. So siphoned the cyano, increased Dr. Tim's waste away dose and repeat. Cayno gone again for a couple weeks, then slam, it's back again even worse. So the cycle for some reason just kept getting worse and worse. In the end the cyano took over the tank and I lost a lot corals. I think the strain of cyano I had developed a resistance to Dr. Tim's treatment, hence why it came back stronger each time.
Ultimately I blame the initial problem on bio-pellets. But then it was my fault for not recognizing that the cyano was most likely building up a resistance to the Dr Tim's waste away treatment. That combined with not being able to keep up with the problem while I traveled for work and what not, I finally lost the battle. I pored myself some burbon, and accepted defeat--temporarily that is...:lol2:
The other issue I think I had was the use of pukani rock. I think that kept leaking a small amount of phosphate, plus the lack of coralline meant there was not enough of the good algae to out compete the bad. I am actually probably going to sell the pukani if anyone is interested. I have it in a 60 gallon container and it is still good rock that is alive. I am treating it with lanthum right now and monitoring PO4.
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So now what's the plan...
So now what's the plan...
So I decided to end the war and this is what the tank now looks like after a week of tearing it down, buying new sand and just gutting the main tank. Needless to say there is no more Cyano. It's been this way for about two weeks and I am going to wait to see if Cyano pops up at all.
Plans for the new system:
My old 75 reef tank did really well because I kept it simple and never used anything like bio-pellets or used any chemical or manufactured biological solutions aka Dr Tim's waste away. So I am going to try and embrace that principle. Other things that might have caused problems are 1) the systems are in a garage (a heated one that is about 2000 sqrft), 2) lack of use of real live rock, 3) no DSB, 4) not enough chaeto and overall just too much tinkering with the systems.
Reef Tank v2.0:
1) Adding an external DSB (Old system had a DSB and id great)
2) More macro algae in fuge with better light. I didn't set up my fuge day one, this time I have it set up and I am using it.
3) Less tinkering with system.
4) I am getting real live rock from Aquatic tech.
These four changes are the differences between my prior 75 reef tank and the new system. So now I am going back to what I know and let's see how it works out. I will most likely never use bio-pellets again. With that said, I think they work on systems that already have really high phosphates and nitrates (you need that for them to be effective). I think that is exactly why my system failed, because I tried to use carbon dosing when I didn't need to. If by chance my levels get that far out whack, then maybe I will considering bio-pellets/carbon dosing. I was just too proactive in their use and it was a bad idea.
So now what's the plan...
So I decided to end the war and this is what the tank now looks like after a week of tearing it down, buying new sand and just gutting the main tank. Needless to say there is no more Cyano. It's been this way for about two weeks and I am going to wait to see if Cyano pops up at all.
Plans for the new system:
My old 75 reef tank did really well because I kept it simple and never used anything like bio-pellets or used any chemical or manufactured biological solutions aka Dr Tim's waste away. So I am going to try and embrace that principle. Other things that might have caused problems are 1) the systems are in a garage (a heated one that is about 2000 sqrft), 2) lack of use of real live rock, 3) no DSB, 4) not enough chaeto and overall just too much tinkering with the systems.
Reef Tank v2.0:
1) Adding an external DSB (Old system had a DSB and id great)
2) More macro algae in fuge with better light. I didn't set up my fuge day one, this time I have it set up and I am using it.
3) Less tinkering with system.
4) I am getting real live rock from Aquatic tech.
These four changes are the differences between my prior 75 reef tank and the new system. So now I am going back to what I know and let's see how it works out. I will most likely never use bio-pellets again. With that said, I think they work on systems that already have really high phosphates and nitrates (you need that for them to be effective). I think that is exactly why my system failed, because I tried to use carbon dosing when I didn't need to. If by chance my levels get that far out whack, then maybe I will considering bio-pellets/carbon dosing. I was just too proactive in their use and it was a bad idea.
Other Reef tank v2.0 changes...
Other Reef tank v2.0 changes...
Some other changes I made are...
The return used to come up through the over flow box. So I decided to re-plumb it and move it outside the overflow box. This will give me a little more room inside it to clean it. Plus I converted hole where the return used to come up thorugh the center into a drain for the over flow box that I can use when I clean it. This also allowed me to eliminate two 90 degree elbows. Here is what it looks like now.
This is how it used to come up through the center of the over flow. I have no clue why I didn't make it external in the first place. Maybe because I thought it looked neater?
Other Reef tank v2.0 changes...
Some other changes I made are...
The return used to come up through the over flow box. So I decided to re-plumb it and move it outside the overflow box. This will give me a little more room inside it to clean it. Plus I converted hole where the return used to come up thorugh the center into a drain for the over flow box that I can use when I clean it. This also allowed me to eliminate two 90 degree elbows. Here is what it looks like now.
This is how it used to come up through the center of the over flow. I have no clue why I didn't make it external in the first place. Maybe because I thought it looked neater?
