Dales (HUSKY_1) 92 corner build

[Husky_1]

I finally got to start my 92 gallon corner tank. I was in a local LFS and found a great deal on the tank with a really nice stand, not the stand that you normally see with these tanks. Anyway I picked up the tank about a month ago but because of our baby shower I just got started on the tank a little over a week ago.

There were a few goals when setting up my tank. First and foremost, everything needs to be accessible when the tank is in place. This is normally not all that hard, but with 2 of 3 sides against the wall, it can become a challenge, especially with a closed loop setup. I had to make sure that any ball valves or pipe clamps were accessible when I could not move the tank, and did not bind on any other pieces. Each return and the intake have their own ball valves and there are unions on the intake, and each set of returns. I used a SCWD for flow switching. I also found a loc-line eductor (labeled eductor but may actually be a penductor) at Marine Scenes, another LFS. If I see good flow improvement I will by one more for the other SCWD return side.

Here are some pictures of the initial tank, and plumbing setup. There are some aspects missing:

Back corner for CL bottom returns

Right side with the tank in place:

Front view suction side and returns. Keep in mind that the white PVC will be replaced by Grey. I used the white to get me started since I had to special order 1 ½ inch grey sch.80. I could not find in the stores and did not want to wait to start 

I am going bare bottom so I had a piece of starboard cut to shape and size, but because of some inconsistencies I had to make small cuts with my jig saw.

 

[Roy G. Biv]

Nice start.. I've been waiting for a thread like this. This may be my next setup.

 

[Husky_1]

Thanks Pmolan, I am posting more tonight, I just wanted to have seperate posts for different aspects of the tank

 

[Husky_1]

The second major consideration was trying to avoid flooding, as much as possible anyway. The 4 main flooding points that I know of are: ATO sensors fail, back flow from return line, skimmers overflowing, overflow clogging and sump being emptied into main tank.

Unfortunately for this setup I had to reduce the size of my sump. With my 38g tank I used a 37 column, since I had a lot of space behind my stand (bookcase catty cornered). Unfortunately that does not work for this tank. I ended up using a 20g tank. I decided that I would only have about 10g total water volume and 10g worth of overflow space. This allows my 5g ATO reservoir to pump all the water in and still have enough space to allow for a 5 gallon back siphon from power failures.

I had glass pieces cut and used the same style of sump I had before. An overflow section that houses my skimmer, this flows to the fuge, which then flows to a set of baffles, ending with my return area. The return area is very small ~2 gallons, but with my ATO reservoir, this is not a huge issue. I was considering a design that had fuge and skimmer on separate sides and return in the middle but I did not do that for 2 main reasons. First and foremost, I wanted as much distance between the skimmer and the return so that bubbles had time to settle. Second, I did not want detritus to build up in the fuge if possible.

I decided to use the AGA mega overflow kit. I could have done this cheaper, but I like the protection it adds from clogging and it was easy .

Here are some pictures of my sump:
Picture from sump level:

Picture from top view:

 

[Husky_1]

The 3rd consideration was my quality: filtering/skimming/etc.

Of course live rock is one of the major considerations for this category. In my old tank I only had about 60lbs of live rock. This is not enough for the new tank size so I needed to make a decision on where to get rock. In the end I did not want to fight the hitchhiker battle that you normally have with new live rock (aptasia, pest crabs, bad worms, etc) and decided on using base rock. I was very lucky with this. I got all of my dry base rock from my boss and fellow/former reefer Dan. He let me take as much of his rock I wanted. I ended up taking more than I needed, and will be returning the left over to him. The rock that Dan gave me are very nice, and had been dry for at least 4 months. I decided to go ahead and bleach them, put them in the sun for a few days, then finally de-chlorinate the rocks with Amquel. Of course, this is intermixed with my live rock, which will eventually seed this base rock

Pic of the rocks after cleaning:

Pic of some of my rock that I put in after I added 55g of water:

Pics of full aquascaping (Before lighting)

Another:

I needed a new skimmer; my old skimmer was a reef octopus HOB. This was used in sump because I had overflow issues when I used it as a true HOB on the tank. This thing never worked well for me so I decided on using the Tunze 9010. This was the perfect balance of size, power and price. From all accounts, this thing works really well, is very quiet, and has the smallest footprint for its effectiveness. I have bought some of the mesh material to do the mesh mod.

For now the fuge will only hold chaeto, but eventually I will probably use reef mud or even expand to Remote DSB if space allows.

In my old setup, I had a DIY Phosban reactor. I was never happy with its performance so I am now using a 2 Little Fishes Phosban reactor. The water source from this is T’d off from the main return. I was willing to sacrifice 80gph at the return so that I could use less pumps/electric/heat. The return from the reactor is ported back into the baffles. Of course carbon can be used in this as well, but I prefer to run carbon in my baffles.

Here are some pics of the sump with the skimmer. These pictures do not show the phosban reactor, I will take pictures of that later:

And another:

I would like to also mention Rick (cubano2480). He offered me a few pieces free base and live rock. It ended up proving too difficult to meet because we live pretty far from one another.

 

[Husky_1]

Lighting was the last point of major consideration. For lighting I decided that I would go with a single 250w MH and 4 T5’s for actinic and supplement. For the Metal Halide, I decided on the Lumenarc mini stealth DE III, powered by an IceCap 250, and an XM10k. Of course after my initial research, and subsequent purchase I learned some additional info. I would have probably gone with the a similar Lumenarc, but would have used SE. My next bulb will probably be the Reeflux, as that is reported to be one of the better DE bulbs.

For the T5’s I decided on the Reefgeek retro with IceCap SLR’s. I went with 2x24w and 2x39w. I did not go up to the Icecap ballast, after speaking with the guy from reefgeek, I decided the price was not worth it since their “stock” ballast is a decent quality electronic model. For light bulbs I decided on Super Actinic T5 HO Fluorescent for both the 24’s, 1 Blue Plus and 1 10k Aquasun for the 29’s.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to fit tall of my lights in the hood, I will have to go with 2x24 and 1x39. I did not take the end caps into consideration. I will decide on which 39w t5 bulb to use once the lights are on, and now think I should have gone with an IceCap 660 to run all 3 bulbs. Hindsight is 20/20….

I have not completed my light setup yet, so the only picture I have is the inside of my canopy, which is now white. I decided to do this after posing the question to the forum. Everyone that does it say that it makes it easier to clean the inside of the canopy, helps reflect stray light back into the water and may possibly help keep the heat level down.

Here is one more picture, its of my 35 week pregnant wife by the tank chillen by the tank:

As things progress I will update this thread, I plan on finishing the hood/lighting this weekend and hope to move my live stock next weekend, but this will depend on the cycle, if I see a large cycle I will wait longer, if the cycle is small because of the existing rock then it will be sooner.

 

[frederickk]

Nice your off to a nice start!

 

[sirjohn]

Very nice Husky! Been waiting for your first pictures. Corner tanks are a challenge all right, for all kinds of reasons, and yours is coming along great.

The stand is beautiful and nice work on the sump. 20 gallons is about all that will fit in the stand of a 92 gallon, as you know, but I think it is just large enough.

Nice call on the Tunze 9010. I absolutely love mine. It is amazing that such a small skimmer can be so effective. It easily outperforms much larger skimmers I've owned.

Keep posting pics on your progress!

 

[Husky_1]

All, thanks for the good words so far.

Sirjohn,
I have had some of the pictures for over a week now, but did not have the time to start the thread. Any time that I had free while at home was used to work on the tank.

I have to say that your build was definitely a lot of help for me. The Tunze was on my short list, but after seeing it in your sump, that put it on top ....So far so good with it, I do not have any livestock in the tank yet, and only "fed" once. I had the air all the way off until last night, but got a little skimmate with only 3/4 turn last night through now. I cannot imagine there is all that much to pull out now, but I turned up another 1/4.


More pictures to come, maybe tonight if time is on my side ....

-Dale

 

[yellowwatchmen]

Is it going to be Fowler or Reef

 

[Husky_1]

Hey Yellow, it will be a reef. I have my frags to move over in a week or so.

 

[Southern Boy]

I like the set-up.I just finished a 54 corner bow and did some what of the same.I'd like to see it when it's done.

 

[mkarston]

Hey Dale, what is feeding the two grey pipes that go towards the bottom of the tank? Is it CL pump feeding both the SCWD and those 2 returns? Also, how close to the fron glass is your rock stack? I ask because from the picture it doesn't look like there is much room on the tank's floor to put any corals, clams, frags, etc... you would normally place down there. Also, you'll want to make sure you leave enough room for at least for your hand for cleaning/maintenance.

Tanks looking great, as I know you've wanted this 92 corner for some time! Keep us all updated and keep adding more pictures as you progress.

 

[Husky_1]

Craig, you are 100% right about being to close to the glass on the very edges. I really noticed it yesterday, I want to be able to fit a glass cleaner down there, but that is my only requirement. .... As for the other areas, I will mount my stuff to the existing rocks. The rock stack looks much better with lights then it did in any of the above pictures. I will post more later.

 

[Husky_1]

BTW, I just looked at the pictures above and I definitely see what you are talking about. It is definitely not that "Crowded" in person. It may be the way the bowfront skews the photos..

 

[Husky_1]

Here are some pics of the lighting that I built. Unfortunately I could not fit one of my 39w T5’s because of space restraints. I was able to build a “holder” of sorts for my Lumenarc. It was made so the case of the Lumenarc did not interfere with the t5’s or vice versa. For bulbs I ended up using 1xXM 10k 250 DE, 2x 24w Super Actinic t5’s, 1x39 Blue plus t5.

For fans I used 2 120mm Zalman fans. They are really quiet, and do a great job of keeping the hood cool. As a matter of fact, I have no temperature change after having my lights on for 5 hours today . Actually, I think its about ½ degree cooler…Until I move all my live stock over, I have a single on and off lighting cycle. I do not have enough timers to run 2 tanks, and I am not going to buy anymore.

Pics while I was putting the hood together, at this point its almost done.

Inside canopy, reflectors and lights removed for transport into the house. I forget to make specific vents .

Another of the same
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t123/SHAM3253/92%20corner%20build/DS
C02105.jpg

Pics of lights when hood is on tank:

 

[Husky_1]

Here is a picture of my “lighting board”. On one side I mounted the ballasts, this will lean against the wall face down. I would rather have a splash of water land on the timers and surge protectors, then land on the ballasts . The other side is where my timers and plugs will go and will face “up”. This is not completely finished yet, since I do not have all my timers available.

 

[Husky_1]

Here are some pics of the rock stack as of yesterday. I did modify it today and the final few pictures in the post will show that, but I want to get final “aesthetic” approval from my wife before I take a bunch of pictures

And here is one of the latest changes, I took it up high so that the space in the front of the tank could be seen.

 

[Southern Boy]

Did you make that stand and hood?

 

[mkarston]

Awesome! These pictures show the rock stack much better, as it looks a lot less crowed up against the glass. Lights look great as well, how have they affected the tank's temp?