dmorel's 220 Round & Shallow reef build

[dmorel]

Hi Lew,
I'm in Tempe now, in the Maple Ash/Mitchell Park area. Used to work in Henrietta, lived in Pittsford while I was out there. Hit me up if you want to chat URS

As for updates, the tank is going out for drilling and overflow building today.
Should be coming home in a little over a week.
New plumbing and electrical work starts tomorrow.

 

[Bax]

dmorel

There was a cube here on RC with a rotating light rack of some type. It was in the Large Tank Forum. I know the system came down for one reason or another. But search rotating lights in this forum & see what cha get.

 

[dmorel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14169695#post14169695 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bernie21
Very nice, very very nice. I love different looking tanks. I look forward to your build. I like the Idea of SLOW spining lights, that would be sick. I have a question is it a center overflow? Do you plan on hidding it w rocks? Lastly, what are you going to do for flow? CLosed loop from under the tank?

Thanks Bernie, I really wanted something different too.
I had almost pulled the trigger on a few different tanks when I fell into this deal. I'm pretty excited.

Yes, the overflow is a center overflow. It will be plumbed into my mini garage which will act as sump room. I'll detail that layout in just a bit. I do plan on doing most of my rock in the center of the tank and hence hide as much of the overflow as possible. It will also contain a dry box to run the cords of the tunze's which will be supplying the flow. I have decided against a closed loop and instead will be using a few streams.
TBD which version.

 

[dmorel]

So, update time.

First, the light rack is being built, so let me tell you about that.
Sorry all, it doesn't rotate.

The light rack itself will sit 24" off the water, it's being custom welded. It's a 5'4" circumference steel round grid with standoffs that connect to the garage door tracks that will be installed in the ceiling. The entire rack will be able to move forward and backwards to get out of the way of the tank if I want to work on it.

Lighting will be supplied by 2x250 Luminarc Stealth mini pendants and 4 150 MH Spots. (I need to place an order!)

The rack has some build in support for the ballasts to sit, but the lights themselves will clip to the underside of the rack. It's very industrial looking, and I'm excited.

Should be installed next Saturday if all goes well.
I'm actually hoping I get to bring the tank in next weekend too. We'll see.
It's currently out having the overflow built.

 

[dmorel]

Work that's been done (or is currently being done)

I've got two dedicated 20 Amp circuits installed for the lighting with four outlets each:

the rails for the light rack go 1/2 inch inside of the outlets and give enough room for the ceiling fan to stay in place which is great since I can move air away from the tank with the ceiling fan.

Putting all the lighting here frees up the circuit in the sump room for the rest of the equipment so I should be good to go.

A new water line was run to the sump room and a utility sink with pump was added:

It uses a sump pump to shoot water back to the laundry room which is on the other side of the tank room

Sorry about all the dust on the drain, the laundry room also serves as the "dog room" (we have three) and frankly it gets pretty gross

The outside plumbing will be boxed in where it comes down the wall and the exposed lines for the electrical and plumbing painted to match.
that should be done this weekend.

So, if the stars all align the tank could be here as early as a week from now.

Next post, a sketchup of the sump room....

 

[dmorel]

So here is the vision for the sump room.

(just in the interest of full disclosure, Skip did the sketchup not me)

The tank will drain from a center overflow into this room and be return fed with an Eheim 1262.
All of that plumbing will be under a false floor (to be installed After the tank is in place actually) going into the sump room.

water will enter the bottom sump on the baffled side.
The "left" side of the sump is the only place in the whole system that will have water levels fluctuate, so this is where the liquid level controller will be installed for top off.

the middle tank above the sump is the frag grow out tank (36x18x12) and above that is the fuge. The fuge drains directly to the frag tank, the frag tank drains to the bottom tank on the other rack. I have been referring to that tank as the "fully isolatable water vessel" which in turn drains back to the sump and the circle is complete as water is returned to the display.

In the corner will sit the skimmer (reeflo orca 250).

There will also be a 55 gallon drum to hold the RO/DI water. A DJ switch will control pumps to add water to the top tank on the second rack which is not plumbed into the system, but can drain into the fully isolatable water vessel.
Yes, this is the water change system.
A valve diverts flow from the frag tanks normal drain flow to the water vessel instead sending water directly to the sump. The water vessel has a drain directly to the sinks drainage system and voila, with a couple of turns I can change 40 gallons of water.

There will also be a chiller plumbed into this system somewhere in the sump room.
Adding a calcium reactor and ozone as well. All functions will be controlled by an RKE (I think, could go with a ACPro, but I think RKE is the move) ---

OK, that's all the news for now.

Off to order some spotlights!

 

[Pescado Racing]

Nice sketch up, will be interesting to follow the build.

 

[JOSHUAB]

This is pretty sweet!!!

 

[4218kris]

that's some pretty serious work put in to it. really looks good when do you think you will open up the store :beer: jk

 

[bigjdotcom01]

Great looking setup. Oh how I miss my basement from upstate NY

 

[dmorel]

Well there is a box that is covering the outside plumbing and everything is working.
I see a little water in the corner of the sump room though, I need to figure out if I have a leak or if that is just condensation. I think it's a tiny little leak somewhere, something weird is definitely happening there.

The spots are ordered, I have 2 14K and 2 20K on the way, they are being drop shipped from won brothers. I don't mind telling you, these spots are an expensive experiment. I sure hope they are worth it.

Saturday the movable light rack will be installed, so that's good stuff.

Lots of other dry goods are en route too.

I'm still trying to figure out what streams and what controller to go with.

right now the question is RKE or AC 3 Pro.

I also have to decide on the streams I want to go with.
The upside of the AC 3 over the RKE is the ability to control the streams.

Have to decide soon...

 

[dmorel]

Well not much has happened since last weekend except I ordered a BUNCH of equipment. I'm now realizing how expensive it is to build one of these "dream tank" type of systems. But I'm biting the bullet and getting premium equipment and hopefully automated the bejesus out of this thing so it runs like a champ.

I also managed to secure about 140 lbs of cured Live rock from a local who is holding it for me for a short while. That should easily be enough rock, especially if I consider the 80ish or so lbs I already have. I don't want a TON of rock in the display anyway. Aquascaping will be interesting with such a shallow tank.

Anyway... Tomorrow the light rack. I'm excited to see it in action.
Still have to get the main lighting system which should be 2x250 lumenarcs. Probably going SE there...

Controller choice ended up being the RKE, even with having to purchase the multi controller for the tunze 6055's it still was the less expensive option (I don't think it qualifies as cheap though) --- Hopefully the heralded expandability of the unit lends me some value in the future.

So it's progressing. Hopefully this weekend I can put up some pics of the light rack, that will be a pretty exciting step. Need to check out the tank and stand too, I should be able to bring those home shortly.

 

[KRASHPD]

Does the RKE not compare with the AC3? Why were you only comparing it to the AC3 Pro? I have used the aquasurf with the Tunze pumps and it worked great. I went with Vortechs this time and so far I like them. The new Tunze 6105's are very nice and I really considered using them too.

I can't wait to see how the false floor is going to look.

 

[dmorel]

Why were you only comparing it to the AC3 Pro?

Ability to control two devices based on PH AND still control on ORP... So it was Pro or RKE.

the false floor is probably the thing that will happen dead last, so you're gonna have to wait a while

Actually, could be a close second to the skin for the stand.

 

[dmorel]

So, as depressing as this is to say, the light didn't go in on Saturday.
Hopefully this Saturday.
ALSO, the tank SHOULD be in the house soon.
The overflow is done. I'm targeting Friday evening for delivery.

I have MH spotlights. 2 15K and 2 20K. They are pretty cool and frankly throw a lot more light than I thought they would.
Looking forward to putting them on the light rack this weekend!

Equipment is starting to arrive almost daily now. The UPS guy is going to hate me

I did go with 2x250 lumenarc 3 mini pendants (SE) with 15K phoenix bulbs to start.
should be a crazy amount of light really between those two fixtures and the 4 spots.

So anyway. I'm hoping to get the tank and the light rack all in place before the of this weekend. That would make for a nice update and be worthy of some actual pics!

 

[dmorel]

Few pictures and a little delivery update.
The tank and stand should be in the house tomorrow!
The overflow is done and in, and the tank should be here tomorrow, I'm so excited.

Mean time... Here are a couple of shots of the spot lights and the very first shots of the light rack which should be installed on Saturday.

The rack mounts to garage door tracks and can be rolled out of the way of the tank.

Hopefully be doing some plumbing not to long from now!

 

[dmorel]

It's Here!

 

[Purple Haze]

In case I missed it, who makes the spotlights?

 

[Jar*Head]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14329653#post14329653 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Purple Haze
In case I missed it, who makes the spotlights?

Won Brothers 150w spotlight pendant using G12 base bulb

 

[dmorel]

Steve is correct, spot on.
I was very nervous about them, especially for how much they cost but I think I'm going to be very happy with them. Of course I won't really know for a few more weeks until I get some actual water in this thing...

At least it's here, that's a big step.
I'll take some proper pics with a real cam this weekend, I'm just getting home from a 14 hour day and the only pic I got was the one my son took with his cell phone to prove to me it was in the house.