Double or Nothing... AJ's 405-Gallon Reef Savvy Upgrade
- Thread starter Stylo328
- Start date
Stylo328
New member
Stylo328
New member
The good:
We are wet! Yesterday Rick from VIP came over and filled the tank. It's good to be at this point. It took FOREVER to get the overflows and returns tuned. I am running the returns at ~70% and the tank is dead silent. Happy with the amount of flow in there for now. Here are a few pics.
Better view of how the Reefbrites are mounted.
Half way there!
Skimmer working right off the back. Gotta love NSW...
And the tank running.
The bad:
Woke up this morning to find the ceiling in the stand wet. Looked all over and found a leaking bulkhead on the ghost overflow. It had a steady drip and must have been leaking all night. I slid the canopy forward, undid the return plumbing on that side and fixed it. No leak after an hour. I cannot see water leaking from anywhere else. I hope that was it.
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We are wet! Yesterday Rick from VIP came over and filled the tank. It's good to be at this point. It took FOREVER to get the overflows and returns tuned. I am running the returns at ~70% and the tank is dead silent. Happy with the amount of flow in there for now. Here are a few pics.
Better view of how the Reefbrites are mounted.
Half way there!
Skimmer working right off the back. Gotta love NSW...
And the tank running.
The bad:
Woke up this morning to find the ceiling in the stand wet. Looked all over and found a leaking bulkhead on the ghost overflow. It had a steady drip and must have been leaking all night. I slid the canopy forward, undid the return plumbing on that side and fixed it. No leak after an hour. I cannot see water leaking from anywhere else. I hope that was it.
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Stylo328
New member
Thanks for the suggestion. I have an A/C closet directly behind the stand and should be able to pull it off. I'll look into it.
Do you have a build thread? Would love to read up on your system.
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Stylo328
New member
Thankfully we went all day yesterday without any further leaks and the inside of the stand is noticeably dryer, which gives me some confidence that the leak I addressed was the only one.
Yesterday was dedicated to finishing the install of the lights in the canopy. I tried to install the fixtures on drawer tracks, but that was an epic fail. Fell back to my plan B which relies on SS wall anchors and SS s-hooks. This should work well and allow the flexibility to remove and replace bulbs in the future if needed. Here are a few pics.
I also spent some time at Faulkner Plastics yesterday (they are great people) and had 3/8" black starboard cut to cover the external portion of the ghost overflow, replacing the thin acrylic covers. I also had a piece of 3/8" cut for a platform under the calcium reactor and CO2 tank as it was marring the stand's painted finish. Finally, I had 3/4" black starboard cut to fit the bottom of the aquarium.
Hopefully we will have the transfer of rock and coral completed today!
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Yesterday was dedicated to finishing the install of the lights in the canopy. I tried to install the fixtures on drawer tracks, but that was an epic fail. Fell back to my plan B which relies on SS wall anchors and SS s-hooks. This should work well and allow the flexibility to remove and replace bulbs in the future if needed. Here are a few pics.
I also spent some time at Faulkner Plastics yesterday (they are great people) and had 3/8" black starboard cut to cover the external portion of the ghost overflow, replacing the thin acrylic covers. I also had a piece of 3/8" cut for a platform under the calcium reactor and CO2 tank as it was marring the stand's painted finish. Finally, I had 3/4" black starboard cut to fit the bottom of the aquarium.
Hopefully we will have the transfer of rock and coral completed today!
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dgasmd
New member
Savage and baller all in one!! Can't wait to come see it all running in full glory, so I can sit back and critic the hell out of it. And I can tell you that you sucked at doing this and that LOL........ We all love that, and I am super good at it LOL......
Looking forward to putting that other tank to work. Leaning towards a butterfly and softies tank, but unsure at this point.
Looking forward to putting that other tank to work. Leaning towards a butterfly and softies tank, but unsure at this point.
Stylo328
New member
Thanks bud. Looking forward to your seeing it when you pick up your new tank!
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Stylo328
New member
Well, it finally happened. The transfer is complete!
Before you flame me about the fish, let me qualify that the mystery wrasse and sailfish blenny both wedged themselves in boulders and my only options were to move them in to the new tank or kill them in the process of getting them out of the respective holes. I tried everything, including setting the rock on a table out of water to see if they would wiggle out, to no avail. Once they had made it in the tank, the whole fallow bit went out the window. (As of last night both fish were out swimming and eating).
Yesterday morning started with the four kids performing in the church's rendition of the live nativity. It was beautiful, and I took the opportunity to pray hard for the day's events to follow.
As soon as we got home, I immediately went to work on getting the starboard in place, which was not easy given how buoyant it is. I had to coordinate getting it in place and then have my wife or son hold it down with a piece of PVC while I placed a large enough rock on it.
Once the starboard was in, I started placing the new "dead" rock, which I had cooked in muriatic acid, in the tank. The first island to the left and a few other pieces are new rock additions. They will be easy to identify as they are very white... I then started moving over established rock and corals. As you read above, two fish had made the move unexpectedly, so I caught and acclimated the rest of the fish. I also chiseled off the orange galaxia from its residency on one of the largest rocks. It was killing everything around it. I was able to get it off in one piece (sand a few Frags) and it now resides on the floor, where it can be happy without harming its neighbors. Same goes for the space invader pectina.
When all was said and done, we had made the complete move, including emptying the 187 and moving it to the garage by 11:00pm. I had several accidental frags, which I gave to a friend along with the two bubble tip anemones.
I'm happy with how the aquascape turned out and am glad to have made it to this point. I'm sure there will be quite abbot of fine tuning over the coming days/weeks, but overall the tank is as expected. I cannot say enough about how supportive my wife and kids were yesterday and leading up to this point.
Here is a closeup of how the ATI's are mounted.
This configuration allows for plenty of airflow for the ATI fans.
And a couple of shots during the move.
And the finished product:
It's hard to make out the aquascape from the photos, but I am very pleased with how it worked out. I'll upload some better photos over the coming days as the water clears up.
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Before you flame me about the fish, let me qualify that the mystery wrasse and sailfish blenny both wedged themselves in boulders and my only options were to move them in to the new tank or kill them in the process of getting them out of the respective holes. I tried everything, including setting the rock on a table out of water to see if they would wiggle out, to no avail. Once they had made it in the tank, the whole fallow bit went out the window. (As of last night both fish were out swimming and eating).
Yesterday morning started with the four kids performing in the church's rendition of the live nativity. It was beautiful, and I took the opportunity to pray hard for the day's events to follow.
As soon as we got home, I immediately went to work on getting the starboard in place, which was not easy given how buoyant it is. I had to coordinate getting it in place and then have my wife or son hold it down with a piece of PVC while I placed a large enough rock on it.
Once the starboard was in, I started placing the new "dead" rock, which I had cooked in muriatic acid, in the tank. The first island to the left and a few other pieces are new rock additions. They will be easy to identify as they are very white... I then started moving over established rock and corals. As you read above, two fish had made the move unexpectedly, so I caught and acclimated the rest of the fish. I also chiseled off the orange galaxia from its residency on one of the largest rocks. It was killing everything around it. I was able to get it off in one piece (sand a few Frags) and it now resides on the floor, where it can be happy without harming its neighbors. Same goes for the space invader pectina.
When all was said and done, we had made the complete move, including emptying the 187 and moving it to the garage by 11:00pm. I had several accidental frags, which I gave to a friend along with the two bubble tip anemones.
I'm happy with how the aquascape turned out and am glad to have made it to this point. I'm sure there will be quite abbot of fine tuning over the coming days/weeks, but overall the tank is as expected. I cannot say enough about how supportive my wife and kids were yesterday and leading up to this point.
Here is a closeup of how the ATI's are mounted.
This configuration allows for plenty of airflow for the ATI fans.
And a couple of shots during the move.
And the finished product:
It's hard to make out the aquascape from the photos, but I am very pleased with how it worked out. I'll upload some better photos over the coming days as the water clears up.
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This is absolutely ridiculous! So meticulous in all the details! I love it! I'm in the process of setting up my first large tank and it's just a 75 plus sump. I hope I can be as clean with the details as you have been! This is a great thread!
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Stylo328
New member
Thank you both very much. I appreciate the kind words and support. It's been a great journey.
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Stylo328
New member
Not a bad first day. Many of the zoas are closed, but otherwise things look pretty good. I was able to connect the Reeflink today and program the schedule for the three MP40s on the rear. I am going to keep this configuration for a while and add the MP60s on the sides as the tank fills in.
Here are a few close up pictures of the aquascape from left to right.
And a panoramic... let's see how this works on Tapatalk.
Tank is running a bit warmer than expected at 81-82. I am going to open a vent into the A/C closet and likely add a 4-inch exhaust fan from the canopy up into the attic. I need to give it some thought over the next few days.
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Here are a few close up pictures of the aquascape from left to right.
And a panoramic... let's see how this works on Tapatalk.
Tank is running a bit warmer than expected at 81-82. I am going to open a vent into the A/C closet and likely add a 4-inch exhaust fan from the canopy up into the attic. I need to give it some thought over the next few days.
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I would not add the exhaust fan into the attic. Just my 2 cents. Possible major humidity hit.
I would take an outlet and put a fan on it. Aim it at the water in your sump. Set the programming to: if temp > 80 then ON.
Or something like that depending on your controller.
I would take an outlet and put a fan on it. Aim it at the water in your sump. Set the programming to: if temp > 80 then ON.
Or something like that depending on your controller.
Stylo328
New member
What if I exhaust it to a bathroom exhaust with a dedicated exhaust fan?
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That way it is vented outside as needed instead of insulation or wood. Much better. My exhaust fans vent outside, for my bathroom.
The air movement directed on the tank assists with cooling just like our own skin. So you do not need a large box fan, just a small 12" computer fan or one of those clip ons.
Do it as a test. Take a fan and direct it toward the water in the sump. Watch your temp.
In the summer here sometimes my AC has a rough time. I take a fan and place it on a 5 gal bucket and aim it toward my sump area and it cools pretty nice. I have watched the graph and it actually made the heaters cut on at double the rate.
The air movement directed on the tank assists with cooling just like our own skin. So you do not need a large box fan, just a small 12" computer fan or one of those clip ons.
Do it as a test. Take a fan and direct it toward the water in the sump. Watch your temp.
In the summer here sometimes my AC has a rough time. I take a fan and place it on a 5 gal bucket and aim it toward my sump area and it cools pretty nice. I have watched the graph and it actually made the heaters cut on at double the rate.
JonezNReef
Member
I have a exhaust fan in my fish room to help with temp and humidity. I have dedicated ducting running through the attic directly to the outside. Definitely don't have it exhaust into your attic itself or you risk getting mold. Also I don't know if tieing it into the bathrooms ducting would be good because when the fan in the bathrooms off part of the tanks humidity and temp could flow into your bathroom instead of outside. Just my $.02
Also your tank is looking awesome. Been fun watching your build, very clean and well thought out
Also your tank is looking awesome. Been fun watching your build, very clean and well thought out
Stylo328
New member
I have four fans running on the canopy and they didn't help much today, and they are loud. I'll try a fan on the sump later this week. Thanks.
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Stylo328
New member
Good point on multi-purposing the bathroom vent. After some research, I'll likely run a dedicated vent to one of the soffit vents and use this inline fan, mounted in the attic.
Panasonic FV-30NLF1 WhisperLine 340 CFM In-Line Fan, 6-Inch Duct https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001AHSDQU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_46kwybKP5YG4Q
Hopefully that will correct the issue.
Thanks for the kind words. I've really enjoyed the build process.
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