drummereef's 180g in-wall build

[drummereef]

Hey 110. I'm guessing I'm running around 900-1000 gph from the display drains. I have the recirc valve open about 3/4 of the way so that adds a lot of recirculating flow through there too. So with the recirc open I'm guessing in the range of 1200+gph or so total flow.

Starting Left to Right - The drain section where the Bubble Killers are mounted is 6". Skimmer section is 20". The center bubble walls are placed 2" apart. Finally, the return section where the reactors are place is 23.75". Total outside dimension of the sump is 56x22". And it's made of 3/8" acrylic.

Here's the SketchUp of the original design.

 

[Alysiak00]

I gotta wipe the glass on my new 45 twice a day the diatoms are so bad lol

 

[110galreef]

Hey 110. I'm guessing I'm running around 900-1000 gph from the display drains. I have the recirc valve open about 3/4 of the way so that adds a lot of recirculating flow through there too. So with the recirc open I'm guessing in the range of 1200+gph or so total flow.

Starting Left to Right - The drain section where the Bubble Killers are mounted is 6". Skimmer section is 20". The center bubble walls are placed 2" apart. Finally, the return section where the reactors are place is 23.75". Total outside dimension of the sump is 56x22". And it's made of 3/8" acrylic.

Here's the SketchUp of the original design.

awesome Thanks. I am starting planning for a 180's or 225 deep in wall setup!:bounce2:

 

[drummereef]

I gotta wipe the glass on my new 45 twice a day the diatoms are so bad lol

Oh no! Do you have an RO/DI? Silicate is usually the cause of diatoms. That and a cycling tank.

awesome Thanks. I am starting planning for a 180's or 225 deep in wall setup!:bounce2:

You are welcome 110. Congrats and keep me posted on the build.

 

[Alysiak00]

Cycling tank lol

 

[reefslugs]

Just my two cents. Buy a sulfur denitrater. For get about the refugium to help with nitrates. After I bought my denitrater, I got rid of my refugium. My sump looks just like yours. Simple, just a nice skimmer, two reactors with GFO and carbon. I do have a calcium reactor. I don't do water changes. Water chemistry stays perfect. Just ask Nanook about the sulfur denitraters.

 

[drummereef]

Just my two cents. Buy a sulfur denitrater. For get about the refugium to help with nitrates. After I bought my denitrater, I got rid of my refugium. My sump looks just like yours. Simple, just a nice skimmer, two reactors with GFO and carbon. I do have a calcium reactor. I don't do water changes. Water chemistry stays perfect. Just ask Nanook about the sulfur denitraters.

Thanks reefslugs. I have talked to Nook about his reactor and I think it's working from last I heard. They work well on nitrates but don't do much for phosphate which is why I went with a bio pellet reactor. We'll see how I fare with that and reevaluate down the road. I appreciate the help and insight though.

 

[drummereef]

UPDATE:


As we discussed before I was leaning towards a bio pellet reactor to use on the system. I finally received all the parts in to finish the project. Jon at Warner Marine was gracious enough to send me a Liter of the new ecoBAK pellets Warner recently released (not free guys so don't ask ). Jon is a super guy and is really doing great things with Warner Marine. I appreciate the insight he has given me into the bio pellet arena and hopefully the next few posts will help you out if you decide to go this route on your system.

As stated before I will be doing some tests in the coming weeks as the bio pellets mature. Here is the aforementioned list:

1. I will initially add 1/2 the recommended amount, then 1/4th per week until I'm running 1 Liter in the reactor.
2. Weekly/Bi Weekly Nitrate and Phosphate tests will be taken with Salifert Test Kits.
3. No other inhabitants will be added so feeding will remain on the same schedule.
4. FTS will be taken Weekly/Bi Weekly to show the progress of algae reduction.
5. Nog shots of skimmate production as cleaning is necessary.


Here we go!


This was a pre-order direct from Jon so the ecoBAK came in a generic zip lock bag. The commercial packaging is really slick and is currently how the product is shipping.

As you can see the pellets are fairly small and cylindrical in shape.

Size in comparison to a quarter.

I measured 2 cups (1/2 liter) of the pellets to be added to the reactor.

As recommended by Jon I soaked the pellets in RO/DI water for 24 hours. This helps saturate the pellets so they won't float in the reactor upon startup.

More to come..... :fish1:

 

[drummereef]

Again, I am extremely pleased with NextReef products. Build quality is outstanding and they are very easy to use. The SMR1 pellet reactor was specifically designed for use with bio media. They are outfitted with 5/8" fittings rather than standard 1/2" to allow more flow so the media can tumble accordingly.

The main difference between the regular media reactors and the SMR1 is the tinted acrylic to reduce algae growth and custom plenum assembly. This allows you to run the bio pellets without sponges.

Once the ecoBAK had properly soaked overnight I added it to the reactor.

I plumbed the reactor with 5/8" tubing to the 3/4" GF Ballvalve on the manifold (far left).

Once I finished putting everything back together this is how the sump looked.

More to come..... :fish1:

 

[drummereef]

It is recommended with any bio media to direct the effluent of the reactor toward the skimmer pump. This increases the efficiency of the skimmate and also helps reduce the likelihood of a bacterial bloom. Here you can see how I routed the effluent tubing to drain near the skimmer pump.

Closeup of the reactor effluent tubing.

And finally, the tumbling ecoBAK.

 

[reeferbro0622]

Nice! I wanna see some more livestock!

JT

 

[cromedogg33]

Brett,

Are you hoping the pellets get rid of the algae or are you just prepping your tank for the future? I can't imagine you are having problems with nitrates/phosphates already.

Have you performed any water changes yet? I'm in the building phase finally.... in my 180 and I'm debating on how I want water changes to take place. I can't decide if I want to hard plumb something into my sump or I'm going to do it the old fashion way. I imagine my husbandry would be on a better schedule with just the flip of a switch and some ball valves.

How are you doing yours?

 

[drummereef]

Nice! I wanna see some more livestock!

JT

Thanks JT. I plan on starting to really stock once I nip this last bit of hair algae in the bud. Once I feel like it's under control it's coral time.

Brett,

Are you hoping the pellets get rid of the algae or are you just prepping your tank for the future? I can't imagine you are having problems with nitrates/phosphates already.

Have you performed any water changes yet? I'm in the building phase finally.... in my 180 and I'm debating on how I want water changes to take place. I can't decide if I want to hard plumb something into my sump or I'm going to do it the old fashion way. I imagine my husbandry would be on a better schedule with just the flip of a switch and some ball valves.

How are you doing yours?

A little of both perhaps. After my research on using solid carbon sources, I felt like it was a good time to introduce a reactor to the system. A lot of people end up with issues when their systems are overloaded with nutrients and then are trying to clean up the mess with pellets or vodka dosing. Mostly nasty bacterial blooms that can be unsightly and potentially cause dangerous pH and oxygen issues. Both of which I don't want. I felt it's best to start when nutrient levels are relatively low so the bacteria in the pellets can mature as the tank's bio load increases.

I have been performing weekly, 10-15% water changes since my tank first tested that the initial nitrogen cycle had passed. I just looked back and did the first one on 06/07/2010, so a couple months worth of changes so far. A more efficient water change system is on the list of "to-do" things I want to take care of. If these pellets really show progress I might do away with the fuge and implement a cryptic live rock fuge and use the reservoir for a quick water change system. For my sump, it would have required a lot of holes and plumbing for the amount of water I needed to change to make it happen. So I decided to wait and figure out a way to have a larger reservoir to perform a better, more efficient change.

 

[cromedogg33]

I'm running into the same dilema with the idea of doing quick/easy water changes. I though about just plumbing 2 pipes on the intake, one of which would suck water from my sump, one from my water reservoir. Then take 2 pipes from the output, one to the sump and one to the drain in my house. Putting valves on both I think this would make for a hassle free way of doing changes but like you said...it's a ton of holes.

I'm not nearly as regular as you in changing my water, I'm in the 1 a month at 20-25% range. I'm not sure if there is a pro/con to doing bigger monthly or your style of smaller/frequent. I can see both sides of the story though.

Maybe you could enlighten me to what a cryptic fuge offers over a standard one.

 

[reeferbro0622]

Sorry if this is a repeat question, but did you cycle your marco rocks and if not do you think that could be a cause for all the hair algae?

JT

 

[drummereef]

I'm running into the same dilema with the idea of doing quick/easy water changes. I though about just plumbing 2 pipes on the intake, one of which would suck water from my sump, one from my water reservoir. Then take 2 pipes from the output, one to the sump and one to the drain in my house. Putting valves on both I think this would make for a hassle free way of doing changes but like you said...it's a ton of holes.

I'm not nearly as regular as you in changing my water, I'm in the 1 a month at 20-25% range. I'm not sure if there is a pro/con to doing bigger monthly or your style of smaller/frequent. I can see both sides of the story though.

Maybe you could enlighten me to what a cryptic fuge offers over a standard one.

I hear you. Each large chamber of my sump is only about 17 gallons so that's under what I would need for 10%. I'd have to plumb both the skimmer and return chambers together to make it work. Melev ran into a problem doing this with his own sump so I chickened out of the idea. :lol: A cryptic fuge is basically a "dark" fuge, no light. A lot of people just have a reservoir of live rock for bio filtration with plenty of flow etc... Some people are having difficulty growing chaeto or other macros in their fuges while using bio pellets, so they are getting away from standard refugiums. Goes to show how low nutrient levels can be while using the pellets.

Sorry if this is a repeat question, but did you cycle your marco rocks and if not do you think that could be a cause for all the hair algae?

JT

Not other than cycling it in the main display. It's basically the same thing I just didn't do it in a rubbermaid container. During the cycle I rarely had my lights on if at all. Just skimming, flow, and temp regulation. So yes, I cycled the Marco rock. My belief is since Marco rock has no life on it to begin with there's no competition to nuisance algae. It's fair game for any type of algae to take hold and flourish. As the rock ages and bacteria starts to compete with those nutrient sources everything will balance out. Just takes a little more time than using traditional live rock but without the fear of nasty unwanted pests.

 

[reeferbro0622]

That is exactly what I was going to say, I cooked mine and didnt face any nuisance algae like hair algae, but that took a few months while I was plumbing the tank and getting everything together. Just kept dumping out the water that had high nitrates and filling it up with ro/di salt water until it hit zero.

JT

 

[drummereef]

That is exactly what I was going to say, I cooked mine and didnt face any nuisance algae like hair algae, but that took a few months while I was plumbing the tank and getting everything together. Just kept dumping out the water that had high nitrates and filling it up with ro/di salt water until it hit zero.

JT

:thumbsup: I just wish I had a way of accurately testing the phosphates. They test 0 with my Salifert kit but I think there's some bound up in the algae. The snails are taking care of business so it's not totally a scientific study of nutrient reduction.

 

[canyousee]

Brett I have had algae off and on for years and it drove me mad my Salifert test kits would show 0 No3 and 0 PO4 that didn't seem possible so I started sending H2O samples to www.Aquariumwatertesting.com and sure enough my Po4 was .09 and even No3 was .02 any way.Now every other month I run my tests and send in a part of the same sample to a real lab, just peace of mind to see if my test kits are accurate plus explains to me at least why some algae even if my Salifert kits say H2O good, there really is some bad stuff in the water. Following your experiment closely.

 

[drummereef]

Brett I have had algae off and on for years and it drove me mad my Salifert test kits would show 0 No3 and 0 PO4 that didn't seem possible so I started sending H2O samples to www.Aquariumwatertesting.com and sure enough my Po4 was .09 and even No3 was .02 any way.Now every other month I run my tests and send in a part of the same sample to a real lab, just peace of mind to see if my test kits are accurate plus explains to me at least why some algae even if my Salifert kits say H2O good, there really is some bad stuff in the water. Following your experiment closely.

Very interesting canyousee. Thanks for the link! I want to get one of the new Hanna PO4 testers. Seems like people are having good luck with them versus standard test kits.