EB's New 225 + Wet Lab

[Eric Boerner]

Hey Good Morning All.

It's been just over two years on my remodel and I'm starting to finish up the basement finally. I gutted the whole house in June '12 and have been rebuilding it on my own since then. Part of those remodel plans were to develop my fish lab in the basement and have a display tank in the media room. The lab space that I set aside is 15'x7' with a 5' open wall leading into the media room, which is a long 30'x10'.

I wanted a lot of space in the tank and originally was thinking of a 60x60x25 cube, but realized that in my current desired location, that the front right of the tank would be nearly impossible to reach after it was all closed in. Plus my water main shut off is also in danger of being obscured by the tank. So I decided to go with half that size at 60x36x25. Time to get a hold of a custom builder in the local area!

In comes Jason Gregory from Clear Fabrications. Last month Jason and I configured what I needed on paper and came up with a 60x36x32 steel stand, powder coated blue to match the blue and underwater theme we intend on going in the media room (eg. "The Reef"). A custom 60x36x25 tank with a 15' ghost overflow. Jason had the stand and tank on my doorstep in 3 weeks.

Still finishing up the custom media center this week (back to back Plasma TVs for football season coming up) and then will get the remainder of the framing up for the tank this weekend. Meanwhile the equipment is trickling in. Ordered and on it's way:

SpectraPure UHE 90
Tunze Osmolator 3155
Reeflo Super Dart Gold as the return pump
x2 Tunze Turbelle Stream 6125
x2 Radion XM30W Pro
Neptune Apex Gold Controller
MRC CR-2 Calc Reactor
NextReef SMR1 for BioPellets
NextReef MR1 for GAC
SKIMZ SM253 Monzter DC-Series

250 lbs of Dry Rock
320 lbs of Caribbean Sand

I'm still struggling with the sump set up. The last tank I set up was with a 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. While that was a no-brainer setting up with an internal return pump, this time around I want to do a dedicated external return to the main display, and a secondary internal pump for the lab set up when it comes online next year. I'm sitting on a 50 gallon Top Fin (48x12x20) that would fit perfectly under the tank, but I'll need to have it drilled on the right side to accommodate the external return. I also have a 100 gallon Rubbermaid (53x31x25) which would be 'just enough' room to get access under the tank. But setting up the external pump would be a pain with that set up, in addition to making baffles for bubble trapping. Or... I could go with a real 'sump', but none of the ones that I can find have the capacity to deal with the 2200 GPH I'll push from the display tank, not to mention adding on another 125 gallons when the lab is fired up later on.

 

[laredo300c]

love the stand color, congrats on the quick turnaround for the tank in your house

 

[Eric Boerner]

Finishing up the media center. Just need to sand and paint, then get the back end on with the Samsung to cover.

The tank spot

Whole lotta stuff is starting to trickle in. Reeflo Dart, Skimz Monzter, and Tunze all showed up last night.

This thing really is a MONZTER!

Definitely need to rethink the sump. Not going to fit in here...

 

[halmus]

I have to follow this one. I just moved from Seattle (Tacoma) to Denver and had CFI build my frag tanks for a future build before I left. Jason does excellent work!

I feel like I'm back home with this Seattle build. Looking forward to the progress.

 

[Eric Boerner]

Finished off the framing and drywall this weekend. Had some extra energy, so took a first stab at the aquascaping too. I'm extremely happy with the way it turned out. Just need to cement in the small bits to hide my scaffolds.

I am creating an exposed reefcrest with a 6 inch sand bed. Pump placement will allow me to program them in a way that a rush of water will pass over the top of the reefcrest emulating a tidal flow in a shallow reef. I'll post a diagram of how that will work out soon.

 

[maddmaxx]

are you goin to cover any exposed pvc in the rock work with some sand to allow it to blend more natually?

 

[dave.m]

Why a 6" deep sandbed? What is the thinking behind this, please?

Dave.M

 

[Eric Boerner]

Definitely going to cover up the exposed PVC. I have some rubble rock left and picked up some E-Marco 400. That's this weekends project, finish off the aquascaping and get the wall textured and painted. Then start on plumbing the following weekend.

I had unfortunate news about the electrical work that was done on the remodel. The contractor I originally had pull new wire for me was supposed to place the fish lab on separate 20 amp circuits for each outlet ((3) 4 ports). They did not do what I asked, so I have another electrician coming in and pulling wire to put them on their own dedicated breaker. So looks like the sump and refugium won't be completed until then.

Dave.M, I originally didn't think I had enough room to put together a remote DSB. At the moment I don't have any anaerobic zones in my set up plan apart from the DSB. With the news of the electrical work, I've reconsidered the fish lab layout. I might be able to fit a remote DSB and stack it on top of my sump if I can get the framing done for it in time. I'll likely go with a 2-3" shallow sand bed in that case and set up an 8" remote DSB off the sump.

 

[dave.m]

DSBs work fine if the flow rate stays high enough, but they're the first thing to die in an extended power outage. Most people do fine without them. Are you really wedded to this idea?

Dave.M

 

[Eric Boerner]

Wedded to the idea? Not really. I guess I could say, "But... I've always had one".

I've never had a mass die off event like you're describing. On the other hand, I've never gotten myself into a situation where I didn't have power for more than a few hours. My problem has always been water not staying in the main display like it's supposed to (burst plumbing, trapped snails, etc).

I've been working with encapsulated ecosystems in my tanks for awhile with great success. The last large propagation system I ran had no skimmer, very little live rock, a 3 sump cryptic fuge, and a very large sand filter (vertical DSB). My water chemistry was perfect, growth was great, and zero hair algae or cyano blooms in the 6 years it was up.

On the flip side, my last display tank was bear bottom without a DSB and I fought hair algae annually in the main display.

Go with what you know?

 

[halmus]

Go with what you know?

I like the idea of going with what works for you. However, if you have the chance to move the DSB remotely, I think you'll appreciate the extra real-estate in the display.

 

[Eric Boerner]

Finished the greenwall, texture and paint this week. Electrician is running the two new circuits for the tank today, so its time to work on the plumbing next.

Not the best pics... Damn LED ceiling light is right in front of the tank.

Turned out great if I don't mind saying so myself.

 

[Eric Boerner]

I like the idea of going with what works for you. However, if you have the chance to move the DSB remotely, I think you'll appreciate the extra real-estate in the display.

I did my cubic measurements and turns out I only have enough sand 'at the moment' for 4" in the main display. I've decided to go with the best of both worlds. 2"-2.5" shallow sandbed in the main display and a remote DSB in the refugium. I figured out a way to stack the refugium on the sump so I don't waste real estate in the fish lab.

 

[Sonicboom]

tagging along, i want to see how the rock shelf turns out, giving me ideas

 

[Eric Boerner]

Finished dry fitting the main plumbing. Still need to bore another hole for the 2" bulkhead on the sump for the main return. Then, I plan on setting up a drain valve on the sump at the existing 1" bulkhead for a 30 gallon saltwater exchange. Hoping to have it completely plumbed this week (including the exchange system). I should have the rest of my Marcorock shipment this Tuesday, and will have the rock-work completed by this weekend as well. Fingers crossed I'll have water in the tank by next Monday. I'll work on the refugium set up on top of the sump after that.

Still geeking out about the bright blue light on the Hauge Blue in the room.

 

[Eric Boerner]

Been awhile since the last update.

Water went in several weeks ago. Pretty unspectacular and uneventful. Sand added to the display. I have a 2 inch coverage to hide the PVC stand the rockwork is on. In all it looks great. This past weekend I had several dozen friends around the reefing community send me my seed stock. So without further ado, here is the most current full tank shots with my iPhone. Real photos with the Canon coming shortly.

 

[Sonicboom]

Looks great! and a nice amount of frags there!, question on your drains, will they be supported in some way? seems like a lot of weight on the overflow.

 

[Lam Ly]

lighting

lighting

what type of lighting is that you are using? Is it LANI light?

 

[JN93]

nice Rock work.

 

[Eric Boerner]

Sonicboom. After gluing everything up, it's pretty solid, but I did picked up some 2" pipe clamps to mount them to the wall. My next project is to mount all the apex to a board next to the sump wall. I'll lash all the piping together to the apex board framing when that's complete.