evolved's 190g Reef Upgrade: Wrasse Retreat

[evolved]

It's time to start a thread here and share with the locals what I'm currently up to.

Back in early August, I ordered a Deep Sea Aquatics (DSA) tank through the gang at Reef Culture. 48 days later on September 18th, this was delivered to my door (thanks again Jeremy and Skip!):

Custom ordered from Deep Sea Aquatics (DSA), this is their 190g tank with a few alterations. Notably, Starfire on all three sides, which caused a slightly longer lead time as DSA was in the process of switching sources for Starfire (much for the better, I might add). Also custom: overflow placed left of center (standard is dead center), black on the back panel, and black silicone. Dimensions are 60"x27"x27", 1/2" glass. Took 4 of us to move it in.

Looking through at the impending transfer.

Using a new Eshopps R-300 sump under this guy.

A little size reference. 20oz Gatorade bottle.

Top-notch seams here

Stout overflow. Glass with a plastic cover as you see here. 1" drains (x3) and 3/4" returns (x2).

I will be transferring the inhabitants, including my rock, from my current 120g tank into this one. Upgrading, more of less (with new sand, of course. Minimal sand this time around too). I'm looking very forward to having a good reason to re-aquascape. I have learned a lot with my current tank, and I can't wait to do things differently and for the better this go-around. Most of my equipment will be reused, with the obvious exception of a new sump. Same reactors (TLF 150 x2, GFO & carbon), same skimmer (Aquamaxx AM250), same return pump (Eheim 1262), same dosing pump (Bubble Magus), same DIY LED setup, same Apex, same Vortechs (2 MP40s, 2 MP10s - provided I can make them work on the 1/2" glass). Basically, this was the largest tank I could muster and still re-use all that sufficiently.

Obligatory shot. I'm 6' 2", if you haven't met me. And yes, my arms barely reach the bottom.

Excuse the small mess you see in the pictures. Part of this upgrade involves relocating the tank (mainly for ease of transfer), which means swapping the spots the tanks and TV currently occupy. So my living room is in a holding pattern of disarray for now.

 

[evolved]

A few days later, I had the plumbing completed. This took me longer than I anticipated, but I took my time with it all, making sure I was doing what I really wanted to be doing and carefully gluing every joint. Do it once, do it right.

Brainstorming some ideas on the table before I began:

Here's everything completed in the overflow box:

From the time I ordered the tank, I was only planning to use 2 of the drains and cap the third. Which is good since a stand brace blocked one of the drains anyway. :spin2: (Sidenote: DSA built a new stand with a single center brace in order to rectify this situation. However, it would have delayed my schedule more than I was willing, so I pressed on with what I have.) So the drain furthest on the right has been capped off.

The DSA overflow is designed to utilize loc-line on the returns. Note the U shaped cut in the ABS which fits loc-line perfectly:

And here's the majority of my plumbing time underneath the tank. 1" vinyl tubing from the return pump feed (I've since swapped this for spa flex) to 1" PVC which then supplies the 2 3/4" returns which poke up into the overflow. On the drain side, I plumbed in 2 hard line 1" PVC into the sump. Lots of fit checking here to make all the angles and lengths work.

Here's looking down from the top of the tank through the bottom. You can appreciate the angles on the drains a bit more here:

You may have noted in some photos there will be a receptacle located behind this tank on the wall. Something else I'm doing in this build is trying to make everything as safe as possible, and this includes making all my electrical connections as isolated and splash proof as possible. I had a little electrical incident over a year ago with my current tank, and while I'm not sure if it was a result of splash or a cheap adapter I am very glad I was home at the time and smelled that characteristic hot electronics odor before I had a fire on my hands. So the receptacle behind the tank received this yesterday evening:

A simple outdoor weatherproof cover I picked up at Home Depot; a steal at $10 for insurance. It has a foam gasket on the backside which seals tightly with the wall. And yes, that door will be closed once everything is set up.

 

[evolved]

Finally, last night I gave birth to this tank officially.

Sand in place (Caribsea Indo-Pacific Black), about 1":

A little in the fuge as well:

80g of saltwater in:

Already decently clear this morning:

The transfer itself will be occurring this Saturday.

Cheers.

 

[dream54ing]

tagging along!:beer::thumbsup:

 

[Frick]

Wow that is a nice setup. Very clean. I can't wait to see it done.

 

[bugs713]

Awesome tank, I love the dimensions!
Not fair, no primer drips on the plumbing... I tried in vain, but still had a few drips:headwally:
Looks great!

:thumbsup:
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[usefulidiot213]

Awesome tank. Really like the Dimensions.

 

[m-six hundred]

Why are you going with only 1" of sand? Do you have any sand sleepers?

 

[evolved]

Wow that is a nice setup. Very clean. I can't wait to see it done.

Thanks Jason.

Awesome tank, I love the dimensions!
Not fair, no primer drips on the plumbing... I tried in vain, but still had a few drips:headwally:
Looks great!

:thumbsup:

Thank you. Trust me, I didn't achieve it by accident.

Awesome tank. Really like the Dimensions.

Thanks Bryan.

Why are you going with only 1" of sand? Do you have any sand sleepers?

Yes; I do have three halichoeres wrasses. After having 3" of sand in my current tank, I've come to really hate sand; it starts to leach a lot of nasties after a couple years. If I didn't have the sand sleepers, I wouldn't have any sand. Sure, an inch isn't exactly deep enough right now, but it'll have spots which are plenty deep enough after a couple days of high flow where it will naturally pile up.

I considered doing bare bottom and keeping a sand box in the tank for them, but knowing how they sift the sand anyways, the sand from that box would eventually end up all over the tank. So I've arrived to using as little sand as possible.

 

[frogg21]

Tagging along..
Congrats. Sweet dimensions! I really really wanted to do 28" deep, but had to settle for 24" or I'd have 12" of bracing in the middle of my peninsula,Leemar/starphire/euro/60x30x24
I think your 1/2" glass will be fine with the MP40's, not sure on the MP10's. I think I'm going to go with Koralia Magnums.

Couple questions, Are you adding more LED's, and what angle lenses are you going to use on that 27" deep tank?
Thx Its going to look GREAT!

 

[evolved]

I think your 1/2" glass will be fine with the MP40's, not sure on the MP10's.

Couple questions, Are you adding more LED's, and what angle lenses are you going to use on that 27" deep tank?
Thx Its going to look GREAT!

Yes, the 40s will be fine; it's the 10s that are questionable. Sometimes they work on 1/2", sometimes they don't. If not, I'll replace them with 1 or 2 40s.

As for the LEDs, I'll be using what I have as it's already a bit overkill. 86 diodes with a mix of royal blue, blue, cool white, warm white, violet, & cyan. The majority use 60deg optics, others are are more color spectrum oriented use 80-100deg optics. See here for more details on that.

 

[Kalakuhan]

Awesome!!!! Your tank dimensions are perfect!

Hope your move goes smooth,
I placed my corals in a holding tank while i moved the majority of the rocks. That gave me more time to play with the rock placement.
You'd be amazed at how quick the water clears after the live rocks. I didn't know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised.

Looking forward to your updates! :beer:

 

[reefstew]

Nice clean look. A good idea to plumb it with unions.

 

[BbyZbra]

Wow your tank choice is absolutely perfect! I can not wait to see it set up! Congrats

 

[kirstenk]

Really like the tank dimensions. Congrats!!

 

[evolved]

Awesome!!!! Your tank dimensions are perfect!

Hope your move goes smooth,
I placed my corals in a holding tank while i moved the majority of the rocks. That gave me more time to play with the rock placement.
You'd be amazed at how quick the water clears after the live rocks. I didn't know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised.

Looking forward to your updates! :beer:

Thanks Pete.

I picked up 2 Brute 20g totes just for that purpose a while back. :thumbsup:

Here's to hoping all goes smooth tomorrow.

Nice clean look. A good idea to plumb it with unions.

Thanks Bob. I would have used more had I been able to squeeze them in anywhere. The durso standpipes in the overflow box are intentionally not glued in either.

Wow your tank choice is absolutely perfect! I can not wait to see it set up! Congrats

Thank you.

Really like the tank dimensions. Congrats!!

Thanks Kirsten.

 

[Weyrman]

Tagging along here. Nicely set up. You gave me some good ideas for redoing the return pump connections. I was heading to Lowes today to get fittings so timing was perfect. Using a union will be added to the shopping cart.

 

[kresDFW]

Nice tank evolved. I'm here in Dallas for another 5 months before work moves me to Phoenix. I've been debating on purchasing a Deep Sea Aquatics Model 190 Pro here since DSA is local, and then have it moved with the rest of my stuff.

It's good to see that the stores in Phoenix have access to DSA, I wasn't sure what tanks they were selling.

We'll see if I can make it 5 months without caving in and buying a tank, maybe I should just get a nano to tide me over.

 

[Kalakuhan]

Thanks Pete.

I picked up 2 Brute 20g totes just for that purpose a while back. :thumbsup:

Here's to hoping all goes smooth tomorrow.

If you need any help, give me a holler. I'm especially great at disposing of accidental broken frags! :lmao:

 

[Shrimpcity]

this looks like its gonna be great!!