fcmatt's 57g rimless build thread - hoping for the best!

[fcmatt]

Hello everyone. I am back in the game!

I cannot even remember how long ago I started in this hobby with a 40 gallon breeder, under gravel filter, and that yellow tang.
So much has changed. I have had a few more tanks over the decades but I have been tankless for the last 5 years or so.

It seems this tank has been in the planning for the last few years. The first step was to decide on how large.
Well that was easily decided because I already built a stand I never used 4 or 5 years ago. It can fit the dimensions of a 40 gallon breeder.
Thus I went with the largest rimless tank I could find premade. That led to Deep Blue's 57g rimless without an overflow.
I was never one for super large tanks. I am unsure why.

My stand building skills are not up to par as others here but I am happy with the result. I am tall so I never cared for short stands.
This is slightly more then 36 inches tall.

What I am thinking is a rimless tank. Sump below. Sleek bean overflow. Drilled.
Quality parts. T5 lighting.
Sand undecided. Cooked rock with no pests.
Minimal maintenance. A lot automated.
Heavy bioload for the size. Pair of clowns, SPS, perhaps an anemone to start once broken in.
It has to be dead quiet. Clean look for the most part.

So here is the tank:

And here is the stand:

I will post more and what I am thinking as I go. Any advice is appreciated as I share more.
Let's see if these pics stay up as I am using google photos with a shared public album.

 

[fcmatt]

Lets start filling out the parts I will be using. For the pump I decided on a Red Dragon 3 Speedy pump with 10 volt connection and the additional controller for connecting to an Neptune controller.

Since this is a DC pump I can lower the wattage way down and increase my chances for a super quiet tank. It also allows me to feed a few accessories via a manifold near the sump.

What is very important to me is that this pump has a better chance of being much more reliable then other pumps on the market. I really do not want to go away for a few days and find out my pump died.

 

[fcmatt]

For the skimmer we are going German again. A bubble king double cone 150. Like I mentioned above I want a heavy bioload for the tank size, I like to feed, and I want something reliable and quiet.

I chose not to go with a controllable pump in this case. Just let the skimmer do it's job. I just don't see the point in the extra cost. Perhaps one day I will go with an automatic neck cleaner but I never found the chore of cleaning the skimmer cup that big of a deal.

A lot of BK owners said the skimmer is built really well and I have to agree. It is a pleasure to look at and feel. Time will tell how it will run for me on this tank and volume of water. So with the pump above and the skimmer we are around ~50 watts of power. Not bad at all.

 

[fcmatt]

Sometimes you have those oh crap moments when setting up a tank.

When I built my stand I wanted a 20 gallon long sump. It is a very affordable option. My personal opinion is that a sump is a low place to put ugly stuff. While I do enjoy looking at "Cadillac" sump setups I do not want to spend my money on that aspect of the hobby.

But.. I could not fit a 20 gallon long. I did not make the opening wide enough :-(

So a 20 gallon tall it is. Kind of cramped but we shall see how it goes. I need to think about baffles.

 

[fcmatt]

Now the tank has been drilled in each upper corner with 1.5" holes that will fit 3/4" bulkheads. Threaded on both sides for the bulkheads. In retrospect I wish I would have drilled a bit larger for schedule 80 bulkheads but oh well. I never had one break before but the extra security would have been nice.

The center was drilled with two holes that are 2.5" if I recall correctly. The tank was drilled more than a year ago.

The reason for this is that I went with the 16" Synergy overflow. The older model that comes with bulk heads instead of the newer model that is injected molding.

The top picture is what is in the tank. The back pic is on the other side of the glass.

Once again this is the case of I buying a part a long time ago and just not getting around to the project.

 

[fcmatt]

Time to show some pics of all the pieces coming together. Very little of the plumbing is actually glued. The gate valves are all threaded. I am still working on this part as I type this as time allows.

I am not worried about the return having some elbows and what not. My pump has the power. Gate valves allow back pressure for the manifold which will also have gate valves.

I have not decided what I want to do with the back of the tank yet. I am leaning towards a black or deep blue sheet of something to help hide some plumbing. But I do not want the covering to be directly stuck to the back of the glass lowering the par.

 

[fcmatt]

Progress lately.

Ordered two 1/4" pieces of glass for the sump, bought aquarium safe silicone, ordered 4 more 1" unions, and got some 1/2" black pvc pipe for my manifold.

Just thinking more about my plumbing and looking for anyone who can point out ways to improve it before I glue.

Sump will be quite tight but does not need to hold much. Skimmer, return pump, heater, bit of ATO parts, etc... Other accessories like carbon, gfo, and possible future calcium reactor will be shoved in the stand in some way. A smaller tank does not need large reactors for such things and topping off water container won't have to be very large.

Still have not decided on how to do the back of the tank without lowering par with stick on sheets or paint. Need to search this site for ideas.

 

[fcmatt]

It has been a while since my last update. Finding time is difficult except for an hour here or there.

Anyway.. the sump has been built. Pretty easy thing to do. I recommend that anyone can do it to save money.

 

[fcmatt]

I started to glue in the plumbing as time allowed.

 

[fcmatt]

And once the plumbing was done I could do a fresh water leak test. Happy to say not a single leak since running the main pump for a couple of days.

 

[fcmatt]

One last picture.

 

[neacewood]

Looking great!! Are you planning on keeping coral? If so what kind? Definitely a clean build


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[fcmatt]

Looking great!! Are you planning on keeping coral? If so what kind? Definitely a clean build


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am definitely keeping coral. Mostly SPS. As for what kind I am undecided as of yet. I am thinking of going old school. What was popular when I started years ago.

As for fish.. definitely a pair of clowns and a possible anemone. I am designing this tank to take a heavy bioload for it's size.

Right now I am playing around with the bean animal pipes in the back of the overflow. Deciding how much flow I want through my sump, versus a trickle of noise from the overflow, and etc.. basically tweaking it all while it is away from the wall. The height of the stand pipes, one pipe has an air hole while the other does not for now. Synergy I think recommends both having a hole and being a different height.

I ran into a problem that my royal exclusiv pump is tripping my gfci outlet. I read this might happen due to being a DC pump. I am researching the proper fix for it the last couple of days.

So I will probably go a week or two with fresh water in the tank finalizing these last few items before draining and pushing towards the wall. Next will be rock scape, adding the skimmer into position, cabling, probably some shopping for parts, etc...


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I swear google photos makes it stupid annoying just giving a link to pictures to show in a forum. Almost like they purposely make it difficult to not allow normal people to figure it out. Upload a pic, put in shared album, open pic in new tab, copy url which is annoyingly long, and put here only to be a struggle on top of that. Sad that google purposely make sharing photos hard and wants to force people to goto their website. I should just stick to putting pics on a unix box at work but I was hoping google would allow pics to stay up for many years... without worry.

 

[Rene Obergfell]

Love the look of the black PVC, so sharp!!!

 

[fcmatt]

I just bought a toroid ferrite core on amazon to use on the red dragon 80w pump. I read a post here that someone had good luck with it. It has to be quite large to get the cord through it and wrap it a few times. $10 is a cheap solution if it works. I really want to keep a normal GFCI outlet next to any fish tank (water). The whole room is actually GFCI protected.

Thanks Rene!

 

[fcmatt]

Well one of the tougher parts of setting up a new tank is the rock work design. I am reading posts of other people's work and just playing around.

My rock was purchased probably 10 years ago. Acid dipped and cleaned last year. Pest free, dry, and some pretty good pieces.

The card board piece represents the bottom of the tank. It's dimensions. The tape on the outside is for the magnet cleaner to get clearance. The tape in the middle is the hot spots par wise for best SPS placement.

Nothing has been decided yet. I may build a back piece of cardboard to represent the back of the tank height wise to help.

 

[fcmatt]

Sigh. I forgot how hard this was. Everything I do looks like two piles of rocks. I need to think long term and how the coral choices will grow.

One thing I am trying to do is minimize contact with the ground so water flow can get under there. I would like one pile to be higher than the other.

I think i need to spend an evening looking at other people's tanks.

 

[fcmatt]

After dorking around with the outlets in this room, checking each one, trying to isolate any problem why my GFCI was tripping when I plugged in the DC pump....

I came to the conclusion that my home depot brand GFCI outlet was too sensitive. I tried two of them.

The toroid ferrite choke made no difference what so ever. Waste of 10 bucks but worth a try.

So I popped in a normal outlet and everything worked. I was thinking I would replace the breaker in the panel in the basement but then I recalled I had a ratty older GFCI outlet in the basement. I ran an extension cord from the pump to it and sure enough it did not trip.

So I tested the older GFCI, replaced it with a home depot brand, took the old and placed into the outlet behind the fish tank.. and voila!

I have GFCI by the tank, it does not trip, and I can now continue on with the project safely.

 

[scuzy]

Did you test the gfci works thought with a tester? They also make these

Leviton 16693 15-Amp, 120-Volt, Grounded, Compact Automatic Reset Right Angle GFCI, RoHS Compliant, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037NXKY0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_X7EOzbDH42R8Q

 

[fcmatt]

Did you test the gfci works thought with a tester? They also make these

Leviton 16693 15-Amp, 120-Volt, Grounded, Compact Automatic Reset Right Angle GFCI, RoHS Compliant, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037NXKY0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_X7EOzbDH42R8Q

I did not use a tester. I just used the buttons on the front of it to make sure it went off and then back on. Perhaps I should order one... hm. Would be handy to have over the years like an inspector has.

The problem with the GFCI outlet was that it was tripping due to the low 5 milliamp sensitivity of it. Like it was super sensitive. My older GFCI outlet I used is not as sensitive and seems to be working fine. The product link you are showing may or may not work. One just does not know until you try it. It is a known issue it seems for some people.