Hollback's New System

hollback

Team RC
George, I'm posting this on RC for you....

...and so it begins...

Background
I was happy with my previous system and can’t think of anything major I would change. It consisted of a 75 gallon display that sat in the finished section of our basement which was plumbed into the back/unfinished room.

The display setup:
• 2 â€"œ 400 watt SE Reflux bulbs on magnetic ballasts with DIY Lumenarc Minis
• 2 â€"œ 110 watt VHO actinic bulbs
• 1 â€"œ Tunze 6100
• Dart on a closed loop through an OceansMotions

The “fish room” setup:
• 45 gallon Brute garbage can for mixing new saltwater
• 20 gallon Brute for top off
• 100 gallon Rubbermaid sump
• 40 gallon breeder frag tank with 1-250 watt DE 14k Phoenix bulb
• 40 gallon breeder cryptic fuge tank
• Dart as my main pump feeding everything
• GEO custom skimmer
• GEO kalk reactor
• GEO 6x12 Calcium reactor on a Milwaukee pH controller
• GEO 4x18 media reactor
• 3-10 gallon copepod culture tanks
• 2-Phytoplankton cultures


The New System
We recently moved to Worthington with a great partially finished basement. It was decided before we even saw this house that I wanted an inwall display. Unfortunately our new house has duct work running above where I planned the tank to be. That meant that I was restricted by height.

The breakdown:
• 120 gallon Oceanic Tech Series display
• 40 gallon breeder sump with baffles
• 24” x 18” x 12” frag tank
• Dart as my main pump feeding everything including OM which is the return for display
• 45 gallon Brute garbage can for mixing new saltwater
• 20 gallon Brute for top off
• GEO custom skimmer
• GEO kalk reactor
• GEO 6x12 Calcium reactor
• GEO 4x18 media reactor
• 3-10 gallon copepod culture tanks
• 2-Phytoplankton cultures
• AquaController Jr
• AquaSurf
• 2- Tunze 6100s
• 2 â€"œ 250 watt SE Reflux bulbs on Coralvue ballasts with Lumen Brights
 
Ok Finally have some updates.

Here is the infrastructure of the system. The wall was just bare stud work. I ran 4 - 20 amp breakers and put up paneling. I built 3 total stands. The center one with the hole in the wall is obviously for the display tank. The one on the left will be for fresh water and my water change system. Below it will be storage and my kalk reactor. The stand on the right will have my Ca reactor, cO2 tank, skimmer, and a new frag tank. Below it will be my copepod and phyto cultures. I still need to put up a panel to house all my electronics running on my Aqua Controller Jr.

stands.jpg


Here is the completed stand for the 120 which has been sitting in my garage for a while now.

tankStand.jpg


I have little clearance above the display with the duct work there so I decided to add a rail system for my aluminum light rack. You can see the wood rack above. I also installed a great vent fan which is awesome.

My next step is to prime all the bare wood and HVAC system.


Just for kicks here is my current "temporary" system which has been like this for quite a few months.

system1108.jpg
 
I spent almost all day Saturday priming. Here are some shots.

standsPrimed.jpg


From the end.
standsPrimedEnd.jpg


I also installed my light rail system.
lightRail.jpg


And the control panel which will hold all electronics.
controlPanel.jpg


I hope to move the display from the garage to the basement sometime this week.
 
Ok. Tank is now up and has water in it (among other things).

tankSwimer.jpg


Here's the work in progress
fishroom1.jpg



Light rack and tank. (The other reflector is being used on my current livestock.)
tankLeft1.jpg



lightRackLeft.jpg



lightRackBack.jpg



lightRackRight.jpg
 
Water changing container. (My freshwater top off container will sit right in front.)
waterChange1.jpg



Electrical panel (Still a lot of wires that need cleaned up during the transition but it will be nice and clean at the end.)
electricPanel1.jpg


Shot from the room where the trim will be.
display1.jpg
 
I have my plumbing diagrams mostly complete.

newPlumbingDrain.jpg


newPlumbingFeed.jpg


Geo built me maybe one of the coolest/nicest sumps anyone has ever seen. I'll try to get images of it posted this weekend.
 
Man, I want Hollback to design and set up my next system.
Seriously...
Looking good J, looking good :smokin:
 
Awesome dude I wish I had a room behind my tanks mine could be that clean looking I will have my new setup running soon though also.
 
I really like your plumbing diagrams. :thumbsup:

The fishroom looks great. Nice, clean, organized.

The only thing that catches my eye is that your reflector is too close to the water. The PAR will be significant. Looking at your holding vat, it must be nearly 24" off the water, and over the tank is can't be more than 8". Definitely raise it up higher to avoid bleaching your corals.
 
Thanks Marc!

Glad to see you in our Columbus forum. I actually have the light rack really low from working on stuff. Once I get the tank plumbed and the corals in I'll raise it up as high as I can get it.
 
Here is my new amazing sump that GEO built. Thanks again man! I'll let the pictures do the talking.

sump1.jpg


Drain compartment and some slick baffle work.
sump2.jpg


The craftsmanship on this thing is amazing. Everything is beveled, even the undersides of the baffles on both sides. Here is the probe holder so you get an idea of what I'm talking about.
sump3.jpg



I also finished up my trim on the finished side of the wall. I pulled down the old paneling so ignore the color difference on the wall it will later be painted all blue. Also ignore the filled holes. I will be painting the trim white tomorrow. Also the rock is just sitting in there. This is not how my aquascaping will be.
display2.jpg


Front access is for wimps with short arms!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14175910#post14175910 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by richierich2000
nice and clean!! how much do you charge an hour :)

I work for sweet frags to fill this bad boy.
 
I like those little corner reinforcements too. That's neat. Geo does beautiful work.
 
Well, I finally completed my aquascaping and put sand in. Here are some shots! The tank will be filled another 4-5" so ignore the low water level. Check out the nice wave action on the surface.

rockWork1.jpg


Left Side
rockWorkLft.jpg


Right Side
rockWorkRght.jpg


I also thought this was interesting. I moved over my 400w just for the photo and I was surprised to see the difference in the spread. 250 on the left, 400 on left. I would imagine it has something to do with either the bulb length or bulb positioning. Quite a difference in spread.
lightCompare1.jpg
 
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