jent's AGA 120gal log **pics**

[wetWolger]

Yes, yet another tank log thread. This one is for the 120gal tank that will eventually contain everything in my 46gal. Right now it has between 45 and 50LB of cured live rock. It is drilled for the sump, but unfortantly the CL will not be drilled.

For lighting it has 2x250watt 14K MH. As well as 2 VHO that right now are running 1 as actinic and 1 as 10k. Once I am ready to transfer all the corals the VHO's will be only actinics. The lighting in the canopy sits rather close to the water. Infact I have put in glass to prevent water spray from hitting the lights (had a little smoke/fire hazord). I am going to be modding the canopy (maybe today) so that I can get about another 1in from the water. So far heat has not been an issue, in fact in this colorado winter I have been having troubles keeping it warm (heaters are under powered since they are spares and what I use for my WC).

The CL will be a MAG 9.5 with two SCWD's for wave movment. Expense is a huge factor in this, and I imagine it is something that will be upgraded in the future. Any suggestions on the CL will be much appreciated.

Without me becoming too long winded here are the photos that I am sure everyone came to look for (sorry some are under-exposed really bad, I was just too lazy to get a tripod):

You may notice the xenia, yellow polyps, and the recordia in the bottom right corner. The recordia came with some of the LR. The xenia and the yellow polyps were added as an indicator coral of water quality (they were just going to be thrown away anyways). Also you may notice the floating plastic cube. It containst some cheato untill I get a light for the fuge under the tank.

Thanks for looking, please give me your comments and advice

 

[Andrew]

Looks great! The only thing I would do is add a black or blue background.

 

[theop]

Looks very nice. You'd probably get a better exposure if you closed the blinds behind the tank.

What are the tank dimensions?

What is the yellowish plastic piece on your return line, right before the white elbow? Check valve?

 

[Dubbin1]

You get a background on it and that baby will pop. I would also find a way to cover up that powerhead on the bottom.

 

[wetWolger]

Yea, I am going to put a blue background on it. Just have not gotten to it yet. Plus I sorta like the little bit of natural light from the window behind.

That is a check valve on the return line.

As for the powerhead in the bottom that is temporary. As soon as the CL is ready and running the powerhead will be removed.

Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming

 

[wetWolger]

oh, and the dimensions are:

48x24x24

 

[wetWolger]

well I have been thinking a lot about the CL lately, so I figured I would post what I am thinking.....

let me know if you have any questions but here is a little text explaining what I am thinking. All the red box's are valves and I have put them on each end of the SCWD's for easy removal and cleaning. I don't really have the money atm for anything else so I figured I would give them a try. The two returns that go over the side will go to this part here:
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=FT0011
there will be two of these on the far ends of the tank.

For the two pipes that go up and along the center brace each will be connected by the following parts listed in order of how they will be connected:
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...ROD&Product_Code=MPPC3&Category_Code=lockline
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=LL1325
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...PROD&Product_Code=MPY3&Category_Code=lockline
and then each end of the Y will have this attached to it:
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...OD&Product_Code=MPNWF3&Category_Code=lockline

The strainer for the intake of the pump will be this here:
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=FT8672

The pump that will power the whole thing will be a Mag 9.5.....so a total of 950gph.

Let me know if it all makes sence. This is my first CL so any comments would be much appreciated.

 

[elephen]

You won't have near 950g output on that CL once you factor in all your head pressure you'll have on the pump. Depends on the footage your doing but I would venture to goess 300-600gph at the outputs since you will have 2 outputs/splitting.

 

[mattls]

Save yourself the headache of having to replace the scwd . Get OM squirt 2 ways from oceansmotions.com. They more money but way better. The scwds cut down flow way to much and eventually get stuck. I had to change out my scwd in less than a year so I just went with the OM and what a difference.

 

[wetWolger]

yea but I don't have the money for an OM squirt atm.....I have it setup for easy cleaing of the sqwd's.....I was hoping that would end up working its way out. If I find they are too much trouble I will just remove them and put in a general T. And as for the flow I figured there would not be any head because any head pressure would be equalized with the downward pressure of the intake.....I do however expect the two sqwds to cut down on a lot of the flow.

 

[sterling18]

Was wondering if I can see some pics of your overflow and return pumping. Looks like something I might do. I'm getting a 75 from someone that's not drilled. That looks like all I need is to have two holes drilled. I've got a spare overflow kit I can use.

 

[wetWolger]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6508024#post6508024 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sterling18
Was wondering if I can see some pics of your overflow and return pumping. Looks like something I might do. I'm getting a 75 from someone that's not drilled. That looks like all I need is to have two holes drilled. I've got a spare overflow kit I can use.

sure, I will pull out the tripod and take some photos tommarow. Just don't laugh at the wiring mess I have underneath the stand atm.

 

[wetWolger]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6508024#post6508024 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sterling18
Was wondering if I can see some pics of your overflow and return pumping. Looks like something I might do. I'm getting a 75 from someone that's not drilled. That looks like all I need is to have two holes drilled. I've got a spare overflow kit I can use.

As promised I took some photos of my plumbing. I was going to wait and just do all the photos when I do the CL, but I guess that will come later.

In this image you can see the plumbing inside the box to make it a durso type of overflow....the pipe just extends through the box and a couple L pipes are attached to make it a durso style.

A photo of the back of the tank. You can see the valves for the overflow, as well as the check valve for the return. The valve shown in the closed position is not really needed the way I have it setup. At some point that valve may be opened slightly to give flow to a sepearate fuge that can go into the tank. Right now it just pretty much sits closed, although I sometimes open it to clear the pipe when I want to work on the sump.

Here is a photo of the sump, you can see the euro reef skimmer on the left. The front right section will eventually be a 7gal fuge space. The heater in there will be removed and a better heater will be put in the back section before it goes through the return pump.

Here we can see the external return pump. I did not really want to take the time or effort to drill so I just plumbed a little PVC that goes over the top of the fuge. The only problem is it is a pain to prime. You have to remove the tubing from the check valve and just suck a little water in. If I had done this again I would have put a screw on cap I could remove to poor in a little water.

Hope all that helps a little. I am sure I will do this again once the CL is finished. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[wetWolger]

Well I thought it was time for an update with some new photos. It has been a while and although I wanted to have my CL finished before an update it looks like that wont be happening till early March. But I got half of it done. As you can see here this is the return from the mag 12. It is drawn from a 1inx6.5in screen that sits just below my overflow. The other half of the Closer Loop (not done yet) will be a mag 9.5 that sucks from the same screen and outputs into a wavysea.

I was hoping to install the moon lights over the weekend but Lebos was too slow on shipping my order so I guess that will be a next weekend thing. I was going to DIY everything, I even programed a micro controller to do it all. But then time came short and I decided it was just worth it to buy a complete unit. So since I could not do those I removed the floating container of cheato and finished setting up the fuge.

You may also note the addition of a fan in the stand. This was added due to a mosture problem that was causing mold. Unfortantly it has increased my evaporation so I added plastic to cover the sump to try to help. I have also added a fan in the canopy for just general heat reduction. As for what else has change just has a brown algae bloom, but it has been receding. I have removed the power heads, even though the CL is not finished I seem to get enough flow that they were just more of an eye sore than anything else. I have added a few more frags. There is some purple and some red Monti now. Some cabage leather, and a few zoas. That is in addition to the xenia and yellow polyps and GSP. Obviously the rock is not aquascaped yet, and the corals arent placed anywhere. I will wait to do that till I move everything from the 46 to the 120. I plan to do the big move sometime in early May. Well without any more balbbing here are some updated photos of the tank.

Sorry the photos are not super. I just wanted to make a quick update, I will make really good photos once the CL is done and the moon lights are in. Once that is done everything will be done till I move everything over form the 46.

and as always suggestions are always welcome.

 

[wetWolger]

oh, and based on your guys sugestions I decided to scrap the idea of a scwd. There will just be the four static output that are on now....and a wavysea. It will be more expensive, but worth it.

 

[wetWolger]

BIG UPDATE

BIG UPDATE

Finally, all the equitment is on and running on the tank. The only thing left is the reefkeeper which will be moved when I move the livestock from the 46gal. Here is what has changed:
here you can see the sump (skimmer is to the left out of view)...The fuge has been running with the 65watt PC light. To the right is the 10gal tank which holds the water for the auto top off. The auto top off switch was purchased from autotopoff.com. It powers and aqualifter that sucks from the 10gal and inputs directly into the sump.

Here is the last of the plumbing, as it comes up into the tank. The new blue tube goes to the wavysea which was just installed. I am quite happy with the addition of the wavysea, it has really improved flow and astetics of the tank.

Here is low lower bit of plumbing/back of stand. You can see in the top righ of the photo the moon light controller and the controller for the wavysea. This pump is a mag 9.5 which just flows into the wavysea.

A slightly more left photo of the plumbing. You can now see the mag 12 to power the 4 static CL returns.

Here is a photo of the outputs of the CL. The four nozells in the front are for the mag 12 which runs durring the day. The guy in the back is the wavysea which moves back and fourth.

and finally an updated photo of the whole aquarium.

 

[wetWolger]

p.s. I will post a photo with the moonlights on later tonight

 

[hawkeye31657]

jent looking great keep up the good ideals i will always look at your cool stuff

 

[FFrankie]

Looking really great Jent. keep up the good work!

 

[wetWolger]

as promised here are a couple photos with the moon lights on. This is in the full moon setting (ie the brightest setting)

Here is a close to realisitic repesentation of how bright the tank is:

note** it is hard to get a photo close to what it really looks like because I can not control what gamma the screen of the computer it is being viewed at. But at full moon you can see everything, someplaces are a little tuff to see. I tried to get a light level that is very realistic to how the real moon looks.