Ludnix's tropical 120!

[ludnix]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12667912#post12667912 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bax
For a 120, a Mag 12 is more than enough return flow. What are you doing for flow in the tank? You don't really want to depend upon your return pump to provide all the flow. Since the tank is not drilled for a closed loop, you can consider an over the top CL or using power heads for flow. Depending upon what you want to keep, you may not need to go too crazy there, a few MJ Mods may do the trick.

We have two Koralia 4 power heads that we planned to mount to the top of the side facing the over flow boxes. Hopefully they will create a sort of collision between them and the return and provide a decent amount of random flow. We'll probably be starting out with mainly LPS, softies and zoas, but if we find we need more flow we could figure something else out (or replace the koralias with a couple of vortechs ).

Thanks for the reassurance on the return pump! So far the tank is filled to 10" with RO/DI water so before long we'll be able to see.

I also got in contact with my LFS and they said they'd be willing to sell me 200 pounds of uncured live rock at $2.22 a pound. Since the tank is new and uncycled we'll just cure the rock in the tank. We'll wait to add sand until the rock is totally cured so we can easily siphon out detritus that comes off the rock.

 

[Bax]

For zoos and LPS you should be good to start with on flow.

My 120 uses a QO4000 split between the display and fuge. I am only pushing about 450 gph back to the display.


... but I have a little more flow than you'll get from a pair of Korilia 4's

 

[ludnix]

The LFS sold us 200 pounds of uncured live rock at $2.22 a pound and it's shipment came in.

Since it's going to need time to cure I'm guessing it's going to be a few weeks before it all settles out. Once it does we'll do a large water change and add the sand. It's probably more rock than we'll want in the end, but once it's cured we can take it back to the LFS for credit.

We're thinking of using reef epoxy to make some pillars and arches using the rock, but we'll have to play with it to see what we finally want.

 

[scott11]

you may want to rethink having your electrical outlets under all the plumbing lines. If you have a leak, that could be dangerous. Having it above the sump like that could also lead to salt creep. you may want to try and add a divider to keep the power strip safe and dry

 

[ludnix]

Thanks scott11, I've been checking it almost daily for moisture because I had the same concerns but luckily it seems to stay very dry. I'm considering making an acyrlic case to go around it though just to prevent long-term moisture build up and or a leak from a bulkhead. Hopefully if something like that did happen the GFCI would take care of the problem, but it'd be nice not to have to rely on that.


If anyone has any advice about the curing process or information that would useful it'd be great if you could post it. I haven't had to cure rock before and all I'm sure of is that it's going to smell pretty rank.

 

[ludnix]

Update!

A few days after receiving the rock, I took it all out and scrubbed it, and have done two water changes since. The skimmer is currently out of action until a replacement part comes from pacific coast imports, but once it that gets here we'll set the skimmer up to clear the water.

In the mean time I've started work on the canopy. I built the frame to match the tank's dimensions (24"x48") using Poplar wood coated in kilz sealant.

Here the canopy is getting ready to be skinned with 1/4" bamboo plywood (pictured behind the canopy).

You can see there's 4x 48" T5 bulbs and two 250 MH reflectors. The bulbs are 2x Pure Actinic, 2x Daylight, 2x XM 15,000k DE.

The bamboo skin was cut to shape and then nailed down with finishing nails. There will be two access doors on the front and back of the canopy (hence the two holes in the plywood), allowing for bulb changes, feedings, and general maintenance.

The trim is being glued to the corners, I'm still trying to decide if I want to stain the trim to match the stand, or just coat it with clear varnish like I plan on doing with the bamboo. Any suggestions?

 

[reefnut2790]

Eric i think you should stain the trim to match the stand ... btw great looking build so far ... cant wait to see it lit up with those lights!

 

[ludnix]

Thanks reefnut, it would seem weird since the rest of the trim is stained.

Here's a picture of the room behind the aquarium.

We didn't place the aquarium against the wall since we wanted it to be easily viewable from the sitting area, while also viewable when you first enter the room. We need to clean the room up some more, but that can wait until the tank is is fully set with it's canopy.

 

[ludnix]

The aquarium's competition for attention:

 

[TikiDan]

that like my dream house! keep it up it look great!

 

[TikiDan]

So did you just graduate from Eureka High?
I graduated from Mckinleyville High in 2000

Boy, was I glad to get out of Humboldt! Been in the Bay Area ever since

 

[ludnix]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12824262#post12824262 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TikiDan
So did you just graduate from Eureka High?
I graduated from Mckinleyville High in 2000

Boy, was I glad to get out of Humboldt! Been in the Bay Area ever since

Actually I graduated from a small charter school, North Coast Preparatory and Preforming Arts Academy.

I'm hoping to go to a school in the bay area after I finish my Associate of Arts degree here at College of the Redwoods. What aspect of humboldt do you least miss about humboldt? My parents are planning to retire in hawaii, but they're trying to get away from the cold weather here!

 

[ludnix]

The canopy is still being worked on. I got a few coats of varnish on it, but I still need to cut the doors down to size, hopefully this weekend.

My dad found the perfect sized top-off container for out auto-top-off system. The 40 gallon breeder takes up almost all of the space in the stand so we had limited space for the top-off.

You can see the top off container on the left of the sump in-between the stand's uprights.

He found the container at U.S. plastics' website, it should about 6 gallons when full and is food safe, most importantly though it fits exactly what we had available maximizing the space we had to work with.

We ordered a double float switch from www.autotopoff.com and some fans and wiring management from www.xoxide.com. Xoxide is a computer modding site, but they sell some great low-noise fans (they even show the db rating for each fan), and also had some wire sleeving kits for about $5 a kit!

 

[jon56048]

I am also seting up 40 breeder for sump what are your baffle sizes

 

[Fish_wiz2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12840607#post12840607 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jon56048
I am also seting up 40 breeder for sump what are your baffle sizes

Mine are 17 1/2" L x 12 1/2 H x 3/16 thick, let see ludnix's sump!

 

[jon56048]

have any photo Fish_wiz2

 

[ludnix]

My baffles are made of acrylic and are a little over an inch apart. I would recommend using glass, but we used acrylic since there wouldn't be equal pressure on all of the baffles.

Yesterday we got the replacement part from Pacific Coast Imports and got the skimmer running.

Overnight it made 4oz of skimmate, once it breaks in it should be really pulling some stuff out!

 

[purebullet417]

you should take out some rock from inside the tank it makes it looked cramped. put as much as you can in the sump but really i think it would look better with mabey half that much rock in there

 

[ludnix]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12841918#post12841918 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by purebullet417
you should take out some rock from inside the tank it makes it looked cramped. put as much as you can in the sump but really i think it would look better with mabey half that much rock in there

We haven't aqua-scaped it all yet, so far it's just been tossed in there to cure. We've got a ton of coraline colored epoxy that we're going to use to glue rocks together. We're going to go for a pillar and arch look with the rock, we were inspired by a video on reefvideos.com where someone had a pillar and arch system and it looked great, so that's what we'll be aiming for.

I'm still working on the doors for the canopy, once they are on though we should be able to test the lighting with a temporary wiring setup. We can't really do the final wiring on the lighting until the wire sleeving kits from Xoxide get here though.

EDIT: I also meant we had used acrylic because there was equal pressure on both sides.

 

[Sceadu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12842988#post12842988 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ludnix
We haven't aqua-scaped it all yet, so far it's just been tossed in there to cure. We've got a ton of coraline colored epoxy that we're going to use to glue rocks together. We're going to go for a pillar and arch look with the rock, we were inspired by a video on reefvideos.com where someone had a pillar and arch system and it looked great, so that's what we'll be aiming for.

Been following along with your build and Im impressed. The stands detail is right on the mark in my book..As for the rock work your thinking of, I recently had a unforseen event in my system that made me give my tank a make over. I too had been lurking around the forums and have been seeing alot of different ways to creat pillers and archs.

So I went to town. Its way easer than you might think. I used the epoxy putty your talking about and I went to Lowes and got the $1.89 fiberglass driveway markers. 3 of them. In different colors no less. Found the Orange ones to be best cuz they blend better than the Yellow or Green ones and when coraline starts on them it will blend even better.

Anyways lay out the rock and start drilling. Cut peices of the rod to fit and start putting things together. If it does not fit just right dont worry. the extra holes are great for mounting frags.

[IMO] Id do it now while the rock is curing. If your gonna cure in in the tank anyway why not let it cure the way your going to have it set up. This way if you deside to do it now you will have a less chance of die off on the rock sence its fresh. Like I said thats just me talking out loud.

Thought Id share my 2 cents. Ill be keeping up with the build. Keep up the good work!