Maroun 150g Build Thread

[maroun.c]

Hi all,
I'd like to begin by thanking all of you who answered some of my questions on different threads on this forum related to my 150 G while I was still in the planing stages for it. Now that I started building the tank I thought I start a build thread to get specific info on issues I'll face and maybe give ideas to others in the future.
I started with Reefkeeping around 15 years ago with and had around 6-7 years of freshwater keeping history before that. Started with a 30G saltwater tank which rapidly was upgraded to an 80 Gallon that has been running for the last 10 years.
3 Years ago I relocated to Dubai and left my tank in the care of my sister and father for one year then 2 years with my father alone. Amazinly my father managed to keep the tank alive with only a list of things to do. water changes were done by me when I was on visit and frequently the tank went through 5-6 months with no water changes. I did loose a few corals but then I would have lost some if I was maintaining the tank..
Unfortunately 1 month before I moved back to Lebanon something happened and my 6 years old maroon female, 2 years old hyppo, few months old yellow tang and a bristletooth tang all died in 2 days followed by the death of a 4 years old anemone and some corals...
So basically I have around 10 years of experience. followed by being away for 3 years. I did try to read the forums as frequently as I could to stay up to date but still I guess I missed on few concepts of the hobby.
Anyway got back in January and got a new home and went for a new all glass custom made 150 gallons as this was the maximum size my space allowed, dimensions are not the typical 150 G as I couldn't get it to be taller because I didnt' want the top of the canopy to be closer to the gibson on the roof as well as not wanting to use more than 150 W MH. Tank dimensions are 175x55x60 cm or 70x22x24 inches totalling 577 Litres or 154 Gallons for the tank alone.
Plan was to start this new tank and leave to cycle then start moving my livestock slowly however I noticed that the silicon in my 80g was starting to have water leak through so now the plan is to finish this tank and immediately move all my livestock to it before my 80 sarts leaking or worse yet explode in one go.
So to start with the pics here's some pics of the 80 gallon.It's mainly soft corals with a few LPS. I did add few corals to it since I got back and many of the corlas on the sand in the front are corals that I fraged or fixed on rocks. These should go to the frag tank that I'm also planing to give the new tank a cleaner look.
So here's some pictures of the tank as it currenly looks:

 

[maroun.c]

Here are pics of the water I can see on the between the front glass and the side one. When I press on the glass I even see the water moving inside:

 

[maroun.c]

Any input on how sever the condition of the 80 gallon is would be greatly appreciated. Do you think I'm risking a flod by leaving everything in it or is it Ok to leave things there till my tank is ready?
I decided to go with a metalic stand as I was sure I was going to mess any wood stand with the amount of water I spill everytime I'm doing maintenance. so I had a metallic stand custome made and it was powder coated to allow it to resist to water spills and humidity.
The thickness might look overkill however I did not want any center support and the guy who made it suggested going with this thickness of steel. unortunately they made it 20 inches wide instead of 22. when I saw it it was already too late as I was thinking my tank was coming in two days. so the fastest/cheapest and yet more robust solution was to add a 2 inch steel to it and send it to get it powder coated again. on the bright side two clever things were done on this stand:
small protrusions with holes in them to attach the wood cover on them.
very thick rubber feet that can be rotated to bring the stand upper or lower for leveling the tank. these should Support around 350 KG or around 700 pounds each so no risk of overweight on them.

My tank will be all glass without any metallic bracking. Maufacturer who is the LFS owner recommends having it on wood covered by a foam

 

[maroun.c]

Pics of the tank being assembled at the LFS. Those were taken with my mobile phone camera so not the best quality

As can be seen in the pics of my 80 G the tank is crowded with lots of pumps and tubing.... So I decided to aim for a 0 equipment in the tank for this one. Main Struggle will be the circulation but I have some ideas that I believe will allow me to get decent circulation without the need for any pump in the tank.
As you can see in upper pictures i have an overflow in the tank. I decided to loose 6-7 inches in front of the overflow and add an additional box where water can go through vis those black meshes then it will flow back to the tank via 2-3 pumps (still have to decide which pumps and flow) through tubing using SCWD to create random flow. I thought about having pumps in the overflow for this but wondered if they would affect water level in the overflow and therefore would cause sounds or maybe cause the water level inthe sump to drop... I beliee it was worth losing few inches of the tank for.
I know this has already been designed in the tank but any info on how to maximize bnefit from this would be great.

 

[maroun.c]

Ok now for interesting stuff.
Plumbing plans.
Tank will have 3 holes in the overflow section 2 1 inch return line and 1 3/4" supply from the sump. 1/2 inch would have been enough here but I thought I leave room to upgrade on flow hope this will not cause loss of pressure due to the wider tubing.
Also I will have one hole in the middle of the bottom panel in case i decide to go for a regular closed loop in the future with a pump outside the tank. it will not have holes in the back as I feel these do not provide flexibility in orienting your flow. In case I willhave such a closed loop I will have it come back from the backa nd above te tank with pipes going through the water to be oriented like i want. Also this can be used to drain the tank for water changeswithout having to start a suction...
Heres the overall plumbing plan:

This will be the line from the pump:

Line below the tank for future closed loop or draining the tank.

Return line draining in the skimmer section

Return line draining in the skimmer section and refugium

Or maybe with a (union?) before the ballvalve?

 

[maroun.c]

Sorry I'm not really familiar with the names of the plumbing parts as english is a 3rd language to me.
These Ballvalves double as unions so I don't know if it's really necessary to add unions to those

Also I decided it would be safer in case I have a leak in the tubes in the future to have a main ballvalve at the start of each tube then for the line that drains in the refug and skimmer section an additional valve at each exit to control flow to each section. I know addin only one valve to one exit would have controled the other one but I might be adding a 3rd exit to the frag tank so then I would have total control.
Any input on my plans would be greatly appreciated as this is the first time I do any serious plumbing for my tank.

 

[maroun.c]

One additional very important question concerning the returning water fromt he sump.
in the upper right of this picture

you see the water returning through 3/4 inch tubing then it divides into two 1/2 inch tubing with ballvalves at the start and one side goes along the back side of the tank with multiple 1/6 inich exits to act as spraybars or maybe also be directed towards specific corals. the second part goes out through 1/2 inch tubing through a nozzle that will be added and directed in the water. Do you think adding those 1/6 inch nozzles would kill the flow? will i need valves on each to regulate them? Should I just go for two equal size exits or maybe add an scwd to the exit? I heard the SCWD kills some of the flow so is it a bad idea to have it on the return line from the sump?

 

[maroun.c]

The sump is also all glass custom made. It has 3 holes drilled one in the return section to possibly add a floatvalve for top off and two holes on the other side for reactors and/or phosban....

 

[maroun.c]

Tank being drilled before being delivered.

Finally tank arrived (in one piece),
it had to be brought up to the second floor on the stairs as the elevator is still being installed (new building) and it was very risky. 4 workers struggled at each turn to bring it up without hitting the walls. the tank was rotating with its corners very close to the staircase walls. Luckily no accidents happened.

 

[Joeee]

Wow nearly 100 views with no replies?
Thanks for documenting this. sorry can't really help you on your questions but just wanted to add my comments:
That water leak in between the pannels of your older tank is just an accident waiting to happen Nice softie tank you have.
Looking good on the new setup, any reasons you went with a metallic stand and not a wood one? Also isn't it overkill to have it that thick? Will this be SPS or also softies? I'm interested in this box next to your overflow so can you please elaborate on its use?
Your plumbing looks impressive, but I'm not pro on this to judge. Maybe Meleve will chime in here as he's the master on this topic.

 

[maroun.c]

Joeee,
concerning the glass yes I know it is risky however I have no other choice than waiting for the tank to be ready before draining the water and taking everything out. Thanks for the comments on the new tank, I'm just hoping I will solve all the issues I'm facing with the plumbing soon so I can proceed with the electricity and stand and canopy.
I always felt better with a metallic stand than with a wood one as I'm sure humidity gets to the wood sooner or later. Still this stand will be covered by a wood stand and canopy to look nice. I'm having it made by a carpenter as I'm not really good at DIY with wood and don't have the time for it. I was promised to receive the stand and canopy by mid week. The MEtalic stand is not really overkill, When I requested it I went with the thickness that you see on the upper pannels in the picture of the stand in the car, which was thick enough to allow us to go without center support as I anted to be able to take the sump out if needed. however there was a mistake in the measurments and they made it 2 inch short. I had the option of having a new one assembled and painted which would have taken 1-2 weeks or just having an attachment made that would make it stronger and be finished in 2-3 days. If I knew then that the tank delivery would be delayed I would have opted for a new one but I didn't. I was happy with the idea of a stronger stand but afterwards I realized that the addition of metal on the back side would mean that there will not be enough space for 3 holes in the overflow. That was fixed by making the overflow from the front and the pump compartiment in the back. Tank will contain all my items that I have in the 80 G and I will be adding to it but from now on I will be only chosing nicer corals to add to it. SPS is not easily found around here but I will be getting some back with me from travels. As to the Pumps box it is just a box behind the overflow with holes for water to go back through it will communicate with the tank and have the same water level. I will have 2-3 big pumps in it and their output will run through SCWD and then to modified closed loops in the tank coming from above so nothing should be visible. I also am planning on having a small tubing running from one hole in the box and supplying a spraybar running between the rocks from the back. this should not be visible and should add a nice water movement inside the rock structure to minimize dead flow areas and blow up any detritus from the back. I'm hoping I can accomplish a nice flow without having any pumps in the tank this way it should look really neat. if that doesn't work I have two Seio pumps 640 GPH and 900GP that I would try to hide in the rockwork somehow for more flow but I'm just hoping to be able not to use them.

 

[maroun.c]

Ok time for the smooth ride to start tunring difficult.
I realized that my plans for installing the sump and skimmer would not really work as the skimmer would not fit because of the plumbing as can be seen here

Even if the skimmer is placed inside the sump (initial plan was to have it hang on the back of the sump) it will still hit the plumbing.
Only solution is to invert the sump which would require me to modify all plumbing to around the middle of the stand where the skimmer section would be. To make it even worse in that position the skimmer would also hit on the metalilcs support of the stand that can be seen close to the center drain. only solution will be to have the skimmer inside the sump, still it will not fit in the smimmer section so I will have to install the skimmer in the return pump section with it's pump and return into the skimmer section. I had not calculated for the bracing on the lower part of the stand which made me loose around 4-5 inches and the brace on the top of the sump compartiment made me lose 2-3 inches too. I should have had the plumbing in the back part but that additional metal thinckness made me shift the overflow to the front of the tank.
Will post pics as soon as all plumbing is finished. Any input on my plumbing questions for the return would be greatly appreciated

 

[Shekki]

Very nice. Can you post a shot of the view from your balcony?

 

[Poisonus Yeti]

Maroun,

I posted some photos of my plumbing in my thread. Maybe it will help you out on your build. Looking great so far!

-Yeti

 

[maroun.c]

Shekki, Shekki,
I thought you would offer some input on my questions but seing that you are a contractor your interest in my Balcony view is understandable
Will take some shots and post them as soon as my camera gets back from repair (just deposited it and was promised to have it back in 3 days

 

[Aquafred]

Looking good, the view from your balcony that is.
I second the request for pictures of it.
Sorry can't help on your questions but I'll be tagging along your build thread.

 

[michika]

Very nice! I like where this is going!

 

[Arati]

The way they make pressure equal in multi head showers is by adding a manifold. The link below is of a nice one. things to note the water comes in at the center of the long back bar and then loops around to both ends of the manifold. The pressure going through each of the pex lines will always remain equal, even if the heads are different sizes.

http://www.twomastersplumbing.com/images/images/MANIFOLD.JPG


Also IMO get some clamps and wood or something and brace the 80gal just so if it does pop everything doesnt end up on the floor.


Good luck,
Chris

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks Catherine.
Arati thanks for the info on the manifold and on bracing the tank.
will get some big clamps and try to do like you say, ugly part is that the tank is still in the entrance of my parents house and it's a bit narrow in front of it so everyone pasing might bump in the clamps. guess it's still better than the risk of it popping.

 

[jadams7]

Awesome build so far...