MrGreen's 238G build

[MrGreen]

I move this thread here...

I have been reading this forum for a year or so and decided to show what we have in our living room. Me and my wife are reef-o-holics and we live in Jyväskylä Finland.

This is our own little 900 litres / 238 Us. G project.

An aquarium is an custom made which we ordered from Pori aquarium center (FIN) and the stand is DIY-project.

All pics are old and I am going to post a new ones a bit later as I made a pvc supports for the rocks and reinstalled everything.

An aquarium custom made from Optiwhiteâ„¢-glass which is a low iron extra clear float glass. I decided to order it with aluminum frames to protect the corners from our four children and off course from me. List of the top frame is cut to cover only the edge of the glass so it should not be in direct contact with the water.

Facts:
display 200x75x60cm / 78,74x29,53x23,62 inch
The overflow box is square and the left rear corner and has four 1 3/4" (32mm) pipes.
sump 120x50x45cm / 47,24x19,69x17,72 inch
- in sump there is 21G fresh water section.

Technique:
Tunze DOC 9020 skimmer (made in w.germany ) running with only one pump.
2x Tunze Turbelle 6105 stream
Tunze Recirculation Pump Silence (1073.040) 790 US gal./h

Lights 12 x 39W (T5)

The stand is DIY.
constructing images:

This is the point where I was able to build the stand before the manufacturer did deliver the aquarium. I had only two days to order the plywood and buy the other stuff. This was made in a hurry but it was good enough to hold the empty aquarium. Next pics will show how I supported the stand.

I am going to add more plywood and paint them with that waterproof stuff that my friend delivered to me. When that is finished I will buy white kitchen doors from Ikea.

Here is first pic from 31th Jan 2012 when I moved my old reef to this new aquarium:

I sent my wife for a shopping trip on 11th Feb:

And here is the results. Two 6x39w T5 lamps and two 6105 streams installed.

This is the piping:

I first did the bean animal drain system but eventually decided to cut the full siphon stand pipe and now I have a combination of bean animal and the herbie. This system seams to work well.

Future plans:
- build algae scrubber
- buy a better skimmer (Bubble-magus BM180-CS ?)
- buy / build fluidized-bed reactors for rowaphos, biopellets and activated carbon.
- upgrade the lights to led's
- buy a scorpion fish (Dendrochirus zebra?)

 

[MrGreen]

These pictures are new.

These two pcv builds are support systems that I made and installed. Rocks needed to be drilled etc.

All fishes seems to appreciate the new aquascape.

Next week I add a 4x80w light unit and the dark era ends.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Great looking setup!

If you need any advice on building your algae scrubber let me know

 

[MrGreen]

Thanks & thanks

I have been reading about algae scrubber and now I have to decide what kind of light I should use. I have a few extra halogen lights but I believe that I would need four 50w lights to grow algae but it may cause heat problems. Now I am wonder if it is better to buy four cheap 20w led floodlights from ebay?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

No, don't use halogens. They are not very efficient (heat) and give off the wrong spectrum. You want 2700-3000K fluorescent (spiral CFL or T5HO) or 660nm Deep Red LED and maybe a blue 455nm in there as well, but heavy in red - like 6 red to 1 blue or maybe 4:1 but no more blue than that.

Also remember to check the basics summary in my signature and make sure you are sizing your screen properly, according to feeding, NOT tank size.

 

[MrGreen]

I am trying to determine the available flow and I think that my Tunze silence pump 3000 l/h (790 US gal./h) can provide a minimum 1000 l/h flow when water returns from the main tank.

The pumping head is about 1,5 meters and all pipes are 32mm.

Would it be ok if I use two 38w fluorescent (2700K) work lights like this?

I think that our average feeding is somewhere between 7-9 cube-equivalents and I have a plastic canvas sheet (26,7x34,3cm) and if I use it on vertical 10 inch wide screen and the flow rate is about 28 GPH. Those lamps can cover about 10x10 inch area and total of 76w.

Am I totally lost in this case?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

7-9 cubes needs about 84-108 sq in (540-700 sq cm). So if you trim that screen down to 10" x 9" that will do nicely, and make sure that the roughed-up area is 10x9 then leave additional vertical for the smooth section at the top (the part that goes into the slot).

Flow rate is about right, You're good as long as you're within a few GPH of 35 per inch.

The light is probably OK, but you'll just have to try it and find out. I'm betting you're going to get a lower growth area around the edges, but maybe not. The wattage is also a little low, total of 90 sq in means you want closer to 90W of light, or more. You might make the screen a little wider and shorter vertically (if you have enough flow available) then use 2 of these on each side, and shorten the photoperiod by a few hours/day