I have finally gotten over the hump and now its just bring the rest of it together, so I thought it was time to make a post about my progress.
I have had a 55 gallon with everything hang-on-the-back style, since early October of '08 and I am fortunate enough to be moving to a new place where I can have a sump setup and not worry too much about a potential flood (go tile). After the initial furniture move the following day will start early in the breaking down of the 55 gallon and transferring it 20 minutes away into the 90 gallon.
The new system is a used 90 gallon reef ready tank with a 30 gallon sump, I am going to be using 1" PVC for the drain, 3/4" PVC for the return, I am going to use a mag 7 on the return, an octopus 150 recirculating skimmer, at least a koralia 2 and 3, probably a 300 watt heater, 6x54 watt T5 setup, something like 110Lbs of live rock, 90 Lbs of dry sand, and I will be running a refugium in the sump. In the overflow I plan on having a regular standpipe with a loc-line hose for the return, and a durso standpipe at 24" for the drain.
I apologize for the quality of pictures, right now I have only had my cell phone handy and I wanted to record a bit of my progress. Also a lot of this handy work is a first time for me so don't expect professional quality =)
The canopy was sanded and revarnished. The front is on hinges for easy accessibility, there are also two drilled holes on the sides to attach fans for ventilation.
The tank was literally broken down right before I got to the guys house, his pipes were frozen at the time so he couldn't get everything out. It also looks like toward the end of owning it he did bare minimum cleaning, I had a lot of ground to make up to make this tank look newer.
Thanks to Jamesbuf I got a great deal on this skimmer. I was a bit weary at first because I had no clue where to go as far as skimmers went, but he talked me through it and convinced me why I should buy this skimmer and I am definitely impressed. Probably my favorite piece of equipment right now. (Please excuse the junk, I have this setup in the storage room for now)
This was after running it for about an hour, in the brute is just new saltwater, about 40 lbs of old live rock I had just picked up that wasn't in the greatest shape. It foamed up nicely and I am still impressed.
I was pretty proud of this (again the tank is 100% clean yet) I picked up some egg crate, got a knife blade and put it on a jiggsaw and cut these out. The top was kind of tricky, I ended up sanding down the edges. This worked out great because I have a snug fit and the edges aren't sharp.
I am still irritated by this. This is the original stand the tank came with. The previous owner was using the tank as a headboard on his bed so he had the tank backwards on the stand, as you can see he had to cut the lower right corner in order for the pipes to fit. I figured ok, it was on backwards so he had to cut the stand... well I turned the tank around and low and behold, I had to cut also. Only problem is the supporting joist is moved further up compared to the other side (if that makes sense). Basically I had a smaller cut available so the tank is sitting almost flush in the front with a big lip on the back =/
Here is where the tank will sit. I put the stand on plywood just to help distribute the weight, even though I doubt it would crack the tiles. I like the location because to the left of the tank is where my new room will be, to the right is the storage room and a door to go outside where I can pump water out of. The sump is not finished and the plumbing isn't glued, I was doing a dry fit, still trying to figure out what exactly I want to do with the plumbing.
Another shot of the drain line, the return is a pipe that goes straight up, simple as that just waiting on the pump to come in. Please if anyone sees anything on the drain line, let me know. Anything I should do differently? I'm thinking I should cut out a section in the middle and add a union. The part that attaches to the bulkhead is a threaded w/ slip, kind of like half a union. The piece threads onto the bulkhead and the PVC glues into it. Also the PVC sags a little bit during a dry fit, should I get a metal fastener or something and support the PVC?
I am also planning to do an ATO, but just haven't gotten that far yet. I want to keep my 2 true percs, 3 chromis, diamond goby, plus at least one tang, a wrasse, maybe some firefish, but not a ton of fish.
Please any comments or suggestions are welcomed, setting up a sump is all very new to me. I plan on gluing the baffles in on Friday, I hope scoring it will work out. I also plan on using lexan baffles on glass with AGA silicone, John at BRK said it would work fine since that what he uses in his huge sump at the store. I also plan on finalizing my plumbing hopefully Friday to be ready to do a leak test on Sunday. After that the tank will soak in a vinegar mixture with the return pump running probably over 24 hours so I can scrape everything off.
One more thing, does everyone hand tighten the bulkheads or do you wrench those on? I know I'll find out when I leak test but I just thought I would ask, I don't want to risk cracking the glass or ruining the seals.
Thanks for looking and more is to come in the near future!
I have had a 55 gallon with everything hang-on-the-back style, since early October of '08 and I am fortunate enough to be moving to a new place where I can have a sump setup and not worry too much about a potential flood (go tile). After the initial furniture move the following day will start early in the breaking down of the 55 gallon and transferring it 20 minutes away into the 90 gallon.
The new system is a used 90 gallon reef ready tank with a 30 gallon sump, I am going to be using 1" PVC for the drain, 3/4" PVC for the return, I am going to use a mag 7 on the return, an octopus 150 recirculating skimmer, at least a koralia 2 and 3, probably a 300 watt heater, 6x54 watt T5 setup, something like 110Lbs of live rock, 90 Lbs of dry sand, and I will be running a refugium in the sump. In the overflow I plan on having a regular standpipe with a loc-line hose for the return, and a durso standpipe at 24" for the drain.
I apologize for the quality of pictures, right now I have only had my cell phone handy and I wanted to record a bit of my progress. Also a lot of this handy work is a first time for me so don't expect professional quality =)
The canopy was sanded and revarnished. The front is on hinges for easy accessibility, there are also two drilled holes on the sides to attach fans for ventilation.
The tank was literally broken down right before I got to the guys house, his pipes were frozen at the time so he couldn't get everything out. It also looks like toward the end of owning it he did bare minimum cleaning, I had a lot of ground to make up to make this tank look newer.
Thanks to Jamesbuf I got a great deal on this skimmer. I was a bit weary at first because I had no clue where to go as far as skimmers went, but he talked me through it and convinced me why I should buy this skimmer and I am definitely impressed. Probably my favorite piece of equipment right now. (Please excuse the junk, I have this setup in the storage room for now)
This was after running it for about an hour, in the brute is just new saltwater, about 40 lbs of old live rock I had just picked up that wasn't in the greatest shape. It foamed up nicely and I am still impressed.
I was pretty proud of this (again the tank is 100% clean yet) I picked up some egg crate, got a knife blade and put it on a jiggsaw and cut these out. The top was kind of tricky, I ended up sanding down the edges. This worked out great because I have a snug fit and the edges aren't sharp.
I am still irritated by this. This is the original stand the tank came with. The previous owner was using the tank as a headboard on his bed so he had the tank backwards on the stand, as you can see he had to cut the lower right corner in order for the pipes to fit. I figured ok, it was on backwards so he had to cut the stand... well I turned the tank around and low and behold, I had to cut also. Only problem is the supporting joist is moved further up compared to the other side (if that makes sense). Basically I had a smaller cut available so the tank is sitting almost flush in the front with a big lip on the back =/
Here is where the tank will sit. I put the stand on plywood just to help distribute the weight, even though I doubt it would crack the tiles. I like the location because to the left of the tank is where my new room will be, to the right is the storage room and a door to go outside where I can pump water out of. The sump is not finished and the plumbing isn't glued, I was doing a dry fit, still trying to figure out what exactly I want to do with the plumbing.
Another shot of the drain line, the return is a pipe that goes straight up, simple as that just waiting on the pump to come in. Please if anyone sees anything on the drain line, let me know. Anything I should do differently? I'm thinking I should cut out a section in the middle and add a union. The part that attaches to the bulkhead is a threaded w/ slip, kind of like half a union. The piece threads onto the bulkhead and the PVC glues into it. Also the PVC sags a little bit during a dry fit, should I get a metal fastener or something and support the PVC?
I am also planning to do an ATO, but just haven't gotten that far yet. I want to keep my 2 true percs, 3 chromis, diamond goby, plus at least one tang, a wrasse, maybe some firefish, but not a ton of fish.
Please any comments or suggestions are welcomed, setting up a sump is all very new to me. I plan on gluing the baffles in on Friday, I hope scoring it will work out. I also plan on using lexan baffles on glass with AGA silicone, John at BRK said it would work fine since that what he uses in his huge sump at the store. I also plan on finalizing my plumbing hopefully Friday to be ready to do a leak test on Sunday. After that the tank will soak in a vinegar mixture with the return pump running probably over 24 hours so I can scrape everything off.
One more thing, does everyone hand tighten the bulkheads or do you wrench those on? I know I'll find out when I leak test but I just thought I would ask, I don't want to risk cracking the glass or ruining the seals.
Thanks for looking and more is to come in the near future!
