My first 34 to my new 90

[mch1984]

Hey everybody, this is my first post on Reef Central, glad to be here. I have been into fresh water aquariums for about 4 year and about 6 months ago I took the dive into saltwater. I quickly decided that saltwater is where I wanted to be. I have a 180 gallon freshwater predator tank and a 75 gallon planted. I still enjoy both but I'm sure I will be slowly going all saltwater.

Ok so on to the build. I entered saltwater with a used red sea 34 gallon. I basically bought an established 12 gallon jbj that somebody just wanted gone and used all the live rock from it to quickly establish the 34. Like most salt water newbies I went way to fast and have learned some lessons. I don't mind my little all in one but have decided I wanted bigger and wanted a sump. Please understand I have nothing against the all in ones and have seen some beautiful tanks done in them, I just don't think I will ever own one again.

So I found a 90 gallon planet aquarium tank, i guess technically it was used but it had never had a drop of water in it. The guy bought it and then never used it. I bought the tank about 1 month ago and am just slowly getting what I need for it. The only things I've done so far is tinted the back of the tank. I bought a barely used sump (6 weeks of use I believe) for an excelent price. Its a eshopps ADV 200, and I think it's going to be great. Below are some pictures of the tank and the sump. I'll post some more updates pretty quickly.

 

[mch1984]

So once I got the sump in I was messing around with the placement. I noticed that if I put it about 6" from the left of the stand its a straight drop from the main drain for the tank. I know it's not necessary but it makes plumbing easy. It messes with the placement of future equipment a little but I don't think it will be a problem. Here are some diagrams of what I'm thinking on plumbing. Let me know what yall think or if you have any questions. I'm always open to suggestions.

 

[mch1984]

So after going round and round the subject, I ended up using window tint on the back of the tank. I know paint is probably the best way to go and last the longest, I just couldn't bring my self to paint this tank. So here is the finished product, I really like the look of it.

 

[JUNBUG361]

Nothing wrong using window tint. Tanks looks nice & your much planned out

 

[mch1984]

Nothing wrong using window tint. Tanks looks nice & your much planned out

That's what happens when you have time while your buying supplies lol. Thank you!

 

[mch1984]

So this will be my first time plumbing an overflow, other than a hang on the back. I'll be doing a Herbie style on this. Does the height look good on these? I've heard so many opinions on how far below the main drain should be from the trickle.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JUNBUG361]

On the 1st picture is your main drain(left)? Seems to be a little bit to low, I thought it would be near same height as the emergency drain to reduce noise. I might be wrong

 

[mch1984]

Yes the left is the main drain, I’ve heard anything from 1” to 6” below the trickle drain. I was worried it was too tall lol.

 

[mch1984]

So I have to relocate my 34 since the 90 is going in the same spot. I'm going to take this opportunity to take all the rock out so I can kill it. I'm going to leave one large piece in. I wouldn't but there is a Sea cucumber living in it so it stays. Found some scrap acrylic around and made a frag rack for the move. Hoping to get it done tonight.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mch1984]

Forgot to put the picture of the frag rack.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mch1984]

So I got my 34 gallon relocated and have it set back up stripped down. It has the frag rack and a few small pieces of rock. The only concern I have is my lawn mower blenny. At the moment he is the fatest fish in the tank and probably has a little reserve. Any suggestions on what to supplement his diet with? I have tired nori in the past and he never even looked at it. I've seen him snatch up a couple of mysis but very little.

 

[mch1984]

Got to order the rock today, and can't wait for it to get here. I ordered about 100lbs total of marcos rock. I'm getting 40lbs of single cut prime pieces for bases, and the rest in the regular marco key largo. Also bought a bucket of his mortar and some EPO epoxy to help scape this thing. Wife wont like me taking over the kitchen table for about a week but it will be worth it when it's done.

 

[mch1984]

Got my valves in for the plumbing, but I had to do a little customization first.

 

[nereefpat]

On the 1st picture is your main drain(left)? Seems to be a little bit to low, I thought it would be near same height as the emergency drain to reduce noise. I might be wrong

Yes the left is the main drain, I've heard anything from 1" to 6" below the trickle drain. I was worried it was too tall lol.

I'm guessing the main drain (syphon) will be a little too close to the surface, and may induce a vortex.

Just don't glue the pipes. Then you can adjust if necessary.

You may want to think about strainers too, if you are a snail guy, or if you will have fish that are jumpers.

 

[mch1984]

I'm guessing the main drain (syphon) will be a little too close to the surface, and may induce a vortex.

Just don't glue the pipes. Then you can adjust if necessary.

You may want to think about strainers too, if you are a snail guy, or if you will have fish that are jumpers.

Thanks for the response, for sure not going to glue the pipes in there. Like I said I have heard all sorts of measurements for how far down so I just started there. I am a snail guy, so I have considered strainers. Do you run them and if so how often do you need to clean them. I was planning on covering the top of the over flow in some fashion. I haven't exactly decide how yet though.

 

[nereefpat]

I run two separate Herbies on my tank. The syphons are about 6" below the water line. The further down they are, the more flow they can have. The only downside to having them really low is that the overflow drains that far when the return pump shuts off. Just leave enough room in the sump to handle that water.

I don't have strainers, but I don't have snails. Maybe I'm playing with fire. Just something to think about. If you cover the top of the overflow with mesh or something, that might be sufficient too.

 

[mch1984]

I run two separate Herbies on my tank. The syphons are about 6" below the water line. The further down they are, the more flow they can have. The only downside to having them really low is that the overflow drains that far when the return pump shuts off. Just leave enough room in the sump to handle that water.

I don't have strainers, but I don't have snails. Maybe I'm playing with fire. Just something to think about. If you cover the top of the overflow with mesh or something, that might be sufficient too.

I think the argument to playing with fire is that that's the purpose of the emergency drain. But then again you don't want to have to actually use it. As far as the depth I guess I'll keep it there and drop by an inch untill I find the sweet spot. The first article I ever read about herbie over flows suggested 6". So I'm sure that's where I'll end up. This thing is in the bedroom so we certainly want quiet.

 

[mch1984]

So I know I am a ways out from this but wanted to get some input while I'm waiting on the rock to get here and start that process. I want to discuss the cycle. I understand what it is and how it processes and all that, but I've read a lot of different methods and wanted to see what you guys thought about my plan. I watched the BRS ULM tank series and really liked the process they had decided to go through with a few modifications. I'm not going for an ULM tank but still like their cycle ideas, so here is my plan.

1st month - Black out the tank, no lights on. Add cheato, refugium lighting, and pods from day one. I plan on using the red sea cycle kit and will start it at this point.

2nd month - take the black out off but continue to run with no lights. Probably add a small clean up crew at this point and try to introduce coraline. Add more pods and increase refugium lighting times.

3rd month - slowly start running light and probably add some more clean up crew and my first fish at this point.

Any edits or suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated it's just my initial though on it.

 

[mch1984]

Started to dry fit my plumbing but have to go back to Lowe's to finish it. Not a bad start though.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jumpwire]

colorful valves

colorful valves

I like the colorful valves. Where did you get them?