Rimless 105 Mixed Reef Build

[Senah]

The wife and I are a couple of weeks away from moving everything in our 60 gallon cube over to a DSA Neo 105. Things will be moving quickly during the next couple of weeks so I plan on updating this thread often.

Equipment

• Neptune Apex Lite Controller
• Jebao DCT-6000 DC Return Pump
• 2x AI Hydra 26 LED Lights
• AI Director
• 2x Vortech MP-10W ES Powerheads
• 2x Jebao RW-8 DC Powerheads
• Finnex HMO 300W Titanium Heater
• Cheap Aquatop 300W glass heater for backup
• Eshopps 3rd Gen RS-200 Sump
• Reef Octopus Classic 150INT (To be purchased later)
• Spectrapure RO/DI System

The new tank will be going into the same location as the old one which will add some challenges. Luckily or unluckily we have experience doing this already as the 60 gallon cube replaced a leaking 75 gallon in the same manor. Fish will be moved to a tank upstairs and rock, coral and a peacock mantis shrimp will be stored in a 55 gallon brute trough. Yes you read that right, there's a peacock mantis shrimp in this system. We got the peacock when he was very much a juvenile at 3 inches long a year ago. The peacock has done great and is now about 5 inches long and doesn't care about the fish one bit. One challenge the peacock does bring is to maintain lower PAR levels (under 100) as stated by Roy. We've purposely stayed with a deep tank to keep PAR levels at the sand at 100 or under. We are replacing the old sand with new sand to keep initial nutrient loads as low as possible in hopes of not breaking the cycle. We currently have about 60 lbs of live rock and a marinepure rock, hopefully this and multiple sponge filters from the current system will provide enough biological filtration.

Over the next couple of days I'll be getting the beananimal plumbing completed and the electronics mounted to a panel. Stay tuned for updates.

 

[Senah]

Slow progress yesterday, went to home depot and picked up 3 joists to sister up to the existing ones. The tank will be sitting parallel to the joists and in the center of the span. I'll be sistering up the two joists that the tank will sit above and the one directly in front of the tank where people will stand. My LED Rope lights came in so I got a strip of them installed inside the stand. I was planning on running the lights all the way around the stand but after doing just a single 45" run along the back I decided that was plenty of light. I still need to wipe down the inside and outside of the stand so please ignore the saw dust it accumulated in the garage.

For the eagle-eyed viewers, no I did not pay $329.99 for this sump. My LFS price matched Amazon for me and got it down to $269.99. EShopps really stepped it up with this 3rd gen sump, I really like it. Their new "refugium" series on the other hand I hear has terrible flow and the return chamber is in the back where you can't see it or reach it.

Hopefully tonight I can get the new joists drilled for the wiring runs that pass through them and get them laid in place on their sides. That way when I move the 60 gallon cube I can just stand them up and nail them in place.

 

[sixpackgarage]

I love the 105. Great dimensions. Let's have some pics!!

 

[Senah]

I love the 105. Great dimensions. Let's have some pics!!

I do love the dimensions as well, looking forward to aquascaping in this tank

Another slow night, spent too much time at the gym. The tank back has been painted and I added some cable staples to keep the led rope light adhesive from letting go.

This weekend is entirely devoted to working on the tank, I'm hoping to make some good progress.

 

[Senah]

Today I got the plumbing all squared away a glued. I'm loving the red and grey look.

 

[Senah]

Got a little more done this weekend. I built a small box out of some scrap birch I had that will be used to house the Apex EB8 and Apex Controller. The box will also serve as a stand for the ATO container (to be decided). I hinged the top door to make it easy to route cables and unplug/plug in new equipment. I think I'll be lazy and not paint the inside lol.

 

[jcfranco1093]

awesome looking forward to seeing this unfold

 

[Senah]

Sometimes I amaze myself by how little I get done. I've been trying to go to the gym more which is eating into my available time after work to work on the tank (or at least that's the excuse I'm going with). The ATO container arrived. I went with this one from USPlastics http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=39508&catid=574 it holds 4.5 gallons of water although I'll probably only fill it to 4 gallons. The container sits nicely on the stand I made. I still haven't decide whether I'm going with a gravity + float valve ATO or if I'll use a small pump and 2 float switches with my apex.

I also got the RODI system plumbed in and leak tested. The supply and product lines are too long at the moment and will be shortened once my line cutter arrives from BRS. The waste line is too short so I have a longer line on the way from BRS as well. I left enough room to the right of the unit to add two additional stages if need be (my city uses chloramines).

and finally my shipment of 175G Red Sea Coral Pro Salt has arrived! We've been using this stuff off and on in our 60 Gallon cube and have been very happy with it. Next up is to build a stand and plumb my 20 gallon mixing containers which will be difficult as space is very limited where the RODI system is.

 

[Senah]

Productive weekend even though the good weather was luring me outside. I'm working with very limited space in the basement for the RODI system. I created a stand for one of my 20G containers which will hold salt water. This will be connected to the other container with a ball valve. Space has restricted me from having the containers on the same level so I'll be using two float valves (one in each container) and a Y splitter off the supply line. This should allow it to fill both containers without overfilling.

I started working on the electronic mounting and cable management as well. While it is not finished yet I'm happy with it so far.

Industrial velcro was used to mount the devices, 1/4" cable clamps, 1/4" cable staples and velcro cable straps keep it nice and neat. The power inverters are mounted to the inside wall of the stand with velcro as well. The picture quality turned out terrible thanks to my phones flash.

The bottom two cables that are still loose are for the Ecotech MP-10's. I haven't finished mounting these cables yet as they are shorter than I was hoping. The left MP-10 is just long enough but the right one isn't even close. I contacted Ecotech, they can extend the cables to 8 feet but it costs $40 + shipping. I'm very handy with electronics so I'll just extend it myself by removing the cable from the driver and building another with the proper molex 10 pin connectors. Sourcing the cable will be a bit difficult to obtain cheaply as it should really be a shielded cable due to the use of PWM.

I picked up the skimmer yesterday as well (Skimz SN143). I'll be getting it cleaned out and in the sump shortly. We will be starting the tank move this weekend. Many updates to come!