Soulpatch's 150 SC build

[pelphrey]

Great build soulpatch, just read all 8 pages! I will soon be moving forward with an upgrade from a 27 gallon to either the SC 120 or 150. I am leaning towards the 150 now that I noticed it is 5x2x2. My plan is to build my own stand and use a 40 breeder as a sump (to save on costs). I am curious how much sand you used in the 150, my plan is to pickup 140lbs of sand from marco and pick up 100lbs of rock from them as well. I'll supplement the rock with pond matrix in the sump. I plan to use the Kessil 160 from my cube in the middle of the 150 gallon with Kessil 360's on each end. Do you think the Kessil mounts will work with the euro brace, or will I need to come up with another mounting option?

I am also curious about the overflow, did you glue your drains inside of the overflow or just slip them into the bulkheads? I am running a herbie on my cube and I would plan to run the same drain on the 150 just as you have yours configured. I may have missed it, what height do you have your main drain and emergency drain in the overflow?

The only other item I need to figure out is flow in the tank. I would really like to get vortech pumps, but initially my plan is to use Jabeo and upgrade later. I need to figure out if dual RW8's will work or if I need the RW15's. I won't be using a canopy so the cords will have to come out of the tank. I figure it would be easier to upgrade pumps later and get the lighting I want from the start.

You've done a great job with this build, I will continue to follow along and look for updates on youtube! My wife and I have a daughter under a year old so I'll have to juggle this build around life.

 

[Blink2824]

I wouldn't jump to conclusions so fast on the nem. I have a BTA that looks almost exactly like yours in the pic you posted on pg 8. When I put him in the tank, he crawled into a dark crevice under a rock not to be seen for about 10-12 days. Next thing you know, I woke up and there it was- all open and happy perched off the side of a rock midway up the tank. Been there ever since and split one time, the split nem hasn't moved on me either... even though I plan on removing one of them when I do my tank transfer. I'm impatient as well... and like you- I was almost about to buy another nem. Give it a bit longer before you lose all hope! Wishing you a smooth and speedy remodel.. if there is such a thing.

 

[soulpatch]

I will try to cover each point as opposed to a long solid response...

Great build soulpatch, just read all 8 pages! I will soon be moving forward with an upgrade from a 27 gallon to either the SC 120 or 150. I am leaning towards the 150 now that I noticed it is 5x2x2.

Wow I ramble a lot if this is already 8 pages. I need to get some more pics up to make it worthwhile for people. If you have any particular requests as ou plan out things let me know and I will snap some. I too would lean towards the 150 if I were you. If I were to order all over again though I would have him block off the holes at the bottom of the overflow and drill the tank for both drains and return so I could run somethign like the synergy overflow. It would be dead silent as you wouldn't have to worry about water height in the overflow.

My plan is to build my own stand and use a 40 breeder as a sump (to save on costs).

I thought about doing my own stand but the time and cost involved would not have saved me that much. I suggest you ping Steve on the costs as you might be suprised. Sure you can build a cheap 2x4 and ply stand for say $400 which takes 2 weeks of your time or spend $6-800 on a prebuilt stand that warranties the tank. You have to weigh that. I will say had I built my own stand I would have done some other things like a side electronics compartment and pullout panels on the floor to pull out my ATO container and such. Makes things easier on maintenance.

I am curious how much sand you used in the 150, my plan is to pickup 140lbs of sand from marco and pick up 100lbs of rock from them as well. I'll supplement the rock with pond matrix in the sump.

I have roughly 180 pounds of rock in my tank and 160 pounds of sand. I might add another 40 pound bag of sand actually since I have a wrasse who likes to sleep in the sand bed and I want a jawfish.

I plan to use the Kessil 160 from my cube in the middle of the 150 gallon with Kessil 360's on each end. Do you think the Kessil mounts will work with the euro brace, or will I need to come up with another mounting option?

The mounts will work on the eurobrace I believe. I have canopy mounts so I cant fully answer. You will need more lighting though I think. You are stretching the Kessils and not accounting for shadowing unless you set your rock work up to account for that. I have a 6 bulb ATI fixture and 2 Kessil A360 (soon to be 3) on mine.

am also curious about the overflow, did you glue your drains inside of the overflow or just slip them into the bulkheads? I am running a herbie on my cube and I would plan to run the same drain on the 150 just as you have yours configured. I may have missed it, what height do you have your main drain and emergency drain in the overflow?

I slip mine in. Makes cleanup of the overflow much easier. Since sand and whatnot gets in there I like to pull a pipe and send it all through a sock every once in a while. My emergency is right above the bottom of the weir teeth and my siphon is about 6 inches deep into the overflow.

The only other item I need to figure out is flow in the tank. I would really like to get vortech pumps, but initially my plan is to use Jabeo and upgrade later. I need to figure out if dual RW8's will work or if I need the RW15's. I won't be using a canopy so the cords will have to come out of the tank. I figure it would be easier to upgrade pumps later and get the lighting I want from the start.

I would personally go with the RW15. I have 2 WAVs that max out during the day and am considering moving my gyre 130 over to the tank as well or adding a third WAV.

You've done a great job with this build, I will continue to follow along and look for updates on youtube! My wife and I have a daughter under a year old so I'll have to juggle this build around life.

Enjoy the early stages. I am in the terrible 2s about to enter the terriblier 3s. LOL. She loves the tank though and it is a great calming device when needed.

 

[pelphrey]

I really appreciate you taking the time to answer all of my questions. I actually just received an email from Steve regarding another question I had, afterwards I actually thought about pricing the same stand as you. The stand I built for my 75 gallon a few years back took me easily 2 weeks, I would prefer to buy one so I don't have to go through all of that again. The biggest drawback is my wife would like it to be white. The fact that the stand comes complete is a big factor for me also! ha

Do you think a 40 breeder would fit inside of your stand? As far as the cabinet is concerned the only thing I'll have in it immediately will be the sump, ATO container and a reactor or 2. Initially I have no plans to dose or use a controller. Although the apex is something I would look into later down the road.

I like the synergy overflows, in my case I prefer the bottom drilled tank. Only because of the location. 18" depth would be ideal for the location of the tank, but we all know that 24" is better. Having an external overflow with further push it out from the wall.

When I setup my cube I bought 50lbs of marco rock, I have 25 in my cube so that would be transferred over and another 25lbs in a bucket. My plan is to build a rock island on each side of the tank. I think the depth will allow me the room I need for coral with enough wide open space for fish!

My hope is this tank will satisfy my needs for awhile. I actually just started my cube not many months ago & sold my freshwater 75 this past weekend. The size of the 150 will provide the area I need for as many fish as possible as well as a mixed reef.

I subscribed to your YouTube channel this morning. I try to post weekly videos on mine. I'd be interested to see more videos of the system as I am sure there are many others who would also!

Communicating with Steve has been a pleasure. In his last email he told me to let him know if I have any future questions and that he would take care of me. I'm a firm believer that communication is key, and I love to give my business to those people that take the time to assist!

 

[soulpatch]

Yeah I dont youtube on that account as much as I have on my older motorcycle orientated account. I will have to fix that. Perhaps put up some videos of the sump swap and plumbing and such.

You could always paint the stand sent to you from SC should you go with the wood one. You just need to sand off the poly for the paint to stick.

For the sump a 40 breeder will fit as it is only like 36 inches long I believe. Correct me if I am wrong. That said in the wood stand there is roughly 54 inches of full dimension space down there and up to like 57.5" of space if you go a bit thinner to fit between the supports on either end.

For the overflow the synergy is all of like 2 inches total. I would think one always would want a bit of space between the wall and tank. I guess I see no issue witht hat limited amount of space to hang off the back of the tank. Though I never go flush to a wall with my tanks. I like ability to get behind them if needed. I probably have a foot between wall and tank on current setup in my basement just so I can squeeze behind it as needed to cleaning or to edit stuff.

As for size holding you over. That I can not say. I am locked into this size for now in my house unless I get rid of some things in my basement which I am not apt to do at this point. The next house will have a larger tank though as I will have a fish room. (my only requirements for next house are fish room, garage, outdoor cigar area...my wife has over 100 I am sure). Already thinking of a much larger tank for next house in the 3-500 gallon range...Thankfully I have a few years to go before that and the kid should be out of daycare freeing up 1300 a month by that point...

 

[pelphrey]

Great, Thanks for that information on the stand! Maybe I missed it, how tall is your stand? You've been very helpful, time to save my pennies as this is going to get out of hand quickly! I had a pretty good idea when I started the cube I would be upgrading, luckily I got the spectrapure 90gpd rodi.

We pay $130 a week for daycare, I don't feel so bad now...

On a side note I had originally inquired about the 120 gallon Marineland single corner overflow tanks locally 2+ weeks ago. Well one store has never got back to me, the other just responded to my email. They want $609.99 for the tank and $283.99 for the stand. I didn't want the stand to begin with. This verifies that I am glad I found SC Aquariums. Rimless eurobracing & much better glass on the front and sides.

 

[soulpatch]

Dont go in with a budget as you will be very unhappy with the result. I went in with a 3500 budget and have more then doubled that I believe.

I will have to measure the stand but it was sufficiently tall enough that I didn't have to worry about equipment.

 

[andrek787]

Soulpatch, I had a sump built for my SCA 150g by Advanced Acrylics. 42" x 18" x 15"H, about 50 gallons volume, for about half the price of some of the options you listed. Quality is top notch. You should check them out.

 

[soulpatch]

Their website is way too cluttered and I am ok with $500 for the sump. From the few sump prices I see on their site it seems to be on par or more then Trigger.

 

[andrek787]

Yep, their site is not great. I meant that for 500-600 bucks you can get a custom sump exactly how you want it.

 

[soulpatch]

the $500 is pretty much spot on to my needs from Trigger. They are moving walls and changing the color. The only thing missing would be the reactor tube inlets and that was a nice to have.

 

[MidwestReefa]

Keep us updated with the progress. I enjoyed reading your build

 

[soulpatch]

Yep, their site is not great. I meant that for 500-600 bucks you can get a custom sump exactly how you want it.

I have a call with them tonight I believe. He wants to talk over phone. Trigger has not yet sent me an invoice so if I can go another route for same price so be it. My money does not discriminate...

 

[andrek787]

John is great to work with. I hope it works out. I have seen off the shelf trigger sump at an LFS and it cant compare to what they built for me. Keep us updated.

 

[soulpatch]

Well I talked to him on the phone tonight so we shall see. At this point it is basically a first come first gets my money. HA HA.

Small update but my tailspot blenny is not in the big tank and more importantly my nem has reared its head on the other side of the tank. I now need him to move ever so slightly to a different spot...

 

[mav3rick478]

I now need him to move ever so slightly to a different spot...

Hahaha that's like asking your kids to clean their mess!

Sent from my SM-N915V using Tapatalk

 

[soulpatch]

Hahaha that's like asking your kids to clean their mess!

Sent from my SM-N915V using Tapatalk

Except I can get rid of the nem. Can't easily get rid of the kid lol

 

[GQuinn]

Everything looks nice, great attention to detail. I have a couple of questions on the tank, stand and canopy. What finish is your stand and canopy (walnut or cherry)? Does the canopy have that large opening in the top of it? Overall are you happy with the quality of everything. Thanks in advance.

 

[soulpatch]

Just wait as the new sump will allow me to be a bit more streamlined on the plumbing and layout. I want to flip a few things around to make it easier to work with like my ATO container needing to be moved slightly so I can pour directly into it from a bucket.

As for the quality the stand is awesome. The canopy looks great as well. I am still torn if I like having the canopy on it or not. I almost wish it wasn't sent so my wife would not have seen it and demanded it be on. Sure I like that I have no light bleed into the room BUT it is easier to mess with the tank sans hood.

Yes my canopy has the giant hole in it which I think is great. It allows a LOT more air movement and my 48" ATI fixture operates great in there. I wish it was a bit taller I guess but overall happy with it.

Only complaints I have on the stand is that getting a sump in you have to remove a brace and there are no side doors. Those are things I would have addressed had I built my own stand, however I really like this stand and am glad I saved myself the time and hassle of building my own. The next tank will most likely have a move custom solution built and perhaps have a floating canopy (I guess I could make current canopy into a floating solution but it would be a bit wonky I think).

I am VERY happy with the tank though. I was skeptical going in that with the price I might regret the build quality or such but man was I wrong. It all looks incredible and the seams are VERY well done. Things I would have changed to the tank that SC does do but I was impatient:

Got rid of the center overflow completely
Run a 60% coast to coast with an external overflow box running bean drains
In the 20% of real estate on either side of the CTC have the returns drilled

Doing this all would improve skimming and add area in the tank for rock and corals. Steve does this all now and was only starting to get into it when I bought mine which is why I moved on at that time. The next tank will probably be something custom like that from him for the next house.

 

[GQuinn]

Thanks for the reply. Is your stand and canopy walnut?