Soulpatch's 150 SC build

soulpatch said:
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.
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I would have to agree with you 100% on all of the above. Being this is my first RR tank, I absolutely hate the middle tower overflow. A C2C with a few inches missing on either side for the returns would be the smarter choice next time I upgrade.

With that being said, I do like the tank being drilled on the bottom as opposed to the back side. Where my tank sits you can see both sides, and all that plumbing hanging off the back would have looked terrible.

I guess for the clean look You have to settle for a center tower overflow, but give up the surface skimming. For a less clean look but have increased surface skimming, A C2C with the back drilled is the way to go. It's a trad eoff, cleaner but less efficient, or dirtier(for lack of a better term), and more efficient.
 
Call me odd but I like to see the workings in the tank and see the plumbing. I could care less about what people who come to the house think. LOL. If I can't shock and awe them with what I have going on in the tank then I have failed already. LOL
 
Here are pics of my homie in qt

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Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
 
He went through it at the lfs, is in qt now, and will go through ttm again when I being him home just to be safe

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
 
Saw a beautiful rainbow BTA at the LFS yesterday. If I had everything transferred over to the bigger tank already, I so would have gotten it.
 
I got the quote back for the custom acrylic sump and for basically the same as the Trigger it came in about 125 more. No doubt better built but at 700 I might as well spend another 150-200 more and get the Synergy.

So I decided to go with the Trigger for this tank and it was paid for Friday night. Hopefully I am in the schedule now and it comes faster then I expect. In the mean time I will obviously deal with my current sump and keep things running.

I got in most of the plumbing parts for the new sump though which is cool. I have time for the 45 degree fittings that went out of stock to come back in so I can have everything. I need to order in a couple more gate valves to replace those that I will lose out on and probably 1 or 2 ball valves just to be safe.
 
ReefWreak said:
Looking good. Can't wait to see the neat colors you're able to get out of the OT with your pretty unique lighting setup.
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Yeah looking forward to growing it out. Thinking of putting a california tort on the other side just because. LOL.

My cube is officially cleaned out of anything that will make the move. I need to wait till tonight to see if I have any small snails still pop out to move but otherwise it is done. I will be shutting it down this weekend or next so that it can be cleaned out and have everything removed. I will simply put the rock out to dry in case I want to use some later. Still not sure I want to restart it as a frag tank or not for this build. I have the really nice IM frag rack that I would like to use but it might not be worth the hassle for a bit.
 
Well it is my birthday this weekend so I had the wife place an order for this for me:

http://www.ruralking.com/ace-roto-mold-75-gallon-vertical-flat-top-tank-vt0075-23.html

That tank will serve as my AWC container. I will be buying a DOS and using that to change water. With a 75 gallon container I should be able to go 2 weeks with the AWC already cycling 25% water changes for me each week throughout the week. Yes I will drain some newer water so I figure the actual amount of older water to be swapped will be closer to 20% as opposed to the 25% I will be changing weekly. Comes out to just shy of 5.5 gallons a day. That would amount to roughly 2-3 hours of run time a day for the DOS not running at full speed when it is on. I dont think this woudl be an issue for the unit though if someone knows otherwise please let me know.

I plan on draining directly into a sink and pulling from the tank next to it about 15 feet away on the other side of some steps so I will need to run a pair of lines for this to happen.

I will still have my water change setup which will have 35 gallons of mixed salt and another 25 gallons of RODI to be able to keep up.


I am now wondering if I should get the salinity probe for this all. I figure I will program the apex to turn off the ATO when it is changing then have the ATO come back on so I dont think it would be a problem but I may not be thinking this through enough.
 
soulpatch said:
Well it is my birthday this weekend so I had the wife place an order for this for me:

http://www.ruralking.com/ace-roto-mold-75-gallon-vertical-flat-top-tank-vt0075-23.html

That tank will serve as my AWC container. I will be buying a DOS and using that to change water. With a 75 gallon container I should be able to go 2 weeks with the AWC already cycling 25% water changes for me each week throughout the week. Yes I will drain some newer water so I figure the actual amount of older water to be swapped will be closer to 20% as opposed to the 25% I will be changing weekly. Comes out to just shy of 5.5 gallons a day. That would amount to roughly 2-3 hours of run time a day for the DOS not running at full speed when it is on. I dont think this woudl be an issue for the unit though if someone knows otherwise please let me know.

I plan on draining directly into a sink and pulling from the tank next to it about 15 feet away on the other side of some steps so I will need to run a pair of lines for this to happen.

I will still have my water change setup which will have 35 gallons of mixed salt and another 25 gallons of RODI to be able to keep up.


I am now wondering if I should get the salinity probe for this all. I figure I will program the apex to turn off the ATO when it is changing then have the ATO come back on so I dont think it would be a problem but I may not be thinking this through enough.
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I was looking at these containers on Tractor Supply website the other day. Seems like Rural King has a better price. Both stores are within 5 minutes from my house. The 65 gallon container at Tractor Supply is $159.
 
yes cheaper to go to Rural King. In my case I only have Tractor supply by me but I wanted a vertical tank and not another leg stand tank. I have the 35 gallon tank from tractor supply in my mixing station and love it. I just needed larger and vertical. RuralKing offers free shipping which is only site I found that did so. Saves me roughly 200 bucks though I do have to wait a few weeks for it to arrive.
 
Blink2824 said:
Dang... the Lifereef CLR II is bad to the bone. I am wanting a refugium, love the floating refugium concept with the lifereef model. It seems like it comes in a whole package w/ skimmer pump, return pump etc. Looking at the total cost of the lifereef, I would almost be there assuming I went with a Trigger, $450 skimmer, $200 return pump... etc.
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soulpatch said:
Be careful with factoring int he shipping costs though.

And yes all said and done I was not far behind buying a full system. That said I found a deal on my life reef skimmer I couldn't pass up. I could sell it now for more then I bought it for. But yes once you add everything up you get close to a complete system. If I look at my purchases I spent:

130 for reactors (Life reef includes them)
240 for return pump
200 for skimmer
350 for sump (might have been less but we will say 350)

So right there I am at 920 and that doesn't take into consideration of the plumbing parts as well. So for another 500 or so I could have had a more robust complete system and if I had payed full price for the skimmer I would have been only 200 or so short of custom. Looking back I went the wrong direction BUT when I bought I was VERY limited on size as I was going to do a 30x30 cube and most life reef would not have worked.

And even now at this point while Lifereef has a ton of functionality the look is a bit lacking and I want a show sump. I think I will pay more for Synergy or BAO to do a custom look for me with colored acrylic. I really want orange in my equipment...
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I really like the idea of that Lifereef CLR II. I just think it is longer than I would want considering the room I have to work with for my new tank placement. I see they say they can customize size though, so will keep that in mind. I still haven't figured out the size of tank I would go with yet.

And yes, Soulpatch, I am only on page 5 of this build thread. Trying to catch up, but don't want to miss anything. ;-)
 
soulpatch said:
So my nem is MIA. He might have curled into a ball somewhere to die or something I do not know. Going to try one more this weekend and if it doesnt work out then well nems aren't for me. HA HA. I was iffy about putting one in the tank to begin with since I love my corals and worry about it walking but the wife REALLY wants one and I have a new clown pair coming that I think woudl like it so another shot will be taken.
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Still trying to catch up to current, but that RBTA was gorgeous and my wife also loves the Rock Flower nem I have and would love to see something like in the new tank... how much was it and how big was it? Just curious.

BTW, if you remember I got two nems in my TBS extras. The white one went for a walk at one point and disappeared/reappeared a couple times. Then it popped up out the side of a rock looking very different for a little while. Eventually it just disappeared and has never been seen again. I was glad I didn't pay for him, but was curious what they cost in the first place.
 
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Whew... finally caught up. LOL

I see your nem popped out... funny little creatures. I am still curious what it cost you though, and did you get it from Mike?
 
Got the nem from Mike and it has gone walking somewhere again. I honestly don't remember what it cost as I typically just tell him what I want and hand him my credit crd. LOL.

I picked up a few more things today for my birthday and might get some more this weekend. I will post pics when they decide to pop out later.
 
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