Yet Another Oceanic 90g Tech Tank Build Thread!
- Thread starter supercon71
- Start date
OranguTang
NULL
Awesome man, will def be taggin along. Make sure you have some sort of cover to put up when playing billiards! Dont want all your fishies on the floor 
jeremyj0247
Premium Member
Looking good. I'll be tagging along too.
supercon71
New member
Update:
Many delays, none due to complications with the setup though.....
New 20A circuit was installed with a couple gfi outlets dedicated soley to the fish room.
Purchased 8 15lb bags of Caribsea Aragonite special grade seaflor substrate and 2 20lb bags of live sand (forget the brand...not aragalive) from That Fish Place. Headed home, rinsed the aragonite "dead" stuff thoroughly using the pillowcase method and began filling the tank. The rinsing method was the best move......while I was rinsing it, it literally produced a milk-ish foam and run-off. I cannot even imagine what the tank would have looked like if I had put it directly in without rinsing. The rinsing took roughly about 10 minutes each bag of vigorous scrubbing until the foam vanished and the water ran clear.
I added all the sand to the empty tank, and the live sand to the 20g fuge in the sump placed plastic trash bags over the substrate and a glass bowl and began transferring pre-mixed salt water to the tank from the rubbermaid container. This process took 3 full days as I make more rodi water each night. The first night filled about half the tank and there was minimal cloudiness. I made sure I had 2 HK4's in the tank to make sure there was plenty of flow.....no sitting water. Water cleared up even moreso after that.......
Next night I filled the sump and started the Iwaki external pump (that thing gets pretty hot, is this normal?) and wow.....the flow was so great I had tone it down a bit as the two sumps could not drain into the middle "return" sump fast enough. I spent the next few hours adding additional water and tweaking all the ball valves to get a softer amount of flow into the fuge and the right flow into the skimmer and return tanks.
It's a *alot* of flow draining into these tanks and it's pretty loud...... I'm sure there is more tweaking to do. I have to admit that I was VERY nervous about the amount of turnover this thing was producing. Mostly because I wasnt 100% confident in my glass drilling and my plumbing abilities and all of it standing up to the amount of water flowing through them all......
I watched the sump like a hawk looking for inconsistencies in flow or any leakage whatsoever for the next few hours and noticed everything sort of leveling off and I began to breathe a *bit* easier. No leaks so far.....
I went to bed still a bit nervous though and woke up 2 hours later *thinking* I heard a sound......I rushed downstairs expecting to see water everywhere, but all was good. Woke up today with no change.
Hopefully by the time I get home, everything is STILL good......although I am a bit nervous still.
I'll post pictures of the tank and crazy sump asap.......
I still need to hang the Outer Orbit and get some live rock in there, but finally i'm making major progress.
Ian and Nate.....stop over whenever you can....
Many delays, none due to complications with the setup though.....
New 20A circuit was installed with a couple gfi outlets dedicated soley to the fish room.
Purchased 8 15lb bags of Caribsea Aragonite special grade seaflor substrate and 2 20lb bags of live sand (forget the brand...not aragalive) from That Fish Place. Headed home, rinsed the aragonite "dead" stuff thoroughly using the pillowcase method and began filling the tank. The rinsing method was the best move......while I was rinsing it, it literally produced a milk-ish foam and run-off. I cannot even imagine what the tank would have looked like if I had put it directly in without rinsing. The rinsing took roughly about 10 minutes each bag of vigorous scrubbing until the foam vanished and the water ran clear.
I added all the sand to the empty tank, and the live sand to the 20g fuge in the sump placed plastic trash bags over the substrate and a glass bowl and began transferring pre-mixed salt water to the tank from the rubbermaid container. This process took 3 full days as I make more rodi water each night. The first night filled about half the tank and there was minimal cloudiness. I made sure I had 2 HK4's in the tank to make sure there was plenty of flow.....no sitting water. Water cleared up even moreso after that.......
Next night I filled the sump and started the Iwaki external pump (that thing gets pretty hot, is this normal?) and wow.....the flow was so great I had tone it down a bit as the two sumps could not drain into the middle "return" sump fast enough. I spent the next few hours adding additional water and tweaking all the ball valves to get a softer amount of flow into the fuge and the right flow into the skimmer and return tanks.
It's a *alot* of flow draining into these tanks and it's pretty loud...... I'm sure there is more tweaking to do. I have to admit that I was VERY nervous about the amount of turnover this thing was producing. Mostly because I wasnt 100% confident in my glass drilling and my plumbing abilities and all of it standing up to the amount of water flowing through them all......
I watched the sump like a hawk looking for inconsistencies in flow or any leakage whatsoever for the next few hours and noticed everything sort of leveling off and I began to breathe a *bit* easier. No leaks so far.....
I went to bed still a bit nervous though and woke up 2 hours later *thinking* I heard a sound......I rushed downstairs expecting to see water everywhere, but all was good. Woke up today with no change.
Hopefully by the time I get home, everything is STILL good......although I am a bit nervous still.
I'll post pictures of the tank and crazy sump asap.......
I still need to hang the Outer Orbit and get some live rock in there, but finally i'm making major progress.
Ian and Nate.....stop over whenever you can....
Last edited:
The heat of that external pump is probably fine. They get warm.
This goes to show how much of a temperature swing a pump (or multiple) pumps in the water can cause.
You'll get used to freaking out in the middle of the night. I've finally got over that feeling as of this year (had it for almost 5 years now) :laugh: .
Anyway,
The one thing you need to make sure you think about is the inevitable leak. I forget where you said your sump pit is????
It's not as big a deal to me yet since my basement isn't finished. Yours is a different story.
I'll try to get out there this weekend.
This goes to show how much of a temperature swing a pump (or multiple) pumps in the water can cause.
You'll get used to freaking out in the middle of the night. I've finally got over that feeling as of this year (had it for almost 5 years now) :laugh: .
Anyway,
The one thing you need to make sure you think about is the inevitable leak. I forget where you said your sump pit is????
It's not as big a deal to me yet since my basement isn't finished. Yours is a different story.
I'll try to get out there this weekend.
will16
New member
I'm doing my 90 Tech build right now too. I am transferring tanks and will be doing it this Sunday! nervous...
What is your pump rated at? You mentioned that it was filling faster then it was draining? With dual 1" drains, it should be capable of 1200gph? I am using an eheim 1262 which is rated at 900gph but with headloss in the tank... i'm guessing closer to 600? I test ran it with fresh water the other week and it was not too noisey.
You mentioned cleaning your sand in a pillowcase? Does that mean filling a pillowcase with sand and running water through? I will be transferring an existing tank so need to get livestock back in asap and the dust storm problem has been worrying me.
Good luck.
- Will
What is your pump rated at? You mentioned that it was filling faster then it was draining? With dual 1" drains, it should be capable of 1200gph? I am using an eheim 1262 which is rated at 900gph but with headloss in the tank... i'm guessing closer to 600? I test ran it with fresh water the other week and it was not too noisey.
You mentioned cleaning your sand in a pillowcase? Does that mean filling a pillowcase with sand and running water through? I will be transferring an existing tank so need to get livestock back in asap and the dust storm problem has been worrying me.
Good luck.
- Will
supercon71
New member
The Iwaki WMD-30RLXT is rated at 960 GPH, and no it's actually the opposite..... ....the tank drains like a beast and fills just fine. I was actually referring to the 3-stage DIY sump I have. I dont have my diagram with me at the moment, i'll post it later but picture this and look at my earlier pics:
3 tanks in the sump.....2 20g high on the "ends" 1 30g high tank in the middle.
Left tech tank overflow drain flows into the left "skimmer" sump but also has a ball valve that can split drainage to also the middle "equipment/return" sump.
Right tech tank overflow drain flows into the far right "refugium" sump. I have severely restricted the drain flow into this fuge.
Both 20g sumps gravity feed into the middle sump and middle sump goes to the iwaki return....
The problem I was initially seeing was that everything coming from the left drain was just pouring into the left sump far quicker than the 2 1" bulkheads that drain this sump into the middle sump could handle. Confused yet? The diagram will help......
Anyway, I just fiddled around with the ball valve that splits the left tech overflow drain so less water flowed directly into the left sump and more flowed directly into the middle sump. Sorry..... I know it's confusing, lol......but it makes sense! At least to me......
With the sand: Yes, I put the sand directly into the pillowcase and put it in a sink (bathtub would work...hose on the driveway even better) and turned the sand over and over with my hands. I just did this over and over again until there was no more foam and minimally cloudy water. This was ONLY for the dry aragonite sand. I did NOT rinse the live sand.
Doing this, putting the plastic trash bags down over the sand, putting the bowl over top of it and running the water slowly over top of this allowed it so there really was not much cloudiness at all. It was time consuming on all parts, but wow....well worth it.
3 tanks in the sump.....2 20g high on the "ends" 1 30g high tank in the middle.
Left tech tank overflow drain flows into the left "skimmer" sump but also has a ball valve that can split drainage to also the middle "equipment/return" sump.
Right tech tank overflow drain flows into the far right "refugium" sump. I have severely restricted the drain flow into this fuge.
Both 20g sumps gravity feed into the middle sump and middle sump goes to the iwaki return....
The problem I was initially seeing was that everything coming from the left drain was just pouring into the left sump far quicker than the 2 1" bulkheads that drain this sump into the middle sump could handle. Confused yet? The diagram will help......
Anyway, I just fiddled around with the ball valve that splits the left tech overflow drain so less water flowed directly into the left sump and more flowed directly into the middle sump. Sorry..... I know it's confusing, lol......but it makes sense! At least to me......
With the sand: Yes, I put the sand directly into the pillowcase and put it in a sink (bathtub would work...hose on the driveway even better) and turned the sand over and over with my hands. I just did this over and over again until there was no more foam and minimally cloudy water. This was ONLY for the dry aragonite sand. I did NOT rinse the live sand.
Doing this, putting the plastic trash bags down over the sand, putting the bowl over top of it and running the water slowly over top of this allowed it so there really was not much cloudiness at all. It was time consuming on all parts, but wow....well worth it.
will16
New member
Wow that is confusing! 
I just have a single sump/refugium under the tank.
Those are good ideas with the sand. My only concern would be the trapped chlorinated tap water. Did you add livestock right away or did you let it settle? I unfortunately do not have the option of waiting too long as everything will be waiting in buckets/containers.
I just have a single sump/refugium under the tank.Those are good ideas with the sand. My only concern would be the trapped chlorinated tap water. Did you add livestock right away or did you let it settle? I unfortunately do not have the option of waiting too long as everything will be waiting in buckets/containers.
supercon71
New member
Yes, I used flex pvc for the returns.......worked great. I'll post pictures soon (was too tired last night). The rest was sch 40 rigid pvc......
supercon71
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12449854#post12449854 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by will16
Wow that is confusing!
Those are good ideas with the sand. My only concern would be the trapped chlorinated tap water. Did you add livestock right away or did you let it settle? I unfortunately do not have the option of waiting too long as everything will be waiting in buckets/containers.
Yeah, lol..... it is a complicated sump, sorta
Lots of water though! 80 Gallons worth......From all the research i've done here, rinsing with tap water is not an issue and most people do it without complication. Rinsing all that sand with rodi just isnt practical, in my opinion.
This is a new tank with no transfer of existing livestock, so no.....I didnt add anything. It's about to go through the cycling process now. However, and this is just my opinion, if this was a transfer and my tank was already cycled, it was minimally clouded so I wouldnt have any issue adding my livestock to it.
supercon71
New member
Updated Pics
Updated Pics
Here are some pics from today, including the diagram of the sump design:
Updated Pics
Here are some pics from today, including the diagram of the sump design:
supercon71
New member
supercon71
New member
supercon71
New member
Wow,that really looks good.A few things to think about.Easy water change system,ato,and coming up with a solution for the bare drywall.Maybe the drywall will be fine since there is 3 1/2 inches between the tanks and wall?.I can't wait to check it out
.Also,looks like you figured out plumbing...the wife is going to enjoy that lol.
.Also,looks like you figured out plumbing...the wife is going to enjoy that lol.
supercon71
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12467077#post12467077 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lukin
Wow,that really looks good.A few things to think about.Easy water change system,ato,and coming up with a solution for the bare drywall.Maybe the drywall will be fine since there is 3 1/2 inches between the tanks and wall?.I can't wait to check it out
yep, I was thinking about the drywall......... not sure what the best solution will be.
I'll be home at around 1:45
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