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Yeah we remember you. Glad you made on to rf. You have a gorgeous tank. Any questions just ask, either here or pm.
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Halmus' 120 Reef Tank
- Thread starter halmus
- Start date
Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:
Yeah we remember you. Glad you made on to rf. You have a gorgeous tank. Any questions just ask, either here or pm.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
user 26995
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2009
- Messages
- 6,452
I think there is a 30 membership requirement to post in the classifieds. (link at the top right of every page). Otherwise you wont be stepping on anyones toes. We are all waiting for your ad.:clap2:
Somethings Fishy
Well-known member
nice sps!!
1guydude
Well-known member
Saw this tank in person yesterday and not only is the dt beautiful but his setup is nicely done as well. Thxs again halmus! -d
Thanks to everyone for the compliments. IPisces thanks for the info. I'll be getting some frags and colonies up in the classifieds some time in the next few months.
Now, I guess I'll start documenting the tank a little. It's hard to know where to start, so I'll start with the filtration and try to keep the explanations coherent. I say that because I have a stupid amount of filtration/plumbing/equipment running on this system. Some of it is no-doubt counter-productive and I'm more than willing to have a respectful discussion on what you may feel is pointless or wrong.
BIG DISCLAIMER
I'm no expert here, just a guy who's obsessed with technology, who loves to build things, experiment, and over-complicate just about everything. The Rube Goldberg of the reef aquarium world. You may look at my system and say, why? or How? So, let the explaining begin.
Now, I guess I'll start documenting the tank a little. It's hard to know where to start, so I'll start with the filtration and try to keep the explanations coherent. I say that because I have a stupid amount of filtration/plumbing/equipment running on this system. Some of it is no-doubt counter-productive and I'm more than willing to have a respectful discussion on what you may feel is pointless or wrong.
BIG DISCLAIMER
I'm no expert here, just a guy who's obsessed with technology, who loves to build things, experiment, and over-complicate just about everything. The Rube Goldberg of the reef aquarium world. You may look at my system and say, why? or How? So, let the explaining begin.
This is the closet my wife (thank you dear) gave up.
I custom made the doors so that they have good ventilation because my chiller and equipment needs to breath but my wife and I don't like the eyesore.
I custom made the doors so that they have good ventilation because my chiller and equipment needs to breath but my wife and I don't like the eyesore.
This is the closet with the doors removed. I tried to label everything so that I can refer to it later to help everyone get a perspective.
Top shelf with temporary fresh water top off tank (in the process of replacing) and a 20 gal tank that is plumbed back to the display. When I want to change water, I just drain from the display and then turn a valve which siphons this 20 gals worth of freshly mixed into the display. Pretty easy water changes. As a failsafe (there are MANY failsafes on this tank due to MANY mistakes made in the past) there is a drain placed on both the freshwater tank and the mixing tank which lead to a 3/4" drain all the way to a utility sink in my garage. No wet floors here ever. I hope. Not again.
Top shelf with temporary fresh water top off tank (in the process of replacing) and a 20 gal tank that is plumbed back to the display. When I want to change water, I just drain from the display and then turn a valve which siphons this 20 gals worth of freshly mixed into the display. Pretty easy water changes. As a failsafe (there are MANY failsafes on this tank due to MANY mistakes made in the past) there is a drain placed on both the freshwater tank and the mixing tank which lead to a 3/4" drain all the way to a utility sink in my garage. No wet floors here ever. I hope. Not again.
On the left is the refugium I made from scratch. It holds about 40 gals. It is tied to the main tank via a siphon that is run constantly. I will go into more detail when I have time soon. On the right is the chiller and return / circulation pumps.
Sorry to all the PSAS members that have read this on our home forum. This is the cryptic fuge that is on the same level of elevation as my display tank. Area A is the initial area that is full of egg crate baffels for sponge growth. It is completely shielded from light. The water travels down the narrow corridor (following the red arrows) and enters the frag grow out area. This is also a handy area for my return line from the chiller. It gets to mix in the water from the display so the chilled water isn't going straight back into the chiller necessitating it to cycle on and off continuously. Area B is the frag area approximately 10" wide and 24" long. Not big, but big enough for now. The water then goes back into the final small section where there are two bulkheads. One line goes to the chiller pump which returns back into the entrance to the frag area. The upper bulkhead goes to the return pump which is routed underneath the rock-work in the display to ensure good water flow through the whole system. This effectively acts as a closed loop system, only a little more functional. I have increased water volume, and the benefit (or detriment depending on your reef-political views) of a cryptic fuge.
This is the general plans I drew up to build off of.
The finished product. What little you can see of it.
This is the general plans I drew up to build off of.
The finished product. What little you can see of it.
I ordered a DIY 24 3watt LED array from Rapid and built a lighting system to fit the frag tank. There are also 4x ecoxotic strips to compliment the lighting. They don't do much other than look pretty. The Cree's defiantly perform though. This is an experiment to see how viable the technology is to replace the MH on my display. The growth is good, but I'm getting excessive algea growth. That could be due to having a limited cleaner crew or it could be due to the 7-8K white lights that are the closest to the 10-15K I would prefer. Over all, I like the look though.
These are experimental SPS to test the lights. I still had good growth. My ORA red planet acros didn't maintain their dark red color, but didn't bleach either. The teal echinata acros did well. Green slimmer, well, it's green slimmer. It grows well in a stagnant pond.
These are experimental SPS to test the lights. I still had good growth. My ORA red planet acros didn't maintain their dark red color, but didn't bleach either. The teal echinata acros did well. Green slimmer, well, it's green slimmer. It grows well in a stagnant pond.
The two external pumps I use for circulation on this section are[FONT='Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] 1090 Coralife pumps. They run 90w a piece. I've been using two of these as return pumps from the main sump for a few years now. IMHO, it's a good idea to use multiple of the same pump if you're going to need multiple pumps. I have redundant parts and redundant pumps in case one goes out on me. Having two matching on the display returns means that I only absolutely need one at a time, although both are running at all times.
For flow on the system, I have the one 1090 running approximately 800 GPH almost as a closed loop from the cryptic fuge. Two others as returns from my main sump. Two MP-40's on the ends of the tank. That makes quite a bit of flow, but I'm considering one more MP-40 in the center back. Keeping SPS as thick as I want, I need serious flow, and I can tell by the polyp extension what corals are happy and what could use more flow. [/FONT]
For flow on the system, I have the one 1090 running approximately 800 GPH almost as a closed loop from the cryptic fuge. Two others as returns from my main sump. Two MP-40's on the ends of the tank. That makes quite a bit of flow, but I'm considering one more MP-40 in the center back. Keeping SPS as thick as I want, I need serious flow, and I can tell by the polyp extension what corals are happy and what could use more flow. [/FONT]
Moving down in the closet filtration area. I made pull-out trays on both sides that can open when one door or the other is open.
I also have a acrylic drawer for all the extra little dry food and junk.
I also have a acrylic drawer for all the extra little dry food and junk.
The refugium is an are of about 20" by 20" by 14" deep.
The two overflows from the display enter the sump here. An elevated area for a 7" filter sock to sit above the water line.
This bulkhead connects to the line that runs as a drain to the garage. It's another fail safe in case the sump gets too high, it will just drain to the garage. It would take something catastrophic for this to happen.
The ends and back of the sump stand in the closet are removable PVC type plastic sheets held in with velcro. Keeps the humidity contained to the sump area. There is a lot of wireing hidden back behind that I want to keep dry.
The two overflows from the display enter the sump here. An elevated area for a 7" filter sock to sit above the water line.
This bulkhead connects to the line that runs as a drain to the garage. It's another fail safe in case the sump gets too high, it will just drain to the garage. It would take something catastrophic for this to happen.
The ends and back of the sump stand in the closet are removable PVC type plastic sheets held in with velcro. Keeps the humidity contained to the sump area. There is a lot of wireing hidden back behind that I want to keep dry.
After the refugium the water runs to the skimmer area. (I know this is backwards from the ideal.) I recently upgraded to a Reef Octopus 2000 space saver. I built a small platform for it to stand on with rubble rock below as extra filtration.
One absolute necessity for the sump design for me was to have a removeable skimmer collection cup that sits inside the sump. So, if and when it overflows (and they always do) it simply overflows into the sump. No big deal. It is a big deal when your tank dumps all of that water down a drain and drops your salinity overnight. That can't happen here.
One absolute necessity for the sump design for me was to have a removeable skimmer collection cup that sits inside the sump. So, if and when it overflows (and they always do) it simply overflows into the sump. No big deal. It is a big deal when your tank dumps all of that water down a drain and drops your salinity overnight. That can't happen here.
The final return section is where the rest of the magic happens. One pump to run my phosban reactors, carbon reactor, and additional refugium. One mini pump that feeds the calcium reactor. The fresh water top-off control is here as well. I run a simple toilet float system to feed water back to compensate for evaporation. It's a 3/8" line that runs to the fresh water tank. I'm finishing up a 30 gal fresh water tank in the attic to replace this.
Under the display is a small refugium with a DSB and mangroves. It's just for the fun of it. It is a good place for more critters to grow and multiply, but who knows how much it does to benefit the system. I just like the diversity. It is also a good place to grow out the dragon's breath algea. Right now, I've pruned everything else out, so the entire refugium is the red algae and mangroves.
The other end of the stand under the display is the area I've set up for growing out Phyto.
There are some more recent pics of the extra fuge.
