Project 150!!

[Maxx]

03-18-2007
I've had my 58 gallon tank (Project 58) set up for a little over two years now, and its time to upgrade. The idea behind the tank was high flow and bare bottom, and it honestly just wasnt as successful as it should have been. I dont think the BB philosophy was the problem, but rather my interpretation of it. I dont think I had enough flow to make it work well.

I also created some problems with the way I set it up. Specifically, in trying to save space, I placed two of my returns through my overflow. This created problems in servicing anything in there. I also made my stand short and that created more issues in terms of maintenance.

The tank also uses alot of electricity, just by the way its configured. My closed loop pump and my chiller take up 10 amps of power alone.

I've also learned alot in the process of running the 58.
I dislike relying on any one piece of equipment for circulation in the tank. When you least expect it, things will go down.

So the goals for this tank are this:

Provide a healthy stable environment for my critters.
Use less electricity
Easier to do maintenance


Nick

 

[Maxx]

So with those goals in mind, I started out.

The tank is a 120 gallon RR Oceanic tank with two corner overflows.
The sump is a 55 gallon tank which has been sectioned off with 6 panes of glass to create a skimmer section, a small refugium, and a return section.

Total system volume is about 150 gallons, (152 really, but hey, who's counting).

I chose to have all the holes in the overflow be used as drains. The tank came with two 1 inch drains, and two 3/4 inch return lines. With all 4 being used as drains, I have less to worry about in terms of blockages in my drain potentially causing a flood. All 4 drains empty into a 1 1/4 inch main line, which then dumps into the sump. Along the way it T's off and feeds my skimmer.

The skimmer is an H&S AF 150-2001 from Fins Reef. This is a re-circulating skimmer. I have an older model Euro-Reef skimmer on my 58. Its not a re-circ skimmer, but its adequate. While pricing out skimmers, the ER version of this skimmer was more expensive, and based on my experiance with the ER skimmer I already have, not worth the added expense. While researching on skimmers, two main manufacturers kept being mentioned consistantly as good skimmers...H&S and Deltec. Based on what I read, and the people I spoke with, both are excellent, and either one will do what I wanted and needed from a skimmer. I chose the H&S over the Deltec because I'd heard from a few people that the Deltec looked a little worse that the H&S in terms of build appearance...
Its stupid, but if two things cost about the same, do the same job, and do it equally well, are you gonna go with the pretty one, or the ugly one?
Riiiiiiiigght.

Anyway,
feeding the skimmer from the overflow does two things for my tank:
1..cuts down on electrical usage since I dont need a feed pump, which cuts down on heat....which could keep me from needing a chiller, (which uses more electricity)
2...provides the rawest water to the skimmer possible for cleaning.

Here are some pics...

Nick

 

[Maxx]

This tank is located in my basement, in the unfinished side, (The side my wife lets me have), and as such is more utilitarian than art work.

As such, the stand has one purpose only...keep my tank off the floor. I initially was not going to put doors or sides on it in an effort to aid cooling and make maintenance easier, but I may change my mind.

I found a thread where a guy was going to use eggcrate on his stand.
Fish's new tank build w/ pics. So I may put doors on the front, and eggcrate on the sides to allow airflow through the stand. I havent made up my mind yet, but the wife is saying I should which most likely means I'll end up doing it. Sigh...

The return pump is a Pan World 100PX-X which is basically an Iwaki MD40X. With zero attachments and zero head, it puts out 1270 gph. With my plumbing however, the return rate, (according to RC's headloss calculator) is 750 gph, which translates to about 5x system turnover through the sump. This is about ideal IMO. Much more than that and it gets loud, much less and detritus builds up.

The return is plumbed up to a WavySea Plus. I ordered a regular WavySea, and was sent a WavySea Plus....oh well, I wasnt gonna complain.

On the 58 gallon tank, Main circulation was provided by an OceansMotions 4 way unit. I've had some minor issues with it since I've had it. Oddly enough, no one else I've spoken to who has one has had these issues. So with this system, I wanted to go a different route. In addition to the WavySea for my return, I'm going to be running two Tunze Stream 6000's on a multicontroller.

The 6000's are the smallest ones that can be controlled, but they still push 1850 gph when at 100%. Between the Streams and the Wavy Sea, I think I'm going to be alright on flow.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

In fact, while doing a wet test of my plumbing to check for leaks, I found out the return is moving water too well, and had to re-adjust things to prevent a wave of water overflowing my tank. I had to increase the depth the tip sits are, and move it to the rear of the tank. I initially had it on the centerbrace in the middle of the tank with the intent of setting it to run in a 360 degree pattern.

Because the flow was nice and strong, I'm a little worried about keeping sand in the tank. Just to be on the safe side, I bought more cutting board for the bottom of the tank, and siliconed it in place. Sand will initially go in on top of it, but if the flow is too strong for the sand, I can siphon it up and still go BB without having to worry.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

The plumbing was fun....except for that whole part where it wasnt.



The little black marks on the plumbing are to help me line up the angles when using pieces that needed to be at a set angle. BTW, the plumbing in the picture is V2.0. The first attempt got screwed up at the end, so the whole thing had to go....

One thing to note, (and something I didnt do the first time around), my plumbing is oversized. If there are fittings like Unions, ball valves etc...they are oversized to prevent constriction and head loss from the pumps. I increased the plumbing from the 3/4 inch drains to 1 inch. The unions were upgraded to 1 1/4 inch with adapters to 1 inch plumbing. This is because the 1 inch unions actually constricted down to 3/4 of an inch inside. The 1 1/4 inch unions constrict to 1 inch inside, so there is no choke point to worry about. For the 1 1/4 portion of the drain, I increased the union to 1 1/2 inch in order to get the 1 1/4 inch inside diameter I wanted.

This also applied to the return pump....I used 3 true union ballvallves for the return. Due to the location of the pump, (Its the yellow thing on the floor to the left of the tank.), I had to run some lengthy pvc, and I wanted the ability to take the pipe apart with minimal trouble.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

At this point in time, I'm just about ready to add water and salt.
In fact the RO is working overtime to make up enough water for the tank. I already have one 55 gallon barrel full of water, and I'm making up enough for another one as I type.

I'm debating whether or not to set the tank up, add Chaeto to the sump, and wait 3-4 months for the tank to mature before I move things over. The advantage to doing that is that I get to see how hot the tank gets over the summer, and I can then decide if I need a chiller to keep temps under control.

Either way, I need to build the canopy for my lights, which should take me a few days, and give me time to think it over. I need a chiller on the 58, but its closer to a large single pane window, and has a smaller volume of water with some pumps adding heat to the water...

It would be nice to get away w/o a chiller, but I'm not sure if thats a smart idea in light of the power outtages we've had out here in the past year. We own a generator, but if the AC doesnt work, and I dont have a chiller on the tank, its gonna get hot.

I guess the smart thing to do would be to get an electrician out here and have him/her wire up a transfer switch for the generator so we can run the house AC....

Nick

 

[Krish]

Very great start Nick!!! Looks great so far! I guess married life isn't so bad huh if you are allowed to have a tank like that! Good luck with finishing things up.

 

[Scooterman]

That is some wicked nice stuff there already, I'll be glad to watch this one progress! Congrats on the new project, probably will have it completed before I ever get mine finished:lol:

 

[spongebob lover]

wwoouu dood ...very nice .
i ca't wait to see it done

 

[cheeks69]

Very nice Nick, congrats :exclaim:
I love the choice of the H&S skimmer many on a Portuguese reefing board I frequent use this skimmer and absolutely love it and the fact you can direct feed from your overflow is very cool and something I'm looking to do in the future. Great job on the plumbing work it looks very neat, can't wait to see the projects development

 

[Maxx]

Very great start Nick!!! Looks great so far! I guess married life isn't so bad huh if you are allowed to have a tank like that! Good luck with finishing things up.

Married life rocks! I'm happier than I ever have been! She lets me have this tank, cause she doesnt want one upstairs. Of course, she complains I'm downstairs in the basement all the time, but she wont let me move a tank upstairs either.

That is some wicked nice stuff there already, I'll be glad to watch this one progress! Congrats on the new project, probably will have it completed before I ever get mine finished:lol:

You've already got rock and fish in yours!! What are you talking about?

Thanks for the compliments though....It feels like its taken forever to get going. BTW, You might recognize this tank as Nikki's old glass 120 she bought before she decided to go acrylic. So this tank has been on the net before...

wwoouu dood ...very nice .
i ca't wait to see it done

Neither can my wife! She's tired of the mess that comes with setting up a new tank. I've crossed the line and stretched over to some of the laundry area...so I got spanked for that. But its been fixed.

Very nice Nick, congrats :exclaim:
I love the choice of the H&S skimmer many on a Portuguese reefing board I frequent use this skimmer and absolutely love it and the fact you can direct feed from your overflow is very cool and something I'm looking to do in the future. Great job on the plumbing work it looks very neat, can't wait to see the projects development

Thanks Robert! I've always loved your cube tank! The latest pics I saw were awesome BTW! You should start a thread here on it! Start a cube tank thread if you'd rather see a bunch of other tanks too.

Fin's Reef suggested that as the best way to feed the skimmer. They state that it gets the best results that way. Glad the plumbing looks neat and tidy, it sure didnt feel that way while doing it. In fact I've got a box of rejects to throw away tonight...trash truck comes tomorrow.

Like I said earlier, H&S was one of the names that kept being mentioned as a top quality re-circ skimmer. And when I found out that the comparable Er skimmer was almost $1000.00, I couldnt pass it up.

I did have a bad accident with it though. I actually broke the skimmer before I could test it. I made the mistake of trying to fit it into the sump with the recirc pump attached.

DO NOT MOVE RE-CIRC SKIMMERS WITH THE PUMP ATTACHED!!! SOMETHING STUPID WILL HAPPEN, AND YOU WILL DROP THE MAIN BODY OF THE SKIMMER. THE IMPACT WILL SNAP THE PUMP FITTINGS OFF!

after a lot of cursing, I took pics and sent them off to Fin's Reef. They said I should be able to glue it back together, and if I couldnt, they would get me a new body of the skimmer for only $250. Fortunately, I was able to glue it back. I'll show pics of that later on too.

Just a word to the wise.

Nick

 

[class clown]

Oh man.. can't wait to see what this turns out like. Great start for sure!!!

 

[Maxx]

Thanks Ben! Do you have an AquaController with ReefNotes? Just looking at your sig line and wondering...

Nick

 

[class clown]

indeed - It's a fun toy and pretty adaptable too. Just added a couple float switches last week. It e-mails me on my cell phone whenever there is a problem w/ the tank. It's saved my heiny a few times already

I've been really happy with the guys at neptune - knowledgable and willing to help.

 

[Maxx]

Is it easy to set up? I dont have any controllers right now, but I havent really needed one either....so its not something I've really thought much about.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Here's a pic of the stand before the tank was on it, and before it was leveled out....this is not what my friend did. He used alot of different shims, and leveled the whole thing completely. This was my attempt at it. The arrows show which direction the floor slopes for drainage.

He goes by PK228 on RC, and it took him something like 20 minutes to get it leveled out completely. After it was leveled, I made wooden "skirts" to cover the shims. The skirts keep the shims from being knocked loose, and make it look a little cleaner IMO. I did not bother trying to make a skirt for the sump, (Which also needed to be leveled out). Because the skirts that I made took an 1.5 inches of available space under the stand already. I also felt that more air movement under the sump would allow for better cooling, and I'm trying to avoid using a chiller if at all possible.

Here is the tank with the shim skirts in place.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

And here is the pic of the broken H&S skimmer...

And here is a pic of what broke off.

The re-circ pump mounts to those unions, and provides a tight seal. I was soooo pissed that the skimmer broke. It didnt help much that I had told myself seconds earlier to be careful and not drop it.

I contacted Fin's Reef regarding the damage and what I could do about it. They immediately asked to see pics of the damage. When I sent them the pics I just posted, they said it was most likely repairable since it was the PVC reinforcing bands around the skimmer that broke and not the acrylic skimmer body. I just used some PVC glue and went very carefully around the edges. Shortly after it was dry, I went upstairs and did a quick leak test in the sink. No leaks, and it only had a small visible seam where the two pieces were joined back to the body.

Nick

 

[NaH2O]

Weee! Glad to finally see some pics . Look forward to updates!

 

[Maxx]

Hey Nikki! You're old tank is coming along!

Didnt get alot done today, but I did make some forward progress.

Added sand to the tank today, bought more salt for getting water into the tank, and placed the Tunze Streams in the tank.

I was also asked about my return plumbing, so I thought I'd post up some pics of it for clarification.

I placed two unions on the return plumbing to the pump because I was worried about having to remove plumbing for maintenance or for any other reason. Without them where they are, I was worried about being able to get that piece out for any reason.

I also have 3 True Union BallValves on the return plumbing. Two are on the section of pipe to the tank, and one is on the section of pipe to the pump, after the unions. The two TBV's on the pipe to the tank make it easier for maintenance. If I want/need to do some maintenance to the pump, I can close the TBV's closest to the pump, and disconnect it there. If I want to do some maintenance to the WavySea, its easier to disconnect the TBV closer to it.

I put 90lbs of CaribSea Aragmax Select in the tank, which gives me about 2-2.5 inches of sandbed. I want to wait and see what the flow inside the tank does before I add more, if at all.

Sorry for the horrible pic of the sand in the tank, but its the best way to show the placement of the Streams in the tank since they blend in with the black background. Aesthetically, (right now, with nothing in the tank), I like where they are at, but I'm seriously wondering if they are located badly for aquascaping needs. I'm strongly considering placing them in the upper front corners shooting across the length of the tank, rather than being bounced off the front of the glass.

What do you think?

Finally, put the lighting in place for the fuge...

The Fuge light is a Current-USA 30" Dual Satellite 2x65watt unit. My friend who helped me out with the stand levelling asked if I wanted it since he wasnt using it...Tried to pay him for it twice, but he refused. Not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

Thanks Pat!

RO should be finished tonight, hopefully will have water in the tank this evening.

 

[Krish]

Really nice work Nick!! Also, your Tunze placement should rock!! I had my pair of Tunzes set up almost identical to yours in my old 75gal with one on either end of the tank and the flow colliding at the center of the tank at the front glass and I got great coverage with it.. Heck my sea-swirl is almost in the same positon as your wavy sea!!! That is a great starting point man. Hope it works out just as good for you as it did for me. Here's a pic of my old 75gal to show you what I mean...Just maximize the pic to see it better. Good luck!!


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