150 + 80 sump build

[tralynne]

Figured i would make a build thread to chonical and show off a new 150 that i have coming this week. I recently had lost a battle with GHA, Red Cyano, and Blue-green Cyano in my 80 Gal tank. I fought the GHA for about 14 months. I finaly gave. How did i give? by buying a bigger tank. (still trying to figure out that one myself)

took down the old 80g tank today and have it in my garage with all parts cycling freshwater with a side of bleach to kill any bad critters before i set up the new 150 in a week or so. Lots of lace rock gonna be available that is for sure.

Building the Stand and Canopy hopefully next weekend. Pics of that to follow.

Here is the spot the 80gal was set up and will be the home to the new 230 gal total system.


Here is where the 80 now resides in my garage with a bleach solution for cleansing.



just set up an 8g BC nano on my daughters room as well. I hope a bunch of you will follow me on this exciting quest and make comments as i go.

[inktomi]

Where are you going to put the sump? Are you trying to fit it all under the stand?

My 150 would barely fit a 75g under it - so I went with a 40g breeder. There just wasn't enough floorspace.

(I wish I had a fish room!).

[mrsmithers]

What are the dims of the 80gallon? is it going in the stand or remote?
What equipment are you going to be running?

[tralynne]

Plan is to put the 80 under in the cabinet. the 80 is 48x18 footprint. the new 150 is 60x25.

[tralynne]

Here is the over all plan:

150 RR main tank. (60x24x25)
80g sump (48x18x22. divided to include a place for my corallife Needle Wheel Skimmer and refugium. I will post an "artists rendition a little later when the artist renders it)
Phosban reactor (running whatever media is needed based on testing)
Rena xP3 - running different micron pads, ceramic rings and then another "absorbing media" to be determined during cycling and testing of the tank. Most likely a carbon/phosban/purigen setup. not combined of course.
T5 lighting - still working on figuring out all the types and number of bulbs. first thought is 4 whites of different wavelengths and 2 actinic.
Vortechs are nowhere in my price range so i will be using hydor koralia.


I am also still debating to make the entire sump a large ref or make part of it a wet/dry trickle with bio balls.

[tralynne]

anyone wanna chime in on making a bio-ball chamber and ref in the sump or full ref with no bio-ball area?

comments are much appreciated.

[am3gross]

i would ditch the canister filter.. if that was set up when you had your HA problem that may have been the source...

if you are going to have liverock in your sump and some sort of macro algae in there other then the skimmer that should be all the filtration you need... i would still use your phosban reactor of course but that would be it... just my opinion here of course!

[tralynne]

exactly what i am looking for here is opinions on the best configuration for the filtering.

still ditch the canister when i clean it out monthly along with 15% water changes? i was planning on 2 of the 3 chambers to put media in it...purigen, carbon, etc.

when i had the GHA my PO4, NO2, NO3 all tested zero. i hear that GHA can suck all that stuff up and use it to grow....however...i took out all the rocks twice and scrubbed them free of the GHA. about 2 months later the GHA would be back full force....during the time that you could not see any GHA all the above stuff still read 0. i would think that PO4 and NO3 would rise/spike when the GHA was not present then slowly decline as GHA grew and used it up. the GHA was the reason i got the phosban reactor.

[gtaylor67]

I'm not sure but I would not put any BIO BALLS anywhere near a your tank.. Maybe in a little bag or bowl next to the tank for some type of memory of your past problems.. I've never herd anything goods about them.. If you have room in your sump use some small pieces of rock and a sand bed.. Not needed in a Fuge..

[tralynne]

continuing to cycle freshwater through the old tank and old live rock. After the 3 day bleach soak i have used freshwater. drain, fill repeat 3-4 times.

empty, rinse repeat:


All the old live rock is now (hopefully GHA, Red Cyano, and blue-green Cyano are dead as well) lace rock. Outside to dry up and evaporate the little remaining chlorine. I will also be pressure washing the rocks to knock off the dead Coraline that is now white.


And since this thread is pretty sterile so far here is a picture of the new 8gal nano i have set up in my daughters bed room. only 3 weeks old. softies hopefully soon.


Tomorrow is the big day for delivery. Not till 830pm though. I will take some pictures and load them in the next day or so.

[MrineLfRlz]

ive never dealt with bio balls i was going to do a bio ball setup in my sump when i 1st started out but alot of people told me no also BIG NITRATE FACTORY!
i think i will tag along to see the rest of the progress

[tralynne]

I had a wet/dry/bio-ball/trickle filter on the last 80G set up and never had a nitrate issue. always undetectable using Tetra testing kit. On the other hand i have never seen a bio-ball setup in a large sump like the one i am gonna build...So...i dont know. still deciding...right now i am going with no bio-ball setup.

Was supposed to get the new tank today but the glasscages truck got a flat tire and now i cant pick up the tank till 0900 tomorrow morning. Oh well. I will still take pictures and upload when i have them.

[SaltyNovice]

I'm signing up for the ride. I really like the dims of your new tank. I have a 65 gall tank from Glassgages that I made a sump out of. I vote for no bio balls if there is any voting going on? I used to use the Rena canastier filter also. I got rid of mine and doing much better since. What exactly are "lace" rocks? Am I missing something here?

[tralynne]

not sure what everyone else calls the additional rock they might use if it is not live rock. i have always heard it called "lace Rock". it is rock that was once upon a time live rock.

[tralynne]

GOT THE TANK!!!! Very cold day this morning in OKC...Drizzle rain mixed with a little flurries here and there made for a very cold offload from the truck. As promised here are the pics of the new tank!!

Pretty much maxed out the width of the truck bed...had about 1.5 inches of slop on each side. I have an RV and the hitch railings in my truck bed made it difficult to have the tank in the truck bed.


Fixing the suction cup holders. (each one was rated for 125lbs. and they were only $4.99 each at Steve's Wholesale in OKC). What a deal and a life saver.




I have to admit...i was stressed about dropping this thing using $5 suction cups...they held very well and did not slip one bit. impressed but still freaked me out.


Fill-up with hose water to test the leakage. Good so far! Notice i put 2x8 scraps under the tank...i did this to help get my fingers under if i needed. Plus i am going to spray paint flat black on the back panel....i wont paint over the overflow area so that i can see into from the back if needed. i like spray paint b/c then you get 100% consistent background instead of the plastic sheeting that gets salt creep behind and you white streaks through the tank.


Filled to the top of the overflow...but not into it...duh!! i would have water all over the floor.


The big boy next to the little guy...80gal ain't so little but compared to the 150 it is. That 80g will be getting built into a sump....i am going to get the glass dividers cut tomorrow...i am gonna go bio-ball less and go for a huge refugium in the middle. One end will be coming from the tank with my protein skimmer and heater and the other end will be the return to the display.


Sum it up: Glass dividers for the sump being ordered/cut tomorrow. Saturday i will be building the stand...pictures as fast as i can get them up

[MrineLfRlz]

i know i wouldve been worried about the suction cup handles to
im just glad everything went as i shouldve with the tank move
it looks like a very well put together tank

[lordofthereef]

Looking forward to seeing more

[tralynne]

I am extremely impressed with the tank construction. it has reinforcement glass along the inside bottome....and the bracing on the top is all glass as well. I will take some close up pictures of the construction and post them in a few days.

[SaltyNovice]

Looking good and I'm real glad your happy with the tank. It's kind of scary to be ordering those big tanks and not being able to see them until you take possession I'm thinking about the 180 from glass cages and this makes me feel a little better about them.

The reason I asked about the lace rock. When I was first getting into SW. There was some guys down in south Texas selling "lace rock". And I was told it was for FW and cichlids and that it would cause some trouble in SW tanks. Since you were talking about your Phosphate and NItrate issues - I thought maybe that could have been an issue ?:????? The "nonliving" live rock I have looked at was just called base rock. Probably the same thing

Anyway, I'm looking forward to your build and hope to get some great ideas for my 180 down the road.

[tralynne]

Some detailed pictures of the tank construction itself.

The inch wide additional glass runs along the inside perimeter of the bottom. I guess this make the seems a little stronger?!?! i really dint know:


the bracing across the top from front to back is all glass pieces too. Also there is 3 openings that fit standard size hinged glass tops. I think most tanks have plastic supports where as this one is glass. I dont recall seeing many tanks that have the glass bracing on the top.


Close up of the corner to see how the glass and plastic meet on the top:



I got my glass dividers for the sump ordered today and will pick them up tomorrow. I will hopefully be able to get them siliconed inside the sump tomorrow night and test with water on Sunday to make sure it all stays together. Tonight i plan on taking a dry erase marker on the outside of the sump tank and measure out where i am gonna put the glass dividers. that way when i get the glass tomorrow i can just drop them in the tank, line them up with the dry erase marker lines on the outside of the glass and silicone it in place.

I might be able to spray paint the back of the display tank as well tomorrow.

Still planning for a Saturday stand build and stain. then when it is dry on Sunday (along with the sump divider glass) i can put the stand, sump and display tank in the house and start the long process of filling with RO/DI water. I have about 50 gallons already stored but it is slow goings.

[MrineLfRlz]

are those bulkhead holes 1 1/2"?

[tralynne]

Actually there are two bulkheads in the bottom of the overflow. one is 3" the other is 2".

here are 2 pictures to show the dimensions of the overflow and a better shot of the bulkheads.

[MrineLfRlz]

man you can get some serious flow through them then GREAT!

[1 sick reef]

coming together nicley. its going to look good

[tralynne]

The holes for the bulkheads are what i said above...diameter of the hole of course...but the fitting that came with it has a much smaller hole for the pipe and they are 1.75 and 1.25 by the measuring tape. The bulkheads in the picture below are very solid, Thick PVC. especially since they are reducing the hole that they go in by almost half.