My 120 Gal reef

[gmatt]

OK, I've been lurking long enough. It's time for me to jump in. I was going to start this aquarium about 1 1/2 years ago, but life got in the way.

I had many aquariums years ago, all marine. I'm still an avid diver (used to be a fish collector). When I got out of Aquariums Trickel filters were just getting popular (I think early or mid 1980's. I had a very nice protein skimmer (some German brand), undergravel filters, canister filters, UV, Bleach white coral, blah, blah, blah. Great then, but now... Yuk.

I’m ready now so here goes...

I've been studying books, reading posts online, searching the Internet for the past year and a half. Things have changed… I've decided to build a tank. A 120 gallon reef tank, SPS dominated, Live Rock, a few clams, and a few fish.

I’m going to use Display tank with basically a bare bottom with a small amount of coral sand maybe 1" deep and 3" or 4" wide on the front and side of the display tank, the live rock will be raised off the bottom with egg crate, and a closed loop underneath to keep silt suspended mid water, a refugium with deep sand bed & RDP, separate sump, protein skimmer, Calcium reactor, metal halide w/ actinic supplement, and natural seawater.

I’ll start by posting the progress of my system starting with physical design. Any advice will always be appreciated. Maybe by posting my journey it will help me and save others from some of my mistakes.

Enjoy…

The Basic Plumbing







The Frame of the stand front view






The frame of the stand side view





The basic design of the final product the stand.

[original-reefland]

Looks great, the only thing that caught my eye is where the refugium connects to the display. Not sure if that is a generic water flow arrow or if that is about the level they'll be connected. In a power outage the refugium will drian to the water level of the display tank (after the display has drained to its lowest level). That could be a quiet a bit of water (plus all water in the plumbing) for a 55 gallon sump.

[mg426]

I would tend to agree with the power outage issue. Not hard to remedy with a little thought. Sure looks like you have plenty of that for sure. Enjoy the hobby Your system should be aewsome

[ReefStu]

It looks like you have about 2'x8' of floor space decicated to the tank. Why aren't you doing a 2'x2'x8' main tank and big sump/refugium below seperated into compartments? It looks like you are ready to tackle a big project. You could do an incredible tank in that space and never need to upgrade.

[gmatt]

Originally posted by original-reefland
Looks great, the only thing that caught my eye is where the refugium connects to the display. Not sure if that is a generic water flow arrow or if that is about the level they'll be connected. In a power outage the refugium will drian to the water level of the display tank (after the display has drained to its lowest level). That could be a quiet a bit of water (plus all water in the plumbing) for a 55 gallon sump.

Yeah, I know what you mean, I've drawn this up a couple of different ways. I'm still not convinced that the hight of the refuge is high enough above the display tank. The feed comming from the refuge is comming from the overflow box so it should add too much water to the sump.

Glen

[gmatt]

Originally posted by ReefStu
It looks like you have about 2'x8' of floor space decicated to the tank. Why aren't you doing a 2'x2'x8' main tank and big sump/refugium below seperated into compartments? It looks like you are ready to tackle a big project. You could do an incredible tank in that space and never need to upgrade.

LOL! Yeah I know, originally my 50 gal. refuge tank was going to be my display (It’s a new acrylic tank someone returned that I got a very good buy on). What I really want is a 220 gal down one wall of the dining room and a 150 down the other and build a fish room outside the house. Then I started thinking about how much it’s going to cost to build. More $ for tank more for sump I already have a skimmer, I’d need a bigger skimmer, more pumps, lights etc. etc. etc. Right now I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to buy the live rock, not to mention the livestock.

I know this cabinet is large for the final display I have (I’m crazy about that issue), but It’s really my fish room in a cabinet / armoire type design. I know this project is going to take me a little while but everyone seems to say that if I’m doing SPS the tank should have time to age the tank which will help with the time in purchasing.

And lastly I have two 20 amp circuits near this location. I cannot add more without replacing the house supply. That should be enough for this setup. I’m not sure with larger tanks if that would be enough. So I stopped at 120 gal but I didn’t want to.

[gmatt]

Finally, I've started. It's starting to get real. Here is the beginning of my stand....












Here's the Display tank and refugium tank and the location I'm Installing "The Reef".










I wanted as few supports as possible to give me as much acceess as possible. So I laminated 3/4" ply x3 to give me 48" between legs. Looking at it now this may be overkill.











Screwed and clamped...











Finished table top...

[elephen]

Looks nice, I'm tagging along, can't wait to see it.

[elephen]

Originally posted by gmatt
I’m going to use Display tank with basically a bare bottom with a small amount of coral sand maybe 1" deep and 3" or 4" wide on the front and side of the display tank

This will still sink a fair amount of detrius along with limiting you in the fact that you won't be able to blast flow close to the sand.

[gmatt]

Originally posted by elephen
This will still sink a fair amount of detrius along with limiting you in the fact that you won't be able to blast flow close to the sand.

Yeah I've gone back and forth on this and I like the idea of bare bottom , but I don't like the look. So this is the compromise just around the front and one side. To keep from blowing all around I'm thinking of using medium to large size substrate. Has anyone tried anything else? composit? sand and epoxy? Something with the look of substrate without the detrius collection?

[Bullredchaser]

Looks good,but Hurricane season starts in 3 months so you may want to have some plans in place in case you lose power for a couple of weeks.Maybe a couple of Drums of fuel and a generator should be planed.

[Weatherman]

Originally posted by Bullredchaser
Looks good,but Hurricane season starts in 3 months so you may want to have some plans in place in case you lose power for a couple of weeks.Maybe a couple of Drums of fuel and a generator should be planed.

Now, don’t you go wishing another Wilma (or Frances, or Jeanne, or Charlie, or Katrina, or Rita, or Dennis) on us poor South Florida residents. We’ve had enough of that.


Seriously, though…

If you don’t already have a generator, I highly recommend a Honda EU series model. Very quiet and very fuel-efficient (and we know how difficult it is to find a gas station open after a hurricane).

[Sindjin]

Looks Great! Ah...the memories!
It seems like only yesterday when I cut my first 2x4 to build my stand.

[jc5205]

I wouldn't use natural sea water..............IMO

[Weatherman]

Originally posted by jc5205
I wouldn't use natural sea water..............IMO

There are a couple of wholesalers here in South Florida that sell natural seawater to both businesses and individuals. They collect it, filter it and sterilize it before distributing it.

I've used nothing but natural seawater in my tanks since I moved down here several years ago. Never had any problems. I can get 250 gallons, delivered to my home, for a little over $80. Most of the lfs sell it for about 50 cents a gallon.

[gmatt]

Originally posted by Bullredchaser
Looks good,but Hurricane season starts in 3 months so you may want to have some plans in place in case you lose power for a couple of weeks.Maybe a couple of Drums of fuel and a generator should be planed.

I haven't gotten that far allong in the purchase list. But thanks It will be high on priority. Yeah last year 4 days without power. "I NEED a plan.

I can see it now

Study...
Plan...
Build....
purchase $300 or $400 woth of live rock.

everythings dead before the first coral.
urrrrrg!

I've talked to a couple of LFS about what they did last year. some survived some did'nt do so well.

[gmatt]

Originally posted by Weatherman
Now, don’t you go wishing another Wilma (or Frances, or Jeanne, or Charlie, or Katrina, or Rita, or Dennis) on us poor South Florida residents. We’ve had enough of that.


Seriously, though…

If you don’t already have a generator, I highly recommend a Honda EU series model. Very quiet and very fuel-efficient (and we know how difficult it is to find a gas station open after a hurricane).

Thanks for the tip on the EU series I'll look into it.

[gmatt]

Originally posted by Weatherman
There are a couple of wholesalers here in South Florida that sell natural seawater to both businesses and individuals. They collect it, filter it and sterilize it before distributing it.

I've used nothing but natural seawater in my tanks since I moved down here several years ago. Never had any problems. I can get 250 gallons, delivered to my home, for a little over $80. Most of the lfs sell it for about 50 cents a gallon.

I've actually seen it being collected by one of the LFS. I talked to the guys and the process seems straight forward. Collect on clean incomming tide, micron filter, UV burn, stabilize temp, add to tank. seems pretty straight forward. I've never done it but it makes sense.

[gmatt]

Originally posted by jc5205
I wouldn't use natural sea water..............IMO

What the downside?

[rizkeeper]

jumping on...cant wait to see mor pics

[Weatherman]

Originally posted by gmatt
I've actually seen it being collected by one of the LFS. I talked to the guys and the process seems straight forward. Collect on clean incomming tide, micron filter, UV burn, stabilize temp, add to tank. seems pretty straight forward. I've never done it but it makes sense.

That's it.

Just let the professionals collect and process the water and there is no downside.

Natural seawater around here tends to run about 7-8 dKH alk and 380 ppm calcium with a specific gravity of 1.026. So, if you feel so inclined, you may want to tweak the calc and alk up a bit by adding some calcium chloride and baking soda. I’ve never felt the need to mess with it.

I do test every new batch I get to ensure the numbers are consistent.

[Weatherman]

Originally posted by gmatt
Thanks for the tip on the EU series I'll look into it.

Just a little warning so you don't get sticker shock.

The Honda EU series generators are quite a bit more expensive than the standard generator like a Coleman Powermate. But, they are definitely worth it. I ran my Honda for 43 continuous hours after Wilma and only used seven gallons of gas. It ran so quiet I hardly knew it was there.

[gmatt]

I just thought I would give an update more wood stand construction.



Build the legs for the display tank








Attach the legs for the display tank









Attach the bottom leg brace for the display tank










Attach the bottom for the display tank









Main table for the display upright

[gmatt]

I should have posted this earlier. I'm not cabinet maker by any means. In fact what looked like a good design on paper is starting to look like overkill.

How I cut plywood sheets is I stack two layers of 2x4 then I lay the sheet of plywood I'm cutting on top of the 2x4s. Then I lay another sheet of plywood on top where about where I want to cut. Measure, then clamp the two sheets together and use the top sheet as my edge guide to make the cut with a hand held circular saw.

My question is this, how do you cut 4x8 sheets of plywood down to size pieces that are manageable on a 10" table saw? The picture below is what I am using.



This is what I use to cut 4x8 sheets of plywood.

[Enjoi]

i like where this is going