75gal Mixed reef build

[Rchan89]

This is the beginning of my electrical box. I still have some work to do but i thought i would post my progress . The front opening still needs a face and will large enough to accommodate 2 of the DJ style power strips. My plan is to paint it and mount it vertically inside the cabinet on full extension slides. this way the electronics are separated from the rest of the sump and protected from splashes and i can pull it out to get to the components when i need to. The side not facing the sump with be open for access when the slides are extended. I may put a fan on as well that would be cut into the side of the stand for the electronics to vent as well. Well see how carried away i get lol.

[Rchan89]

I have a few weekend build updates. I installed a Sicce 3.0 as my main return pump. I plumbed for one additional return pump and manifold for future expansions. The plan is to have redundancy for the system should anything fail. I used soft tubing and rubber feet on the pump to keep it quiet. I also decided to pick up a python for water changes.

[Rchan89]

Here are some pics of the electrical box installation. The box is easily removable for access to the internal portion. I have one slot left open for another bank of switches. the goal was to suspend the box and protect all of the outlets from any potential spills or sprays. Also, behind the tank i have installed a GFCI outlet to protect against moisture and the outlet is actually covered with a glad container with a cutout in the bottom just in case water comes over the tank and down the back towards the outlet. I plan to keep some silica pack or other material in the bottom of the electrical portion of the box to reduce moisture. Eventually i plan to install a fan on the outside of the stand that can keep any electronics cool once the doors are in place.

[aikenreefkeeper]

I like that switch bank. Can you give me the name and where you got it?

Thanks,

[Rchan89]

The switch panel is American DJ i ordered it from Amazon.

[Rchan89]

Time to start some aquascaping. I ordered 75 lbs of the Marcos rock from BRS. My current system has about 30 lbs of live rock That should give me at or around 100 lbs of rock over all. Some of the rock in my current system is covered with xenia and mushroom corals. I dont plan on putting many softies in my new set up because they will out compete LPS and SPS id like. I will likely trade those in to my LFS. I pulled a couple of large base pieces from my current system to "seed" the new rock and bacteria culture. I started planning how i would like the tank to look by taking an Expo marker and drawing out on the tank the look i wanted to achieve . i attempted to use the rule of 3rds in the process. Of course, the rocks control a bit of the aquascaping themselves.

[Rchan89]

[Rchan89]

The tank is full and the cycle is started. i seeded the tank with some live rock from my current set up along with some old filter floss and other filter media to get the bacteria started. I have been ghost feeding the tank to build some ammonia. One sicce 3.0 return pump will be more than enough for my set up. I am getting a ton of flow through the sump . I am not sure adding a second return would be a good idea at this point. It may over load the drains. I plan to keep a second one on hand just in case for back up. Also, i have noticed that in my basement a singe 200 watt heater is just not going to be nearly enough to keep the system at 79 deg. I purchased a second 100 watt jager heater along with the current 200 watt for a total of 300 watts. ive heard that the rule of thumb is 3 watts per gallon putting my system of 75 gal DT and 20 gal sump at about 285 watts. We will see if it keeps up in my basement. i didnt want to over do the heaters. Ive had one get stuck in the on position before in my Biocube and i just happen to be home on the weekend and caught it. I will be doing more automation in the future possibly either an apex or something similar. The only thing i wish i had done differently at this point or something i would consider for my next build would be to have a much larger sump. a 20 gal long is the absolute minimum i would consider for a 75 gal. Now i just have to decide which direction to go next. Should i go with an auto top off, skimmer, Lights, ...?

[Rchan89]

If you wanted to know that the back side of the wiring cabinet looks like this is it. i will probably do more cable managment in the future as i start to finalize where all my wires will be once everything is set in place.

[Michael Hoaster]

It's coming along nicely. How about a pic of the aquascape?

[Rchan89]

Here is a pick of the aquascape. It is still a work in progress. i have some live rock to move over from my other system and im not totally sold on this setup yet. With the 75 gal and the internal overflow i wanted to go with a sort of 2 hills look. I kept most of the rock low in the tank to leave room for corals to grow up and i tried to avoid over hangs to minimize shadowing and also for better display while leaving large voids behind the rock and caves for flow and hiding places. With the deep sand bed 100 lbs of rock looks like nothing. i would like to add a bit more but i also leaning towards LPS i want to prevent dead spots with a moderate flow level . I thought about busting the rock up and epoxying them back together but honestly, once it is covered with coral i dont think it will make much difference.

[Rchan89]

Here are a couple of updates on the build. I installed two inkbird temperature controllers that are operating two 200 watt heaters for the system. The heaters are placed in the first stage of the sump where water level stays consistent. I placed the the temperature probes in the DT. This way i can get the temp of the display to run the heaters without having to compensate for temp loss through the sump. i hid the probes on the cord to my powerheads. Ive already noticed that my tank is evaporating pretty quickly. An ATO system will have to be one of the next pieces. I would say im lossing at least a gallon a day. The lighting system is on the way as well and should be in soon.
Current Tank Parameters:
SG: 1.025
Temp: 79 F
Ammonia:~1.0

[Rchan89]

Finally got some lights set up for the tank.

[Michael Hoaster]

Looks good! Nice, clean lighting setup.

[Rchan89]

I have a few updates on the tank. I decided to pull all of the rock out of the tank and completely re-aquascape it. I just wasnt happy with the look and thought i could do better. Also, i was loosing a lot of the rock to the 4 inch sand bed so, i lifted the rock up with some pvc pipe. I used 3 in PVC that i cut to 3.5 inches long so that it would stay about half an inch below the sand bed. I cut them and placed them everywhere i wanted to support the rock work. This worked really well except... when i lifted the rock i noticed i needed more sand... a lot more. Total so far i have about 180 lbs of sand in the tank 50 lbs of it is live sand. I also have about 100 lbs of rock about 20 of which is life rock from my other system. Over all i am much happier with the look. I still would like a bit more live rock. I think if i were to do it over i would budget for 2 lbs per gal on the rock.

[Rchan89]

I have also added another PP-8 power head and i have both of them running as a master and slave on ELSE mode at about 1/3 speed to keep the sand from blowing around. I am looking for more moderate flow for the system so this will provide plenty of control. For filtration along with filter pads for mechanical filtration and macro algae for bio filtration, i decided to go with the Reef Octopus 150 int classic. I was going to choose the 110 but everything was out of stock. since i was on the fence between the 2 that helped me make my mind up. Also on the way is the BRS Carbon reactor. Since i will have some softies and LPS in the tank i wanted an option to keep the water clean and the toxins at bay. I plan on running the reactor off of a sump manifold. I build the system with 2 return lines. one return line is a sicce 3.0 that is totally unrestricted. I will have a second Sicce 3.0 for the manifold that will also feed to the DT. Running both at full to the DT would over whelm my drain so i am placing a valve to divert flow back into the sump and only send a very small amount to the DT so that i am not pushing into my emergency drain line. This will also give me a back up pump so that if there is ever a failure i can alway just divert to the DT. I am using the redundancy method for most of my equipment. I now have 2 200 watt heaters as well neither of them can heat the tank on their own so the chance of over heating would only happen if both temp controller fail and both heater fail in the on position at the same time. possible but i dont think it would be very likely. To handle all of the equipment a second switch panel is on the way as well. This should be enough to handle 16 pieces of equipment. I plan to have 5 Lights (2 T5 sets, 2 XR15s, and 1 refugium light) 2 heaters, 2 return pumps, one skimmer, one ATO pump system, 2 power heads, and 3 to grow on. Potentially for dosing pumps in the future was my thinking.

[Michael Hoaster]

Much better rock scape! All the system stuff sounds good too. Nice to follow your progress. Keep up the good work!

[Rchan89]

Thank you! It looks a lot better in person, a lot more natural ! I am much happier with it. Also, my ammonia is between 2.0 and 3.0 right now. More than double from about a week ago.

[aikenreefkeeper]

I think the rock scape look better as well.

[Rchan89]

This morning i started to notice some of my rock work is starting to get a brown film. I am guessing diatoms at this point. I recheck my ammonia and it has dropped from about a 2-3 down to 1-2. Still no nitrates showing up in the system yet. I am still ghost feeding the tank. I expect that in the next week we are going to see a bit of the ugly stage.

[Rchan89]

It is a bit tough to see but here are a couple of pics of the diatom bloom. It has nearly covered the tank from this morning. All of the rock is turning a rusty color.

[Scuba Mike]

@rchan95 be cautious with the placements and temp probe. During a return pump outage I had my heaters in my sump in 1 section and probe in another. I kept wavemakers and a bubble stone running. Problem was the controller only read temp in one part of the system while the heater kept trying to heat up the system but only heated the section they were in. I hope that makes sense.

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[Rchan89]

@ Scuba Mike, I did consider that. The heaters i have also have a built in thermostat. I set it a bit high ~ 82 this way the temp controller set at 79 will turn it on and off. if the pumps fail I would have about 20 gallons of 82 deg water in the sump. I dont think it would cause a lot of damage when it kicked back on but.... i also just installed a second return pump. This way if one fails the other should keep moving and if the power fails completely then it will kill the heaters also. Im sure its possible for some combination of events to screw the system up but i tried to engineer out as many of them as possible. Heres a pick of the second pump i just installed.

[Rchan89]

The second switch panel is installed now as well. I had to start getting organized with my switches. I started on my manifold as well. the last ball valve is going to be set for running a carbon reactor at about 150-250 gph. The one going into the ref. area will act a small powerhead. I plan to keep cheatomorpha and my thinking was this should help keep it tumbling to prevent dead spots. There well be a lot of flow through the ref. so i dont know how much of a refuge it will truly be but hopefully enough for a little macro algae and some pods.

[Rchan89]

Its getting pretty crowded in the sump. lol. But i have nearly everything in there at this point minus an ATO. Im just waiting for one of the models i like to come into stock. Ammonia has dropped to 0 - 0.25 Nitrate are near 30 now. They shot up over night. The skimmer is up and running. I still need to finish plumbing the carbon reactor. I just need an adapter for my PVC and it will be good to go. I want to let it run just a bit longer and start doing some water changes. Next i plan to bring in the bugs. Amphipods, copepods, bristle worms and spaghetti worms as well as some macro algae for the sump. This will make sure there is plenty of life in the substrate. From what i have read, the most important thing for a deep sand bed are organisms to keep it turned over internally.