"OverKill" Reef - My Project

[hammerhead]

I have the same RO/DI and I love it. It's been running for about a year no problems. Im still using the same RO membrain 0 TDS.

[Jcohen9999]

@jun41: Yep (and welcome back, I see you found this thread). As you can tell by the tiling in the background of that counter top picture the theme of the room is fish.

And I even populated on of the tanks already:



@TheUltimateNoob: Thanks and while I would love a larger display tank right now I will need to settle on this. Ultimately, the master plan has me adding at least one more tank in the den using the same sump/fuge setup. The only way I could justify the cost of this initial setup was by making it part of the bathroom redesign and doing all the bathroom work myself and using the money we saved on a contractor on the SW setup. I havent done the final calcs with my changes but I dont think it was that much more to use the larger sumps and plan for a larger setup.



Jeff

[jun41]

Sweet bowl.

[Jcohen9999]

LOL

[Forestal]

Your setup is looking great so far. Anxious to see you progress.
Always fun to follow a fellow DIY'er

[Blindmelonbob]

Here's an idea: remove existing cabinetry, replace with 150-200 gallon tank. Make countertop flip-up, mount lights underneath.

[DaveJohnson]

For the remaining rock I'd get base rock from www.hirocks.com Soon enough it will be LR and as long as it's in the sump/fuge who cares if there's no life on it right away. And it's about $1/lb shipped so that will save you heaps of cash.

When I ordered from them last summer (an eBay sale of theirs) I got 120 lbs delivered to San Antonio for $120. Several of the pieces are 15+ lbs so they should have awesome denitrification capacity.

Cheers,
Dave Johnson

[Jcohen9999]

@DaveJohnson: Perfect!!!! Thanks. This is just what I was looking for to put in my sump/fuge. I will order this once I get some life in my tank.

@Blindmelonbob: LOL...Do you think I can get someone to make me an acrylic tank that would have room for two sinks and some drawers?


btw, I think I might have to bite the bullet and make my own canopy out of leftover tiles. I can't see hanging a pendant over this tank with the chance that my kids will continually be looking up into the MH lighting.

Jeff

[Bax]

Great set up!

I had a real hard time trying to fit PC, NO actinic 03, LEDs and 175 MH lighting on my 26 bow. It's tough. Not a lot of room at all. the basic shape is 24" x 10 1/4" with 15" at the bow.

I am building a canopy and stripping the reflectors out of the PC & 03 strip lights and a pendant MH to DIY them into a canopy.
Since your going with only the MHs you could get a smaller rectangle relfector and break out the tin snips to trim it to fit.
Then you can go to the auto store and pick up $18 worth of LEDs for moonlights. All you have to do is drill 1/4" holes to pass them throught hte reflector, wire them to a 12v wallwart and boom.
They'ed be a great night light in the bathroom.

Love your project and will be following along.

[Jcohen9999]

Wahoo....we've struck water!

The mirror came in:


...so it was time for some major plumbing and RO/DI making. By late Saturday night we had our first wet test and except for one bad fitting we look like we are 100% on the infrastructure:




Of course when the water rose to the bulkhead level I got the inevitable flushing sound which I was able to get rid of by simply putting an air tube down through the bulkhead. I would have like to create my own Durso type set up but there just wasn't room behind the tank. This seems to work fine.

And I believe I have found a MH/T-5 Combo that will fit ...I'm sure this will be better then anything I can build right now.

As alway, any input/feedback would be more than appreciated.

Jeff





@Bax: Thanks for the suggestions. I will def be researching moonlighting next.

[Jcohen9999]

oops...I must have tightened the barbed fitting onto the closed-loop pump too tightly because this morning I discovered a small puddle and a split on the pump cover along a seam. Strange that it took 3 days to split but I called Danner and they are going to send me another pump cover under warranty

Looks like I will be ordering my LR sometime next week as I will be gone for the rest of this week and my lights are probably still 2 weeks away.


Oh and I added salt last night.


Jeff

[Razing Kane]

I really like your plumbing setup. I'm interested in the design if you could let me know more about it. Anyway< I dont know what your exact intentions are, but this is what 50 lbs of LR look like in a 26 gal Bow.

[Jcohen9999]

Razin,

Thanks and thanks for the picture. That is exactly where I want to go! It looks great. Nice aquascaping. What type of LR is that and how long have you had it in the tank? Also, what did you do for lighting? Inquiring minds want to know


As for my plumbing....ask away (keeping in mind that all I have is a tank full of salty water)


Jeff

[Razing Kane]

Thanks, I dont want to hijack your thread,but just want to help you out. This is actually my best friends tank. He just took an updated pic for you a few minutes ago. I have the same tank but with 35lbs of LR. He has given me 10 lbs of his, so now he has about 40 or so lbs in there. the tank was set up on feb 1st a couple of months ago and the LR is a mix of gulf & fiji. a mix is generally the best I would suggest Tamba Bay Saltwater rock. I'ts full of life and they ship it to your door.

[Bax]

Razin Kane

Nice 26 bow!

Jeff

I am between digital cameras but will post pics when I can. Iv'e got 42 pounds of LR in my 26 bow and thinking about rounding up to 50. I was worried it might be over the top but Razin's looks pretty good. No sump yet but it's in the planning stages but with no fish as yet the bio load is low and things are developing nicely.

I like your sump and wish my wife would let me plumb through walls but I don't think that's going to happen.

Keep us informed & good luck!

[Jcohen9999]

Wow, I can't believe i forgot to update this thread for last weekend....

Well since adding the salt to taste I have been playing with the flow in the tank by adjusting the valves for the pumps. I can get some pretty good turbulence and flow in there without stressing my psuedo overflow (an upturned elbow with an air tube) and without adding bubbles. I just need to fashion a strainer for the 'overflow' it out of eggcrate.

Also, even though it wasnt necessary I started a cycle with a small piece of LR, a cup of LS and a green chromis so that I could play with my testing kits.

I should be ordering 60lbs of LR to arrive early next week and then the real fun begins...

2 questions that I have are:

Just how slow (or fast) should the flow in the fuge be and should I take the fuge off line for the LR curing process?

Any comments or suggestions are most welcome....

Jeff

[Razing Kane]

Let it run the way it will run when fully cycled.evrything going. with that awesome sump setup you will be fine!

[Razing Kane]

Oh yeah, It might be nice to put some lighting over that sump. that would be too cool.

[Jcohen9999]

Thanks for the input, Razin.

Here's a picture of the sump with a 5" Southdown DSB:


I cant wait to get some algae and other life in there. I might even consider stocking it with some seahorses just for fun.

Anyway, over the fuge/sump area I have a 4' dual NO 40W fluorescent utility-type fixture with daylight bulbs (6.5K) that I will be leaving on 24/7. Will this do the trick?

Finally, I spoke to the distributors of the SCWD and they assured me I could run my closed-loop with the ball valve wide-open without risking a blowout of the SWCD so when I cranked it up tonight I caused a minor sandstorm:



but I am sure it will calm down in a few hours. You can even see the turbulence it causes at the top of the tank even with the downward pointing spray bars...

Boy this is fun

Jeff

[Silver Vortex]

looks like a fun project!

[Bax]

Looking good Jeff this is the MEGA 26 bow project of all time for sure!

[Jcohen9999]

@Bax, Gee thanks but I have a long way to go before I make 'Tank of the Month'

[Bax]

I wonder what the smallest display to make tank of the month was? It's worth a search.

With your overall system, 12 months from now, you could be in the running.

[jeremism30]

Think it was Dana's 20.

[Bax]

So I checked, and I knew there had been a 40 gal recently that's nvert's 40 gal TOM for Jan 2004.
Another 40 to be TOM was thurman's 40 gal for Oct 2001.
Getting smaller yet salt creeps 29 gal was TOM for May 2003.
Even smaller yet... physhi's 20 gal was TOM for July 2002 and
dana's 20 gal for Feb 2000.

For those of us with smaller reefs due to space, budget or desire these look like pretty good systems to learn from.

It also prooves that small budget system can be tank of the month. Some of the equipment on these smaller tanks is innovative and low budget.

Enjoy!