120 gallon rimless with basement sump

[MrTyler585]

least you found a solution to your problem, a good one at that ! Whats the next few steps ??

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[ReefingHavoc]

Originally Posted by MrTyler585

least you found a solution to your problem, a good one at that ! Whats the next few steps ??

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

Thanks for following along. Here’s where my head is at with next steps:
- painting on the canopy is almost done; I’ll install shortly after
- install the ledge on the stand
- start working on a mount for the dosing containers

One thing I’ve been working on in the background is diluting out the copper in my QT. I have a magnificent fox face that had ich and am at the point where he’s been symptom free for almost 4 weeks. Been doing water changes to lower the copper to 0.

The cycle is almost at 3 weeks and while ammonia goes down overnight (adding small amount of ammonia daily), nitrites are still around 1 ppm. I added Fritz TurboStart when I started the cycle. I thought the tank would cycle much faster. Possibly a bad batch?

[MrTyler585]

Sounds like a solid plan. & looking forward to the pictures/updates. It could possibly be a bad batch.

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[ReefingHavoc]

Big milestone hit as I finally got the finishing touches put on the display stand. Canopy is painted and installed. Here you can see the underside when it’s up for maintenance



Added the first piece of shelf trim.



To prevent any spills from getting into the stand itself I added a bead of silicone between the trim and tank. Not sure how well it will work, but worth a shot



...and with the final shelf piece in place







I also broke down and picked up a Neptune Dos to do auto water changes. While I was originally looking to do Triton and avoid water changes, since this will be a new tank, I’d like the ability to do some consistent water changes.



Now I just need to find a place to mount it.

For the cycle, I’m consistently getting 0 ammonia and nitrites after dosing 15 ml of ammonia daily. Going to do a 50 gallon water change in the next couple days to bring down nitrates. The fish are ready for their new home!

[JamesHolt]

That looks really nice, good job...

[ReefingHavoc]

Originally Posted by JamesHolt

That looks really nice, good job...

Thanks!

[ReefingHavoc]

First attempt at a large water change (52 gallons) was a success. Simply turned on the pump for the new water; turned on the pump to drain the sump and adjusted a ball valve to balance out the ratio of incoming to outgoing water.

Took about 5-10 minutes with no lifting of anything or lugging around hoses.

I’ll test nitrates tonight to see where they sit after the change

[ReefingHavoc]

Nitrates were at 50 so I did another water change this morning. Sitting at 25. Prepping for another tomorrow. Went to a frag swap today and picked up some zoas, acans, and ricordea’s (pics to come)

Crossing my fingers I can start adding livestock tomorrow

[ReefingHavoc]

Since I have a melanurus wrasse and probably getting another I need some netting to prevent jumpers. I did a diy screen on my old tank but with the rimless 120 that wasn’t going to work as it would take away from the look of a rimless. Came across the DD JumpGuard and liked the look of it. It has a rim all the way around it that allows the frame to sit below the rim.





My only complaint about the kit is that the netting was next to impossible to square up per the instructions. Luckily I had some extra from my last screen that worked well.

After 3x 50 gallon water changes the nitrates were finally down to where I felt comfortable adding the first fish. The Magnificent Foxface was the first one in. Within a 24 hour period he’s already swimming around and showing good color



To help keep parameters in check I hooked up the Dos for auto water changes. Super simple to run lines and calibrate. Now I just need my salt to mix up and I can start running it. I calculated that I can go about 90 days between mixing up a new batch.



For pulling water out of the sump I installed a 1/4” bulkhead and added ridged tubing. Did the same for the new saltwater barrel



I’m looking to start moving the coral and other two fish over the next week.

[gatohoser]

I’m curious to see how that rigid tubing and bulkhead combo work. I had been wanting to do that and saw that lots of people have issues with air getting into the tubing messing up the dosing. Have you done that before for dosing or anything?

[shred5]

Wow very very nice!! Got some mad skills..

Where did you get that light rack? Never seen one like that.

[ReefingHavoc]

Originally Posted by gatohoser

I’m curious to see how that rigid tubing and bulkhead combo work. I had been wanting to do that and saw that lots of people have issues with air getting into the tubing messing up the dosing. Have you done that before for dosing or anything?

I ran 2 part in my old tank for about 3 years with the same bulkheads and rigid tubing and didn’t seem to have problems, but there could have been and I didn’t notice it.

That being said, you’ve peaked my interest so I’m going to set up a small test to see if air bubbles are getting in the lines.



I’m going to calibrate three BRS 1.1 pumps pulling from my dosing container and set up a schedule through my Apex to pull water in cycles over a 24 hour period. I’ll check the lines for bubbles and see if the expected amount is pulled out from each. Not scientific, but may answer the question.

I do notice a couple small bubbles in the tube that pulls from the sump, but those could be trapped from the startup.

[ReefingHavoc]

Originally Posted by shred5

Wow very very nice!! Got some mad skills..

Where did you get that light rack? Never seen one like that.

The lights are an Aquatic Life T5-Hybrid built into a custom hood. I want to say I got the lights through Marine Depot, but they’re sold elsewhere

[shred5]

Originally Posted by ReefingHavoc

The lights are an Aquatic Life T5-Hybrid built into a custom hood. I want to say I got the lights through Marine Depot, but they’re sold elsewhere

I was asking about the rack.. The part that holds up the hood?

[gatohoser]

Originally Posted by ReefingHavoc

I ran 2 part in my old tank for about 3 years with the same bulkheads and rigid tubing and didn’t seem to have problems, but there could have been and I didn’t notice it.

That being said, you’ve peaked my interest so I’m going to set up a small test to see if air bubbles are getting in the lines.



I’m going to calibrate three BRS 1.1 pumps pulling from my dosing container and set up a schedule through my Apex to pull water in cycles over a 24 hour period. I’ll check the lines for bubbles and see if the expected amount is pulled out from each. Not scientific, but may answer the question.

I do notice a couple small bubbles in the tube that pulls from the sump, but those could be trapped from the startup.

Very cool. I’m excited to see how that works as I’m just setting up my DOS right now and trying o figure out how I’m going to run the lines, rigid and bulkheads or just soft right through the caps.

[ReefingHavoc]

Originally Posted by shred5

I was asking about the rack.. The part that holds up the hood?

It’s extruded t-slot aluminum sold through 80/20.net. I’m using series 15, 1.5”

[JamesHolt]

Wonderful stuff that 80/20 is...
My old 40 breeder

[ReefingHavoc]

Originally Posted by JamesHolt

Wonderful stuff that 80/20 is...
My old 40 breeder

Nice! I like the hinge on that.

[ReefingHavoc]

Update on the dosing line experiment...mixed results. After calibrating, I filled each of the containers to 500 ml and set up the dosers to take 100 ml over the course of 24 hours. Three things I was looking for:

1. Did the three pumps take out equal amounts?

2. Did they take out the right amount?

3. Bubbles in the lines

I checked the progress after 19 hours with an expectation that just about 80 ml would have been pulled. Good news is that 1 of them did pull 80 ml. Bad news is that the other two did not (but pretty close) and all three had small bubbles.





What is my unscientific takeaway? Bubbles can potentially impact dosing amounts. So can poor calibration, which could also be a byproduct of air leaking through the bulkhead. When I think back to how I originally had the dosers set up, I was running RO lines from them, not the flexible tubing included. After doing some researching online, it sounds like some are having more success with RO line as it may seat better in the bulkhead. The only problem is I can’t see if there are air bubbles in the line.

I’ll likely set up the experiment again, but with RO lines. My only gauge will be if they all pull equal amounts

[gatohoser]

Originally Posted by ReefingHavoc

Update on the dosing line experiment...mixed results. After calibrating, I filled each of the containers to 500 ml and set up the dosers to take 100 ml over the course of 24 hours. Three things I was looking for:

1. Did the three pumps take out equal amounts?

2. Did they take out the right amount?

3. Bubbles in the lines

I checked the progress after 19 hours with an expectation that just about 80 ml would have been pulled. Good news is that 1 of them did pull 80 ml. Bad news is that the other two did not (but pretty close) and all three had small bubbles.





What is my unscientific takeaway? Bubbles can potentially impact dosing amounts. So can poor calibration, which could also be a byproduct of air leaking through the bulkhead. When I think back to how I originally had the dosers set up, I was running RO lines from them, not the flexible tubing included. After doing some researching online, it sounds like some are having more success with RO line as it may seat better in the bulkhead. The only problem is I can’t see if there are air bubbles in the line.

I’ll likely set up the experiment again, but with RO lines. My only gauge will be if they all pull equal amounts

Awesome. Thanks for doing that.

[JamesHolt]

to get it to work without bubbles you need to get fittings rated for suction, just a matter of another gasket inside of the fitting...
SMC makes some really nice medical grade ones

[JamesHolt]

Originally Posted by ReefingHavoc

Nice! I like the hinge on that.

That was supposed to be a cover hood, but life and an upgrade canceled that...

[ReefingHavoc]

Originally Posted by JamesHolt

to get it to work without bubbles you need to get fittings rated for suction, just a matter of another gasket inside of the fitting...
SMC makes some really nice medical grade ones

Never heard of SMC. I’m guessing something you can order online?

[ReefingHavoc]

Starting test number 2 on the dosing lines - RODI line from container to pumps

[JamesHolt]

Originally Posted by ReefingHavoc

Never heard of SMC. I’m guessing something you can order online?

https://smcpartbuilder.com/products/...-Systems~21932

https://smcpartbuilder.com/products/...-Fitting~21936