My ( first salt water) 75 Gallon build

Discussion in 'Show Off Your Fish Tanks!' started by Roccus, Jul 17, 2014.

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  1. Roccus

    Roccus Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2014
    Messages:
    81
    Location:
    Reading Mass.
    I gave some pictures and insight during my introduction( in another thread) here...Now I'm going to show how I have progressed to the point I am at now... I've been keeping F/W and pond fish for over 50 years.. this is my first Salt/reef build... it started in March as a birthday gift ( given in February) I've had to scratch up pictures and this will take awhile..so be patient... hopefully what I have experienced can help others just starting out...

    I started with a 75 gallon long the plan was to put it in my foyer...I put the plumbing through the wall down to where my 27 gallon DIY sump would be housed... I cut in a 20 Amp GFI protected circuit with feeders to the basement and display tank to provide power separate from the house circuits ( thus a vacuum cleaner or toaster could not take out the pumps and filter)... I modified the stand ( more on that latter) I ordered 50lbs of base rock and 50lbs of live rock for the display.. the tank was filled with a 3" "live" sand bed ( crushed shells and medium sand)...it was laid over a section of ventilation grate ( used in suspended ceilings) my base rock was hot glued to it so it could not move ...which is a blessing now as my diamond watch gobie has totally rearranged the sand scape... to be continued: wall%20install[1].jpg Tank%202[1].jpg Salt%20water%20day%203[1].jpg
     
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  3. Roccus

    Roccus Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Reading Mass.
    after considerable research, I decided on building a sump and a self priming weir... I don't have pictures of the build of the weir ( found on the web) just the finished product.. basically, it uses a chamber to hold water in stasis should the flow be cut off, but it will restart when the water reaches a predetermined level ( 1" below the rim) the weir has to be primed the first time with a hose that is attached to the top to pull the air out.. the original design pinched off the hose on an air valve.. I found that by using check valve I no longer needed that..it was built from acrylic and bent into the shape I wanted ( modified to fit my needs) the side panels and baffle were glued together with a hot glue gun.. I nailed it first try it skims the surface perfectly and stops and starts "on demand".. I originally used a durso stand pipe for a silencer but was never happy with it's performance.. I found that a straight drain into the 1" bulk head ( the feed from the sump is 3/4") is reasonably quiet.. and a 1/4" acrylic cover all but silences the chamber... next the trials and tribulation of my sump ...to be continued Weir[1].jpg
     
  4. FeedYourMachine

    FeedYourMachine Feather Duster

    Joined:
    May 31, 2014
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    Location:
    Treasure Lake PA
    Good deal,,looking good ..I would loose the background though ,JMHO
    ..Go with an all blue or all black instead
     
  5. Roccus

    Roccus Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2014
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    Location:
    Reading Mass.
    I've changed that back ground already.. I'm not even in love with the one I have now... planning on solid blue. You'll see a lot of changes as I post this up. Learned a ton in a short time...
     
  6. Zgetman

    Zgetman Ritteri Anemone

    Joined:
    Jun 15, 2013
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    616
    Location:
    Dumas, TX, USA
    I am going along for the ride on this one.. I just learned something new and I will be using it when I up grade to a bigger tank. The egg crate in the bottom to stabilize the rock is an awesome idea.
     
  7. Roccus

    Roccus Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2014
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    81
    Location:
    Reading Mass.
    The sump.... this has been a Achilles heel..it didn't need to be... I've made it that way.. mostly by being stubborn... I could have bought one pre made..or follow any one of a dozen designs I've seen...

    I chose a 26 gallon "tool box" style container it was under $20.... My reasoning was I could have it hold about 15 - 20 gallons of water leaving a reserve space for when the pumps were shut off ( or the power went out).. this might have been the ONLY thing I did right in the beginning.. Knowing I was going to use live rock and live sand, I figured that having another source of bio filtering would be a good idea as the rock and sand cured.. so I made a trickle filter ( nitrate trap) with bio balls and media that I planned to "wean" off the system as my tank matured.. and quite honestly.. the system pretty much cycled the first few days...in a months time I had eliminated the bio balls and some of the filter media and replaced them with a 100 mic. sock filter that is cleaned daily and replaced monthly. The sump had 3 chambers.. the first was for the skimmer and incoming water with the bio balls... mistake # 1.. the baffle for the chamber had a V shaped outlet... my ignorance to how protein skimmers were sensitive on water height became immediately apparent. The second chamber was for my refugium.. it housed coarse live sand, live rock rubble and 3 types of macro algae... sea lettuce...shaving brush and halmedia ( only the halmedia remains) as well as an infusion of copepods.... Mistake #2.. with only a single baffle... the flow through the refugium into the supply chamber for the display tank saw it's share of sand... I didn't want to create a nitrate absorbing sponge so I had nothing on the pump...pumps and sand... yea.. they don't play well together.. so I ended up filtering the water to that chamber ( and eliminated my copepods from stocking the main tank)...Mistake #3.. silicone does not bond some plastics and acrylics.. the whole thing pretty much became 1 chamber... Mistake #4.. plastic..no matter how sturdy you THINK it is bows under water pressure.. this contributed to problem #3.. which wasn't discovered until I re assembled the whole thing with hot glue ( better but not a good solution for strength).. so after building a frame from wood to support the sides I changed the configuration little .. and gluing and sealing with 3M 4000 UV sealant I arrived at the prototype for what I have running today ( I don't have a picture of this one here and will post latter).. in the final picture you will see a series of tubes going into 3/4"PVC "holders" these come from 3 sorces... 1 is a fresh water top off ( black tank next to the sump, filled with D/I/R/O water) the other is from the Kalwasser system ( put in and out of service by a ball valve).. the others are returns from a pump in the final chamber that supplies to a pair of 2 little fishies reactors, one for Carbon and Phose-ban.. the other for Sea chem's de-nitrate.. these return to chamber # 1.. the other is a by pass so I can control the flow through the reactors ... this pump is marginal for the dispaly tank, but can be put to use as an emergency pump for the main sump should the primary pump fail... you will also notice a "testing " station and clip board.. this is for water tests and documentation.. I'm having picture issues.. I'll have to try again..
     
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  9. Roccus

    Roccus Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Reading Mass.
    View attachment 64958 View attachment 64959
    View attachment 64960 Picture%20097[1].jpg View attachment 64958 View attachment 64959 View attachment 64960 Picture%20097[1].jpg testing%20shelve[1].jpg
    lets see if I can do this again..
    View attachment 64958 View attachment 64959 View attachment 64960 View attachment 64958 View attachment 64959 View attachment 64960 AS YOU CAN SEE.. I've CHANGED OUT THE SKIMMER...the original was a Marine land in sump 100gallon .. it was OK.. probably not as bad as I thought it was.. maybe if Ihad understood more..I'd still be using it... I bought a Reef octopus 150 in sump..and LOVE it... easy to adjust, skims like crazy ..don't know how I ended up with the same pictures so many times... sorry mods.. I cant figure out how to fix it right now..
     

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  10. Roccus

    Roccus Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    Location:
    Reading Mass.
    hovering.JPG toadstool 2.JPG I need some newer pictures because I have updated my sump ( version 3) and added more live stock. Here's a few pictures of what's Toadstool.JPG in there now..
     

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  11. Roccus

    Roccus Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Reading Mass.
    Here are the pictures of the completed /revised sump...revision 3...
    the basic sump is the original 26 gallon "tool box" container... whatever "plastic" it is doesn't want to accept any type of normal adhesive... the 3 M 4000 UV adheres nicely to the acrylic but not well to the plastic.. at least as a bonding agent... I ended up hot stick welding the baffles in with a poly styrene sticks in my PVC welder....then sealing the joints with 4000 UV...The first compartment houses the skimmer ( Reef Octopus 150 I)r and a 500 GPH pump that circulates water through the two reactors .. one with phose ban and carbon.. the other with Seachem's de-nitrate... the hoses are run back to the main chamber for "recirculation".. flow control and by pass are controlled through a manifold and ball valves.... a 200 mic 4" X 7" sock filter( washed daily) catches debris on the return line to ease the load on the skimmer... the skimmer sets on a platform so the water level is at an optimum level per the manufacturer.... the picture shows a polishing media.. it is no longer used or needed... the second chamber houses live rock rubble, live sand, chaeto and gracillaris ( red) as well as newly acquired mangrove and thousand of copepods ( and hermit crabs exiled for bad behavior).. a series of 3 baffles control the flow to the final return chamber housing the Danner 1800 pump that supplies the display... I made a platform and frame ( all joints are mortise and ten ion) from scrap PT wood to support the bottom and baffled areas to keep the sides and bottom from bowing and stressing the welds.. something that was a problem in the past.. I added a set of dolly wheels so I could roll the "unit" in and out for inspection and service... a pair of modifies 8" reflector work laps with 60 W compact fluorescent bulbs supply light on a 12 hour cycle opposite the display tank.. Sump 1 Rev 3.JPG Sump 2 Rev 3.JPG Sump 3 Rev 3.JPG Sump 3 Rev 3.JPG Sump 4 Rev 3.JPG
     
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  12. Roccus

    Roccus Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2014
    Messages:
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    Location:
    Reading Mass.
    I need to take some more (recent pictures) but these were on my camera... my diamond watch goby... a very interesting fellow to sat the least... 012.JPG 011.JPG 013.JPG