New 95G tank...

[robnorton]

Hello,

I have had freshwater tanks in the past and have done reasonably well with them. Since I moved to Ireland, I havent had any tanks at all, but I decided I'd like to give a marine tank a go.

So, to do this and keep the better half happy, I found a suitable corner unit tank that would look good in the house - a Trigon 350. The basic requirements of the tank is that it's neat and tidy - no wires or pipes visible - if there is a way to hide these things, it needs to be done from the start. It needs to be as quiet as possible.

I have seen many conversions and I plan to modify the cabinet to tank allow a reasonable sized sump which will house most of the bits (exact things to be determined!).

So far I have determined I may need the following things:

Fish tank!
Glass to build weir in tank & enough to build sump/refugium (measurements later)
RO/DI Water maker.
Water Pump(s) (What kind? What brands are quiet & reliable?)
Air Pump(s)?
Heater(s)
Powerhead(s)
Protein Skimmer (I've read quite a bit about these)
Lights!! - I am quite keen to give LED a go, however I would need it to fit in the hood, so from what I've read, it'll be a DIY project - I'm quite handy with a soldering iron - what I don't know is where to get them, and what colours, drivers, etc etc. I would also consider doing some kind of Hybrid between T5's and LED also.

I plan on having some kind of controller with various sensors, I am a IT person and like the idea of being able to gather statistics about the tank and be able to control various components either automatically and/or remotely. I am also a big fan of automation where mundane tasks can be automated - auto top off etc. The location of the tank is close to both a drain, and a source of soft water (I have to soften water here as the lime is very bad in the mains water)

I would plan on buying these items slowly, with the tank, sump (and plumbing to go with it..) first on the list to get things started. Since cycling the tank may take a reasonable amount of time, I figure I would have some time to get the basic cycle started while collecting the other necessary bits.

I'm not in a rush to get things swimming/walking around in the tank - I will wait until everything is right. However I don't want to get to a stage where I say to myself "I wish I had done this, or I wish I had done that" after it's too late - so, with that in mind, I would like to do everything possible to give myself the best possible chance of having a stable environment for my inhabitants.

I'm sure I've forgotten loads and loads of things, but thats about as much as my fingers can extract from my brain for the moment.

With regards to a timeline - I plan on getting the tank in the next 2-3 weeks and will start work on the conversion from there.

Any advice on equipment, things not to do, things to do, stuff to buy, etc is welcome. I've been on many forums that say I shouldn't use a Trigon 350 tank for marine because well... apparently it's not a "proper" fish tank. I've seen pictures and videos of them, they look great, any heartache with doing the conversion will be worth it in the long run.

Sorry if the post is a bit all over the place, it's written more or less in the order that it came out of my head!

Thanks in advance,
Rob

 

[robnorton]

Ah yes, one thing that I remember now - water tests - I've seen hundreds of different types to test the same thing - are the 5-in-1 tests any good? what should I stay away from?

 

[lbiminiblue]

Ah yes, one thing that I remember now - water tests - I've seen hundreds of different types to test the same thing - are the 5-in-1 tests any good? what should I stay away from?

I have the API test kit- tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Of course, you may want to broaden it to phosphates, copper, calcium, magnesium, etc etc, but the first few are necessary to ensure your tank is doing well despite appearances and to diagnose problems. Sometimes all you need to solve your problem is to see that your nitrates are really high, which would tell you a) water change and b) start feeding less

 

[robnorton]

So, I've bought the tank... It's being used for freshwater fish at the moment, and the owner is moving his fish this weekend so that I can collect the tank next week. Any help/tips on how to best clean the tank once I have it?

Rgds,
Rob

 

[jerry26]

A member named reef gladness seems to be the best dude to talk to about DIY leds. He'll probably chime in when he gets a chance. I know he likes a site called rapidled.

 

[robnorton]

Thanks Jerry I've been visiting rapidled for a while trying to get my head around whats needed etc and how it all fits together

I've come across a bit of a dilemma, I'd like to drill the bottom of the tank for standpipe(s), however the local glass company here doesnt have the equipment to be able to do this (or at least for them to feel comfortable doing)
- can someone give me any tips of what is needed to do this?

 

[jerry26]

Is it tempered?(likely is) tempered cannot be drilled. The back with a bean animal setup would be even better. As long as its not tempered.

Drilling tempered glass will destroy the tank.

 

[robnorton]

Many of tanks identical to mine (Juwel Trigon 350) have had the bottoms drilled... I believe that the sides are tempered though.

 

[jerry26]

Be careful, theyre likely drilled before they were tempered. Tempering is just a process of cooling the glass rapidly so it puts itself under tension and shatters into a millioon pieces instead of shards. Im not saying anythings certain, just be careful.

To check the temper, go see a 3d movie or obtain the glasses in some other way then put a laptop in the tank and put the screen at a 45 degree angle then stand straight out from the tank(the screen needs to be angled from your viewpoint) look through the glasses backwards and tilt them for horizontal to vertical. You should be able to see the screen clearly in one position but as you turn the glasses the screen should turn black. If its evenly black, its NOT tempered. if its distorted or has lines, it IS tempered. Would best to make several adjustments to your viewing angle. I think the polarizing lines in one lens of the glasses run vertically while the other is horizontal. So you may have reversed results when looking through different lenses.

Any polarizing filter is an acceptable replacement for the glasses.

I just noticed you said they have HAD the bottoms drilled. Hopefully you get lucky like that.

 

[jerry26]

I just did a search and lots of people have drilled that tank. Get on youtube, there are tons of video for you to learn from. Looks pretty straight forward.

 

[robnorton]

I got my tank yesterday evening:

Edit: Change of plan also, I will no longer be modifying the cabinet itself to hold a sump as the location of the tank will be different to the original planned one. Instead, it'll be against the wall that seperates my living room from the kitchen, I will get some kind of a cabinet in the kitchen to put a sump, skimmer etc etc etc into - hopefully leaving the display tank nice & quiet

 

[robnorton]

Hello,

I have gotten my glass holesaw, and I also bought some glass to practise on first before I attempt making holes in my tank.
I have one question about the positioning of the holes, how close/far should the holes be from each other and from the sides of the tank?

Thanks,
Rob

 

[lbiminiblue]

is this for the overflows? And the glass isn't tempered, right? I think you should leave about 1 foot of space on each side of the overflow IF you're doing the big black tower design. If not, and you're using a small box, then you could put them pretty close together.

 

[robnorton]

Hi,

Thank you Yes.. it's for overflows in a weir, i presume i can make them pretty close together then? As there wont be a lot of water in that section?

 

[lbiminiblue]

yes you can put them pretty close together, unless you want your return pipes to be spread farther out across the tank. putting them farther away from each other should make some interesting flows when the pulls and pushes mix. Just don't put them too close to the edge.

 

[robnorton]

Since starting this project, the subject of Live Rock has come about, after doing much research, I decided that I'd have a go at making my own rock. So far so good, I have made 2 pieces so far (due to a shortage of buckets to let the concrete set). I'm also maintaining a more detailed build of my tank over here: Rob Norton | Cats, Fish & FlyingRob Norton | Cats, Fish & Flying

Any comments suggestions welcome!

 

[robnorton]

Drilled my first hole in the tank today! What a bizarre feeling of excitement and anxiety!

 

[robnorton]

Finished drilling the second hole in the tank today, and will be collecting the glass for the weir and sump baffles also. I've started thinking my sump might be a little small if I end up going for a in-sump skimmer. choices choices choices...

A few pics:

Nearly there...

Very pleased.

 

[ChaosFyre]

Finished drilling the second hole in the tank today, and will be collecting the glass for the weir and sump baffles also. I've started thinking my sump might be a little small if I end up going for a in-sump skimmer. choices choices choices...

A few pics:

Nearly there...

Very pleased.

Hi! I have a couple suggestions. Is the tank on the ground floor? Is it on wood or tile? If its on wood, I highly suggest thinking about some kind of water-proof treatment... Plan for the occasional mess within 10-15 feet of the tank. I know a lot of woods are sensitive to water (like bamboo), but salt water is probably worse. The messes happen when rearranging coral or live rock, doing water changes, catching fish, etc... if you have a sump, you might have the occasional overflow until you figure out the right level to keep it at ( I recommend testing it as soon as you get it, then marking the highest level of water that is safe in the sump).

Also, just wanted to say, I have a gravity-fed sump with an overflow box. The concept is kind of confusing when you first get into the big tank business, but I think its a good system. The water falls into a filter media (in my case bioballs) and sponge. There is a return pump that pushes the water back up into the tank. My tank is 90 gallons + a 10 gallon sump, so our tanks are about the same size. My return pump is a 9.5 mag, I think. It cycles 950 gph. I also have an aquaclear 110 hang-on-back filter that everyone says is not necessary but came with my setup, so I just run it anyway. My lights are T5's, one actinic blue bulb, and one daylight bulb. I am very happy with the results of the lights because not a speck of algae has grown yet, just diatoms. I heard that people with powerful lights like LEDs or Metal Halides might have trouble with algae. Oh yeah-- and I've been using tap water + water conditioner and haven't had the "extra nutrients" in the tap kickstart an algae bloom yet. We will see.. tap works for some people in certain areas, and not for others in other areas. Depends on your tap water quality.

Don't forget tank heaters. I got two, just in case one fails, and also because one was having a bit of trouble keeping up with the sump + tank water load. A thermometer would be good, just so you know what temp the water is actually at. I have since left the most powerful heater in the display tank and moved the weaker one to the quarantine.

Some tips on live sand and rock: you can get mostly dry sand (get aragonite) and then inoculate with some live sand and save a lot of money. I just got a little 5 lb bag of live sand and 45 lbs of dry aragonite sand, and 45 lbs of crushed coral. Aragonite is good because of the calcium, I think... which is a nice supplement for fish and coral.

Also, the live rock is the same story. You can get all dry rock as long as you have some dry sand, or all dry sand as long as you have some live rock, or vice versa. What makes it "live" is just the bacteria that grow on it. Bacteria is everywhere, so you can actually start out with all dry stuff and eventually it will be seeded and become live. However, everything cycles faster the more live bacteria you put in to start with.


So with my 5 lbs of live sand, I got maybe a 5-10 lb live rock piece to go with a bunch of .10 cents per pound landscaping rock I picked up at my local landscaping store. I spent $10 on the dry rock.. can't beat that!! I went for the most porous stuff, because more surface area = more bacteria per rock, + more pores = more hiding places for critters, even small ones like copepods amphipods and feeder shrimp if you ever stock your tank with them.

Then I ended up getting some surprise fish and wanted the tank to cycle faster. So I got a bottle of live bacteria from the pet store, and inoculated the tank water with that as per the directions. My tank ended up cycling in about 3 weeks. And I had 5 fish in it from week one with no ill effects. But as soon as one of them started to lose color, I immediately did a water test and a huge water change as needed. By huge, I mean 20%- 50%. I used a plastic laundry tub that holds about 20 gallons and that made it a lot easier than a bunch of small buckets. I did changes as needed, but ended up doing maybe 2 major changes in 1 1/2 months, and a few small changes (maybe twice a week) while the tank was cycling. The small changes were only 5-10 gallons. Not sure they made much of a difference.

I started out not using a quarantine tank simply because I didn't have one set up. Then a petstore fish had ich. The fish I picked up last sunday from a different place had ich too. I am starting to see why everyone quarantines their fish for 4 weeks before putting them in the tank.. the fish can die from ich and spread it very quickly. You want to take quarantine seriously! Also, I put my quarantine tank's salinity levels to 1.009 to kill the ich by osmosis. I just keep it at that level and any fish I get are going to be dumped in there from now on...

I would NOT recommend pouring salt water down a drain! I carry my 20 gal bucket (with help) outside and dump it in the yard. I heard the salt can ruin your pipes, and I believe it! The drawback of this is, the salt may also kill your grass.. we have a bit of a trench along the side of the house in the backyard where water run-off has been dripping. I try to pour the water so it flows down into that trench and not into the grass, but there is still a bit of a bald spot where I pour it. Its probably from the salt. I'm sure you've heard of "salting the fields".

One more thing-- I read this in a book after I set my tank up. You can get the water to clear a lot faster if you put your rock in, pour the sand in, smooth it out as you like, then put a big dinner plate on the sand. Probably anything plastic/ceramic and flat would work. Then you put your hose on the dinner plate and the force of the water dropping in is spread over the plate. If your flow rate is careful, you can fill the tank up without stirring up much sand. Since there will be nothing in your tank at first, I don't see why the salt couldn't be mixed in after. I found out my water hose DOES reach my tank all the way from outside! You could possibly find an alternative way to get the water in using a siphon hose, whether by gravity or pumping it up in there. Just make sure you stir the salt really well afterwards and test the salinity right after and again some 10 minutes later to see if it has changed.

...Last thing, I promise! Here is an awesome article about flow/water circulation.
Aquarium Circulation
Saltwater Reef tanks need the water to cycle 10-20+ times per hour. For tanks with just fish, its about 5-10+ times per hour. Multiply Gallonage (in your case 95 + whatever your sump gallonage is if you have one) x Desired Turnover (this would probably be either 10 or 20 in your case) = the gph turnover you need in your tank.

For me it is
100 gallons x 10 = 1000 gph turnover needed total
OR
100 gallons x 20 = 2000 gph turnover needed total.

I went for 2000 gph turnover. 2 powerheads is better than one to break up the flow. Don't put corals directly in the flow if you get any. They like to be along side it. You also want some slow spots where your fish can rest. Don't forget to take into account the turnover that your other equipment does.

AquaClear 110 pumps 500 gph
Mag 9.5 pumps 950 gph
950 + 500 = 1200 gph turnover already in my tank. But this is just for turnover, not for flow. More flow = less algae, but you don't want to make a hurricane. Even without anything but my filter and sump, my clowns stay in the corner of the tank behind the return pipe where there is no flow.

In my case, I had 2000 gph turnover needed -1200 gph turnover already in my tank = 800 gph turnover still needed.
So I got two 400 gph powerheads. After looking quite a bit for the best deal, I ordered these Koralia Nano 425 - 3.5W - 425 gph couple days ago. Right now there is a 65% site-wide sale, and I got 2 koralia powerheads for $54 with shipping. You may be able to find something similar closer to you... I have heard good things about koralias, but I also heard the aquaclear powerheads are the best (but twice as expensive as what I paid).
Koralia Nano 425 - 425 gph - 3.5W | ThatPetPlace.com

 

[BLADEYAMAHA]

Nice dude, I flow 1200 GPH through my DT. I use a 1 and 7/8 inside diameter bulhead, pretty much 2 inches and 2 inch pvc and long sweep elbows for the drain. I need to put in a backup but with the over sized strainer I use have had no problems in almost a year, never fails to restart.