Another Adventure

[alphasierra]

Hello all,

Time for a new adventure!! Some of you may know me from the Red Sea Max Owners Club with my tank http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/red-sea-max-owners-club/38832-rsm-adventure.html
I have only been in the hobby just over 1 year. My current tank is a Red Sea Max (RSM) 34 Gallon which some of you may have heard of or seen. It is a great tank for a beginner but as predicted, I have become hooked to this hobby and plan on upgrading. Since this is one of the friendliest aquarium forums out there I'd like to share my experiences and adventure with you all again.

Unfortunately, I speak very little Cantonese (Chinese) and as a result find it very difficult to learn and ask questions at the local aquarium shops here in Hong Kong. Therefore I have spent many hours reading and gathering information over the last 6 or so months and I am now ready to put my ideas and thoughts forward. Hopefully some of you can help me out with my ideas and questions.


My Goals

I came across Zeovit and the concept around 9 months ago and would like to try it. My goal is to mainly have a dominated SPS reef with some marine fish. Besides the contents inside the aquarium I am trying to design a stylish & modern setup which compliments my apartment.

I will be posting questions covering many topics from design to basic plumbing. Although I will not be building the tank and installing it myself due to the language barrier, I'd like to understand as much as possible so I know what is going on. I'm looking forward to any advice, explanations or ideas that will help bring my future tank to reality. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Current Tank

This is my current tank and the space that I have to work with

My Vision

Some plans of the overall setup

With cabinet doors

This is the overall design so far. Comments? I will provide more information and plans for the tank, stand and cabinet.

Regards

Andrew

 

[lcstorc]

Looks great!
You may want to either make the stand taller or the sump shorter. It looks like it may be difficult to work around and remove the skimmer cup etc.
Might be just a trick of the eye.
It looks awesome.

 

[BigAl07]

I'm with Lynn on this completely.

It looks VERY nice indeed. I love the clean almost utilitarian look of it.

She's right about the height. Having it that "close" will make life difficult and will also limit what equipment you can use. I bumped my stand up in height approximately 10" more than normal and am THRILLED that I did. Not only does it make equipment easier to change/adjust but it also moves the "Main Viewing Level" of the tank to a more back friendly height.

Keep us posted

 

[alphasierra]

Looks great!
You may want to either make the stand taller or the sump shorter. It looks like it may be difficult to work around and remove the skimmer cup etc.
Might be just a trick of the eye.
It looks awesome.

Thanks Lynn. There is 26cm clearance from the top of the sump and the stand even though it may not look like it. However this is still not enough. Update on plan shortly.

 

[alphasierra]

I'm with Lynn on this completely.

It looks VERY nice indeed. I love the clean almost utilitarian look of it.

She's right about the height. Having it that "close" will make life difficult and will also limit what equipment you can use. I bumped my stand up in height approximately 10" more than normal and am THRILLED that I did. Not only does it make equipment easier to change/adjust but it also moves the "Main Viewing Level" of the tank to a more back friendly height.

Keep us posted

Thanks Al, I've re-jigged the design of the stand.

 

[alphasierra]

Ok, Changed the sump and RODI (ATO) container so they are separate. It will easier to clean both now. The ATO container can now hold up to 51L (13G). That should be plenty.

I don't really want to increase the height of the stand further (will explain later) but I am after a way of removing the equipment from the sump easily. Here is the stand idea.

The sump will sit on a 2cm piece of wood (or metal) and slide in and out on casters. Each wheel caster can support up to 40kg so I think 6 should be plenty.

Here is a top and bottom picture of the roller tray. There is an option to place one or two more casters in the middle but the frame design will change a little.

Completely in. I'm planing in making a small hand hold for ease of use and a locking/latching mechanism to stop inadvertent movement.

This is what it might look like.

With the sump on it. Now the skimmer and other equipment can be removed easily.

Still some more work and calculations to do on the stand. Pictures soon. At the other end, I'm trying to design another section so the RODI (ATO) container will slide out. The far end section will be an electrical section. Still to be designed.

Comments welcome.

 

[echopiece]

Looks very impressive! I love the innovative thought behind the roll out sump. My only concern would be the ability to actually roll it out with all the electrical wires, lights, pumps etc.? Looks great on paper though. Keep up the good work, cant wait to see this become reality!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Good Luck, will be following your new adventure with interest, love the concept

 

[alphasierra]

Looks very impressive! I love the innovative thought behind the roll out sump. My only concern would be the ability to actually roll it out with all the electrical wires, lights, pumps etc.? Looks great on paper though. Keep up the good work, cant wait to see this become reality!

Thanks Marty. Yes very good point regarding the other equipment besides just the skimmer.

I will give it more thought but was just thinking of unplugging the equipment (return pumps, ZEOvit reactor, heaters, ATO, etc..) before the slide. Maybe I could create a hook to hang the cables during the process.

 

[echopiece]

I was thinking the same thing. Something like a wire raceway with some extra slack in the cords for when you slide it out. That would make it nice and tidy as well. Also i was just thinking, they make heavy duty drawer hinges that you could use instead of casters. They can withstand 100's of lbs. In your case you have a nice smooth surface to slide it out on, but if you ever want to move it in the future onto carpet for example, the casters might not work so well? Just a thought.

 

[alphasierra]

For sure Marty... Thanks for the ideas. I was looking into the heavy draw rails too but couldn't really find what I was looking for though.

 

[alphasierra]

The Tank

Dimensions:
168cm L x 66cm W x 56cm H OR (66" L x 26" W x 22" H)
Gross Tank Volume 618L OR (163G)
Net Tank Volume 480 L OR (121G)
Rimless, Low-Iron Glass (sides and front)
19mm (0.75")

These were some of my initial plans having the internal overflow. A power head was going to be placed between the overflow and the right hand side, hence the space.

But after some discussion it maybe be better to have it up against one end plus it will be easier to hide with rock work and service for maintenance if required.
Is this better??

Overall look

I'm limited for space and as a result the tank/cabinet can not be wider than 66cm, 26". For this reason I've elected for an internal overflow and not an external overflow. I would like the tank to be viewable when I walk through the front door so an overflow at one end isn't really an option.

 

[1ofManyNguyens]

I was thinking the slideout would be hard to do with not to much the electronics but the plumbing of your tank. Do you plan on using PVC?

 

[alphasierra]

I was thinking the slideout would be hard to do with not to much the electronics but the plumbing of your tank. Do you plan on using PVC?

Hi 1ofManyNguyens and thanks for the input. Thinking of PVC for the outflow and flex tubing for the return.

 

[Reefmack]

Hi alphasierra! Well, I had to stop in and follow this thread! How high is the stand? Same as the tank? I only ask as many of the larger skimmers are pretty high, when considering the extra height needed to remove the cup. That might be OK with the roll out, if you want to do that every time you want to empty the skimmer cup. That's about all I can add at this point. The plan looks great!

 

[redsea reefer]

Thats gonna be a sweet tank when its up and running.

 

[alphasierra]

Hi alphasierra! Well, I had to stop in and follow this thread! How high is the stand? Same as the tank? I only ask as many of the larger skimmers are pretty high, when considering the extra height needed to remove the cup. That might be OK with the roll out, if you want to do that every time you want to empty the skimmer cup. That's about all I can add at this point. The plan looks great!

Thank you Sir and welcome to another adventure!


Here is a picture of the stand and sump. Sorry guys, the measurements are in cm's.

You can see that there is a 29cm clearance between the top of the sump and the stand frame so this should allow enough room for the Skimmer cup to be removed, etc.

The sump will sit on a 2cm thick piece of wood and he glass for the sump will be 1cm thick. This will allow 68cm (26.75") for the skimmer.

For major maintenance, this is when I will roll out the sump and it's contents.

 

[Reefmack]

Sounds great!

 

[alphasierra]

The Overflow

Since this will mainly be a SPS coral tank my understanding is that I will require a lot of flow. I plan on some being from two return pumps and the rest made up from power heads with the aquarium. After reading many articles and especially those from the reef keeping magazine I have come up with this.

Looking for 7-8 times through the sump which is 968G, rounded up to 1000G (3700l/h) for simplicity. Using the calculator on RC it recommends;
minimum drain pipe diameter = 1.31 inches
minimum linear overflow size = 15 inches (38cm)

Therefore I have designed the following...

Linear overflow size is 18" (47cm)
x2 Drain pipes at 1.25" (3.2cm)

Will all of this work?? I am a little puzzled with this area.

This is where I need your advice. I was intending to use two Durso stand pipes but as suggested the Hofer Gurgle Buster might be the way to go. I would like it to be as quiet as possible.

Sump

There will be no fish room for storage so all the components need to be underneath the tank in the cabinet except for the chiller. Since this will be a zeovit system I haven't designed a Refugium. Below are some pics

Dimensions (not including the RODI section)
112cm L x 52cm W x 41cm H OR (42" L x 20.5" W x 16" H)
Net Tank Volume 112L OR (30G)
Gross Tank Vloume 227L OR (60G)
I plan on having a Tunze 6105 in either the skimmer or return section to help circulation.

Water Circulation

Considering either the following for a return pump. I would have the 2 pumps reduced to 50-75% to reduce potential noise, heat and prolong life.

x2 Tunze Recirculation Pump Silence 1073.040 (3000l/h)
x2 Eheim 5000 (2500-5000l/h)
x2 Eheim 1262 (3400l/h)
x2 Red Dragon 4.5 (4500l/h)

In the aquarium itself I was looking at the Vortech for flow (since I have one already) but am leaning towards the Tunze models for compatibility with the Profilux controllers and it's own multi-controller 7095.

x3 Tunze 6105 (3000 -13000l/h)

So to sum up then....

Tank & Sump Net Volume 707L Total (say 700L)
700L x 30 times = 21,000L/h

x2 return pumps (Eheim 5000 at 2500L/h setting) will provide 3700L/h (considering head pressure)
x3 Tunze 6105 providing the rest (more than enough)

Does all this make sense??... let me know your thoughts and of course if I have missed anything major. As I mentioned... this is the hardest part for me.

 

[alphasierra]

Time for an overdue update...

Well today I viewed for the first time the 'low iron' glass which will be used on the display tank. I'd asked one of the manufacturers whether they could cut a piece of 19mm (3/4") for me so I could confirm the appearance.

Very exciting... especially when I compared it to the glass that will be used for the sump. It's so much clearer!!

General Comparison of colour

This comparison is with normal glass, 10mm. What a difference

19mm or 3/4" This tank will be heavy

I've decided to use black silicone with a black background. The internal overflow box will also be black. The top edge of the cabinet will be designed so it just covers the thickness of the bottom glass, hence hiding the silicone and hopefully giving a nice clean look. Therefore only the vertical silicone section at the front and back will be visible. Similar to this example