My slow 135g build

[JoJo]

Ok, everyone here's a little history on me & SW. I started out with a 10g sw with a couple of pieces of LR, a Emperor filter, stock hood, a clown fish, & I think a serpent starfish? I upgraded from there to a 55g with a PC lighting, a cheap skimmer,a wet/dry & beginner coral. Next I moved all that to the 90g, upgraded to a CL superskimmer 220, & this set up ran until the big move from our condo to our new home.

Now here's where the fun begins I found a predrilled 135g with stand for $200 on craigslist, I convinced my wife to let me put it in the wall the backs up to the closet of the dogs room. I planned FW because I have a pleco thats been with me for 10yrs, but going through my junky garage out pops a 20g long with stand & hood, his new home.

So i've been spending the last 5 days/nights reading as much material here as possible, I learned 3 things, read/do searchs; ask questions; and take it slow. So that was I will be doing, I will be hard because the wall has been finished and the only thing left to do is slide the sump in the stand and put the tank on top.

There's 3 holes drilled on the floor of the tank outside of the overflow which i'm guessing was an extra drain and maybe a closed loop system. I'm really considering capping all of the off, it just seems too risky to me. I would like to have a return to the overflow and maybe a T to that line and run it to a spraybar. The sump will be a 55g that I will have to get glass baffle made for & I still have a fuge(about 10-15g). Does this sound like a good start, any ideas or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

This what we have to work with, notice the plumbing from the floor of tank

The wall of choice, started demo before remembering to tank a pic

My dad & I did majority of the work in one day. His tank is soon to follow mine, I will chronicle his as well.

Instead of building a new stand we decided to use the old one, reversing the position, it saved time & money!

Here's the project at the end of the day, rough looking but its there

More pics to follow of the finished wall later today.

 

[BigAl07]

and it's started Good start to your chronicle!

 

[Dentoid]

Nice start JoJo! Looking forward to this build!

 

[Witfull]

demo is so much fun~

good luck and slow is good~

 

[Royalscott]

I am looking forward to following your chronicle!

 

[lcstorc]

Looks like you are off to a great start.
Can't wait to see how this one progresses.

 

[JoJo]

ok, time to pick some brains. if you guys had my set up would you cap-off the 3 extra holes drilled in the bottom of the tank & maybe put a spraybar up or keep them functional, and if so what would you do with them?

also, i'm debating between sectioning the 55g sump so that the return is in the center with fuge & drain sections on either side of it. OR trying to cram the fuge i have inside the stand with the sump.

questions:
1) I know the fuge being seperate will be more beneficial than a combo sump/fuge, but how much more beneficial is it, enough that it's well worth the extra planning it's going to take?

2) I read someone's thread calling a closed loop a PITA, am I missing something, i thought it would be less of a headache than several PH's.

3) All the auto-topoffs i've seen have been acrylic sumps. Is there a way for me to make one similar for a glass sump, maybe even a auto water change(ok, that maybe pushing it)? But i would love the ATO!

 

[lcstorc]

ATO can be made from most any container.
The difference between separating the fuge or not is water flow. You generally want much slower flow in the fuge than in the sump. Many people do however have combos and they are certainly helpful.
I've never had a closed looo so I am lost on that one. I should be setting up a manifold systsem soon so we will see how that works out.

 

[JoJo]

Thanks for the info. not sure if the work of making them seperate is worth it. I understand that a soft coral tank should have a 20-30x turn over BUT what is the ideal gph through the sump & through the fuge? Thanx

 

[ragvette]

Looks like a good start JoJo

 

[JoJo]

well i've spent the last hour searching for a post with no luck, of someone who rebuilt a sump/fuge area for someone else( i believe the DT was about 300g). The previous sump kept overflowing and the person had to keep towels under the cabinet to be ready for it to overflow. anyway, the person who rebuilt the area did a great job, the used about a 37g sump & a 20g fuge(which hadn't been filled yet but there was a red bowl with chaeto inside the fuge). The fuge had to drains the dump on top of the baffle going to the return of the sump. The huge drain line was split, one to sump, one to fuge.

This set up was perfect, and i would love to mimic it but i cannot find it. I'm going to try and sketch it out by memory, but I looked at sooo many set ups last night the image is kind of vague. For now I'll keep looking

 

[JoJo]

Here's a quick shot of the semi finished wall. Only thing left is the baseboard & trim around the tank opening.

The inside of the wall was finished in drywall but I will be putting several coats of kitchen & bath paint thats mold & mildew resistant so I think it will be ok.

I took a couple shots of the bulkheads thats scattered across the bottom of the tank. The spraybar was part of the original setup, i'm think of have it spray from the top instead. what would keep that spraybar from draining the hole tank when power outages? are there big enough check valves for a drain line.

 

[framerguy]

Nice cronicle. What keeps the water from draining is a break in siphon. The spray bar (or whatever return you have) should be at the top of the water, then a small (1/8" or less) hole is drilled just below the water line so that when the water falls below the hole then siphon is broken and the water stops flowing. Your water outlets can then be lower in the water if you want but won't drain the tank. Does that make sense?

The wall you built is beautiful! You obviously know what you are doing.

I would use all of the drilled holes in the bottom for drains.Then go over the back/top for the return. Drain to different areas, use 1 for the fuge, and 2 for sump. If they are different sizes use the small one for the fuge.

Keep up the good work!

 

[JoJo]

Framer, thanks for you'r input. since i'm a dunce and cant figure out google sketch-up, i will try to sketch a plan of the plumbing idea i have in mind and upload it.

 

[JoJo]

I just remembered I have a rubbermaid tub with alot of what used to be LR (75-100lbs) from my last tank,which has sat there more than a year.
What would it take to get it living again? i'm thinking of using it as base rock and adding to it with heavily seeded rock. Are there any steps i might need to take before adding it to the tank, perhaps cooking it? my water was great when I removed the rock and it's been sealed up so I would think it could go into the tank after a quick rinse.

 

[tbittner]

Shouldn't there be a sealed skimmer box isolating the drains from the water in the rest of the aquarium? The water flows over the top edge of the overflow box and then down the drain to the sump.

Or you could make a durso pipe that comes out of the drain up to the top of the water level you want to maintain. In either case, the surface water is the water being sent to the sump, which is most likely where you're skimmer is.

The wall and installation looks great so far though. Well Done!

 

[JoJo]

tbittner, yes there is a corner overflow with bulkheads for drain and return. I was think of doing something with the other bulkheads, but with it being this hard to explain my thoughts it must not be meant for me to do it(sorry if i'm not making much sense in my post, im just so excited about this set up & i have so many ideas that i cant think straight:bugout:cnfzd: :dummy: :hammerhea ). so I am going to take the other 3 bulkheads that are outside of the overflow out and seal the holes with glass.

 

[JoJo]

ok, i've found the sump that I was looking for. Its on Melevs site, really nice set up.

Sump for a 340g reef

 

[tbittner]

Melev builds great sumps and all sorts of equipment. So does Jeff at LifeReef. I don't think you could go wrong with buying from either of these gentlemen.

 

[JoJo]

Here is a sketch of what i'm planning to do, please give all the feedback possible. thanx in advance.