50g SPS tank equipment

[Chrisrush]

Originally posted by dhnguyen
Here's a vid of my 55g. You can get a lot of flow from just one single propeller pump if you do it right.

I would also rethink about your return pump choices. For a 50g you don't need nor want more than 3-5 times the tank volume through your sump.

http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u...ntitled2-1.flv

I'll be using the return pump for feeding my skimmer and carbon/phosphate filter as well. I'm sure I'll end up dialing down the return pump some.

Thanks for the info on the prop pumps. I've got a mj600 and a 900 that I'll probably use for 6-8 hrs. per day.

[Chrisrush]

I was able to work on the laundry room today. I am changing up from my old system. I like being able to do the water changes, but I didn't like the large water change jugs in my kitchen. Plus, it was a pain to drag the system into the kitchen from the garage. On top of all that, I looked like I was making meth every 2 weeks with 2 - 30g containers on wheels.

One reason that I bought this dosing pump was for the ability to do automatic water changes. I haven't purchased the 2 additional pumps needed, since I have no need for them right now, but I will when I figure out what else I need.

I added a 10g tank along with my 2 - 3g DIY 2part jugs above my washing machine. This is where my ro/di unit is and previously, I had run a 1/4" line from the laundry room to behind the old tank. Since the new tank was going in the same spot as the old one, I'll be using that 1/4" line for my top-off. I'll pull 4 more 1/4" lines for the DIY 2 part along with the water change lines, and a telephone line for the dosing pump to interface with the controller. While I'm up there, I'll run a cat5 line for the lan connection to the controller. Perhaps once it cools down a bit, I'll do that.

Anyways, here are my pictures of the night.

Here is how the shelf above the washing machine looks now. On the far left, that is my ro/di unit. On the right of the ro/di, a 10g tank with the dosing pump on top (not secured, I know). To the right of that is my 2 - 3 g Ozarka bottles. I will eventually install a top, float valve and ro/di line to the 10g tank.



Here is a better view of the ro/di unit installed.



Dosing pump and 10g water change



Alk/Ca containers



RO/DI line

[Chrisrush]

I started to think about a fish list and here is what I have come up with so far.

2 true percs
midas blenny

Lemonpeel Angel or Regal Angel

and a pair of either

Lamark Angels or Wantanabei Angels

I thought about a small school of something (5-8) but I'm not sure what those fish would be.

Any suggestion?

[Chrisrush]

dhnguyen,
I have a quick question for you regarding the mjmods. I purchased a kit from mjmods a while back and finally got around to putting them together. They seemed to work fine for a while, but now they don't work properly. I read that you suggest to pull off the shroud and try to run it w/o the shroud and then shave down some of the prop to get it to balance out. When should you do this? My problem is that when I take off the shroud, the magnet will not stay in the middle of the hole, it will spin for a min., then get stuck against the side of the pump. Is this because it is not balanced? Do you have any other suggestions?

[Chrisrush]

New pictures and an update.

Pictures of the tank, sump and top off. I am still working on the controller. I've got most of the tubing run along with the cat5 line and the phone line. Should have waited till winter to start that job (attic was 150 degrees +)

Tank:



Tank overflow:





Tank back:



Tank top: (I painted the pink foam black with spray paint, turned out alright)

[Chrisrush]

Here is how I'm going to configure my sump and top-off container. This is a standard 15g aquarium. The sump is a lifereef model that I got from Gmacy. It should work out well. I have crammed a RS-80 as well as a media reactor, along with the Ocean runner 3500. That's probably all that I will be able to fit into the sump.

[Chrisrush]

Got some work done last night on the tank and my 2 part / water change situation.

I painted the back of the tank black with some gloss spray paint. I need to go over it again to cover up any missed spots. I'll get a picture of that later when it's finished.

I hooked up my dosing pump and id'd the lines for alk/ca/water in/out and ro/di. I had a little trouble on the 3rd line as part of it leaked and I had to figure out where it was leaking from. Apparently, on of my connectors in the attic came apart and was dumping water down from the attic. Not a great situation, but at least it wasn't much before I found the problem.

On to some pictures. I need to put in some additional work on cleaning up the wires, etc. My 4th dosing pump should arrive on Friday so I'll be able to finish it this weekend.

I talked to my stand builder and I think that the stand will be ready when I get back from Ireland on the 11th of Nov. I'm debating on whether to mock up some plumbing before that so that I can just slap the plumbing on and go from there. Perhaps if I get some time this weekend.

I also have to move the rocks out of my 2nd bathroom as my in-laws are coming in town in 2 weeks and I'm sure they wouldn't want to take a shower with 60lbs. of LR. I'm hoping to drill some of the rocks and peg them this weekend as well. We will see how that goes.

Here is the overall laundry room picture. I have a zoomed in image, but this gives you an overall perspective. The dosing pumps will sit atop my 10g water change tank, next to my 3 gallon 2 part containers. The ro/di unit is on the wall next to it.



As you can see, it's still a bit messy. I'll have that cleaned up once my last dosing pump comes in.

Here is a zoomed shot. The colors correspond to what I'm dosing.

Green - ALK
Red - Calcium
Blue - New water
Black - Old water
White - RO/DI for top-off

Check valves were installed on the input side of the pump to prevent siphoning and backflow.



Here is where the tubing comes out on the other end. You can see all my rainbow tubing here, along with a cat5 line and a phone line. The cat5 line will connect to the back of the controller and then to my router so that I can access the info on the web. The phone line will run from the back of the controller to the dosing pump to control it. My goal is to change out about 8-9 g per week at night, plus daily additions of alk/ca.

[Chrisrush]

Time for an update or two (if anyone is still following along):

Update:

Got the stand, new sump and new skimmer. I have started the plumbing and am about 90% done with it. I need to move the tank into the house to finish it.

I really like the stand that Chris Tates (T8T) dad built. It's solid and he incorporated all of my requests, like a drawer and a single, large drawer.

I bought a larger sump and a larger skimmer. I went with Glasscages for the sump (24x24x16) and BubbleMaster for the skimmer (BM 160). Hopefully these will be good choices in the end.

On to the pictures:

Stand with door



Tank on stand (minus background, need some vinyl)



Sump layout



Close-up



Plumbing (left side)



90% complete plumbing

[Chrisrush]

Few more pictures:

Drawer with the Profilux



Door open, Profilux in drawer



Side view of drawer



Powerbars mounted

[GSMguy]

Your really going all out with the equipment on this tank, looks great

[Chrisrush]

Thanks. I learned a lot from my old setup and I was hoping to apply it to this tank (since my wife said this is the last tank for a while). Little does she know that it will soon be full.

[GSMguy]

one thing i can think of Chris, put a baffle in that sump, the skimmer is going to release Microbubbles and they will get sucked up by the OR.

[Chrisrush]

Thanks. I'm trying to figure out how to do that. If you can see from the pictures, there is a lip around the perimeter of the tank. This prevents me from putting baffles around the return pump. I think that I might just try to put some baffles in but not have them rest up against the sump walls.

Although from what I've read, the BM 160 does a good job of not letting microbubbles out of the skimmer.

[rishma]

very nice! I really like the stand.

[Dudester]

I finally got a chance to read this thread Chris. Spectacular job thus far. I love the huge Calfo overflow and the drawer for the controller is a terrific idea.

Automating water changes makes me a little nervous. How quickly will your dosing pump pull out the water? When the 8-9 gallons are removed, are you sure this won't drop the water level below the return pump intake which would force it to run dry? I guess I'm a little confused. And I suppose you'll program the controller to turn off the auto-topoff while the dosing pump pulls out the old water and replaces with new salt water, correct?

Very nice build thread, definitely deserves more activity.

[mr294]

Great equipment list and great looking setup

[Chrisrush]

Originally posted by rishma
very nice! I really like the stand.

Thanks. It's coming along. I painted the back this AM after trying to adhere some vinyl to it. Turned out to be a tricker task than was originally anticipated.

[Chrisrush]

Originally posted by Dudester
I finally got a chance to read this thread Chris. Spectacular job thus far. I love the huge Calfo overflow and the drawer for the controller is a terrific idea.

Automating water changes makes me a little nervous. How quickly will your dosing pump pull out the water? When the 8-9 gallons are removed, are you sure this won't drop the water level below the return pump intake which would force it to run dry? I guess I'm a little confused. And I suppose you'll program the controller to turn off the auto-topoff while the dosing pump pulls out the old water and replaces with new salt water, correct?

Very nice build thread, definitely deserves more activity.

Thanks Mike. The drawer was a surprise when I got the stand, but I really like it. I don't have much room underneath the stand anymore, so having a drawer should allow me to store some extra stuff like test kits, etc.

Here's what my thought is on the auto water changes. On a specified night (say Thursday), I'll add water, salt and additives to a 10g tank in the laundry room. I'll let that mix/heat up for 24 hrs and then on Fri night, I'll have the controller turn off the auto top-off for 12 hrs, and start the addition/removal of the water via dosing pump 3 and 4. I need to figure out the exact flow rates for each dosing pump (factory specs have them at 60 ml/min) to assure that I am putting in what I am pulling out. Both dosing pumps will run at the same time, so theoretically, the water in the tank should not move much, with the exception of evaporation, which, if the water change is done at night, should not be but a little.

Thanks for the complements, tell all your friends about it and lets get some bandwidth activity over here.

[Chrisrush]

Originally posted by mr294
Great equipment list and great looking setup

Thanks Mr294. I appreciate it.

[Dudester]

Chris, that won't result in an effective water change. If you add new salt water as the old is removed, especially at that slow rate, the new water will mix with the old and you'll end up pulling out new salt water. In other words, the toxins you're trying to remove (nitrates, phosphates, etc.) will continue to be diluted with the newly added water addition. Water changes are much more effective if the entire volume is removed, and then replaced. That way, the most concentrated tank water can be removed. The other problem with the method you describe is that the beneficial elements and trace elements of the new salt water added will be depleted by the continual removal of water by the dosing pump. If I were you I would abandon this idea and do a more traditional water change.

[Chrisrush]

Mike, I just saw your reply.

I've read some info that doing smaller water changes over time is better that doing 1 large water change infrequentely. I believe that RHF does this as well. Instead of removing and adding the water at the same time, what if I add the new water first, and then remove the old water after the new water has been added. This will allow the new water to be mixed with the tank water for several hours and then it will be removed. I have enough room in my sump to handle the extra 10 gallons. My skimmer will be affected by the additional water, so I'll have it off during the additional water as well.

[Chrisrush]

Been a while since I have updated this thread.

I have water, rock, salt, powerheads, heat, and a few corals in the tank. I am waiting on the canopy to be built, so right now I have a 150w MH 20k bulb rigged over the top of the tank.

I'm still tidying up the cords under the stand and I need to figure out a way to mount my dj switch. I would like to have it underneath my drawer but that limits that amount of space between the drawer/dj switch and the top of the sump.

Also, I need to figure out what I'm going to do about my return pump. I have no microbubbles, but I'm getting a lot of drain noise where the water falls from the drains into the filter sock. I raised the level of the sump up, and that helped, but I think that having less flow will be ideal.

I'm hoping to pick up a few fish this weekend and then in maybe a month or so I'll get some starter SPS going. I'll have to wait until March or so to place a big order for SPS.

I also got a new DSLR. It's an Olympus Evolt E-510 with a pair of lens. I'm still shooting mostly in auto mode, but I'm learning all the different features. These images were shot in auto mode.

Anyways, on to the pictures.

Here is the completed stand:


Rockwork from front:



Rockwork from far right:



Rockwork from


Closeup rockwork:

[Chrisrush]

Here are two of my corals in the tank right now. Most of the zoas are still recovering from the move across the kitchen and to the greater flow vs. my nanocube.

[Dudester]

Originally posted by Chrisrush
Mike, I just saw your reply.

I've read some info that doing smaller water changes over time is better that doing 1 large water change infrequentely. I believe that RHF does this as well. Instead of removing and adding the water at the same time, what if I add the new water first, and then remove the old water after the new water has been added. This will allow the new water to be mixed with the tank water for several hours and then it will be removed. I have enough room in my sump to handle the extra 10 gallons. My skimmer will be affected by the additional water, so I'll have it off during the additional water as well.

Chris, I'm not suggesting you have to do a large volume water change at all. You can do small volumes, but it's silly to add new salt water, only to remove some of it a few hours later. You may as well just pour the new salt water down the drain. The way you describe it, you add new salt water, which dilutes the wastes from the tank as well as the supplements in the new salt when the water is ultimately removed. You're much better off removing the old water, then replacing it with an equal volume of new salt water, be it large or small volume. I hope this makes sense to you.

BTW, looking real nice so far!

[MinibowMatt]

woops