Zachtos’ unique 240G reef w/ 375G sump/fuge-growout/RDSB/aggro tank

[zachtos]

Links
Zachtos’ Myspace
Zachtos’ LED array proto tank
Zachtos’ Photo Album

Photos


Full tank shot, waiting for the cement/foam background to cure by running FW constantly draining

Reefkeeping buddy ryan (rodd1rj) helping arrange rock on the pvc frame





pvc skeleton to hold all the baserock in place. Rock slides are not cool with an acrylic tank. This also maximizes flow through the tank, allows me to have more fish because of the increased volume in the tank. I can make up for it w/ the sump by adding baserock downstairs. This should also allow me to make relocation easier in the future, by simply cutting and resplicing sections of pvc in the future so I don’t have to figure out how to put it back together. The zip ties will be covered w/ corraline quickly. Plus it just looks cool.

[zachtos]

tank room shot

Closeup of my fuge/equipment chambers, I ran 1” drain to the fuge w/ a valve to keep flow low/med and a 1.5” valve to the filtration/growout side for high flow

everything drains into the 150G Rubbermaid sump return tank, you can see my 50 gallon remote deep sand bed there in the green trash bin, it is full of sand, w/ a layer of gravel on top to keep it from getting agitated, it has a ¾” feeder line from the drain and gravity drains to the sump, I want low flow in this unit.

Foam background after ½” layer of cement applied

closeup of foam back

Foam background before cement

closeup of cement back

[zachtos]

DIY LR

DIY LR after salt has dissolved

top BEFORE I enlarged holes and reduced braces to make room for T5 lighting

Top AFTER I enlarged the holes

Cutting the floor was not fun, there was cement tile hidden 2 layers down , no wonder all the hole saws kept burning up, that’s why I bought the reciprocating saw!

The tank drains into my main house plumbing by twisting a valve

[zachtos]

RO/ DI unit installed provided by the filter guys, GREAT service, very very good

Ro/di before installed, the 3 gallon tank feeds RO water to my fridge by the way, so I can get yummy bottled quality water/ice from my fridge

Ugly honeycomb baserock, you get what you pay for, 250lbs for $700 shipped

figi rock, 175lbs used in the display, I still need live rock to seed the system

[zachtos]

My return and drain manifolds. 4- 2 inch drains, 4 – ¾” returns, return manifold feed by 1.5” pvc, drain feeds to 2” PVC, these manifolds have screwed in 1.5” future drain and 1” future return lines for the 75 gallon tank on the other side of that wall so it can share the sump later on.

Future 75G tank for the dining room

I like my RO/DI unit reservoirs. They are feed by a float valve from the RO/DI unit. Then the auto top off will be done by periostatic pumps hooked to float switches in the sump. To make water changes, simply add salt as needed. I can twist valves and do either a 32G, 64G or 96G water change, the water gravity drains to the sump just that easy!!!

[zachtos]

Stats:

Tanks:
Living Room
-240G acrylic tank, used - drilled, 84”L x 24”D x 28”W
- four 2” durso standman drains
- four ¾” returns
-2” deep sand bed of silica, really for aesthetics only not filtration
Dining Room
-75 gallon glass tank, used – drilled (soon)
-Common sump w/ 240G
-two 1.5” durso standman drains
-one 1" return

[COLOR= blue]Water movement: [/COLOR]
-4600gph sequence return pump w/ 1.5” return line
-three ¾” seaswirls
-three to four maxi jet mods w/ 2000+GPH
(I estimate 2000gph coming from the return after head loss and 6000-8000gph from the maxijets flow in the main tank, giving around 20X turnover of total water volume/hour)

[COLOR= blue]Filtration: [/COLOR]
-RO/DI input for the water source of course
-50 gallon refugium for phosphate/ammonia  chaetomorpha
-425 lbs of Live rock for ammonia/nitrite  nitrate
-50 gallon remote deep sand bed for nitrate nitrogen
-media reactor for carbon mostly
-UV filter, maybe, for parasite control and water clarity
-custom made calcium reactor for maintaining Ca/Alk – may add dolomite for Mg
-skimmer for removal of dissolved organics, being custom built by a friend cheaply, similar to deltec 701 model

[COLOR= blue]Lighting: [/COLOR]
-T5 icecap660 ballasts x 3 that will run twelve 39W bulbs (36” on both sides of tank)
FRONT L & R
Blue Plus
Aquablue
GE 6500K
Blue Plus
Aquasun
Blue Plus
-DIY Luxeon K2 470nm moonlighting w/ dimmer controls (see my link if you want up top)
-nothing special for the agro 75G tank

[COLOR= blue]Coral: [/COLOR]
**Mainly acropora SPS and maxima clams**
Some LPS – gonipora, torches, frogspawn
Some zoanthids, mushrooms, GSP, ricordia

[COLOR= blue]Livestock: [/COLOR]
Mandarins – see below to see the copepod planned cultures
School of flame angels
Percula clowns
Regal tangs
Blue hippo tangs
Powder blue tangs
Yellow tangs
Queen Angels
Cardinals
Maybe copperband, maybe six line wrasse – talk about that later
Cleanup crews

[COLOR= blue]Maintenance: [/COLOR]
-planned monthly 15-25% water changes based on need (this is done by twisting valves basically, simple)
-calcium chloride for boosting Ca if needed, mag flakes for boosting Mg if needed, Baking soda for boosting Alkalinity if needed, may add lugols iodide on occasion.

[COLOR= blue]Backup: [/COLOR]
-undecided, either a gasoline generator
- or a deepcycle battery auto-switchover for running airlines into the displays to protect the fish in case of power outage

[COLOR= blue]Cultures: [/COLOR]
-nanochloropsis phytoplankton
-isochloropsis phytoplankton
-tetrachloropsis phytoplankton
-copepod cultures
-maybe brine or mysis shrimp cultures

Progress and background:
I finally get to start my tank system. I’ve been living with a buddy nearly rent free for 3 years and saving all of my money for a house and tank project. I passed my goal years ago and saved around $47K, pretty damn good for only being 25! I then pumped half of my money into my house (roof, gutters, central air, remodeled bathroom) and the other half was set aside to furnish my house and then I left around $10K for the tank project.

I got lucky and got a good deal on my tank and some equipment. I bought the 240G tank, sump tanks, return pump, seaswirls, 175lbs of figi and stand along with a lot of other smaller stuff from holeinone1972 on RC for $1500, it was a fun drive in the mountatins from his house in Pittsburgh, PA back to Michigan in the sleet. I held onto the tank for almost 3 months until I found my house in Mount Pleasant, Michigan and moved in. I had other projects to do around the house as you can see in my photobucket albums for the first two months.

I made DIY LR, gave up do to time constraints and ordered some cheap baserock instead. It’s still curing in freshwater. See links at bottom for more detail about DIY baserock.

I setup my RO/DI unit and arranged my tank room before starting plumbing. I have the RO/DI reservoirs setup so I can do water changes via gravity feed in 32gallon increments as needed. It’s handy and quick. Very tidy and nifty.

I did all the plumbing for around $300 and enlarged the holes in the top of the tank for T5 lighting. The tank drains into my main house drain line when doing water changes by twisting 2” ball valve. Very nifty indeed.

I Made a great stuff foam background and covered it with ½” of Portland type 1 cement/sand. I have done this before on my prototype tank linked above. Great stuff is inert and does not breakdown under water, yes it’s reefsafe, hence the proto tank, also see the link at the bottom for a longer thread.

I made a PVC skeleton to mount all of my baserock onto. There are a lot of reasons for this. I can’t think of any real good reasons NOT to do this!

Pros for PVC rock skeleton:
+It gives the tank very very good flow due to the emptiness in the base.
+It gives the fish lots of swimming space, which means I can have more fish.
+I have plenty of unique mounting locations for frags.
+I don’t have to fear rock slides or random collapses against my acrylic walls.
+Mobility, when I move to my future home (hopefully not for atleast 6 years) , I can easily cut pieces of the skeleton out and splice them back together!
+The display looks very “full” without using much rock at all!

Cons for PVC rock skeleton:
-ugly zip ties (will be covered by coralline and frags soon enough, but still!)
-zip ties may eventually rot and need to be re-inserted (that will be a total pain in the ***!)
-I can’t re-rockscape easily (is this really a con?)

Now my tank is constantly draining into the house drain with freshwater while the cement background cures. Next on the list is Electrical! I plan to run THREE 15 amp breakers. I haven’t really figured out what I’m doing for sure yet. I know I have around 30A at full load, so I’m splitting the load up evenly. 12.5A or so from heaters on one breaker. Around 10A for upstairs lighing and powerheads etc. Around 7A downstairs for the return pump, filtration and small lighting for the cultures, growout and fuge. I want GFI breakers, but I’m not putting them on everything. I’m toying w/ putting all lights on their own GFI breaker and everything else on standard breakers. Powerheads will have GFI outlets, but everything else will be standard sockets. Ideas/feedback are welcome!

Planned projects phases:
-electrical is next (three 15A breakers and a lot of friggin sockets/timers, I need help!)
-setup filtration equipment and fuge
-order lights and other various items
-build lighting hood and luxeon K2 LED moonlighting
-setup lab/cultures and start culturing
-make my maxi jet mods
-fill and start cycling tank w/ seed rock
-decide on a backup generation plan of action based on budget
-start buying fish and later coral

Items left to order:
-T5 lighting setup & fuge/growout lighting
-electrical supplies
-New test kits (Ca, Mg, Alk, PHprobe, Nitrate, phosphate)
-Tropic marin Salt, refractometer, periostatic pumps x2
-maxijets w/ mods
-media reactor
-Carbon (I found a source that can get me low ph, granulated activated carbon, 55lbs for $90 shipped)
-Calcium, Magnesium supplement(also bulk source, lifetime 50lbs supplies of Ca/Mg chloride via mag/dowflakes)
-undecided on phosban, will order if needed
-heaters
-cultures for the lab
- random supplies to finish the 75G
-generator, dehumidifier (if needed)
-actual live rock
-Fish/Coral/cleanup

Items on the way:
-Calcium reactor
-Protein skimmer
-glass hole saws

*I have $5500 budgeted for all of the mentioned items above still (skim/reactor paid for)

Why I’ll become tank of the month in 2-4 years
-Interesting background on the tank, will look very lifelike
-Inventive rockscaping will bring the tank to life even more
-Ingenius waterchanging system
-Giant DSB!
-Fairly simple and clean setup
-Dual display tanks could be interesting
-LED custom moonlighting is always cool
-I’ll have a tank room and a lab for my cultures… nuff said

Advice Requested:
-electrical ideas needed for breaker layout
-what to do with my 75gallon tank!?
-stocking numbers for fish, this can come later obviously
-do you really need to shutoff powerheads during feeding?
-importance of a relay on the float switches? Why not just GFI it? It’s cheaper and quick!
-should I do LED or cold cathodes for moonlight?
-problems with the silica sand as a substrate in the display?
-maxi mod input? I can’t afford tunze, sorry buddy
-I need ideas on how to hook up all the heaters? I set the dials independently on each? How will I know if any of them are never turning on since they don’t have pilot lights? I need ideas on this badly quickly.
-Do I really need Kalkwasser with a calcium reactor and the ability to add Ca chloride or baking soda as needed?
-any problems w/ bulk granulated activated carbon, low ph from general carbon.com?
-dolomite as a magnesium supplement
-generation ideas, I can’t afford a full house generator, but I can aerate the water to keep fish alive, but will this keep corals alive? I’m only planning on a max of 24 hours w/o power. Temperature will have to rely on foam and blankets while aerators keep the fish alive, I’m not sure if SPS will die w/o flow, obviously not since they get shipped like that, as long as I can keep it fairly aerated for the fish and temp fairly controlled.

[zachtos]

References:
Remote Deep Sand Bed and Nitrate Removal
DIY Liverock
Maxi Jet mod
DIY 2 part supplements
Reef Chemistry Calculator
Great Stuff Foam Background
T5 lighting and PAR results
Phytoplankton culturing
Copepod Culturing
PFO Luxeon Reviews
Luxeon LED vendor/info

[tentacles]

looks interesting, you certainly have a lot going on there! One thing I noticed in the photos of your water change res. is the orientation of the cinder blocks. I am pretty sure they are designed to be much stronger(and less likely to crush under weight) if they are stacked with the holes facing up.

[zachtos]

Whoops, yeah, that's what happens when you get in a hurry. I'll fix that when I start filling the tank w/ RO/DI, they are full at the moment. Thanks. All comments welcome and needed!!!

[BeakerBob]

Originally posted by zachtos
Stats:

Advice Requested:
-I need ideas on how to hook up all the heaters? I set the dials independently on each? How will I know if any of them are never turning on since they don’t have pilot lights? I need ideas on this badly quickly.

You have put a lot of work into that system and it should look great when completed!

I would suggest a dual stage RANCO controller. I put two plug stips on mine, one strip powers all the fans (or cooling system) and the other controls the heaters. Don't rely on the heaters to contol themselves.

Check it out here: http://diyreef.com/shop/product_info...roducts_id=212

[gfleck]

My borther IN law used plastic ties to hold up rock 3 years ago and he just told me his are starting to break. I used plastic ties too 1 1/2 ago.
Tank looks good. good luck..

[zachtos]

Originally posted by gfleck
My borther IN law used plastic ties to hold up rock 3 years ago and he just told me his are starting to break. I used plastic ties too 1 1/2 ago.
Tank looks good. good luck..

I guess I'll have to replace some of the ties in a few years, shouldn't be too hard I hope, but it will be a total pain in the rear. Maybe the rock will hold itself up by then?

[zachtos]

Originally posted by BeakerBob
You have put a lot of work into that system and it should look great when completed!

I would suggest a dual stage RANCO controller. I put two plug stips on mine, one strip powers all the fans (or cooling system) and the other controls the heaters. Don't rely on the heaters to contol themselves.

Check it out here: http://diyreef.com/shop/product_info...roducts_id=212

I'll have to keep that in mind. I think that's too far out of budget at the moment, but is an easy upgrade down the road depending on how the budget turns out.

*I'm planning to start doing electrical today. I'm considering putting in 3-15A circuits. one will be dedicated to the heaters, one will be dedicated to ALL lights and will have a GFI breaker in the basement, and the other will have all pumps/motors and other random equipment.

Lighting=9.4A (maximum constant draw)
Heating=13.3A (if all on at the same time)
pumps etc= 5.8A (constant draw, if return pump kicks on, it can draw up to 4 times it's Full load running amps, AKA LRA)

I think I'm going to use very few sockets, and just plug lots of short extension cords and surge protectors into them as needed. I'm not going to be able to get hardwired circuits close enough to every single device no matter how hard I try. Plus it doesn't matter as long as I dont overload any sockets, wires or timers.

[holeinone1972]

Interesting post. We miss our old tank.

It is nice to watch it be reborn again.

Best of luck.

This is what she used to look like.

[Bueller]

Zachtos, I'm currently a student at CMU with an interest in reefing but no money. I'd love the opportunity to help someone out and gain some experience/knowledge. Please send me an email if you ever need any help with anything. I'll be leaving town at the end of April, but I only live an hour away and my weekends are fairly free for projects.

[Tigger240]

what to do with my 75gallon tank!?

anything you want too, maybe have a sps and softie tank.

-stocking numbers for fish, this can come later obviously

this is one area i feel that i went really wrong. i loaded a 180 with 7 tangs, and although they all got along, some of the species i got (even though they reccomend a 180 for them) was still wayyy to small. look to the adult lengths and then decide if they are approiate in your tank. a 180 and 265 are not that much different as far as room is concerned with a 2 foot adult fish.

-do you really need to shutoff powerheads during feeding?

this is something you will get a feel for.

-importance of a relay on the float switches? Why not just GFI it? It’s cheaper and quick!

relays are a really good idea, along with gfi

-should I do LED or cold cathodes for moonlight?

cold cathodes would be different from the main stream.

-problems with the silica sand as a substrate in the display?

i would not use silica sand in the display. ive hated all the types of sand that ive put in my tanks, silica was brown, and cheap aragonite was too fine - looked ugly, was powder powder fine, and made pockets of gas. this is one area that i will not skimp on again, my advice is if its not in the budget, go bb for a while. rock is another area i wouldnt skimp on, but you already have yours.

-maxi mod input? I can’t afford tunze, sorry buddy

look into korlins, they can be modded aswell, cheap, and its a better starting point. my mjmod gave me neverending fits.

-I need ideas on how to hook up all the heaters? I set the dials independently on each? How will I know if any of them are never turning on since they don’t have pilot lights? I need ideas on this badly quickly.

ranco controller rocks. you only need one and they run 120 ish.

-Do I really need Kalkwasser with a calcium reactor and the ability to add Ca chloride or baking soda as needed?

you will have to decide this from your systems needs. kalk keeps up the ph, some people does kalk at night to do keep the ph stable.

-any problems w/ bulk granulated activated carbon, low ph from general carbon.com?

unknown to me

-dolomite as a magnesium supplement

randys diy two part? alot of people have good success with it.

-generation ideas, I can’t afford a full house generator, but I can aerate the water to keep fish alive, but will this keep corals alive? I’m only planning on a max of 24 hours w/o power. Temperature will have to rely on foam and blankets while aerators keep the fish alive, I’m not sure if SPS will die w/o flow, obviously not since they get shipped like that, as long as I can keep it fairly aerated for the fish and temp fairly controlled

you dont need a full house generator, a smaller one can be purchased for 500 - 600 dollars. run it outside, some of people in fl died from running them in a closed garage.

this my input, use it or leave it based on YOUR needs.

[zachtos]

I strung all the wire for the three circuits yesterday. All the junction boxes and gang boxes are mounted with wires pulled through and marked. I have some photos, but they aren't very interesting right now. All I have left to do is to splice at all the junction points and decide which sockets to install and how many switches I want to install in the gang boxes. I ran all the wire like I said I would. All heaters on one standard circuit w/ dual GFI sockets in case one trips, lighting on a GFI protected breaker and all pumps on one circuit, powerheads in the display to be on GFI sockets and the 75G tank will likely be on the lighting circuit to protect it since the load is so small.

[zachtos]

Here's how the wiring is laid out. I put junction boxes wherever splices were maid in an attempt to follow NEC code. I'm sure there are plenty of code violations. Mostly where cable is exposed on the walls without conduit. I did put the cables going through the floor in conduit to protect them from potential shearing if the pipes ever shifted. I'll be installing all of the splices, switches and sockets hopefully tonight. I'm in the process of ordering test kits, salt etc soon.

[zachtos]

wiring is DONE! 3 new breakers installed, 2 are standard 15A, one is a GFI breaker. I tested all 20 some sockets and switches with my GFI tester and everything worked right the first time! Very nice. I just need to find cover that fit the sockets, post some photos and convert my water pump to 110V from 220V. I know it's better to leave it at 220V to reduce heat and increase lifespan from startups, but it really wont be turned off that much and the heat it should add is neglible. That and I just don't feel like strining another conductor, socket and breaker for sucha small payout.

I heard back about my Ca reactor and skimmer, he should be sending me photos soon of the progress. I'll post those as well.

I'm hoping to add salt to the tank very soon. I think the cement background is already cured and ready to roll. Electrical is in so I may start filling the system at will. Time to start ordering stuff huh?

[zachtos]

I just ordered 55 lbs of granular activated carbon from general carbon. They resale to alot of petstores and then they obviously increase the prices. This is neutral ph carbon, coal based 12% ash and leaches nearly no phosphates unlike cocunut shell based carbons. It should work fine and last me quite a while.

55lbs for $90, 500% cheaper then aquarium repackaged versions



order bulk carbon here

[obsled]

Good information on the carbon zachtos! How much do you plan on using at once?

I've been watching your thread with interest. Keep us updated. I think I am more interesting in having multiple average sized tanks than one huge tank (time will tell), so I'm very curious about the tie in methods, etc.

Good luck!

[zachtos]

Originally posted by obsled
Good information on the carbon zachtos! How much do you plan on using at once?

I've been watching your thread with interest. Keep us updated. I think I am more interesting in having multiple average sized tanks than one huge tank (time will tell), so I'm very curious about the tie in methods, etc.

Good luck!

I'll fill up one entire 2lil fish's phosban reactor full of carbon and probably throw it away whenever the water starts getting that 'not so fresh feeling'...

I just ordered a buttload of supplies, including my T5 lighting setup, test kits, salt, maxi jets, 3 maxi mod kits, bulk carbon, bulk calcium chloride, bulk magnesium chloride, two nice 300W rena heaters, topoff pump and digital thermometers. I'm getting ready to order fans, 12VDC powersupplies and cold cathode tubes for moonlighting next.

Soon it'll be building my light hood, my culture station, filling the main tank, setting up the refugium, hopefully my ca reactor and skimmer and media reactor as well... and the 75G still needs to be drilled and have the overflows designed and piped through the wall to the existing manifolds. WORK WORK WORK.

[Sold4JC]

zachtos, everything looks good. Please keep me informed on your water flow with the modded maxi jets. I'm setting up a 210 and thinking of doing several modded maxi jets. I want to know how they work for you.

[zachtos]

electric completion photos: wired just like the diagram showed.


new reefkeeping buddy john and myself (grey shirt) working

3 new 15A breakers w/ labels, the lighting circuit is a GFI breaker

all tests passed, no rewiring was needed

dual GFI sockets for heaters, load to be split evenly in case one heater blows the GFI socket, the other half of heaters will still work

return pump has it's own socket and switch @ 120V

lighting and pump sockets for growout/fuge equipment

lab culture wall sockets for lights and pumps w/ switches

4 GFI light sockets on the left for lighting the display tanks, 3 standard sockets for the display pumps etc and one GFI socket for the powerheads in the displays - the 75G will have have extension cords going to the other room through the wall (I didn't wanna drill more holes in my virgin dining rom floors, I'll pull the cords through the holes in the drywall where the drain/return lines will go later - easy repairs)

I also ordered a wattmeter to help determine what wattage the icecap660 ballasts are actually overdriving my T5's at. And to determine the wattages of 4 'mystery' heaters that came w/ my used tank setup.

I ordered 4 x 15" blue cold cathode lights for moonlighting and 6 x 80mm 12VDC fans for cooling the overdriven lights. I still need to order power supplies for everything and get some relays for the autotopoff switches and the DIY backup generator air pumps.

I need to build my lab culture benches and order starter cultures next. I also need to build my light hoods and reinforce the shelf for the ca reactor and skimmer.

[zachtos]

This weekend I plan to get supplies necessaryto build my culture/lab benches and wood necessary to build my light hood for my T5's and cold cathode moonlights.
***Anyone able to tell me what type of wood to use?***

I ordered my electronics parts for my little projects. One project is the relay based float switches in series ($25 for this setup not including pumps). That's very simple though, I'll post photos later when I do that. Another is a relay based spa timer that will turn off the maxi jets during feeding time (may or may not do this one, only $25 to do this). The other project is more complex. It's a backup generator system that will turn a powerhead on in case of an electrical outage. The system is expandable by adding more batteries. I estimate that the pump should stay on somewhere between 10 hours and 40 hours... it's hard to say because I can't find a spec sheet for battery I've chosen. I'm not doing a deepcyle battery, (I find it cheaper to parallel 2-3 lead acids, I don't need high amps, just alot of reserve capacity). I want a air pump to go on as well but I don't want it on 24/7 obviously.





*opinions needed before i finish this!