I've really done it this time... Frag system in my sunroom...

[rustybucket145]

Well, over the past few months I've been planning for somewhat of an expansion of my frag and tank system. Well, this past weekend I did it! I've been accumulating supplies, tanks...etc for quite a while now for this setup and it finally all came together for a weekend of crazy fish tank moving/plumbing and craziness in general.

I've got a ton of pics to post and I will over the next few days. I really wanted to post pics as work progressed but time just didn't permit. All my free time was directed toward the tanks.

So as an outline this is what I had:
1 90gal reef tank
1 30gal tall sump
1 30gal breeder

This had all been setup for almost three years now and doing good.

What I added....
3 30gal Breeders
1 30gal Tall
1 110gal sump

So basically my system went from 150gals total to almost 400gals

for a total of.....

1 90 gal display
4 30gal breeders
2 30gal talls
1 110gal sump

All of my tanks are located in my sunroom. I cleared about 15' of wallspace to fit everything in. The wall is windows floor to ceiling and easterly facing. I get direct morning sun.

A couple of requirements to meet.

1. Keep Cost LOW!! While keeping Quality HIGH!! I diy'd quite a bit re-used supplies where I could. I learned alot here on RC and I hope to share to help others.
2. Keep noise LOW!! No Gurgling, No Sucking Sounds, No Splashing, No Flushing. I don't mind the sound of water, just not the annoyances listed above.
3. The system has to look 'decent'. I do entertain in my sunroom and when I have guests everyone seems to migrate there before the end of the night.


I know this post is useless without pics, but they're coming!! I've detailed as much of the process as humanly possible while being short on time and help at every step.

[Leonardo's Reef]

Good luck! Interested to see the pictures

Leonardo

[Woods]

Tagging along...wanting to check out the pics

[rustybucket145]

Left the cam at home today Gonna have to wait another day....

[rustybucket145]

Ok, so enough with the talking, lets see some pics!!!

The pics begin after the first night of work on the stand....

Here's the sunroom, the system will be on the wall of windows to the right.




It's always good to feed the help Thanks to Hgreagan for all his help through this!! You tha man!!




The 110 gal sump


Mock-up of my electrical panel and control box. Will house all timers, controllers...etc. All on switches.

[rustybucket145]

The new tanks


The wall that will house everything


Just had to sit the tanks on it! testing... yeah, right.




Getting my laundry done while working on the tanks!! Can't beat that ILY baby!


There They Are!!

[rustybucket145]

Staining Raw 2x4's...?? Am I crazy??








Time for the poly!




Sump with bulkhead to feed my display tank return.


Little shine?

[rustybucket145]

Some pics of how the stand was supported/reinforced.






No screw heads visible!! I planned it that way... yeah right.


This space will sit in-between my display and the frag rack. My skimmer will sit here. I left the top open for easy access for cleaning and maintenance of the skimmer.




Buddy says it's time to quit for the day ... hard work isn't it Buddy?

[rustybucket145]

Time for some Plumbing!!!

One of my main goals with this system was to be able to independently control the flow of every tank. And... to be able to totally shut off a tank indefinitely if necessary. So......

This is what $50 worth of plumbing looks like












Allright, I gotta get back to work now... many more pics to come!!! Anything in particular you guys would like to see in detail?

[rustybucket145]

I'd also like to thank raycityboy1 for lending me containers to house corals/water during the 'Big Move'. They were a lifesaver!!

Also, to all the greenhouse guys, THANKS!! I deal with very similar issues as you guys in my sunroom. Heat, Cold...etc. Very similar. I've learned alot about controlling the variables from you guys. Thanks for sharing!

[Freed]

Have you thought about putting anything under the stands and on top of the brick to keep the weight on a small spot from cracking the brick and possibly throwing the tanks off level?

[rustybucket145]

Those bricks came from an old train depot in Savannah. Old School, Xtra Strong. You can't hardly break them with a hammer. Much thicker than normal bricks as well. So no, I'm not really worried about that. I did have to do a considerable amount of shimming under some of the legs b/c the bricks aren't 100% level from brick to brick.

Bout to hit 5k posts Freed! I hear ya! I just hit 3k on my first post with pics in this thread

[Freed]

Didn't even notice!!! Thanks for the heads up.

[rustybucket145]

Ok, Round II of pics!! These pics show the 'setup' portion of the build. This is when the rubber meets the road! My existing 90gal and 30gal breeder were broken down fully. I turned my 90gal 90deg so that it's position would be better in the new setup.

The Breakdown Begins!! This started Friday afternoon around 6:30ish. In for a LONG night!!


Draining of the fuge/frag tank


See the Mangroves??


Ok, there was definitely a lapse in photography here. This is after the tanks were broken down and moved. The rack has been put in place and one of the countertops has been installed. The countertops are 3/4" Starboard on bottom and 1/2" Starboard on top. The lapse in photography happened during the hours where time was of the essence. All corals and fish were housed in containers and some heavy lifting was done. We moved the 90 with the sandbed still in the bottom and one column of rock in it. We estimate that it weighed close to 400-500 lbs. It was a heavy SOB!!




What a friggin MESS!!


Tanks everywhere!!


Starting to fill up the sump! YAY!

[rustybucket145]

Well, that's all the pics from the setup night. Time was short, and as the night progressed the tempers also got shorter. We got the tanks filled back up and all livestock back in around 2am. Hunter left and I stayed up til about 3:30ish just double checking everything and making sure we didn't forget anything.

All in all it was a very successful move. Only one millepora suffered any damage at all and I'm thinking it will recover. All fish accounted for!

[rustybucket145]

The Morning After

I woke up Sat morning around 6ish and was so sore I could hardly get out of bed Gettin to old for this ****!! I did a good bit of plumbing before the sun came up but here's some pics as the sun started coming up..... What a mess!!!












Ok Later that day... got alot done today. Got all the tanks plumbed, got lights up and got some of the mess cleaned up.

[rustybucket145]

Now!! Onto Sunday! You can really start to see everything starting to come together here. The water's starting to clear, everything's starting to look nicer, sunroom almost no longer looks like a dump .... Had to make a couple of trips to Lowes and the hardware store today b/c I started to run out of material.....















The Sump!!

[rustybucket145]

Monday Night!! Got my halides hung over the main tank tonight after work!! YAY! Now there's lighting for all tanks. Here's the lighting breakdown.

90gal -- 2 175w Metal Halides 14k bulbs SE
-- 2 VHO Actinics
30gal Breeder -- Normal Output Flourescents 1 x 18k bulb 1 x Actinic bulb
30gal Breeder -- T5's 1 x 10k bulb 1 x Actinic
Two 30gal Talls. 1 x 174w Metal Halide 20k Bulb SE

(to be added) 2 x Solar Tubes for the top two Breeder Tanks.



Normal Flourescents


One of my fav pics.. NO on the top T5's on the bottom


Halide in DIY Lumenarc style reflector over the twin 30's





NO on top T5 on bottom again.

[rustybucket145]

This is the hole that was made to access the skimmer. It's located in between my main tank and the frag tanks. Nice easy access!! I love it when plans work out!!

Also, here's a link to my DIY Skimmer Build Thread: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1044448










The Mangroves


There will be two more 30gal breeders placed on the end of the rack. I'm waiting on a suitable fuge to cross my path as those two tanks will drain into it.


Sumpilicious!!


Angled the pipe to hopefully reduce microbubbles... yeah, it didn't really work.

[rustybucket145]

A few pics of the sump setup and how the skimmer was fed. I have it unioned and gate valved to my Mag 24 pump. I can control the flow through the skimmer with the gate valve. I know this isn't the optimum situation for skimming. I would have rather fed it from an overflow and may do so in the future but in the name of time this will work for now.





After 1 day of skimming..... you should see what's in the collection jug! BARF!!



The new temp controller hooked up to a 500w heater. Prolly have to add another 500w before winter hits.


The Mag 24 which feeds all the frag tanks.


The Union connected to the Mag 24 for easy removal and cleaning. This is unioned to the valve manifold that I showed earlier in the thread. It gives me total control of the flow to each tank independantly

[rustybucket145]

Allright, now some Glory Shots!! I love sitting in front of this monster!!














Ok, since I can't show pics of any of the frags that 'self fragged' during the move That's about it for now. Any questions? Comments? Feedback?

[sprite]

holy cow dude! your one lucky sob my wife would of divorced me for that build...good job!

[russ49merc]

yeah i was thinking the same thing..... are you done it ..... is this going to take you all day......... you have to go to home depot again....... how much is this all costing us AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[rustybucket145]

I'm single! (well I have a girlfriend, but not married) Actually the cost wasn't that much at all. I sold some frags to help cover the cost and ended up only coming out of pocket about $200


WANTED: Good woman who can cook, clean, do laundry and has nice Halide Lighting System. Please pm pic of lighting system

[Invisible Reef]

Lookin good. You guys crack me up. you have to go to Home Depot again? Oh, thats classic.