120 Reef Office Build (75 upgrade)

[Bax]

Well, my 75 g reef in my previous office was just reaching one year in age when, suddenly, we had to move!

I was not ready to move, much less upgrade my tank. I found out in the third week of June that we'd begin moving on July 1st, and have to be out of my former offices on August 1st. To complicate things, my vacation was already planed for two weeks in July! And! I could not spot the new tank until the last week in July as new flooring had to be installed first!! Yikes!!!!

Fortunately, I have been collecting equipment for a new large tank system at my new house. I was hoping to start construction in earnest this month on the new system at home starting from the fish room out to the display. So, I have tons of equipment stored for that project. Were it not for this, I'd have been in deep ...

So, here we go ...

My new office ...

[IMG][/IMG]

The under stairs closet/Fish Room To Be ...

[IMG][/IMG]

The 120 finally in place ...

[IMG][/IMG]

Some system details ...

This a used 120 I purchased to be my frag/isolation tank for my future home system.

In the Fish Room for the 120, there is: a 75g Fuge/Frag tank with t-5 lighting; a drain fed skimmer sump with ASM G4x; a 30g DIY sump from my former 75g system; a 1/4 hp chiller run on a CL which provides flow to my fuge/frag tank; and GEO Kalk reactor.

I may expand this but for now, that's what's in there.

For lighting on the display, I used the lights from my 75g. Dual Hamilton 175 MHs with 10k Ushio SE bulbs, I upgraded to Lumenarc Mini reflectors (I had em in storage) and I love them!
To fit them I had to cut back from 210 watts of T-5 s to 165 watts (three 48" 54watt tubes).

I'll post more pics soon.

Happy Reefing!!!



Flow in the 120 is provided by the Mag 9.5 return (split between the fuge & display), a Vortech PH and a Tunze 6000, I have a Tunze 6100 on the way as well (should be in Monday!! )

[Bax]

here's a link to my thread for the 75 office build

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=644848


That was a great tank, I learned a lot setting it up.

[xtrstangx]

Looks like a good start.

Make sure to post plenty of pics.

[Bax]

Pics?!?!?

You want Pics?! .... OK

Fortunately, I had 150 pounds of Walt Smith Premium Fiji just laying around (waiting for my new home system) Her it is at my old shop in a 75g with a MR4 recirc skimmer



I have read one too many posts tanks breaking. All the tanks in this system were bought used. So ... bothe the 120 display & the 75 fuge have eggcrate across the entire bottom



That rock is now in the 120 display and in the 75 g fuge of the 120 system



T-5 lighting for the fuge (I have a 175 MH I may put on here too for frag propigation)



Here's the drain fed skimmer sump with ASM G4x



Here's the main drain through the wall and the chiller (not plumed yet in this pic)



A 160 cfm vent fan in the Sump Room



Duct in the crawl space between the two floors

[Bax]

Here's the display so far ...

Here's the framed out canopy with lights



Here's rhe full tank & stand with just a sheet of wwo dover the canopy, I'll be skinning this over the next week or so & it'll look quite different



Here's a full tank today, I don't have all the corals in yet ...



... more to come

[Bax]

Here's the list of critters ...

There's neary 300 pounds of LR between the display & fuge

Pair of o. clowns with an RBTA

a orchid dottyback (pseudochromis fridmani)
( I had a male & female but the female has vanished in the display. This has happened in the past when she would be egg bound, but it's been too long and I fear she's been lost to an aquascaping incident)

hineochus butterfly

foxface lo

coral beauty

Midas blenny

T derasa
T squamosa
T maxima
T crocea

long spinr urchin
tirgertail cucumber
a pair of serpent stars
a variety of hermits & snails

my craols are a mix of LPS & SPS & a few zoos

[Bax]

Here's a pic of my 75g from June so it's pretty soon before I tore it down for the move.



Notice the canopy still not finished! Completing the stand is a priority for this 120 project.

[Bax]

An up date:

I knew that things with this move/upgrade would move fast, and I really had little time to focus on planning, so , I expected to discover a few miscalculation in terms of plumbing and such that would need to be modified or even re-placed.

... Well, I thought my separate, drain fed skimmer sump for the G4x was a brilliant idea. And it may still have been a good idea, but it does not work in practice. Remember, all this equipment was stored for another project, so, except for the G4x skimmer, it was not purchased with this system in mind. As a result my elevation in inflow from the display drain and outflow from the skimmer sump just don't cut it. I can only sustain a trickle of flow. Close! But no cigar!

As a result, the G4x was barely skimming. Fortunately I have my ER ES-5-3 from my 75g in the fuge, so that has been maintaining my system water (fantastic little skimmer).

So, last night, after working in the hot sun all day, at a point where I should have been home sipping a cool beverage, I was feverishly testing out a thought I had to plumb a 350 gph (or there about) PH from my first chamber of my sump, so it is still all 100% display surface drained water, and pumping that to my skimmer sump. I ran a 3/4" tube, zip tied it securely, so I thought and began the test.

The skimmer began producing like crazy, the discharge from the skimmer sump began flowing just like I hoped it would and ... you guessed it the tube slipped out and gallons of water began to rush out of my sump room all over the floor.

Two and a half years I ran my 26 g bow and 75 g and I did not spill this much water in total much less one event.

Anyway, nothing hurt but my pride.

Skimmer sump will be properly plumbed up by days end today.

Thanks for watching

[dougie]

love your 120g! looks fantastic, aquascape looks tops.

keep up the good work!

[Bax]

Thanks dougie ...

It's amazing what one 40 pound piece of Walt Smith fiji can do for your aquascaping!

Makes piling it up real easy

I'll be taking more pics of the full tank after I finish mounting the last of the frags from my fuge. Still have a few pieces to move over, then we'll just let it settle in a while.

[Bax]

My Tunze 6100 arrived!

So I now have:
the Vortech MP40 running at about half speed attached to the back center;
a Tunze 6000 on the right front corner, pulsing at 100% & 50%;
and, the 6100 in the left rear corner pulsing at about 70% & 40%.

That is easily 40x flow in the display.

After I get things settled equipment wise I'll play with flow and aquascaping a little more.

I re-plumbed the skimmer sump last night. I now have a small pump, a Quiet One 1200 I think? It draws from my first sump chamber after my inflow bubble trap, so it is all drained water, and feeds over to the skimmer sump, that drains by gravity, back to the bubble trap of the return pump section. Although this seems to work, I am not convinced it is enough flow to the skimmer section for this skimmer, but I'll give it a few days to see what happens.

I now have to focus on my auto top off. I've been using a GEO Kalk rector fed RO/DI water by an Aquamedic dosing pump, all controlled by timers and an Ultra Life float switch for the former 75 g. This combination worked flawlessly in the past but for some reason since the move has just not operated correctly. I think it has to do with the fact that due to space, I had to extend the discharge tube on the GEO running down to floor, across the small sump room and up to the sump. Maybe the extra head is too much for the Aquamedic? I'll look at it more closely this afternoon.

I want to get all these bugs worked out so I can finish skinning my stand & canopy ...

[Bax]

I fixed the ATO. Turned the Aquamedic dosing pump needed a new internal tube. I also changed a 0.45 micron inlet filter I use and it's running like a charm!

Here's some of the critters:

Midas benny



Coral beauty



Heniochus butterfly



... and, a full tank shot, I played around a little with the right side aquascape. Hope you like it!

[mg426]

Nice

[Bax]

Thanks !

[Bax]

Any body know what this centipede looking thingy might be?

I snapped a pic of it in my fuge before I transferred the LR over, and I have been meaning to post it for a while now.

It is clinging to the bottom of a Mag 5 in this pic to give you scale.

I wish I had grabbed it and isolated it at the time but I was in a huge hurry at that moment as was lucky to get the pic.

What do you think, friend or foe?

[Tu Ku]

foe fo sho

[Bax]

I was afraid of that!

Any idea what it is?

[dougie]

looking good!!! that centipede thing looks evil, that cant b good.

Cheers.

[Bax]

I can't belive I had him right there and did not pull it out as I had no where to put it for holding and no time to set up even a holding tank.

... I have to learn to be more callous about potentially bad critters.

It is definitely not a bristle worm, right????

[dougie]

no that things not a bristle worm, (bristle worms can b benefical to the system anyway).

Ive never seen the centipede looking thing ever, no idea what it is?

[Bax]

You know, it could be a centipede? I am in an old masonry building. Maybe it just fell in? But I guess that is being a bit optimistic as it was looking pretty content in the fuge.

Any guesses at an ID are welcome.

[Criminal#58369]

I seen something like that pic above outside my house:

I think its some sort of centipede looks sorta like this:
http://www.ento.psu.edu/extension/fa...ipedeHouse.htm

Hate to know there around in this area.

[NexDog]

Love how you built up the rock like that - looks fantastic.

[Bax]

NexDog

Thanks!

criminal

I know! That's what I thought it looked like, but it looked way too OK with being in the salt water! ... I am still kicking myself for not grabbing it out when I had the chance. I may never see this thing again.

[Criminal#58369]

Do you think it is in the main tank? Or u think it got out?