uglyfish 65g sps tank

[uglyfish]

My wife bought me a custom 36x24x18 rimless for Christmas.

 

May 2012

[CBernhardt23]

My wife bought me a custom 36x24x18 rimless for Christmas. Starphire glass, 5/8" thick. It was a nice surprise - now that I have the glass... a hundred other decisions have to be made.

 

So far, I've decided on the following hardware:

Lighting is 2x Radions xr30w

Skimmer is Super Reef Octopus xp2000

Circulation is 2x Vortech MP40s

Return Pump is Blueline 40, 1200gph

ATO is Tunze Osmolator 3155

 

Sump is still in the design stage, pending some final decisions.

Calcium and dosing is still under consideration. Kalk dosing vs 2 part vs reactor?

 

My vision for the tank is minimalist aquascaping with patches of open sand.

Sps dominated tank - few fish.

 

Given that I want to keep sps, I would like some opinions on filtration.

 

I have room for a 24x24 sump. One third is taken by skimmer and baffles. One quarter is return, plus baffles. It leaves me with 10x24x8 area to work with in the sump.

 

No room for a large DSB and I don't know if a 12" ball of chaeto will make a dent in my phosphate in 90+g of water. I could put in a small DSB, but my understanding was that DSB need large open areas in order to be effective, plus, I don't see them used with sps tanks. I've looked at the sps tanks over the years and the colours get brighter and brighter every year. I'm sure that has alot to do with equipment improvements and forums like these to spread the know-how.

 

 

My plan was to run the sump with live rock for natural denitrification, and a phosban reactor.

Possibly dose Zeobak and Zeostart for further nutrient export. I read mixed reviews of the bio balls. Maybe carbon dose with solid carbon biopellets in a reactor? I'm not sure which route to take given the options.

 

 

 

Looking forward to this. Pictures or it didnt happen! lol. Nice present your wife got you. Who makes the tank?

[Evanski9]

Well I'd run a fuge. It will do its job. I'd dose and do wc. Maybe get a bigger skimmer. And take it easy on the stocking. This thing would be ready to run. I'd do a phons an and gfo reactors. It will keep the water all O's across the bored. Dosing pumps will come in handy I'd pick up 3 for mag cal and alk

[uglyfish]

Looking forward to this. Pictures or it didnt happen! lol. Nice present your wife got you. Who makes the tank?

 

Pics coming soon - glass is with cabinet maker.

I am building the frame - cabinet maker is staining the exterior panels, attaching doors.

 

The tank is made by Kerry at Snap Services Glass and Mirror in Toronto.

http://www.snapservices.ca

[PSYS]

How's this one coming along...?

[siwelk]

How's this one coming along...?

 

Expensively.

[iball1804]

That is some incredible equipment

[ek9vboi]

Did she realize that the same tank that she paid $400-600 will end up costing her easily over $2K. LOL, my tank that I will be picking up is about the same size and I only wish I had money to buy half the equipment you have in mind.

[uglyfish]

Did she realize that the same tank that she paid $400-600 will end up costing her easily over $2K. LOL, my tank that I will be picking up is about the same size and I only wish I had money to buy half the equipment you have in mind.

 

I don't really think it's easy to build a tank for much less, unless you get deals on good used equipment. Good equipment is expensive, coral and fish are expensive... My first tank was built with cheap equipment - I went through 3 skimmers - and the last one broke and I never replaced it. I'm done with re-buying equipment.

 

My wife got a deal on the glass, really. It's gorgeous. I'm at about $4K now, still need a bit more to finish. She was tired of seeing the existing setup - which is pretty makeshift DIY style. She doesn't want to see any plumbing or wires. That's the deal. I can have a nice tank - but it has to look slick.

 

I got the radions - very slick. I got the MP40's - HUGE!

I got the sump and pump. I got the skimmer - very nice, well crafted.

Frame is built.

 

My sump is 23x23x16. It's a tight fit in the cabinet.

 

Still need to figure out ATO.

I ordered the Tunze osmolator - coming in 2 weeks. I have to figure out if I'm going to plumb the ato directly to the ro-di or pump from a reservoir under the cabinet - or some hybrid.

 

I was thinking I would build an acrylic holding tank under the cabinet, which hold about 5-10G. Then have the tunze pump fresh water from that reservoir into the sump. The cabinet space is so limited that this tank will not be removable or easy to fill by hand. I was going to plumb the ro-di in this container and have a manual valve to fill the reservoir, which I would fill once a week.

 

I was told just to plumb the ro-di directly to the sump but that worries me too much. If the automatic valve fails - I'll have a horrible mess. The fish store told me to plumb it direct and don't worry - but I do worry. Also, I read that pulsing (start-stop) water from an ro-di is bad for the filter and produce poor quality water. I read that on the internet (so it has to be true).

 

Doing my research on bio-pellets. I'm not 100% set on filtration yet. Still not set on GFO. I know from experience it will pull phosphates. I run GFO in my small tank and I know it works - but I think it's a bit harsh. I think I prefer the idea of cultivating nitrate and phosphate eating bacteria - then skimming them out. I understand this is the zeovit principle - which we know works well with sps tanks. I wonder if I could replace the zeostart carbon dosing with biopellets - and forego the zeolite reactor? Would the zeobak bacteria feed off the biopellets? I'm thinking out loud here... ? Biopellets and carbon dosing have the added benefit of produce that "high-nutrient film" which feeds corals. I have to admit - I like the zeovit system. But I hate having to add 5 drops of this and that every day.

 

Build pics coming tonight.

[PSYS]

Expensively.

 

'nuff said.

[uglyfish]

Sump & Skimmer:

 

 

Cabinet

 

 

 

The return pump is mounted over the sump - the electronics shelf runs along the back, near the top.

 

Exterior cabinet colour:

 

[urbaneks]

My wife bought me a custom 36x24x18 rimless for Christmas. Starphire glass, 5/8" thick. It was a nice surprise - now that I have the glass... a hundred other decisions have to be made.

 

So far, I've decided on the following hardware:

Lighting is 2x Radions xr30w

Skimmer is Super Reef Octopus xp2000

Circulation is 2x Vortech MP40s

Return Pump is Blueline 40, 1200gph

ATO is Tunze Osmolator 3155

 

Sump is still in the design stage, pending some final decisions.

Calcium and dosing is still under consideration. Kalk dosing vs 2 part vs reactor?

 

My vision for the tank is minimalist aquascaping with patches of open sand.

Sps dominated tank - few fish.

 

Given that I want to keep sps, I would like some opinions on filtration.

 

I have room for a 24x24 sump. One third is taken by skimmer and baffles. One quarter is return, plus baffles. It leaves me with 10x24x8 area to work with in the sump.

 

No room for a large DSB and I don't know if a 12" ball of chaeto will make a dent in my phosphate in 90+g of water. I could put in a small DSB, but my understanding was that DSB need large open areas in order to be effective, plus, I don't see them used with sps tanks. I've looked at the sps tanks over the years and the colours get brighter and brighter every year. I'm sure that has alot to do with equipment improvements and forums like these to spread the know-how.

 

My plan was to run the sump with live rock for natural denitrification, and a phosban reactor.

Possibly dose Zeobak and Zeostart for further nutrient export. I read mixed reviews of the bio balls. Maybe carbon dose with solid carbon biopellets in a reactor? I'm not sure which route to take given the options.

 

Congrats on a great gift. Your system will be very nice. Fir filtration I would recommend live rock, strong skimmer and run gfo in a small reactor. That's what I'm running on mine and I'm having good success. At some point I may do a carbon bacteria dosing but for now my phos and nit are in check.

[uglyfish]

Congrats on a great gift. Your system will be very nice. Fir filtration I would recommend live rock, strong skimmer and run gfo in a small reactor. That's what I'm running on mine and I'm having good success. At some point I may do a carbon bacteria dosing but for now my phos and nit are in check.

 

Thanks - it sounds like a good plan. I can always add carbon dosing later, if needed.

 

BTW, your tank is very nice. Your equipment panel is a work of art. I'm going to read through your build thread in more detail.

[uglyfish]

Cabinet almost ready to go... Electrical next.

 

[franklypre]

Rather than run GFO why not go with purigen and phosguard by seachem. Purigen is good to run constantly and if phos goes up you can us the phosguard. I'm interested to see what 2 mp40s are gonna do in that tank, I have a 58 which is the same footprint just 3 inches shorter. I've seen 2 MP10s a 58 and can honestly say I was not impressed with the flow. Definately top of the line.

[uglyfish]

Rather than run GFO why not go with purigen and phosguard by seachem. Purigen is good to run constantly and if phos goes up you can us the phosguard. I'm interested to see what 2 mp40s are gonna do in that tank, I have a 58 which is the same footprint just 3 inches shorter. I've seen 2 MP10s a 58 and can honestly say I was not impressed with the flow. Definately top of the line.

 

There are so many good options for filtration - it's hard to pick one. The tank is probably 2 weeks away until plumbing is done and water goes in - then a month or more for cycling... I'll have some time to figure it out. From what I read of purigen, it seems to be a chemical version of zeolite media - removing ammonia and nitrates. I need to do more research on this. Thanks for the input.

 

The mp40's are much bigger than i thought. I think they're a bit overkill for 67g. I was going to get mp10s but my glass is 5/8" thick - mp10s are only good up to 3/8". I like the way the integrate wireless with the radion lights.

 

[urbaneks]

The stand turned out great. I wish I had those wood working skills. Stay motivated and keep us updated.

 

On the MP40's, you will need to dial them down in your tank. In my 112, I run mine at about 60% power for most of the day. I do go to 100% for a few hours each day. During this time, my sand bed will move a bit which is nice. In a 67g, I think 100% would blow water out of the tank.

[uglyfish]

The stand turned out great. I wish I had those wood working skills. Stay motivated and keep us updated.

 

Thanks. I will post pics as I progress.

 

The mp40 look powerful. I'll keep a towel nearby when i set them up.

[Paleoreef103]

Thanks. I will post pics as I progress.

 

The mp40 look powerful. I'll keep a towel nearby when i set them up.

Also, they aren't silent pumps. The lower the setting, the quieter they become. Honestly, running two of them at half power is going to be more than enough.

[spllbnd2]

Very nice set you have started there. Tagging along to se how things go. Cannot wait to see how 2-MP40's rock the tank. BTW, I like the color of the stand, just finished a build for my 65H with a similar stain/ebonized color.

 

Cheers,

Alex

[uglyfish]

Very nice set you have started there. Tagging along to se how things go. Cannot wait to see how 2-MP40's rock the tank. BTW, I like the color of the stand, just finished a build for my 65H with a similar stain/ebonized color.

 

Cheers,

Alex

 

Thanks - the MP40's are very good. I think they'll run at 50-60% most of the time.

Running 100% does not blow water out of the tank or kick up much sand - just a bit too noisy.

The MP40s are very good. They synced with the Radions without any effort on my part. When the lights dim, the pumps slow down.

 

The reef octopus skimmer is a bit noisy and is sitting too low in the sump. I'll have to put it on a stand.

 

I added some rock tonight. The rocks are bigger than I thought - but I think it's OK.

Here are the pics.

 

 

[bryanphillips]

More than OK, looks great

[Kazooie]

Sexy, I have a tank with the same dimensions being built now.

[uglyfish]

More than OK, looks great

 

Thanks - always looks great on day 1. Algae gone crazy now.

This pic is about 3-4 days growth! Some strands are 5" long!

It's been running for a few weeks - the algae started immediately after the first cycle finished.

Nice, fluffy, excellent colour...

 

 

 

Sexy, I have a tank with the same dimensions being built now.

 

Thanks, the dimensions are good - it never seems big enough though. Still, a big step up from my 10g.

There are alot of nice tips on Urbanek's build http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=3681510&st He incorporated a top off reservoir into the sump... I wish I had done that, especially with my space restrictions.

 

Here are some sump pics - stuff still missing - I just installed the ato a few days ago. Using a garbage pail for my top off until I can get a proper reservoir built.

 

I just ordered the Cad Lights bio-pellet reactor. To be installed in the next few weeks. I like the fact that it's adjustable - we'll see how it goes.

 

 

Also coming next few weeks - Dual carbon/gfo reactor from bulk reef supply. I'm just running a carbon in a a sock in the baffle right now.

 

I'm having alot of trouble with the reef octopus xp2000 skimmer. It;s been running a few weeks and I can't seem to find the sweet spot. I can run for a few days skimming well, then it will overflow, without changing anything on the skimmer. A little frustrating but it may just need some more time.

 

I've added a drum in the basement laundry room to make water for changes... It's plumbed directly to the ro di with a float switch. (need to clean up loose tubes)

 

 

I haven't changed the water yet - this weekend will do a big change.

[bryanphillips]

 

Tang will love that when the time comes