40 Breeder Project

[koteckn]

bump... I plan to order supplies tonight or at some point tomorrow.

-nate

[koteckn]

Just a little update. Will upload more once progress is made. Everything has been pretty slow with work taking up 90% of my time. Should have more time once my feb 20th deadline passes. Stay informed!

 

 

[Mojado]

Just a little update. Will upload more once progress is made. Everything has been pretty slow with work taking up 90% of my time. Should have more time once my feb 20th deadline passes. Stay informed!

Split drain with a middle return?

[koteckn]

Will probably split my drain with a wye to have 75% draining into the left side of the sump with the skimmer/filter sock/live rock and 25% into the refugium. Dont think we are going to do a middle return anymore because we decided to go with an overflow box. The overflow box will most likely be on the left side of the main tank with the return on the right. This is all still up in the air as of now.

[Wburrick]

Why so many weirs if the return isn't going to be in the middle? Expecting a lot of micro bubbles?

[Mojado]

Will probably split my drain with a wye to have 75% draining into the left side of the sump with the skimmer/filter sock/live rock and 25% into the refugium. Dont think we are going to do a middle return anymore because we decided to go with an overflow box. The overflow box will most likely be on the left side of the main tank with the return on the right. This is all still up in the air as of now.

middle section of the sump being where the return pump is going, is what I meant.

[Mojado]

I'd get rid of the fourth baffle from the left and move the three baffles on the right over toward the left as much as possible. This will give you more room in your refugium. It will also tighten up your salinity control if you have a an ATO controlled by the water level in the middle return pump section. The smaller you make that middle return section, the more tightly you can control salinity with an ATO.

[koteckn]

Holes have been drilled. Bulkheads and overflow being installed tonight. Will post more pics when more progress is made. Just letting you know this is still a work in progress and not a dead project.

-n

[koteckn]

Here are some pictures of the overflow and bulkheads installed. We also painted the back of the tank over the weekend. We plan to finish up the stand tonight and plan out the plumbing. We have most of our equipment that we need to finish this project up and move this 40b inside to start cycling. I'm hoping that this thing is up and running in 2 weeks to a month. Stay tuned.

- n

 

 

[koteckn]

Finally starting to look like everything coming together.

- n

[duncan-junkie]

Everything looks great dude! I'll be following

[koteckn]

Well, because of being perfectionists... this project is taking longer than we originally anticipated. We have made a lot of progress though. The tank has been plumbed with no leaks and works very well. We filled it about 12 hours ago and there are still no leaks but will triple check everything after work today. We need to add a filter sock on the left side in the 4" pipe and we will also add some live rock down there and then create a refugium on the right (slow moving water). In the next week or so, we are going to make sure the skimmer works where we have it placed and mount the UV sterilizer inside the stand as well. Once we finish those two installs, we have to wire everything and get all of our hardware into the electrical side of the stand (right side with surge protectors, radion ballast etc etc etc.). I believe we have all of the hardware we need minus the vortech we will be purchasing in the near future. In the meantime, I have 3 hydor 450's that we will be using.

 

We're getting great flow with the mag drive 7 without any wave makers as you can see in the one picture.

 

Any comments, concerns, information is greatly appreciated.

 

- n

[koteckn]

bump

[koteckn]

A little more progress was made. The only things we need to do before moving the tank inside and starting the cycle are:

1. hook up and test uv sterilizer and cobalt inline pump

2. drill hole in electrical panel and run wiring into the electrical box (hard part will be making all the wiring neat)

3. install ATO system and build stand for reserve water

4. create egg crate box separating skimmer from filter sock (to make a space to add more live rock to the system)

5. purchase live rock and glue to create rock structure, purchase substrate and then start cycling.

 

I'm sure there is something else i'm missing but as you can see, we're getting close...

[Elrato]

Looks good, im following along

[koteckn]

Buckeye Hydro 75 gpd MAXR rodi order placed.

 

Hoping to start the cycling process in the next week or so. Will update as more progress is made.

 

- n

[koteckn]

Well the RO/DI unit has already shipped, less than 24 hours after I've placed the order. I would highly recommend this company to anyone looking to purchase or upgrade their RO/DI unit.

 

My Dad also owns and runs his own plumbing heating and air conditioning company so plumbing this into our home's water lines should be a breeze as well. Should have this installed by the end of this weekend as well. This system is a 40 breeder tank with a 20gal long sump filled about 50%, or ten gallons. Does anyone have any recommendations for holding containers? I plan to have two, one for new RO/DI water for water changes and filling up my ATO, and the other to mix my salt water. I need to know what size containers i'll need and what the best containers would be for my particular project.

 

I purchased the red sea coral pro salt a few days ago and was wondering if anyone had any insight on mixing salt water for the cycling phase. I have never cycled a saltwater tank before so I started to do some research. I decided that we will by cycling with live rock so any and all information is now needed on best practices, what we should look for and literally anything else that will help us. I have no idea how long to mix the salt water (plan to have a wavemaker in the holding tank to keep it from settling), how long it has to sit prior to adding it to the tank etc etc etc. Please, any and all information is requested and links to other websites would also be very helpful.

 

Another question I have deals with what sand we should use. I plan to have some strong current in my tank (~500gph return and eventually an MP10 or two (will be running 3 hydor 425's in the meantime). Any recommendations whether live sand is needed or not and what size grains would be very helpful. It may not be needed, but if it is best, I wouldn't mind spending the extra money here as i'd like for this tank to cycle as fast as possible.

 

For now, I think these are enough questions to propel us forward for now but expect many more to come.

Thanks for your time and energy,

- n

[koteckn]

Any help?

[farkwar]

So one the msin drain side...

 

How are you filtering out all the detritus and fish poop?

 

That looks like some form of settling tank thing, are you going to be manually sucking out the detritus(daily)?

 

 

 

 

Holding containers? I would recommend Norwesco tanks, 50gallon. One salt, one for fresh water. I was using 5 galling drinking water jugs, bah, too time consuming.

[koteckn]

The water will exit the drain line into a filter sock (75% and 25% to refugium), which will be changed every other day or so (maybe more). The 4" PVC pipe will be used to hang the filter sock from and the live rock will keep it in place. Around the filter sock will be as much live rock that we can fit in the skimmer chamber leaving room for the skimmer pump, UV return etc. etc. I believe between the filter sock, live rock in the skimmer chamber, refugium on the other side of the sump and overkill skimmer that we are using... I think we have our bases covered in filtering detritus and feces (please inform me if i'm incorrect).

 

Any information or step-by-step directions in regards to the cycling process would be appreciated as each online source says to do it differently. Some info of our equipment for cycling purposes:

1. Red sea coral pro salt

2. Buckeye hydro 75gph rodi unit

3. plan to cycle with live rock (and a piece of raw shrimp if it is needed?)

4. will add live sand, or regular argonite sand, with the live rock if we need to, but was thinking about adding sand once the cycle is coming to a close

5. plan to start testing parameters after about a week or so of the cycle start?

5. probably missing something... so any and all information is appreciated as i've said before.

thanks,

- n

[farkwar]

I have live rock in my sump refugium. About 10 pounds of Premium Aquatics nano live rock.

 

I just spent an hour cleaning the poop that accumulates in it.

 

 

But I have snails and hermits in it.

 

You know how they say bio balls are nitrate factories because they trap detritus, live rock is much worse. Well much better at trapping, if you will.

 

I think the shrimp thing is stupid, but to each is own.

 

I dont think youre missing anything vital. Ill post a pic of the Norwesco tank thing.

[farkwar]

http://s1078.photobucket.com/user/RichardSperry/media/20140425_170149.jpg.html][/url]

 

http://s1078.photobucket.com/user/RichardSperry/media/20140425_170138.jpg.html][/url]

 

http://s1078.photobucket.com/user/RichardSperry/media/20140425_170124.jpg.html][/url]

 

I wish I had room for two. I would run two.

 

If your fathers in the business maybe he can get you a couple at cost.

 

The waste line is not tied down, I intend to water the grass with it thus summer. It just goes to washing machine drain out.

[koteckn]

Another question that just popped in my head deals with my Display Tanks top. Instead of buying a glass top, or using egg crate, my Aunt works at a glass shop, so i thought of measuring the lip of my 40 breeder and having her cut me a piece of glass that will fit perfectly on the top of the tank. This will further dampen sound from the overflow and provide a perfect top for the radion to shine through. We will of course install handles on each side as that piece of glass will be rather heavy and we are aware of that (1/4" is what we were thinking).

 

Any problems with closing the top off completely like this? I was thinking it would help with evaporation but maybe i'm missing something?

Thanks again,

- n

[Steensj2004]

Tanks like the Innovative Marine Nuvo tanks have full glass tops. Help a crapload with evap and noise. However, some people don't like the condensation that gathers on it. It doesn't effect anything really and par remains basically unscathed. Make sure to have her cut a few small, finger sized holes,otherwise removing the top would be a nightmare.

[koteckn]

Update 5-15-2014:

 

RODI unit installed and running properly. Our last shipment of parts will arrive at some point today in which we will complete the ATO unit and holding tank part of the stand. Once the ATO is completed and working correctly, we will drain the tank, take everything apart and begin to set everything up inside where the tank will be going. We are planning to have the tank set up and starting to cycle by the end of the weekend or early next week.

 

A few questions that we have now are as follows:

 

1. What do we need to have running during the cycling process? Should we be running the skimmer and UV as we cycle or start those two pieces of equipment once the cycle is completed? Wavemakers?

 

2. What temperature are most of your reef tanks run at and what should the salinity be? Everywhere you look online lists something a little different so I would love to have some recommendations. I was planning to run the tank at 78-79 degrees and 1.025 salinity so please correct me if my plans are not optimal.

 

3. During cycling, the light cycle should be...?

 

4. I have a radion light but am unsure how I want to mount it over the tank. If you have any DIY threads in mind or a link to some hanging kits that work great with the radion, please share the wealth.

 

Thanks and will update as more progress is made.

- n