Nellis' 45 Column

[Nellis]

Here's a preview of what I've been working on for the last several months. More to follow soon...

 

 

[scottpw25]

Wow, what kind of hardware do you have there?

[TJ_Burton]

How many gph are you running to the T'd SCWDs? I can't see that being too efficient. Could be wrong though.

[BKtomodachi]

Holy mother of god, I hope you have an excellent pump.

[Nellis]

Closed Loop (T & 2 SCWDs): Pan World 150PS - 1100gph - 28' max

 

 

Sump Return (single SCWD): Iwaki MD30RLT (Japanese Motor) - 960gph @ 4ft - 13.5' max

 

[nanoty]

Cool, you may have thought of this but I would look at some type of inline valves so you can take those off and service them. Looking good and can't wait to see the end product.

[Nellis]

The sump line is easy enough to drain. There's a swing check valve Between the Iwaki and the returns, and a ball valve between the last chamber in the sump and the Iwaki's intake.

 

For the closed loop I just plug the bulkeads (4 ouput + 1 intake), drain water out of the lines and undo the worm clamps.

[Prowland]

more info!

[BeesGoneWild]

Im loving it. Very well thought out. Excellent use of the SWCD's I cant wait to see what the circulation looks like, its going to be soo good.

[reefkingdom]

Can we get a frontal shot?

[Nellis]

Ask and you may or may not recieve.

 

Here's a room shot with the tank in its final (hopefully) location. Built the stand myself, but more on that to come later. Yes, water and rock. I take crappy shots most of the time. Sorry in advance.

 

 

Damn reflection. The dimensions are 18L x 24H x 24D. It's a Perfecto 45 column that I rotated 90 degrees. By doing this I got an extra square foot of viewing area.

 

 

I've been hoarding pocket change for the last year or so for a big coral purchase, but decided to spend it on rock in stead. Working as a bartender has really helped expedite that process... Here's what $280 got me at Aqua Addicts on Salem N.H.

 

 

And here's the overflow running. DIY, of course. In the background you can see flow from a siphon break I drilled in the return. You can also see the ugly, faux-oak finish that the tank came in. I painted over it with Rustoleum flat black, but there were some parts I couldn't get. Oh, the tank was a CraigsList purchase at a nice $25.

 

 

Cheers.

-Nate

[United_Poseidon]

Nice choices on the pumps. I like what I'm seeing so far. What are your ultimate plans for it? Mixed reef?

 

I was also wondering, any reason for choosing the clear hose over black. Have you considered using any black electrical tape to eliminate any light penetration into the hose that might facilitate algae growth over time. Though, you might not run into that problem with the amount of flow you have.

[Nellis]

Nice choices on the pumps. I like what I'm seeing so far. What are your ultimate plans for it? Mixed reef?

 

I was also wondering, any reason for choosing the clear hose over black. Have you considered using any black electrical tape to eliminate any light penetration into the hose that might facilitate algae growth over time. Though, you might not run into that problem with the amount of flow you have.

 

I really like the Pan-World, but I bought the Iwaki used and it's a good deal louder than I was expecting for a pump that size. It vibrates the sump and the whole cabinet. Between the pumps and the SCWDs there's a decent racket. I thought SCWDs were supposed to be silent, but these ones constantly sound like there's crap or air in them. Any thoughts?

 

I got the black tubing for the 3/4" runs because it's what they had available. It's thick-walled though, so it doesn't kink easily. I'd have gone clear for all sections if I could... I like being able to see what's going on. For example, I can tell If I need to choke or open the gate valve on the "Herbie" overflow by seeing how much air is traveling down the main drain and how much water, if any, is going down the back-up. For the parts that are under pressure, I went with PVC-braided vinyl for extra security. This stuff is also pretty kink resistant. I'm not too worried about algae as the tubing is either in the dark cabinet or tucked between the stand and the wall- not much light.

 

Maybe mixed reef, though I built it with SPS in mind. We'll see what happens though. I'm pretty sure I only want 1 fish in the display though.

[Nellis]

So I haven't updated in a while. I'm out of cash, tank's running at 80, no chiller, but the cycle has gone well so far. I seem to have most of the bugs worked out, but I have to move and September and this is the largest of 3 tank setups (Vivarium and FW Planted). Despite this, I recently bough six nessarius snails and a tiny little sixline wrasse.

 

So for this photoshoot I'm running a 70 watt, 65k DE bulb that I borrowed from my vivarium. Afterwards I switched that for 2x24 T5HO Aquablues, and man, they look really, really blue without supplements. Unfortunately I didn't get any shots with the T5s. As usual, please forgive my crappy photo skills and oldish P&S.

 

(Remember that this tank is designed to be viewed narrow face frontward)

 

(Starting front-left, circling counter-clockwise)

 

Front FTS

 

Front right

 

Right FTS

 

I've also added about 40 lbs. of sand since I don't really have enough water movement for a BB. I'm still building the light, which will consist of a hellolights 250 watt DE kit with an XM 10k bulb, and 4x24 watt T5HOs, probably 2x aquablue and 2x pure actinic. This probably won't be finished for a few months, as again, I'm moving soon and need to start packing up my shop. Also, there's no realistic way I can run this much light in this heat. Without a light I'm running 78-82, up to 88 with all the pumps and fugelight on, and the cabinet door closed. So for the rest of the summer it's going to run bare-bones. I'll probably make my first coral purchase in November. In the meantime I'll work on touching up small details that need to be fixed, and maybe work on my CUC.

 

Enjoy

-Nate