Custom CDA 87G

[Ebn]

I was robbed earlier this week, figuratively speaking, and no longer have the CADLights 47G. In its place is a custom CDA (Crystal Dynamics, the old Leemar guys) tank instead.

 

Tank: CDA 87G (40"x24"x21" rimless, 3-sided starfire, black back)

Stand: 43"x27"x40" 8020 stand (1.5" 8020 with panels mounted by magnets; right side separated for equipment)

Overflow: Synergy Shadow overflow with 2x1/2" returns with loclines and VCA RFG nozzles

Sump: DIY 30"x16.5"x16" DIY sump

ATO Reservoir: DIY 26"x8"x15" reservoir

Rock: BRS Tonga branch with reinforced branch using 3/16" acylic rod and eMarco 4000

Skimmer: Vertex Omega 150 (transferred from the 47G) Bubbleking Mini 160 

Return: Vectra L1/M1/Neptune COR20, when I can. Currently running with Jebao DCT-4000 @100% Neptune COR-20 @50% speed feeding chaeto reactor, dual 1/2" returns with VCA RFGs

Lights: 36" Maxspect Recurve

Dosing: BM 3 channel doser (transferred from the 47G) Seapora reactor fed my Kamoer pump

 

FTS from Day 1: Monday, April 2nd

[Ebn]

Component: Sump

 

I couldn't decide on which sump to go with for this tank, but all of my tanks in the past has had custom sump built by others (Keith Grandt, Gen, Advanced Acrylic, etc.). For this tank, I built the sump in the 47G so decided to do so again for this setup with some mods.

 

4 dosing line setup. Made using some scrap acrylic that I had from the Tap Plastics order. JG type quick disconnects. 1 line each for: Ca, Alk, Mg. Last line for ATO.

 

Didn't really have an in progress shot while building the sump, but here's the finished product.

 

White on just about everything other than the heater holder and the front panel. I specifically made this sump 16.5" wide so that it can accommodate a couple of Eheim 150W heaters. 3 inflow drain in the left compartment, which can house a decent size skimmer (possibly thinking about the BK 160/180 down the line). The baffles are just slightly wider than 2 eggcrate width apart. Primarily used as a bubble trap, but wide enough that I can run some carbon through there passively if needed.

 

Middle compartment is the largest of the 3. It's meant to house both heaters. I took the idea of the heater holders from some of the other sumps that I've seen. I tried contacting a couple of custom sump companies to see if they'll just sell me the holders, but not surprisingly, didn't get a reply. I went back to Tap plastics to get them to cut me a 4x4 piece, drill it out in the middle and then cut it down the middle. This produced a rough set of holders, which I then went back with the Dremel and slim them down a bit further by hand. A couple of notches were then added as recess for the silicone bands to sit in and hold the heaters. This middle compartment will house the 8x8x4 marinepure block(s), 8x8x1 plate, as well as the 2L of Siporax from the other tank. They will provide the biological for the transfer. I used half the Siporax and some live rock to seed the 8x8x4 block a couple of weeks beforehand prior to the transfer. I also later added 2 more JG type fittings on the top brace for Triton dosing if I was to go that route in the future. There's also a hole to accommodate the wires through for the equipment. 

 

Right compartment is the return chamber. It measures slightly more than 5.25" across to accommodate a variety of return pumps. The four dosing lines sit above. The bulkhead is for the return pump plumbing. 

[Justind823]

OOOooo

 

 

So what happened to the last one exactly?

 

I'm liking what I see so far! Nice work on the sump. Looks professional

[Ebn]

Component: Stand

 

For my last stand, I went with MDO which held up amazingly well and the roll-out sump platform was useful, but I didn't end up doing much with it. For this build, I decided to go with 8020 instead since I've never used them before and it's lighter than going back to 2x4s.

 

8020 parts and pieces arrived. I had them cut to the sizing that I needed for the build and would just need to piece it together like an adult Lego set.

 

The 1.5" 8020. 

 

Corner connectors

 

Pieced it together to build the skeleton. It's quite tall since it stands at 40", but I wanted something that would put the tank at eye level instead of looking down into it (previous tank). This would also allow me to have a cavernous interior with headroom for equipment.

 

I took the frame over to a local reefer, who is a professional stair builder (1 of 3 in the entire area) and we mocked up some designs and took a look at what he had on hand. He's moving to Colorado in the next few months so we basically got down to whatever he had on hand. We decided to use Brazilian cherry, which is a hardwood ply since it relatively matches the furniture color in my office. The edging of the panel would be capped by a thin piece of steel to tie it back to the 8020. The panels would be held in place using 1" x 1/4" thick magnets. 

 

Here you can see the side panel in place. There are no hinges at all in this stand, just 4 magnets in each corner to hold it up. The magnets on the panel side is countersunk into the wood. The magnets on the 8020 side was glued down using clear JB weld 2k psi epoxy. I later found that some of the magnets were getting pulled off the frame by the magnet on the panel side (they're strong N42) and am in the process of regluing the magnets back on using 4k psi epoxy instead. Top is 1" thick butcher block. It makes a really nice cutting board and is the heaviest piece that's removable.

 

Looking at the stand straight on without the front panel. No magnets in this pic since this was an in-progress shot. The top and bottom braces were moved to the center to redistribute the support, where the right upper support was used for the panel that would separate the electricals from the wet side.

 

In the garage for some interior painting (Kilz) and exterior sealing.

 

Finished stand with tank and light on top. The stand is oversized and has a small platform so that I can rest stuff on there (beverage, test kit during tests, etc.). 

[Christopher Marks]

Beautiful system design @Ebn! The stand turned out great, those rails are a slick solution. How nice to wrap it in hardwood too. So the front and side panels can just be pulled off the frame by embedded magnets you placed? Do you have any more info on where you got the 80/20 stand?

[Ebn]

Component: Rocks

 

I really like the open look of Tonga branch rock and actually swapped out all the Pukani over to Tonga in the 47G. The only issue with that grouping of rocks was that they were thicker than I'd prefer and for this tank I decided to not reuse them. The old rock was BRS Tonga simple branch and I decided to use BRS Tonga complex branch for this instead ($3 instead of $2.60/lb).

 

 

25# of rock from BRS. I wanted a scape with a lot of negative space and plenty of swimming room for the fish so only ordered 25#. I would actually only use ~60% of this rock.

 

Laying out the rocks.

 

Some of the initial layout of just setting the rocks on top of each other, using zip ties, and balancing. 

 

 

This one resembled a dinosaur according to a friend's wife. I thought about keeping it, but I pulled it apart at one point and couldn't reproduce it.

 

 

The last two layouts had large areas of overhang and I kind of like that. I also knew that it couldn't be accomplished with just using simple zip ties and balancing. With that in mind, I headed over to Tap Plastics (if you haven't noticed, I kind of love this place) and picked up some 3/16" acrylic rods and got down to drilling.

 

Tonga drilled. It takes awhile to drill since it's so freaking dense in the middle. The diamond bit drill bit made for stone and masonry doesn't do much to it and the cobalt bits did a better job.

 

Oh, just make sure you drill in the comforts of your own home. An unstaged shot of the Tonga dust. I just found it funny that one of the scrap pieces of a magazine I used to pad the tabletop was of this one. You don't want the DEA to bust through your front door and ask you what that pile of white powder is  as you're in your skivvies with a mask on.

 

Acrylic rod

 

Rod inserted

 

First branch in place and glued down using eMarco 4000 to hold it together.

 

Continued as needed until you get the rock shape that you want. Side profile of the structure.

 

Top profile. Will be selectively only keeping sps that I really like.

 

The rock was then placed into a bin at work with some bacteria, Siporax, and some ammonia to begin curing.

 

Here's the rock in place as I filled the tank for the first time with saltwater. If you look closely, you'll notice that I made some flat feet for the structure out of eMarco 4000. This ensures that I don't have any sharp edges touching the bottom pane.

 

[Ebn]

Plumbing. Work was closed this past Friday, so I took the opportunity to plumb the tank, break down the 47G and relocate the 87G back over to where it needs to go over the course of the 3 day weekend.

 

Temporary spot for the tank as I did the plumbing

 

Synergy Shadow overflow with the locline returns

 

Gate valve on one of the returns since it has a shorter run than the other side. This is just in case I want to crank this one down a notch so that I get equal flow on the other side if I change things in the future.

 

Jebao DCT-4000. This was previously used for my algae reactor at 30% power. Placed on a silicon pad to prevent it from rattling the stand.

 

 

 

Lots of schedule 80 Spears fittings overall and some colored pipes. Already had the red on hand and was deciding on a secondary color. Couldn't decide on one so I just went with black. The two black inlets to the sump are the primary and secondary. The red one is the safety from the bean animal setup. 

 

Plumbing complete including the manifold. I forgot about the endcap and had to run to HD and grab a schedule 40 one. :/

 

Running water through the system to verify for leaks. You'll noticed the two additional JG type fittings on the back brace of the sump as alluded to in an earlier post. Ended up with 1 minor drip so I shut down the system and patched it up.

 

This allowed me to see what the max water level in the event of a power failure. I marked this spot with a labeler later on.

[Ebn]

2 hours ago, Justind823 said:

OOOooo

 

 

So what happened to the last one exactly?

 

I'm liking what I see so far! Nice work on the sump. Looks professional

 

Thanks! The old tank sat in the spot that this tank was going to occupy. I needed a quick sale and let it go for a steep discount. I sold the entire setup: starfire tank, custom stand + sump, all plumbing, all live sand, all live rock, Tunze nano ATO, AI vega color (x2) with EXT rails for $500. I also threw in a couple of ultra RFAs and a 27G bin since the lady that picked it up only brought 5 gallon buckets and none of it could hold the rocks. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

Beautiful system design @Ebn! The stand turned out great, those rails are a slick solution. How nice to wrap it in hardwood too. So the front and side panels can just be pulled off the frame by embedded magnets you placed? Do you have any more info on where you got the 80/20 stand?

 

Thanks! That's correct. The front and both side panels are just held together with magnets. There aren't any hinges on the stand since I wanted to get away from having rusty hinges. Even the really nice Euro hinges that I used in the other tank eventually rusted. 

 

Stand side magnet

 

Panel side magnet (countersunk into the panel)

 

The 8020 material came directly from 8020.net. They'll cut them to whatever length you need. 

[Ebn]

Component: ATO

 

My last sump, which had an integrated ATO reservoir, was a good concept, but there were some issues with it. 

1. It was only 2G so it could only hold enough top off water for ~4 days or so. This proved to be insufficient since I would need to make sure that it was filled up before the weekend and for any time when I'm out of the office for a week or more, I'd have to drag out the 5G bucket and relocate the ATO pump to it instead.
2. It was integrated into the sump, which made filling it up a chore. Part of this is remedy to the height of this current stand, but I still want to be able to fill it with ease.

I decided to remedy both of those with the new ATO setup.

 

ATO is much easier to piece together versus a sump since it's mostly a box. 26"x8"x15". Roughly ~12.21 gallons if it were filled to the top. 11.38 gallons if filled within 1" from the top.

 

JG quick disconnect to a bit of Tunze tube to the ATO pump. I'll modify this for the ATK down the line.

 

Testing for leaks. The top was cut into 3 sections with a Dremel by hand and both ends were glued down. Right side is where the pump is going so the JG was placed there and a small hole was drilled to fit the electrical wire for the pump to slip through. 

 

Relocated into the stand and a piece of RO tubing was used to connect one JG to the next. The middle section just sits on top and can be removed for filling. I love that it has enough capacity for me to dump 10G of ATO water in (it's what's currently sitting in the reservoir in this pic). Oh, I've been checking on evaporation rate for the tank and it looks like it's ~0.63 gallons a day. The reservoir filled at 10 gallons has enough water to last me 15 days. I just need to finish setting up the remainder of the Tunze ATO in the next couple of days since I'll be out of town for the weekend. 

[Indiana Reefin]

Wow awesome setup!! Do you have any more info on the stand? How sturdy is that 8020? How much did this cost? 

[Ebn]

28 minutes ago, Indiana Reefin said:

Wow awesome setup!! Do you have any more info on the stand? How sturdy is that 8020? How much did this cost? 

 

Thanks! The 8020 is extremely sturdy and the stand feels overbuilt (not a bad thing). As for cost, it's not inexpensive. The 8020 was ~$500 alone, before the magnets ($72), and the hardwood skinning. 

[Ebn]

Haven't seen any PAR figures posted in application for the Maxspect Recurve light. Here are some figures pulled off the Apex PMK.

 

100% to see what this light can output.

 

Maxspect P1 (preset 1 - for SPS). Not too bad and what I'll be running for awhile.

[NYfishies]

Hey there,

 

Loving this setup so far!

 

Did you just move the par meter around all over the tank?  I dont see it in there.

[Ebn]

Yes, you move the PAR meter around in the tank as it's pulling readings. The readings will jump around especially when there's rippling action at the surface from the returns. I usually just take an average or a middle figure. 

 

It's not in the pic since I use the above pics for reference whenever I have to add corals to the tank and there's no point in having the meter in the tank pic. Just in case you're wondering, here's what it looks like.

 

Haven't taken a pic of my pair of onyxes in awhile. They're usually huddling in the Euphyllia, unless they know there's food around.

 

Went to the LFS a couple of days ago to meet up with a friend to borrow the PMK (as in the above pic) and I spotted a nice wild SPS table. It was a superman of sorts with pink body, blue tips, and orange polyps. The orange polyps kind of drew me to it since it was atypical for a superman. I almost wanted to pick it up then and there, but Robert, the owner, wasn't around and I didn't want to pay the asking price for it. I wanted a frag of it or negotiate a more reasonable price for it. 

 

Went back yesterday and spoke to Robert about it. Turns out that it isn't a wild colony at all, but an Acropora hyacinthus from a tank breakdown recently. The original owner had grown the frag from a thumbnail to its current size (palm size at 3.5" x 3"). He asked me if I was serious about the piece and I told him heck yea. He gave me a more reasonable price for it so I told him to bag it. I pulled it off the rock it was mounted to yesterday, dipped it in Bayer, and set it on top of a piece of 1.5" pvc pipe. It looks decent today with its polyps out.

 

Heading out of town for the weekend so hopefully it does okay. I'll have to figure out how to mount this onto the rocks later since it's all tissue after removing the underlying base rock. 

[NYfishies]

I thought the Apex PMK came in a piece of fake rock?  Yours has a cool handle??

[Ebn]

Yes, that's correct. The Apex PMK sensor can be embedded in the included rock if you want to leave it around and measure PAR throughout the day. This was another way that a Neptune employee taught me to use it. The PMK uses an Apogee sensor at the end of it. Apogee also sells a handle that you can attach the sensor to. Just remove the sensor, attach it to the handle, and you basically have a movable par meter. Just connect the PMK brain to your Apex via aquabus cable, add the PAR reading to your display module, and you can measure PAR as you're moving it around. 

[NYfishies]

19 minutes ago, Ebn said:

Yes, that's correct. The Apex PMK sensor can be embedded in the included rock if you want to leave it around and measure PAR throughout the day. This was another way that a Neptune employee taught me to use it. The PMK uses an Apogee sensor at the end of it. Apogee also sells a handle that you can attach the sensor to. Just remove the sensor, attach it to the handle, and you basically have a movable par meter. Just connect the PMK brain to your Apex via aquabus cable, add the PAR reading to your display module, and you can measure PAR as you're moving it around. 

You just blew my mind.

[NYfishies]

So looking into this now and it seems that the PMK uses the older model of the Apogee?  The one that does not read blue LED.

[Ebn]

The PMK uses a MQ-210 sensor so it does to some degree. BRStv did an episode where they match different sensors vs. Li-Core sensor (reference). The MQ-210 sensor under measures a portion of the extreme deep blue and violet spectrum. It's 15% off from the bluest light (true actinics) and ~5-7% over on the range outside of blue. 

 

 

[NYfishies]

So what your saying is I now, because of you and your amazing par wand, must buy the below and make my own?

 

https://www.apogeeinstruments.com/full-spectrum-quantum-sensor/

 

See what you have done here!

 

[Ebn]

You'd still need the PMK brain (the ASM module) to connect to your Apex via aquabus cable to get the readings, but yes, you can replace the MQ-210 sensor on the PMK with the full spectrum sensor as in the MQ-510. 

[Ebn]

Haven't updated this thread in awhile, so time to catch everyone up. 

 

CaRx vs. 2 part dosing
I've always used 2 part dosing since most of my tanks has always been on the small side. Even with the 47G, I was looking at ~60mL of alk daily to keep up with it, but with this larger tank I decided to use a reactor instead. The tank uses a lot more 2 part than the 47G even though I have a limited number of SPS in the tank. It was eating up ~80mL of alk daily, which would have meant that I need to mix 2 part every other week just to keep up with the demands. Definitely not the funnest thing to do and BRS hiking up their 2-part additives for pharma grade was the coffin in the nail in my consideration. I already own a 5# aluminum tank and a nice regulator that a buddy of mine and I pieced together awhile back when we were into freshwater planted tanks. Both of these are being repurposed for the reactor instead.

 

 

 

Was originally gonna order a Aquamaxx cTech-T1 reactor, but they aren't in stock at the moment and hasn't been for over 2 weeks+. Talking to a buddy of mine and he mentioned JNS, which is basically the generic version of the Aquamaxx brand. JNS makes a Seapora brand of calcium reactor which has the Sicce 0.5 pump mounted on the bottom of the body versus the top as in the Aquamaxx.  Reactor material is just some bulk media from the LFS at $2.25/lb with Remag on top. 

 

 

The setup was originally fed via the return manifold, but I didn't have a needle valve in hand and used a micro ball valve from TLF. I figure this would work out until at least the valve clogged and I would have to replace it. Did consider going with a Masterflex with easy load head, but those things are expensive. Good thing the Kamoer became available so I purchased one for the setup.

 

The other major equipment update is the skimmer. I have been really happy with the Vertex Omega 150, but for some reason it wasn't skimming like it used to. It could probably have used a deep cleaning, but before I even got to that point, something came up on the radar. I stopped by to pick up a Waterbox 20G AIO tank from a reefing acquaintance of mine and he happened to have a BK Mini 160 that he was switching out for a Lifereef skimmer. 

 

I've had this running for about a month now and it definitely lives up to its name.

[Ebn]

Some of the corals currently in the tank.

 

Big A. hyacinthus table that was added within 10 day of the tank seeing water. It's growing well so far. You can also see the setosa as well as some of the zoas on the bottom. This tank is also quick to pick up coralline algae similar to the last tank. I have 80%+ coverage of coralline on the Tonga. 

 

RR The Vinh. Picked up on 6/16/18.

 

Upscales microlados. Picked up on 6/16/18. 

 

Picked up from the BAR swap. Crystal Jade. Never heard of it and can't find a reference to it, but decided to give it a shot since it's free anyways. Turned out to be a good pickup so far. 

 

ORA Pearlberry. Tons of flow and PAR (~400)

 

Copps' 24k mille. Arrived 4/26/18. Encrusting well and starting to bud. Really likes flow.

 

Copps' Bella's Acro. Most of the time you buy corals for the colors, but once in awhile you do it for the shape/structure.

 

JF Firecracker. Looks great under whites or blues. Can't wait for this to grow into a colony. All the encrusting base is white, which is very different. I also received a booger size piece of RR fireball that I glued down near this piece. It'll be interesting to see how they compare once the booger starts growing. 

 

Palmer's blue Milli. I've kept this many years ago under MH. It'll be interesting to see how it does under LEDs.

 

PC Rainbow. This piece has probably doubled in size since I got it from the BAR swap 10 weeks ago. Started out really small and is about 3/4" now with an encrusting base that will cover the top of the plug in the next week or so. Gets even more PAR than the pearlberry (~470). 

 

I do have an Oregon tort in the tank, which is tucked into the back corner where it's hard to photograph. Usually the OBT is the slowest grower, but not when compared to this piece. The OG purple monster. Picked up on 6/16/18.

 

Wild no name piece with great potentials.

 

Wild no name Aussie piece. One of the original pieces of sps that went into the tank. 

 

Last, but not least, the RRC Pink Cadillac. With the tank crash, this is 1 of the 2 pieces which survived. Lost about half of the frag, but it's doing well and beginning to encrust and grow. At one point I had two little nubs of it, but I had to move the rock around to remove a pair of green chromis awhile back and it broke off, never to be found again. 

 

 

[DaveFason]

Great update! 

[1891Bro]

Everything looks great! Awesome build. Where’s a new full tank photo? What part of the Bay you in? What LFS did you pick up that tabling colony from?