BBMarlin's 125G - Skimmerless SPS Reef

[jolt]

8 minutes ago, BBMarlin said:

Know what I doing? Ha! I wish!!  What's frustrating is I knew that there was something different about the valves and even asked, only to be told that it was just a different brand..lol.  And what's worse is that this great information came from a plumbing specialty store!

That is disappointing.  I used this spears style (except schedule 80) on my manifold and like them quite a bit:

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=65319

[BBMarlin]

Had a pretty productive weekend.  Rock formations are done and have been aptly named: The Giant Pile of Rocks and The SPS Triumphal Arch - both formations are super stable with acrylic rods.  Spent quite a bit of time making sure I will have lots of space and varying placement levels for my to be purchased frags.  I’ve been marinating the new rock since early August in my garage, a few of the pieces I was able to salvage from my other setup. 

Moved my water station in the garage from an opposite side over to below the tank and plumbed it into the recently run ATO line, works great using a tunze osmolator wired directly into a litermeter peristaltic pump.  Changed all my RO/DI filters as well, now running at a strong 55 PSI.

I’ve been hung up on the plumbing now for several days.  I’m trying to maximize as much free space as possible under the tank as my sump is rather large.  What I’ve settled on is hybrid flexible PVC and hard PVC plumbing.  I can plumb it all hard, but I would be wasting an inch or more with the way the elbows and 45s are working out.  I should be able to maximize all the space with the flexible PVC and not have to deal with so many 90’s, we will see how it turns out.  I should get all my plumbing parts in this week and I hope to be up and running next weekend!

Sorry for so much glare in my photos, this will be resolved once the lights are up and on.

 

[Reefpuck]

Looking good! About to start building some rock scape myself with acrylic rods. Did you use any epoxy along with the rods?

[BBMarlin]

4 minutes ago, Reefpuck said:

Looking good! About to start building some rock scape myself with acrylic rods. Did you use any epoxy along with the rods?

I did not use any epoxy.  I have not had long term success with epoxy in the past, my vote is to stick with acrylic rods and/or pvc.  

[Reefpuck]

31 minutes ago, BBMarlin said:

I did not use any epoxy.  I have not had long term success with epoxy in the past, my vote is to stick with acrylic rods and/or pvc.  

Gotcha. Are you referring to it not holding up long term?

[BBMarlin]

Gotcha. Are you referring to it not holding up long term?

Ya it’s not going to hold heavy rock together for long.


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[BBMarlin]

Ended up ordering these Legend ball valves with true union from HD.  They are really easy to turn and have interchangeable slip vs threaded fittings, so I can have one side slip and one side threaded.  This will make it really easy to add my john guest fittings to my manifold.   Overall seems like a solid valve, hope it holds up over the long haul.

 

[Timfish]

It should, I've used schedule 80 valves before and they've worked well.  There's going to be stuff collecting and growing on the inside and I try to remember to open and close them periodicly to prevent them from not closing completely when needed.  One advantage, which fortunately I haven't had to do, is with true union valves even if both ends are glued to plumbing the valve can be replaced quickly without having to cut or disassemble plumbing.

[BBMarlin]

Really???

 

[jolt]

I don't understand the fuss, what's 1/4" difference amongst friends?

[victoly]

Man I could use a few feet of that 1" flex, when you actually get it... Let me know and I'll buy!

Word to the wise, a prevailing theory on the tin levels in some reef aquariums, measured by ICP so take it with a grain of salt, is that plasticizers in flex pvc can contain tin. However, they do leach out pretty quickly (days to week) so you might soak it in a bucket before putting it into use?

[BBMarlin]

Man I could use a few feet of that 1" flex, when you actually get it... Let me know and I'll buy!

Word to the wise, a prevailing theory on the tin levels in some reef aquariums, measured by ICP so take it with a grain of salt, is that plasticizers in flex pvc can contain tin. However, they do leach out pretty quickly (days to week) so you might soak it in a bucket before putting it into use?

Thanks for the info, I did not know that! I’ll let you know once I get the pipe, I’ll have plenty left over.


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[BBMarlin]

More goodies arrived today!  I’m a bit nervous now that I have an extra 65 gallons plumbed directly into my tank for topoff and future AWC.  While the tunze has its own float switch for safety, I figured I will add another for redundancy with my apex.  Given I have a first-generation apex junior I had to buy the PM1 to get the I/O port.  Since I plan on adding a calcium reactor once I get going, I figure it’s a decent purchase since I’ll be needing a PH probe anywho.

 

[mhart032]

i used spears gate valves everywhere i could to go away from the ball valves, they get sticky and sometimes can be hard to adjust just right. the cost from the local plumbing store like Ferguson is really much better than HD supply or US plastics not to mention they keep most things in stock frpm 1/4" to 4" for commercial use. forgot to mention the aquascaping looks very nice.

Edited November 3, 2019 by mhart032

[BBMarlin]

Did somebody say Union??

Spent a small fortune in time and money getting my plumbing done this weekend.  I went ahead and started this job thinking that I could probably get 85% of it done and then pause the effort while I wait for the flexible 1” PVC to come in, so that I can finish the drains.  To my surprise once I got going, I figured out that I could strategically place a couple of unions and plumb things just like I hoped and not have any wasted space under my tank and have hard plumbing throughout.  I think It turned out great, although the threaded fittings did give me a few fits I eventually got all the leaks out. 

The tank is SILENT with the herbie overflow and maggie muffler.  Currently running GAC to clean things up a bit before I dump in my livestock.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2019 by BBMarlin

[mhart032]

Looks great! i love a nice manifold. your better off than the flex PVC in my opinion not to mention it looks nicer.  

[BBMarlin]

Looks great! i love a nice manifold. your better off than the flex PVC in my opinion not to mention it looks nicer.  

Thanks! It feels good to be done with this part of the project.


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[Reefpuck]

Hey how exactly did you setup your overflow with the herbie? Curious because I have 2 of the maggie mufflers. Thinking about doing a full siphon and using one of the maggies to use for the extra flow.

[victoly]

well done. the sump area looks very nice. 

[BBMarlin]

2 hours ago, victoly said:

well done. the sump area looks very nice. 

Thanks!  A bit of a jigsaw puzzle and time sink but in the end it was worth it.  

[BBMarlin]

3 hours ago, Reefpuck said:

Hey how exactly did you setup your overflow with the herbie? Curious because I have 2 of the maggie mufflers. Thinking about doing a full siphon and using one of the maggies to use for the extra flow.

I've got my emergency stand pipe about 1cmish below the bottom of the weir and then my full siphon pipe about 7" below the emergency drain.  I  have my gate valve on the full siphon set so just a trickle of water comes down the emergency pipe.  This appears to be the quietest configuration.  They also sent me two mufflers, I used them both.  While the muffler on the full siphon pipe is submerged it doesn't restrict flow, so I figure it'll keep out snails and other stuff that otherwise might clog/restrict the flow.

[Reefpuck]

5 minutes ago, BBMarlin said:

I've got my emergency stand pipe about 1cmish below the bottom of the weir and then my full siphon pipe about 7" below the emergency drain.  I  have my gate valve on the full siphon set so just a trickle of water comes down the emergency pipe.  This appears to be the quietest configuration.  They also sent me two mufflers, I used them both.  While the muffler on the full siphon pipe is submerged it doesn't restrict flow, so I figure it'll keep out snails and other stuff that otherwise might clog/restrict the flow.

Ok that's what I was thinking too. I emailed tideline about the maggie and they said they weren't designed for a full siphon...but guess it doesn't matter when they're fully submerged. Good point on the snails getting in too. Thanks for the info!

[BBMarlin]

Shake n' Bake!

I’ve been up and running for a few days now and everything is looking good.  I do think my tank is about to get a case of the uglies as I’m starting to see some weird colored stuff on the rocks, so wanted to snap a photo before that takes over!  Sorry about the blue photo, I used to use an orange filter on my phone to mitigate the LED spectrum issues but the iPhone 11 is not having it with its multiple lenses, I’ll need to figure out something else.   

Going to start thinking about my AWC setup, is anybody else doing automatic water changes?  Any pitfalls I need to be thinking about before I get going with this enhancement? 

 

Edited November 8, 2019 by BBMarlin

[BBMarlin]

I started tracking my phosphate levels as soon as I filled this tank late last week.  I think it’s really interesting to watch my phosphate levels drop even after I’ve added my 5 fish and feed heavy frozen daily.  You can’t see in my photos but I have a large miami hurricane chalice (~9”) as well as a smaller watermelon chalice  (~4”) that are behind the rocks.  These easy to keep coral are consuming the excess nutrients in my tank already, which is really good to see.  I experienced this on my last tank and already on this larger set up. 

**These large LPS coral are already way more effective at controlling nutrients than any skimmer would be.**

PO4 tests using Hanna Ultra Low Range PPB checker.

1.       11/1 PO4 .12PPM Tank filled with cycled rock

2.       11/3 PO4 .10PPM Sump filled and fish + coral added.  Feeding started

3.       11/5 PO4 .03PPM Chalice are starting to regain color from being in small holding tank for several months

4.       11/8 PO4 .01PPM Time to start feeding more heavily

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Reefpuck]

On 11/7/2019 at 6:59 PM, BBMarlin said:

Going to start thinking about my AWC setup, is anybody else doing automatic water changes?  Any pitfalls I need to be thinking about before I get going with this enhancement? 

I used to run 1g daily awc on my 90g using a DOS...and only complaint was it was really loud. Really want to setup my new build with awc but feel like I'd have to find a different pump to use.