Grog's 145 Gallon Build

[+Grog]

This is the start of my next journey.

The flooring is redone and the tile has been installed. Time to focus on the new tank now. My goal is to keep this first post as my inventory and specification list, and I'll post updates with pictures and comments later.

I'm going to make a serious attempt at keeping this post up-to-date and accurate with my modifications and stocking etc.

Version Control
Version 1.0 - Massive update to the equipment and inhabitant list.
Version 0.7 - Changed bulbs
Version 0.6 - Set background color.
Version 0.5 - Added links to rock thread and stand build thread.
Version 0.4 - Initial post on ARC site.
Version 0.3 - After discussions with subsea
Version 0.2 - After discussions with Timfish
Version 0.1 - Initial document

Equipment

• Tank - 175 Gallon Tank – 63.5”H X 22”W X 29” H - Only 145 gallons usable due to bracing and overflow configuration. Background to be Krylon Fusion Blue.
• Stand - Self-built 2X4 and plywood stand built in the same fashion as my water station. Painted with Valspar black on the exterior and Kills Ultra inside. Doors are attached with magnets so they can be removed completely for maintenance.
• Sump - 55 Gallon, picked up today at Petco during the dollar-a-gallon sale. Sump to have a deep sand bed, 120# live sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater, with Jaubert plenum and Caulerpa Papsaloides throughout. Sump to be seeded with pods and used as a large refuguim. Sump/Refuguium will be the primary filtration for the system. Sump clean-up crew purchased from LivePlants.com, Reefs2Go, and Tampa Bay Saltwater:
  • Dwarf cerith snails
  • Nerite snails
  • Small Stars
  • 2000 pods (as a seed culture)
  • Caulerpa Papsaloides
• Rock Work - Rock work will be a secondary filter in this system, and more decoration than a primary filter. I will reuse ~50# of Tampa Bay Saltwater rock from existing tank and I added another new 40g package from TBS to the tank to update it.
• Sand - Caribsea Aragamax at a 2-3" depth in the tank.
• Return - Dual Eheim 1262 pumps feeding through the overflow with loc-line.
• Lighting - Odyssea 72" Metal Halide, T5, LED combo fixture. Halides to be run for 8 hours, T5 for 12 hours daily.
  • 3X 250W Plusrite 20k
  • 4X 80W ATI True Actinic
  • 4 Blue night time LED
  • May add a supplemental red led for occasional night time stealth viewing.
• Lighting for Sump - Sump to run on a reverse photo-period from the display tank. BeamsWork Quad Power 24" LED fixture .
• Water - RODI using BRS 5 stage system and the 150g per day upgrade.
• Salt - Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
• Flow - Dual Sicce Voyager 4 powerheads attached to Sicce Wave Surfer, this may change to dual Voyager 4000 or a combination thereof.
• Filtration - Eheim classic canister, used to polish the water and feed the UV filter.
• UV Filtration - Coralife 6X 18W UV filter
• To Do - Battery backup for circulation and ATO.

Stocking

• Fish
  • False Perc X2
  • Coral Beauty Angel
  • Orchid Dottyback
  • One-Spot Foxface
  • Bi-Color Blenny
  • Mono Argentus X6
  • To Do - Green Mandarin
• Anemones
  • Rock Anemone - White/Grey
  • To Do - Rock Anemone with strong blood red color
• Other Inverts
  • Sally Lightfoot Crab
  • Coral Banded Shrimp
  • Fire Shrimp
  • Porcelain Crabs X10
  • Feather Duster X10
  • Serpent Star X2
  • Brittle Stars X2
  • Tiger Tail Cuke
  • Donkey Dung Cuke
  • Black Spined Urchin X2
  • Scarlet Hermits
  • Blue-Leg Hermits
  • Red-Leg Hermits
  • Fighting Conch X2
  • Dwarf Cerith Snails
  • To Do - Sea Apple
• Corals - Tank will be NPS, softie, and LPS primarily.
  • Steel Palys
  • Frogspawn - Green
  • Frogswpan - Purple
  • Radioactive Dragon Eye Zoas
  • Purple Death Palys
  • Nuke Green Palys
  • Paly Grandis
  • Corky Sea Finger Gorgonians
  • Bubble Coral
  • Fungia Plate, brown
  • Fungia Plate, mother colony
  • Sea Fan
  • Silver Gorgonian
  • Various Sponges
  • Various Tunicates
  • To Do - Maze Brain, Monti Cap, Toadstool, Duncans, Ricordea, and more gorgs and sea fans.

[+Grog]

Here is a pic of the tank sitting in the garage. It is next to the mixing station and washing machine. Brute can makes a good reference. You can see the odd trim and drilling that makes the 175 into a 145. Whatever, I'll make good use of it. Debating on redoing the back with black or blue paint. Torn......

Here is the stand with the new sump inside for a test fit. I will bust some hump on the stand this week. Front and sides will have removable doors. Back will be open for ventilation.

[lenver]

Paint the background Navy Blue, looks awesome.

[bige]

I have that identical tank. Good start. I like everything so far.

[subsea]

Paint the background Navy Blue, looks awesome.

+1 to blue. It gives the appearance of fading off into the distance.

Zane,

What an in depth "tank build" write up. Awesome stuff. I did not know you were doing a Sea Apple. In that event, I will gift you a Sea Apple when your tank is ready. As I said when you showed me your concept for a designer rock, "it is off the hook". I am pleased to assist with the development of your designer rock.

I look forward with you for more developments.

La bonne temps roulez,

Patrick

Edited July 8, 2013 by subsea

[+Grog]

I'm a details guy. That is what I do in my day job.

I saw the sea apples and decided I had to have one. They are simply beautiful creatures. It may be better suited for the sump/refugium though. Will be a late addition like the mandarin.

I will work on a description of the rock design tomorrow. I don't want to give too much away though.

Patrick and Tim have both been great sources of information for my new build. Thanks guys! I really appreciate both of your inputs so far. I've listened to all of it and tried to work it in.

[Planeden]

Looking forward to seeing this come together. You said your meat coral is "for the back wall". Are you trying to get it o grow up the back wall and cover it?

[+Grog]

Looking forward to seeing this come together. You said your meat coral is "for the back wall". Are you trying to get it o grow up the back wall and cover it?

Not so much...

Was thinking that it belongs in the back. I like the look but don't find them to be a front-yard piece. I think give it some room in the back 40. lol

Kind of like the Galaxea..... Not sure about these two. Will need to see how things shake out before I get either of them.

[+SChrisEV]

Not an expert, but talked to one (Nick from Build My LED), so my following comments are second hand. Do not paint the glass. I painted my back glass black, and I'd guess blue is better than black, but it reduces light reflection. I was told better to use a backer slightly off the surface of the glass.

[subsea]

In most of my systems, the back glass is covered in coraline are encrusting corals.

The first picture is an 11 year old 75G tank with a Jaubert Plenumn. The second picture is a 18 month old 135G lagoon, in transition.

[+SChrisEV]

You know I should have qualified my comment a bit more. Subsea, not seeing your tanks in person I'm only guessing (from the few pics I've seen) that you don't have many corals that require high light. Is that a correct assumption? I also assumed (you know that they say about assume) that Grog would be keeping SPS, and it seems that most of them like high light levels. That is why I chimed in about painting reducing the light reflection. But like you my back glass is covered with a lot of coraline so that reducing the light reflection even more.... but I think strengthens my point to some degree,

Again not an expert on lighting, but the guys as Build My LED have been in the industry for many years, Nick is a saltwater guy from many years back.

[RobR]

Great description of this build, look forward to seeing this come together!

[subsea]

You know I should have qualified my comment a bit more. Subsea, not seeing your tanks in person I'm only guessing (from the few pics I've seen) that you don't have many corals that require high light. Is that a correct assumption? I also assumed (you know that they say about assume) that Grog would be keeping SPS, and it seems that most of them like high light levels. That is why I chimed in about painting reducing the light reflection. But like you my back glass is covered with a lot of coraline so that reducing the light reflection even more.... but I think strengthens my point to some degree,

Again not an expert on lighting, but the guys as Build My LED have been in the industry for many years, Nick is a saltwater guy from many years back.

What percentage of light leaves the tank via the back glass? However, it is academic and of not much concern as I allow the glass to be covered in coralline which absorbs light.

I have tanks with 500 PAR. Outside grow out in excess of 800 PAR. The two tank pictures that I listed are less than 200 PAR.

Patrick

[+Grog]

I skinned the sides and front of the stand with 3/8" plywood I had laying around. Put a layer of 23/32" on the top, it was scrap too. Trimmed the top and cut out a hole for plumbing. So, between this build and the RODI station I used two sheets of 3/8" and two sheets of 23/32".

Will need to dry fit the bulkheads tonight when my buddy comes over. It will be close, may have to do some 'drill to fit' work No big deal.

Over all I'm happy with the results. Next steps are putty filler, sanding, painting. My wife wants the stand to be black, so black it is! Will probably do that this weekend. Will start working on my doors next week. The sump is blocking my riding mower in the garage and I can't lift it by myself. Guess mowing will have to wait for tomorrow!

Updated the main thread topic with links and things I've decided upon.

[subsea]

The mower is blocked in. What a feeble excuse to not cut grass in 101 degree weather.

La bonne temps roulez,

Patrick

[+Grog]

Stand has 3 coats of Killz Ultra in and out. Painted the exterior with a brush using Valspar black gloss. Gave it three coats of that. Followed up with satin poly spray; again, with three coats.

Moved it into its permanent home. May shift it just a tad to the left.

Painting the back and sides of the aquarium tonight. May move it onto the stand tomorrow and level it out.

Sump and plumbing next week.

[+Grog]

I managed to find time to paint the back and side glass this week, even after dealing with all of the drama in my life. I moved the tank from the garage onto the top of the stand, after letting the paint cure in the garage for a few days. Even after it cured, it still had a smell. Blah. Used Krylon Fusion, and I know folks say it is reef safe, but I'm not putting my critters near it until I can't smell it.

Will start working on the sump and plumbing this weekend.

Put the light fixture on top for some preliminary pictures. The halides are uber-bright. Not sure how many hours a day I will run them. I think it is a bit of overkill for my needs Oh well, will just use them less than 100% of the time. Once I get my rock work situated, I may only run some halides, depending on where stuff is sitting. I like options.

The pics aren't the greatest but they do show the difference in perception from the lights. I had non-reefer friends over and they were all like "Wow! That is bright." Just stock Odyssea bulbs right now. Will switch to Plusrite and ATI for go-live. The colors on the Odyssea 'actinic' bulbs are totally sucky. Way too green.

T-5 and moonlights

Full power (Halide, LED, and T5)

[esacjack]

i love my odyssea fixture, but the bulbs are garbage as you've said. I replaced all my bulbs with ATI's and love it. Currently using 2 ATI Blue+, 1 ATI Coral Plus, 1 ATI Purple+, and 2 ATI True Actinic. Great bulbs! Tried the corallife bulbs, but one cracked within a few days of use

[+Grog]

Assembled my sump tonight. It is curing in the garage. First time I've cut acrylic sheets before and it was surprisingly easy with the little plastic cutting tool they sell. Used the GE1 silicone on it.

No pics this time. I'll post some pics this weekend. Should have time to work on plumbing this weekend. Fun fun.

[+Grog]

Got the sump built, plumbed the tank, and I'm running a few tests with tap water this weekend.

Looking for leaks (minor one fixed on the 2" bulkhead) and running with lights on for a heat test. Going to run the halides and t5 for 20 hours with pumps. Only the bulkhead had a leak. All my plumbing was good from the start. Took a bit of thinking but It all came together pretty easily.

Overflow has a straight standpipe inside and it is noisy. Thinking I'll get a durso once I empty the tank after this test.

Sump has a small leak between the far right, return pump, chamber and the main chamber. I'll add some silicone after I drain. None of this is a big deal to fix at this point, and the type of thing I want to catch up front.

Was thinking I may have too much flow before this test. There is a bit of debris in the tank. I'll see how my current flow removes it to the sump before I decide. I'm liking the Sicce Wavesurfer and powerheads. They seem to be doing a good job.

Picture of the plumbed sump. The cords will be moved for final assembly. This is just for testing.

[+Grog]

Something for fun.

First, the 33 long tank at about 10" depth measured outside the glass. 200 Lux.

The 145 gallon tank 30" depth measured outside the glass. 700 Lux.

Just a bit more light on the new setup. I know it will be slightly less with salt water.... Still a big difference for over 2X the depth and thicker glass.

[+Grog]

Temperature Tests

Ran a test over the weekend with the lights on for 24 hours and the temps got way hot. Decided to perform a more real-world test today. So, I simulated my photo-period manually, and took temp readings during the day. Tank was dark at start.

10:00 AM - Start Temp 78.9 - Turned 4X T5 on

11:00 AM - Temp 78.8 - No change in lights

12:00 PM - Temp 78.2 - Turned left 250W halide on

01:00 PM - Temp 78.3 - Turned right 250W halide on

02:00 PM - Temp 78.5 - Turned center 250W halide on

03:00 PM - Temp 78.9 - No change in lights

04:00 PM - Temp 79.7 - Turned left 250W halide off

05:00 PM - Temp 79.8 - Turned right 250W halide on

06:00 PM - Temp 79.8 - Turned center 250W halide on

07:00 PM - Temp 79.8 - No change in lights

08:00 PM - Temp 79.4 - No change in lights

09:00 PM - Temp 78.9 - No change in lights

10:00 PM - Temp 78.6 - Turned 4X T5 off

Thinking this will be OK and that I don't need to add the chiller if these temps are indicative of what I will have in the future.

Noise Reduction

Noise levels were not acceptable in many regards. Eheim pumps are supposed to be dead silent. So, my initial guess was that I had done something wrong. I found that the source of vibration was hard PVC touching the stand. I adjusted the PVC pipe and voila! Annoying vibration was gone.

The real sound issue was with my 2" drain. It sounds like a toilet flushing on repeat. VERY loud, as in imagine your washing machine 2X.

Here is what it looked like.

I headed out to the interwebs to see what others had done to solve this problem. There were all kinds of recommendations from different size drains, to Durso pipes, etc. Finally, the solution that sparked my interest was the Hofer gurglebuster. Mitch's post pointed me towards that solution but it wasn't 100% what I wanted to do. I don't like the idea of a 3"/2" reducer, etc. It was bulky and had too many parts for me. I figured I could do it easier, especially as I had tested my theory with a plastic cup that I cut holes in. Yeah, I knew the ghetto prototype needed a more permanent solution...

I went to Lowe's and bought a 2" clean out adapter, clean out plug, and some vinyl tubing. When I got home, I assembled the adapter and plug with cement, drilled a hole for the tubing, and drilled a bunch of holes around the middle of the adapter. Once done, I slid the tubing into the hole on top far enough so it would be down in the drain and left enough outside to stick it on the edge of my trim.

Looks like this all put together.

Put it on the drain pipe and measured a 7-8 db noise reduction! This is a huge difference to the ears and cost about $5.00 and a trip to the hardware store.

Here it is assembled on the tank.

Already had several folks comment on how much quieter it is now.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Grog

[Planeden]

do your T5 lights have a fan or something on them? it is interesting that your temps drop when you turn the T5 lights on. I assume that at 5:00 and 6:00 your are turning you MHs off, not on (again).

[+Grog]

Fixture has 3 or 4 fans built in. My key discovery here was that the T5 don't raise the temp, one halide doesn't either, but boy howdy three on at once does!

Fixture is on legs right now, not in a canopy so it gets decent air flow around it. Eventually, it will get hung about 3" higher than its current placement.

[Sascha D.]

Love the stand. Good Job so far!