ReefHaus 75 Gallon Build

[ReefHaus]

150 WATT HEATERS / CONTROLLER

Got these in the mail today from www.jehmco.com

Should keep the tank toasty warm during the brutal Texas winters. According to the weather channel, it can be over 90 degrees year-round here! I want to be prepared.

1- Calibrate heat controller to synchronize with chiller thermostat

2- Adjust both heater set points to 77

3- Dial down Chiller to 78

hmmmm..... any bets on how long the chillers going to make it in this build?

[ReefHaus]

The hinges will go on either side of the Canopy instead of in back of it.Having a hard time visualizing this part. Will your canopy open like Moses parting the Red Sea?

CANOPY 2.1

I had a dream last night. Sadly, Moses died...

I did receive further instruction and discipline from above though. During the eulogy, God said that if Moses had only added 1/3 cubit clearance in preparation for the arrival of the Lumen Bright Mini pendants for my canopy, he would have been able to enter the promised land.

That got my attention! I corrected the mortal sin of the flawed design immediately, bringing it back into alignment with universal harmony.

More good news: Ever since I started opening the lid in accordance with the design intended by our Holy Creator, the chorus of angels has now come back on! Not totally sure why it was broke before, but they're all singin' loud 'n clear now.

If you look carefully at the picture I took, you should be able to hear them. Unfortunately, the LED's appear so blue it can have the effect of washing out sound of the angelic choir.

Maybe this will help: "Ahhhhhhhhhhh" ...yeah, they sound something like that, I think?

It's all starting to come back to me now ...wait a minute, what's that midget doing over there in the corner!

[jolt]

I think that is a much better design!

[ReefHaus]

REFUGIUM / SEAHORSE TANK

Originally, I’d found this 50 Gallon tank on craigslist, so I bought it thinking I’d use it as my main display tank. It was a bit too small, so I went ahead and built the 75 gallon main display that’s now sitting next to it. I was just going to give the 50 gallon away, but decided instead to set it up as a refugium/seahorse tank next to the main display.

Its either that or use it as a frag tank - not totally sure which direction I’m going to go with it yet, but I went ahead and drilled it this morning so it can be plumbed to the main display.

PLUMBING

I plan on sending the right-side overflow of the main display into an 18” run of 1” tube to the left side of the refugium, where I drilled the bulkhead this morning. Then take a 1” return line out the right side of the refugium back to the first stage of the sump. There’s about an 8” vertical differential between the refugium input and the display main-display overflow.

FLOW

Not sure what flow rate will come into it, or how the systems overall hydrodynamics will be impacted yet. The Mag 12 should push about 850 gph to the main display, so annexing 1/3 of the overflow to the refugium could theoretically bring as much as 280 gph into the tank. I’ll plumb a ball valve to govern, but don’t really see the need for that much more flow than that right now. I can always add powerheads for more flow if I find I need them for some reason. I'm not sure how noisy it'll be either. Don't want it to gurgle.

The addition will add another 50 gallons to the total system volume - I’m guessing the total volume will come in just under 140 gallons. (75 Gallon Main Display + 50 Gallon Refugium + 20 Gallon Sump - probably running at closer to 14 gallons of actual water in the sump)

Anyone else running refugium display tanks? What to put in it?

Thoughts on how I’m intending to plumb this, or regarding flow?

[ReefHaus]

So much for simple - the build's core design philosophy died after exactly two weeks. Maybe next time. Adding the second tank exponentially complicated things, but what a wonderful challenge!

After doing more plumbing research, I decided to plumb the second display tank directly to the main display sump. I drilled a third hole and directly connected the three overflows to the primary display's sump. Used unions so I can shut down the second display and remove it when she finally meets her ultimate destiny.

Found these three acrylic overflow boxes on Ebay - They'll go over the new bulkheads later this week.

An extra pump in the return section will push around 400gph to the second display.

The original method I'd been contemplating had been reduced to a single fail-point, not ideal. The new design is essentially fail-safe (at least from a plumbing perspective).

Now, what to put in it? I think I'll start with water. Then maybe some salt. Not sure after that.

[jolt]

Rocks! (note the clever double entendre!)

[ReefHaus]

PLUMBING UPDATE

Been working on plumbing for the second display.

The two pictures show the basic idea of how I plumbed the second display tank to the main display's sump.

Still not quite done, but getting closer.

LIGHTING UPDATE

Manufacturer Delay.

CoralVue is backordered on their LumenBright Mini Pendant's. After speaking with a few distributors I've learned that this is not uncommon. They've said that because of the popularity of LED lighting the demand for Halide's has dropped off a cliff. Most the manufacturers are closing shop.

CoralVue is (allegedly) still making the pendant's, but they have to wait until they get enough orders to be able to run production?

Not sure how long I'll be waiting for these... patience.

[ReefHaus]

PLUMBING PICS

I've been technologically challenged of late...

[+olaggie01]

I've got some large lumenmax pendants if you want to try them. They are large but put out a lot of spread.

[ReefHaus]

LIGHTING UPDATE

I picked up a pair of Lumen Bright Reflectors from olaggie01 (thanks!) and mounted them to the canopy where I had originally planned to mount the Mini Pendants. I then sealed them with some caulk and painted them white to match the rest of the canopy. The domes from the reflectors protrude about 8" from the top of the canopy. You can see them in the picture:

I think it turned out pretty good- you can see in the picture below the side-by-side canopy lids, with one open and one closed. I'm not sure if I'll mount a tempered glass panel under them to protect against salt creep. I've read mixed results from this practice. It would be easily accomplished with this canopy design, and they could easily be removed for routine cleaning. Anyone have experience with glass covered fixtures? Is it worth it to preserve the reflector surface from salt creep, or does the reduced light produced by the clouding that inevitably forms on the glass not worth the effort to clean?

The dispersion of light from the MH bulbs fits perfectly - evenly distributed, exactly over the two sections of the 75's eurobracing panels.

Next I'll measure the PAR readings and see where I'm at.

[jolt]

I like the geodesic look

[ReefHaus]

PAR READINGS

I picked up the seneye after reading some user reviews. I agree this thing is worth it for the PAR meter alone. It's cheaper than the standalone PAR meter they sell on BulkReefSupply.com and it has a continuous reading of temperature, PH and Ammonia that e-mails an alert to you if anything starts to flare up. You can also monitor the tanks parameters in real-time from your iPhone... or at a kiosk in vietnam (LOL- I love Cableguy!)

Its perfect for this setup because I won't be using an Apex or reef-computer. The seneye provides an early warning indicator by way of continuous ammonia monitoring, something I would not be normally tracking in an established tank - serving as an early warning indicator of an impending tank-crash. All for what I would have paid for a par meter alone!

The other benefit, is the Senenye also measures light spectrum. This is the curve from the bottom of the tank: Very little of the dreaded red spectrum coming off the BLUELINE 16K MH's.

PAR climbs from 166 at the bottom to 233 in the middle and 340 at the top. Love the lights - working out great so far.

Now... something other than air to put in the tank?

[+olaggie01]

Reflectors look good. Did they clean up?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ReefHaus]

I like the geodesic look

I was thinking more like The Grand Tetons mountain range in Colorado where I grew up. I've often wondered of the word origin of The Grand Teton's? Hmmmmm... Yeah - definitely geodesic-like.

[ReefHaus]

Reflectors look good. Did they clean up?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, very nicely. Almost new! and, I rebuilt the electricals from the balast set I had bought for the MINI's so its all new electrics inside.

Thanks! How's the 340 build coming?

You should document the progress of that thing.

One day... to have an office/fishroom all to myself!

[ReefHaus]

PAR MAP

Woke up after the feast this afternoon and decided to make a PAR map of the tank (obviously, isn't that what most of us like to do on Thanksgiving!!!???)

I took 15 readings at 3 depth levels: Shallow: 3" below surface, Medium depth (about 10" deep) and deep (20", with a 1" substrate) This is what it looks like.

I think the Seneye is pretty accurate, though conditions in the tank will change things a bit once it is up and running.

I was surprised to see the dropoff from the right panel to the left. The left had a little more salt creep in the used reflectors, so I'm pretty sure thats whats causing it.

Its making me second guess my decision NOT to place glass panels under the MH's to protect the reflectors. I've read that light quality can be significantly impaired if reflectors are not clean, or if glass between the lights and the surface is clouded by salt creep.

The MH's throw off a lot of heat - temp in the tank dry is pushing 84 degrees. Ambient temperature in the house is 70. Really glad I went with the chiller at this point, and I'm beginning to realize just how much evaporation this baby's gonna throw.

A lot.

Probably need to hunt down a pair of 19" x 22" glass panels...

[Bluemoon]

I've had decent success getting glass cut at binswanger off of burnet. was relatively cheap too; like 8$ for a 12"x14" price of 1/2" cut to my specifications.

by the way, happy thanksgiving! the par results are intriguing, I've been pondering how much surface agitation effects values at certain depths lately.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited November 28, 2014 by Bluemoon

[ReefHaus]

FRESHWATER TEST

Well today was the moment of truth. I rolled in the garden hose, and opened up 145 Gallons of water into 8 weeks worth of DIY plumbing, tank drilling, lighting fixture fiddling and the rest of it, and:

drum roll...

extra drum roll for dramatic emphasis...

it holds water.

Cymball crash.

Kind of.

It only leaked three times.

1- Once around the middle bulkhead of the display refugium's overflow box.

2- Once around the middle manifold ball valve.

3- Once at one of the threaded PVC seams in the schedule 80 run from one of the return pumps.

I tightened up the bulkhead, and that resolved the first leak. I fiddled around with the true-union ball valve fittings on the manifold and took care of that one.

The last drip i noticed coming from around the threaded PVC fitting coming off the return pump is a very slow drip (1 drip/10 minutes or so). Thankfully, this one is located directly over the sump, so it periodically sends a harmless drop every 10 minutes to be recirculated. I may goo some silicone around it, but not gonna cry over this one.

I'll probably have a recurring nightmare involving Chinese water torture for years to come, but that's why I have a therapist. I need one for this hobby. Though it somehow diminishes what this is really all about to refer to it simply as a "hobby". What I have fits the description of a chronic mental disorder rather than a hobby.

I mean... PAR Maps on Thanksgiving? Who does that? I'm sick. Please pray for me. I'm sending my petition to the American Psychiatric Association to please revise the DSM-5 code for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to include a special sub-type for "reef-keeping". Then I'll be able to submit for insurance reimbursement through obama-care, and can get goin' on my 400gallon build thread.

I think every american citizen should be entitled to at least a tax-deduction for qualified reef keeping expenses, such as a 400 gallon tank-build, don't you? If you can't go through the front door... use the back door.

[jolt]

I'm pretty sure I have the same disorder. Although I did wait until the day after thanksgiving to go into a maintenance frenzy.

[ReefHaus]

Here's my MasterCard add for Christmas:

-70 Pounds of rocks (Fiji Totoka) $560.00

-35 pounds of rocks (Fiji Tukani) $280.00

-45 pounds of... more rocks (Fiji Base Rock) $225.00

The look on my parent's face as they commit me to a state mental institution upon learning that I've spent over $1,000 on rocks!!!??? ... priceless!

The aquascaping went smoothly. I especially enjoyed working with the Tukani. Its delicate, serpentine shape conformed readily into a beautiful pattern of arched swim-through structures in the 55 gallon display refugium.

The Totoka together with some base rock made a very solid wall with a large swimthrough. I wanted the main display to have plenty of platform room on top for hard stuff. You can (sort of) see the glimmer of the halides at the sweet spot of the platforms in the upper right and upper left side of the picture.

The side view is of the 75 gallon display, both are standalone structures centered in the middle of each tank, off the back wall. I wanted good flow around both sides

Now that I settled on rock and substrate, next stop... mexican turbo's and a lawnmower Blenny!

[jolt]

Looking good. If I could do my rock over again I would have a little more slope to my wall so I could manage flow and coral placement better.

[TheOceanTraveler]

Those are going to be some happy fish and corals. That was $ well spent on the rocks. Aquascape looks great!

[ReefHaus]

Looking good. If I could do my rock over again I would have a little more slope to my wall so I could manage flow and coral placement better.

Good point Jim!

I'm hoping to use the little protruding ledges all the way down the front of the wall for placements. There are many nooks and cranny's for plantings all the down the front side of the wall. Perhaps I'll add another layer of rock touching behind the current wall, running along the back of the aquarium, then move the upper shelf back against the wall, this would clearly demarcate two platform levels, then the floor.

I'm gonna do take some PAR measurements tomorrow at the outcropping points to see where I'm at.

Contemplating switching out bulbs to grow out coral with a pair of 6500k Iwasaki's for 9 months, then switch over to 16k radiums to color up? I dunno, the lights came with a pair of 14k Blue lines, which seem kinda middle-of-the-road. After the effort put into the Lumenbrights with the canopy, I'm a little disappointed with the performance.

At first I thought it was due to salt creep on the Lumenbrights, but the right-side reflector is near-new condition and still barely puts out 500 PAR at the surface... I think its gotta be the bulbs?

[ReefHaus]

Those are going to be some happy fish and corals. That was $ well spent on the rocks. Aquascape looks great!

Thanks! Lotsa controversy on live rock these days... there's nothing like the real thing though and it's hard to discern the propaganda from reality in the sustainability world. I'm all for keeping the reefs. I spoke to one of the guys over at Aquatek last week. He said they used to push out over 30 tons of live rock a year before switching to 100% aquacultured, thats equivalent to an entire section of wall ripped off the reef! Not sure how much better the aquaculture world really is in practice though, nor how truly destructive the live rock trade has been. Whenever people start to get really one-sided on a subject, especially those who profit from selling rock- caveat emptor!

[FarmerTy]

I'm not sure either on the propaganda on man made live rock versus harvested. I just wonder with so much seeded diversity and bacteria from other people's tanks that is there much of a need for harvested live rock anymore?

I know the cycling will be quicker but is there that much more bacterial diversity from a harvested live rock than one you borrow from a other member's tank to seed your own dry rock? I argue that there may be a better suited bacterial population in the borrowed rock than the harvested rock as its already geared toward aquarium conditions.

I have no need or desire to buy harvested live rock anymore, even if I upgrade to 500 gallons. I'll just buy dry rock again and seed with my own live rock. If I didn't have any live rock, I'd just borrow a few rocks from another reefer and allow it to seed the dry rock. I know our hobby does have an impact on natural reef environments. Anything we can do to minimize that is I think beneficial. I'm not saying don't buy wildcaught fish or corals as we all still do that to some degree, but when possible, I try to minimize my impact where possible.