A New Reef Is Found (In Tullamore!!)

Hi All,
Just thought I would like to show the painful birth of my first reef tank. Dave in AV has been a great help thoughout this process. I am far from finished, so I will only show the process thus far.

The system is a Betta Lifespace 1500 (Same as the Display Tank in AV)
Dimensions are 5' x 2' x2'
Sump Dimensions 106cm x 37cm x 39cm
2 x 300 watt Tetratec heaters
Arcadia Series 4 2 x 150watt Metal Halides 14,000K
and 2 x Marine blue 420 actinics 39w each
TMC V2 1000 Protein Skimmer
2 Hydor Koralia 3 circulation pumps (3200L/h each)

Main Tank holds 450L and sump 125L

Here's the Photo essay so far,

Research Material !!!!!


All packed up at AV and ready to go to Tullamore. Barely fitted into Landrover!


Unpacking the lot. Warning this is one heavy bitch of a tank (Needs 4 guys minimum)


Cleaning and inspection by Bobby our 3 year old Boxer (Thinks its his new Kennel!)


Main Tank with first two coats of Johnstone Paint \"waterfall\" emulsion

Painting finished after 6 coats (Sure to be sure)


Begin Base Assembly. This is a difficult job as it turned out


Supplied fitting. Alot of missing ones and 49 of the bottom ones are not required at all!


Crap Instructions


This is the basic assembly bits. a locking dowel and cam system. I should have 30 of each. I got 26 Dowels and only 1 Cam (Yes one!) Thanks to Dave for getting me some more from the Manufacturers.


Even with 30 cam and dowels in place, I wasn't all that happy with the strength. I know there are probably hundreds of these aquaria happy working away with these only. However I didn't want 450L sea water all over my Dining Room floor (The wife agreed !)Thus a quick trip to the local DIY store and I picked up 12 corner braces and fitted them inside the cabinet. 4 on each side and 2 more on each side where it met the back panel.


These are the corner braces I fitted.


Progress was swift after that. This is the base complete with doors and Bobby doing some product testing!! Maybe I should looking at getting a DogFish! (Note to self - No More crap Jokes)


Needless to say always place the sump in before completing assembly (swear words here)


Starting to set up the Series 4 Halides. Heavy Sod too!


Along with my distrust of the dowel and cam system of base assembly, I also didn't trust my ceiling to hold the Halides with screws. Hence I drilled through the ceiling from upstairs (with the carpet pulled back) and got some nut and bolts with washers trough 2 lengths of 2x1 to spread the weight on the floorboards.


Closeup of securing MH suspension


Painted tank is now lifted into place (Thanks to the guys). The first box of Red Sea Reef Base has been added.


Egcrate was placed on the base before adding the first lot of reef base. Security for the living rock should some gobies etc decided to begin mining operations!


Lights, Camera, Action. Well Lights anyway for now. Tank still has no water yet!


125L


250L


450L and full. Now for the sump.


Sump on right side with return pump. Looks alittle high to me. I added 125L into the sump. The reason? Well Those Tetratec 300 watt heaters are long and in order to immerse them to the minimum line even at an angle the water had to be this high. May get 3x 200 watts heaters instead. shorter and thus less water required in sump.



Disaster Strikes again. This evening I was pleased as punch with the setup and with the plumbing finished I pluged in the return pump. All seems fine for a few seconds and then I saw water flowing out of the cabinet! A check on the return fitting for the pump were producing a fine spray from one of the fitting. A closer inspection was warranted.



The culprit. A cracked locking nut. Dave you listening (reading this)
HELP ME !

To be continued

I forgot to add a picture of the left hand side of the sump. Here it is....



As you can see those heaters are big buggers. Can anyone confirm that because of them, I have way too much water in the sump. The two white pipes are on the left the main tank overflow and on the left the Spare tank over flow (Should the other get blocked I assume?)To the right of this spare run should be a third plumbing fixture (The broken one!) which has been removed until a new locking nut is fitted. AV are already on the case. Fair play to you lads.

Skimmer pump is located behind the actual skimmer (hidden from view) in the second section of the sump.
Can anyone advise me re what to do with each section. The sump has 5 sections in total. My plans was as follows
Section 1: Tank plumbing returns (I got alot of filter media but am unsure if I should use it or not. I'll be using alot of liverock in the main aquarium as the main biofilter and have read too many scare stories about high nitrites by using filter media / bioballs in the sump.

Section 2 : Skimmer compartment (Or would this be better suited to the first compartment?)
Section 3: I was going to put in some more liverock for more filtration. Also this would act as a haven for copepods etc to freely reproduce without distrubance and any that escape to the further sections would be pumped into the main display aquarium to the delight of the inhabitants (especialy a mandrainfish I have my heart set on.
Section 4: a Deep Sand Bed for even futher Nitrate / Nitrite reduction with the addition of some macroalgae. I have read about reverse photosynthesis cycles in this part (When display lights go out / Sump lights goes on = More oxygen at night. How much light would macroalgae require. Also can you leave the light on 24/7 for even better nitrite reduction or does macroalgae require a rest period for respiration?
Section 5: The return pump to the main aquarium.

So many questions.......

In the next instalment of the New Reef in Tullamore

Will Sean's plumbing problems be sorted or will he suffer an embarrassing leak from now on ....
Will the Wife have a fit when she gets home tonight and sees the water over her CherryWood Floor.....
Will the Sump Pump Dump me on my Rump with a Lump (Wife's frying pan to the back of the arse)
Will all be lost and will Bobby get his new glass kennel after all!

You will have to watch the next episode to find out.

FAO: Forum Admin: Sorry about the picture sizes. I'll get them reduced for the next post.

Nice pictures, the sump needs to be half full or half emtpy, so if the electic goes off the back log or head is lost which will add about 4 inches of extra water to the sump, but beside the larger margin of error a half full sump created the possiblity of a wet dry filter which would of other wise be wet or sumerged as the water level is so high.
the lights can be on 16 hours in the sump, over lapping with the displays tanks nigh time.

Fr Jack,
Many thanks. I thought I'd over done it a bit alright! I will definitely have to get smaller heaters (3x 200watt) to allow me to drop the levels. 16 hours you say. Would you recommend T5 /T8 ot are macroalgae not fussy?
Kind regards
Seany

This type of algea grow in shallow water where the full spctrum penetrates hence 5600K same as freshwater/shallow haunts instead of 10.000K

Hi Seany,with regard to the heating of the aquarium don't forget that your halides and pumps etc will all add heat to the tank so you may even have to cool the tank with fans etc if the temperature gets to high.I have one 300 watt heater in a 1200lt system.T8'S are fine for an algae refugium or for space use t5's.

Hi All
Just a quick update as promised. The guys in AV got the leak sorted so I've been busy the last few evenings as follows,


18kg of Rea Sea Salt mix added to main tank


24 hours later and all of the salt appears to have dissolved


Sump return area with some foam to mininise splashing


Skimmer going at full pelt. Lots of bubbles but no foam as tank has nothing living in it yet.


3 200 watt heaters installed. I returned the 2 300 watt heater which were to long for this sump


4000lph return sump pump. Makes quiet a racket. Dave gave me some suggestions to rectify it so wil have a look into that later tonight. I have to check the impeller for grit and clear any airlocks


Had a bit of a problem with water slurping on the reserve overflow pipe. This is my silencer fitted to stop water swirling as it entered the pipe. A small piece of filter foam placed on top prevents this from happening.


The temp is now up to 24.2 and steady. I will have to tweak those heaters up a little to get 25 degrees


pH steady at a nice round figure of 8.00. I believe this should be nearer 8.2?


SG reading tonight. Needs a little more salt to bring it up to 1.025 I think.

Looking to get live rock in the next few days, and then the cycling can begin. Will keep you updated as this occurs. Many thanks for all the advice so far.

Jobs for tonight
1. Add some more salt to bring SG up to 1.025
2. Tweak heaters to bring temp up to 25 degrees
3. Remove pump to investigate humming/vibration noise.
4. Raise skimmer water height to nearer the collection cup

Talk soon

Seany

Great post, keep the pics coming. I'm looking forward to see the first few tropicals in Tullamore.

Great photo’s and best of luck going forward. You seem to have thought of everything. I know it’s going to be fantastic, as you did some amount of research.

The new house will be about 10 to 15 minutes from mine. I had to check on AA Route Planner.

Tom.

PM Sent
Seany

Hi Seany great post mate , it looks stunning only one question is that not a trip hazard the timber and bolts holding the light .

Paul

Hi sean. Looking superb dispite the set backs!!! Really starting to take shape. See you soon.

Regards

Dave

Hi Lads,

@ Paulm

No trip hazard possible as the carpet has been rolled back over the timbers and a double bed is replaced over this (Guest bedroom)

@ Dave

Thanks. We're getting there slowly but surely. That plumbing part arrived today and has been fitted to good effect. SG now 1.025 and temperature about 25.5 degrees. Any issues with the fact that the three heaters are so close together. Will it affect temperature stability?



Alan said he will have the 60kg Live Rock ready for collection tomorrow evening. I'll be up about 7pm. I have one more job to do this evening. Fit the sump light for the Macroalgae.

See you tomorrow.
Seany

Hi Sean, yeh, Alan has kept aside 60KG of liverock for you!!!
No prob, see you tmw!

Hey, shouldnt be any problem with the heaters, mightn't do any harm though if you spread them into seperate chambers.

I assume the right part arrived yes?

Dave

Great post. Looking forward to seeing photos when it's finished.

Great watching it coming together. Good work. Just wondering if you have an separate thermostat controlling the three heaters or are you doing alot of fiddling to try and get them coming on and off at the same time, which I would imagine is almost impossible ??

Yes,
Its a nightmare, YES. Might seperate them tonight. Live rock added last night. Photos to follow........
Seany

great post seany...looking forward to following it

Well done a lot of effort has gone into the posts, keep up the good work.

Howdy, Just out of interest are you going to build a frame for the live rock to be attached too or are you going to use the tried and trusted rock stacking method?

Well folks its time for an update. Picked up the live rock last night in AV and drove home to Tullamore to begin aquascaping.


4 boxes of Liverock. 40kg Indonesian / 20kg Fijian / 1.5kg Tonga branching rock. Now for the difficult part


2 hours later an I'm done. Considering this is the first time I've ever used Live Rock, I'm fairly happy with the result. I was looking to create a reef break with the open ocean in the background to give a sense of depth. 62kg of Live Rock didn't look alot when insitu. I could add another 60kg and the tank wouldn't look to full.


Left side. Water a little cloudy from the gunk I got free with the liverock. Oh Well, it will help seed the sand/filter with some helpful bacteria. Now that I see this photo up close, I can see some eggcrate peeping through. Will rectify that tonight.


Right side. Happier with this one more so than the left side.


Sump compartment with some small Live Rock pieces and some Chaetomorpha algae. Will help keep nitrate to a minimum hopefully. This sump light will be left on 24/7.


2 hours after live rock placed I checked the skimmer for gunk. Nothing yet. Dave did say they have had this liverock some months now so it should be well cured.


pH continues to be stable at 8.1


Temperature not so stable. Will have to seperate those heaters tonight.


SG now perfect at 1.025

Disaster strikes me again. I got up this morning at 7:30am to be met by this....

I must have brushed against the water level controller on the skimmer last night before going to bed. Cup filled up, Over flow tubing filled up & 1 liter gunk collection vase filled up! Spent half an hour with the mop and bucket (doesn't happen that often!) getting the mess cleared before wifey awoke. PHEW, just in time.

Now I will give the tank some time to cycle and then its the clean up crew before long.
Jobs to do over the next week,
1. Set the MH/actinics timers into action for 9-10 hours a day (Done)
2. Ensure that the skimmer flood does not happen again (Done)

3. Wash and add the rest of the reef base sand (same again as has already been added)(Done)
4. Begin testing parameters to show cycle in action. (Done)

5. Add Nutrafin \"cycle\". I have about 200ml left over from my last community tank that I setup. Dosage rate says 10ml per 35ml (\"double for saltwater setups\") Thats 20ml per 35 litres. Total vol=550litres = 314ml. Oh Well I'll chuck the lot in (200mls) (Done)
6. Move those heaters to separate compartments in the sump.(Done)

Will let you know how the cycling goes.
Until next time....
Seany

Seany,

Hats off to you mate, brilliant post. I think everyone following this knows that you will have a spectacular tank when all is finished.

Keep us posted.

Peter.

@ tanks_alot
I just put some eggcrate pieces between the glass and the rock so that the weight was distributed somewhat evenly and not a one point on the glass.

@Peter
Many thanks for your kind comments.

@Everyone
Okay. Baseline tests (Reefmaster)done tonight showed as follows,

pH = 8.4 (Need to calibrate the electronic probe)
Temperature = 27.1 (Need to move heaters as too close to each other)
Ammonia = 0mg/L (ppm)
Nitrite = 0mg/L (ppm)
Nitrate = 0mg/L (ppm)
Calcium = 500mg/L (ppm)
Carbonate Hardness = 8 degrees dKH (143.2 ppm KH)
Phosphate = 0mg/L (ppm)
I will test every 2nd day for 2 weeks to ensure evidence of a cycle is happening.

Will keep you posted on progress as it happens
Hopefully, no more floods!!!
Kind regards
Seany

Good one Seany,its a pleasure to see that you've done your homework and are doing your best to give your livestock the best chance to thrive !.Just one small question,what height are your halides above the tank ?.

Thanks for the update. I agree with you about the liverock hard-scaping. The RHS looks great and has a very natural looking (grew by itself look). However, I think the LHS could do with some tweaking. I would suggest that you tty and cover as much of the visible black plastic as possible. IMO, it will get more unsightly as calcium deposits being to build up and unlike the glass it will prove very difficult to remove.

Keep those photos rolling in!

Hi Lads,

@kieronr

Way too high (about 40cm). Acardia recommend about 20cm. But I don't want to do that until the rest of the sand is installed and the LHS Live Rock is rearranged.

@tanks_alot

I'm going to tackle the rearrangement tomorrow. However in order to effectively cover all the black plastic, I'll need another 10-15kg Live Rock. Will post some pictures when rearrangement is complete for you comment.

Thanks for the feedback.

Seany

I can tell that its going to be a stunning set up.When its ready,i have a few frags that will make a nice addition if you want ?

Looks great Sean. Aquascaping is spot on.

Thanks Lads,

@ kieronr,
That would be fab. Give me a few weeks though until things settle down and cycling is complete.
PM me your details and I'll be in touch.

@Dave,
Many thanks. I'd still like to get about 10-15kg more liverock. Might pop up today if you have any left!

Seany