110 SPS BB tank build - would LOVE help and suggestions!

[Waynesworld]

its cool. Just not a big fan of BB. I like to see what it looks like though.

[naterealbig]

Sweet. It's being filled up with RODI right now, probably got another day and a half left. I still need to bring my LR and G3 from Georgia, and waiting on my lights to come in. A few more days and it should be ready. I'll take a couple of pics and post then. Thanks.

[King-Kong]

Your dimensions are insane! Keep posting pics.. you have a lot of readers, but this early in the game there may not be much to comment on besides looking at your great pics

[Wiskey]

I agree with King Kong, allot of people read but don't post simply because they like your ideas and don't feel they have anything usefull to add.

I do have one consern about your sump though, I don't see bubble traps, and your return section looks fairly small,.. as the water level there drops and water starts falling into that section you may find yourself blowing bulbbles.

I am also worried about your mag 9 run external, I've had nothing but trouble with external mag pumps, some people have no problems, others do, I've never been able to get a mag 5 to stop leaking

Otherwise it looks like a great setup!
Whiskey

[naterealbig]

King-Kong: Thanks for the nice words - I guess I assumed there would more people "beating up" my design, which is what I really wanted. Although, I guess if people don't see any major flaws then your right, nothing to really comment on.

W(h)iskey: I have since revamped my sump design. I hadn't been completely sold on the "true" bare-bottom setup yet. I will post my new sump design (including bubble traps)here shortly. As far as the external mag drive pumps go, I'll have to agree with you - I have seen a few problems. But, I have found that there are a couple mistakes often made by people when setting up these pumps. First, the pumps manifold is easily cracked because it is so thin. Great care must be taken when attaching the male and female adapters to the inlet and discharge of the pump. Second, the maifold of the pump should be taken off only if absolutely necessary. For some reason it is hard to get that factory seal back on, although I have cleaned a few of these pumps (fairly new ones by taking the manifolds off) with no issues what-so-ever. For now I'm going to stick with the mag.

[naterealbig]

Updated sump plans. I designed the plumbing so that I can do waterchanges without having to drag hoses or lift buckets. Simply turn a couple valves and voila! Water change done. Lets see if I can get all that plumbing under the stand .



I have fixed the canopy door that got broken, and now that it's back on, you can't tell the difference. I have also finished painting the tank. Again, white bottom and black background.

I started messing around with a little bit of the sumps plumbing. I'm scratching my head at this point, because the sump is 36" long and 12" wide, and I have a 45.5"x16" space to work with. Here's what I've got done so far.

[Little Luey]

Looks nice!
I like that attachment you have for your filter sox, did you make that or is it purchased?

[naterealbig]

although I have done some acrylic work before, the piece your talking about was bought. If I had to pay full price for it I would have made it!(about $60). Makes for a lovely diy sump sock holder though.

Well I got antsy and finished up the tank plumbing. Here's how it looks so far, and it should barely fit into the stand.





I guess its time for some testing!

[naterealbig]

Tests went well. The only thing I was worried about was actually getting the piping to prime, but it worked fine. Shortly after I carried the sump and plumbing into the living room and put it in the stand. I guess I was very lucky as it fit like a glove. No room left, front to back, left to right. It kinda stinks that I have no room left in the stand for storage, but a minor hickup when you consider that I don't have to lift buckets and spill water any more!













I really got tired of watching the tank fill up from my 50gpd RODI, so I cheated and ran to my store (the store I work at) to get the rest (we have a van with a 125gal water tank inside). I filled the rest up with water, aligned the valves and turned the bad boy on. Everything went fine, no leaks, except for a valve that I had "weak-wristed". I added salt to a s.g. of 1.026 and ran tests this morning.

I found surprising results. I used Instant Ocean Reef Crystals for the salt, and used Salifert test kits (about a year old) for the tests. Results were as follows:

pH: 8.2
NO3: 0
PO4: 0
Ca: 440ppm
KH/Alk: 13.4 dKH/4.8 meq/L
Mg: 1440

These results were found without adding anything at all to the water except the salt. I imagine that test results would vary depending on the brand and age of the test kits and with different batches of salt from instant ocean. I was certain that I was going to have to dose the tank w/ 2 part to get the parameters up though - I guess not. I will be adding the LR and the skimmer on monday and maybe fish and corals on thursday. We'll see how things go.

[crvz]

The alk is a little surprising (a pinch high) for ReefCrystals, but everything else seems to be in line. I've been using it for a while, and that similar to what I get with newly made water. Once you get LR and corals and whatnot, I'd expect you may need to dose.

[naterealbig]

Oh definitely. I was dosing quite a bit even for my 65. I will be in the market for a CR as soon as I can afford one, as the 2 part can get expensive quick. I also have an aquacontrollerIII (w/ ph and orp probe) so I want utilize it for sure. I really need to go ahead and set it up anyway, I just know that it's going to take a while.

[naterealbig]

Just a little up date. I swung up to Kingsland to pick up my LR. I brought about 2/3 of what I had curing down to Jax (where I'm setting up the tank) and played aquascaper for a while. I only used about 1/2 of what I brought down. Anyone need some Cured, Cooked, Marshall Island Live Rock? I know I'm breaking the "keep the LR down to a minimum" rule, but I couldn't resist.

[Leonardo's Reef]

Very nice aquascape!

[chrisjet]

where did you buy your filter sock holder ?

[naterealbig]

Leonardo: I am honored by your aquascaping comment. I have been following your build thread and I must say it is quite impressive.

Chrisjet: I got the holder from the lfs that I work at. If you like, pm me and I can try to give you some additional info, or atleast put you in touch with the owner of the shop.

And btw, another update. My light FINALLY came in! I set it up on top of the tank, but I'm going to have to modify the canopy before I can actually fit it inside. Bummer, but I'm still excited.