New 125g tank build.

[hylc0001]

I have a 55gal setup right now but I am moving and want to set up a 125. One question I have is about the sand in the bottom. I want to put about 1” of very small shells (about 1/16 to 1/8in pieces) down then about another 1 ½ “ of sand on top of that. The reason for the shell is I already have it. I will be mixing in the live sand from the 55 to seed the new sand in the 125.
The second question is what is the cheapest way to fill the tank with water? I want it to be right but with moving I don’t have much money to spend.

[Jnicho]

The shell thing won't work...the smaller grained sand will find it's way to the bottom over time and the crushed shell will end up on top.

For a 125 you're gonna want an RO unit...buying and hauling water for a tank that size is a nightmare.

[hylc0001]

Thats what i thought. Where can i get a good RO unit from?

[hylc0001]

Does anyone have an idea about how big and what kind of pump i will need for the sump return. i will have a 55 gal for the sump. do you think it would be better to have 2 smaller ones rather than one big one?

[hylc0001]

One more question how big should the drain pipes be? iam having the tank drilled so i can have them what ever size i need.

[crvz]

Nah, one pump should do fine. Unless you have a crummy pump, regular maintenance should preclude any real failures that having a second pump online would help with. Drain pipes are a function of total flow, but I've found the two 1" drains are plenty on my 150 gallon setup (probably around 500 gph flow in the drains). I'd recommend buckeyefieldsupply.com for RO/DI stuff. They'll get you setup with the right equipment.

[OneDummHikk]

Originally Posted by hylc0001

Thats what i thought. Where can i get a good RO unit from?

Bioreef: Reverse Osmosis 4 stage, 100gpd with DI..$169.95

If you want to roll the dice on ebay, I bought one that was 148 dollars shipped to my door. 110gpd unit with pressure gauge, holding tank, lots of other goodies. It should be here in a week or so.

[hylc0001]

I finally got the design done. The glass was cut yesterday. I will post some pictures up tonight of the actual setup. The concept is two 2 1/2in holes that have 2in pipe threw them inside the 2in is 3/4in pipe for the returns. The water overflows into the 2in to the sump.

[crvz]

Interesting use the pipes, I'm curious as to how it ends up working out. Look forward to more pics, too! Thanks for updating.

[Jrmass]

I'm not sure if this is going to help you or not. But, I have a 125 with a 75 sump. The pump I'm using is a Dolphin 3600SP. The reason I have a pump that large is because I'm pushing water from my basement up to the display tank on the main level (roughly 13-15' up). But, this might give you some ideas at least as far as plumbing goes. (I have mine as one pump split into two under the stand) then I have 1.5" returns off of each overflow.

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f2...-a-101370.html

Hope it Helps

Jason

[motorslave]

as far as flow through the sump, your skimmers ability to process water should dictate that number. you dont really want more water going through the sump than can be processed by the skimmer.

[Loverotties]

And get a RO with DI.

[hylc0001]

I can’t really afford a RO with DI so it’s just a RO for now maybe later when I start getting more expensive corals and fish. The Tank is coming along well SORRY no pictures yet I had a problem with the memory card reader, so every time I tried to load pictures the data was lost I found out the problem after losing a month’s worth of pictures about 300 total. The pumps I am going to use for now are rated at about 700GPH X 2 =1400GPH – 6ft lift so for now it should work. Once I get the skimmer I will find the right pump and just split the output two the two returns. Tonight I will have some pictures up. [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Over the weekend I got an RO unit went to install it last night to start the fill and none of the fittings were in the box so I have to take it back or call the company today. Really bugs me I want water in the tank so bad it’s going into the 3^rd week of construction. [/font]

[hylc0001]

Here is the side view after resilling the tank.

this is how the drains and returns turned out.

30gal sump. The 10gal on left is fror topoff the 10gal on the right is a holding tank. I still have to drill and plumb them.

Started on the front.

its comming along a little at a time. going to work on the skimmer tonight.

[hylc0001]

Horrible news last night when I started to add salt to the water the tank started to leak. Just after dumping 5gal of salt into the tank and getting the SG just about right I saw the water dripping. So there goes 50 bucks down the drain. I don’t think I am even going to mess with trying to re sill it. I am going to go buy a new one.