[scubasteve3610]

So I've started my 110 gallon aquarium build. This aquarium is just a bit of an upgrade from my current 55 gallon aquarium. I'm still in the beginning stages of this build and look forward to everyone's insight.

Current Plan

Initially this new tank will be mainly a soft coral tank. However in the future I plan on adding some LPS and even a clam in the future.

This used 110 gallon tank (48x18x30) needs some miner prep work. I plan on resealing the tank and replacing the frame. The current frame is cracked and is falling off. I'm thing about doing a coast to coast overflow design with 1 inch bulkheads. How high should the overflow be place from the top of the aquarium?

I have a 29 gallon aquarium that I think I'm going to use as the sump but I may decide to use a 40 gallon breeder (36x18x16) as a sump/refugium . If I use decide to use a 40 gallon I would like to use a royal-exclusive red dragon pump rated at 1717 gph. Is this to much pump for this aquarium? These pumps are extremely energy efficient using about 65 watts so I think I'll be fine if I run the excess water flow back into the sump to create the perfect amount of flow within the display tank.

I plan on also using a AquaC EV-240 Protein Skimmer With Mag-Drive 12 Pump. This skimmer is 26 inches tall so I'll design my stand accordingky to allow for comfort access - it will probably be about 42 inches tall. This stand will be a little bit taller than notmal but it should be great for veiwing the aquarium.

Initially the main flow will be provided by a pair of hydor koralia 3 powerheads. I may upgrade to a hydor koralia 4 powerheads as time progresses.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about lighting yet. However, I'm thinking about getting a48 Inch IceCap Reef Illuminations with 2 HQI, 2 T5 & 2x15W LunarLites. I don't think this fixture comes with ballast so I'll plan on look into find an appropriate ballast - I'm sure I'll stay with IceCap brand.

I've also been working on some DIY nase rock. Its constructed form a combination of CaribSea pacific black reef sand, CaribSea aragonite, Morton crushed pool salt and white Portland cement. Here are some pic's of what I've done thus far - these two rocks are about 60 pounds. I've been soaking these two pieces of rock in RO/DI water for about 2 weeks now to help reduce the PH. I hear it takes about 6 months to reduced the cements PH tolerable levels. So i'm going to give myself at least 6 months to complete this project.

 

[Reeftanker3295]

Nice looking DIY rocks! That pump isnt too much at all. By the time it gets to the tank which im guessing will be around 3' higher than the pump, it will only be around 800 gph anyway im guessing.

 

[WharfRat]

Nice sounding build Steve. I like the extra tall tank. DIY rocks pretty cool..few years back I made some for my 90 and it took mine 3 months to get to 8.5 ph. When I decide to get a bigger tank I'll deffinately do rock again. I didn't use salt in mine and I added perlite to it to lighten it up some. Keep us posted on the build!!

 

[scubasteve3610]

This weekend I started building my stand and I have to say I'm not much of a carpenter but I think I've made some real good progress for a couple of hours of work. I'll post some picture later today for everyone to see. I do have a question however: How should I seal the wood frame of the stand? Can it just be paint or should I seal it with something and then paint it? What products have you used to do this? I was at Lowe's earlier and the sales associate helping me in the paint department didn't appear to be very knowledgeable

 

[cutietwo]

awesome looking forward to see how it looks those rocks are cool...only 2 pieces are 60 pounds though that's incredable!

 

[scubasteve3610]

What do you guy's think? I'm think it's a bit over engineered - I've never built anything like this before and I really wanted to make sure it held up.

How should I seal this?

 

[fihsboy]

Looks good. Are you going to put a bottom in the stand? Reason I ask....I spill every once in a while and if you have nice floors.....they wont be nice with water sitting under your stand where you cant wipe it up. We have hardwood floors......and under my tank.......ruined. But.....nothin I can do about it now. So just some food for thought. You could put a bottom on the stand and seal it up nice so any left over water would sit and eventually evaporate.

 

[scubasteve3610]

Since posting these pictures I've added the bottom to the stand. I'm always spilling water around my aquarium also - I've actually ruined the lament wood floors at the condominium I was renting last year. Thankfully the house I bought has title floors.

The last couple of days I've been trying to figure out the best way to install an eight channel American DJ Power Strip. Does anyone have any advice? I want it to be up an out of the way and look professionally installed

 

[Loverotties]

Some L brackets (painted black).

 

[scubasteve3610]

I think I'm finally making some real progress on this stand. I've finished painting it with Rusto-Oleum gloss white oil base enamel and installed the American DJ Power Strip. I'm pretty happy with how things are turning out thus far. However I still have to do the finish work.

I've also been working on my base rocks as I made another piece. I thing once everything is done I'm going to place it into my aquarium in this configuration.

 

[JohnWesolowski]

Are you planning on putting the aquarium directly on the wooden top? I placed a very thin piece of rubber mat between the aquarium and the top surface to act as a cushion on any imperfections on the wood surface either now or in the future. I then trimmed the rubber cushion to the same footprint of the aquarium. I read this tip in a book several years ago.

 

[scubasteve3610]

Are you planning on putting the aquarium directly on the wooden top? I placed a very thin piece of rubber mat between the aquarium and the top surface to act as a cushion on any imperfections on the wood surface either now or in the future. I then trimmed the rubber cushion to the same footprint of the aquarium. I read this tip in a book several years ago.

That sound like a good idea. I know a lot of people who use foam under frameless aquariums but rubber matting should work perfect for my application.

 

[scubasteve3610]

I'm defiantly not a carpenter - I've been struggling with the finish work for a couple of days now. These side panels are posing a problem. Everything is cut to size, biscuit joints are made, and everything is aligned and square. However, when I try to glue everything together I'm running into my issue. Since I don't have clams to fit the needs of my project at hand I've been trying to using some ratcheting straps and it seems the ends buckle out word when I ratchet everything down. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or do I need to brake out my checkbook to buy some ratchet bar clamps

 

[Loverotties]

You mite be able to rent them.

 

[123456]

how is the stand going

 

[scubasteve3610]

I've kind of put the stand on hold as I've been trying to find rental equipment dealer that provides bar clamps. However, I've struck out and I'm off to Lowe's this weekend to pick up a pair of 50" bar clamps. I've been kind of kicking myself for making this stand 42 inch tall because these clamps are kind expensive. It no big deal because I should be to sell them once I'm done.

I have however been working on the aquarium itself. I've replaced the frames and resealed it. I'm not supper happy with my seams as they seem kind of wide so I might be redoing at least the front ones this weekend. Does anyone know how wide these seams should be? I belive I made my seams about ½ inch wide. Also, I should be painting it this weekend and getting it ready to be drilled.

 

[Loverotties]

Check Harbor freight.They mite have cheaper clamps.

 

[scubasteve3610]

I just wanted to share some pic's of my tank since I replaced the frame and seams.

I used painters tape to keep my seams straight.

I haven't secured the top frame yet because I'll be installing a C2C overflow shortly. But over all I think this thing looks much better now

 

[Loverotties]

Looking good!

 

[scubasteve3610]

Sump/Pump question

So I've decided on using a beans style drain with my C2C over flow. Now I'm looking for some input on my sump and pump design so everything can be mapped out properly. I have a 29-gallon tank that I'm going to use as my sump but I'm not sure of what size pump I should us as it will have to overcome 6 vertical feet to it discharge point in the aquarium. I'm think about using a Pan World 40 PX rated at 480 GPH and when I accounting for head loss I'm think I should have a sump flow through rate of about 10x per hour. However, I don't have any experiences with this product and was wondering if this pump was enough to get the job done.