DansReef New 180 Reef

DanSreef

DanSreef

Premium member
Hi Everyone. I have been delayed in getting a new thread started on my new project. You may have seen a couple of pictures from folks here of a 180 gal tank, stand and bookcase set up that Matt at ShoTank built. Well… after many years of seeing Matt create some masterpieces…this time around it was my set up. For those who are looking for beautiful pieces, I cannot recommend Matt more. He does beautiful wood work and really created a centerpiece for my house. Unfortunately life has prevented me from putting water in the tank….business travel as well as a divorced father of two girls who live with me certainly does not allow a lot of time for myself to get this thing running.

So a few points around the set up. It is a RR180 that I am plumbing to the basement in a fish room I have built. In the fish room I have added new plumbing including a wash sink and moved my RODI – Salt Mix Water Station into the room. The sump is a 100 Gal Rubber Maid basin… I am going to use a Hammer Head pump to feed the tank from the basement. As for lighting for the tank… I am still on the fence in what I am going to use… My original plan was to run Gen3 Radions… though I have still concerns if this lighting will support the mix of LPS and SPS I want in the tank. I have even toyed with going back to T-5 and getting the ATI Combo T-5 / LED kit…. Unfortunately the costs are pretty insane just for the fixture….then add a yearly bulb replacement of $300…. I am planning to add to my existing Apex… this tank and system. I will share more on equipment as I get a bit further along over the next few days… I hope.

I am currently working on leak testing my plumbing… One thing has been clear… I would starve if I had to make a living as a plumber. I have had leaky connections….in the basement that has driven me nuts. I want to thank Jeff Fuka on the board here as he has been a great help. He did the plumbing for the drains and h/c water as well as the wash basin….and there has not been a drip out of place there. Of course he is a plumber…so I am not surprised. Me on the other hand…well… I have wasted a lot of PVC the last few days. I plumbed the tank and the sump….etc… Just in the basement…fish room…. I have glued…. Cut out…. re-glued a lot. As I write this… the basement is fully leak tested and passed. My hope is to start bringing water to the tank today… This will have to go slow as I have had other slow leaks that if undetected initially will cause issues. My big concern is the supply to the tank which is under pressure. I hope the drain lines will be less problematic.

Well enough words… here are some pictures with descriptions.

The room the tank will be in was my front formal living room. This is the before....

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This is after new paint....new carpet... and planning layout.

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Now for the transformation of the room with the delivery of the tank by Matt.

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First night with the tank... I added an old T-5 fixture and sat back and began imaging what the tank will look like.

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Now for some detail on the basement fish room.

I built 2x6 supports that are placed directly under where the edge of the tank will be.
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The original intent was to just build the support.... but then I decided to build a fish room around everything...with the intent to place all things fish here... RODI...the tank holding the gold fish from outside...etc...

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This is kind of the final layout... RODI is on the right.... Sump straight ahead... Goldfish in its tank to the left. I am still waiting on Drywall... I am just going to have it hung... I am not going to any length of finishing it. I just want to create a separate room from the rest of the basement while at the same time making sure there is enough air circulation so the fish room doesn't become a damp stagnant room./
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Just a couple of pictures of me plumbing the tank courtesy of my oldest...

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Yeah...the dog decided he wanted his belly rubbed... go figure...
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After cutting, fitting and gluing.... my view of the work enjoying a beer.
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great stuff Dan! Can't wait for more updates and good luck with the plumbing.
[MENTION=1489]Sho Tank[/MENTION], great work Matt. Killer setup.
 
very nice setup ! your gonna love the basement sump and fishroom . best thing i ever did . are you keeping your existing setups ?
 
As I mentioned in the start.... I would starve as a plumber.... I suck at it. The last few days have been filled with me correcting errors in the plumbing I made that included leaky and incorrectly installed bulk heads... leaky fittings... cutting out and re-gluing....

I have been keeping saltwater fish and corals for better than 20 years. I have had fish tanks....fresh water since I was a kid.... at least 40 years. There is so much to learn... and so much I have forgotten over the years.... and then screwed up a long the way. I will list a few things out here for you.... Maybe if you do something like this project in the future... you can avoid the headaches I have had...to this point.

First off.... I had a suggestion on another board to build a platform for my sump to be on. I built it out of scrap wood I had in my workshop. Everything seemed to work out perfectly until I fired up the Hammer Head the first time. Well... I covered the platform with some scrap plywood and essentially created a sound amplifier.... so when I turned the pump on the noise was out of this world. I initially scratched my head....but realized my erred design.... If you look at the previous picture you will see the plywood... in this new picture... I corrected things in two ways. I used 2x4 for the top spaced....and then added some foam matts to further isolate the sound and vibrations. Last test of the pump....she is nice and quiet... not silent....but for this pump.... it is nice an quiet.

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Next learning for me.... is the bulkhead. I drilled the sump to place a new 1.5" bulk head. I did not use the factory installed one as it is notorious for being leaky. When I first leak tested....sure enough... the factory installed on leaked like crazy. I pulled it out... and silicone it....reinstalled it and thus far...she is dripless... As for the bulkhead I installed... it too leaked. In my infinite wisdom I installed it with thread inside the sump. The thought was to allow for me to disassemble it....at some point. Now... point of clarification.... you can install the bulk heads either way... but the better way is to have the threads on the outside. So after a lot of messing around... I finally installed a new bulkhead and in tightening it.... snapped the nut.... So... #3 bulk head went in... as I thought this could happen I bought an extra one... This time I hand tightened...with threads out... installing a washer inside and outside.... and then using a bead of 100% silicone around the inside of the bulkhead....I snugged the bulkhead down careful not to snap another nut. I let the silicone cure over night and... ...sure as shit... she is drip free.

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So this last picture is of the room last night as I went to bed. I have an old antique table from the house I grew up in.... and a lamp from many generations ago... repurposed for this room. The room has been transformed from a family room to my library...and fish tank room. I have found myself sitting her just staring at the tank....visualizing what I am going to put in it. I have enjoyed immensely just sitting, reading the paper, drinking coffee or a beer... One of the best rooms of the house at this point.


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This brings me to the place I am now. Over the next few days I hope to finish the leak test of the tank supply, tank and the returns. I will then begin mixing salt... I have more rock on order... and need to get some sand to add to the tank. Then I can start the cycle and acquisition of more equipment.

More to come.
 
Thanks guys. I am planning to take down one of the older tanks....the 72 bow front that has served me well over the years. I may in the future also either take the 125 corner down, make it a predator tank...or end up plumbing it to the new sump. We will see.

So.. I just completed leak test #2. Ran the pump and water up to the tank.....closed off the ball valve above the pump....and shut pump off. No leaks apparent from the pump up... going to run it again in a bit just to double check. If this is successful... I will be blown away. I have had leaks like crazy in the basement and thus far.... knock on wood.... no runs, no drip no errors....

More to come.
 
Hey Rick. You are welcome any time. I will also have a 72 bow front for you to upgrade to sometime in January or February.... :rock:

Ok.... so more of my running updates.... Leak test #3 on the feed side went very well... no leaks... I am a bit amazed actually....and somewhat concerned. Why in a moment. I then also just did leak test #4...on the returns. Now...mind you I am not as concerned as they are drains.... and will not be under pressure. That said... I want no...zero..... nada.... drips anywhere.... I don't want to be the poster child of the wet-my-carpets R-Us.... So... I counted the number of connections to make the returns happen. There are 20 ish... per run... for a total of 40....ish.. Of the 40...ish.... there were 12 leaky connections. With a 25% failure rate.... I am demonstrating my inability to do plumbing... that said....because these are on the drain side.... and not under pressure.... I marked them and applied cement around each connection. I used an all in one....pvc cement. This stuff does not require primer or a cleaner and it dries nice and tight...and seems to be hard...but not brittle... in other words if you dig your finger nail into it... it will leave an impression. My hope is that this top dressing of the connections on non-pressure returns will be enough to stop the leaks. If it doesn't...then I may need to do some more extensive re-piping. Two other notes... not having a canopy that is easy to take off is a real pain in the ass... Since there is no top to the canopy....I went over the top of it to the returns to fill them with water to do the leak test. What a pain in the ass.... once the leaks are finalized...hopefully I wont need greater access.... One other note.... none of the leaks that I found were major by any sense. A slow drip at most.... to just a little weeping on the others. Also, a nice little trick is get a roll of toilet paper or paper towels to search for leaks. This worked well for me to find a leak where I thought there wasn't.


Anyway..... more to come....
 
Ok... This sucks... Damn little drips... I have 3 remaining that are vexing me. I think the next act is to put some silicone on them and let them cure overnight. They are so tiny that as I have sat here for the last hour there is less than a quarter size puddle on the card board I use to ID any drips from the pipes....I know they are on the drain / returns and that drips like this probably would not happen with the running water...but Like I said.... I want no runs, drips or errors...

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So a quick update.... Many thanks to my new buddy Jeff...he came by and replumbed the tank. Let's be honest....I suck at plumbing. With the volume of water I have...in total... I should have hired Jeff to do it from the start. He ripped out my crap last Friday and replumbed it last night. It is a cleaner layout and I a m pretty confident ...it won't leak like a sivve.

So a couple of pictures of his work.
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With luck...and after a leak test...I can begin filling this beast. I am totally stoked.
 
Dan, this is going to be one sick as DT!! But on your pictures with your feet up.. Where is the whisky and cigar???
 
Good call on having it re-plumbed and kudos on getting it done now as opposed to after it was up and running. Can't wait to see it up and running!
 
New MaxSpect Gyre XF-150

Ok...so this is the first piece of add-on equipment since starting up the tank.

Before I start, I had half expected to not have to use water movers. But even though there has been good flow...it was constant and...mellow if you will. A lot of water moves from the tank to the basement sump and back. With a 180 you just don't get the movement of water in the DT.

I had planned to use EcoTech MP40's and MP10's if flow was insufficient. That is until about a month ago when I started seeing reviews on the Gyre. They said the flow these things create is insane. So when I was buying stuff from BRS I saw they were selling them. At $299 I figured...why not.
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Initial observations:

Packaging is pretty impressive. Under the outer packaging a stamped tin box...inside laser cut foam holding all of the parts. If MaxSpect used a lower quality packaging... They could save quite a bit of costs...they could certainly still offer a nice package...this though is something I think won't get lost in the shuffle in the basement. Spare parts and manual will be neatly stored. One concern...it seems to be a tin (rusts) and not aluminum (doesn't) I could be wrong.

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Installation is pretty straightforward and easy. Instructions are clear and easy to understand. One gripe is the controller. It would be awesome if it was wireless. As a wired device the connectors are too close to it. Meaning if you mount it like I did...it is hard to manipulate the wires. I decided to install the wet portion up and down. I have heard people really like the flow that is created doing this. Someone suggested I put this on one of my overflows as the mag is water proof. I tried...but couldn't because...even though ithe mag is low profile...the way I have set up my tank there just is no room in the overflow box. May try again later.

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First start.... BAM! Flow like crazy. I actually sat back and just observed... The flow easily reached all the way across the six feet. The agitation on the water surface was incredible. I started noticing sand on the rock start kicking up as if being blown by a pump right next to it. Rock dust...water equivalent kicked up. Anything that had sat safe from flow was put into the water column and eventually headed down the drains to the socks in the sump. All I can say is WOW!

Noise... At about 50% there is a bit of noise from the Gyre. If you take it up to 100% there is significant sound coming from it....frankly more than I had expected. That said...the flow is plenty at 50% so I doubt it will be an issue for me.

Modes.... Constant speed, pulse, alternating and feed. Right now I like the alternating. It will go for 10 mins in normal flow....then 10 mins in reverse at 40% of normal speed. Almost seems off. I think the time is programmable....just have not gotten there yet. I think I like this mode the most. Feed mode when entered from the controller shuts the Gyre off for 10 mins and then restarts at previous program.

Overall first impressions are: Wow! Look at how much this thing kicks up without creating a sand storm. How much did I pay for this....? Compared with having to use multiple MPs to get similar flow on my other aquariums.... This thing is a rocking deal at $299. It moves water like crazy!

Only constructive suggestions for MaxSpect at this point are a) wireless controller..., and b) find a way to reduce noise a bit at the higher speeds... Otherwise this thing is a great pump....at least from my perspective at this point.

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I hope this is helpful to everyone on here. If you are considering the Gyre... particularly in comparison to MP's... I would simply recommend the Gyre.... You will be happy.
 
Noise should go down as the moving parts slime up a bit. I love this machine. Best flow I've gotten in my tank


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Ok... Things are progressing nicely with the tank. I added a Tunze Osmolator top off and a 20 gal rubbermaid can... set up was pretty straightforward. I like this system as it has an optical sensor for the water height and a float valve to set max water height. I was going to plump over to the RODI...but then read some overfill issues people have had. This should provide enough top off with also providing a bit of a margin of safety if the pump stick on. I have heard a ton of good reviews of this system.

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