My 150 build thread...

xtlosx

xtlosx

New member
Hey everyone.. As most of you know, I received the go ahead to migrate from our current 60 cube to a 150 I found from a local reefer. I couldn't pass up the price (never thought I would go so big), but went ahead! Tank has been picked up, moved to the basement (was that ever a friecking adventure), and cleaned.

Official Parts List (Updated: 12-2-2012)

- 150 Gallon Marineland 60x24x24 Tank
- Maple stained Canopy & Stand.
- 40 Breeder sump, with Fuge, Return, and Input... Input area has two bubble towers built. One for each drain.
- Bubble Magus Curve 9 Skimmer




Here are some pictures as of tonight...

The tank is 150 gallon, 60x24x24, with a 40 breeder sump...

Here is the stand by itself...

Stand.JPG


Tank and Canopy on top

Tank-Canopy.JPG


Tank with the back glass cleaned of coraline... there was a LOT....

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Big props to Dre for coming by yesterday, helping draw out the plumbing, and get some things settled for this coming weekend. We plan on getting new bulkheads installed, silicon'ing the 40Breeder sump and some other various things.

I have a skimmer on order (Bubble Magus Curve 9), RO\DI unit, and a bunch of other stuff. I still need to pick up rock, sand, and some other odds and end things... Would like to get this tank running by the end of the month if possible...

When I get a chance I'll write up a much more concise equipment list... Thanks everyone, and looking forward to input as we go along.... I can't wait to get this thing going, it's a dream come true.
 
Thanks guys!!

Skimmer is already ordered and on the way... To order this week.... bulk heads, RO\DI, Marco Rock & sand..... So as to not give my wife a heart attack all at once, I'm going to be ordering the MP40s, and RapidLED 96 LED setup down the road.... I'm going to also order the ReefKeeper ALC module, and Carbon\BFO reactors down the road as well..

I'm going to seed the live rock, and sand with some stuff from my two year old cube, so should help cut down some of the costs..

One question... we worked out that the heater (300W 20" heater) is too big for my sump.. Will it be just fine in the overflow or is the water going through too quickly to really do anything?
 
Build looks great,can't wait to see it finished. One advice I can give you on heater, do not put it in overflow. Once you shut off your return pump (maintenance, other reasons) your big 300W will cook the water in overflow very quickly without water moving through. You will risk cracking glass or seal behind overflow. I actually saw this happened to someone on other forum. If using heater, I always go for 2 smaller ones, just in case one fail there is another one working. If you can, I would just get 2 150W and place them in sump.
 
MMreef said:
Build looks great,can't wait to see it finished. One advice I can give you on heater, do not put it in overflow. Once you shut off your return pump (maintenance, other reasons) your big 300W will cook the water in overflow very quickly without water moving through. You will risk cracking glass or seal behind overflow. I actually saw this happened to someone on other forum. If using heater, I always go for 2 smaller ones, just in case one fail there is another one working. If you can, I would just get 2 150W and place them in sump.
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Good information.. Will two 150s be able to adequately handle 150g of volume? Plus or minus the water in the sump?

Also, any recommendations on heaters? I need to get one ordered in short order as well..
 
Two 150W are exactly the same as 300W. It shoud be no problem,unless you put your tank in unheated garage or basement. BTW I don't have heater on my reef at all (120 gal.+ 30 gal. sump) since I keep my tank in my living room. My reef temp. is always 77-78*F. Get a titanium heaters as they don't corrode and there is no risk breaking one.
 
Our tank is in the basement, there's a heat outlet right by it, so maybe the 300W will be overkill even... It does get cooler in the basement naturally, but wonder if I could get away with just heater.
 
Lil BamBam said:
WOW!! That is a big difference now.. You have been busy getting all that off today..
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Thanks.. To be honest, we had a gallon jug of vinegar laying around, and when you use a sprayer with some force behind it, it just flakes off.. It was really easy. I just used the razor, and it came right off....

Looking forward to Saturday... Beer, BBQ, and tank!!
 
I'm going to get another PC4 for my RKL today, bulkheads, heaters, and skimmer is on its way... This weekend should be a fun time... Reef party at my place on Saturday.


Edit: PC4 ordered, and a 200W Finnex Digital Heater.. (Christmas present from family). Everyone is chipping in for this build.. heh.
 
Alright so a quick update for today... I ordered the RO\DI unit, heaters, PC4 for the RKL, and bulkheads....

The sump was brought downstairs finally, and everything was kinda sketched out to get a visual of how it will all look. For a return, think I'm going with a Quietone 6000, so that will be about 5" of width needed for the pump.. So the sump breaks out this way..

Overall look of the sump.

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Left side (Drain) We've got two drains, and two custom bubble traps built for draining and to help with bubbles. I'm still debating on if I fill it with rock rubble yet, but have heard pros and cons to both sides. Thoughts?

The white piece of paper is our skimmer (mocked up). We're getting the Bubble Magus Curve9. Should be here any day now. Going from an eshopps PSK-75, this thing is a friecking beast.

The intake side measures 12" wide.

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Then you will see the bubble traps. Since they aren't siliconed in place, I just laid them against eachother to take up the room they will need. First baffle will be at 12" second at 13", and third at 14". From what I understand, you want an 1" between baffles. Am I correct here?

The return will be about 8"-9", so plenty of room for a quietone 6000 or comparable pump. I'll also house the 2x 200W heaters in this area going width wise, so plenty of room.

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A full shot again shows the entire thing, plus the mock-up fuge.... For me, it's a big fuge... I love it. I wish it could be the entire 40B dedicated to the fuge, but this is a great start. I'm thinking maybe someday I'll plumb in a remote fuge or something, but this is definetly a great start. The fuge is about 12" by 18".

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I can obviously adjust everything, but wanted to confirm with the group this looks about right. Interested in your thoughts and constructive criticism if you have any. I'm doing this build right from the first time, so any feedback is great.
 
So Updates..

Bulkheads are here today (we'll start plumbing tomorrow), RO\DI system is here, additional PC4, 200W heater, and skimmer is coming monday... I need to get the return ordered in short order here as well.

Also I need to paint the back of the tank black.. any ideas what kind of paint I need to use to make this happen?
 
Awesome job with the sump. Mine doesn't look that fancy, but I'm only a perfectionist on the things people see, LOL.

Very similar setup to mine, although I made my return section just big enough for up to two mag 9s in terms of size, and maximized everything else. I think my fuge is 15" x 18" and skimmer area I think is about the same as yours.

In terms of paint, anything rustoleum/krylon black paint that has glass listed will work fine. I used rustoleum because its what Menards carried.
 
yogoshio said:
Awesome job with the sump. Mine doesn't look that fancy, but I'm only a perfectionist on the things people see, LOL.

Very similar setup to mine, although I made my return section just big enough for up to two mag 9s in terms of size, and maximized everything else. I think my fuge is 15" x 18" and skimmer area I think is about the same as yours.

In terms of paint, anything rustoleum/krylon black paint that has glass listed will work fine. I used rustoleum because its what Menards carried.
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Yea, well awesome job laying out the sump, nothing is made yet, we'll be doing silicon work tomorrow... Tomorrow should be a great fun day.

Yea, I just went to Michael's and got black paint specifically made for glass.... so we should be good.
 
You look at my build thread to see what it could look like, lol, cause I didn't smooth out the bead. I'm sure I'm wrong, but my assumption was that since silicone doesn't bond acrylic to glass I made a thick bead on either side to act as a dam to keep them in place. I turned on the hose and filled it up afterwards and it held like a champ, but I've seen others that look much cleaner hold as well.

Either way, do it outside (or garage), case DAMMMM it smells, lol.
 
yogoshio said:
You look at my build thread to see what it could look like, lol, cause I didn't smooth out the bead. I'm sure I'm wrong, but my assumption was that since silicone doesn't bond acrylic to glass I made a thick bead on either side to act as a dam to keep them in place. I turned on the hose and filled it up afterwards and it held like a champ, but I've seen others that look much cleaner hold as well.

Either way, do it outside (or garage), case DAMMMM it smells, lol.
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Sweet, thanks for for the good advice... Just put a first coat on the back of the tank, and it looks MUCH better as black and not the blue paper'ish stuff that was on the back of it before... It's nice to be able to do a lot of stuff I never did on my original tank.. I never painted the back of my cube, so I can see all of the wires from my Vortechs, etc....

This time around, I'm doing it once, I'm going big, and I'm doing it RIGHT!
 
Just painted another nice coat on the back and it's looking REAL nice... So happy with this so far... Also cleaned up the stand and canopy with a light wood cleaner and polish.. It looks NICE..

I'll be screwing up the RO\DI unit right by my utility sink for a permanent installation, so that will be awesome.. I've never really made my own water, so this should be fun!

Hoping to get the sump silicon'd today, RO\DI up on the wall, and potentially some plumbing done, we'll see!
 
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