Clay&Cheys 130g peninsula... "Quintessence"

[Clay&Chey]

Hi everyone, a little history. This tank/setup was a christmas present to my gf- Cheyanne who had a saltwater tank in the past and this is something I've always wanted. We're both from the coast and the ocean has always been a big part of my life so this is the next best thing. Before this i've never owned a tank of any kind but through tonnes of reading, researching online and going through all your tank journals i've begun to gain a little knowledge.
So we picked the tank after christmas but we were moving april 1st so everything had to be put on hold till then. Well the set up at least. Specs... The tank is 60"x18.5"x27.5" for total of 130g. The tank had an overflow in the rear corner with only one hole and the return was drilled mid tank 3/4 way towards the far end. Needing some guidance, luckily, we found a great asset at a LFS, Kevin from Red Coral. He totally gave us ideas on how to set our tank up, explained it in ways easily understood, gave us the pros and cons of different setup possibilities, and he was just as excited with our growing set up as we were. Thanks Kevin honestly without your help this wouldn't be possible.
So first this is who we are....

Cheyanne and her newest fish for the tank

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/ACheyanneandhernewestfishforthetank.jpg

Claytons first ever fish way back when

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/ABClaytonsfirstfish-1.jpg

Sweet love

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/ACSweetlove-1.jpg

Our cleaner shrimp puppy

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/DOurcleanershrimpPuppy.jpg


So first off our tank had only one hole drilled in the overflow and kevin had a quick super simple solution for that, just drill the emergency drain through the back wall and there ya go a fully functional herbie overflow.

The tank going in to get drilled

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/EAdogfish.jpg

Our fearless guardian

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/FOurtankguard.jpg

So got the tank back moved into our new house and the tank is to be the divider between our kitchen and our livingroom

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Fromkitchentolivingroompretank.jpg

I set about building the stand

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Skrewingthestand.jpg

Its well built with 2x4's and 2x2's braced in all the right places

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Comingtogether.jpg

The panelling is eucalyptus and i ran it 2" high on top to hide the black trim on bottom of the tank and i built the stand a foot longer than the tank to make a shelf and storage space also ran the panelling 4" further on the rear to hide all wires and the overflow pipe;

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Eucalyptuspanellingonthestandeatyou.jpg

Bombay mahogany stain

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Bombaymahoganystain.jpg

[michika]

Very nice! I love the stain colour.

[Dez]

Looking good so far. Looks like it'll be a good build thread. Keep asking questions so that you can do it right the first time and not have to regret it. Be PATIENT. This is one thing I have learned over the years.

This board is so great for learning and I have developed so many friendships over the years even though I haven't had a tank for the past few years the friendships continue.

Looking forward to seeing how your tank turns out.

One thing you might be able to get rid of is that middle vertical bar between your doors and brace your tank with a beefier horizontal "beam" in your stand. One thing I've learned is you want as much access as possible under your tank. It makes life much easier in the long run.

I don't even have a sump under my tank, just a closed loop and I'm already dreading when my skirting is coming for my stand because it's going to limit my access below a bit. Hope this helps.

BTW, Welcome to Canreef.

Des

[Clay&Chey]

So got the stand done and the tank and stand are moved into the house

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Almostreadytobeslidintoposition.jpg

How the overflow is done with the emergency drain drilled out the back.

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Drainpipeshorternowanddrilledemerge.jpg

Kevin at Red Coral had us a custom 3 chamber sump built at 48"x14"x16" and heres the dry fit with equipment in the sump

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Drytestingequipmentisinthesump.jpg

Quiet one 6000 and Hydor preformer 600

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Quietone6000returnpumpandHydorprefo.jpg

The Drain and emergency drain going down to the sump

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Drainandemergencydrain.jpg

Tank end shot... Next tank will be same length and height but 36" wide

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/endshotnoendpanelonyet.jpg

Reactor and the plumbing prior to the change. Now hardlined in with 2 45's no 90's

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Areactorandtheplumbingpriortothecha.jpg

Our fearless guard

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Ourtirelessguard.jpg

Dogs eye view

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Dogseyeview.jpg

My first shot at wiring this bad boy up. Not bad I must say.

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Gettingwired.jpg

Sand is now in.. we went with fine sand, 1\2 live rest is regular good ol sand

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Sandisinreadyforwater.jpg

Ready for water. See how our return breaks into 2

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Lookingdownthetanfromintaketooverfl.jpg

This is where the magic is mixed

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Wherethemagicismixed.jpg

Ready to fill her up

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Saltismixedletthefillingbegin.jpg

Waters in but its a little cloudy

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Alittlecloudy.jpg

[Dez]

Looking good so far. One quick question. What happens when the power goes out? With your return plumbing running mid and low in the tank, won't all that water siphon out when the power goes out and drain half your tank?

I would run the line from your return pump near the water surface. Even with a check valve, the check valve could fail with anything getting caught in there.

Des

[Clay&Chey]

Real cloudy

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Cloudier.jpg

I'm sure somethings swimming in there

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Imsuresomethingsswimminginthere.jpg

View from the bedroom

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Bedroomview.jpg

Again we are lucky enough to deal with a great LFS. Red Coral. Kevin opened the store up early for us so we could pick and choose through all his live rock till we came up with an over all shape and plan for our live rock set up. We probably went through 600-700 lbs to find the 130lbs that was right for us. We totally messed the floor of the store up building our desired shape, saved our new hardwood floors for sure. Again thank you very much Kevin Cheyanne and myself greatly appreciate that.
So 130 live rock at home built and photographed ready to go in... but no its not that easy to recreate what you've built once inside the tank.

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Theplantorockitout.jpg

Even with pictures...

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Itsalothardertorebuilditinthetank.jpg

its way harder in the tank. By the way Kevin thanks for the beautiful live rock

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Evenwithlotsofpicturesitdosentwantt.jpg

Rock and water all in, the divider is up. The lighting we went with is a tek light 48" fixture with 8 bulbs. Looking from the kitchen towards the livingroom.

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Thetankdividerisin.jpg

When the stand and hood are completed there will be a ledge all the way around the top edge of the stand to rest a drink on or whatever your fancy. The hood will be enclosed and the back against the wall will be enclosed.
Here is the view looking from livingroom back towards kitchen

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Livingroomview.jpg

Our origional aquascape and the vortech and wavebox

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Tankvortechandwavebox.jpg

Overflow a working

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Drainsadraining.jpg

Sitting pretty. So the tank has been running since mid april

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Sittingpretty.jpg

Tunze nano wavebox and vortech-mp20

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Itsabouttheflow.jpg

Return lines going down either side of rock work

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Returnlinesgoingeitherside.jpg

The flow splits

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Splittingtheflow.jpg

One of our caves

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Acave.jpg

[Jason McK]

Looks Freak'n GREAT! What's the plan for Live Stock?

J

[lastlight]

Awwwww yeah! Love me a FAST build. Thanks for the instant gratification and good luck. It's looking really nice.

[Clay&Chey]

Cheyannes favorite crab

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Cheyannesfavoritecrab.jpg

Frag from fooser

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Fragfromfooser.jpg

Another frag from fooser, thanks alot

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Fragfromfooserthanksman.jpg

our Bicoloured Blenny peaking out

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Ourbicolourblennypeakingout.jpg

Maculiceps Tang

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/MaculicepsTang.jpg

Our so called reef safe Oriental Sweetlips sold to us by another LFS with complete asurance that it was perfectly reef safe and easy to take care of. So far its been a great fish doesn't bother other fish but i do notice when i'm out looking at the tank in the middle of the night with my trusty flashlight that it is always patrolling all night long

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/OrientalSweetlipsoursocalledreefsaf.jpg

Did some more aquascaping with a bit more new rock now we have a bridge between our 2 islands also some mushrooms and Sun Polyp coral

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/AnewrockbridgesomemushroomsandsomeS.jpg

Clown Tang

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/OurClownTang.jpg

Clown Fairy wrasse along with a Chalice from JDigital

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/ClownFairywrassealongwithaandaChali.jpg


Dark Red Mille from JDigital and its friend

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/DarkRedMillefromJdigitalandaitsfrie.jpg

Lime green Acro from JDigital. Thanks for the sweet coral my pics dont do the colours justice

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/LimeGreenAcrofromJdigital.jpg


Pulsing Xenia

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/PulsingXenia.jpg

Our Vlamingi Tang

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/OurVlamingiTang.jpg

3 of 4 domino damsals

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/3of4DominoDamsels.jpg

[bignose]

Very nice tank build. Your wife must be very pleased!

[Red Coral Aquariums]

You two have done an excellent job. Love the pics.
We have a couple of fish in the store that we can pet but none we can kiss. LOL.

I have never known a Oriental Sweetlips to be reef safe but it's interest will be LESS likely on your corals than on all your invertebrates. Good Luck as you never know with each individual fishes characteristics.

Cheers
Kevin

[Carmen]

WOW!! What a beautiful build! Spectacular!

[Snappy]

The build looks great.

[lobsterboy]

Nice tank, and nice thread. good work guys.

[lorenz0]

looks great. i was wondering where josh's colonies disappeared to.

[fishytime]

Hey guys the tank looks saweeeeet. Glad everything is working out for yous two.

[i have crabs]

Looking good so far. One quick question. What happens when the power goes out? With your return plumbing running mid and low in the tank, won't all that water siphon out when the power goes out and drain half your tank?

I would run the line from your return pump near the water surface. Even with a check valve, the check valve could fail with anything getting caught in there.

Des

thats what i thought when i seen your return line, makes me a bit scared for you,
other than that tank looks great

[Clay&Chey]

Unfortunately the tank was drilled with the hole in bottom for the return when we got it. Is there anything else a guy can do other than a check valve? Also a quick question about return pumps.... our quietone 6000 constantly hums pretty loudly. Its more like a resonant frequency hum but after a while it really grates on your nerves. Is this normal? Can this be avoided with say an external type pump... ie reeflo snapper gold or one similar?

[Dez]

Unfortunately the tank was drilled with the hole in bottom for the return when we got it. Is there anything else a guy can do other than a check valve? Also a quick question about return pumps.... our quietone 6000 constantly hums pretty loudly. Its more like a resonant frequency hum but after a while it really grates on your nerves. Is this normal? Can this be avoided with say an external type pump... ie reeflo snapper gold or one similar?

Hi Clay,

I can see a few simple solutions. One thing you can do is replumb your return line. Valve off that hole in the bottom. Plumb your return line to the wall, up beside your emergency drain and back into the tank near the water surface, if you really wanted to go back into your tank in the opposite side of the overflow, then run the pipe beside your light (still hidden in your canopy and back into the tank. You will have more head loss this way.

Another solution is to run your pvc pipe from the bottom of the tank to the water surface - down side is esthetics. You'll have to do rock magic to cover the pipe. Or you can make an aragocrete pipe/rock to hide it all. This is kind of a lot of work, but worth it. I made a fake rock intake for my closed loop and am so glad I did.

The other option is to rely on a check valve (I wouldn't personally) If your power goes out and the check valve fails - hopefully it won't fail fully open, if it leaks it will hopefully be small. This option is scary in my opinion.

Another option is to make the tank 2 side viewable and have your return pipe running up the end viewing panel and then cover it up with cabinetry/canopy. This too is a lot of work and you have one less viewing panel. This is what I ended up doing with my tank and I struggled with it for a long time because I wanted 3 sides viewable but I didn't want piping above my tank and I didn't want to rely on a check valve.

I personally like the external pumps. If you are redoing plumbing now is the time to change out your pump. I hear the Dart golds are awesome. I run a regular old Dart and am happy with it. It's the second loudest part of my system (my wavebox is the loudest), but I don't even have my cabinetry on yet. If you can bear with the noise of the wavebox, then a Dart Gold should do you well - the only thing is like this whole hobby is - it's pricey. One thing your can try is lining the inside of your cabinetry with foam to dampen the noise. Also put a chunk of rubber under the pump, that might help.

I hope that this helps. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Des

[fishytime]

One thing you could do is buy another check valve and swap them out every six months or so to give the original a good soak in vinegar. The biggest cause of leaks is due to a build up of crud on the seal.

[Clay&Chey]

We gotta design ourselves a 1 way nozzle for the ends of my 2 return. something with overlaping flaps on the inside that are pushed open by the water flow. i like your swapping check valve idea but a quick question how do remove the checkvalve? my ball valve cut off is after the check valve. i could go check valve, check valve and the second check valve could be the one i swap out.... and if the permanent one gets loaded with crud so be it check valve 2 the rotational clean one will be up to the task.... i hope

[Clay&Chey]

Somemore random pics...

Our super fat lawnmower Blenny

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/fatman.jpg

Tankshot kitchen side

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/Tankshot.jpg

Lime Green Acro

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/LimeGreenAcro.jpg

Red Mille

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/IMG_0225.jpg

Unknown coral. Anyone know its name

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/IMG_0224.jpg

Our Bicolour

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/IMG_0200.jpg

Our friendly Foxface

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/IMG_0176.jpg

Domino Damsel

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/IMG_0159.jpg

tips and polyps

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/claychey/IMG_0107.jpg

[scherzo]

Great looking tank! Wish I could get my renos done and get one put in the same place as yours!

I would say that running your returns straight up and then splitting would be your best bet.

Have you done "simulated" power outtage yet? What happens?

[Clay&Chey]

the current check valve works perfect. its a ugly noise as it kicks in but its doing good i guess. my checkvalve is clear would wrapping something around stopping the light from entering it help keep crap from growing in there and fouling it up? If your thinking of doing a divider tank on thing in my dreams i should have done if i had limitless cash is gone double width to 36". A 60"x36"x27" would be ideal in my mind so much more room.

[Delphinus]

Your foxface is a rabbit. :) (I dunno, I always thought "foxface" referred to Lo vulpinus). Yours looks like a Siganus virgatus, which is a sweet fish BTW. :) ).

Everything is looking great. :)

[JDigital]

Nice tank guys... Glad those colonies are doing well for you! :biggrin:

[loveless]

the current check valve works perfect. its a ugly noise as it kicks in but its doing good i guess. my checkvalve is clear would wrapping something around stopping the light from entering it help keep crap from growing in there and fouling it up? If your thinking of doing a divider tank on thing in my dreams i should have done if i had limitless cash is gone double width to 36". A 60"x36"x27" would be ideal in my mind so much more room.


Be very careful with those check valves. A freind of mine has them and noticed when doing a water change that they had started to leak, bad enough to cause concern for sure. It took a while for them to get to that point but all it takes is a tube worm or whatever to make them malfunction and they might as well not be there when the power goes out.