CountryBoy72's 110G SW Tank Build.
 

Just waiting for the local guy to bring me my tank that he was drilling and painting the back for me. Tank is 30"Hx18"Dx48"L. I have finished building my stand for the tank. It's all stained and doors are on. It's 36"Hx24"Dx54"L, 2x6, 3/4" plywood construction. I have ordered my SRO Protein Skimmer, Eheim 1262 Return Pump, Eshopp 35G RS300 reef sump tank, gate valves 1" & 3/4". Going to be doing a Herbie Drain an Berlin Style Sump. The water guy should be here tomorrow or the next day to install the R/O system.

Need to order 2 powerheads, decide and order lighting, water testing kits, salt, heaters, circulating pump for mixing water, powerbars, timers, tubing/pipe for plumbing, small fan for under stand, live rock, dry rock, live sand an other bits and pieces.

The tank will start as a FOWLR. Once the tank is stable an mature, I have a good grasp on the whole SW tank thing I will try adding some easy corals. Have to decide what livestock I want as well.

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One question I do have is. Do you have to use the rigid pink foam between the tank an the plywood ?

If the tank doesn't have the black plastic trim (which the bottom pane floats inside) then I'd say yes to foam otherwise definitely no.

I am using an Eheim 1262 for my return pump, Is this pump going to need to be restricted by a gate valve ?.

ive never had that pump so i cant say for sure if it needs to be throttled down or not but i can say that a ball valve is fine for restricting flow on return pumps as gate valves are 10 times the price of a bv:)

I think you should have foam no matter what.

It makes the tank self leveling and it takes an pressure points off the bottom glass if the wood under it isn't perfectly smooth and flat

if a tank has a raised bottom from the black plastic frame then no foam is required

Oh ok. But still to level it out, foam would work, right??

it would, i guess the question goes from what i remeber is if your side panels of glass sits on your bottom then foam is ok and if the sides come down past the bottom pane then no foam?? cant quite remember and i cant find the link i believe it was anthonys tank who blew out(seahorse fanatic) because of foam or at least i think it was him anyways lol :P

if theres trim on the bottom and the tank is raised i would think with the weight of the tank settling on the foam theres a possibility of the tank shifting or cracking(not guaranteed as i have ran tanks with foam under raised tanks)where as if it were on solid ply or other wood then it wouldnt shift ,only what the stand does .

if your building a big tank then a metal stand is best to reduce any possibility of wood settling or shrinking, small tanks i wouldnt really worry about it but anything over 100g's and i would start questioning on whether or not the foam is a good choice:)



i always shim my tanks as i fill them and adjust as necessary so level has never been a real problem for me, smaller tanks ive shimed the stand when full but bigger tanks i level as its filling using a level on both directions and checking diagnally:)

wish i could find that link, the search engine here needs some updating when you type common words into the search box to much junk comes up lol:P

Thanks for the input on the foam. I Went to HD/Rona an got the pvc cleaner ,glue, An all the fittings to use hard pvc pipe an spaflex pipe. I bought a bunch of gate valves from J&L. Not sure exactly what I will do setup/configuration wise yet. The Eheim pump that I am using as my return pump has the option of using 3/4" or 1" nozzle off the pump. The bulkhead through fitting is 3/4" for my return. Will likely use 3/4" spaflex on that. Anybody got any pictures of there setups ? In a Eshopp RS-300(sump tank) I plan on running a Berlin style sump w/LR(insump), Protein Skimmer, GFO Canister, heaters. Think my plumbing should be minimal.