hi all, finally I’m back in the reefing (after a 10 month brake)
the old 350 gal tank was build in to the house, that we finally soled, and the new owner wanted to keep it.
we agreed that I could take a bunch of live rock for a new tank.
well, that new tank has taken a long time, I had a large sump / frag tank made where I had all the live rock in (this sump / frag tank measured 83 long 35 wide and 15 inches deep, and was menthe for the potential new fish room, when te new tank would go in.
after long waiting (to much to do at the new house) I finally had the chance to take out the wall that was dividing the living room and dining area (I had a new tank, a mareenland 300 DD already in a closed trailer waiting for months to get its spot.
so now the new tank divides the living room from the dining area, so I have 2x 6 feet of long panels + the 3 feet side panel to se everything from.
I put the new tank on a large stand (from the living room side, the bottom of the tank is about 44 inches from the floor, and at the dining room, its about 26 inches of the floor (the dining room is 2 steps up)
beside the tank on the right hand side, I have a 55 gal tank, exact the same hight on the top as the main tank. In this 55 gal. tank I have my heater and skimmer.
reason for this to be beside and not underneath is because now, I use a 2500 gal/h tunze pump as a circulating pump., so in stead of using 140 watts of power to move about 2500 gal, I now use about 13 watts of power.
the tunze pump I have connected to a 1 -1 /2 inch pipe that gust makes a 90 degree corner when it is going over the edge of the tank, so hardly any lift needed.
so far it is working great, no worry that when there is a power failure, the sump could run over, about 120 dollar a year saving on power (13 watt vs 140 watt) and I even going to connect it to a solar panel.
I considered the sequence sun pro pump to do all this, as this is a pump almost the same as some use on 110 V, but these are on 12 V, and only draw about 4.5 A, and deliver 3000 gal/h
make’s you wonder why we all still use the 110V once, that use 140 to 180 watt, when the 12V models use only about 48 watts to do the same job.
any how,
after putting some plastic crating on the bottom for protection, I stacked the live rock, and as you can se, I wanted as less rock touching the bottom, so I have lots of flow underneath my rock, and I can get in there to suck up debris.
I put a fine crushed coral on the bottom (about 1 to max 3 mm large) and only about 1/2 inch thick, plan is to suck each month 1/4 off, rinse it and put it back.
this douse not blow around (what the fine stuff did in my old tank)
I ended up with having only 9 rocks hitting the bottom, all other once are stacked with large gaps on top.
than I filled the tank with 50% water from the frag tank / sump and 50% fresh
for my main circulation, I now use 6 tunze pumps, 4x 6105 and 2x 6085,
the 6085 are in the middle on the right side panel, about 4 inches below the water, blowing straight out.
the 6105’s I have placed on that same side panel, but now 2 left and 2 right (with rock in the middle) and from top to bottom, I have one 4 inches from the bottom, and one in the middle.
I have all 4 on the controller, first the left side (2 pumps at about 60% for 30 seconds, and than the right side for 30 seconds. this creates a very nice current pattern.
having all 6 pumps on one panel, makes cleaning and reaching much better.
the lights hang on a rail, that I can lift and lower with a winch (so I don't always have to ask my wife to hold the lights.) Before installing them I removed the drywall above the tank, and put a new vapour baryer in, gust to make shore, I will not get in trouble, in the future.
the finishing of everything still needs to be dun, but as i have so much to do, we are going to wait with that, for now we are going to put curtains around it all.
problem with my old tank was always the mess with doing water changes, now i have 2 taps in line, and a direct drain to outdoor. I have 2x 32 gallon drums underneath the tank, and a 90 gal fresh water reservoir, so now the plan is to fill one of the 32 gal. drums with a fresh batch of water, let it run for 2 days, than tap 32 gal out of the tank into drum number 2, filling drum number 2 to the exact same level as the one with the fresh mix, and then pump the fresh mix in, and drain the drum with old tank water, this way I’m always shore that I add the same amount, as that I’m draining out.
best of all, with all the taps, there should not be any more spilling, ore running with water.
so there is only one thing to do, and that is filling it with fish and coral, there is only one yellow tang in there
only draw back with this entire set ups is that I’m not going to use the new frag / sump table I had made (for sale)
