kien's 150g Room Divider Mixed Reef & Stuff

[kien]

Earlier this year I started thinking about setting up a FOWLR tank. At first I wanted that tank to be separate from the main 150g mixed reef, but after playing around with my 104.72g lagoon for a while I decided that a separate tank of that size just isn't going to work for me. If I'm going to add another tank it HAS to be plumped into the 150 some how so that I can leverage one sump, which means one water change, one dosing location, one heating location, etc..

So speaking of sumps, that's where we begin. I took this opportunity to modify the existing sump while adding two additional sump tanks, one to be used as a connector sump to the main sump and one as a water change tank (more on this later). The 3 sump system looks some thing like this.



Both tanks will have their own return pumps. I found that this is easier to control the herbies in each tank, rather than having one massive return pump with a splitter or manifold. Plus now I can electronically cut supply to each tank individually which is handy.

The sump tanks are fairly small in comparison to the 104.72g lagoon tank that I built so again I decided to build the sump tanks myself.

First up is the primary sump. Here it is held together with just the corner brace to dry fit it.



Once I'm happy with the fit I drop down one of the side panels and apply a bead of silicone to the bottom of the pane.



Lift that pane of glass back up, hold it in place with the corner braces, and lightly push the bottom in but NOT too hard as to squish ALL the silicone out. You never want glass on glass because that's just a weak point that will likely fail!



Repeat for the other side panel. Now we drop down the back panel and apply silicone on 3 sides and push that panel into place.



Once that panel is in place secure with a piece of nylon tape on the top and bottom.





Repeat for the front panel. Now we apply a bead of silicon in all the corners and crevasses and squish in with a finger.

The other two tanks pretty much went the same way. I decided that since these were sumps and I was in a bit of a time crunch I skipped the taping and masking on these tanks. It makes for very ugly siliconing but the sumps are going to get ugly anyway. Here's the trio.



Here's the new Primary Sump back in place.



Here's my new ghetto sensor array.





Return section with the two pumps.



Full Sump Shot.

[kien]

The new tank is a 131g that I had built by Red Coral Aquariums. Kevin even delivered it to my house, thanks Kevin! It was nice because that option wasn't available with my 150g tank which kinda sucked..

The dimensions are 60Lx18Wx28T. It houses two one inch drain pipes (herbie style) in an overflow box at the back right corner. Only one front pane is viewable so the other three (sides and back) are covered with black vinyl. Eurobraced and polished beveled edges on the front panel and eurobrace. I have to say, I'm quite happy with the tank. It even came with the foam pad underneath so I didn't have to supply my own and the price was quite reasonable in my opinion.

Here she is.





The stand is just a typical wooden stand built out of 2x4s. Pretty much the same stand plans that everyone else uses I think.

[kien]

Here's what the Secondary and Water Change tanks look like.



The plumbing connecting the Water Change tank to the Secondary Sump that you see there has actually changed. I had to drill a third 1" hole to support the flow and so it now looks like this actually.



Basically, water drains out of the 131g display into the Water Change sump. As that tank fills/overflows it flows into the Secondary sump. The emergency overflow is plumbed directly to the Secondary Sump. The Secondary Sump is connected to the Primary Sump with a 1 1/2" line.



Water is drawn through and out of the sumps via the return section of the Primary Sump which house two MagDrive pumps. Here's the line (3/4") going to the 131g.



One of the reasons for this whole exercise is to finally realize my dream of automatic water changes. Here's how it will go down.

1. Feed to the 131g tank is cut (via the controller).
2. Two float switches and one pump will reside in the water change tank. Water is pumped out of this tank until the lower float switch is activated. This pump is plumbed to a drain in the basement. (I cut a hole in the floor to support this).
3. Once the first (lower) float switch is activited that pump-out pump is shut down and the pump-in pump is triggered which pumps in newly mixed salt water from the basement reservoir. This salt water is pumped in until a second float switch at the top of the water change tank is triggered.
4. Once the water change tank is refilled the return pump to the 131g tank is turned back on which pushes the new water through the system.

Still missing a few parts to finish this bit up so stay tuned for a demo once it is all in place.

[kien]

For lighting I decided to go with an ATI fixture. I originally wanted a Sunpower but my LFS informed me that the supplier was out of those and it would be a few weeks before we could get one in. Instead, he offered a Powermodule at an unbelievable deal so I jumped on that.







Here's my hanging rig. Nothing fancy, just a strip of wood run accross the ceiling so that I could anchor it to 3 beams in the ceiling, and punched a couple of holes in the strip to drop down the hanging wires.




Lights are:

KZ Coral Light New Gen (14K)
KZ Superblue (22K)
KZ Coral Light (10K)
KZ Fuji Purple
Hamilton Tech Actinic (460nm)
KZ Coral Light New Gen (14K)

[kien]

More pics? Okay, here they come!

So this is what the finished 131g FOWLR add-on tank looks like.





Just like with the 150g stand, this one is simply skinned with cabinet door panels from Ikea and held in place with magnets.





Here I'm using an espresso finish to match the decor of the dining room.





Here is the final aquascaping.



And lastly, here's what the twin-tanks look like in the space.







There are still a few minor things left to finish up like the plumbing for the water change tank and some detailing to hide the plumbing that connects the two tanks. What I'm also noticing is that the Maristar light fixture that's on the 150g tank now looks a little out of place (colour wise). I've decided to take it out back and spray paint it silver to match the silver ATI fixture :-)

[Leah]

Is it just me or is that FOWLR tank full of corals????

[Leah]

Tank is amazing by the way!

[dynamite]

Originally Posted by Leah

Is it just me or is that FOWLR tank full of corals????

LOOL that's what I thought

Anyways it looks great! and I want your aquascape!!!

[kien]

Umm.. Ya.. Please don't confuse a typical FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) with my use of the acronym where mine is actually Full Of Wonderful Live Rock'n'stuff.

[Leah]

So you mean it is a FOWLRS tank, I get it. Is that how you got it in the front door.