Zum14's 90Gal-As reef as I can get it.

[zum14]

Update.

So first I must ask you please excuse the murky water as what I thought was a good sand rinse job was quite obviously p*ss poor. Anyways. I ran into a problem. When I got this tank it already had 2 holes in the back upper corners so I pretty much decided on an internal "calfo" coast to coast with a bean animal overflow. Well. Drilled the one extra hole, got the bulkheads and elbows in, measured for the internal box. Nope. 18" wide tank with a 6" internal box. Nope. So ugly elbows it is. I figure I will leave them turned up and will get at least some surface skimming. Well problem #1. As you can see I have one elbow on the syphon line that has been cut off at the top of the bulkhead, basically as low as I can get it. The second line is there as the balance.



So everyone knows you need a certain amount of head pressure above the fitting to maintain a syphon so you dont get the whirl pool sucking air problem. Well due to the small size of my sump and the amount of water needed to maintain the syphon I was either left with not enough water in my sump or the fitting sucking air. Solutions. Well I cant add any water to the system as when everything is unplugged the tank drains to the lowest elbow and I have about 1" of room left in the sump. So lower the tank water level, sump level is good but then it sucks air in the syphon. Hmm. Cant turn the elbow upside down, works good for not sucking air but then the tank wants to drain to the lower edge of the bulkhead and there just isnt enough room in the sump for the extra water. This problem plus the added noise of the water running into the socks and through the sump was just unacceptable. So instead of trying to keep tweeking things I figured Id better nip it in the bud now. I didnt really want to pay for a large pump to pump the water up from the basement but I think its the proper thing to do in this case. This----




Now looks like this----




And this---



Please excuse the paneling. Havent renovated the laundry room yet. Oh well. The plumbing on the overflows runs about 11 horizontal feet and about 12 vertical feet. Im not too worried though, guys are running 1 1/2" overflows on other systems running larger pumps so even with the extra elbows I think I will be ok.








Im not too worried about the pump getting enough flow to the tank either. Its only a 90 gallon and if the barracuda isnt strong enough I can throw the hammerhead impeller in and watch that meter fly. Ah whatever right. I apologize for the crappy photos. Another one of those thought I did ok and well you know the rest. (maybe a new camera will go on this years xmas list) Up next will be giving the sump a good scrub. Figuring out a catch box and filter sock for the syphon and balance line, (going to leave emergency out of the socks ) and then when the return pump arrives I will be plumbing in the suction and return for that, trying to decide if I should run a spears check valve on the return as thats a lot of air in the return line to be pushed out at the tank, makes for a lot of splash. However check valves can be bad too. Not sure there. Then get the Apex wired up and programmed as I wont run this tank now without it. Too much water downstairs that could all end up upstairs. I dont care about downstairs, its sloped heavily to a drain 6' away. No biggie. Still trying to decide on a skimmer. I know the old beckett style skimmers are power hogs but there proven and you can find some used for a good deal. The new cone skimmers are looking nice but I wonder about the quality on some of the lower models. I have had good luck in the past with bubble magus but I see theres a recall on some of there pumps. I dont really want to spend $1000 plus on an Alpha. The omega looks promising but might be a bit small now for the total water volume I will have now. Im guessing closer to 200Gal now. Oh well. It does solve my noise and water syphon issues completely though so thats nice.

[zum14]

Surfin through here I realize it has been a while since the last update. Again Russell I hope you take imitation as a form of flattery. Ended up getting a Bullet 3 on a good deal and am feeding it with a tarpon. Ran the skimmer intake outside and saw my ph go up fairly soon after. Still working on some electrical ( I dont think I can ever get it to a place where Im happy with how the wiring looks ) and programming on the apex. I really enjoy this part of the build. Setting up, tweeking, programming. I have to say I am a fan of the automation. It is really amazing what you can do with an Apex and I still wonder how I ever had a tank without one. Also decided to tee a line into my return. One to help drain it if I need to work on it ( I went with a check valve) and two, able to get water out of the tank relatively easy. Still working on getting a few more float switch's set up. Need to figure out something for my skimmer collector. Oh and water sensors. Still gotta figure that out. It never really ends. Also managed to whack together a screen top for the tank. I have to devise something relativley sturdy for the sump as I am sure my cat will be on top of it. So heres a couple of pics from a few days ago. Ill take some of the tank tomorrow. I still need new bulbs and an EB4 for upstairs to run them. Went with the GFO and Carbon reactor this round. Should be here soon as I go back to work.








Hooked a couple of float switches into my RO/DI resivoir so when the level drops it turns a solenoid valve on which allows the resivoir to fill till the top float switch is opened and it turns it off. The float valve is there as a safety. Takes me out of the process. I like that. Theres some safetys in there. Top off wont run if the lower float is closed, but it doesnt take long for the resivoir to rise enough to open the float switch and allow the system to resume.

[zum14]

So for the record heres a FTS for my start. Its taken with my ipad so sorry for the quality. I still need new bulbs and now that I have some rock from a mature system I can start watching the life spread. Looking forward to it.




Some life gotten on the rock. Looks like ones a maybe a mushroom? The other looks kinda like some toadstool.

[zum14]

Well its been just over 6 months. I have to say this has to be my slowest start to anything I have ever done. Its been worth it though. I let things just grow for about 4 months then picked a tailspot blenny and purple firefish whatcaneyedo was willing to part with and since it was the only time I could get them I took the opportunity. It sat like that for another 2 months pretty much empty since the tailspot kinda perches everywhere and the firefish hides all day. I just grabbed a couple frags from him a few days ago. Im pretty happy with the progress so far. Life has spread pretty well and is starting to look like something other then bleach white rock. I dont know what all the rumors of dry rock being laced with phosphates because I didnt really have an algae bloom to speak of really. Just the normal from overfeeding the system (purposly) I have a bunch of snails and clean up crew so just want to make sure everyones looked after. There sure are a lot of pods and critters roaming around with the lights off too. Really neat. I have an order from JL coming on wednesday with a bunch of fish and shrimp. Pretty stoked.

[Madreefer]

Hey Levi was texting me earlier tonight askin if I wanted to get in on a J&L livestock order. If you PM me I can pass on his cell number to you.
And your tanks looking great by the way.

[pgtanks]

you should put up a full tank shot for us