cjworkman
Member
Hi all,
I haven't been on here for several years. Have kept a 72 gallon bowfront reef for 7 years, even surviving a move to a new home.
This past weekend, i transfered from the 72 gallon non-drilled bowfront to a 55 gallon drilled show tank with a refugium/sump.
I have some lessons learned, notes, hints, tips, etc. from the whole process. Its not a very well documented process with lots of opinions, so I thought i'd share my experience.
so.. first question i'm sure is why I downgraded from a 72 bowfront to a 55 gallon show.. so on with the first lesson learned..
* The 72 gallon bowfront had displaced a floor joist in my basement ceiling by about 1/4-1/2" over 3 years. I could put up a flat edge and rock it on the drywall in my ceiling beneath the center floor joist where it was sitting. I have engineered floor joists (house built in 2004).. most houses built in the last 15 years or so will have engineered joists, they are supposed to be stronger, but problem is that minimum code puts them 24" apart. So even perfectly perpendicular, you are likely only sitting on 2 joists with a 48" long tank. I'm sure it would have been o.k. for quite awhile longer, but made me nervous enough to move it to where I knew the floor was reinforced by a door frame underneath and the outside wall of the house.
other things learned;
* If you want your tank to look slick and you insist on a back up overflow drain you need a tank with 3 pre-drilled holes if the tank has tempured glass. you cannot drill tempured glass so if you only have 2 holes and you want a back up drain, your return has to be a hang on the back which I think looks cluttered. (I went without a back up drain.. but my overflow drain into the sump is 1" straight down.. will be tough to clog)
* I bought a Aqueon Pro-Flex model 2 sump/refugium... I love it. perfect size and works wonderfully and quiet. no bubbles at all in the main display. I know a lot of people like to build them by hand but this thing has a lot of nice features to it and was 220$ shipped. Hard to justify the time and expense building yourself IMO
* Getting an Aqueon pro-flex sump into your stand is a challenge. Luckily my stand has IKEA style turn locks so I could take the left side of it off to get the sump in the stand. If you want your sump in your stand and not sitting behind it, i suggest you do that first before doing any plumbing or anything else.
* 2 Hydro Korlia 750's works very well for flow on the 55.
* I tried out a Mag5 for a return pump because I already owned it. Works good. I have my Gate valve on the drain all the way open and the Mag5 is keeping up. Most people recommended a Mag 7 or Eheim 1260/1262... but if you want to go cheaper.. the Mag5 works just fine. (I have about 6 feet of plumbing through a check valve and a ball valve on the return through 3/4" piping)
* I had to learn a lot about plumbing, which I knew nothing about. I learned though and planned out all the plumbing on paper before hand. Even then, I took 3 trips to the store before finishing the plumbing.
Notes on Plumbing;
* Unions are important, don't skimp on them. Unions allow you to disconnect part of your plumbing for repair or cleaning. Including the unions that came on some of my valves, I used 10 unions.
* WATER TEST THE ENTIRE SYSTEM BEFORE DOING A TRANSFER.... This is a pain in the *** but i'm glad I did it. I had put piping in place to make sure it all fit and then went back and glued some parts, but forgot a piece. Had some water leaking from an elbow joint I forgot to cement. If I had transferred everything and then opened it all up, i would have been in trouble. I could have cut it off with the gate valve and fixed it.. but i would have had to wait 24 hours for the cement and primer to set and not smell before I could turn everything back on. If you didn't have a gate valve, you'd really be screwed.
* Valves are important. I have a gate valve on the drain and a check valve and ball valve on the return. These are checks and balances so that you don't end up with water all over your floor.
* I plumbed as if I was going to put 400psi through the lines. I used Sch80 valves and unions and sch40 pvc. I primed and cemented every joint. It's overkill.. but i also guarantee i'll never have a leak.
Other notes;
* rather than overkill.. i bought a high quality protein skimmer for a 55 gallon tank (even though i probably have ~70 gallons with the sump/refug) I got an Aqua Euro classic 55. So far it's working great. I guess you can't really go too overkill with a skimmer, but too much bigger and it would be a tight sqeeze in the space with the Mag5 pump.
Overall, I think this set up is a much slicker looking set up and will be much more efficient too and allow me to care for much more delicate corals. My old system had only a AquaC Remora hang on skimmer on the 72 along with LR and a deep sand bed. It really was never possible to get phosphates and nitrates to zero with that set up. Therefore, running my halides would bloom algae, so I have this nice expensive lighting set up that i've hardly used before.
I'll gladly post pictures of all my plumbing and answer questions if anyone has any. I know when I was looking for help, people post pictures but if you don't know much about plumbing you don't really know what you're looking at.
That's all folks,
CJ
I haven't been on here for several years. Have kept a 72 gallon bowfront reef for 7 years, even surviving a move to a new home.
This past weekend, i transfered from the 72 gallon non-drilled bowfront to a 55 gallon drilled show tank with a refugium/sump.
I have some lessons learned, notes, hints, tips, etc. from the whole process. Its not a very well documented process with lots of opinions, so I thought i'd share my experience.
so.. first question i'm sure is why I downgraded from a 72 bowfront to a 55 gallon show.. so on with the first lesson learned..
* The 72 gallon bowfront had displaced a floor joist in my basement ceiling by about 1/4-1/2" over 3 years. I could put up a flat edge and rock it on the drywall in my ceiling beneath the center floor joist where it was sitting. I have engineered floor joists (house built in 2004).. most houses built in the last 15 years or so will have engineered joists, they are supposed to be stronger, but problem is that minimum code puts them 24" apart. So even perfectly perpendicular, you are likely only sitting on 2 joists with a 48" long tank. I'm sure it would have been o.k. for quite awhile longer, but made me nervous enough to move it to where I knew the floor was reinforced by a door frame underneath and the outside wall of the house.
other things learned;
* If you want your tank to look slick and you insist on a back up overflow drain you need a tank with 3 pre-drilled holes if the tank has tempured glass. you cannot drill tempured glass so if you only have 2 holes and you want a back up drain, your return has to be a hang on the back which I think looks cluttered. (I went without a back up drain.. but my overflow drain into the sump is 1" straight down.. will be tough to clog)
* I bought a Aqueon Pro-Flex model 2 sump/refugium... I love it. perfect size and works wonderfully and quiet. no bubbles at all in the main display. I know a lot of people like to build them by hand but this thing has a lot of nice features to it and was 220$ shipped. Hard to justify the time and expense building yourself IMO
* Getting an Aqueon pro-flex sump into your stand is a challenge. Luckily my stand has IKEA style turn locks so I could take the left side of it off to get the sump in the stand. If you want your sump in your stand and not sitting behind it, i suggest you do that first before doing any plumbing or anything else.
* 2 Hydro Korlia 750's works very well for flow on the 55.
* I tried out a Mag5 for a return pump because I already owned it. Works good. I have my Gate valve on the drain all the way open and the Mag5 is keeping up. Most people recommended a Mag 7 or Eheim 1260/1262... but if you want to go cheaper.. the Mag5 works just fine. (I have about 6 feet of plumbing through a check valve and a ball valve on the return through 3/4" piping)
* I had to learn a lot about plumbing, which I knew nothing about. I learned though and planned out all the plumbing on paper before hand. Even then, I took 3 trips to the store before finishing the plumbing.
Notes on Plumbing;
* Unions are important, don't skimp on them. Unions allow you to disconnect part of your plumbing for repair or cleaning. Including the unions that came on some of my valves, I used 10 unions.
* WATER TEST THE ENTIRE SYSTEM BEFORE DOING A TRANSFER.... This is a pain in the *** but i'm glad I did it. I had put piping in place to make sure it all fit and then went back and glued some parts, but forgot a piece. Had some water leaking from an elbow joint I forgot to cement. If I had transferred everything and then opened it all up, i would have been in trouble. I could have cut it off with the gate valve and fixed it.. but i would have had to wait 24 hours for the cement and primer to set and not smell before I could turn everything back on. If you didn't have a gate valve, you'd really be screwed.
* Valves are important. I have a gate valve on the drain and a check valve and ball valve on the return. These are checks and balances so that you don't end up with water all over your floor.
* I plumbed as if I was going to put 400psi through the lines. I used Sch80 valves and unions and sch40 pvc. I primed and cemented every joint. It's overkill.. but i also guarantee i'll never have a leak.
Other notes;
* rather than overkill.. i bought a high quality protein skimmer for a 55 gallon tank (even though i probably have ~70 gallons with the sump/refug) I got an Aqua Euro classic 55. So far it's working great. I guess you can't really go too overkill with a skimmer, but too much bigger and it would be a tight sqeeze in the space with the Mag5 pump.
Overall, I think this set up is a much slicker looking set up and will be much more efficient too and allow me to care for much more delicate corals. My old system had only a AquaC Remora hang on skimmer on the 72 along with LR and a deep sand bed. It really was never possible to get phosphates and nitrates to zero with that set up. Therefore, running my halides would bloom algae, so I have this nice expensive lighting set up that i've hardly used before.
I'll gladly post pictures of all my plumbing and answer questions if anyone has any. I know when I was looking for help, people post pictures but if you don't know much about plumbing you don't really know what you're looking at.
That's all folks,
CJ
