My Long Term Reef Build Diary!
- Thread starter markw
- Start date
markw
Member
Alright, after all the waiting. Here is the tank. 150g reef ready with dual corner overflows. Cherry finish stand and matching canopy (which Im seriously thinking I will take off. Or at least the top piece). Came with (2) 36" Coralife Aqualight 2x96W PC's.
Lets go least to most interesting.
Lights.
Outside of overflow.
Inside of overflow.
FTS.
I will also be taking that terrible background off, too.
Mark
Lets go least to most interesting.
Lights.
Outside of overflow.
Inside of overflow.
FTS.
I will also be taking that terrible background off, too.
Mark
rlablan
Active Member
very nice tank mark! And also a great choice to get rid of that background! It looks awful. haha Are you gonna paint it? or what?
So I am not sure but I think that your lights are the same that I have in my office. i am almost positive. but anyway... Mine has been keeping things alive quite well... lets see... in the office, I have
-great coraline growth
-galaxea
-cabbage coral (lg)
-devils hand (lg)
-GSP (tons)
-pulsing xenia
-fuzzy shrooms
-purple shrooms
-blue shrooms
-red shrooms
-gorgonia
-cherry bomb zoanthids
-random lather frag (grown lots)
-green and orange acans
few other things... some things move between the tanks too, but... it is a good light to start with. I would like to eventually upgrade but there is no need now. It keeps everything I want and everything is very happy and colorful. I like those lights better than the 4 bulb fixture in my living room, which was x4 the price.
So I am not sure but I think that your lights are the same that I have in my office. i am almost positive. but anyway... Mine has been keeping things alive quite well... lets see... in the office, I have
-great coraline growth
-galaxea
-cabbage coral (lg)
-devils hand (lg)
-GSP (tons)
-pulsing xenia
-fuzzy shrooms
-purple shrooms
-blue shrooms
-red shrooms
-gorgonia
-cherry bomb zoanthids
-random lather frag (grown lots)
-green and orange acans
few other things... some things move between the tanks too, but... it is a good light to start with. I would like to eventually upgrade but there is no need now. It keeps everything I want and everything is very happy and colorful. I like those lights better than the 4 bulb fixture in my living room, which was x4 the price.
markw
Member
What are the dimensions of your tank at the office? Mine, after the sandbed, will be about 24". I dont know if I will paint the back yet, but it will definately be black, one way or another. Whatever I use as a background, I was thinking about putting a piece of styrafoam over it (just taped on by some means. Wont be able to see it through the black) as an insulator of sorts.
Now is the time when I find out exactly how much I dont know..well..about plumbing that is. I was looking around the net and I found that everyone has pictures of how they have the underside of their tank configured with PVC and tubing, but no one actually tells what goes where. Where to have a check valve, etc. So, I was wondering how I would go about starting to plumb the tank after I put the sump in (I was thinking about the extra 55g I have). I dont know where to start or where to even look for instructions or more information on the subject. If anyone could offer any information on the subject, it would be appreciated. If it helps, I was thinking a 4 chamber sump. One would have the inlet, skimmer (ASM G3), fuge, then return to the tank. I didnt want to have to drill the side for a bulkhead if I didnt have to.
Again, any information you could give, or link to videos or information (here or PMs) would be greatly appreciated.
Mark
Now is the time when I find out exactly how much I dont know..well..about plumbing that is. I was looking around the net and I found that everyone has pictures of how they have the underside of their tank configured with PVC and tubing, but no one actually tells what goes where. Where to have a check valve, etc. So, I was wondering how I would go about starting to plumb the tank after I put the sump in (I was thinking about the extra 55g I have). I dont know where to start or where to even look for instructions or more information on the subject. If anyone could offer any information on the subject, it would be appreciated. If it helps, I was thinking a 4 chamber sump. One would have the inlet, skimmer (ASM G3), fuge, then return to the tank. I didnt want to have to drill the side for a bulkhead if I didnt have to.
Again, any information you could give, or link to videos or information (here or PMs) would be greatly appreciated.
Mark
rlablan
Active Member
I have a very shallow sand bed, it's maybe 3 inches at the deepest point (most in in the fuge) so my tank is maybe like a lil over 12 in. I will measure later. That is a good point though.
about the plumbing. on my first plumbing of the 200 gallon, I had to wing it. I didn't get any help and I couldn't figure out how all of these people 'knew' how to plumb their system. I just went to home depot and hoped it didn't leak. It did a little so a pro had to come and fix it but it wasn't bad.
This time, I used soft tubing. It was WAAAYYYY easier!!!
good luck!
about the plumbing. on my first plumbing of the 200 gallon, I had to wing it. I didn't get any help and I couldn't figure out how all of these people 'knew' how to plumb their system. I just went to home depot and hoped it didn't leak. It did a little so a pro had to come and fix it but it wasn't bad.
This time, I used soft tubing. It was WAAAYYYY easier!!!
good luck!
markw
Member
I would prefer to use soft tubing. But I didnt know if there were advantages or disadvantages to using that vs PVC. After a while of searching, there are always before and after pictures, but never any information telling about the process to get to the 'after' shots. then getting from the beginning of the sump to back inside the tank is another issue. How do I know what return pump I should have? The tubing for the inlet to the tank in the overflow boxes is 1". the drainpipe to the sump looks like it is about 1.5-1.75", if they have those sizes of pvc (
). If not, it's 2".
Mark
Mark
markw
Member
Alright, Ive run across another (possibly minor) problem. I measured the inside of the stand to make sure my tank will fit under there, and it will. But, the thing is, 55g tanks are only 12" wide. The ASM G3 skimmer, skimmer I was going to buy, has an 11x12" footprint. Will the skimmer fit into the tank? If not, I have a problem. Getting a different size tank for a sump isnt the problem. The problem is that even though the 150g tank is 18" wide, the inside of the stand is only about 16.5" wide after factoring in the doors. Now, as far as I know, there are only 12 and 18" fishtanks. 18" would be too big, and 12" may be too small for the G3. The G2 has a 10x11" footprint, and this would fit, but how much room on either side of this 'footprint' do you need for the skimmer to function properly?
Hmmmmmmm...
Mark
Hmmmmmmm...
Mark
rlablan
Active Member
I didn't have much room on any side of my skimmer when I was running one. It just needs to be the right water depth. Other than that, as long as it fits, it should operate fine.
I can't really help you too much. I don't run a lot of equipment, so that is not really my area. Like I said, mine just had to have a certain amount of water depth (like 9 inches or so) to operate.
Also, could you look into getting a different skimmer? Does it have to be an ASM g? I know there are good but might there be another option?
Rae
I can't really help you too much. I don't run a lot of equipment, so that is not really my area. Like I said, mine just had to have a certain amount of water depth (like 9 inches or so) to operate.
Also, could you look into getting a different skimmer? Does it have to be an ASM g? I know there are good but might there be another option?
Rae
markw
Member
I put 5g of water in the tank today to check the bottom seams of the tank. All of the seals for the tank are fine. No leaks. So, I took a few cups and filled in one of the overflow sections. And, to my disappointment, one of my bulkheads were leaking! The inlet to the tank on the right side of my tank's bulkhead is leaking. On the bottom of the tank, it wobbles quite alot, so I presume it's loose. I didnt put much water in the overflow box because I noticed the leak, but it is definately leaking. Also, even though the other bulkhead wasnt leaking, Im kind of worried about them all as a whole. I was touching the pipes and notice that the wiggle. About 1/2" to either side. Should they wiggle this much? I was trying to get a video, but my camera died. I took a picture of the leak for you to see, but I had to take it from my phone, so its a terrible picture.
It looks like its from the PVC, but its not. Its coming out of the side of the black bulkhead on the side that is nearest to the back of the tank.
What do you think I should do?
Mark
It looks like its from the PVC, but its not. Its coming out of the side of the black bulkhead on the side that is nearest to the back of the tank.
What do you think I should do?
Mark
markw
Member
Thats what I was thinking was the solution. This may seem like a terribly ridiculous question, but how do I go about taking them off? In all my 10+ years of freshwater, Ive never had to deal with under-tank plumbing more than a canister filter. I know they screw together, but unless I can get my hand around the one on the inside, how would I unscrew one from the other?
Mark
Mark
markw
Member
Okay, so I presume I would just take a wrench and unscrew the nut on the bottom of the tank. Since im removing the bulkhead, couldnt I just grip the end of the top peice of the bulkhead (the part that the nut screws onto) from the underside of the tank too and use both wrenches to pull in opposite directions? Sounds like this would work to me..
Also, the drainpipe didnt come with an intake strainer..should I have one of those or it doesnt matter?
Mark
Also, the drainpipe didnt come with an intake strainer..should I have one of those or it doesnt matter?
Mark
markw
Member
Well, I checked the fitting on all of the bulkheads and one was easy to get off. This one didnt leak, but since I wanted to replace all four, I figured it wouldnt hurt to get it out. So my question is, where should the bulkhead come off of? Should all of the PVC come out of both sides, or is the underside supposed to stay in? I posted a picture, let me know where its supposed to come apart if you could. Thanks.
I wasnt going to use a wrench to tighten it, only untighten it and hold the top half still (from the bottom) while I unscrewed the nut. For the life of me, I cant get the other three to unscrew just by trying to unscrew the nut. Any ideas what could convinve it to turn?
[hr]
Drainpipe on the left, inlet on the right. The wiggling isnt happening on the bulkhead on the left, just the right. The wiggling on the drainpipe is happening where the PVC tubing connects with the big white pieces. Its like this on the other drainpipe also.
Mark
I wasnt going to use a wrench to tighten it, only untighten it and hold the top half still (from the bottom) while I unscrewed the nut. For the life of me, I cant get the other three to unscrew just by trying to unscrew the nut. Any ideas what could convinve it to turn?
[hr]
Drainpipe on the left, inlet on the right. The wiggling isnt happening on the bulkhead on the left, just the right. The wiggling on the drainpipe is happening where the PVC tubing connects with the big white pieces. Its like this on the other drainpipe also.
Mark