My New Tank 125g RR

[stimpy4242]

I thought I would start a thread like some other have about my new tank and its setup. Here are the basics:
125g tank from glasscages
48x24x25
Custom drilled for a CL system
Low iron glass on all three sides
Eurobracing around the top
The tank sits on a commercial built custom stand which places the DT about 40" off the floor. I got tired of always looking down at tanks on stands, so now when you stand in front of this one you look right into it.
The stand is made of steel box tubing with a complete base. The color scheme is black and silver. The bottom of the stand houses the 55g 48x12x20 sump/fuge.
The sump/fuge is seperated into three obvious sections. I am using an ASM g-3 protein skimmer.
The CL system is powered by a sequence reeflo dart 3600gph pump which is pumping against about 4 feet of head. A little less actually. The CL pump back to four seperate 1" openings in the tank and is fed from a 2" opening in the rear. 2 of the 1" openings are in the bottom of the tank and will be connected to a base support for the rock work and will flow out through a few seperate flex tubing hidden among the rockwork. The othe 2 1" opening are on the rear of the tank toward the bottom and will also be masked by rockwork. The overflow handles 1500gph and will most likely be hooked up with a blueline velocity pump T-4, still deciding. The tank has been plumbed with an autotop off system ready to be installed providing constant water from RO/DI with a double float switch and a double solenoid for backup. There is also a drain line plumbed to the tank as well for water changes as well as a supply line from the RO/DI reserve in the basement. The tank will be fully automated with the exception of adding salt to the RO/DI reserve in the basement and turning on the pump to the supply for water changes. I am awaiting the arrival of my Solaris 48" LED hood 20k version after much debate between 13k and 20k. The majority of the parts are in my possesion, I am just waiting on some drywall finishing and the stand to be finalized. I will post pictures of the items in the next few posts, for now just the drawings that got this project started.

 

[teen]

i think it would make an awesome bear bottom sps tank. what are you planning on doing with it? and are the lights mh?

 

[stimpy4242]

Aww...you didn't read the post...the lights are the new solaris led lights. I was planning on a sand bottom...what do you mean by bear bottom sps? Is it possible to make the entire bottom seem like sps? Seems like no fun for creatures who want sand.

 

[copernicus45]

A bare bottom SPS tank is when you have a white "Cutting board" on the bottom of your tank and no sand, Bare bottom tanks are designed to get all deteris out of the main tank and into a sump/fuge for easy siphoning

 

[stimpy4242]

Does not seem all too natural too me. I am looking for a reef tank, but i have been diving enough to know that I have not seen any cutting boards on the bottom...although there was this underwater sushi bar, they were NEVER out of stock.

 

[teen]

i did read the post, i though you were refering to led lights as in lunar lights, and then 20k was what i was confused about, it could be mh or pc.
the sadn or not part is up to you, but i think a full blown bare bottom sps tank is way nicer than just a reef tank. you are right about no fun for the critters in the sand though.

 

[stimpy4242]

Perhaps you can send me some links to pictures of bare bottom sps tanks... phil@philipdepalo.com

 

[stimpy4242]

Well I have the stand in my house now and the tank has been placed on top of it. I am currently in the process of plumbing the CL system and creating the rock support that is part of the CL system. The 1" returns from the bottom empty into a PVC rectangle with four outlets in .5" loc line. Rockwork will be placed ontop of these supports to prevent any burrowing animals from disrupting rockwork. I have posted pictures.

 

[stimpy4242]

additional photo

 

[cannonman]

Very cool... keep us posted. How much do the new solaris lights run if you don't mind me asking? I'm looking forward to seeing how they look on your tank!!! Fully programable! COOL.

 

[stimpy4242]

The lights i bought were 48" 20k version and they were 2049 at the culured reef by ---- hilgers. He seems to have the least expensive price as the other prices for the same model were 2499. I will post images with the new lights as soon as possible. The light is scheduled to arrive tuesday according to UPS. I will place it on my smaller tank to start since the new tank won't be ready yet, but will post pictures...I am very excited about the full programmable too, but will probably just use the automatic setting which runs the tank based on a 28 day lunar cycle including sunrise to sunset and moonrise to moonset plus random cloud coverage as in a normal atmosphere.

 

[cannonman]

Oh my God... If I could I would, that is beyond cool, the next great thing for reef keepers are going to be those lights.. I just spent 829 on a 48" light set up and I felt bad about spending that... wow. I already know that I want one of those though...time to start saving money. Random cloud cover even!! Amazing!! Just Amazing- I personally can't wait to see them in action- thanks for posting! how many watts is that light by the way?

 

[stimpy4242]

I am not even prepared to explain this. But in brief it is compared to 250w MH hqi setup. The par is the same and that is what counts. It runs with about 40% less energy and no heat effect. The bulbs don't need to be changed yearly so cost savings are seen in 40% lower energy bills, no need for a chiller or to run extra fans, no need to pay for actinics every 6 months and MH every 12. So it does pay for itself in a few years.

 

[cannonman]

Maybe I'll get lucky and the price will come down some in a couple of years... so it's about the same as a single 250MH?

 

[stimpy4242]

Its the same as a 250mh for that appropriate size...so i think you would use maybe 2 250 for 48"? Then the 48" model would be like having the two 250mh. See what I mean, meaning it provides 250MH coverage for the entire lenght of the tank that it is sized for.

 

[stimpy4242]

I am going to paint the back of my tank. What type of paint should I use and what is best flat or glossy? I have heard pros and cons, they say glossy is easy to clean the back of it, but I never plan on being back there to clean it EVER. They also say that glossy is to reflective inside the tank which is bad...any ideas?

 

[stimpy4242]

Ok today I plumbed a little more of the CL system. I have a sequence reeflo dart pump that I have mounted to the underside of the tank stand using all thread and steel brackets custom fabbed. Since the pump sits up high, it is out of the way of space in the bottom and reduces the head loss a couple feet. The main suction line for the CL comes directly into the pump from a 2" bulkhead. The returns go into a manifold and split two to the bottom and two to the back using spa flex. The two in the bottom go up to support structures that further split the flow around the tank. I also took a picture of my drain from the overflow box which splits one to the sump the other to the fuge and the fuge side has an input that allows some of the return to come back into the fuge. On a side note my solaris LED hood arrived today, one day early. Overall I am pleased. Hearing previous customers complain of minor errors I expected to have some as well and I did. One bank of the lunar white leds, six in total, are out. There is a scratch in the LCD display and one of the menus has a programming error...all minor in my oppinion with PFO Lighting already handling the issue. I have taken three photos of the unit currently in the night cycle...they are dark, but I tried to brighten them up a bit since it was in the lunar cycle...will post more tomorrow.

 

[stimpy4242]

additional photos

 

[bellanavis]

Wow, looks good, how is the flow working out, with the set up you have, I am setting up a 380 gallon, and was looking at doing something like that, but was not sure if it would blow the sand around too much.

 

[mbx5]

If you can please post pics of the lights on day time or is that the color. So far what do you think of them?