New And Improved 84g System

[Matthew5664]

Well got the reflectors today figured out the lighting rack. Along with the hanging kit. Have got the Silicon for the sump, calcium reactor media and some final plumbing parts. The new power heads come tomorrow and I have just bough a new Media reactor for phosban and carbon. I am building another one but I will us it as a second chamber to my Ca reactor.

The two middle strut will have some sliding rails to witch the light rack will be attached. This will allow me to slide back the rack to gain more access to the tank.

Pics of light rack to come.

 

[Matthew5664]

well the eve of the build is apon me and I have all the parts lots and lots of drawings with dimentions, timber, stain, paint, fittings, sand, rock, lights, tanks silicon, reactors, pumps, tubes, pipe, media, towels, beer and of corse the take away menu on standby.

I also I got 4 70l containers and 3 100l tanks for the fish and corals to live in.


Right off we go.................................................


First empty tank and sump put old equipment in a viniger soke and get the new sump build.


Watch this space.

 

[cheesy feet]

well the eve of the build is apon me and I have all the parts lots and lots of drawings with dimentions, timber, stain, paint, fittings, sand, rock, lights, tanks silicon, reactors, pumps, tubes, pipe, media, towels, beer and of corse the take away menu on standby.

Thats the way to do it! ^


Watch this space.

Will do, good luck.

 

[Matthew5664]

Well this is going to be hard for me as I work in pictures not words but the Missis has taken the camera over to Ireland with her so all the documenting up till now will have to be written. Just as well theres not alto to tell. the hood came of the old set up and the water drained into the LR holding tank. the LR is now in a 90L rubber vat. all the pumps and heaters are striped out. I have painted the back of the new tank. All the critters and fish are in tubs doted about my living room. I have 140l or new made SW ready in vats, with another 70l container filling from thew RO. I need to now get the old tank off the stand and the stand modified slightly to accommodate the new sump. the I have the plumping to do. I'm cutting the acrylic baffles tonight and will silicon them first thing tomorrow. Thats about it at the moment I'm going into work first thing to get the works camera so I'll have some pics for all you then.

 

[Matthew5664]

Well the time has pasted and did I get it done ……………….. Well……..




No



I had started good with getting the old tank out but the light rack and plumbing took some time I can tell you.

This is the old tank and stand all emptied out the sumps gone and all the electrics are moved

Everything being held in tanks tubs and buckets

Got the stand into the kitchen ready for modding and set upon the new sump.

Got the acrylic measured and cut.

The test to see it’s got a good fit in the tank.

Then on with the messy part.

If you’ve been watching you will know the sump design and as part of this I have a filter plate in the first chamber for the filter wool to go in. this was done using a sectioned piece of acrylic drilled as follows.

With the all done and drying I set upon the stand armed with a new toy….. Look out for the yellow warning sticker. This bad boy rocks!!!

Back legs moved.

Retained in place for the sump shelve.

Then in with the ply and what do you know all flush. With that the top went on and I was done.

Right now armed with an empty space and all the equipment for a good reef tank I started the build.

Stand in and one side clad and stained.

The return manifold was started

Tanks in

And thats all the pictures I'm allowed. please PM me for info on another site where the same thread is kept with all the pictures.

 

[SkiFletch]

Wow, thats a lot of pics there man, wtg. I'll take the link

 

[Matthew5664]

Right a little update to show where I am. Had some trouble with the OR6500 being too good. I was to believe that with all the 90’s and T’s I put into the return manifold that the Net output would be around 4500lph. Because of this I have 2 40mm overflows however they are struggling to keep up. ATM I have a 2500lph return until I can flog some of my old fish stuff and get an OR3500 to replace the return.

This is a pic of the return and the ‘real return’ pending change.
Bending this I got on with some other jobs.
First was the light rack. I have the MH reflectors in place but had the Actinic’s resting across the brace bars, so I mounted them the same way with 4mm rivets into the aluminium light rack.

Next was the C/T media reactor. I filled with a mix of carbon and ROWAphos. Plumbed this into a Maxijet1200 with a shutoff tap to restrict flow.

I build the skeleton of the tank tower to go to the right of the tank with the MH ballasts at the top then the Fuge then WC tank then shelf then RO tank. Got all the bits cut just need to drill pilot holes and screw together.

Finally I washed out the Ca reactor and fill with new media.

I am still to get a lot don’t and thinking I was going to achieve it all in 4 days was naivety on my part. I’ll leave you with some tank sump and skimmer shots.

 

[sophos9]

How awesome... Looking Great!

One day soon I will have to start on a build!

 

[Matthew5664]

Hey! Thanks sophos9

Making the dream a reality is harder and cost more than you think! But it helps to get it down on paper first then you can visualize it from there just does it little by little

 

[chrissaysyes]

looking so good man, very jealous. Hurry up with some more pics

 

[SkiFletch]

Yup, still lookin good as always Matt. Nice skimmate there

 

[Matthew5664]

Right nealy a month on and the tanks been through the Algea bloom and we're out the other side all good. the Tangs and hurmits have realy helped. As for progress I have sold some old tank stuff and now have the Ocean runner 3500 for the return. and have just bought some new stream pumps for the tank because the 2 2000lph ones I have are too noisy. There is still no sand in the tank and the tank tower is still not build. But I have done a 20% water change every week witch is a challange in itself I can tell you! What with Christmas just round the corner I don't think I will make any more progress this year. however this remains to been seen.

Regards to all,

 

[Matthew5664]

Right,

Been some time but I have got a little further with the build.

The old 2000lph return is out and the new OR3500 in. Had to buy some hose to connect it to the return manifold however they are a different size so most of the manifold will have to be replaced with 25mm instead of the current 32mm. I can keep the bypass for the phosphate reactor and the spar outlet I will use for my new UV (currently on the misses black moor tank clearing the green water)
Next was the addition of a pH controller for the calcium reactor, had fun setting this up and getting it set. I have not yet got the reactor online because the calcium demand is replenished with water changes. The plan is however to get it running just before the SPS arrive. I have still to make the second degassing chamber witch the effluent will run through before entering the tank. I’m in two minds to have the effluent pass through a third chamber with phosphate remover because of the phosphate content of some calcium media however this I will test for and make the decision later. Placement for the reactor is still up in the air as the tank tower is coming together I added some height onto in and I possibly fit the reactor and CO2 consider in there. This will free up space under the tank for test kits and food and also make for easy adjustments.

Auto top-off is all set up now. Before I was adding manually which became a PITA and because of the chrimbo break I sorted it out.

The tank tower is coming along slowly, as stated I deviated from my original design adding an extra 300mm. This puts it at 2280mm tall witch brought problems of its own, stability! This was overcome with the addition of the shelves which gave it some lateral support. For diagonal support I screwed a ‘back plate’ onto the tower made from 6mm ply and now I can used the thing as a ladder so I have now worries about it supporting the weight. I still have to stain it and clan the two sides. Then onto the door, after which I get to fill it with holes to fit all the pipes and wires in!

I am in the middle of a 40% water change to get the rest of the algae bloom clear. Then I will start on the aquascaping and add the substrate. By this time the tank tower should be complete and the halides will be working. From that point I need to monitor the temperature fluctuations of the tank and adjust the temperature control range and fan placement in accordance.
I’m also rethinking the sump layout as having the skimmer and skimmer pump in the same compartment is causing a lot of vibrating within that chamber which gets quite loud at times.

That’s it for now; I’ll have some pics up of some random bits later.

Thanks for reading.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Hurry with the pics!

 

[Matthew5664]

Stand coming together.

New power head… mmmm nice!

OR3500 in and running

Auto-topoff working

This thread is sponcerd by….

Ouch! pH a bit low at night! Have to get the fuge running ASAP.