JAG107
Reef enthusiast
Sup everybody,
been quite a while since I've been around, mostly due to a crazy work schedule and other hobbies taking over. But here I am, right in the middle of replacing all of our carpet with vinyl flooring, which means...MOVING THE WHOLE TANK to get to the wrecked carpet underneath and get it moved to the kitchen/living room area. Needless to say, this is gonna be a big job, but it'll give my animals much better care and the environment they deserve. In the past few months, I've lost quite a few beautiful frags due to tank negligence (300ppm calcium, or 6 or 7 dkh alkalinity, far between water changes, etc.), so by moving it an area of the house where we spend most of our time will force me to spend more effort taking care of my system.
First things first: finally get the right sump going. What I have now is a wacky setup that I was forced to squeeze under my stand, and it's been a real headache: a 10 gal sump which houses the Bubble Magus skimmer, heater, return pump, and return to frag tank pump. The overflow box from the tank Y's down 2/3rds volume to the sump, 1/3 or so to the makeshift rubbermaid 8 or so gallon fuge. The frag tank is set up on a separate stand to the right of the main tank, and gravity returns to the 10 gal under the main stand. Sounds congested, eh? :grumble:
As you can see from the picture, there's been quite a few spills and tank overflows over the years, and it's a miracle the wood stand has survived. :shock:
So I found a nice 60 gal tank to use as a sump on craigslist for $40.
I bought the acrylic for the dividers at Lowe's. and cut it up with my Dewalt circular saw. Easy! Got some aquarium safe silicone, and only used one tube.
I decided (against my own good judgment) to skip out on a baffle setup and just have 3 chambers overflowing into each other: the return with the skimmer and heater, the fuge in the center, and the frag rack with the return. I separated off the return from the main section with the frags, so crap won't keep clogging the pump (weekly recurring problem I have now with debris from the current fuge coming into the sump).
So today I got everything siliconed in, and when it finally drops below 3 digits in temperature I will begin the sizable task of cutting and welding the new STEEL tank stand! The plan is for the T5 lights to also illuminate the adjacent fuge, eliminating the 6500k florescent bulb I currently use. On top of the sump, I'll be placing a 10 gallon reservoir attached to a float valve for freshwater top-off. I currently burn through about 4-5 gallons of top off a day, so at least this will help extend my time spent filling that up. I refuse to trust an automated system directly tied to a RO line, because I've seen what happens when one of those things go bad (brackish tank). No thanks!
Thanks for reading and tagging along, I'll keep this thread updated as work progresses. Nothing like a big project to rekindle the interest in this hobby! :Cheers:
been quite a while since I've been around, mostly due to a crazy work schedule and other hobbies taking over. But here I am, right in the middle of replacing all of our carpet with vinyl flooring, which means...MOVING THE WHOLE TANK to get to the wrecked carpet underneath and get it moved to the kitchen/living room area. Needless to say, this is gonna be a big job, but it'll give my animals much better care and the environment they deserve. In the past few months, I've lost quite a few beautiful frags due to tank negligence (300ppm calcium, or 6 or 7 dkh alkalinity, far between water changes, etc.), so by moving it an area of the house where we spend most of our time will force me to spend more effort taking care of my system.
First things first: finally get the right sump going. What I have now is a wacky setup that I was forced to squeeze under my stand, and it's been a real headache: a 10 gal sump which houses the Bubble Magus skimmer, heater, return pump, and return to frag tank pump. The overflow box from the tank Y's down 2/3rds volume to the sump, 1/3 or so to the makeshift rubbermaid 8 or so gallon fuge. The frag tank is set up on a separate stand to the right of the main tank, and gravity returns to the 10 gal under the main stand. Sounds congested, eh? :grumble:
As you can see from the picture, there's been quite a few spills and tank overflows over the years, and it's a miracle the wood stand has survived. :shock:
So I found a nice 60 gal tank to use as a sump on craigslist for $40.
I bought the acrylic for the dividers at Lowe's. and cut it up with my Dewalt circular saw. Easy! Got some aquarium safe silicone, and only used one tube.
I decided (against my own good judgment) to skip out on a baffle setup and just have 3 chambers overflowing into each other: the return with the skimmer and heater, the fuge in the center, and the frag rack with the return. I separated off the return from the main section with the frags, so crap won't keep clogging the pump (weekly recurring problem I have now with debris from the current fuge coming into the sump).
So today I got everything siliconed in, and when it finally drops below 3 digits in temperature I will begin the sizable task of cutting and welding the new STEEL tank stand! The plan is for the T5 lights to also illuminate the adjacent fuge, eliminating the 6500k florescent bulb I currently use. On top of the sump, I'll be placing a 10 gallon reservoir attached to a float valve for freshwater top-off. I currently burn through about 4-5 gallons of top off a day, so at least this will help extend my time spent filling that up. I refuse to trust an automated system directly tied to a RO line, because I've seen what happens when one of those things go bad (brackish tank). No thanks!
Thanks for reading and tagging along, I'll keep this thread updated as work progresses. Nothing like a big project to rekindle the interest in this hobby! :Cheers:
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