G&D's Foray Into a 90G Tank (Take One)

[Madmak]

Had a closer look again at the tank/stand, was that on Kijiji a while ago? I thought it looked nice then, now it's in for an upgrade.

[gridley]

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

Nice work on the sump. That is personally my favorite type of mechanical filtration setup. Only difference is I prefer a filter floss as apposed to filter socks....maybe becuase i'm too lazy to constantly change the socks out lol.

Thanks for the compliments re: the sump. I was a bit nervous because I had never done something like this before, and I am pleased with the outcome. Hopefully it will work as good in practise as it does in my theory! LOL

Originally Posted by Madmak

Had a closer look again at the tank/stand, was that on Kijiji a while ago? I thought it looked nice then, now it's in for an upgrade.

Yes, this tank was on Kijiji a while back. Very sharp eyes! The upgrades are the new (almost identical) stand (10" taller and no MDF!) and we are now looking at changing the canopy. We need space to get the lights about 8" or so above the water line. One option is to build a new one, the second option is to have a professional build a 10" spacer between the tank and canopy. We know someone who owns a sign company and he certainly has the ability to make it look great. The question will be for how much $$$.

Thanks for the compliments - we are sure looking forward to actually getting the tank wet!

[Madmak]

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

Nice work on the sump. That is personally my favorite type of mechanical filtration setup. Only difference is I prefer a filter floss as apposed to filter socks....maybe becuase i'm too lazy to constantly change the socks out lol.

I use the same first stages in my sump. A small raw water chamber that flows over to a sock tray. It works great, very quiet and forgiving. 100% of the water goes through the socks when they are new and simply flows over them once dirty, same water levels are maintained.

[gridley]

Thanks for the pic of your sump and comments - this is how I hoped it would work.

[fishytime]

thats a sweet looking tank and stand!.....good to meet yous two tonight

[subman]

It's coming along GREAT! good work George

[gridley]

Thanks - Doug, it was good to meet you last night. Really appreciate the "tank tour" and all the information.

[gridley]

Deborah and I have spent the past weeks trying to get parts for the plumbing, trying to get time to do the plumbing and trying to just live life. In other words - this has taken a lot longer than I thought it would. In the past few weeks we did manage to get the sump into place and make some aluminum brackets to mount a florescent light that I picked up used.

However . . . I think that we have completed the plumbing - at least "take one". I assembled the last of the fittings and glued everything up tonight. Below are pictures of the sump with the plumbing in place.



We were somewhat limited by the original design of the tank (it was a used tank). We have a 1 1/2" main drain using a gate valve to adjust the flow. There was no emergancy drain so we added a 1" drain but had to plumb that out the side of the overflow and on down. Our return line is a 3/4" line.





We have left room to the right of the return line to mount carbon and GFO reactors to the side of the stand.

Tomorrow we will do a test with fresh water and if all goes well we will get serious about doing the aquascaping. If it doesn't go well - we will be doing "plumbing - take 2". Hopefully (and maybe I'm dreaming or delusional ) we will fill it with salty water by the end of next weekend.

We have also been working on our RO/DI station. It is set up in furnace room but we are not finished and although we can produce water, there are lines running all over the place - so until I get a few more fittings to make it look neater - no pictures!

[gridley]

If this had been a final exam for plumbing school, I'd be on the street looking for a new career! On Sat we put water in the tank to test the lines and I found four leaks . One is a bulkhead - I think that is simple enough to fix. The other three are joints. I'm not sure if I didn't use enough primer, or enough glue or didn't hold the joints long enough - I think it might have been the third. Regardless, it is now time to put preassure on my plumber brother in law and see if he can come do it for me. In the meantime we will continue to admire our empty tank.

We also had some input regarding the amount of flow through our sump. To get more information we posted a thread on the reef forum and have come to the conclusion that at the minimum we will get a new pump. Please take a look at that thread and if you have any additional thoughts it will be helpful. Thanks.

[gridley]

After three weeks of battling leaks and my lack of plumbing ability, the tank finally holds water! I had to call in the professional (my brother-in-law plumber instructor) and we are ready to proceed to the next step.

Nemo has finally gotten wet!


We began to plan the aquascaping today and hopefully will get the dry rock into the tank tomorrow. This shows our first thoughts on how we might do the aquascaping. We have about 70 lbs of dry rock and will add some live rock to that.


We discovered a bit of a problem while we were testing for leaks. The silicone job on the overflow was terrible. Part of it looked terrible and the other side acted more like a sieve than a seal. So while we were trying to get the plumbing solved we cut out the overflow, cleaned everything and today I put it back in place. For some reason there had been slits cut in the overflow along one side from top to bottom. The previous owner sealed it, but it looked ugly - here is the before and after. It is now resealed and a bit nicer.





If all goes well we will have the dry rock into the tank by tomorrow and then start adding water!