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-   -   The plunge - 90 gallon new build & newb question (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1344274)

Linina 03/12/2008 10:04 PM

The plunge - 90 gallon new build & newb question
 
Ok - so I'm starting a reef tank. I've always wanted one and finally feel settled enough as far as housing and life goes to attempt this. I looked at a guy's used FOWLR setup, and almost went for it, but my SO suggested just going from scratch (hey, sounds good to me!) since I was lamenting that the tank wasn't drilled, no skimmer, etc. So off to the LFS I went.

Picked up the tank and canopy today. Here it is.
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3489.jpg

Here's the sump:

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3491.jpg



I started to read the overflow kit directions to try to plumb it and there are two 3/4 in return bulkheads. It says "3/4" Universal or 3/4" bulkhead with Hose Barb". Any idea which one I should use? I'm clueless about that.

The canopy - We bought this today along with T5 retrofits.....we'll see how the wiring goes. I decided I just couldn't risk my cat falling into the tank or cleaning off his cat litter paws in the water. Ugh.

Linina 03/12/2008 10:05 PM

oops forgot the bulkhead picture. :

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3492.jpg

reefman13 03/12/2008 10:15 PM

Looking good! I have the Oceanic Starfire with the back painted. Its def. a nice tank.

Best of luck, and make sure to keep us updated;)

BLKTANG 03/12/2008 10:19 PM

cool.subscribed.

joec 03/12/2008 10:27 PM

tagging along as well! ill be setting up a 90 sometime in the next few months and can use some tips. :)

JUNI0R 03/12/2008 11:06 PM

What size sump is that?

It looks like you have barb fittings, the barb fitting accept the clear tubing that it also looks like you have.

BLKTANG 03/12/2008 11:07 PM

it looks like an Oceanic #2

ozzman69 03/13/2008 05:14 AM

Tagging along. Looks great so far Nice to have a SO who wants you to start out with new stuff cool. Planning a 75 right now. Good luck

will16 03/13/2008 05:37 AM

Hey, I'm building almost the same thing right now. 90gal Oceaninc Tech tank. I have the same sump/regugium - ADHI Model 45. I am doing a T5 VHO retrofit kit. I am however building my own stand and canopy... think you will beat me getting up and running:) Waiting for all my stuff to come in.

If you want to use hose instead of PVC, you want to use thw 3/4" barbs for the returns.

Good luck an I will be tagging along.

Linina 03/13/2008 05:41 AM

The tank is 90 gallon oak "Aqueon MegaFlow Overflow Glass Aquarium" (From All-Glass).

The sump is a 45 gallon.

One of the return bulkheads fits a little snugger into the return drilled hole, so I guess I use that one.

1628mna 03/13/2008 07:58 AM

linina i also have a 90 gallon aga tank w/ overflow. i have a 29 gallon sump/fuge. i went with the barb fittings and hooked hose to them, from there i hard piped it . the return pump i have is a mag 9.5. dont let anyone tell you that that is to big of a pump for you setup. when picking a pump always go a little bigger than you need,why you ask
1. although im strictly against it you can throttle down the pump you pick with a gate valve/ball valve.
2. also you can tee off of your return to run stuff like a phosban reactor, i have two running off of mine and they work perfect.
3. when you go to upgrading( and you will, everbody gets that bug) you can have a pump to fit your next setup without the expense of one later.
i will be taging along on this one, hopefully i helped out in your process. also going with the barbs no unions either cut the hose to get off or pull, hose is much cheaper than unions. on the return pump if you put a hose coming off the pump it will not send vibration from the pump to the tank and also the pump is a little easier to work with as far as flexability. good luck!!!!!!!!!

Aquarist007 03/13/2008 08:02 AM

there are a number of builds of 90gal tanks on the go:
you can access them through this thread:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...6#post12055086

Amoore311 03/13/2008 08:58 AM

Quote:

the return pump i have is a mag 9.5. dont let anyone tell you that that is to big of a pump for you setup. when picking a pump always go a little bigger than you need,why you ask
1. although im strictly against it you can throttle down the pump you pick with a gate valve/ball valve.
2. also you can tee off of your return to run stuff like a phosban reactor, i have two running off of mine and they work perfect.
If you aren't going to power anything off the return pump I would go with the Mag 7.

Should you choose to upgrade the return pump cost is pretty minimal in the whole scheme of things.

Also, once you get above the Mag7, the larger pumps tend to put a lot of heat into the tank. This might not be a problem with your set up, but then again you could run into heat problems depending on what other equipment you decide to run.


I am building up the same exact tank as you are except mine as black trim.

I'm running a 39ish Gallon Sump with a central return area. This way I can keep the flow to the fuge slow, and keep the skimmer section fed with the majority of the drain water.

I also will be running a carbon and phosban reactor. I power them with maxi-jet powerheads. I run a Maxi900 throttled back to like 80-85% for the carbon. And a Maxi600 almost wide open for the Phosban.

Linina 03/13/2008 08:23 PM

Ok not much progress unless you count about 45 minutes in the home depot pvs/sprinkler dept wondering what to do...

Heres the pump I got(Blue line pump 40 HD 790 GPH)

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3497.jpg

I didn't get the right parts (I forgot the input and output were threaded....not hose barb...whoops.) So i'll be going back to fix that oops. The ball valve will thread onto the pump inlet directly but I figure thats not the most convenient piece to be unthreading in the event of taking it apart for cleaning.

Now, is it ok to use flexible hose in this sump-to-pump area, or should it be hard pvc only? My SO got the impression in the LFS that we were supposed to use pvc but I assumed either would work and the flexible hose seems easier to deal with. Thoughts?


Now for the bulkheads in the overflow. It turns out that any of the 3 bulkheads included will fit. However the drain pipe is 1" and therefore the 1" seems to be made for the drain. Now, the thing is, that the other end of that bulkhead is a hose barb of some obscenely huge diameter. Like 1.25" at least. We don't have flexible pipe that large. I browsed at home depot and did locate some flexible pipe of that diameter. However shortly before buying it I realized that unless I could find a hose barb style adapter of the same diameter that this purchase wasn't going to do me any good. (adapter to go from the other end of the hose to the sump). And I looked all over the plumbing dept and even asked for help (god forbid!) and they do not have any hose barb adapters of any variety larger than 1".

My alternative would be I guess, to use the 3/4" bulkhead in the drain hole and modify the drain pipe to narror down from 1" to 3/4".

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3498.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3499.jpg

It's possible I need to do this anyway....is there going to be any issue with the drain being of larger diameter than the return? The exit from the pump is only 3/4" so maybe I should be narrowing the drain to match that - 3/4". I'm a total plumbing newbie so any tips would be appreciated.

Meanwhile I'll go re-browse other setup threads now that I understand what I'm trying to accomplish here.

R.W. 03/13/2008 09:13 PM

i have a 1" drain and 3/4" return on my 90. There doesnt seem to be any problems so far. I am using Quiet One 4000 pump which is rated at 1080 or 980gph.

cdbias2 03/14/2008 11:19 AM

Put a union in between that Blueline and that valve for later maintenance/replacement.

Linina 03/14/2008 10:11 PM

Ok progress. Finally hauled the entire drain pipe into home depot and came up with an appropriate solution. took that reducer off the end of the pipe and it fits right into a 1.25" coupling and then a bushing into that to take it from 1.25 to .75 which fits into the smaller bulkhead. As far as I'm concerned, that 1" bulkhead that comes in the overflow kit is practically garbage. At all the hardware stores I went to, there is no such thing as adapters or hose barbs to fit flex pipe that large - so even though I could find flex pipe wide enough to fit over the end of the bulkhead, I couldnt find anything for the other end.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3501.jpg


So I have a few items for the hardware store to finish out the plumbing and I think I'm set. The union is a smart idea, will definitely do that (it's on the list)


Also started looking at wiring the canopy. We have the icecap 660 ballast. Looks fine, it runs 4 T5 bulbs. I'm not quite sure how to situate the bulbs in there physically. I'm not sure if 4 is enough total long term (before the canopy I was going to get the standalone fixture that had 8 bulbs) or if I'll want to add more. If I want more, it would be smart to leave room for them now instead of spacing them nicely then trying to rearrange. Also can anyone tell me how big moonlights are (not sure if I need those but if so, I should leave some room I assume)? I suppose it varies but if anyone has pictures or links to lighting threads I'd love to see pictures of how people arrange their retrofits in the canopy. I saw one great thread recently but I can't find it.
Here's a pic of them just laying there. The kit didn't come with screws (***) so that's also on the shopping list for tomorow.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3500.jpg

BLKTANG 03/14/2008 10:23 PM

Nice cant wait to see it set up.

Linina 03/15/2008 09:51 PM

Alright we got power strips installed and finished up the plumbing. I think we are ready for a freshwater test tomorow!


Here's my SO running the strips. He admitted that this project is pretty fun :) Which is good because I definitely needed his help on some things.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3503.jpg

heres the return pump area:
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3512.jpg

here's the drain area:
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3513.jpg


Then we did the wiring of the retrofits. It wasn't too bad. Here's our cat "helping".
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3508.jpg
I measured the drill spots very carefully and we wired em up. Here it is right before a power test:


http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3509.jpg

Plugged it in and.....NOTHING. Tried re seating a few things but still nothing. So tomorow - off to purchase a current measuring device to figure out where the issue is.

wiscsaltwater 03/15/2008 10:07 PM

what brand and number is that sump i like the design and would like to consider getting one.

jcgoguen 03/15/2008 10:18 PM

did u twist the bulbs so they touch the contacts in the end caps

Linina 03/15/2008 10:21 PM

I'll double check the bulbs.

The sump is an ADHI Refugium model 45.

DJCubsFan 03/15/2008 10:30 PM

as far as your lighting goes...well, you could hear about 100 different answers from about 50 different people...it all depends on what you want. i had a 75gal (probably the same dimensions as your 90gal except shorter) and ran 4xt-5s and successfully kept soft corals and SOME LPS corals. i would say that if you want to have corals in the long run, leave room for some metal halide lamps, i have 2x250w, or a bunch more t-5s (not sure what it would take for such a tall tank).

and moonlights are pretty small, i think mine are about 1"x1" and work well. i don't think that anyone NEEDS them, but i like to look at my tank at night sometimes, so it's pretty cool!

good luck with the tank!

Linina 03/16/2008 10:05 AM

Alright we doubled checked all the bulb seatings. Also got a multimeter which indicates that all the wires are properly working. Also tested the power and the power is flowing to the unit.

The ballast doesn't make a sound when it's plugged in. Nothing flashes, nothing does anything. At this point I wonder if I just got a completely dead unit.

Linina 03/16/2008 05:13 PM

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/100_3517.jpg


Victory! Took the ballast back to the LFS where I bought it. They seemed skeptical but exchanged my ballast. Got home, plugged it in, and viola - fired up instantly.

Also ran a freshwater plumbing test. The pump is outputting WAY faster than the tank drains. And the flex hose drain is leaking a little - so we'll be swapping the bulkhead for a better one that allows us to go full (wider) pvc on the drain.


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