My Project ★ GENESIS ★ 110G (Miracle) SPS Dream Tank - (I) Pre-Build Thread

[Wally.B]

Making Progress (Flood Start Point Fixed) Getting things done before Tank Arrives

Not the Tank yet....Hoping Later this week.

Yesterday I did the whole RECTANGUALR Rec-Room DriCore in a day.



This little Hallway area took a whole day, since the odd shape was like a puzzle to cut.

I restored some the Flood Damage Drywall areas, but just before I did, I added a Electrical Outlet since this area needed on.

This is where the whole flood started.

[reefmutt]

Looking good!

[Wally.B]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Looking good!

Thanks for the kinds word of Support, I need it.

Wish I could say the same about my "knees" "back" "legs" "arms" and blistered "Hands"

But I am down to the Last Area of Flood Damaged Drywall.



Once this is done, it will be just plaster and paint and the final WPC panel Flooring which will be after tank is installed (Framed and Trim).

I have an update on Lighting for TANK

Since this is for the Long Term I decided to go T5's this way. NOT all non-dimmable as originally planned.
Shipping and Duty has overhead have overhead cost.....so I bought a mix for flexible use on (New Tank, Frag Tank, Kitchen Tank)

-> (2x) 4 foot (PAIR) - 54W T5 (HEP Dimmable Ballast)
-> (1x) 4 Foot (PAIR) - 54W T5 (Hep Non-Dimmable)
-> (1x) 3 foot (SINGLE) - 39W T5 (HEP Dimmable)

I want flexibility with the Blue Plus and Coral Plus Bulb, and Possibly a 24W Purple Plus for some Coloration (Viewing Themes just like my Kitchen Tank).

I do like Sunrise/SunSet light ramp-up/down.

I did contact HELP to ensure there is no Color Shift, Bulb Damage with Dimming. They confirmed NOT. Setting to 100% is same as Non-Dimmable so I can go whatever I want.

And since I'm an Actinic Viewing Time LOVER (I'm getting rid of my DIY RGB Strip)

I got one of these (BLUE LED Strip Lights)



https://www.ebay.ca/itm/172897430072?ul_noapp=true

Highly recommended by a few reefers around here.
If it doesn't work out on new Tank, my Kitchen Strip is in terrible condition.


GOT TO GET BACK ON THE LADDER (Ouch)

[Wally.B]

Reef Topic Update ( OLD Tank full of ROCKS/Fish) & (Frag Tank)

Enough Construction talk....

The Old 65G tank is crystal clean. Rocks baked and polished by the Snails and Emerald Crabs.

Keeping ALK/CALC at proper levels (even with no corals in tank).



I've started feeding a bit of Nori since the Crabs are waving their claws during Fish Feeding time.

THE FRAG TANK (is a Mess). Haven't looked at it for weeks.



I did give all the good Corals to a friend for holding.

Frag tank will be shut down. Nothing from it will go into tank (except the one Rock with Moni Growing on it).

Interesting to see that NO Algae is growing on the rock. (Coraline and Bio-film Resists). Just Algae on Glass (and the One Snail can't eat it all).

[Rakie]

That's a great pickup with the LED bar Wally

[reefmutt]

Man, you must be feeling it! That’s a lot of work..
I like your flex lighting options..

[Wally.B]

Ordered some CLEAR 1/4" Acrylic Rods (Rock Work) for NEW TANK


Got these Acrylic RODS after reading up on some rock scaping ideas.



Old Tank had rocks tumbling/falling and on occasion may have scratched the glass. (Can't allow that on the NEW Virgin Starphire Glass)

Drilled Rock and inserted RODS with Putty will help get me the ideal/SOLID rock scaping setup.

I may even drill bottom rocks and insert RODS to give the Glass Bottom Rocks a bit of lift for good Circulation.

[Wally.B]

LED STRIP ARRIVES (Quick Initial Impression)

First for $69CDN shipping included the packaging tube is worth $10, and I'm going to keep it for some kind of storage.



The quality of the Aluminum Strip it OUTSTANDING.

The OPTICS Lense like the Orphek I looked at.



The mount 180 degree bracket seem good quality.

BUT WHEN I TURNED IT ON (WOW) not even in tank (lit up the whole REC ROOM). Darn bright as I expected.

Then I took it to my Kitchen Tank with LPS, ZOA's ACANS.

KAAAABOOOOM. POP like I've never seen before.
Overwhelming.

For me a bit too much, but I'll figure out a way to dim it. Maybe raise it, but it amazing. (Found two plugs with Zoa's I never noticed that fell behind a rock...They were glowing like beacons...HELP I'm lost)

Even for the Fixture (replacing the Current Driver) this is one great deal of a light strip.

[Wally.B]

Great News on the LED Strip and DIMMING.

I tested my MAG Dimmable LED Current Driver Power Pack. The LED STRIPS beautifully down from MAX to a SPLASH of Blue.

Fully controllable by 0-10Volt so will work with Apex. Or just a Trim Resistor.

[Rakie]

If you lift the bottom rocks a hair to get good flow your gobies will love you forever. That will be goby central.

[Wally.B]

Originally Posted by Rakie

If you lift the bottom rocks a hair to get good flow your gobies will love you forever. That will be goby central.

Cool. I have a purple Firefly Goby that I never see, maybe this will help.

The Rods arrived today. Pictures always look bigger.



Should have bought the 12 pack for a few more $.
But I have enough to try them out at 1/4". 1/2" is next thickness.

If I can put all base rocks on acrylic feet that will be nice.
I can slide around the 3 Islands I plan on setting up.

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by Wally.B

LED STRIP ARRIVES (Quick Initial Impression)

First for $69CDN shipping included the packaging tube is worth $10, and I'm going to keep it for some kind of storage.



The quality of the Aluminum Strip it OUTSTANDING.

The OPTICS Lense like the Orphek I looked at.



The mount 180 degree bracket seem good quality.

BUT WHEN I TURNED IT ON (WOW) not even in tank (lit up the whole REC ROOM). Darn bright as I expected.

Then I took it to my Kitchen Tank with LPS, ZOA's ACANS.

KAAAABOOOOM. POP like I've never seen before.
Overwhelming.

For me a bit too much, but I'll figure out a way to dim it. Maybe raise it, but it amazing. (Found two plugs with Zoa's I never noticed that fell behind a rock...They were glowing like beacons...HELP I'm lost)

Even for the Fixture (replacing the Current Driver) this is one great deal of a light strip.

Interesting! Maybe I’ll try one to see how it looks..
Can you post a link? Or will that get you in trouble? I never know..

[Wally.B]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Interesting! Maybe I’ll try one to see how it looks..
Can you post a link? Or will that get you in trouble? I never know..

Matt, I posted the link below the picture above......

But here it is again. For us Canadian's they ship from a warehouse in missisauga so quick, no tax (since sourced from china), and no shipping cost.

HERE IS THE EBAY LINK (the one I bought. There is a 36" too from same seller)
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/108W-led-aqu...72.m2749.l2649

I was concerned it was too bright at Full ON.....so I took it today to GTA reef which has a similar LED Bars (two kinds).
I compared, and it's not too bright. His can go a bit brighter...and his frag tank looks great.

This strip look like the same blue spectrum, and same pop on corals.

As I posted above, I got it to dim with a replacement Dimmable LED driver Power Supply.

The difference is the unit I got has the lenses can narrow down the LED's that are 180 degree (naturally) down to what appears to be around 90 degrees (so it tightens the light beam. From what briefly saw it will cover about 24" since GTA frag tank was 36" and he uses two strips.
It might be ideal for my tank.

We'll see. For me one is enough for now.

[reefmutt]

Thanks for the info, Wally.
Wasn’t paying attention..
With my AI Primes, I may be overdoing it with this but may be interesting to put on some other tanks.

[Rakie]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Thanks for the info, Wally.
Wasn’t paying attention..
With my AI Primes, I may be overdoing it with this but may be interesting to put on some other tanks.

I might suggest looking into some UV LED's specifically for a different kind of pop. At our last club meeting, a vendor brought a few flashlights, one was a UV dive light... O M G. It was like an acid trip at a rave, forget about reefbrites, pfft, I'm talking the most obscene florescence I've ever seen in my life.

That's why Radions keep making the UV and Violet stronger and stronger with each model. UV / Violet colors are the king of pop -- Royal Blue makes things pop not because it's blue -- but because it has trace amounts of that UV nm.

On a scale of 1-10, his Royal BLue flashlight made corals look like a 10, until I saw the UV light in action... Then that RB turned into a 5, while the UV turn scored a 12. Insane verbally does zero justice to the transformation achieved with a UV.

[Wally.B]

Originally Posted by Rakie

I might suggest looking into some UV LED's specifically for a different kind of pop. At our last club meeting, a vendor brought a few flashlights......

Rakie,

UV is Something to consider down the road.
For now I'm looking forward to plain on T5 with some dimming mixing of Blue Plus, Coral Plus and maybe one other bulb.

Even that LED bar is only to try. And as I mentioned (IT HAS TOO MUCH POP, so will dim it down)

Rock/Fish and Tank Stability will be my first priority even before the first corals go in.

I do have a couple of cheap UV flashlights that I got a Amazon (the kind for checking counterfeit money..etc) . I've used them before to find missing Zoa's Plugs and they are cool.

But things are moving along with the Wall Restoration work. First layer of mud went on today.



TANK is scheduled for DELIVERY for Monday/Tuesday this week

Once I see it sitting in Sump Room behind wall (Then the Sump Room Work starts).

THE BUILD is about to begin.....

[tenurepro]

Exciting times ahead!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rakie]

@Wally -- I meant UV for matt, since he's already got the AI Primes, if he wants more punch he's gotta go UV pretty much! Your lighting is absolutely fine, and in need of nothing.

It's looking great, it may not seem like it but this build is coming together amazingly quick. Great fun to watch, lots of cool information and stuff to learn from this thread.

[reefmutt]

The tank is coming the tank is coming!!!!!!!

Rakie, the Primes have uv and violet but they don’t make up a huge percentage of the spectrum.

[Wally.B]

Sand and Plaster (Step 2) DONE [ Try not to Laugh, NEVER DONE this Much Before ]

I've done small little patched from Kids Dings over the years.

But never such large areas.

Sanding was dusty (worked a mask) and Plastering (a back breaker).

But I assume my hacking (overplastering) may work out with enough sanding and one or two more fine coats of MUD.





The good news is I used to hate painting, now not so much

[Wally.B]

Last Chance to SEAL STAND

I had this on my TO DO list, but TANK may Arrive Tomorrow.

Waiting for Drywall MUD to Dry.



This will WaterProof the Stand and prevent wood from GOING GREY.

Also the Sump will be under stand so sealed for Salt Spray Creep wood DAMAGE.

[reefmutt]

Both the stand and the sanding are looking damn good from here!!

[Wally.B]

Hillarious Photo (Starfish Hangs himself. HawkFish Puzzled )

I was passing by the Kitchen Tank and the Star Fish caught my attention. (I always look where he is) but this is something quite different.

He is in a predicament.



Star Fish must have travelled over the Green Palys cluster and they broke, but Palyp buds are hanging on a strand of Alage.

How will Star Fish get out of this?

Even the HawkFish is wondering?

Will he climb up the thin stand? Or will it break and he Falls?

Taking BETS on outcome.

[Wally.B]

StarFish got out of the situation!!!

Hoping someone can guess how.

[Rakie]

Originally Posted by Wally.B

Hey Rakie,

I stumbled upon this from your early part of thread.
Good info, since I have a similar overflow setup on the way with the new tank.
All my tanks have outside HOSE (flexible) on the bulkheads (just a single on each tank)
I not sure how I'm going to hook up my overflow bulkheads (two of them at bottom of External Overflow box).

I do want to go flexible hose (at the Sump Entry point) since that allow be to do easier maintenance (like cleaning ATS by swinging hose over to 2nd compartment of SUMP).

I assume your setup is designed to control flow, and limit sound, or possibly run one overflow, and 2nd is on standby. Or you split the flow between two.
Maybe you can post your thoughts, adjustments/improvement you made (on this thread) (OR on my thread....which might be better to not side track things here).
Thanks.

Well Wally I'm of the mindset that all information is useful, so I'll post here and then at your thread. Maybe it'll help someone someday -- that's my typical rationale for build threads at least.

YES -- It is designed to control flow, limit sound, AND run an emergency overflow while flow is split between the two non-red tubes.

SO -- That picture you linked was my initial idea, and NOT what I ended up with at all. I'm using flex hose myself. It helps with sound, and honestly my first attempt at gluing PVC resulted in a bunch of crooked ugly looking PVC.. Flex hose helped take me out of the equation!

Here is the finished plumbing




So I have 3 pipes here. The U-Tube overflow, and white straight overflow are engaged actively at all times.


1) On the left tube (Right most side on the picture) you see I have the U shaped overflow. This guy is my full siphon overflow tube. I drilled a 3/16th hole on the very top to break the siphon if necessary. The idea here is the water level will ALWAYS be above this overflow tube keeping it a full siphon. Drilling the hole keeps it from being noisy, getting air stuck in the pipe, etc etc.

Gate valves are essential on the main overflow tube -- NOT ball valves. You need the precision of a gate valve to dial it in for sound and functionality.


2) The middle tube (white) is the 2nd tube. In my understanding, the goal of a bean animal is to have 1 full siphon, and a second tube taking a LITTLE water, and the 3rd as an emergency.

IF the gate valve is too open (low water level in overflow box) you'll get gurgling and 'chugging' sounds from the full siphon as the siphon breaks due to the hole at the top of it, as well as lots of bubbles. Too closed (water level high in overflow box) and the middle overflow tube becomes a noisy full siphon which chugs and gurgles. It also serves as a 'backup' drain, although it's actively in use already.

Having this overflow take a trickle of water also helps keep the slight ebb and flow of the overflow be 100% consistent, leaving the full siphon working 100% at all times, because the water level is static above the full siphon's hole.


3) Emergency overflow. Never engaged unless full siphon and middle tube are both clogged. Due to height, and it being a straight pipe, it will be very noisy, alerting me to the issue.


So basically, if the full siphon gets plugged the middle tube can handle all the flow on it's own, and the middle tube is a straight pipe so it will be noisy and produce some gurgling/chugging sounds. If the second pipe gets plugged as well, the emergency pipe will be engaged, and it will be VERY noisy.