And so It begins!
So, I got the bug to get the ball rolling on my 73 build... here is what I've done so far...
So, some specs. about my new aquarium... the total approximate water volume of my system will be 90 US gallons. For my main pump I am using a Danner Mag 18, which will be placed in-sump as I won't have the room to plumb it outside. For in tank circulation I am going to use an Vortech Mp40w and possibly a Koralia 3 if I feel more is needed. I have a feeling that just the Mag 18 will provide enough water flow that I will not need anything additional. If this is the case I will probably sell or trade my Mp40, so look for that in the coming month or so.
As for lighting I have not yet decided if I am going to keep the current fixture that I have a 48" Current Nova Extreme Pro 6-bulb T5. Or, if I will switch it to all brand new lighting possibly 2 24" T5 supplements, and a Mogul 250w Radium bulb with a Sun Light Supply Lumen Elite Reflector and Running on a Lumatek Ballast. Either way, this can be determined later, if I do decide on the Radium, I will have my current 6 bulb fixture for sale if anyone is interested please let me know.
As for the actual dimensions of the tank, it is pretty easy the tank is 36" x 25" x 18.5" which equals some where in the neighborhood of about 70-75 gallons. I custom built my new aquarium cabinet and I am going to make a custom chiller box and hood which matches the cabinet. The front panel of the aquarium is Starfire optically clear glass, which for those of you who don't know what Starfire is...the glass is made with less iron, which in turn makes it much more clear when looking through it, it also tends to not have the traditional green hue normal pane glass has.
Here are a couple of pictures during the building process of my stand.
I would like to thank my father-N-law for helping me a ton and letting me borrow his garage for this build. These pictures don't show it, but we did put a bottom on the stand and all joints are wood glued as well as nailed. We used a nail gun to make the joints as clean as possible. Some of the joints didn't line up as we used poplar, which is known for bending when it is first cut, some of the boards were warped a little and this added to our small gaps and what not. It looks like they are huge as I had the camera on "macro" they really are not that large as, when the tank is on the stand you won't even see them. As for coloring the stand, I opted to stain the stand as if the stand gets water spots or whatever on it I can go ahead and stain it again and it will look back to normal. It will be stained a black brown to match our furniture in our house.
As for the other aspects and pieces of the aquarium not mentioned. It will be fully controlled by a Neptune Apex Lite Aquacontroller (THANKS TO THE GUYS AT NEW AGE AQUATICS) and I will be picking that up tomorrow. I also have a Reef Octopus Extreme 200 skimmer, with a PSK-2500 needle wheel pump on it. And an Aqua Euro 1/4hp chiller to control the cooling of the water.
As for plumbing I am going to hardline the over flow return to the sump and use spa flex and hose clamps to connect the tubing to the Mag 18. I will be using a custom designed standpipe, which was designed by NAA specifically for my tank. I will also connect a couple of valves to control the flow of the water incase the Mag 18 completely overwhelms my drainage in the overflow. I am also planing on using Loc-line with splitters to provide 4 different distribution angles for the return. Two will point down behind the rock and two will point out towards the front glass.
As for the rock layout. I am going to try and achieve a rock structure similar to the display at New Age Aquatics...
I really like the pillar look with mass loads to LPS on the bottom of the tank. I will be going bare bottom as I am sure many of you know I had a slight "Miscalculation" when taking the sand out of my current system, which resulted in a massive tank crash and me losing more than three fourths of my coral collection.
I think that is pretty much the low down of my new system. I will be starting to place and pick up the plumbing parts tomorrow (Fri) with the main build and trying to get water in it and flowing by Saturday. If you have any other ideas or see any flaws, please don't hesitate to let me know. I am spending an as my wife says ridiculous amount of money on this project. I want everything to go smooth and make it a great tank for my family and friends and all of you to enjoy.
Thanks! Hope you continue to follow along!
Cheers.
-OCREEFMASTER
