Frag tank build

[Andrew_B]

I got a hold of a real nice, oceanic/heavy duty 60g 48x24x12 tall frag tank. I won't be able to fully set it up until I move into a new house in march, but I want to get it mostly set up in the meantime. It was already drilled high for 2x 1" drains and a 3/4" return.

Heres a pic of the tank. Just leak testing/cleaning it for now. Running a powerhead with freshwater and vinegar currently.


Here's a pic of the back with the drilled holes.


I'll probably have to buy new bulkheads, or at least new rubber gaskets. This tank was sitting without water for a couple years when I got it. I need to figure out a proper way to do the drains. My main SW tank is drilled as well, but was plumbed very poorly due to ignorance. It's loud, gurgly, doesn't keep a constant water level which messes up with ATO/Skimmer water levels.

Pic of my main tank - What not to do!


I probably just need a T out of the back of the tank with a cap pointed up with a hole drilled into it to allow for smoother flow, but do you guys have any ideas for the drain that will work with this hole setup?

[Andrew_B]

Also, I'm planning on doing a single large system for my salty tanks. A large (~150g) display tank in the living room, with the sump on the other side of the wall in the fish room. Probably a 75g sump, and use the same sump for this frag tank (located in fish room) as well to make it easy on me with water changes/ATO and just overall health of the frag tank since it will be bare bottom with no rock in the frag display

[Andrew_B]

I'm just going to install one of the 12"x5"x3.5" 1800gph overflow boxes over the 2 holes. Seems like that's going to be the best route. It's on order, as well as all new bulkheads.

I'm going to paint the background black. Considering painting the bottom black too. Was thinking about using white so the light can reflect back better and give the coral a little more light, but figured white would show every spec of algae on the bottom glass so that may not work well

[myjohnson]

How are you going to do the pumping?

There are a number of ways to make it relatively silent.

Dursos and stockmens methods are basically a waste of time.

I recall you running the herbie method. That didn't work for you?

It worked well for me in the pass.

My current tank is running an eheim 1262 which is close to silent, but Elos deigned their system 70 to be ran with that pump.

Have you tied both the bean animal overflow?

Personally, I never ran my systems that way, but if I did another reef tank I would see if that set-up works.

[Andrew_B]

Since this tank will be in mt office/fish room, the sound really isnt a big deal to me. My 40 salty tank almost has a siphon for a drain, it has that funnel action with gurgling which is just way too much noise compared to say a durso which is more free flowing. It currently has no vent holes in the down piping. I bet if I drilled a hole in the top of the elboy, it would flow a little smoother.

I tried the herbie method for a while but I just plumbed the tank completely wrong and nothing was consistent. I had issues with water levels staying consistent which messes up ato/skimmer. All of a sudden the water level in the tank would rise 1/2", making the ato in the sump add another couple gallons, then the water level would drop back to where it was, but now the water in the skimmer compartment is 2" higher and all of the skimmate overflows into the sump. Real mess!

I've been looking at the bean animal overflow, and considering it for when I upgrade the main salty tank shortly after the move.

[myjohnson]

I was just looking at my pumping system. I noticed that Elos makes their whole stand enclosed and that helps a lot with the noise.

Maybe slap a back slate of wood drilled to fit on your DP tank to reduce the noise.

What corals do you play on fraggin?

You gonna use a dosing system?

Lol, I went back to a non-dosing system cause I hating dealing with it. I only keep soft corals and nems now.

I go 3-5 weeks at a time without a water change and the system is still stable and really clean.

[Andrew_B]

My current main system is mixed with just common stuff from when I first started the tank. But the new upgrade display tank will be mixed as well, but with a nicer selection of coral. I'll keep most of my sps (birds of paradise, green birdsnest, pink birdsnest, orange digi, red/green/purple monticaps) Superman shroom, green torch, galaxias, and some of my zoas. And the 4 red nems that I have now

I really want to avoid dosing as well. Stuff is growing in my current tank, and its been over 3 months since a water change. I don't plan on letting it go that far with the new tanks, but at least find easier ways to do weekly 10g changes or something. With my drains being so crappy with my tank now, after every water change, I have to completely redo my ball valves and adjustments for the couple days after a change. Such a pain currently.

[Andrew_B]

I have my overflow being built by a guy on marshreef. I'm also having him cut me acrylic baffles for a sump I'm designing now out of a 40b to sit under this tank. I really want my sump to be clean (no fuge or live rock), but since its for a frag tank, and the display won't have any sand/rock, I need it somewhere. How big of a refugium would be needed for this system? 60g Display, 40g Sump... would a 20L/20t/29g be enough? It's only going to have live rock/sand and circulation. No need for an algae or anything with my biopellets running.

Since my frag display has 2x 1" drains, I'll use one of the drains to go right to the sump, the other drain will kick out to the refugium, in which will drain back to the sump as well. No additional pumps needed!

[Andrew_B]

Also, if I keep adding volume to the system, will I need to upgrade my skimmer? I'm using an BM NAC6 now, with the brand new, upgraded SP2000 pump. Rated for 160g, but still seems small for a system over 100g

[Andrew_B]

Huh, MarinePure blocks... has anyone used before? That would be a nice way to solve my live rock issue. Apparently one 8x8x4 block is equivalent to 300lb of live rock for both aerobic and anaerobic bacterias

[Andrew_B]

Changing this up a little bit. From frag tank to a flat out Shallow reef, scaped and all. It would take a large amount of frags to fill this tank up. I've been looking at pics the last few days and there are some very nice tanks with some footprint as this. I'm going with a clean, barebottom tank with live rock/coral in the display since its easy to add sand later on if I want to. Then I have a 24x24x13" drilled tank that I'll use with a deep sand bed and more rock that one drain will go into, in which will drain again into the sump for additional filtration. I'll eventually use this as the frag tank.

I found an acrylic guy on marsh-reef, i just got in my custom overflow to cover my 2 drains in the 60g, and I got all the baffles for my 40b diy sump. I'm waiting for new bulkheads to come in before I install them, but man, they are pristine. Top has a micro bevel finish, top notch work.

Overflow: Rated for roughly 1300gph


Baffles:



Sometime in the next week I'll have everything installed

[Andrew_B]

Put together the sump. First time siliconing anything, and I made a hot mess. I'm letting it dry and going in with a razor blade to clean it up in a couple days. Went with the more blacked out look instead of the traditional clear. Once it's clean up, I'm sure I'll like how it turns out.

[mnemenoi]

I like the black acrylic, lol. It looks far more baller when they see your sump, haha. Siliconing always makes a hot mess for me, no matter how carefully I attempt to keep it. Need to see all those salty tanks sometime, we have always wanted to have a small nano just need the time and motivation...

[specialone0812]

Where did you buy those acrylic sheet at?
I am looking to make some baffles for my sump as well. same as your 40B.

[KhmerStyle]

Lowes or home depot carry them