My soon to be 72gal bowfront reef

[ShooterRick]

ShooterRicks 72 gal bowfront: What Igot for my 75.00$ and pics.
I cleaned up most of the majorcomponents and equipment yesterday and today and took a few quick
pics. Since I wasn't sure how all wastreated before I got it I filled the tank out under our carport andwill let set for leak test until Tuesday. Tomorrow night if no leaksare evident I plan on testing the pumps to make sure they all workincluding the wave timer and light timer. My thoughts so far are Igot a whale of a deal on all this. Besides the obvious there is a 5stage RO setup, ultraviolet sterilizer and a stand alone refugiumthat I am not sure I will set up yet. The sump is actually a plasticwet dry filter that I may use with no bio media and just have someparticulate filtration in the trays and reserve a tray for carbon ifI choose to run it. I have no idea yet how the recirculating skimmerworks or was set up. There may be room with some partitions added tothe sump to have a small refugium in it but I doubt it. Pics belowof the score.
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[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Nice score indeed Rick. I love new build threads and will be following along closely. Congrats.

[Reefing Madness]

Thats a huge steal man. Got away with murder on that deal.

[ShooterRick]

Well 72 hrs and no leaks on the carport! Yehaa. I did test all except the protein skimmer pump and all work except the return pump. I took the head off of it and it looked pretty clean inside so I have no idea as to what could be wrong. If I get it running I am not going to trust it for day to day operations but use it as a backup and to mix water for changes.

I plan on using a submersible pump for the return 1" line. With the skimmer, circulation pumps and the wave pump on a pulse timer I figure a 400 gph at 4 ft head pressure gives me alot of flow. Hidor 2x850 current pumps, 1600 GPH pump internal in tank on a pulse timer, 400 gph on return pump, a submersable pump powers the Skimmer that I cannot read the gph on and am guessing since it is not a standard power head but a light utility pump of 250 gph and 72 gal DT with a 20 gal sump. That seems like a lot of water turn over.

[ShooterRick]

OK moved all back indoors tonight. I now am in the mode of accumulating a few equip items. On the list is a Quiet One 2200 for the return pump, a decent T5 50-50 fixture to deliver 300 plus watts, and I am deciding on weather to go all PVC for the plumbing or do more of a hybrid with PVC valves spliced into 1 inch tubing for the return. I have tons of 3/4 inch that came with it and will replace lines on the skimmer with that since that is what is on the skimmer now. Some of it looks a bit degraded. I have several 1 inch ball valves and 3/4 valves on hand.

Once I get it all together I will post some pics of the set up dry for all to see and advise but it will be awhile since I have a BBQ gathering of pit masters to attend at the end of the month. Thanks especially to reefmadness for all your advice and help.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Glad to hear things are moving along nicely Rick. FWIW, I used flex tubing when I set up my tank. Hard plumbing seems so... permanent. At least to me anyway. I use a quiet one 4000 for my return and I couldn't be happier. It runs nice and quiet and draws less current than a comparable mag drive pump.

[ShooterRick]

Glad to hear things are moving along nicely Rick. FWIW, I used flex tubing when I set up my tank. Hard plumbing seems so... permanent. At least to me anyway. I use a quiet one 4000 for my return and I couldn't be happier. It runs nice and quiet and draws less current than a comparable mag drive pump.

Well for me flex would be a simpler set up. a few connections for valves and such and done. I can see if I have any obstructions in the line and not near as much pain as cutting and glue up of pvc. That is the way I am going. I do have one other ? to ask now. (among many) The sump I got with the use tank is a trickle filter type set up. I plan on using no bio media and jsut some particulate filtration before the skimmer. I would like to silicone in a bubble trap before the return pump picks up water. If I understand the concept 2 dividers are needed about 2 inches apart. Is the first one coming from the skimmer pump flow over or under and the second one a flow under or over if that makes sense.????

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

I made my bubble traps with one inch spacing. If youre going with 2 baffles, the water should pass under the first baffle and over the second baffle (toward the return pump). Is that what you were asking?

[Reefing Madness]

Well for me flex would be a simpler set up. a few connections for valves and such and done. I can see if I have any obstructions in the line and not near as much pain as cutting and glue up of pvc. That is the way I am going. I do have one other ? to ask now. (among many) The sump I got with the use tank is a trickle filter type set up. I plan on using no bio media and jsut some particulate filtration before the skimmer. I would like to silicone in a bubble trap before the return pump picks up water. If I understand the concept 2 dividers are needed about 2 inches apart. Is the first one coming from the skimmer pump flow over or under and the second one a flow under or over if that makes sense.????

Bubble trap would be 1st divider rom top down, letting the water right off the bottom of the tank go under with little to no bubbles, as bubbles float up. 2nd divider at bottom going up l
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[ShooterRick]

I made my bubble traps with one inch spacing. If youre going with 2 baffles, the water should pass under the first baffle and over the second baffle (toward the return pump). Is that what you were asking?

Yes but since it is going through a tower first and the permanent baffle 1st baffle in the sump is set up to let water go over it am I wasting my time? The sump is acturally a trickle filter,wet dry, so to speak that I got with the tank.

[Reefing Madness]

Yes but since it is going through a tower first and the permanent baffle 1st baffle in the sump is set up to let water go over it am I wasting my time? The sump is acturally a trickle filter,wet dry, so to speak that I got with the tank.

If you have enough room, you can either add your baffle or add a sponge or foam to catch the bubbles. Either way.

[ShooterRick]

If you have enough room, you can either add your baffle or add a sponge or foam to catch the bubbles. Either way.

Ok that may be a simple fix. The supply line from the tank goes first to a tower with 3 filter media drawers. I was gonna put some particulate filter media in the first drawer. Can I just put a fitted sponge in the 3rd drawer and accomplish the same thing?

[Reefing Madness]

Ok that may be a simple fix. The supply line from the tank goes first to a tower with 3 filter media drawers. I was gonna put some particulate filter media in the first drawer. Can I just put a fitted sponge in the 3rd drawer and accomplish the same thing?

Yup, pretty much. But if your going to use all the drawers, there really won't be much of any bubbles left once it hits the bottom.

[ShooterRick]

I decided to add a ReefKeeper lite controller to this system once up and going. I will get the level 2 RKL and add a second module later. I scrounged up some plexi scrap at work today to make the baffles and lid for my sump. I still have several things to round up before putting this all together but I dont really plan to start cycle till after the holidays anyway.

[ShooterRick]

MY Quiet One 2200 pump arrived yesterday and I have the baffles and lid cut for my sump. The last few things for the plumbing are next and I will be looking at lighting soon.

[ShooterRick]

I seem to have settled on a sump set up with the skimmer. A discussion and my conclusions are posted at this thread for those who may be interested in this rookies adventure.

http://www.reefland.com/forum/tanks-...-new-post.html

[ShooterRick]

Another decision made: sand bed : 4 inches sugar fine Aragonite

Reasoning: Refugium is too shallow for a deep sand bed to aid in denitrification. PH buffering. Will also provide a nice retentive base for my planned pillar island aquascape theme leaving increased swimming room in this 72 gal tank.

modifications . At non uniform spacing a slight top dressing of crushed coral from my FOWLR tank will be used to help seed the bed. Also I thing this non uniformaty in apperiance may be asthetically pleasing and if located in high flow areas ditris build up should be minimized.

[ShooterRick]

The lighting decision has been made. I will use the following and will supplement later if need.
New dimmable KEY K3 3rd Generation Aquarium LED Lighting For Saltwater (Built-in Sun & Moon Simulation, RGBP light)

[ShooterRick]

Ok the Mississippe white beach sand is out. It seems to have no buffering capacity at all so I will go with a light colored Aragonite sand. I have a couple ?s. I think I will put in about 4 inches of substrate. How much sand should I buy?

Secondly I plan on doing a pillar island type aquascape. One larger center island and two smaller islands flanking that. I think 100 lbs total of rock but what do you think. Will 3 pillars be to much for this 72 bowfront. Will 100 lbs rock be to much to allow free sand space between the pillars? I have 29 lbs live rock in my fowlr so I intended on buying 25 more lbs of live and 50 lbs of base rock of the lace variety.

[Reefing Madness]

The rock formation might be possible if you use bigger rocks, try and stay away from the medium sized ones.
I'd start off with 75lbs of sand and go from there.

Sand Bed Calculator