Surprise, surprise, surprise! :-)

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Howdy all!

Well...surprise, surprise, surprise...I ended up getting a great deal on a 110 gallon tank a couple of days ago! Wooohooo!!! So, I'm finally on my way back to setting up and owning a salt tank. It came with a couple of extras that I'm going to have to ask you all about because I've never used them and I don't know how/why to use it. LOL A lot of it seems pretty old, but I'm hoping that maybe it will still work and will work for my tank setup I'm planning. I'll probably have mostly a FOWLR type tank, but I would like to add some soft and/or hard corals to it eventually once I know everything is stable. So, I guess I could say I want a "light" reef tank.

So, I got the 110 gallon tank, stand and canopy. It also came with one 5 foot sheet of glass (like for the back half of the tank) and only one 2.5 foot sheet of glass (where you would normally pull the handle to open it and feed the fish). The other side of the top glass is missing. However, if I remember correctly from advice here when I was building my 90, most people suggested NOT to put any glass panels on top because it helps with the oxygen exchange with the water. Correct? If that's the case, then I won't replace the one side of glass and just remove the glass panels and store them.

All of this stuff was under the tank, in the stand, and it was a MESS. It looks like he mainly drained the tank and that was it. This stuff had like a 1/2 an inch of dust and dirt on it. He probably never cleaned it while it was running either. So, it took me HOURS to actually clean each and every part I took out from under that tank. I still have to clean the tank (which is pretty clean to begin with, as you'll see by the picture) and the canopy. What is the best way to clean the excess salt off of the wooden canopy? Water and a rag? Light sand paper and no rag? I'm not sure if using water on wood is a good thing or not.

Anyway, so I also got an Amiracle acrylic biofilter. I don't know what gallon size it is or what size tank it is for. It has the blue bioballs on one side and then he had the pumps put in the other side. It also came with an HOB overflow box that feeds into the top of the biofilter. It seems pretty small for me to use as a sump, so I don't know if I'll just keep it all put together and sell it or not. This way I'll just buy a "real sump" (and bigger, of course) and go from there. Any suggestions on a sump size (gallons wise) for my 110?

I got two Rio pumps. A Rio 2100 and a Rio 2500HP. I don't know if Rio's are any good or not, but that's what came with it and what he was using. The 2100 went to the skimmer and the 2500HP went in to the UV, out of the UV and ultimately returned to the tank.

The lighting system sucks. It's just two T-12 NO bulbs, one 4' Coralife 50/50 6,000K/Actinic 03 and one 3' Marine-Glo 30W (I'm guessing it's a daylight bulb, but I have no clue, doesn't say what it is), but was hooked up to a Coraline 2-Lamp electronic ballast system, so they are instant on. He was all excited about this setup. LOL These will be sold or scrapped if no one buys them. I'll be asking later on in the forum what's the best setup I should do in regards to lighting. With my 90, I did four T-5 HO lights via an IceCap 660 ballast. It was a "build your own" type kit. I just mounted it to the top of my canopy and each bulb had an individual reflector. I don't know if I should do the same with this tank or not. Suggestions?

I got an Optima air pump. I can't tell, but maybe the model number is A-807, but says it's 5,000 cc/min and 4.0 PSI on the bottom. I thought you shouldn't use air pumps in a reef/salt tank? However, this might have something to do with my next item I got...

I got an Ozone 2000-50 ozonizer - Model 310 - Made in 10/1994. What the heck is this and what do I do with it???

I got an Askoll - Thermal Compact Preset 300W heater. Should that be enough to heat a 110 gallon (even if I stick it in the sump)?

I also got a Berlin skimmer (it's made by Red Sea according to the label). Per the label it's a 25 to 250 gallon triple pass skimmer. I have no clue if this is better than my 200 gallon Coralife Super Skimmer that I still have from my last tank. So, suggestions on which I should use would be appreciated. Plus, it looks like there is some sort of additional cup with a mesh wire insert in it. I have NO clue where it goes. The normal cup and lid are on it. So, I don't know what that is for or where it goes. Hopefully I can find an instruction manual on Red Sea's website, but when I checked the other night, they only had a "temporary" site up.

Finally, I got a Vectron UV25 - 25W/150 gallon UV machine. Its from some company in Hertfordshire, England called Tropical Marine Centre. I don't know ANYTHING about UV. Again, one of those questions, what's it for and what do I do with it?? I've heard about them being used, but I don't know for what or why. LOL So, would it be good to keep it and plumb it back into my system when I rebuild it? If so, is there a certain "place" throughout the system that it should be placed?

I also got a bunch of corals/shells that I don't really want, so I'm going to try and sell them. Plus, there was 100 pounds of crushed coral in the tank as well. I'm not keeping that either. I don't know if I should just throw it in the garbage or should I try and sell it locally. I just look at it as this...I don't know how this person ran the tank or what they put in it, so I don't want to put this stuff in my tank and have it end up being an issue later on. It's happened to me before, so better safe than sorry.

Sorry for the drawn out post, but I was hoping that people could help me with the equipment situation. If I should try and sell it and upgrade, then so be it. But if it will work with/for my tank, then I'll keep it and use it. Finally, here are a couple of pics of the tank. Unfortunately there was no way I could put the tank on the stand by myself, so I'll have to wait and see if the wife can help me later today or I'll have to have my father or my brother in law come over and help me put it on the stand.

By the way...I got it all for $250. Seemed like a pretty good deal to me, even if the stuff is old and I don't use most/all of it. LOL Anyway, enjoy the pics...

Tank and canopy (the design on the rear glass is actually another sheet of glass that was painted and then taped onto the back of the tank)


Stand

[SouthBayPhoto]

Well, here are some more pics after I finally cleaned up everything and put the tank on top of the stand. So, I thought I'd share.

Left side


Right side


Side view


Top - Showing the split doors (don't know how I'm going to handle the lighting with these doors)


Extra stuff that I received with the tank

[Reefing Madness]

[SouthBayPhoto]

Thanks! I'm still working on what type of overflow system to put in. I'm really starting to lean towards doing a BeanAnimal coast to coast type system. Only thing I worry about is I thought I've heard/read people having issues that that type of overflow was blocking their light going to the bottom of the tank. That's the one thing I'm checking into. I don't want it to be an issue. However, I haven't picked out a lighting system for my tank yet either, so maybe I will have to pick the lighting setup to go around the c2c overflow...I don't know. LOL Decisions, decisions.

[Reefing Madness]

I've seen the coast to coast built on the outside of the tank on the back instead of the inside of the tank. When siliconed correctly the outside glass box will not leak or come off.

[SouthBayPhoto]

True, but then I would have to have someone cut the back of the tank all the way across (like 50" of the 60" tank), so that it would feed properly into the c2c overflow. That makes me really nervous. Plus, wouldn't that mean the top railing of the tank would have to be cut out, including the center brace? That might cause stability/strength issues, wouldn't it?
Plus, since I've never built any type of overflow before, I'm paranoid that if I don't silicone the pieces of acrylic together right and/or onto the rear of the tank properly that it will be some MAJOR trouble initially or down the line.

Believe me, I'd love to have it on the rear of the tank since this way I'd still have the full interior of the tank to work with and light up.

Maybe I can check with the shop that was going to drill my holes for me and see if they have done that before. If so, maybe I will have them do it.


Sent from my SBP BB.

[Reefing Madness]

True, but then I would have to have someone cut the back of the tank all the way across (like 50" of the 60" tank), so that it would feed properly into the c2c overflow. That makes me really nervous. Plus, wouldn't that mean the top railing of the tank would have to be cut out, including the center brace? That might cause stability/strength issues, wouldn't it?
Plus, since I've never built any type of overflow before, I'm paranoid that if I don't silicone the pieces of acrylic together right and/or onto the rear of the tank properly that it will be some MAJOR trouble initially or down the line.

Believe me, I'd love to have it on the rear of the tank since this way I'd still have the full interior of the tank to work with and light up.

Maybe I can check with the shop that was going to drill my holes for me and see if they have done that before. If so, maybe I will have them do it.


Sent from my SBP BB.

No cutting. You could drill a few 1" holes. No need to cut that far across, just go 1/4 or 1/2 way. Silicone bonds glass together, thats how your tank is made, and it holds up. Yes, have the shop drill em out for you, won't cost a whole lot. Ask them about the silicone process, its really simple.
i know this is forwned upon, but this thread is a wealth of knowledge.
Silent and Failsafe Overflow System - Reef Central Online Community

[SouthBayPhoto]

Thanks for the info. I've actually already posted on that thread and did get some info on there. I appreciate you posting it up though. Beananimal actually showed me some points of why to go through the back and building a smaller overflow box instead of building an entire overflow box on the inside. Of course some people have done it on the back as well. That's where I saw that one person cut across most of the back of the tank. The benefits of the system (besides it being quieter) is the big skimming area. That's what I want to take advantage of. The good thing is, I have time to build my tank, so I can research what I want to do before getting into it.