110g build with basement sump

Kerwin1721 · Dec 31, 2015

Hello,

Thanks for taking a look at my build progression. Please give any suggestions/recommendations that you feel would help.

Little background. My wife and I have had lots of tanks in the past all with freshwater. We had the 110g tank full of chiclids. We have always dreamed about a big saltwater tank but were never in one place long enough to set one up. This past August we set up a 29g tank with a 20g sump. Wanted to start small to learn as much as possible before jumping in too deep with the 110g. The 29g is going really well so we started collecting the pieces we will need for the 110g.

Here is our 29g-

Here is the empty 110 - I need to finish pulling the black chiclid sand out, strip the paint ont he back and then pain the background black. We bought the stand and the canopy is a DIY build. I'm not sure if I'm going to use the canopy or ditch it.

The original plan was to setup our 110g tall tank with a 40g breeder as a sump. Then we had a LFS going out of buisness here and were able to pick up a Bubble Magnus Curve 7 and a Reeflo Barracuda pump for great prices which allowed me to get the OK to build a fishroom in the unfinished portion of our basement. My new plan is to use a 40b as a equipment area, then cascade into a 2nd 40b as a refugium. I built stands and have set them up. The previous owner had already put in a workbench which will be nice to keep everything else organized. Its a bit overkill but will allow us to upgrade to a bigger display tank in the future if we ever decide to.

I added a new breaker to our circuit box and ran it over so everything would be on its own GFCI breaker. The outlet is hung in between floor beams so it shouldn't have an issue with any water. Here are some more pictures of the 40b with the baffels in. I just put in the baffels into the 40b. Here is how the basement is looking so far.

Next is to clean and paint the 110 then plumb it to the basement. Also build a stand for the RODI and saltwater cans.

What do you think? Any suggestions/recommendations?

Latino277 · Dec 31, 2015

Looks good. The only diff I would have done was to put the 2 sump at the same level and plumb them together. Extra drains = noise.

TheWhiteFord · Dec 31, 2015

Latino277 said:
Looks good. The only diff I would have done was to put the 2 sump at the same level and plumb them together. Extra drains = noise.

It is in his basement, so I don't think he is to worried about noise down there.

Kerwin1721 · Dec 31, 2015

Thanks for the suggestion. I have not thought about how much noise it will create. I am working on plumbing it so I can water test it with freshwater and see how things going, then make any adjustments from there something will work better.

fragit · Feb 11, 2016

How's your build going? What kind of return pump are you using?

Kerwin1721 · Feb 18, 2016

Its been a while. Been crazy busy with everything so I haven't had too much time to spend on the system. I get an hour or two in each weekend but it is coming along nicely. I was able to finish plumbing the tanks and tote. I ended up using three 1" bulk heads in each 40g tank. 1 that will be a true syphon, 1 that is adjustable and one that is acting like an emergency drain. Then two 1.5" bulkheads in the tote leading to the pump. When I picked up the Reeflo Barracuda, it was looking a bit rough so I took it apart, cleaned everything and repainted the casing after using a wire brush on the small bit of rust that was coming through. After the seals came in I was able to put it all back together and water test it all. When we had the water softener put in they decided to put it right in the middle of the wall so I had to tuck the pump in behind the softeners water tank as you can see in the first pic.

I was getting a horrible noise on our main floor from the vibration using the pvc as a speaker so I put in two 6" pieces of flexible PVC. No more noise. I don't have much noise at all from the water, just the hum from the pump now. Since I keep the water high in each exit area of the 40g tanks and put the down spouts in the water on the next tank I don't get much noise from the water at all.

Here is how the tanks look now. The wires and everything still need to be cleaned up a bit but it is at least cycling water. The PVC pipe that is below the power strip runs to the vertical line coming from the pump. There is a T that runs the water to the basement sink and will carry the water upstairs. The lines running to the sink has a ball valve so I will easily be able to turn it and empty some of the water from the black tote for water changes without ever having to turn the system off. I have not finished piping upstairs yet so the ball valve is off on that line.

Also finished the water changing station. Its also gravity fed like the sump system. The top tank is for the RODI water and it is drilled on the bottom to let water out using two ball valves. One to go into the larger salt water prepping can and one that leads out so I can get RODI water for anything I need without having to climb up and into the smaller can. Then there is a line from the salt water can on a ball valve that leads to the black tote when I'm ready to fill it back up after a water change. I have the older pump I used on the 110 in the larger can to help mix the salt along with a heater.

I have about 90lbs of pukani rock from BRS cycling in the system right now. I test it every couple of days. Currently at:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - Off the chart
Nitrates - 5-10

I have been using Stability to help get the bacteria going but am just letting it sit for the most part. I have not even had a chance to mess with the 110 tank yet. A while back I scrapped the blue paint off the back and will paint it black when I get some time. Once the rock is done cycling, I will start working upstairs. I currently have the 29gallon tank where the 110 will go, so I will need move that before I can drill the holes to finish off the plumbing.