75 Gallon technology heavy tank with DIY

[ilyad]

While the tank was cycling, I did some routine equipment maintenance.

First and foremost, I replaced the pump head on the doser channel that is responsible for my ATO. That gets the most use on a daily.

I was quite surprised by the amount of black gunk that was coming out of the old motor, on the rollers, and tube.

Also, while waiting for the tank to cycle, I decided to upgrade the lid from my DIY version, to a nice acrylic one.

Since my tank has various braces, I had to get some complex dimensions to account for.

However, @cromag27 (Matt from Octo Aquatics) was extremely helpful and guided me through the process of getting the correct measurements and provided a final design sheet before proceeding. The lid came out amazing (but I already knew it would since I purchased a nano tank lid from him previously).

Waiting for the lid, the tank continue to clear up and cycle.

And before the tank was done cycling, the lid arrived. Here are some of pics of the perfect fit and finish of this! Would highly recommend him for any acrylic work.

 

[NanoJHB]

One of my favorite threads to follow !

 

[ilyad]

One of my favorite threads to follow !

Thank you for the positive feedback. There's still plenty of stuff to update that I still need to find time to upload. I've got about 6 months worth still.

 

[ilyad]

Nothing too crazy to update during the cycle. However, once the cycle was done, one some of the critters were returned to their home (who have been patiently waiting at Golden State Corals all this time)

FTS right before any critters were added

Poseidon - A Springeri Damsel

A few weeks later my two clowns which I've had since 2015 went back in (Loki a Wyoming white and Hermes a Ice Mocha)

As a little side addition, I taped off the tank and added black silicone to fill the gap between the tank and the wooden stand. This helps protect the tank from water damage from the inevitable water spills here and there going down the glass and making its way into the gaps.

Here you can see the finished product when the gap is filled. Its not noticeable at all, but has plenty of great benefits!

(Dont mind the doggo scratching herself in the background)

 

[Coral Kai]

This build is crazy ... Good work man

 

[ilyad]

This build is crazy ... Good work man

Thank you for checking it out. Hopefully soon enough there will be more coral and color in these updates.

 

[ilyad]

Hey, its Friday night... if anyone is on and doing some perusing, maybe they'll find this interesting.

Fast forward to July, I decided to upgrade the Radion lights. Since I previously had the G4's, I did not intend to upgrade to G5's, but with the new G6 version, I thought it would warrant an upgrade. I believe the improved spectrum and spread would benefit the tank in the long run.

Here are the two new Radion XR15 G6 Pro's

Luckily the L brackets I made still fit the new verisions

The new light is slightly smaller than the older version which works in my benefit as I now have a bit more room to determine how far in or out I can move them.

Here are both of the new ones installed into the canopy. The modular design worked as intended and it took less than 5 min to put in the new lights.

And a sneak view of the puck from the under side.

 

[ilyad]

Being busy at work and in other home related matters, I dont get a chance to maintain the tank as frequently as I would like to which means there as algae on the glass and sand, and occasional bacterial blooms.

At one point, I even got a massive bloom that turned the whole tank water a nice and colorful pink color.

After some deliberation, I decided to add a UV sterilizer to help and work out a more manageable maintenance schedule. Next step was to modify the existing plumbing in order to add the UV in line to the return.

 

[ilyad]

I ended up purchasing the Aqua UV 25 watt in black.

The power supply for the UV is massive!

However, just like the body of the sterilizer, it turns out it is 2 in diameter as well, so the pipe holders fit it perfectly.

A quick hand fit of the location

Followed by actually marking the location of the holders using a lead pencil.

Then went ahead and screwed in the clips to the stand.

And here it is installed (note that the supply is shifted to the left to allow a gentle curve for the power cable to run down the stand and behind the sump through the wire runs.

Here is the actual sterilizer and how it utilizes the same clips.

And hand fit for the sterilizer.

Clips added to the stand

And the UV sterilizer put in place (I put the clips slightly closer together to give me room to shift it to the left or right about half an inch as needed).

With the power supply and sterilizer attached to the stand, it was time to do some plumbing!

 

[ilyad]

Ok ok, I know I promised more updates, so here it is...

Lets get plumbing the UV into the current set up. To make it all work, the original return line would have to be relocated to the intake of the UV.

Then moving out from the UV, it would shoot back towards the return pipe in the back and split to the two returns (luckily I added unions there so I can redo that section).

However, to account for small variances, I will avoid hard plumbing it (good luck with that) and instead will have small sections that will have tubing. Oh also, lets get rid of the ugly white fitting.

You can see how that will go back towards the current plumbing

Next step was to figure out the return going to the UV. Since the body of the UV is shorter, and the output had to clear the overflow pipes, I had to angle from the return pump. Also, since the plumbing was being redone, decided to toss in a flow meter that would allow me to get a better idea of how fast Im running flow though the UV.

And here is the mocked intake and outtake from the UV.

Although the run is not ideal for the flow meter, there just isnt any other place where I can have a long straight run as is... 45s is the best I can have, so will make do with that.

Once the UV main parts were finished, we still have to deal with connecting it to the tank. So the old part was removed, and new section was made with a T fitting.

Finally, the original intake is now open and needs to be sealed/capped/utilized. Since it was already there, I decided to connect a media reactor.

Test fit after making the output.

And the view of how everything will run

And here is all the plumbing pieces that had to be made to make all this work. Leaving it out for 24 hours to let it cure before swapping it out.

 

[ilyad]

During all of this, I did want to show off another resident! Meet Apollo the Radiant Wrasse. Apollo was added before the pictures with all the Cyano (still battling with that one).

 

[ilyad]

The following day after the new plumbing had time to cure, it was time to set everything up, including wiring for the UV and flow sensor.

As mentioned before, the UV power cable runs down the side of the stand and through the cable channel. I added a few zip tie hold points to run it cleanly.

Both the UV and flow cables sticking out.

Example of the UV cable already tucked in its place (the flow cable is still routed outside).

UV power cable and sensor cable run through the wire tray

And this is how it looks once the covers are on

Behind the profilux is a bit of a mess, but not much I can do about that... plus its not visible from the front

Here is the look from the side when everything is tucked away.

And the look from the front of the stand

 

[Mikey-D]

You are what inspires me to keep gong with my build idea. This is the inspiration that keeps me going. The technology and the cleaniness of this has form and function. I have not been able to start yet, but I know this is the patience and time that I want as well for mine. Thank you

 

[ilyad]

You are what inspires me to keep gong with my build idea. This is the inspiration that keeps me going. The technology and the cleaniness of this has form and function. I have not been able to start yet, but I know this is the patience and time that I want as well for mine. Thank you

Thank you for following along... this build has been in the making for about 4.5 years altogether and so far not much to show for it in terms of corals. But I have been finally getting everything pinned down after this last rebuild and feeling excited about the prospects that soon I'll start getting more stuff in here.

If anything, this hobby has taught be tons of patience and to make things modular. Always plan ahead to make it easier to change, upgrade, or replace things!

 

[ilyad]

After the new plumbing was cured and the wiring managed, it was time to finally hook everything up and get it running.

Start by removing all Teflon tape and applying a nice even new layer

Then plugging the bulb into the power connector (take caution not to touch the bulb with your hands and leave oils that may heat and bust the bulb) and into the UV body it goes.

And here we can see the relaxed loop the power cable makes back to the earlier mounted power supply.

But just because the plumbing is cured, we still have some pieces to button up where the hose connections go.

First we put in the new plumbing.

Eyeball the length of the hose

Compare to cut piece and make fine adjustments

Pull out and use strength to fit the hoses on these aggressive barbs. Although it was a pain to get on, I have no fear these are ever coming lose themselves.

And here it is installed.

Next step is to cut a short hose for the return connection.

Unfortunately, when I measured the hose size, I did not have the UV sterilizer clipped all the way in in the hose holders... So when that was attached, my fittings were a bit short.

Luckily the fitting on the Vectra are threaded and I was able to raise it to fit the gap.

Now we only have one thing left to tackle, and that is the original return input, which now acts as an output... I went ahead and fitted various tubing to the outlet and put in a valve to adjust the flow.

I used zip ties on the fitting bits that aren't as sharp as the spears.

And the final product

And after being installed into the system

And here is the FSS (Full Stand Shot)

 

[ilyad]

As mentioned previously, one of the major purposes for setting up a UV sterilizer was to help me with algae issues in the aquarium because of lack of time to be able to do consistent frequent water changes. Also, I dont like scraping the glass way too often.

Here are some pictures of the aquarium when the UV and carbon reactor were first set up.

The tank was just not a pleasant sight most of the time, but I put in the effort to work towards making it look better!

 

[ilyad]

After installing the UV sterilizer (coupled with the late summer hot weather), I saw a slight increase in tank temperatures that was a little too high for my liking...

Already having a large GHL ecosystem, it was a no brainer to add the Breeze fans. I went with the largest 6 fan model and a controller so that I can run the fans at lower (and thus quieter) settings.

One of my concerns was the placement of the thumb screws going towards the inside of the tank because I have a lid that would interfere. After reading various forum posts and discussing the question with @Vinny@GHLUSA I was fully prepared to have to take apart the fan to flip the feet. However, when I received the light, I noted that the feet can be easily unscrewed using this side screw and flipping the feet to the opposite side, without having to open the fans.

After removing this screw, the foot slides out easily and can be put into the foot housing on the opposite side easily.

Another potential issue I was prepared for was having not enough space between the lid and the tank to fit the feet and thus would require modification to the lid... but to my surprise, and with lots of luck... the lid space had just enough room to fit the feet without any modification.

I used an L ruler to get the spacing just right to center the fan ( I also went with the larger 6 fan option so that it can clear the external overflow, which it did).

And here is the fan in its place on the tank. Thumb screws facing the "correct" direction and with enough clearance with the lid to not require any modifications.

Cheeto looking on at the progress.

 

[ilyad]

After installing the fan itself, time to add the speed controller. Used double sided tape and put the controller box next to the screen one.

Tucked the extra cables in the wire run and neatly behind the tank.

And a look at the power bars (all full now!)

And now some cool pics with the whole tank

And specifically of the sump area

With gear only

And with all the stuff that usually lives there

And some pics of the display portion.

Still plenty of unsightly algae and cyano.

 

[ilyad]

Quick little update today... while owning the tank, I have always been annoyed with the lack of lighting inside the stand and always having to bring a flashlight or blast the room lights.

So I finally got on amazon and found a nifty little LED light... it is rechargeable (so I don't need a constant power source) and motion activated (so it turns right on when I open the stand. Luckily, the flow in the sump is not enough to trigger the motion sensor.

The light comes with an adhesive metal strip and attaches magnetically.

Magnetic strip attached to underside of stand using double sided tape. I will have to watch it to make sure that it does not rust, but I am hopeful that it wont be for a while... at which point I will most likely look into sealed magnets.

Ant now I can take well lit photos of my sump area!

Meanwhile, the UV seems to be doing a good job at cutting down algae, especially when combined with manual cleaning.

 

[ilyad]

Another small but extremely useful upgrade to the tank came in the form of a MP40 guard. Due to the placement of the pumps, I was getting issues with air being sucked into them causing a ton of micro bubbles. Also, smaller snails kept getting stuck in the larger spaced guards that come with the pump.

These 3D printed ones solve both problems by blocking suction from the top and decreasing the size of the holes on the side.

Pumps before the guard.

And with the guard on

And the side by side comparison

And some more shot of the tank in its space, just because it looks cool and Id like to share the view.

And with all its "guts" on display as well.