CalmSeasQuest's Big Blue Wall

[CalmSeasQuest]

I have to admit, I don't normally get that caught up in the aesthetics of equipment that will be buried in a sump, but I think the Double Cone is absolutely beautiful. I'll probably leave it sitting on my coffee table until install just so I can stare at it

Change in Plans
I'm rethinking my decision on using a Waveline DC12000 as the return pump. The one installed on the saltwater station moves a LOT of water BUT...has exposed a couple problems that make me uneasy about use in the sump,

• A leak developed between the volute/cover and the pump motor. It's probably nothing a bit of silicone on the o-ring and an extra 1/4 turn can't solve, but it's not what I expected on the what is supposed to be a high-quality pump.
• Although the pump itself is very quiet, the fan in the controller is very loud. It's NOT going into a cabinet that will be located in my living room.

I've been researching other pumps including the 80W Red Dragon 3 (GREAT pump, but very pricey and undersized for my application), The WaterBlasters (I've had a bad one in the past and dealt with rusting screws) and lastly the Laguna/Askolls. I was leaning toward a Laguna 4200 when I stumbled on the Fluval SP6. It appears to be a Laguna with upgrades designed specifically for saltwater use. The specs look good,



Input/Output Diameter: 1.25"
Flow Rate: 3434GPH
Max. Head Pressure: 13 feet
Flow Rate at 4.5 feet: 2250 GPH
Power Consumption: 135W

I can't find a head pressure chart, but its' clearly not a pressure pump. As my max head will only be ~5' and a lot of flow will be in-sump for the refugeum and manifold, I think it might be a good fit. It's relatively new, but all the comments appear positive. I think it's worth a try.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Made some progress this week...

• Apex, lighting (Maxspect, Orphek DIF50 and Kessil 360WE) Skimmer (Tunze 9016) and ATO installed on the stock tank
• Display and frag tank shut down and moved with livestock transferred to the stock tank
• Finished bleach and vinegar baths and rinsed Pukani - One more soak and Phosphate testing needed.

Components continue to arrive including the Vertex Vectra Engine...









[video=youtube_share;Prn3w001zb4]http://youtu.be/Prn3w001zb4[/video]

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

The tank is about 2 weeks out - I managed to get the drywall work and painting completed - Now I've got a "Big Blue Wall"













I decided to go with black Alterna tile (Vinyl/limestone composite tile - looks like stone, but much more forgiving), which I hope will be installed in about 10 days. New carpet probably won't arrive until after the tank is delivered.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Beautiful room!

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Beautiful room!

Thanks Rev,

I just heard from the tile installers, they will be onsite in a couple days. I caught a bit of a break as every retailer I spoke with said they were backlogged with builder jobs and that it would be at least a month before they could get to my small job.

I continue to spend time cleaning all of the Pukani I've got on hand. There is no doubt it is the lightest/most porous, but it is also the dirtiest and the least imaginative in shape. I'm considering going a different direction. I've got about 150 lbs of BRS Reef Saver on hand which although heaver, is very clean and better shaped. I'm going to place another order with Marco and forgo most of the Pukani for this build.

To aid in establishing biological filtration with minimal rock in the DT, I also ordered more plate and sphere shaped Marine Pure ceramic media which will be housed in the sump...


I've used this before with success in other builds where I had very little rock in the display. I'll seed it in my temporary holding tanks to hasten the cycle.

 

[Mike&Terry]

This is an awesome build! Looking forward to following your progress...

 

[miamiangler]

Where did you get the Marine Pure

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

This is an awesome build! Looking forward to following your progress...

Thanks! Tank will be here in 2 weeks

Where did you get the Marine Pure

BRS handles it, but they did not have the 1" plate in stock - so I ordered through Aquarium Specialty.

 

[miamiangler]

Thanks I`ll give them a try

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Tile down, ready for glass...

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

I got the Marine Pure rinsed and placed in the stock tank. I really like this stuff - I added 4 of the 8" X 8" x 1" plates and 1 gallon of the spheres (about 75 individual spheres.) Using their area calculations, that provides ~41,000 Sq Ft of surface area for biological filtration. Not only will it help hasten the cycle, but as I'm planning a rather open aquascape with lots of negative space, it minimizes the amount of rock needed in the DT while occupying very little space in the sump.

Next decision is finalizing the sump. This design is from uncle06, and I believe was derived from Melev's designs, so I'm pretty comfortable with the overall layout. My questions regard the dimensions and depth - The glass sump is 72" X 24" X 18", Here's what I have currently...



The drains are set up Bean Animal style with 3 X 1.5" drains. The 1" return feeds 2 X 3/4" loc-lines. I'll add a 4 port manifold off the return pump to drive reactors and may configure it using a second pump for redundancy (I'm a little concerned about getting/keeping the siphon tuned with the variations caused by the manifold.) The baffles are set at 1 1/2" yielding the following...

Skimmer section - 20" X 24" X 10" = ~20.8 gallons
Return Section - 18" X 24" X 10" = ~18.7 gallons
Fuge/Frag section - 30" X 24" X 12" = ~37.4 gallons

After estimating the equipment volume, the above should provide ~35 gallons for pump-failure overflow from the DT (I'll have a check valve, but never trust them.) The loc-line will be drilled with anti-siphon holes, so i don't think it will drain more than 2", which would be no more than 25 gallons - which the sump should easily hold in the event the check valve failed.

With the skimmer and return section depth set to 10", I'll have to raise the skimmer a couple inches, but thankfully I've got enough head room to do so. I'm going with 10" water depth to maximize the amount of evaporation before the return pump would run dry in the event of an ATO failure.

As this is my first large tank build, please point out anything I've failed to take into consideration. Thank you for tagging along - I really appreciate any comments or suggestions

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Oh man I can't wait to see this!

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Oh man I can't wait to see this!

Thanks Rev - Me too!

Got a surprise yesterday, had an electrician out to add a couple 20 amp circuits for the tank. I learned I can't add any more circuits as my connection box uses an aluminum bus and is more than 20 years old (apparently code.) Their solution was upgrading the box and service to the tune of $3800. I've got plenty of circuits and amperage available near the tank, I just wanted dedicated circuits for simplicity and redundancy.

A high quality GFI power strip will resolve my issue for quite a bit less.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Electrical Plan

Working through the electrical plan. I've got 3 circuits - 2 @ 15 amps and 1 @ 20 amps (although the 20 amp circuit is shared with a rarely used sump pump.) I'm using individual Shock Buster GFIs on each circuit to minimize the impact of any false-trips. The current plan is,

Circuit #1 (entire run is on a GFI) ~800W
Tripp Light commercial 20 outlet metal power strip
1-7 7X - Kessil 360WE LED lights (7X90W=630W)
8 - CaRx feed pump - 50W
9 - Apex power plug (for power fail sensing) - 10W
10 - CaRx mixing pump - 50W
11 - MP60 - 60W (Vortech battery backup)
12 - MP60 - 60W (Vortech battery backup)
13- 20 - Future Use

Circuit #2 (Saltwater station - ~780W)
EB8 on Tower Shock Buster auto resetting GFI
1 - Waveline DC12000 Mixing/Transfer pump - 170W
2 - Aquatec 8800 RO Boost Pump - 110W
3 - ASW Heater/300W
4 - AWC Masterflex Pump - 100W
5 - ATO Pump (YTBD)
6-8 Future Use

Circuit 3A (1400VA APC SmartUPS) ~ 495W
EB8 on Tower Shock Buster auto resetting GFI -
1 - Fluval SP6 return pump - 135W
2 - Heater/300W (set at 76f/78f)
3 - WP-60 - 60W
4 - 8 Future Use

Circuit 3B ~590W
EB8 on Tower Shock Buster auto resetting GFI
1 - Heater/300W (set at 77f/79f)
2 - Vertex Vectra Skimmer neck cleaner - 20W
3 - BK Skimmer - 50W
4 - Cabinet lights - 50W
5 - WP-60 - 60W
6 - Fuge/Frag light - 90W
7 - Moon lights - 10W
8 - AP Digital CO2 regulator - 10W

Normally I would keep the cable modem and router on the UPS as well so the Apex could alert me to the power outage, but whenever we lose power, our cable service also goes down (even with the modem and router still online.)

This ends up about 2170 Watts maximum utilization or just short of 20 amps divided between 3 circuits. The actual load should be much less (i.e. the second heater will probably only be needed overnight when the house temp is allowed to drop and the main LEDs are off.) This also leaves overhead for future additions such as fans, BP reactor, Kalk stirrer... I'm hoping this provides redundancy should a single GFI trip. In the event of a power outage, the UPS should keep the return pump, WP-60, and controller running for at least 30 minutes (long enough to bring a 7000W gas generator online.)

Please feel free to point out anything I've overlooked - Thanks!

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Good news on the electrical front,

I was thinking through the comments from the first electrician that had said circuits could not be added to my box (despite available room on the bus.) His push to install a new panel and bus (at significant cost) made me question his motives. On a hunch I called a second electrical firm to review my situation. They found the box and bus in good shape and have no problem adding 2, 20 amp circuits.

So although I'll have to slightly rework my plan, as of tomorrow, I'll have 2 dedicated 20 amp circuits to work with.

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

Great build, Tom. Going to be a stunner for sure!

My jaw dropped at the initial electricians thought/quote... his motives were my first concern as well. Glad you were able to find another option

 

[Dowtish]

Subscribed!

so good to see you back Tom! ALL your builds have been an inspiration, and this one is taking the cake so far and it's not even wet!

Amazing how you can inquire a bit with another contractor and find that you were getting scammed on the electrical.

 

[Bry]

After much deliberation, I committed to the Kessils A360WE's and took advantage of a 10% off coupon through ReefGeek (not to mention the things are sold out most everywhere else.) With my shallow depth and the additional 15% output from the new "E" models, I'm hopeful they will end up being a great choice.

Taggin along.. My 96" long 300 should be here in the next week or so. I have been leaning towards the A360WE's as well... any reason in particular you decided on them? I ordered one to experiment with over my existing 75g an love it so far!

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Great build, Tom. Going to be a stunner for sure!
My jaw dropped at the initial electricians thought/quote... his motives were my first concern as well. Glad you were able to find another option

Thanks Austin, I feel better with dedicated circuits.

Subscribed!
so good to see you back Tom! ALL your builds have been an inspiration, and this one is taking the cake so far and it's not even wet! Amazing how you can inquire a bit with contractor and find that you were getting scammed on the electrical.

Thanks Chris, the hobby (addiction) is expensive enough without abusive contractors.

Taggin along.. My 96" long 300 should be here in the next week or so. I have been leaning towards the A360WE's as well... any reason in particular you decided on them? I ordered one to experiment with over my existing 75g an love it so far!

I like the multi-chip concept and single point shimmer (especially with the Azure wall.) I also like the minimalist look of the gooseneck mounts. Lastly, I've had LEDs since the gen one AI's, and where most try to avoid shadows, I'm planning on an open aquascape that will take advantage of large PAR variations.

I've had one running over part of my temp stock tank with good results thus far.