Gilroy 425g Build Thread (All Apex, all the time)

[Terence]

So the head pressure requirements appear to be less than I thought. Due to the split level nature of my house, I incorrectly added the height above the sump to the floor of the room above to the height of the tank. This gave me what I thought would be about 16-17' of head pressure. In fact I forgot that my master bedroom above is actually on a level three feet higher than the level of the tank in the foyer so I really "only" have 13-14' of head pressure. Seems like a small difference, but with pumps it is huge.

Also, I was toying with the idea of putting that sump up on a stand to reduce the head pressure 24" more, make it easier to work inside it, and to give me some more storage underneath.

What do you think?

 

[Terence]

Also, I have three real candidates for a pump. I want to go internal due for power consumption and thermal reasons.

> Abyzz 200
> Red Dragon 230
> Deepwater BLDC15

Clearly if money were no object everyone would probably pick one of the first two. However the Deepwater option has a value point that makes it hard to resist.

What do you think?

 

[1mbrews8]

Looks like a very cool build so far!

 

[jedimaster1138]

Following this thread as it's my dream set up pretty much Huge, detailed, and the filtration is no where near the "people area"where wives etc can complain about noises and smells

I can't speak for the other pumps, but I have the 80 w Royal Exclusiv Red Dragon Speedy, ie the 8000 liter/hour model, and I can tell you...it's incredible. Built like a tank...a battle tank. Weighs a ton and you can see the attention to detail in every part. It's also *dead* silent. The only complaint I have about it is that the cables into and out of the control box aren't removable, so it makes maintenance slightly more irritating as I have to pull out the control box a few times a year when I want to clean and vinegar the pump. But I think that's something they have changed in the 230w model?

After battling with a few less than great return pumps, I concluded a while back that the return pump isn't a place to save money on a lesser model. Without out, you kinda don't have a functioning reef, so...yeah. It pays in the end to go with a high quality item Clark. When I'm day dreaming about my giant basement filtration super reef and sketching things on the back of en envelope, I actually have tried to figure out how to work in 2 return pumps because, well why have one when you can have 2 for twice the price and some semblance of redundancy?

I also have a Bubble King skimmer with the RD3 controllable pump. Equally good things to say about that. As you can tell, I like my German made aquarium gear. There's also my Tunze powerheads and ATO and ATI lights...

Will be following along. Good luck with your build!

 

[Terence]

Thanks for the feedback Jedimaster. I too love quality built equipment. That said, I know some of the non-German stuff is just getting better and better. And, no matter how good it is, it can still fail. So, which pump can I more easily afford to have sitting on the shelf just waiting for that time? A 10-year warrantee is great, but it can't flow my tank while the pump is being repaired. And, $1200 is a lot of coin (compared to say $400) to just be sitting there just in case - it could go to another cause.

Tough choices.

Another tough choice is all my reef buddies know how much I hate sea swirls. I just think they are the ugliest things on a reef tank - and cost way too much for what they do. But I know they do work. If I could hide them in this build though, I think I am going to eat my words and give them a shot.

 

[jedimaster1138]

Funny you bring up Sea Swirls, they are actually on my short list of parts for that aforementioned dream tank. I've been envisioning a peninsula or otherwise room divider tank, ie visible on 3 sides - 2 long and 1 short - so loading it up with power heads isn't all that appealing. Along with some kind of closed loop, I was thinking something like 2 separate return pumps feeding 2 Sea Swirls each, placed in the 4 corners of the tank. Or something. You said it well though - they are big, have to be hidden, and are bit over priced for what they are from an engineering standpoint (<-- electrical engineer) but they work, and run forever and are backed by a stand up, US based company. There's a lot of tanks out there that employ them for water movement, and in some cases just them, and have some insane SPS growth and color.

Like I said, back of the envelope thinking. I have my 120g long to keep me busy for a few more years, depending on when and where we move to. lol

 

[ReefCave]

Looks great Terence! The variable speed Century motors are great, and Pentair now has one now for salt too. External though, but very quiet for what they push and worth every penny IMO. Experience with both. Then you can customize the water flow and tune it precisely based on power consumption or flow. They also accept programmed settings to turn up or down . Sweet pumps. Then you can figure out how to bridge them into apex and lmk how to do it. So I can apply to other jobs Also based on past recommendation from ReeFlo.. On a past job ( noise sensitive) to achieve more head with their lowspeed pumps (hammerhead/barracuda) you can run 2 of them in sequence (inlet from sump, to pump A, to inlet of pump B, then up to the tank. ) keeps you w/ low speed motors (quiet) vs the high speed high head motors (loud). I'd assume the same motors need to be used in that application. The power savings and heat transfer vs 1 high speed pump I did not take note.
Sea swirl eye sore will be made up for with incredible acro growth from unique flow patterns they can achieve by being mounted from the top and their fanning motion directed toward the visible front reef. ( hard to achieve that straight on flow otherwise) Unless you want to mount a flow pump on the front glass.
Lots of expensive options. Fun stuff. Great job, lots of work, this'll be fun to follow.

 

[Dxpert]

Looking Great Terence! Tagging along for the ride. If it was me, I would go with the Deepwater BLDC15

 

[jason g]

Wow everything is coming along nicely.

 

[Terence]

Today I am going to try and install the copper plumbing to bring water over to the FishCave area. Also going to install a utility sink. If I still have the energy I will build and put the "sump" up on a 18" stand. Time to get to work.

 

[pciscott]

Ambitious amount for a day unless you have a contractor or at least good neibors? Anyway good luck Terence and I will be following your build. I vote for the RD Speedy 230, I picked one of the first ones up in the country at Reefapalooza Orlando and it is a very impressive pump.

While you are doing your fishroom plumbing a floor sink is very handy and makes for quick water changes. I have my Dose installed and almost ready to go auto water changes, but it is nice to be able to open a couple valves and do 100 gallons in minutes when you need to.

I also vote for the Sea Swirls, they make the coral happy and the random flow patern does not ever hammer one spot with too much flow. They will eventually disapear as your eyes are drawn towards the colors in your tank.

What do you plan for lighting?

 

[Terence]

So I got all I wanted to accomplish today done, but no energy left for the stand. I was able to bring over the cold water line and connect up a utility sink and put a tap in for my RO on the other side of the sump. A lot of work doing the copper, but no leaks! Not the prettiest sweat joints around but I know they are solid!

 

[Terence]

I also vote for the Sea Swirls, they make the coral happy and the random flow patern does not ever hammer one spot with too much flow. They will eventually disapear as your eyes are drawn towards the colors in your tank.

What do you plan for lighting?

I will likely end up with the sea swirls.

For lighting I am leaning towards using multi-channel controlled BML (Build-My-LED). I like the even look of them and its hard to beat their PAR per Watt. And power savings is important here in California.

 

[Acrononomus]

Hey any updates over there? Did u go with sea swirls? And which return pump did u choose? Get tank yet ?

 

[Reefermadness73]

U should checkout California Reef Co.

 

[Terence]

Hey any updates over there? Did u go with sea swirls? And which return pump did u choose? Get tank yet ?

Updates? Well I have been quite busy with vacation last week at Lake Powell and next up is Reefapalooza in NYC next week so time is short for me right now.

I did get my water line plumbed over and a utility sink installed. Next I will be putting up my sump on a utility stand of some sort. Likely cinder blocks.

For a pump, the guys at Royal Exclusive came through and gave me a deal I couldn't refuse on their new 230W variable speed pump. So that will be tried out first and see how the flow goes!

The tank is still in a crate in my warehouse at work. Hopefully it will how on the stand in a couples of weeks.

Next project is getting all the power routed over to the fish area and boxes installed.

 

[Oscaror]

I'm hyping right now!

 

[Fishlee]

Are you going to be using the new par monitor kit in your system ?

 

[Terence]

Are you going to be using the new par monitor kit in your system ?

OF COURSE!

 

[Terence]

OK, so I am trying to decide on how to plumb the drains on this beast so it can be as silent as possible. With all the possibilities and all of you smart guys out there, my friend Mark from Tenji (www.tenji.com) and I have some ideas but we would like to hear what you have to say first.

So, here is the info. I will have approximately 1800-2200gph of flow from the return at the tank. Each of the two 24" external overflows have three 1.5" bulkheads on them. The sump is 70 feet away so I want as minimal amount of plumbing as possible back to the sump. I also want it as silent as possible with safety (emergency drain).

So, what say you all?

Attached are a few more photos.