My 240G reef build

[kenandmoose2]

I have had a 40 breeder for about 2 years now and had purchased a 180g aqueon that I was going too put together. The LFS/Tank builder called me up with a deal I couldn't refuse. Starfire three sides, closed loop tank with stand and he would take back the other tank for credit toward the new tank. So here it is

The sump and dosing chambers/ATO reservoir weren't part of the original deal but they did a nice job on them. I have been piecing this together since about February and have just about all of the things I need to actually put it together.

The dolphin 6250 type 4 is for the closed loop. The vectra will be my return pump. I was going to use it to also supply water to the bio pellet reactor and carbon reactor but I'm concerned that I wont have enough flow if I do. So I may get a cheap jebao dc pump to run the reactors. The aquamaxx cones Q skimmer is rated for 450g so hopefully it will keep up. I chose this skimmer over the rest because of reviews and recommendations from a few people. The last of the rock and sand should be here soon. I need to purchase one more of the lights and I'm waiting on some cerebra accessories to ship but it sounds like the end of the month. I definitely will be using all of that time to put things together it seems to be a slow process for me and I don't really want to have to the plumbing twice. I started the closed loop plumbing in the tank

and I think I may cut out a piece of plywood to put plumbing in that matches the tank to build the rock around the plumbing before I put it in place. Not really sure what the best path forward is on that but if anyone has stuck with me to this point and has some pointers I'd love to hear them. I need to venture under the house and support the floor which I'm not looking forward to at all. More to come and open to opinions. This is my first tank with a sump and a closed loop system.

 

[Jimbo662]

WOW, very cool!

 

[jsker]

That looks like a great system coming together

 

[kenandmoose2]

Thanks! I'm Ready for water in it lol....to bad its not

 

[Taduga]

Yeah looks nice will fallow along

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Very nice!

 

[kenandmoose2]

A few more pictures. Started putting together the closed loop plumbing in the tank. Kinda stumped on how to aquascape to hide everything and still leave room for adjustment of the nozzles. 16 nozzles at 400 gph.... Or 8 at 800. Any input on this would be helpful before I cover it.

More stuff showed up today but this working nights puts a damper on much getting done in any kind of timely manner is out of the question lol

 

[reeftanker17]

Awwweeesssooommmeeee!

 

[David Engh]

Very nice tank. I will be watching to see this come to gather. Should look pretty awsome by the looks of it already.

 

[kenandmoose2]

Thanks!! I hope to have some time today to work on getting some of the sump and under tank plumbing set up. I want to mount the closed loop pump on the back wall of the stand after I put up a piece of ply wood I have concern's that it will create a lot of noise though. I have a few ideas and may use the same 80/20 extruded aluminum stuff that I am going to build the light mount out of..... more to come soon and lots more pictures

 

[Goby-won]

Tagging along - looks cool!

 

[ZJedi945]

That L1 is crazy powerful. I wouldn't worry about it at all. Also I am guessing you will be running a manifold to supply the water to the reactors?

 

[kenandmoose2]

Yes with a jebao dc pump. I was going to use the L1 but decided that the cheap jebao pump on less critical systems would be ok
Just want to be sure I have enough flow through the dump and back to the tank.

 

[kenandmoose2]

So its time for a little update. Been on nights for a little over 2 weeks now and haven't really had the energy to put much time into the tank until today. I got the bottom of the stand filled it and put the sump under the tank. At this point I am starting to wonder if my plan for the closed loop pump is not going to work.

The return side of the sump is on the same end as the closed loop pump was going to be on. So I may have to rethink that and either moving it over the ato res or put it in the empty space between the sump and the ato. I was hoping to save that space for a calcium reactor down the road if needed but I'm not 100% sure how much space they need. The return piping should be simple because it wont be used for anything but returning water. I will have a seperate pump running for the carbon and bio pellet reactors and anything else that needs water supplied.

The stuff for this tank keeps trickling in and my living room is suffering from it lol. Good thing the girlfriend is tolerant hahaha

I ordered some stuff from a company called 8020 to build my light brackets. It should be pretty slick when its done. It will mount rigid to the wall but I'll be able to fold it up and lock it in place to do maintenance. Pictures of that will be posted as I build it. The stuff is awesome and will look pretty clean. I should be able to hide cords in the frame work but we'll see how that goes. It is suppose to ship on the 30th of this month.

Thanks for following along. More to come soon

 

[kenandmoose2]

So today the stuff for the light rack showed up. I started to put it together but got pulled away. Before i got pulled away i snapped a couple of pictures. This is a rough idea of how the rack that will hold the lights will look. Lots of adjustment to do and im still not sure about how im going attach the lights for sure .... more soon

Some pretty neat stuff to work with and its super stong

 

[kenandmoose2]

Had some time to spend on the tank today. I got the closed loop pretty much complete. I still need to glue in the piping in the tank in place and I have decided to take the Y's off of loc line for the closed loop. I don't think I'll have the velocity on each nozzle that I want. After putting the light bracket together and spending some time measuring and looking at things I ordered some more parts. I'm going to have to change the original plan but it will be basically the same end result. Anyway pictures.....

this last pic is the start of the over flow line.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Sweet build!

 

[kenandmoose2]

Thanks!

 

[Nick Vega]

Awesome! Following.

 

[kenandmoose2]

Need some opinions here please. I can see some benefit to doing this either way but could use some advice from y'all if you got time.
I have the L1 vertec pump that will be my return pump. I can use the blue fittings that come with the pump to hook up my piping or I bought the white pvc fittings that go with it and I can use those. The difference is the blue fittings

1in discharge and 1 1/2 suction.
The white fittings

1 1/2 in discharge and 2 in suction. I'm not sure if it will make a big difference in total flow if I go either way. Of course 1 in will have more line loss but will it make that big of a difference. The return lines in the tank are 3/4 in.

More pictures soon