Our 70 Gallon Reef

sfb911

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Hi all,

I've been lurking around for a while and I thought I would post a bit about myself and my current build. I've been keeping fish, primarily freshwater for most of my life. Early last year, my wife and I realized, we were tired of keeping several tanks (we had a tank in just about every room on our first floor). After some discussion, we decided to downsize the number of tanks and then put together a really nice tank in our kitchen. We had some requirements in that we wanted a basement sump and easy maintenance. Not being much of the DIY type, we engaged with a local aquarium maintenance company, went through our requirements and ended up where we are today. I can't take much credit for the build itself, since they did most of the work, but I'm still very happy with the results!

Display Tank: 70 Gallon "Tall" with Custom Stand and Canopy, corner overflow
Lighting: Pacific Sun Metis Hyperion S2 (2x75W) LED - Running at 65% power
Powerheads: 1 x Jebeo WP-25 - will probably add a second

Basement:
55 Gallon Sump
20 Gallon Long Refugium
Mag 24 return Pump
1x 500W heater
1 x 300W heater (basement gets chilly in winter so we wanted some extra heating)
75GPD 5 stage RODI system, plumbed to salt mixing barrel and ATO barrel
ATO Controller
55 Gallon Mixing Barrel

I also had a requirement that water changes from the sump be made easy, you'll see in the photos below we added a system where the pump has a valve to shut off the return pump flow into the DT and instead divert it to the utility sink in the basement (I can empty 15-20 gallons out of the sump in around 2-3 minutes).

I'll be adding an Apex Lite Controller in the next week or so, its on order, that will be used to control the whole system from a technology point of view. After that next up will be dosers. Right now I've got the ability to manually dose if I need to, but i'd like to automate this as much as possible.

We have a long, long way to go but I thought I'd share a few photos.

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The green one? It's just one inch....they are actually called green back valves and are made by antelco. They are typically used in irrigation systems but have other applications as well....basically they are super durable super easy to open / close valves...bit expensive but they convenience is worth it IMHO.
 
The green one? It's just one inch....they are actually called green back valves and are made by antelco. They are typically used in irrigation systems but have other applications as well....basically they are super durable super easy to open / close valves...bit expensive but they convenience is worth it IMHO.
I have some for 1/2" ID hose but didn't know they make them that big. They're nice because they have insert fittings coming out of them and not pvc compatible fittings.
 
Hi,

Are you satisfied with the Pacific Sun Metis Hyperion S2 (2x75W)? Your feedback is appreciated.
My project is a 40x40x24 tank with two of these lights so 4 x 75w and this for sps / lps corals.
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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