Reef or not to reef

ylreefer · Sep 25, 2018

Hi guys/girls. Not normally one to post but ive almost got to the end of my build now and I thought it might give some other DIY'ers some ideas. I've also been out of this hobby for over 20 years now and oh my how technology has changed so any suggestions would be most welcome.
I know it looks a complicated mess but I promises it's simple really. First chamber on the back left is the drain down. From there over the first baffle and into 2x 4" filter socks or media cups, under the second baffle into the skimmer section which also houses the bio pellet reactor, over the 3rd adjustable baffle into the return section. The small tank in the top right corner will be the fuge.
Project on hold due to a 2 month out of country trip coming up but as soon as I get things going I'll post some updates.
This is where I am for now though so just wanted to share. P,s this was originally planned as a reef tank. However at the wife's request its now going to be fish only. (not for long though [emoji6]. Secondary nano project already started .

Gareth elliott · Sep 25, 2018

Gorgeous start to a return to the hobby! Love the sump!

ScottandAlisa · Sep 25, 2018

Wow, nice set up! Im sure once the wife sees how beautiful the fish+corals look together she’ll probably change her mind. Excited to see how your tank progresses and enjoy your trip overseas![emoji4][emoji106]

Neo Jeo · Sep 25, 2018

JUST KEEP POSTING

NY_Caveman · Sep 25, 2018

Nice set up! Welcome to R2R!

GoPitt88 · Sep 25, 2018

Great job! Welcome to R2R! [emoji16] Looking forward to seeing the updates!

Ruben's Reef · Sep 25, 2018

Nice looking setup. Welcome to R2R and back to the hobby !!!

cracker · Sep 25, 2018

@ylreefer Welcome back ! You couldn't have said it better. "Oh My how technology has changed ". Give us a few examples of what stands out to You .

ylreefer · Sep 25, 2018

cracker said:
@ylreefer Welcome back ! You couldn't have said it better. "Oh My how technology has changed ". Give us a few examples of what stands out to You .

Hi Cracker. Well it's been a long time. When I last had a tank up media reactors definitely was not a thing [emoji28]. DC pumps have now become much more affordable with the likes of jebao hitting the market, Especially here in Hong Kong. The biggest change seems to be the great increased knowledge base available now and the effort people are putting in to the hobby as compared to back in the day. It's great to have forums like this where we can all share our experiences [emoji106].

ylreefer · Sep 25, 2018

Gareth elliott said:
Gorgeous start to a return to the hobby! Love the sump!

Thnx Gareth [emoji106]. Only thing I woukd have done differently woukd have been to have the sump all Arcrylic. But this one was already with me and didnt want the extra expense so made use of it. Let's see how it works [emoji23]

ylreefer · Sep 25, 2018

ScottandAlisa said:
Wow, nice set up! Im sure once the wife sees how beautiful the fish+corals look together she’ll probably change her mind. Excited to see how your tank progresses and enjoy your trip overseas![emoji4][emoji106]

Sure thing I certainly hope so. If not I have my back up plan in the form of a nano reef which I've already started to build[emoji6]

ylreefer · Sep 25, 2018

spyder813 said:
Nice looking setup. Welcome to R2R and back to the hobby !!!

Thnx Spyder, will be sure to keep you all updated as it progresses. [emoji106]

ylreefer · Feb 16, 2019

Hi all. Time. For an update I think. Now to be honest there's not much to update but hey. Time flies. So I've decided to set this tank up as a fish only system for now. Mainly due to the increase in coral prices here since the indo ban. The nano reef will have to suffice as a garden. It will be set up with corals in mind for later though so who knows. I may close down the nano one dy and move it all over.

So I've basically just placed in the aquascape with the rocks I had. Will probably add some live rock to this once the water is all in and settled which I'm. Thinking its about time to do. So standby for another update a little in the future.

Happy reefing

ylreefer · Feb 16, 2019

ylreefer said:
Hi all. Time. For an update I think. Now to be honest there's not much to update but hey. Time flies. So I've decided to set this tank up as a fish only system for now. Mainly due to the increase in coral prices here since the indo ban. The nano reef will have to suffice as a garden. It will be set up with corals in mind for later though so who knows. I may close down the nano one dy and move it all over.

So I've basically just placed in the aquascape with the rocks I had. Will probably add some live rock to this once the water is all in and settled which I'm. Thinking its about time to do. So standby for another update a little in the future.

Happy reefing

Here's the scape for now

ylreefer · Apr 2, 2019

ylreefer said:
Here's the scape for now

Hi all. So another month has passed and the glass box is still empty[emoji85]. Mainly due to some changes and awaiting delivery of the new RO membrane. But hey slowly slowly as they say so. I've removed to aquascap as a friend wanted some rock and I have another idea for the scape later as we've now decided it will be a reef tank after all. [emoji16]. As for the other changes its all about the plumbing. This system was originally plumbed with 1/2 PVC all round and for thoes of us using the Jebao Dc pumps you'll know they the outputs can be much larger. So after going all orange on the pipework you could call this a downgrade, or an upgrade depending on how you view it. It's now 1" PVC from the pumps and reduced to 1/2" ball valves for each split. I'll get some pics later as I build but at the moment it's all just bits. This will be a much simpler more uniformed manifold to. The other change is what used to be fuge will now be the ATO tank as I need to save space outside the stand as much as possible so as not to turn the living room into anymore of a LFS than it already is. (anyone following my nano post will see what I mean) [emoji85]. So that's it for now. Hopefully I'll have the membrane soon and some more time to start collecting water.

Sorry about the messy pic it's the only one I've taken so far[emoji16] as you can see the house has, become a workshop.

Happy reefing all.

VKGT · Apr 2, 2019

Super nice! You guys are inspiring me to try and think outside the box for my next setup.

ylreefer · Apr 2, 2019

VKGT said:
Super nice! You guys are inspiring me to try and think outside the box for my next setup.

If I can give one bit if advice it would be this. When you plan your system and plumbing, draw it out, think about your flow rates and equipment feeds then look over it for a few days. And then rethink if you can make it better. And you will. Draw it again and rethink again. Things change as we find better ways to direct flow and such. Finally buy your PVC, and then buy extra fitting because once you start putting it together you'll change your mind again. Finally use gate valves if you can find them and they fit in. Unfortunately they are hard to come by here and are pretty large so I had to go with ball valves.

Elliott Comans · Apr 2, 2019

ylreefer said:
If I can give one bit if advice it would be this. When you plan your system and plumbing, draw it out, think about your flow rates and equipment feeds then look over it for a few days. And then rethink if you can make it better. And you will. Draw it again and rethink again. Things change as we find better ways to direct flow and such. Finally buy your PVC, and then buy extra fitting because once you start putting it together you'll change your mind again. Finally use gate valves if you can find them and they fit in. Unfortunately they are hard to come by here and are pretty large so I had to go with ball valves.

Best bit of advice. Plan plan and more planning. I jumped into fit plumbing and regretted some decisions. Yours looks boss

ccombs · Apr 2, 2019

Congrats on the progress so far! Can't wait to see it up and running. These things take time.

ylreefer · Apr 3, 2019

Evening all. Or morning depending on where your reefing [emoji3]. OK just a quick update. Just finished the plumbing so thought I'd share that with you all. It's just past midnight so can't be doing anymore tonight but here's the job so far.

1inch return on the left fed by a jebao DCS 15000 split off to 4x 1/2inch feeds. Left to right: DIY carbon reactor / Biopellet reactor / BIO media reactors / 25w TMC UV unit of which the output will go to DT.

1inch return on the right fed by JEABO DCS 12000 Split off to 3 x 3/4inch feeds. Left to right: self cleaning sump feed / DT return feed / Chiller feed which will also return to DT. Effectively there are 4 returns to the DT, overkill but I wanted redundancy and also wanted the chilled water direct to the DT.

That's it for this update I guess. Any suggestions or questions welcome[emoji3] although it's already glued now so changes are kinda out if the question [emoji85].

Will update you all once it's been leak tested with fresh water. May be a while again as I still need to level the tank for that. Only other change in mind at this time is relocating the wave makers onto the back wall.

Again any suggestions or improvements you think I can add are very welcome