Resurrecting my 180 gallon reef!

Kormik · Mar 3, 2020

Hello all, I am new here to Reef2Reef. I had a 90 gallon mixed reef up for 8 years and then upgraded to a 180 gallon. Had the 180 gallon up for 5 years.
Had to take the reef down due to family reasons / time restraints, but the family is ready to get back into the mix and my kids are a little older and ready to help.
I am excited to get back in to the mix but want to make sure I am doing this right to avoid unnecessary problems down the road.

My current equipment:

180 gallon built into the wall of my finished basement, full access from the other side
Super Reef Octopus RO-PS 5000 INT protein skimmer
2 - Tunz power heads (cannot figure out what model) they are good though the controllers on them are 7090 and I cannot have them more then half power or the current in the tank is to much.
Reef Octopus BioChurn - 120R Bio pellet reactor
WaveLine DC12000 main pump (thing is awesome)
JBJ ATO - I need to get new sensors though
Lighting - 120w (Chinese LED lights from ebay) - might be an area I need to upgrade, I had great growth in the past with them though.
40 gallon sump (I know way to small)
Bubble-Magus doser
2 - Tow Little Fish reactors for phosphate remover and Carbon

So the first scenario I am aiming to fix is my sump.
If you look at the pic of my stand I raised up from the floor about 4.5 inches a wooden platform. The wood was in bad shape there so took it out and was going to replace it when I thought why put it back in. If i left that out I could easily put a 75 gallon aquarium under it... Any reasons why not to put the sump on the concrete floor?
I was thing about adding 2 of the larger Marine Pure Ceramic Plates in the sump to help get rid of Nitrates this time around.

Ron Reefman · Mar 4, 2020

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

It sure sounds like you have the equipment you need. I've been in the hobby 20 years and you have more hardware than I do!

Your sump is kind of small, but I don't think it's too small. But bigger is almost always better with sumps & refugiums. If you take the boards out from under the sump, I'd seriously consider a layer of plywood or some stiff foam insulation to keep it off the cool to cold concrete.

Good luck and I hope the family enjoys the ride!

Kormik · Mar 4, 2020

Thanks, I was thinking the same thing about getting the sump off the concrete. That must have been why I made the wood platform. That being said it will help keep the aquarium cool in the warmer months also though...

CindyKz · Mar 4, 2020

Another vote for keeping the sump off of the cold concrete. Otherwise it looks like you're off to a great re-start

Glott3133 · Mar 4, 2020

Welcome to R2R. I currently have my sump on the concrete floor, which now makes me want to make a change.

CindyKz · Mar 4, 2020

Glott3133 said:
Welcome to R2R. I currently have my sump on the concrete floor, which now makes me want to make a change.

Does having it on the floor cause any issues? Just wondering. Also, what climate are you in?

Glott3133 · Mar 4, 2020

I'm in the Chicagoland area. It has been winter since I setup the new sump, so not sure how it will be in the summer when the floor is pretty cold.

Ron Reefman · Mar 4, 2020

I thing the only issue you likely to have is a cool or cold floor keeping temps down.

I'm in SW Florida and I wish they built homes here with basements so it could help keep things cool. But down here, a basement would be an indoor swimming pool because the water table is so high.

Kormik · Mar 4, 2020

I would imagine that in summer this would help keep the temp down, winter would be the issue if the cold floor was keep the water colder then could warm up. Just my thoughts though. I will stop at the hardware store tomorrow and see what I can come up with. I want to keep this as low to the floor as possible and also not use wood so I don't have to worry about the water spills rotting it. I spill sometimes... haha

Ron Reefman · Mar 5, 2020

Consider some exterior stiff foam insulation. Keeps the tank away from the cold floor and is waterproof.

Kormik · Mar 22, 2020

Update:

Been working on some diy rock, its curing right now and then will need to soak it in water for a couple weeks.
Also replaced the sump, got a 75 gallon on sale and built the baffles out of glass today, feel like superman... never worked with glass before, only got one cut...

Thoughts on Lighting, my Chinese black boxes are old, had almost original ones and had great growth with them
I used (3) 165 watt on my 180 gallon previously.

Thinking this time getting 6, I have 3 bays so will work well. My Idea is the blue leds always burnt out and I had to replace them because I had them cranked at 100%. If I had more of the lights I could keep the blues at lie 50% and whites at like 2ish % and the blues would last longer... my guess is heat displacement is not great in them.

Anyway I am leaning toward 6 165w Viparspectra led lights
Thoughts?

Kormik · Mar 22, 2020

I just need to make the filter sock holder, ran out of time today

Albertan22 · Mar 22, 2020

Looking good so far. I put a 75 gallon sump under my 180 gallon tank and love it so far. I went and put my sump onto the concrete floor of my basement like you are talking about but wish I’d put some 1/2 inch styrofoam insulation under it. The 120g tank I upgraded from (sump on wood floor of stand) needed 400W of heaters to keep its temp. The new tank with the sump on the floor now needs 1100W to hold 78 degrees! It was a bit of a shock and I ended up needing to call an electrician in to run a dedicated 20 amp line to the tank because I couldn’t run the heater and the lights at the same time with the other stuff on the circuit. My water volume did t go up that much so I’m assuming it’s losing heat into the floor.