Tank Upgrade: What Would You Have Done Different?

[saintsreturn]

So i asked this same thing of myself when i upgraded from 75 to 110. I was beyond excited and did so many things right. But now i have an all new lesson that i will do differently in the future. I do not have pics on this computer (at work) so check out my build and you can see what i am talking about lol...

Ok, so my 75 had a lot i would change, but here is what i focused on.

1)I wanted completely removable plumbing without cutting. I didnt get this 100 % but i got close with enough unions to make sure i could swap out/add/or adjust anything without cutting my current setup apart.
2) I wanted a sump that had the refugium blocked off from lite to avoid lite creep. For those who do not know what i am talking about, you know when you run a fuge and you get that annoying algae/coraline/stuff growing in other chambers? Thats from lite creep. Since i didnt want to fork out the cash for a new sump, i glued acrylic in to enclose the department.
3) A stand wide/tall enough to house everything but the misc stuff. ATO, electronics, glass cleaner, battery backups, etc. This was huge and i am thankful this worked out.

Now that i have everything i wanted, here is where the reality set it on the give and take.

1) With a taller stand, the already tall height of the 110g tank makes reaching to top annoying. Thankfully i have a flip style top that makes feeding a breeze.
2) Wife had to keep the canopy. So when i need to pull it off, to adjust rocks, frags or pull the drain line to flush a fish from the OF area, i need another person to help me.

Hope this helps!

 

[VSVP bet]

So i asked this same thing of myself when i upgraded from 75 to 110. I was beyond excited and did so many things right. But now i have an all new lesson that i will do differently in the future. I do not have pics on this computer (at work) so check out my build and you can see what i am talking about lol...

Ok, so my 75 had a lot i would change, but here is what i focused on.

1)I wanted completely removable plumbing without cutting. I didnt get this 100 % but i got close with enough unions to make sure i could swap out/add/or adjust anything without cutting my current setup apart.
2) I wanted a sump that had the refugium blocked off from lite to avoid lite creep. For those who do not know what i am talking about, you know when you run a fuge and you get that annoying algae/coraline/stuff growing in other chambers? Thats from lite creep. Since i didnt want to fork out the cash for a new sump, i glued acrylic in to enclose the department.
3) A stand wide/tall enough to house everything but the misc stuff. ATO, electronics, glass cleaner, battery backups, etc. This was huge and i am thankful this worked out.

Now that i have everything i wanted, here is where the reality set it on the give and take.

1) With a taller stand, the already tall height of the 110g tank makes reaching to top annoying. Thankfully i have a flip style top that makes feeding a breeze.
2) Wife had to keep the canopy. So when i need to pull it off, to adjust rocks, frags or pull the drain line to flush a fish from the OF area, i need another person to help me.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for taking the time to write this out. All very helpful. Unions are definitely going to be added, you confirm things I have heard about people not adding them in. Checked out your build thread too, looks great. As for the stand, I will be building an oversize one, but somehow big never seems big enough in this hobby

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

cube tanks seem to be awesome for tank, but not so much for stand to hide equipment in.

also 90 to 120 isnt much more, have you thought about maybe going a little bigger to a 150?

Yes, I love cubes until it’s time to get everything under it!

 

[Pntbll687]

So a 150 is the same footprint as a 125, just taller. Id love to send on a 180, but dont have the space. Im thinking a 125 because the wall it will go against is 78 inches, which will accommodate the 125 (72 inches) well. Im not heavy on fish, mostly coral, so the depth isnt really a concern either, the 125 seems to fit my needs, more space, ample viewing room.

But i get what youre saying, bigger is always better

You can do a 180! A 180 is still 72in long, just 24in wide i believe.

Sounds good, what ATO system do you use? Tunze?

yes i use tunze. I would probably go with a grvity fed system like on the red sea reefers if I were to do it again. One less thing to plug in, one less failure point.

 

[saintsreturn]

Thanks for taking the time to write this out. All very helpful. Unions are definitely going to be added, you confirm things I have heard about people not adding them in. Checked out your build thread too, looks great. As for the stand, I will be building an oversize one, but somehow big never seems big enough in this hobby

Glad the info helped! And thanks for the comments, i love my new setup

Take your time laying it all out. I even spend the extra $6 and bought the really cheap PVC so rough plumb everything out and make sure i liked the layout. This helped me in both measuring and making certain decisions as far as placements. One of which is where my union is on my return. I ended up adding 2, this way i can use one to swing the pump in its return section in case i need to replace with a different size/model down the road.

 

[VSVP bet]

You can do a 180! A 180 is still 72in long, just 24in wide i believe.


yes i use tunze. I would probably go with a grvity fed system like on the red sea reefers if I were to do it again. One less thing to plug in, one less failure point.

I think the increased depth would push it too far in the room. But might have to consider it, would hate to do an upgrade to just have to do another.

 

[Jerett83]

I wish I would have gone with an external overflow instead of the internal coast to coast. That 3.5 inches inside the tank creates a lot of shadowing along the back and makes it tough to place corals and I also wish I made my stand deeper to have the drains empty straight down instead of have them jog into my sump with 45's and 90's.

 

[VSVP bet]

I wish I would have gone with an external overflow instead of the internal coast to coast. That 3.5 inches inside the tank creates a lot of shadowing along the back and makes it tough to place corals and I also wish I made my stand deeper to have the drains empty straight down instead of have them jog into my sump with 45's and 90's.

Interesting you say that. I was planning to do a custom overflow. Something like this below.

My plan as to buy two kits that were 1200gph each and place them in the back wall near the corners. I wanted to avoid a bulky overflow that plumbs straight down. The thru the bottom overflow is what I have in my 90, and it takes up alot of space. However, you wish you had the standard thru the bottom overflow and not one that comes out the back?

 

[Pntbll687]

Interesting you say that. I was planning to do a custom overflow. Something like this below.

My plan as to buy two kits that were 1200gph each and place them in the back wall near the corners. I wanted to avoid a bulky overflow that plumbs straight down. The thru the bottom overflow is what I have in my 90, and it takes up alot of space. However, you wish you had the standard thru the bottom overflow and not one that comes out the back?

The big downside to these is the space it takes up on the back of the tank. You know how you said the 180 might stick out too far into the room? With an external box, it's going to add some inches on to the overall depth. The tank will then be a couple inches off of the wall to accommodate the overflow box and plumbing. It's just something to think about.

Why would you run two of them? Seems like a bit overkill, 1200 x 2 is 2400gph through the sump. Actual gph would be less, so your probably in the 10-15x turnover range. I would go one box, and take the money you would have spent on the 2nd box and get some wave makers.

If you do run two of those boxes, make sure you set up each as separate drains and emergencies. Also think about if one clogs. Will the emergency in that box and the other box be able to handle all the flow from the returns? Worse case scenario would be if one entire box clogged, can the other handle all the flow?

 

[fish farmer]

Otherwise, if you have the space, put as big a sump as possible behind the wall of tank. I did this and made a world of difference when doing sump maintenance.

Build an extra room for sump, ATO, spinning chaeto, mangroves, etc, etc.

I maintain a 120 6 foot long FOWLR. It is a pain trying to do anything under this tank.

 

[Dual40IM]

What is the height of your stand, wondering what the total height of your system is. Im planning to do a big stand as Im fitting a 55 sump and a frag tank underneath. This puts my stand at 41 inches tall (on paper) and the 125 is 23 inches tall. I was planning on making the stand tall to put the tank higher at eye level. Right now I have a 90 which I pretty tall, but after hearing this I get that concern.

I can get you an exact measurement when I get home. I think the stand itself is 32 or 34 inches tall plus the 31 inch tank. Wasn't thinking when I made it I guess. Don't forget though to leave yourself enough room under the stump to be able to get equipment in and out. ie skimmer, reactors and such. Here is a pic of my setup.

 

[VSVP bet]

The big downside to these is the space it takes up on the back of the tank. You know how you said the 180 might stick out too far into the room? With an external box, it's going to add some inches on to the overall depth. The tank will then be a couple inches off of the wall to accommodate the overflow box and plumbing. It's just something to think about.

Why would you run two of them? Seems like a bit overkill, 1200 x 2 is 2400gph through the sump. Actual gph would be less, so your probably in the 10-15x turnover range. I would go one box, and take the money you would have spent on the 2nd box and get some wave makers.

If you do run two of those boxes, make sure you set up each as separate drains and emergencies. Also think about if one clogs. Will the emergency in that box and the other box be able to handle all the flow from the returns? Worse case scenario would be if one entire box clogged, can the other handle all the flow?

I see what youre saying. SO my plan was to have two of these in each back corner..

And apologies, they are 1000gph. They are a bit over kill, but I just wanted to have the most fail safe system as sometimes I am away from my tank for a week or so. I will plumb them, all individually. Having two allows me to also use the lowest profile ones (as one that is 1500gph jets out farther in the tank). I know synergy reef makes a really low profile one, but its not in my budget now.

As for the pipes coming out the back, Im still in the design phase and Im trying to get the smallest foot print I can, do you have any suggestions to minimize how far the pipes come out?

 

[VSVP bet]

I can get you an exact measurement when I get home. I think the stand itself is 32 or 34 inches tall plus the 31 inch tank. Wasn't thinking when I made it I guess. Don't forget though to leave yourself enough room under the stump to be able to get equipment in and out. ie skimmer, reactors and such. Here is a pic of my setup.

All great advice and beautiful tank, thank you.

 

[Pntbll687]

I see what youre saying. SO my plan was to have two of these in each back corner..

And apologies, they are 1000gph. They are a bit over kill, but I just wanted to have the most fail safe system as sometimes I am away from my tank for a week or so. I will plumb them, all individually. Having two allows me to also use the lowest profile ones (as one that is 1500gph jets out farther in the tank). I know synergy reef makes a really low profile one, but its not in my budget now.

As for the pipes coming out the back, Im still in the design phase and Im trying to get the smallest foot print I can, do you have any suggestions to minimize how far the pipes come out?

What does the box off of the back of the tank look like? Or is this one where you put it directly over the bulkheads with no box on the back?
If it has a box on the back then the plumbing ideally would come straight down into the sump. If it is plumbing straight to bulkeads you can shorten the bulkheads with a dremmel and then use street elbows to get as close to the tank as possible.

Will the tank be next to a corner at all? If so you could plumb it on the short side of tank near the back. This would allow the depth of the tank to hide the plumbing. You would probably only see the plumbing when looking directly into the corner of the room. And once coraline algae grows on the glass, or if you paint the side in the corner you would literally have to look around the tank to see it.

Take your time planning the plumbing, add more unions than you think, at least enough to fully disassemble the plumbing without cutting it apart. I also like using 45 elbows over 90's. It lets water keep flowing without the chance of building up an air pocket which can happen with a 90.

My 190g tank has three durso style drains and two returns in the overflow. I used flex pvc hoses for the drains, and braided hose for the returns. All held together with hose clamps. I can take the plumbing apart in the sump in about 5min by loosening the clamps and wiggling loose the hoses (most of that time is looking for a phillips or standard screw driver cause I always forget what they are.

 

[JDtimk]

There are lots of good points already stated and I agree with most of them.

The point I agree with most is not compromising on the footprint of the tank to save some room space. The 125 gal is 18 inches deep front to back which is really limiting in terms of having space for corals to light them without significant shadowing issues as they grow in.

I went from a 90 to a 120 which is 24 inches deep and it makes a big difference in room to aquascape in any way other than up the back wall with a pile of rock. It also allows room for flow all around the corals and as I already mentioned the room to light the sides of the corals more easily without sacrificing too much real estate in the aquascape design.

If I ever upgrade, it will be an upgrade in depth of tank from front to back before any other dimension. I would rather have a 48" x 36" tank than a 60" x 24" tank.

 

[edc_aquarium]

what i would of done differently is i would of gotten a different overflow box, made alot more space for my sump, a manifold with alot of attachments other than that i like my tank

 

[Dual40IM]

All great advice and beautiful tank, thank you.

Ok so the top of the tank is 67 inches
From the floor to the top of the stand is 40 inches. I was wrong about the actual tank height, dimensions are
27 front to back
60 side to side
28 tall

 

[RtomKinMad]

Planning a similar upgrade from my 90 to a 120. Following along.

We just upgraded for the like 5th time. We started with 75 and 90, then 120, then 300 reef and 180 fo, now upgraded to 300 FO. Wish we had gone bigger right away! We kept making small upgrades which cost more money over time as the used tanks didn’t hold much value when we sold them. Have our 180 for sale now.

 

[RtomKinMad]

You can do a 180! A 180 is still 72in long, just 24in wide i believe.


yes i use tunze. I would probably go with a grvity fed system like on the red sea reefers if I were to do it again. One less thing to plug in, one less failure point.

Your right on the dimensions of the 180. We are selling ours now we went to 300gal! Wish we would have started with 500gal as that will be our next move when we get a new house! Lol

 

[RtomKinMad]

I can get you an exact measurement when I get home. I think the stand itself is 32 or 34 inches tall plus the 31 inch tank. Wasn't thinking when I made it I guess. Don't forget though to leave yourself enough room under the stump to be able to get equipment in and out. ie skimmer, reactors and such. Here is a pic of my setup.

What a nice set up!