Teton Reef - 175-Gallon Build Thread

[lkriley]

Thanks. I made sure there were 6 pipes so I could run that design. 2x return lines, 3x lines for bean animal, and 1 more for a vacuum that will pipe into a drain.

This is so exciting...a dream! I am definitely going to follow your progress. Keep up with the photos and such please. This is actually a dream of mine as well. I am also retired from the military.. I think I am about two years from starting my dream. I am excited to follow your progress and perhaps learn from it. Thank you for sharing

 

[thewalkingdad]

This is so exciting...a dream! I am definitely going to follow your progress. Keep up with the photos and such please. This is actually a dream of mine as well. I am also retired from the military.. I think I am about two years from starting my dream. I am excited to follow your progress and perhaps learn from it. Thank you for sharing

Thanks! I'm trying to emulate @SuncrestReef's build with some considerable changes, but his tank is the goal. I'll keep the pictures and posts coming as I make real progress.

Thanks for your service in the military. I made a deal with my wife that I would allocate my disability check from the VA towards reefing for the first 12-16 months to help save up. So this tank has been a very long time coming for me.

 

[SuncrestReef]

Thanks! I'm trying to emulate @SuncrestReef's build with some considerable changes, but his tank is the goal. I'll keep the pictures and posts coming as I make real progress.

Thanks for your service in the military. I made a deal with my wife that I would allocate my disability check from the VA towards reefing for the first 12-16 months to help save up. So this tank has been a very long time coming for me.

Wow, you’ve already outdone my build! I’d love to have a fish room. Glad you like my tank, and good luck with your build. Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions on my setup.

 

[thewalkingdad]

Wow, you’ve already outdone my build! I’d love to have a fish room. Glad you like my tank, and good luck with your build. Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions on my setup.

Thanks. You and Derrick have already been very helpful in the Reef Automation group. I plan on taking a lot of your tasks because I think I'll have enough similar equipment that my automation tasks can be set up the same. What I appreciate about your build is the level of redundancy in case something isn't happening right and how the logic is built in to ensure tasks aren't stepping all over each other when you wouldn't want two (or more) tasks executing at the same time.

 

[thewalkingdad]

I got a few more things in the mail today. Finally got my second 300W heater + controller. I also got the heavy duty shelving rack that will hold my sump and 2x fish QTs.

I also got my stand to hold both my mixing station water barrels. I wish they were a bit higher up, but this will have to be good enough for now. I'd love to be able to put a spill tray underneath this, but I haven't found one I like in the dimensions I need. I will likely put a small piece of plywood underneath each barrel but on top of the dunnage for stability.

 

[lkriley]

I got a few more things in the mail today. Finally got my second 300W heater + controller. I also got the heavy duty shelving rack that will hold my sump and 2x fish QTs.

I also got my stand to hold both my mixing station water barrels. I wish they were a bit higher up, but this will have to be good enough for now. I'd love to be able to put a spill tray underneath this, but I haven't found one I like in the dimensions I need. I will likely put a small piece of plywood underneath each barrel but on top of the dunnage for stability.

I'm not sure how big a tray you are looking for, but have you tried looking at the ones made for shoes/boots in the winter time? There are some pretty big ones I have seen. Also, you could potentially get two of them and mold them together with silicone or something....???? Just a thought.

 

[thewalkingdad]

I'm not sure how big a tray you are looking for, but have you tried looking at the ones made for shoes/boots in the winter time? There are some pretty big ones I have seen. Also, you could potentially get two of them and mold them together with silicone or something....???? Just a thought.

Ideally, I would love to place the entire dunnage rack in the same tray. I've found some that were pretty close to what I wanted. I know that if I were to fab something up, I would likely ruin in, lol.

 

[lkriley]

Ditto!!

 

[thewalkingdad]

Had a few more things get delivered today. I'm excited to be able to put together the sump and get it rolling along. My current plan calls for me to drill two holes in the sump to accommodate
my two return pumps, but I hate the thought of drilling such an awesome sump. I might hard plumb the pipes out up the top of the sump to feed into the return pumps. I'll lose some flow due to head pressure, but I don't think it would have a meaningful impact on the filtration.

As far as the house goes, I should be closing on it in less than two weeks and then the real fun begins! Glad I got my utility sink put in. I might change out the faucet later on to give me some more clearance in there. But I will likely leave it for right now.

 

[lkriley]

I don't think I could put a drill to an awesome piece of equipment like that. I'm sure your skilled enough but its definitely not for me. Personally I think I would be more comfortable with the alternate solution. I don't think a bit of pressure will hurt and it should not affect the filtration at all.

What

 

[lkriley]

Hit reply by accident.

What, only two weeks to go...dang. I can feel the excitement building. I'm really happy for you. This is so dang cool.

 

[thewalkingdad]

I don't think I could put a drill to an awesome piece of equipment like that. I'm sure your skilled enough but its definitely not for me. Personally I think I would be more comfortable with the alternate solution. I don't think a bit of pressure will hurt and it should not affect the filtration at all.

What

Ha, I've never drilled glass or acrylic in my life! I will go the alternative route until I need to or I feel brave enough to punch two holes in it.

 

[thewalkingdad]

Well, a lot has happened since I last updated this thread, but not as much as I would've liked. And unfortunately, all the stuff happening is generally non-tank related

I moved into our new home and then the pandemic hit. The pandemic put my tank plans on pause while we waited out some economic uncertainty. Once I ensure my family had food and toilet paper, I was able to put a little bit of time into the fish room.

I still don't have a tank or a stand yet, but I'm currently leaning towards the Red Sea XXL 750v3. I wanted the Planet Aquarium MEGA Matrix, but they only ship to retailers and I wouldn't have a good way of getting it to me. So, I've yet to pull on the trigger on the tank, but I'm anticipating doing that in the next week or so.

I've spent a bit of time pre-arraigning my RO/DI system so that will be ready to go. The goal is to have my ATO and water mixing station to be as automated as possible and that has been a challenge to think through in a way that makes sense and is safe.

On top of that, I've been inspired by BRS (Ryan's 360 tank) and have followed his lead in some aspects. I used the same concrete paint he did to paint/seal up the concrete in my fish room. I caulked the seams around the room. The room has a drain and water should drain that direction, but the drain is fairly far away from where the sump will be. So by caulking the seams around the room, I hope that the even if the water pools a bit, it wouldn't cause damage while it eventually drains out. Then I used some extra rubber mats that I had from building my home gym and used those around the utility sink, sump stand, and mixing station. It should be nice and comfortable to stand there while I'm working there. It should also help be a first line of defense in case of small spills. I used a few sheets of FRP and screwed them up against the unfinished wall to be a splash shield to protect the drywall and exposed studs. We didn't do an awesome job, but certainly better than nothing and good enough to protect against some splashing. Lastly, I cut the pipes that were coming down from the tank room. When the builders put them in, they left them at all different lengths. So I cut them to be more even.

As far as equipment goes, I bought 3-prong plugs to finish the power cords on the Iwaki pumps. I have three Iwaki return pumps. Two will be used as actual return pumps and the third will be powering my mixing station and be available as a backup in case I need it. Noise is a concern for me since my fish room is right next to my daughter's bedroom. So I took a few rubber pads and used liquid nails to glue the pads together. I'll then try to mount the Iwaki pumps on top of those pads to help keep vibration noise down.

And here are a few pictures of the progress thus far. Next up will be mounting the RO/DI system and maybe plumbing the mixing station.

 

[Fishbro]

This is seriously an awesome build! Looking forward to seeing more updates!

 

[thewalkingdad]

This is seriously an awesome build! Looking forward to seeing more updates!

Thanks! I feel like I have such a long way to go that it makes my head spin. I have no clue what I'm doing with any of this but am just trying to figure things out step by step. Thankfully, there are a decent amount of resources. Getting the plumbing right it the part that appears the most daunting and that is something that I can't really have anyone else plan out for me. After that, mastering my Apex seems to be the next biggest hurdle.

 

[thewalkingdad]

I got a bit more work done today. Every step feels satisfying despite me still being very far off from the end-state (if there is such a thing...)

I cut some extra 2x4s to put up as places I could mount my RO/DI system. I don't know how other people figure this stuff out, but even with a decent-sized fish room, I'm still struggling with where the best place is to put things. Anyway, I decided to mount the RO/DI system near my sink since that is the water source. Unfortunately, that means it the water will be piped across the room to where the mixing station is. Not a big deal, but I have a plan for that as well. I tapped into my tap water with the BRS-provided "T" and hooked up the wastewater line through the BRS-provided drain saddle. I need to get another "T" that I want to connect into my wastewater line because that will serve as the gravity-fed overflow from my RO/DI storage tank.

In the image below, on the right, you can see how I eventually plan to mount my Iwaki pumps. I'm hoping that will be enough to deaden the sound of them enough. I also plan on using soft plumbing on both the inlet and the outlet to help reduce some vibration, hence the barb fittings on a few of the pumps. I still need to buy a few more.

I haven't actually plugged in the pump yet or turned on the water. I'm waiting until I have enough RO tubing to make its way around the room to my storage container. So, I really have no clue if everything works yet, or not.

And, can I just say how much I love these little RO tube brackets. I don't remember how much I paid for them, but they are worth it and I plan on buying many more as I complete the setup.

Next up, I'd like to start plumbing the mixing station since I believe I have all of the plumbing and parts I need and it's as intimidating to me. So I think I can learn a little bit on the mixing station in preparation to plumb the sump to the DT.

 

[thewalkingdad]

I started mocking up my mixing station. And when I say mocking up my mixing station, I mean actually measuring and cutting pipe. I haven't glued anything together yet, but as I've gone through this mocking up process I've identified quite a few connectors that I need in order to finish it. So, I made another purchase at BRS to get me the rest of what I think I need to finish it. I have a feeling, by the time I'm done with all of my plumbing, I will have made quite a few more purchases for parts. I also think I will have quite a few extra of different parts and pipes.

 

[thewalkingdad]

I've pretty much finished the water mixing station. It wasn't pretty, but I got it done. I still need a $3 part for my gravity-fed RO emergency overflow. I also haven't connected the RO/DI system to the mixing station yet. And I've yet to hook up the ATO or AWC. But the actual plumbing for this system is done. I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. There are definitely things I would do differently next time to simplify it, but what's done is done.

I also started to mock up what the return pump-to-UV-tank setup would look like. Becuase of the room I am in, the way everything is configured, and the shear size of the two UV sterilizers, I don't have any great options on plumbing, but I have some options. I will have flow monitors and gate valves on both return pumps so I can tune them to maximize the sterilization. At some point along this chunk of equipment, I need to use a 90* bend and move towards the wall. I'm unsure if I want to do that prior to the FMK/gate valve, or after.

Next up I'll be working on connecting the RO/DI system to the freshwater storage bin.

 

[thewalkingdad]

With the mixing station done, I decided to work on the connection between the RO/DI and the mixing station. In the interest of safety, I wanted to make sure that I had a gravity-fed emergency overflow line put in my RO container. So I drilled a hole above the level of my float valve. I put in some RO tubing that inclines all the way down to my saddle drain plug from my RO/DI system. I used a "tee" there to connect the lines. I also connected my RO/DI system up to my RO storage tank. I still need my Tunze Water Controller, but that will be easy to install later. Since I have a water pump on the RO/DI system, I routed the RO water line up and around my ceiling and then down into the RO storage tank. You can see both the routed RO line and the emergency overflow in this picture.

You can see where I connected the emergency RO overflow line with the drain saddle from the RO/DI system. I used a "tee" and a "Y." That Y is tentatively planned for either a second emergency overflow drain that I will connect to my sump or will be my AWC waste line. I'm not quite sure yet.

Once this was all done, I started to assemble the roller mat on my sump, the skimmer (with the auto neck cleaner, waste collector, and recirculating CO2 scrubber), refugium lighting, bubble filter, and dual 300W heaters.

Next I will actually mount the CO2 scrubber and my dual GFO/carbon reactor. Once that is done, I will likely start working on figuring out how I'm going to mount all of the Apex modules, energy bars, DOS's, and other things.

I haven't calculated all of my energy requirements and I'm a bit nervous about where everything will go and how I'm going to plug it all in.

 

[thewalkingdad]

I started to map out where I need to put my UV sterilizers. Those things are massive and there are two of them. With how high I have my return pumps, there's not really a good way to mount these vertically. Horizontal isn't much better, but it is a bit better. In order to mount them, I needed to drill some 2x4s into the FRP and the studs. This would give me enough room to mount a few things like my CO2 scrubber and my dual GFO/carbon reactors. I'm still waiting on a few more pieces to come in before I can mount the second UV sterilizer and hard plump them, but I'm getting close. The second sterilizer will be offset a little more to the right and on the second board. Maybe someday I'll paint those boards white...

I finally got a lot of my missing plumbing parts in the mail and was able to begin on the hard plumbing of the sump. I got through three of my six total pipes. The three that are done are the vacuum waste pipe, main drain (full-siphon), and the trickle drain. The three I have left are the emergency drain line and the two return pumps. As mentioned, I can't do the return pump lines for a few more days until more parts come in, but I should be able to get the emergency drain line done tomorrow.

In this picture, this is the pipe that I will use to vacuum the sand in my tank. The vacuum hose will be piped all the way straight into my utility sink in the fish room. I just need to remember to rinse the sink out afterward! I ended up using some pipe straps to keep the pipe a little bit more supported as it hung from the ceiling.