90 Gallon Build Thread

In other news... I'm working on the vent fans. I soldered the two 120mm canopy fans together today and checked them off the power supply and they work great. Now I just need to finish skinning the canopy back so I can drill their holes and mount them. I'm also planning on 80mm vent fans for the stand (in the sump region). I'm venting these all out the back of the canopy/stand so you don't see anything from front or sides. I will be using conduit tubing to keep all the wires (for fans and LEDs and LED cooling fans) in one bundle so it minimizes the appearance of stuff behind the tank. I also got some hooks (large and small) to hang wires inside the stand so things stay organized and neat. I'd be a lot further with this, but I'm trying to wait on putting the fans in until I have the sump ready to go (in case I would need to install it through the back). I should have the trim work cut and ready to install this week as well.


Fans are wired in parallel allowing 1 - 12v DC (1.5A) power supply for all 4 fans.


In addition to being soldered, all connections are also heat shrink wrapped and then those are heat shrink wrapped together as well. This should help maintain the integrity of the soldered connection (as any forces would be on the tape, not the soldered connection).

 

I have a minimum of 1.5" in both directions and the rounded bottom which should help redirect flow back upwards. I can't imagine why it would work for Aqueon but not for this design... sampe physics and the rounded bottom should improve flow. I'm definitely interested to see how it works, but I'm not anticipating issues.

 

I would like to be able to run a mixed reef. This is what I was thinking for lights...


I need feedback in terms of... is this light intense enough for a mixed reef? Is there good spread of colors to avoid spot lighting? (I'm planning on no optics). Do I go with 14k or 20k 50W multichips? I was thinking 14k because I can add blue to it with the additional lighting... but I can't "remove" blue from 20k if it's too blue (especially with the accent lighting). I want to get in on the LED group buy... so I need to decide this somewhat quick. I have the GPU coolers on the way in for the multichip, so I'm pretty set on having most of my lighting come from those and the Crees just being additional "accent" lighting (and they'll help with phase in/out sunrise/sunset).

I will have at minimum 2 drivers, more likely three (so I can control Royal Blues independent of the other accent colors, which are expected to be more minor contributors to the overall color).

 

Alright, some more updates...
To go with the fan soldering I did yesterday, I now have cut and mounted the back wall of the canopy. I haven't mounted the fans yet as I want to stain it first and I'm trying to decide what sort of mounting hardware I want to use. I'm thinking bolts instead of screws.

The observant will notice that this plywood is not oak. It's on the backside so not seen and much cheaper than oak so I decided to save more than half the cost of a sheet of oak plywood. The entire back will have it.



This also shows my other component I've discussed with my lights... the quick connects/disconnects that should allow me to remove my entire lighting system in seconds if I need to.

 

RO/DI is all hooked up and running. About 45 minutes into the first full flush.

 

Couple little updates

 

First, BRS RO/DI with RO drinking faucet bypass is installed. I think it's a pretty clean installation.


This looks like a good spot to leave this as well.






For what it's worth Old Masters (Early American) has to be some of the best stain I've used. We picked up penetrating stain, wiping stain and a spar-marine satin clear. This is step one, it's drying and I'll put the wiping stain on tonight since it needs 10-12 hours to dry. I must say, it looks gorgeous so far. I'm really, really excited to get to the next phase of this project.

 

Wiping stain coat... dries overnight! Then just the spar-marine satin coat.



I love how it has brought out the grain of the wood. I am really looking forward to morning.

 

I had assumed there would be more excitement over the staining. I know I'm excited about it. Anyway, stained a sample of walnut for comparison. Neither of these woods has a varnish on them at the time of the comparison. The stand DOES currently have its first varnish coat (satin spar-marine from Old Masters). We'll see how that looks when it dries (dry to touch in 4-6, "dry" in like 12).




I think it's going to be a gorgeous contrast.

 

It looks even better with the varnish coat on. I should have the trim pieces this week... so we're hoping within another week it'll be inside. I have a lot of work to do in the mean time. I have to mount the vent fans (canopy and sump area). I thought I had 2x 120mm fans for the sump area, but I only had one so I have another one on order. I have 2x 200mm fans to vent the canopy. Those were already soldered and pics posted above. I want to see if I can attach my GPU coolers to that circuitry as well so they're all running off the same driver.

 

Mounted the canopy fans.



And made a wiring harness... all connections are easily connected or disconnected. All fans running in parallel to maintain 12v across them.




I obviously have some "wire control" to take care of... but that's not a huge issue as of yet (more so when I get the sump in the stand and some pipes around). Oh, and I have a video in the process of uploading.

 

quick video of the fans and power strip and sump access light.

 

/DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif I'm saving that for when it's all assembled... it's in the toolbox just behind where I took the film.

 

Some additional decisions have been made and will be ordered this week.

1) Looking like I want to go with ~90 pounds of Tropic Eden Reef Flakes. Ideally I would like around a 1.5" - 2" sand bed. We'll see just how deep I need, but I would assume that would be enough for my pistol to be happy.

2) Eheim Jager 200w heater and 250w heater. I'm not sure how common it is to mix different sized heaters, but a second 250w heater would have issues fitting into the sump due to its size. I am intending the 250w heater to be the primary heater with the 200w being its back up. That 200w should provide enough heating to keep the tank up to temp if the 250w fails. I may try to see if I could align them in ways that they can both be in the skimmer drain section which would allow me 2x 250w. I worry about them possible getting exposed to air in the return section if it runs a bit low (who knows, I might be taking extended job interviews and fiance might not feel comfortable topping off the water or something).

3) I think I'm leaning toward ReefCleaner base rock but haven't quite decided how much is needed. I had figured at least 75 pounds. The primary reason is that I was strongly considering Pukani which is rather light. I've heard nothing but great things about the ReefCleaner rock and I've worked with him on clean up crews before.

4) I have diagrammed out the plumbing for the sump. I'm not decided about using a check valve or just making sure that my return is high enough that a siphon wouldn't lead to a flood. Also, being that my system looks to have 1" choke points in the bulkheads, I will likely stick with 1" pipe... though because I'm really thinking of not doing my PVC "muffler" system (space savings in sump), it might be nice to go with a 1.5" tubing to allow slower flow with the same amount of water moving.

5) Lighting: I'm still trying to decide on the multichips. They'll take awhile to ship, which sucks... but I'm not ready for them anyway. I think I'm leaning toward the 100w versions but haven't quite decided on color. I have the 80/20 aluminum rails in... but they need 1.5" chopped off the smaller cross bars. I also need them drilled and then I can make the frame for the lights. I still need to figure out how to mount my GPU coolers to them as well.

6) The updated ETA of trim and doors comes Wednesday. I deferred to my fiance's father who is a cabinet maker on this one. Not that I couldn't do it, but I know he'll do an awesome job.

Is there anything else major that I'm forgetting? I have a Brute can in the garage for the rocks... should probably order them soon so they can get to curing and a rough cycling.

 

So, just running through some ideas in terms of which way to set up the plumbing on my 90 gallon build. I have jotted down some options.

There are advantages/disadvantages to both. For the top, it's rather complex which can be a downside (not in the construction...). It utilizes 3 ball valves and 2 true unions, a check valve and 7 - 45* elbows. An advantage is that it has the skimmer on the right side. The stand I'm building has a power strip mounted on the upper left, which doesn't necessarily interfere with the skimmer, but there's only a 1" difference (it may not be an issue if the sump is seated deeply enough in the stand).
You can see the strip above.

I suppose I could move the ball valve higher in the first one on the return side. That part of the plumbing is the same in the two models. I have true union ball valves as well... so I don't lose functionality for removing plumbing there.

In the second one, the plumbing itself is much more simple. It uses 4 - 45* elbows, a check valve and three true union ball valves. This obviously means I can return some plumbing parts (yay). The downside is, I'm not sure how much additional room is there for the skimmer. I think either design would be ok. The top section might be more quiet as the return water doesn't have a free fall from the tank into the skimmer section. Quietness is a concern for me as well. I suppose in the top section, I could use the true union ball valve at the top of the drain section as well and then have the other near the fuge as any water not going to the fuge would have to go to the skimmer. That would simplify the true unions out of the plumbing. Anyway, please provide me some feedback.

*I have included a remodel of the first one to incorporate some of the ideas in the text*