65g Marineland tank build w/ Pics

Hi Everyone!

I said I would post my build and this is what I have so far. I have thought this out a lot since I went through too many mistakes with just my 20g tank.

Here is a little info about my 20g tank and sump...

20g tall
10g homemade sump/ refuge
Ecotech mp-10 ** will be moved to my 65g when complete **
Marineland 1W leds light (Reef)
CPR overflow box
Hang on 200 micron Filter sock
Petco pump (250gph)
Finnex External HOB Refugium + Finnex FugeRay (led light)

Dimensions: 10.25" x 5.5 x 5 | 1 Gallon
Bought this along with Shiruba Aqua Power Head Pump (40-Gallons) to attach to the HOB refugium, air pump that was included wasn't enough water flow (around 1gph).
​

.. Enough about my 20g tank and here are my plans for my 65g tank.


Specs on what I already have:

• Marineland 65g tank with cornerflo with Majesty Aquarium Stand

Durso drain kit included
Dimensions: 36" x 18" x 24"

• Ecotech MP-10

Flow: 200 to 1575 gph
Wattage: 8 to 18 watts
Appropriate Tank Size Range: 2.5 to 50 gallons ~ I realize that this is a little small for my tank (and I know I always go "PLUS ONE") but between my return pump and this MP-10, I will have enough flow in the tank.

• Eshopps Rs-200 ** BIGGER IS BETTER!

Dimensions30" x 12" x 16" H
Sump Capacity 25g
Rated for up to 125-225 gallons
(x2) 7" 200 micron filter socks (only one will be used during operation)
Skimmer area: 18" x 11" (plenty of room)

• BeamsWork 0.2W Hex 36" HI LUMEN LED Light Fixture

Fixture Size: 34.50" x 7.00" x 1.38" (Add 0.65" in height with bracket installed)
LEDs Count: 190
3300 Lumens
Super energy efficient 0.2 watt high output LEDs
152x 10,000K LED
38x Actinic 460nm LED
Use 38 watts
** Built-in Timer for day and night **
----> ** Going with a ReefBrite for the T5 effect (36in strip of Daylight) to add to the above light for coral growth

• Odyssea Submersible 300W Aquarium Heater

Length - 13.50"
Wattage - 300W
Fully submersible
Up to 90G

• Odyssea WP1000 Water Pump

Flow Rate: 1340 gph
Max. Height: 13 ft
Watts: 130
Dimensions: 7.50"x 3.80"x 4.00"

• JBJ Automatic Top Off (A.T.O.) System Water Level Controller

Future Purchase to add to my plumbing..

1. Dual Chamber Reactor by AquaFX (hard plumbed)
   
   The dual unit will be used for GFO and Carbon.​
2. BRS Biopellet Reactor Chamber Kit (hard plumbed)
   
   This separate unit will house (you guessed it, lol) bio-pellets. Bio-pellets can"t run in-line with other media, thus, the separate reactor. My intentions were to use (x2) dual reactors by AquaFx but realized I didn't have the space. ​
3. Neptune Systems AquaController Apex Lite System
   Additions to purchase ..
   Neptune Systems Standard Grade pH Probe
   Neptune Lab Grade Conductivity Probe
   Neptune Leak Detection Module (ALD)
4. Eshopps Magnetic Probe Holder
5. CPR AquaFuge 2 Hang-on Refugium
   
   Large AquaFuge2
   Includes Powerhead
   Water Capacity: 4.70 Gallons
   Dimensions: 25.5" L x 4.5" W x 12" T
   ​
6. SWC Xtreme 160 Cone Protein Skimmer
   Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 20.58 H
   Atman 2500 pump (rated about 750gph)
   
   
   
   Xtreame 160 - Light - Medium - Heavy
   Cone Skimmer - Bioload - Bioload - Bioload
   
   Tank Ratings - 150 - 130 - 100
   ​

Info about build and intent...


I am not planning on using the sump for a refugium at all and just want pure filtration and that is the reason why I will have the HOB FUGE. Sump will have live rock.

All flow rates are best educated guesses based on research.
​

PVC for return is 3/4" and that would give me a flow rate (up to range) of 1410-2160gph

PVC Drain is 1" and that would give me a gravity flow (up to range) of 600gph





Builders notes:


When parts arrive........

• When part arrives, I will be adding a gate valve to the drain to control water flow (Herbie method). A pipe has been placed in between two 90"s for visual appearance and that is where the gate valve will be placed. (long section of pipe, slightly above filter sock)
  
  

• Adding a 3/4” George Fisher Wye Check Valve above water pump, between the two unions.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• In this picture, I have inserted a ball valve in the plumbing to do two things; easy water changes & to pour water back into the sump. The reason for this is because if I deem that the return pressure is too strong, I can turn on the ball valve. (ball valve will have vinyl hose attached to it) Ball valve will have a nipple attachment to allow me to connect any hose I wish to add , when I need it for a certain job.
  
  

• UPDATE:
  
  Today I recieved my George Fisher Wye check valve and my Gate valve from BRS. Very quick shipping and I chose the USPS, who knew they could be that quick, lol. Took 2 days! ;D
  
  
  Here is a picture of them and I will include the measurements, just in case if you were like me trying to figure how much room you will need.
  
  GF Wye (3/4") - 6 1/4" x 3 1/2"
  Economy gate valve by BRS (1") - 5 1/2" x 3"
  
  
  
  
  Here is the complete work done for the two.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Next time I will be ordering the parts to install the plumbing for my in-line media reactors. (hard plumbed)

UPDATE: 2/13/13​

• Adding (x2) Tees to the plumbing and that will be a little more in depth that I will add later to show what I am doing with the actual parts and how I did it if anyone wants to know. In mean while, I will be adding 2 Tees and one will be for the supply to my 2 dual media reactors and the second Tee will be for the return. Again, this will be for a later post all by itself.
  
  Unfortunately what I mentioned above didn't work out but this is what I did do...
  
  Added 1 tee after the gate valve (1/2") and split that into two ends to supply water out to both of my media reactors (Dual [GFO & Carbon] and the Single reactor[Bio-Pellets]). I was going to make one end for a future connection for a Calcium reactor but instead I felt it was a waste for this end not to be used right away. I am happy with the way it turned out. This will be for the water supply to the media reactors.
  
  
  1/2" Ro line will be strapped to the pvc pipe with velcro straps that are heavy duty. I know it is over kill ,lol, but that's what I have on hand and it will work out wonderfully! ;D

Side Note:

• I will probably add a 90 degree elbow to the end (on the right side of the tee) since it will be going through the wall of the stand where the media reactor will be placed. (attached outside to the stand, same to the other side for the other reactor)

• The tee (right of the ball valve) on the return line will have a Watts (aka:Seatech) Male thread Tee - 1/2" x 1/2" 1/2" npt Quick Connect Fitting. With the tee fitting, I will have two lines (1/2" RO lines) returning back to this point to put water back into the system. This water will be the filtered water from the media reactors.
  
  
  
  ~ image from Freshwatersystems.com, where I will be purchasing this fitting along with my 90 degree elbows (quick connect).

• Images of the progress...
  
  
  New tank!
  
  
  
  
  
  Doing a water test to make sure there were no cracks during the process of me getting this home. MP-10 not added to my 20g at that time (newer purchase).
  
  
  
  
  My Sump
  
  
  
  My LED light doing its thing. You can see my timer inside the tank on last pic.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Front view of my unfinished plumbing.
  
  
  
  As the project continues, you can start to see things come together. (UPDATE OF PROJECT AS OF 2/13/13)
  
  
  Images above have those "Heavy Duty" velcro ties that , I think, I bought from Target. Just in case anyone wants to look for them. (package of 6)

This is all I have to share right now , please keep coming back for more updates later on.

 

very detailed plan, this should defiently help a lot. If I wrote down my new setup plans I would be way overwhelmed. looks good and I will be following along. Stock list yet??

 

Not sure what will be additionally purchased to go into the tank but all of my live stock from my 20g will be going into my 65g.

That includes:

1 Blue Hippo Regal Tang
Pair of Clowns
1 Sixline Wrasse
Along with just a couple of coral I have.
- Frogspawn
- Zoanthids (Candy Apple and Watermelon)

20g tank will be for my wife and the Seahorses she wants to have. Clean-up crew will stay in the tank except for my HUGE turbo snail and 1 1/2" Thinstrip hermit (female). I know its a female because I had two and she was the one to let out all of her fry/babies from her shell (witness to it). Fish thought it was a great snake. Gave away the male because it was close to 3" in size and it was a bulldozer.

 

Hippo tang bad choice.. Lighting will most likely not enough to grow lps. It's only point 2 watts each.. Crappy fixtures only have 1 watt each so you can imagine how bad this would be.. I would return it asap

 

Awesome. I remember doing all the planning for my 65 gallon. Great to see another one coming to life.

Couple things, i dont know if a dual reactor is the best choice for biopellets. May be hard to keep both chambers tumbling correctly, someone else can chime in with more info.

Also, are you running the reactors off the return pump? Thats a mighty big return pump for that size system unless ur running reactors then i understand lol.

 

+1 to both unfortunately. That light fixture with that deep of the tank won't let you keep anything but low light corals.

Plenty of other good fish choices out there though. I would actually think about sending both fish back to the LFS though, as Sixlines can get quite mean.

Cool build though, looks like you have put a ton of time and effort into it!

 

Thanks for reading the thread and glad to see other people enjoying it. The dual media reactor will be ran off of the main return pump.

The return pump, after all of the pipe length, elbows, tees and check valve, the pump will only be rated at roughly from 415-755gph. Once I add the media reactors the gph will decrease again. Good eye and good question.

I will post more on this when I add them to the plumbing. I will show how I will control the flow and tell everyone how it is working out, once the system is running. I am sure a lot of people will be interested in that post.

Bio-pellets are the new thing but I feel they are here to stay and I think they work great!

 

Hippo tang bad choice... not sure why? I love this fish and its a great asset to my tank. I have done a lot of research on this fish and it just makes me fall in love with it more. Fascinating fish, I have had this fish since it was a small fry no larger than 1" inch and now its about 3 1/4". It is part of the family ;D.

About the light, I wont go too far into this since I am sure there is a thread about LED lights (somewhere). I cant tell you how many months and hours I poured myself into the research of LED light fixtures because there are so many bias opinions about LEDs and how much they are misunderstood. Many forums have nothing to back up what they say about them other then "its my opinion", where in fact, I just think they don't like change. Don't worry, all of us are afraid of change but its knocking at our SW door, its just your choice to answer it.

My Research...

All research have all come to the same conclusion, LEDs are still new and no one has measured the PAR or LUX levels to be able to say anything that can be written in stone. LEDs are also a very HIGHLY guarded secret on how each company makes them. One company that makes an LED light fixture isn't the same as another ,even if they give the same Kelvins and Lumens and thus why the PAR and LUX hasn't been measured and set in stone and why you just have to trust the manufactures words on what that product can do. All LED lights will have different end results, unlike the T5, Metal Halide and Power Compact. There is only one way to make those and why they all have the stats that we as reef junkies need, to grow our coral successfully. It is something that we can trust and count on.

Call me stubborn or maybe its the 8 years in the Army but I went with my gut and I enjoy them. I will leave you with this, compare my light to a Marineland LED light that says it is Reef capable ask yourself why are they the same stats besides the 0.2W LEDs? (even at 0.2W, nothing says that they wont get enough light to grow, again an opinion that everyone's results are different based on the manufacturer)

A side note...

I do have a Marineland 1W LED light fixture and have been running it with my corals. My corals grow well, like weeds. I always respect others opinions but there isn't enough facts out there for anyone to be able to compare apples to oranges, just yet. Especially since LEDs penetrate water very well. This is also just a test since I feel 0.2W will get just as much growth from my coral as a 3W LEDs light fixture. I will keep everyone up to date on this. My experience with 1W LEDs is that it's just too bright and I see too much algae growth. (even with light cut down to a minimum).

Thanks for looking out and I hope that you take none of this personally and just read it for whats its worth, just good reading. Also want to thank you for bringing this up because many just go with the heard and a lot of people need to understand more about LEDs.

Learned a lot about LEDs and if anyone has questions about them, maybe I can post a new thread (if one doesn't exist) and shine some light on the situation (pun intended) ;D

 

The sixline wrasse does have a reputation and I hope it doesn't follow for my little guy. They are such a fascinating fish to watch though and great swimmers.

Only time will tell but my Hippo tang keeps him in check lol.

Thanks for the comment! ;D

 

One more thing, the check valve on your return line is a waste. You should run your return in a way that it will only siphon back a small amount of water and your sump should be able to handle the amount that siphons back. Check valves will fail, its not a matter of if, its a matter of when.

Also, a valve on the output of the pump will not kill your pump. Its actually easier on the pump to restrict it with a valve than to have it run at full capacity. Teeing it back to the sump like your suggesting just means that the pump will run at full capacity all the time and use more electricity.