125 Gallon Reef w/ Bean Animal Overflow Build

[josho923]

Thanks choff.
I have already looked at BRS and am ordering some stuff from them, but the schedule 80 bulkheads require much larger holes (an issue I touched upon earlier in this thread), so I can't use those. The only other bulkheads they sell on BRS are made of ABS, which I think I may have incorrectly assumed in the past meant that these bulkheads were made to work with "ABS," rather than PVC, pipe, so I passed them over. I am assuming these are made for PVC and would work fine. The only issue with these is that the holes seem to actually run small on them - the 1" bulkhead calls for a 1.65" hole, and mine is the usual 1.75" sized hole. If the bulkhead type isn't critical, I will just buy some and not worry about it - I just want to make this as foolproof as possible and had heard from many that getting quality bulkheads was important.
For the elbow question, I plan on also using slip bulkheads, but the issue with the elbows I found on flexpvc.com was that the 1" side that would fit up with the bulkhead was a female connector, which wouldn't fit into the bulkhead, right?
Yeah, I noticed that the union ball valves were very expensive, which was why I was wondering if I could do without them and use regular unions, but preventing water spillage will be important where my tank ends up... Could I use the ones (on flexpvc.com) that mention that they are not full flow and that you'd need to go one size larger and bush back down, without going one size up, or will this likely significantly hurt my flow rate?

 

[choff]

Check out what the o rings are made out of to make sure they are corrosion resistant. I think it's epdm you want.

The cheap ones get you in the end. Over time they become very difficult to turn and if your lines are not mounted that means torque on the bulkhead and glass. In my case a 40b with fairly thin glass and yes I cracked my first one, but not because of a cheap valve just stupidity. Hence you see a lot of mounting brackets on mine.

You are already oversized at 1.5 inch. You should be fine.

Here is my elbow. Its not street, its slip and I had to use a small piece of pipe to attach to the bulk head.

 

[ro_nicu]

thefilterguys used to carry all kind of bulkheads, look under the plumbing section; they are also unbelievably customer friendly, they guys will spend hours with you on the phone trying to give you the details about everything you want to know so you can make a decision, no sale pitches, no pressure, quite amazing for the retail environment today. They'll even source things they don't carry to make something work for you.

 

[josho923]

Because work, etc. takes up so much of my time, the build is moving slowly, but surely. The biggest rate limiting step in this equation, however, is the cost of everything!!! I'm trying to do a really nice build, with top-notch stuff, so coming up with the spare cash for each piece of equipment is taking a long time.
Just got a new Neptune Apex Aquacontroller w/ standard grade pH probe, lab grade conductivity/salinity probe, and the PM2 module.
Ordered two new 250W Eheim Jager heaters to go in the sump; will arrive next week.
Recently bought two used (about 1 year old) MaxSpect Razor 120W, 16,000K lights. I'm thinking I would definitely need one more of these to work effectively for corals in the 125 gallon tank (6 feet long). My question is, I've always loved doing T5 and LED combos on my tanks, kind of the best of both worlds, and am wondering if I should use the two LED fixtures I have coupled with 1-2 T5 fixtures from Catalina Aquarium vs. just getting a 3rd new Maxspect Razor. Any thoughts on this issue and on the equipment I've picked up thus far?
Now "all" I still need to get is:
- protein skimmer (Reef Octopus)
- overflow box
- powerheads (I'm thinking Vortech MP40W ES x2?)
- return pump
- screen top
- RO system
- auto top-off system
- calcium/alkalinity/Mg++, etc. system
- remainder of plumbing
- additional lighting (another Maxspect Razor vs. T5?)
- rock
- sand
- power backup (generator vs. Vortech battery back-up?)
- chiller?
- etc., etc., etc....

 

[JohnK]

Two thoughts;
One, with LED lights there is very little chance you will need a chiller. If anything plan on a window AC for the really hot summer days.

Two, As you accumulate your equipment over time you can always get some rock and start curing it now. If you will be using all or mostly all dry rock, then get it now, add a bit of clean LR, and let it start to become live even if it's in cheap rubbermaid containers. If you will be using LR, then all the more reason to start curing it now. Either way, getting the rock started now will save you months down the road.

 

[josho923]

- Really glad to hear I prob won't need a chiller, even with a hood on top
- If I cure rock beforehand, do I need to add an ammonia source like a small amount of rotting detritus to feed the bacteria and cycle the rock, akin to a fishless cycle we use for freshwater tanks?
- Any advice on a reliable, powerful, quiet return pump for this 125 gallon tank?

 

[choff]

I currently have a reeflo return pump and it's very very quiet. That said if I had to replace it I would look hard at DC pump. The waveline 2nd generation in particular.

I initially ran 10xt5s my tank. Crazy hot, chiller ran all the time etc. Swapped them out for 4x kessil 360s. Chiller did not come on a single time this summer and we do not have central air. That said, I was not happy with overall growth of just LEDs. I have since added back 2 to 4 t5s and have been happy as could be.

IMO of all things the CA reactor can wait as can dosing. It will be awhile before you need anything but good regular WC to maintain your params.


Going to be a sweet build. Looking forward to it.

...stupid auto correct

 

[JohnK]

- Really glad to hear I prob won't need a chiller, even with a hood on top
- If I cure rock beforehand, do I need to add an ammonia source like a small amount of rotting detritus to feed the bacteria and cycle the rock, akin to a fishless cycle we use for freshwater tanks?
- Any advice on a reliable, powerful, quiet return pump for this 125 gallon tank?

For curing the rock, it depends. If it's really clean dry rock then there won't be much to fuel any cycling/life. If it's actual live rock, or dry rock with some organic crud in/on it, then it will usually cycle fine on it's own. I'll guess that most likely you'll be using clean dry rock - if so then I would probably seed it with a little bit of already live rock and maybe a few cups of sand from an existing tank. For an ammoina source, you can just toss a LITTLE food of any sort in and you should be all set.

Oh, and in case no one answered this already, the "ABS" bulkheads on the bulkreef site are just standard bulkheads and are completely compatible with PVC pipe and fittings.

On the pump, I have a reef octopuss DC12000 that I've been running for the better part of a year (basically the same as the waveline already mentioned). They seem like great pumps, the first generation ones had some issues but that seems to have been worked out though they haven't been around long enough for real long term reliability to be known.

 

[choff]

My understanding is all the DC pumps are being produced by the same manufacturer in China (waveline, diablo and speedwave). There are differences in the design, but they are all very similar. Waveline gen 2 came out on top from my research.

You could get a German manufactured red dragon and pay the price for it to. Think vortech vs jaebo.

...stupid auto correct

 

[josho923]

Still gradually working toward getting this bad boy up and running... I have 5 other tanks keeping me pretty busy, including 8 relatively new Altum Angels straight from the Amazon river... they are gorgeous! Hopefully in the next few months, I'll be closer to being up and running (the plumbing is still scaring the crap out of me, since I've never done the PVC plumbing, etc. before) with the Bean Animal 125.

I just had yet another amazing tank stand and canopy built for me by Jim (user name: Calciumbuf). I just wanted to make mention of him in case anybody out there is looking for nice canopies/stands like I was previously. A few people on this site had told me about him and I'm so glad I eventually listened - each piece of furniture he builds is a work of art, and he can adapt the build plans, etc. very much to your imagination and budget. Thanks again, Jim. I'll be posting pictures of both setups that he built for me soon...

 

[josho923]

Some quick updates after a long hiatus. Still keeping up with several fully planted freshwater tanks with some very nice plants, driftwood, and fish (discus, Altum angels, many others). Lots of fish are breeding and I always have lots of plants, so please feel free to drop me a line if anybody ever needs help with their tropical tanks.

I've gotten more of the plumbing together for the PVC portion of the Bean Animal build and am almost there. I also got a bunch of extra flexible PVC for plumbing around the sump/doing the return. Thanks to "choff" for the above pictures of the street elbows, this was a big help.

For a return pump, I bought a DC12000 Apex Ready Waveline (3170 GPH) with interface cable and module to use with my Apex controller - wondering if this will actually be too powerful for a 125 gallon tank with 45 gallon sump, but it looks you can crank it up and down a great deal to suit your needs. Seems like DC pumps are the future in some respects, but also much more prone to issues/stopping working, etc. As always, I welcome any thoughts!

For a skimmer, I'm looking at Reef Octopus internal skimmers and am considering:

Reef Octopus 8" Regal 200SSS Space Saving Protein Skimmer
Super Reef Octopus SRO-3000SSS 8” Space Saver Protein Skimmer
Reef Octopus 8" Regal 200INT Internal Protein Skimmer
Super Reef Octopus SRO-3000INT 8” In Sump Protein Skimmer

Very hard to differentiate and determine which I should go with (taking John K's advice and trying to buy one rated for just a little above the tank gallonage, rather than just a huge one, ha). Considering space-saving ones with a smaller footprint to make life easier in the first paritition of my sump. Any thoughts from personal experience, etc.? Thanks everybody!

 

[josho923]

I now also got:

- 150 lbs. of Pukani rock from BRS

- 120 lbs. dry CaribSea Special Grade and 40 lbs. live CaribSea Special Grade

Still working on plumbing, which is overwhelming me a bit, and getting a skimmer, RO/DI unit, etc. Hoping to have the rock curing soon...

 

[josho923]

I've got boxes of stuff everywhere, including our bathroom, and the dining room is a total mess, ha. Making progress with dry fitting almost all of the plumbing, should have it done within a week or so.

 

[josho923]

Some important questions:

- is there any value/importance/implication of the "dead space"/free air in each of the standpipes above the sanitary tee, assuming the systems are airtight? Just wondering if making the tops of these standpipes too tall, etc. would have implications on how the system runs.

- when curing my rock (dry Pukani with a fair amount of organic matter on it), my plan is to do it in tubs, in the dark, in saltwater, with a heater, some carbon to reduce the odor, and a powerhead. For this part only, is it critical that I use RO water or can I just use dechlorinated/dechloraminated tapwater?

- I'm using 1" bulkheads that I purchased on BRS - when setting up the Bean Animal standpipes, I'm noting that the standard schedule 40 PVC (just as it can be seen in the picture of Bean Animal's exploded standpipe that is posted on page 3 of this thread; I'm trying to emulate his build very closely) doesn't seem to fit into the bulkhead quite as snugly as the other connections do. By no means loose at all, but just less tight - I'm thinking that the primer/glue should do the trick here, but just looking for some reassurance/other people's experiences with this. Me and my dad have been wondering if there exists a female thread bushing or something that would screw onto the nut side of the bulkhead to simultaneously bush up to the 1.5" standpipes and make a more secure fit here (doubtful). Not finding anything obvious for this application at HD/Lowe's and online, etc.

- Ordered the glass for my near-coast-to-coast overflow and will be using the Grainger/Momentive RTV 100 series for the silicone adhesive. I totally appreciate both sides of the argument for a black background vs. blue vs. others, but I plan on definitely going with dark blue (just personal preference). One of the major negatives of the blue, in my opinion, is that it seems harder to hide/make blend in the overflow itself, and equipment such as powerheads, etc. Was considering covering the front and sides of the installed overflow with blue acrylic sheets vs. painting it with blue Krylon fusion paint - any advice/thoughts?

 

[josho923]

 

[Docstach]

Some important questions:

- is there any value/importance/implication of the "dead space"/free air in each of the standpipes above the sanitary tee, assuming the systems are airtight? Just wondering if making the tops of these standpipes too tall, etc. would have implications on how the system runs.

* I am certainly no expert, but i would think that if your closed/siphon line was too tall over the T, it might be hard to get out all of the air each time the siphon starts. For the open channel I don't think it would matrer

- when curing my rock (dry Pukani with a fair amount of organic matter on it), my plan is to do it in tubs, in the dark, in saltwater, with a heater, some carbon to reduce the odor, and a powerhead. For this part only, is it critical that I use RO water or can I just use dechlorinated/dechloraminated tapwater?

* If your tapwater has any contaminates (phosphates,...) in it you risk the rock soaking some of it up.

- I'm using 1" bulkheads that I purchased on BRS - when setting up the Bean Animal standpipes, I'm noting that the standard schedule 40 PVC (just as it can be seen in the picture of Bean Animal's exploded standpipe that is posted on page 3 of this thread; I'm trying to emulate his build very closely) doesn't seem to fit into the bulkhead quite as snugly as the other connections do. By no means loose at all, but just less tight - I'm thinking that the primer/glue should do the trick here, but just looking for some reassurance/other people's experiences with this. Me and my dad have been wondering if there exists a female thread bushing or something that would screw onto the nut side of the bulkhead to simultaneously bush up to the 1.5" standpipes and make a more secure fit here (doubtful). Not finding anything obvious for this application at HD/Lowe's and online, etc.

* ?

- Ordered the glass for my near-coast-to-coast overflow and will be using the Grainger/Momentive RTV 100 series for the silicone adhesive. I totally appreciate both sides of the argument for a black background vs. blue vs. others, but I plan on definitely going with dark blue (just personal preference). One of the major negatives of the blue, in my opinion, is that it seems harder to hide/make blend in the overflow itself, and equipment such as powerheads, etc. Was considering covering the front and sides of the installed overflow with blue acrylic sheets vs. painting it with blue Krylon fusion paint - any advice/thoughts?

* I think either will work, but I have heard of of krylon peeling off of glass over time if it is submerged. Although I think that is was I would do. That being said, when I set up my 125 glass overflow I built a acrylic shield around it to help protect it which also served as blacking it out.

 

[josho923]

Thanks a lot for the response, Docstach!

Since I've never run one of these with water in it, I was curious if the full siphon standpipe would fill with water above the sanitary tee; that helps a lot. I have almost everything dry fit and will shorten the tops of the standpipes, as the extra height seems unnecessary either way and I might as well lose it.

I also have everything ready to start curing the rock in tubs downstairs and RO unit is on its way!

The glass is ordered and I will be picking it up soon, then I can put together the almost-coast-to-to-coast overflow inside the tank, and I'm thinking I will probably end up fitting some blue acrylic around the overflow once it's done to have it blend in better with the deep blue background...

Can't wait to get this up and running and then eventually be the one helping other people out down the road.

 

[dcforester1]

I can help you with the skimmer. I have a Reef Octopus Elite 150 and love it. It has the DC pump and super quiet. It pulls a ton of gunk. As far as the bean, like John said I would post on RC, and you will def get a reply.

Good Luck

Derek

 

[josho923]

Thanks for the advice, Derek! Have been feeling pretty torn between the higher-line Reef Octopus skimmers vs. the the Vertex Alpha ones (thinking the 170). Vertex Alpha is certainly more expensive, but at the end of the day, I'm already breaking the bank on trying to really go above-and-beyond on this tank and a skimmer seems like a key component of a great tank. I'll also look a little on RC like you guys are suggesting for more help.

Wanted to share something that I'm sure half of you guys are already aware of, but I bought some 100% titanium hose clamps (everything, including screws, etc. are titanium) from Titan Marine Hardware at: http://www.titan-marine-hardware.com/titanium-hose-clamps.htm
The stainless steel ones seem guaranteed to corrode over time, and some of the plastic versions are less than ideal, especially depending upon what type of hosing you are using (I bought these for my silicone hosing attached to my sump pump, etc.). They aren't super cheap, but at around $6-7 apiece (plus shipping cost, which isn't horrible if you're buying a few of them), spending an extra couple of dollars seems like a drop in the bucket when we're talking about a reef tank!

 

[josho923]

Also decided against any Krylon fusion paint inside the tank, so I'm going with some dark blue acrylic to line the glass overflow box I am building to better hide it against my dark blue background. I will attach it with reef-safe silicone adhesive designed for glass to silicone bonding (I know this is difficult and bonding these two things results in poor strength, but this is not structural and just needs to hold in place for aesthetic purposes). Looks like cast acrylic is the way to go, so I will be ordering from either sStreetPlastics, or more likely, TAP Plastics, with the sheets already cut-to-size.