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40g in-wall to 150g Upgrade (1 Viewer)

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erickmclemore

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Hey guys, I wasn't a part of MARCH when I upgraded my tank from a 40gal cube to a 150gal so sorry I lack a lot of the progressive build pictures. When I was putting things together the last thing on my mind was taking pictures! Also, anyone in the Tomball area who propagates let me know!

Background: I've had a 90gal fish only tank since 2003. Lots of fish through the years and a bunch of casualties as a result of not QTing and frankly being green. Add the 40gal cube in an office wall I cut out in my prior house. Moved to Tomball in the new house 2007, which was a new build, so I purposely had them leave a hole where the 40gal cube would sit. The 90gal went upstairs. Got tired of traveling up and down the stairs to maintain the 90gal, so I ditched it. Got the reff itch so decided to plan an upgrade and attempt to do it right.

Prior tank: 40gal cube, overflow box to 10gal custom sump that I built, T5 lighting with a Reefbright strip. Live stock: Clown, purple dotty back, the green coral not sure what it is and at green plate coral, and some orange Zoas. I've had other coral in the past but nothing survived and I now know why (Torch, hammers, a couple of SPS frags).

New Tank: undrilled 150gal 48x24x31 tank from Glass Cages.com, the stand was all wood sitting on a Lowes's rack so I built it from scratch. The hole in the wall went from 24x24 to 48x31 so I had to cut studs, sheetrock and etc and re-sheetrock, texture and paint. The front of the tank is in a family room as you can tell but the back is a closet that under my second-floor staircase so I have nice "Fish Room". I spent months researching measuring and designing the new setup. Installation: Cutting the hole Sheetrocking and etc = easy. Stand build= easy as I used the template for Mr. Saltwater DIY youtube. Plumbing a bit of a nightmare because from the pics you'll see I ran the plumbing through some of the support beams in the stand. For the main plumbing, there was no leaks! I plumbed a line from my SW mixing tank to the tank that didn't have a plumbing leak, I didn't tighten a union and lost my original Gyre control! Expensive mistake! There was a lot of improvising and learning along the way. My APEX setup (Apex Controller System + FMM+Solenoid Valve+EB8 Energy Bar+Breakout Box+ PMK Par) has saved me from tragedy multiple times over so I'll swear by it. The cost was hard to digest up front and I wasn't completely sold but bought it anyway.

Fish Stock: Blonde Naso Tang, Yellow Tang, Clown, Two Azuzle Damsels, 3 Stripe Damsel, Purple Dotty Back, crabs snails
Coral: Green favia or Acan coral, not sure what it is, not sure the name of the orange zoas on the left; Green Star polops, Green Plate Coral, Rainbow Acan; Pink Gonis and a Wall Hammer;
I got bit by the Black Friday sale from Aqua SD bug and bought a bunch of frags! Currently QTing them until the first of the year.
 
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erickmclemore

erickmclemore

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Current setup what's not label.

The ATO fresh water 10gal tank, Salt Mixing 40gal tank (my old inwall cube), 10gal QT/Frag tank all have lines connecting directly to a 7 Stage RO/DI unit I have in an upstairs bathroom. It was fun figuring out how to run that relatively seamlessly. Drilled walls, ceilings and ran under carpet. The line to the skimmer actually runs outside, again with some creative Enganuity i.e. drilling walls, and running under baseboard trim, then under a wood floor transition. I noticed an immediate uptick in the PH so it was worth it. Not sure if there is a correlation to colder weather and a High PH but I'm monitoring closely now because I've seen some spikes. I do have CyberPower CP1500 UPS as an outage backup, the COR 20 is the only thing hooked up to it.

17.PNG 18.jpg 19.PNG 20.jpg 21.PNG
 
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erickmclemore

erickmclemore

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QT: 10gal QT/Eventually Frag tank. Amazon VIPARSPECTRA light with a custom built stand and etc. Tetra Whisper filter with a Jebao WP-10 Wavemaker with controller. I have a 20gal long in t 22.jpg 23.PNG he attic that I use for Fish QT thus why the stand I build is a bit longer the 10gal currently sitting on it.
 
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erickmclemore

erickmclemore

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Gyre & Light Schedule:
Current Levels:
Temp:78-79
PH: 8.2-8.9
Salt: 34.8
ORP: 332
ALK: 9.1
CAL: 523
MAG: 1395
Nitrate: Undetectable
24.PNG 25.PNG Phosphate: .36
 

frankc

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Now THAT's a detailed build thread! It looks like a lot of thought and effort went into this system. I like the setup, although I would worry about mixing saltwater and stereo equipment. It looks like a beautiful house, too.
 

sneezebeetle

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Welcome to Marsh! Thank you for all the detail on your setup, your tank (and fish room) look great.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
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RR-MAN

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Welcome!!! So much attention to detail.

Is this a flow meter?
 

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erickmclemore

erickmclemore

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Yep, It keeps count of how many gallons I drain. It's off a little but close enough.

Looks good man. I was about to let you know how bad that first stand needed some TLC, but then I saw the white stand. :loveit:

One detail I missed was to make a handle for the right side Gyre dry magnet!! It's up against a wall so when I went to tear down and clean the Gyre it dropped down. Spent 1.5hrs fishing it out when I should have been watching the Cowboys game. Had to adjust the pump again after mounting it and guess what....it dropped again. Now it's in its final resting place because I just order another one!! Didn't think about making a handle until after the second drop!
 
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erickmclemore

erickmclemore

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Here's what we're looking like at the moment. Can't quite get the purple on the rocks and coral colors to show with my phone so excuse the pic.

I'm still trying to get my P04 and N03 in line with Redifield Ration. I'm close. I just winged off GFO and now fully on Chaeto so adjusting there. Having to dose NO3 so fine tuning that a bit.

Did my first ICP test and adjusted my dosing so I'll let the tank run for a while before sending off my next.

Next challenge is placement of all those SPS frags! I'm trying to consider growth patterns, light requirements and etc before planting so it's quite the project. All are encrusting so need to make a move. Also trying to factor in corals I want but hadn't purchased yet so yeah really having some analysis paralysis. 20190308_192711.jpg 20190308_173008.jpg
 
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erickmclemore

erickmclemore

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I also updated my Gyre program. There is not much out there on actual different types of gyre programs so sharing mine just to get an idea of the possibilities to create varying flow patterns. This helps with keeping detritus off the rocks and dead spots in the tank. I also like how you have to option to point either side(s) of each pump at varying angels. I have my right side pointed up slightly to create a wave and the left side down a bit. I do this for pump A and B. GyreProgram.PNG
 
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