new 4ft Reef Tank Setup

[AllyBoy]

Hi All,

Relocated in Singapore a year back but would still call myself a newbie in this beautiful country that I couldn't yet explore thanks to Covid. I setup a planted aquarium but not satisfied at all and hence would want to get back to my reefing hobby as the saying goes - Once a reefer always a reefer. I'm planning to have a 4x2.5x.2.5 ft reef aquarium with a closed loop system to have a good water flow. 

To begin with, any suggestions on a good LFS or someone who makes custom reef aquarium, stand and sump

Regards

[Solo77]

Welcome to Singapore. If you want experienced and peace of mind, can consider tank culture. Company name maybe new but staff from n30, coral reef etc. Some lfses may be able to do but likely outsourced the tank making. Depending on what you want and budget, some may choose to go lfses for economic of scales for package price. 

[SgReeferSuperSun]

Welcome

[AllyBoy]

Thanks solo77... I will be contacting tank culture tomorrow apart from specialised aquatics


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[Solo77]

All the best. Find more quotes for comparison and see the workmanship. Just don’t be penny wise pound foolish. If budget is a concern, can look for Atlantic tank maker. They have been in the scene for long and think so far so good also. 

[AllyBoy]

Thanks... for budget I would want to have an overlook look rather than on tank alone... I’ve never comprised one quality as it affects in the long run in this hobby

I’m still finalising on the other components for the tank. Once that’s done will post it accordingly as well


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[AllyBoy]

Accessories finalised so far -

Skimmer - Nyos Quantum 220

Calcium Reactor - Deltec Twin Calcium reactor 1500

Reactor for Phosphate & carbon - Nyos Torq 2.0

Reactor for Nitrate - Nyos Torq 2.0

Chaeto reactor - Pax bellum Arid c30

Lights - 2 x Orphek Atlantik v4

 

To be finalised

Return Pump - 2 x TBD

UV Sterilised - TBD

Chiller - TBD

Live rocks - Dry state live rock. Thinking of ceramic rock that are quite porous and in good structure. Any recommendations out here will be helpful

Apex Neptune & Doser system - Will be added in due course

I believe a lot in flow within the tank & system and hence will be adding 2 return pumps. The water return will be through a closed loop system wherein filtered water will flow back at the top of the tank through multiple outlets and at the same time will be plumbed to return in multiple outputs in the deep sand bed and in between live rocks in a hidden mode. This I think will help in adequate water circulation, food distribution for corals across the tank, zero of lesser dead spots, maximum removal of detritus (waste buildup) & organic waste

Any suggestions on the above. Please feel free to provide your valuable inputs.

 

[AllyBoy]

I’m looking for acrylic or plexi glass custom sump makers in Singapore for my project.

Any suggestions from fellow reefers??


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[Evolutionz]

14 minutes ago, AllyBoy said:

I’m looking for acrylic or plexi glass custom sump makers in Singapore for my project.

Any suggestions from fellow reefers??


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I believe Skimz is the only local brand that makes acrylic sumps, not sure if they are customizable though.

[AllyBoy]

There are others I’ve been in touch but they are based either in the US or Europe come with a price tag


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[victorchantm]

U can contact AquariumArtist Vincent. He does customize marine projects like looping, tanks, sump, etc


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[AllyBoy]

Checked with Vincent. unfortunately he doesn't make acrylic custom sumps

[victorchantm]

Then u can try CRA Dan Lee located around at Kakit Buki


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[AllyBoy]

On 1/20/2021 at 6:11 PM, victorchantm said:

CRA

whats the full form for CRA. sorry bad at this

[AllyBoy]

meanwhile has or does anyone out here use royalexclusve dreambox sump in SG. I am in touch with them as well

 

Edited January 22, 2021 by AllyBoy

[AllyBoy]

Can i get a suggestion on Apex gurus in this forum. I have few queries before i book the expensive setup

Cheers

[zorden]

Any update?


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[bubblefish000]

On 1/4/2021 at 11:05 PM, Solo77 said:

All the best. Find more quotes for comparison and see the workmanship. Just don’t be penny wise pound foolish. If budget is a concern, can look for Atlantic tank maker. They have been in the scene for long and think so far so good also. 

u happen to have the contact for atlantic tank maker ?

[AllyBoy]

Been a while since my last post - i must say more than 3 months now. Unfortunately had to take a step back and pause due to unforeseen circumstances. Having said that - the bugs been bitten and hence this time made me look back at attention to detail, how could the setup get better and alternatively review & finalise products as well the tank manufacturer. These 3 months also made an important change in the project - Size. The tank will no longer be a 4 feet instead a 5 x 2 x 2 feet SPS tank dominated heavily with some stunning Acropora corals wish list of which has already been placed. A bit early in revealing the tank manufacturer but lets say the entire project will be completed by a single company instead of breaking down in 2 or 3 depending on individual strengths

Here is the final list of equipments

Tank size - 5 x 2 x 2 feet (Wish i could go 6 feet/2 metre ). @Admin - Possible to update title? From "new 4ft Reef Tank Setup" to 5 ft SPS Aquarium 

Display Tank                                     - 12mm braced, 3 sides crystal glass with a DD Ultra-Flow Weir Comb
Cabinet                                             - Solid Wood Cabinet
Sump Tank                                       - 4 x 1.5 x 1.4 feet
Plumbing                                          - 2 colored pipes for easy identification between inflow and return pipes
Fleece filter                                      - ClariSea SK-500 Automatic (Gen2)
Protein Skimmer                              - Nyos Quantum 220
Carbon Reactor                               - Nyos Torq 2.0 on a Nyos docker
Phosphate / Nitrate Reactor          - None
Algae Reactor                                 - Arid N24 Pax Bellum Algae Reactor with Arid N-Series Calcium Reactor Injector &
                                                           Feed Assembly
                                                           The reactor will be dosed with Pax Bellum Nitrate & Molybdenum Supplements. I
                                                           think the calcium injection (source of excess CO2 and the supplements) will help
                                                           with growing the Chaeto in a better way. Never tried this before and hence fingers
                                                          crossed. Following advice directly from the Pax Bellum US team
Lighting                                            - Orphek Atlantik v4 x 2, 2 x Orphek OR3 Blue Plus connected via Orphek gateway 2 
                                                         and mounted on the Orphek Universal Fixing Bracket Kit
Calcium Reactor                             - Deltec CR Twintech 1500
Return Pump                                   - Apex COR 15 x 2
Wavemaker                                     - None at the moment and will add if required at a late stage
RO/DI Unit                                       - 5 stage RO/DI unit with booster pump, TDS meter and meter gauge
UV Steriliser                                    - Deltec UV Sterilizer - 80 watt
Auto top off                                     - H2OCean Compact Auto Top-Up
Chiller                                              - Either a drop in coil if the house layout permits else a TECO TK 2000 chiller that will
                                                           be kept outside the living room to avoid heat transfer within the living room

Quarantine Tank                           - 2 feet tank with canister filter (already cycling) and a zetlight led light.

The entire system will be connected and maintained through the Apex Neptune unit and hence the following:
Controller                                        - Apex Neptune Controller EB6 with Wifi
                                                           An additional EB6 unit
CA, MG, ALK check                        - Neptune Apex Trident
Dosing                                            - Neptune Apex DOS x 2
Water change                                - Automated via Neptune Apex DOS x 1

To keep the parameters near normal or as tuned, I plan to use the Trident as well as the Calcium Reactor. In this way, the trident dosing will be based on the calcium reactor and only if required. This is the long run will prevent swings in between the non-test periods based on the consumption by the corals. It also adds an extra layer of detail keeping in mind the intake by the demanding SPS colonies thereby avoiding major swings in the water parameters

As part of the setup, there will be a separate section built exclusively to house all the electronic equipment (especially the Apex units). This visually will look appealing and be a perfect way to arrange and hide all the electrical wires to what I call a dense birds nest. 

The salt I plan to use will be Fauna Marin Professional Sea Salt. This brand I believe is used by successful fellow reefers across the globe and what I like about it is the ideal parameters you achieve in an extremely quick salt mix. 

One thing that I am interested yet skeptical is an Ozone reactor that helps break down organic waste phenomenally increasing the water quality as well as clarity

The entire unit will be a closed looped system which is why I've added a second COR pump. The closed loop pump initially will be programmed to run at a lesser efficiency and based on the tank demand, the efficiency will be increased. The return pipes will not be drilled underneath the tank instead will be drilled at the back glass in a mid lower section. This way there will be flow in the middle to lower area. I also plan to have a web of return pipes with lesser thickness buried in the sand bottom. This way there be a gentle flow in the sand using which I hope to keep the organic waste and detritus suspended or floating to be sucked down through the overflow. Considering this is going to be a SPS dominated setup, flow is an area I cannot compromise and hence I think the closed loop followed by the external return at the top together will create a 15 to 20 times water churn/flow per hour

Finally the tank arrives a month from now. Happy to hear back from fellow reefers on inputs/suggestions. I will be sharing sketches/layout prints by next week. 

[R0B]

What sounds like the start of a really impressive build. Can't wait to see it all come together. Thanks for sharing. Super interesting read.

Couple of things stand out to me... firstly be very careful on the web of return pipes buried under the sand. Personally I think the risk of serious issue outways any margianl benefits... but if you can pull it off, it will be extremely interesting. Any sand in the tank is (according to brstv) like a "kitty litter tray". So sand will need spot cleaning unless your web is extensive. My worry is multifold, firstly any sand agitation (movement of sand in tank from additional spot cleaning, or simply fish swimming by ) will cause your water quality to suffer as sand will get blown everywhere. Secondly and way more important is the risk of any siphon issue if power goes out. Any power outage (breaker trips, lightening strikes nearby etc) and you will drain the whole tank into the sump and most likely floor too. haha. Further any moderate loss of power scenario (including some feed modes) will result in sand being sucked into the buried pipe. Whilst this may not block the pipe altogether as soon as the power is restored you will have a lovely snow globe effect in your tank, which is only good if you like snow globes. Sorry to be blunt but I would ditch that plan and simply have less sand.

Regarding flow, it seems under powered for SPS. Corals get their food from nutrients which they capture from the water column, so more flow means more nutrients passing by each coral polyp. 20 times flow is on the low end for SPS. 40x to 50x is more typical. However, it is less about a top end number and more about removing any dead-spots and making sure the flow is directed where your corals need it. So the plan to do a closed loop is certainly a good start and I honestly wish more people considered closed loops vs. expensive wavemakers; so hats off to you for that decision. I suspect however that some targeted pumps will be needed sooner rather than later.

Regarding Ozone, it is certainly a great option, just remember that the safest and most efficient results come via an ozone reactor so wasn't clear how you plan to incorporate. And you may want to consider a plan on keeping your PH optimised.. possibly add some kalk into ATO?? (so jealous as the Deltec twin Calcium reactor is the bees knees hahaha).

Great stuff. Looking forward to reading more of your posts as you progress. You have some exciting times ahead. Thanks again for sharing.





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[AllyBoy]

Thanks for the feedback Rob. The overall volume without sand, liverock comes to around 200 gallons. Correction on my part - the pumps will be 2 x apex cor-20 and not cor-15 that together have the capacity to churn 4000 goh which is 20 times the water capacity. Over and above I have the apex wav kit ( 2 wavemakers) factored in and will be added as time passes. The apex wav at full capacity is another 4000 gph.

The close looped system will be as follows:
- 2 or 3 pipes drilled mid lower section at the back
- a web of pipes connecting via a T spread across the entire bottom with Flare nozzles for the output
- pipes buried in the scape rocks with low profile bulkhead overflow strainer as the output. This set of pipes will be tuned not to spray and full capacity with option to tune in as and when required
- all closed loop return pipes will have check valves installed - 1 each at the pipes and an additional one on the main line as a backup

Ozone- love to have it and on my priority list however yet to figure out the spot for the ozone machine away to avoid issues with family around

Regards,
Allan


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[AllyBoy]

HI all,

I have a query and need reviews/suggestions from fellow reefers

Which is a good media to be loaded in a Deltech CR Twin tech 1500 Calcium reactor. Medium in my mind for the reactor is "DaStaCo 2 Pro Cal PURE Media for Calcium Reactors- 20kg Box" which i believe is not available locally.

[AllyBoy]

Draft sketch on the tank and sump. We have finalised on the overflow box as external and in the centre of the tank.

Cabinet, Sump & Electrical Section
The flow into the sump will directly fall on 2 x ClariSea SK-500 Automatic (Gen2) fleece filter. The second one is added keeping in mind the flow and water turn over thereby avoiding the filter roll to continue spinning and getting exhausted quickly. At the moment, I'm still deciding whether to add a partition after the fleece filter or leave it as a common area wherein the water first flows through the fleece filter and then comes in contact with the Skimmer and the Carbon reactor.  Happy to hear feedback out here. 

Keeping the equipment list in mind, there will be a lot of electrical wires around which in typical terms looks like a bird nest or a web of wires all around the sump. To avoid the mess and to have a neat and clean setup, there will be an electrical section at the left section of the cabinet below. By adding this section, the cabinet will now have 4 doors - 3 in the front and 1 at the left side to allow access to the electrical circuits and equipments. This section will house all the equipments such as as the Apex units (energy bar, trident, modules, dos etc.) with wires neatly tucked in behind the board. 

The cabinet color will be black in color. Initially the circuit board area too will be black in color. In time i.e. 3-4 months from now, I will add a white acrylic sheet to the left section thereby hiding the physical equipment in whole with only the module display visible and a led strip light which will light up upon opening the door

I have intentionally added 2 x manifolds for future use. This will be used to connect any future equipments and if required

 

Display Tank
The returns will be divided into 2 - 

Return 1 - Connected to the Apex COR 20 and coming in besides the overflow box on both sides

Return 2 - This will be split further into 2 through a T and a valve and will be connected to the rear glass at the lower section - roughly 10" from the bottom

Split 1 - Left rear that will further connect to a smaller web of pvc pipes that will be laid on the bottom buried under a deep sand bed. The flow will be controlled through a valve and will be gentle in nature to avoid massive disturbance in the sand bed & at the same time having a gentle flow all across the sand bed thereby keeping organic and detritus waste suspended in the water column to be pulled in the overflow. Another reason for this would be to minimise manual sand bed siphoning. Flare nozzle will be added to all outputs that will point in different directions all across the bottom underneath the sand bed. Fingers crossed on this part and I hope it works. As a fall back and if this fails, we close the valve at the back to cut off the supply for good

Split 2 - Right rear that will further connect to vertical pvc pipes that will run through the scape. As part of the scape design, I plan to introduce roughly 2 islands both of which will have a hidden pvc pipes running across the island top to bottom with small holes drilled all across the pipe. This will help water flow throughout the scape thereby ensuring minimal detritus settling in the scapes and also help avoid dead spots that will grow in time as the coral colony grow dense

Wavemaker - Should the tank require additional flow, Apex WSK kit will be added in time

 

[AllyBoy]

Pax Bellum Arid N24 arrived. Exceptional customer service so far by Tristan & team as he patiently answered all my queries and helped finalising the right fit. The shipment arrived on the fifth day of placing the order which was pretty quick. The algae reactor will be connected to the Deltec Calcium reactor through the pax bellum CA injection kit supplied along with the reactor. The reactor will be regularly fed with "Nitrogen + Molybdenum solution"to maintain optimal N:P ratio in the aquarium. This solution was purchased additionally and supplied alongside the alage reactor in the same shipment. 

 

[AllyBoy]

Next Steps:

- Setting up dedicated electrical switches for the aquarium - 2 x power points
- Installing all weather switch in the patio for the Chiller
- Creating a water proof box for the chiller in the patio
- Calcium reactor & Algae reactor will be outside the sump and besides the cabinet. This will be covered in due time
- Installation of the RO/DI unit in the bathroom with connection to the salt mix & auto top station. Salt Mix & Auto Top stations will be behind the tank and vertical in size thereby saving alternate & additional space. The tank & the bathroom are opposite sides and hence the in and out water pipes will be plumbed through the wall. Stay tuned for this part. I will share pictures once completed