Macca's Budget 180gal Upgrade

[MaccaPopEye]

I tend to ramble on a bit so feel free to skip all the writing haha but I will start with a bit of a quick into and background. But first here is a pic of my current tank as it was a couple of months ago that is now getting upgraded.


I have been in this hobby for just shy of 2 years now. Over the last 2 years (as most do when they start this hobby) I have learned a massive amount. I began with a lot of research, but even then have had a few ups and downs over the last 2 years, particularly in relation to a MASSIVE green hair algae bloom that quickly and ruthlessly took over my tank.

I started with a 4’ 100Gal tank with a 3’ DIY sump and mainly due to the algae bloom, over the last 6 months I have been planning a tank “reboot” where I would move my current tank to the other side of my living room while making a bunch of improvements. These planned improvements include: a new stand (with an electrical section to fix my rat’s nest of wires), a new sump with a better layout, drilling the tank to ditch the hang on overflow and a new scape with new acid bathed and pre-cycled rock.

I planned for a good couple of months while working on the algae bloom and then started gathering supplies for the reboot. The day before I was going to cut up all the wood and build the new stand for my tank I saw a cheap(ish) 6’ tank for sale locally. I jokingly made my sales pitch to the other half and as we are saving for our wedding so it should have been a solid no; well she surprised me and agreed! Before she could change her mind I went to pay a deposit for the tank and with the help of some local reefers I picked it up the next week.

I quickly modified my plans for the reboot and now it is an upgrade! As I said we are saving as much as we can so this will also be done with as much of a budget as I can muster and I should be able to re-use all of my equipment & stuff I had already purchased for the reboot and only buy a couple of additional items.

Tank Specs
Second hand 1830mm x 610mm x 610mm (6’x2’x2’)
The previous owner was using it for fresh water but the tank was already drilled with a very large internal weir fitted

Overflow
DIY “slimline” glass weir and external overflow box with a bean animal drain

Stand
DIY stand made from 2x4s with a partition to keep electrical components separate

Sump
DIY sump using a second hand tank measuring 1220mm x 365mm x 445mm (roughly 4’x1’x1.5’)
Compartments from left to right will be:
Drain
Filter socks
Filtration
Return
ATO reservoir

Filtration
Skimmer: Deltec SC1350 (coming from old tank)
DIY waterfall Algae Turf Scrubber (coming from old tank)
3kg of ceramic rings (new)
1 large marine pure block (coming from old tank)

Return Pump
Jebao DCT6000 (coming from old tank)

Tank Circulation
4x Jebao RW-8 wave makers (2x coming from old tank and 2x new)

Dosing
Jebao DP4 dosing Randy’s DIY 2 part Alk, Ca & Mag. 4th pump open, possibly for carbon dosing in the future? (Coming from old tank)

Controller
No controller to begin with. However I am waiting for the REEFmate/DOSEmate to be released. This is a controller being developed in Australia and should hopefully be ready for sale late 2016 / early 2017. It is aiming to be very customisable and will be compatible with most of the Reef Angel modules.
Here is a link for anyone who might be interested: http://www.inventmarine.com/product/dosemate/

Heater/Chiller
Heater: I live in northern Australia, what’s a heater?
Chiller: Hailea 500 1/2Hp Chiller (coming from old tank)

ATO
Generic 3 switch ATO, one switch for low level in the reservoir, one for normal water level and one for emergency high water level shut off (coming from old tank)
ATO reservoir will be the last chamber of the sump holding around 50L (hopefully at least 1 weeks worth)

Lighting
3x Mars Aqua 165W LED lights (coming from old tank)

Substrate
Black sand

And to kick it off here is a pic of the new (to me) tank sitting outside my unit waiting to be brought in and put on its new stand

 

[JaimeAdams]

Welcome back tot he hobby.
I like budget builds since I am poor and don't have money for the fun stuff.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

I am actually a bit late with starting this journal; really I am getting fairly close to getting the new tank wet. So the first few posts here will be playing catch-up. To continue the background a little bit here is my current tank back when the algae bloom started:


When the algae bloom started I decreased the lighting period, massively cut feeding, added more GFO, added around 20 large trochus snails, increased water change frequency and volume and manually pulled out as much algae as I could as often as I could. Nothing seemed to work, the algae was growing back way faster than I could remove it. 2 months later there was more algae on my rocks than ever and it was covering a lot of my coral. The whole time both nitrate and phosphate were testing 0.

The main method I used to start beating the algae was adding an Algae Turf Scrubber. It took me a while to get the parts and build but it worked very well and very fast. Here is a pic of the algae bloom a few days before the scrubber was added (bottom pic) and 4 months after I got the ATS up and running (top pic). During the first 4 months I didn’t do any water changes and didn’t change GFO or do any maintenance other than clean the glass, skimmer and scrubber.


It was following this pic that I started investing time into planning my reboot / upgrade and moving rocks to the sump to make way for the new scape. This caused the algae to make a slight resurgence, but overall it’s still nowhere near as bad as it was and it is getting better by the day. Here is how the tank was going a couple of days ago (bad pic but it shows how much the coralline has taken off).



And here are a few pics of some of the inhabitants:

 

[MaccaPopEye]

First step of the reboot was to get new rock so I could move the algae covered ones to the dark sump where any remaining algae will die and then the old rock can be slowly removed as the new rock populates up with bacteria.

I am quite fortunate as I live in possibly one of the only places in Aus that legally allows private collection for our hobby so this is very budget friendly. So I went down to one of the reefs (some coral out there but this one is mostly just rock) at low tide and grabbed a few buckets of rock that I thought would help make a good scape.

Here it all is laid out so I could hose it all off.


Into a wheelie bin it all goes with water and acid for a bath. I didn’t use quite the 1-10 ratio of acid to water that I have heard people recommend, but there was still plenty of foam with roughly the 1-20 ratio that I used so it was doing something.


One thing I didn’t do when I set my current tank up was glue/drill the rock scape together or place it on egg crate. This resulted in the scape sliding outwards over time to the point where I am not able to clean the glass around the bottom of the scape on the left hand side.

So now with nice, clean dry rock I began putting together a scape for me to drill and glue. I found out quite quickly that drilling porous rock is not so easy as it breaks at the slightest wrong move and the epoxy putty I use to secure coral isn’t cheap and I would need a lot of it for each tiny join. But this is more or less what I ended up with. Similar to my original scape, a bit nicer (I think) and secure. Unfortunately the pic is from behind as I couldn’t get one from the front due to a wall being in the way, will just have to wait until it is in the tank to get a better shot of it.


This rock then went into a bin with 2 ebay power heads I use for mixing salt, fresh salt water, bacteria in a bottle and a cube of fish food. It has been there for around 3 months now so hopefully it has established a good bacteria population.

I plan on still using this rock as I had it set up for the scape of the upgrade (obviously a bit more spaced out) and will possibly add another dry rock structure in the future after I can see it all set up in the tank and gauge how much space I have (it's easy enough to get more rock any time I need).

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Next step was to make water changes easier so I would be more inclined to do them. For this I tracked down 2x food safe 55gal drums. A mate of mine managed to get these for me for only $20 each (some people were asking upwards of $100 each ) and a bonus was they were only used to hold vinegar so completely reef safe after a quick rinse.

Only issue was they only had 2 tiny access holes in the top which would make it difficult to add salt or even to get the bulkheads in there. My solution was to cut the tops off a couple of water storage tubs that had screw lids with gaskets, and stick them to the top of the 55gal drums with epoxy putty (after cutting out a nice sized hole first). This gives me a nice large access hole and stays air tight.



I have only done the lid of 1 drum so far but the other one should be done in a couple of days. The water mixing station will be a normal setup with RO in one and ASW in the other with a pump between the two so I can pump either with just the twist of a valve.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Good looking pics! Question: how long have you had the marsaquas? Do you still like them? I just ordered 3 165w units for my 125. Just tired of changing t5's out every year at the tune of $200 each time!

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Welcome back tot he hobby.
I like budget builds since I am poor and don't have money for the fun stuff.

Thanks, I never left the hobby, although I came close to shutting it down at one point with the algae bloom. Hopefully though this new tank will be a kind of new beginnings I have already blown my budget out a little bit due to things I forgot to factor in, but I try to DIY as much as I can as well as re-using whatever I can to keep costs down.

Good looking pics! Question: how long have you had the marsaquas? Do you still like them? I just ordered 3 165w units for my 125. Just tired of changing t5's out every year at the tune of $200 each time!

Thanks, I have had them for a bit over a year now. I got 3 for my 4' tank as it has 2 weird solid black braces in awkward spots and I didn't want any shadowing, it certainly helps now I don't need to buy another one for the upgrade

I think the Mars Aqua are great. The coral that didn't get smothered by the algae is now thriving and the separate dim-able channels really allow you to set the colour look of the tank well. I am very sold that you wont get a better bang for your buck light than these. Hope you end up liking yours as well.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Great to hear! I've seen nothing but good reviews on those.

Your build looks good, keep us updated as you go.

Thanks again

 

[MaccaPopEye]

The new tank arrives. This “reboot” now becomes an upgrade!

Step 1 with the new tank was to start the stand. I have quite a small unit so I had to build the stand at my parents place and then move it later.

I have never build an aquarium stand before so I went with the basic stand design with a 2x6 top box, 2x4 bottom box and 2x4 legs and centre brace all held together with pocket holes.


And all painted white. In the end the outside will be black but the inside will be white to help me see under the stand. An issue I have with my current stand is its too dark inside.


I was going to use ply to skin the stand but it is really expensive where I live. Someone on one of the Aus reefing Facebook pages said he’s using MDF and as long as it is sealed properly then it will be fine. MDF was less than half the cost of ply so I figured why not give it a go.

MISTAKE #1
I wanted to do just 2 large panels on the front and one panel over the left all held on with magnets so even if the MDF failed I could just toss it and remake the panels in ply when I can afford to. Well my other half insisted on doors. I don’t have much experience with all this but to achieve the nice flush look I was going for and still have doors I realised that I needed to have some cover type pieces over the corners and centre brace. Well my mistake was that I glued these on. This is going to make it hard to get them off and fix if the MDF ever does fail so fingers crossed it works .


MISTAKE #2
I mentioned I haven’t built an aquarium stand before, well I also haven’t built much of anything before haha so my cuts on the doors were also quite shonky (used a circular saw and a DIY clamp on fence). However, I got them to fit where I wanted just don’t look to closely , but no matter what I did I could not get the “hidden” hinges I had bought to work. I used the templates they came with but the doors either wouldn’t close with the hinges on or couldn’t be lined up nicely. So I bailed on the hinges and told the other half that magnetic panels was the only option (the mistake was I should have done this to begin with an skipped the “coroner covers”).


I finally got the stand in place! During transit the doors got a bit scuffed up so I added a few extra coats of paint to them.


Next step was to glue an LED strip to the inside roof of the stand so that I will be able to see under there and then get the electrical section ready. I have planned this out in sketch up and when I move everything from the tank over it is going to be very tight but I think it all should fit.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Next on the to do list was to get a new sump. The 3’ sump I had on my current tank is a mess. I originally planned for it to have an external skimmer and a large fuge.

Given my remote location I couldn’t find any macro to run in the fuge, the return pump I had also wasn’t strong enough to pump water back into the tank and to supply the fuge so the water in the fuge just got stagnant and then the external skimmer kept overflowing (the pump broke after a couple of months anyway).

When the skimmer pump broke I got an internal skimmer and ripped a few baffles out of my sump so there is now only 2 chambers - the drain, skimmer & ATS and then the return.

Here is the new 4’ sump.


And here it is with the braces removed and mostly cleaned up – ready for some baffles.


The sump will be set up with a drain on the left, then filter socks (3 of them), large chamber with skimmer, ATS, large marine pure block and ceramic rings for more biological filtration, return chamber and reactor for GAC and last almost half of the sump will be fully sectioned off as an ATO reservoir so I can hopefully have at least a week’s worth of top off.


While on the topic of the sump last week I also added half a squeegee to my deltec skimmers lid. I did this to the external reef octopus that I used to have and it worked really well. I just never got around to doing the same to the little deltec until I saw a mini squeegee at the shops. Works really well at keeping the neck of the skimmer clean, just give it a spin or two each day when I feed the tank – only takes 2 seconds and now I can skim nice and dark and not have to clean the neck every 2-3 days.


This is almost 2 weeks of skimmate now

 

[MaccaPopEye]

I am now fully updated on my progress. The glass for the weir, overflow and baffles was ready to be picked up on Friday, just managed to get it before they closed.


I’m happy with the shop I got my glass from. They were at least half the price of everywhere else I got a quote from and the glass looks great. Only issue is with the base of the overflow box, I wrote down the distance from the edge to place the holes, but I was assuming 45mm holes would be good enough and they suggested 50mm holes and I didn’t amend where the holes should be placed so they are a bit off centre. I should have just said place them in the centre haha. But I think I can still get it to work!

It took me a lot longer than I thought it would to remove the old weir. The glass was bonded so closely I couldn’t even fit a razor blade in but I got it off in the end.


And on with the new “slimline” weir. I’m a little concerned with how high I placed it. At the time an inch sounded like it was more than low enough but looking at it I am thinking it might be a bit high after water cascading over the top is taken into account.


The lines drawn on the back of the tank are where the waterline sat with the old weir (low and high lines). The new low level (full tank, no water flowing over) is now in line with the old high line (where the water sits while flowing over). The new weir has a lot more surface skimming so hopefully the water doesn’t sit more than 1cm above the weir while flowing or I am going to have to re-do it.


Still to do:
External overflow box
Sump Baffles
Lighting rack
Plumbing
Get it wet!
Move everything over

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Cool!

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Got a few more things done today.

Sump ready for baffles (the tape did not help me get nice silicone lines as I hoped it would)


But I got all the baffles in with some really shoddy silicone work. Hopefully the first baffle and the ATO baffle are water tight, the others I couldn't care about. I'm particularly happy with the DIY filter sock holder. I tried to use socks in my current sump but I was only able to use one at a time and it would fill up way too fast. Hopefully with 3 socks I can just change them once a week when I clean the skimmer and fill up the ATO.



I then painted all the walls of the sump. The sump portion is all white so that it will be easy to see when doing maintenance. And the ATO portion is black to block out light (with a thin window on the front to see the level), although as I won't be running a fuge I am not too worried about light spill, I still wish I had of gotten black glass for that last baffle though.


I also got the external overflow box in place. It has now had 24hrs to dry and tomorrow I will attempt to see if it is water tight (fingers crossed!)



While the tank was on it's side and I was painting the sump I threw a coat of black onto the back of the DT as well.


Tomorrow I should be finishing the lighting rack, I have helpers coming the day after to help get the tank in place, then plumbing and a few (dozen) trips to get water and I will have it all filled up (hopefully next weekend).

 

[MaccaPopEye]

With the exception of a coat of paint the lighting rack is finished.



And I got the sump under the stand. Tank is coming inside tomorrow evening!

 

[MaccaPopEye]

And the tank is in!

 

[Ljaus]

Looking really good mate, the sump come up nicely. Im from central Queensland and totally get the no heater but need a chiller haha

 

[MaccaPopEye]

OK so I've been pretty busy since my last update.

Over the last week and a half I have:
- done the plumbing
- finished the electrical cabinet
- leak tested
- filled with RO/DI
- got salty!
- moved over equipment (and cleaned it all on the process)
- put in the new rock
- moved all the live stock over!

So here is some pics of the whole process

Plumbing finished! I have a bean animal drain in the external overflow box with the siphon and durso draining before the filter socks and the emergency draining after the filter socks so it will make a loud splash if it ever gets used. The two bits of PVC spanning the sump will be used to hold up the algae turf scrubber.

Leak testing. There was one leak from the threaded pvc fitting going into the siphon bulkhead. Removed and redid the Teflon tape and no more leak.

Filling with RODI. I love seeing RODI in buckets and tanks. It's just so crystal clear it's surreal.

Started adding salt mid fill and moving equipment over (with a vinegar bath) this took way longer than I thought and I had to pause half way to go to night shift. Half of the equipment is in. Electrical is getting very messy

Got the newly cycled LR and chiller in. The chiller was a bit*h to do. I planned the stand to perfectly fit the sump and chiller. What I didn't account for was getting the chiller in place with the sump already in, the tank on the stand and the stand in a corner against two walls. But a lot of swearing and jiggling and I got it in.

Sump shot will all equipment in.

Rough scape finished with a temporary frag rack in the center. And all livestock moved over (not that there was that much).

All the equipment and livestock now in the electrical cabinet got tidied up.

And in goes what has been named the "HMAS Compromise". My missus has always wanted a sunken ship in the tank and I have always stood firm with a no. But she allowed me to upgrade when it probably wast the best time financially AND the second hand tank actually came with a sunken ship ornament, so I couldn't really say no [emoji14]

I have placed a few fast growing morphs and zoas on it so hopefully it will be covered in soft coral in no time and if I am being totally honest, it's not what I wanted for the tank but it's growing on me a little bit. If that if just because I don't have a choice now or not I don't know haha

And here is my son who also loves the ship. And everything to do with the tank. The chair in front of the tank is almost going to have to be a permanent fixture as if it's not there he will put it back so he can watch the tank.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Looking really good mate, the sump come up nicely. Im from central Queensland and totally get the no heater but need a chiller haha

Cheers. I'm actually debating a heater for the next dry season. Its been getting hotter during the wet and colder during the dry. Nothing that would be detrimental to the tank but it does cause rather large swings (got down into the low 20s this year). The local reef seems to be OK with it, but I prefer to keep a stable temp. But with us entering they wet now I have 6 months to get one [emoji14]

 

[Jimbo662]

Great looking setup!

 

[G8trBait16]

WOW! The tank/setup looks great!