Well I guess I should make a thread to show the progress of my upgrade. As of right now I have a 75 gal tank that I have had set up for about 2 yrs now. It wasnt reef ready when it was given to me and I had no clue on what I wanted to do with it but kinda learned on the way. Before I had set up the 75, I had it drilled with a 1" and a 3/4" bulkhead put in on one side and another 3/4" bulkhead on the other side. Well Ive done alot of tinkering and ended up using the extra bulkhead for a closed loop intake and made a manifold to sit on top of the tank. I never really liked the distribution of flow within the tank so I decided that I needed a new tank. With swapping out the tank, I have plenty of time to get together everything I need. So a couple of weeks ago I picked up a new 90 gal reef ready tank and asked flyguy to build me one of those slick looking rock lifts. I received most of the new bulkheads and fittings this past friday and my sequence dart came in on saturday. I also moved all my corals over to a buddies tank so I would have plenty of time to make the move. Right now Im waiting on the diamond coated drill bits to get here from japan and then Ill start the fun of drilling a bunch of holes. Ill post pics as we progress.
awesome! It is so much more fun than having to just 'make do' with old equipment, and actually get to put all of your new knowledge to use. Can't wait to see how all the plumbing looks when it's done - looks pretty well thought out.
what about new stand and hood? what color are you going to paint the tank (black i guess to match the overflow)? can you post a pic of your current setup?
Well I currently have the 75 setup and I will reuse my stand and canopy that I stained a nice cherry color. Ill see about putting some pics of that. I really like the stand since I had it made nice and tall. I think its 36" tall and already have T5's installed in the canopy. I might add another pair of T5's since now I will have a deeper tank. 110 is right on the holes, they are all returns. For the intakes I am thinking of putting them on either side of the overflow box and about 8" down from the top. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to share
For the intakes for the CLS I would go a little lower...about 12", since they should be behind the rock somewhat or can be hidden. I don't like seeing anything. Plus if you ever need to get to them it still shouldn't be too bad.
well as it turns out I need to work on this project a little quicker since I have stuff laying all over the place and Im supposed to be expecting visitors from out of town next week. I guess I will have to put the tank together this weekend. Luckily I pretty much have everything I need to do it except for a bulkhead or two but I shouldnt have a problem finding one locally.
honestly, this is what i would do, take it for what it is worth.
have you looked at either mine or Fly's tank. we have coast to coast overflows. i suggest putting one in your tank on the long side of the overflow. i think that the second of the two pic's holes are what i am thinking. those two holes up high will be behind the coast to coast overflow will be the intakes for a CLS. i would use the holes on the bottom as returns from the CLS . this will help keep detritus from settling behind the LR. the hole on the left of the overflow will either be another return from the CLS or if the RR overflow does not already have a second hole for a return, than you could use this hole for the sump return.
i do not like to have any intakes low in the tank. they are far to hard to keep clean.
very nice tank, i dig the rock lifts. the stand and canopy is very nice, i wouldnt change it either. good luck, looks like everythijngs thought out, anxious to see how it turns out
this is what Im thinking as to where Im going to drill the holes for the closed loop. The return will go over the top from the back and be pointing towards the back of the tank
Yeah, Im going to use a 2" manifold that will be fed from the pump and will have valves going into the individual bulkheads. kinda like this
As for the background, I will probably pick up a can of spray paint and paint the back so I wont see the plumbing. Either way it will be eventually covered by coralline so its not too much of a big deal
yeah I know, I just posted that pic to get the idea. Im actually using ball valves and will be using 2" pipe going into 3/4" plumbing that has the 3/4" valves on it
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