Other Vette’s 180 mixed reef with basement filtration

[Vette67]

I suppose it’s time for me to start my journal. Starting at the beginning, I set up my first saltwater tank, a 75, in my parents basement in 1997. In 1998, I moved out and bought a new 75 to move into my 3rd floor apartment. I was satisfied with that until I met my wife, and we bought a house in 2001. I purposely picked out the house with the idea that I was going to get a 180 gallon tank and run the filtration into the basement. So the wife and I found a house that would work, but I agreed that we would fix some things around the house before I got the tank. I moved the 75 into the basement to leave room for the180 upstairs. Then about a year after moving into the house, in 2002, I bought the 180. I ran the plumbing through the cold air return and to a sump in the basement. And that essentially has been how my tank has been set up since 2002. So this will just be my introduction. Here’s the tank now.

I’ll follow up later with the details; equipment, stocking, and all of my old school thinking.

 

[saf1]

Looks great! Nice size clam and healthy.

 

[Humblefish]

Thanks for sharing your build with us!

 

[Vette67]

So this is the “brains” of the operation in my basement. You can see the 1.5” white PVC pipe at the top coming out of my cold air rerun and following over to where it drains into my sump which is a 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank. Along the bottom, I put in a 3” PVC external manifold that goes over to my return pump, which is a PanWorld 150 PS. That is not visible (behind the sump) but that is what runs the system. On the right, is my original 75 that I bought in 1998, and is still running in my system today. Then of course, is the 5 stage reverse osmosis system mounted on the wall next to my furnace. So this will just again be the introduction. I’ll get into details about my specific equipment later. I just figured I’d get the 2 main places (tank upstairs and basement filtration) shown first.

 

[Vette67]

Looks great! Nice size clam and healthy.

Thanks. That is my derasa clam that I bought at a frag swap in February of 2020, just like weeks before we went into lockdown. That clam has been growing very well, and has probably grown almost 3 inches of new shell since I bought it. I actually had to start adding kalk to my system, because that thing is such a calcium hog that my calcium reactor almost couldn’t keep up. It is definitely happy as a clam! I’ll have to get a better picture of it tomorrow, since my lights are already off for the night.

 

[saf1]

Thanks. That is my derasa clam that I bought at a frag swap in February of 2020, just like weeks before we went into lockdown. That clam has been growing very well, and has probably grown almost 3 inches of new shell since I bought it. I actually had to start adding kalk to my system, because that thing is such a calcium hog that my calcium reactor almost couldn’t keep up. It is definitely happy as a clam! I’ll have to get a better picture of it tomorrow, since my lights are already off for the night.

Looks great.

 

[Vette67]

Ok so this is the business end of my sump. Everything is external. Coming out of my sump is the 3 inch PVC external manifold that all my pumps run off. Like I said, I’m using a PanWorld 150PS as my recirculating pump (closest to my sump). Next to that is the pump that runs my skimmer, a PanWorld 100PX-X. So that means I run about 1200gph through my skimmer. In the picture is my MTC HSA-1000 skimmer. It was bought new by my uncle in 1997ish and then he sold it to me several years after. So it has been in use for almost 25 years, and works better than anything made today. This is the old school Beckett style skimmer and works perfectly to this day. I have the skimmate empty into that collection cup that has a ping pong ball in it that floats and forces air pressure back into the skimmer, lowering its level, if it ever overflows. Saves the skimmer from ever overflowing and making a mess; love that feature. Also on the air exit of that collection cup, out the top, I have a 1” PVC hose that discharges my skimmate air out of my house. No foul skimmate smell in my basement. I also have the skimmer intake pulling fresh outside air, so all air in my skimmer comes from the outside and is discharged to the outside. Yeah, it’s probably due for a cleaning!

 

[Vette67]

So next up, is my lighting. Again, old school. I run metal halides and T-12 VHO fluorescents. Most of my ballasts were purchased when I set up my tank on 2002, by Hello Lights, THE reef lighting company in the late 90’s and early 2000’s they went out of business during the Great Recession. So these ballasts were in place for almost 20 years. Then in late 2020, I realized that my old reflectors were pitted and corroded with salt water splash and probably weren’t reflecting much light. So I bought all new Hamilton reflectors, and converted 2 of the bulbs to double ended HQI bulbs, and got the magnetic M80 ballasts, I got those ballasts because they overdrive the 250 watt bulbs by an extra 80 watts or so. I was willing to give a little in efficiency to gain the light output, going from all electronic ballasts, to now having 2 magnetic M80 ballasts. So far, I am very happy with the change in lights. I consider them to be an upgrade, compared to what I have. These new reflectors have tempered glass covers on them, so that any salt water splash will only hit the glass, and not the reflectors, which is just what I wanted. Now I can just clean the glass and don't have to worry about the reflectors getting pitted. Here's the new reflectors with the magnetic M80 ballasts. The ballasts were much bigger than I was expecting, weighing about 25 pounds each. The reflectors are 12" by 12", for comparison.

I originally had my old halides mounted underneath my canopy, but that put the bulbs somewhere around 6 inches above the surface of the water. Much too close. Now they are more like 12 inches off the surface of the water. So I had to cut square holes in my canopy, just slightly smaller than the size of the reflectors, so I could place them on top of the canopy. Then I cut some pieces of 1 x 2 and beveled the edge to match the angle of the top of the reflectors, so they are pinched in place, an cannot be lifted off. Here are the lights after they were mounted.

The 2 reflectors on the right and center are the new 250 Watt HQI bulbs, with the ballasts sitting in my stand. I kept one of the old mogul base bulbs and ballast and just ran a new reflector. So the reflector on the left is a 175 watt halide connected to one of my old ARO ballasts from 2002. Still working well. This allowed me to put some of my less light demanding corals (leather, etc...) on the left side of my tank, and all of the newer tenuis frags sit on the right. I can't say I have noticed a big difference since adding the HQI bulbs, but I did notice my derasa clam has definitely darkened more. It seems to enjoy the extra lighting. And the miyagi tort in the center of my tank, used to be more green (it was always purple with a green background). Now, the top that is bombarded with PAR is strictly purple, and it isn't until about 3/4 of the way down the colony that it starts fading to more green background. I don't know if that means it's happy or not....

So the picture is just with the halides on. Since getting the new halides, I noticed that they were bright enough on their own that I could barely notice a difference when the VHO's turned on. So I have them turn off 15 minutes after the halides turn on, and turn back on 15 minutes before the halides turn off. The VHO's have become my dawn - dusk lights. I run the halides from 10AM to 5PM and the VHO's staggered like I said, from 7AM to 9PM. I run a 14 hour photo period, and have run that way for almost 20 years.

 

[Humblefish]

I run metal halides and T-12 VHO fluorescents.

A man after my own !

 

[smsreef]

Really gorgeous tank! I'm loving your basement "Brain" setup too!

What is the yellow staghorn-like coral? It's gorgeous and has a beautiful growth pattern.

 

[Vette67]

Really gorgeous tank! I'm loving your basement "Brain" setup too!

What is the yellow staghorn-like coral? It's gorgeous and has a beautiful growth pattern.

Thanks. That's a good question. I bought it at a frag swap probably 5 or 6 years ago; I can't even remember now. The vendor may have told me what it was, but I have since forgotten. It definitely has a different growth pattern. It's strange because it's almost smooth skin. I have never seen any polyp extension on it. It almost doesn't even appear to have polyps. And it certainly does not grow in a normal pattern compared to most other SPS coral I have seen.

 

[Wrangy]

Love the tank mate and a halide user!! I ran Radium halides on my last tank and they're fantastic! I've converted to the darkside now though as the room I have the tank in is way too small for halides to not overheat everything haha

 

[Vette67]

Next up, my ATO. For my job, I work In Automation in a steel mill, so I have to apply what I do at work to my tank. So to that end, use an Endress and Hauser single input controller to control my evaporative water. There’s is a hydrostatic level sensor that inputs the 4-20 mA signal to the controller. Hydrostatic level sensor is the blue unit on the left of the picture below. Essentially, there is a pressure sensitive membrane in the level sensor and it can detect the height of the water column to within 1/100th of an inch. I drilled a 1/2” bulkhead into my sump (smaller bulkhead on the far right), and that is connected to the 1/2” hose on the input side of the level sensor (the braided vinyl hose). The blue wire coming out of the front of the level sensor is what transmits the signal up to the controller.

This transmits to the brains of the unit, which is the grey square controller on the lower right in the picture below. That I have programmed with a set point of 17.35 inches and a .35” hysteresis. So the controller “turns on” when the water level drops below 17.35” and then turns off when the RO fills the sump back up to 17.70 inches. Basically there is a relay in the controller that energizes the ice cube relay below the controller. That relay is hard wired through the grey conduit up to the outlet at the top. When that outlet is energized, it turns on my booster pump, and energizes, or opens, the normally closed solenoid valve directly to the left of my booster pump. The whole system stays on and dumps RODI water directly into my sump until the desired level is reached, then it shuts off.

The controller has 4 relays on it. 1 is connected to the solenoid on the RO unit, and 2 are wired to a buzzer that dangles from the unit. One relay is tied to a low level sensor and the other is high level. It is loud and will wake the dead, and it has woken me in the middle of the night. I have never had the high level trip, but I have had leaks that caused the low level to trip. I am comfortable dumping directly into my sump because this is all industrial automation controls that water treatment plants would rely on. And in 20 or so years of use, it has not failed yet, although I do have a spare Endress and Hauser controller if I ever need one.

So that is my version of an ATO. I am quite happy with it because I don’t have to refill containers and it just runs automatically, without fail, for years and years.

 

[OZ_SPS]

Awesome details.
Following

 

[Vette67]

I’ll get to some of the fun stuff. I still want to talk more about my equipment, but I’ll take a break from that. Here are a few of my most recent additions. First off, is my Walt Disney. Purchased about 6 weeks ago. It has really gotten a lot greener and has started encrusting the plug. I hear these can be slow to start, then they can take off. So here’s to hoping it takes off soon. The tips are starting to get that blue too.

Next up is Superman Tenuis. This one started out more blue, and then lost some of that color. I realized my potassium was low, so I have been dosing that for weeks now and that blue color is slowly returning. Got it the same time as the WD.

And finally today is a Copps Hoeki. This is only a few weeks old. Looks good, and I’m liking the light blue corallite tips.

So those are a few of my most recent additions. I’m hoping they grow int nice colonies over time.

 

[Vette67]

Well, in the never ending quest to fix what isn’t broken, just because I think there’s a better way, yesterday I changed out my less than 6 month old halide bulbs because someone on another forum had me convinced that Phoenix bulbs were the best. I noticed a few week ago, that one of my original 14,000k bulbs was looking more white than the other, leading me to think I got one 10,000k bulb and one 14,000k bulb. So I figured I’d get rid of both Hamilton bulbs and replace them with the Phoenix Electric bulbs. First observation, which I was hoping wouldn’t be the case, is that the Phoenix bulbs appear closer in color to the Hamilton 10,000k bulbs. I was hoping the Phoenix 14,000 k bulbs would bring out more blues. So now I’m thinking of ditching the Phoenix bulbs and buying new 14,000k Hamilton bulbs. Am I crazy for thinking this? I tried to get pictures, but with the phone saturation, the pictures appear almost identical, which doesn’t show the difference I’m seeing. But just for fun, here is the tank with the new Phoenix bulbs. Don’t get me wrong, nothing in the tank seems to care about the difference. It’s only me....

 

[smsreef]

It is so bright!!! I love it!!!

 

[Wrangy]

Why no Radiums?? Personally I'd lean to the Hamilton bulbs as they're an awesome company but also more similar to the Radiums My only choices for halides were Radiums and I'll die on the hill that they're the best haha

 

[Humblefish]

Your tank looks great to me, but I also agree with @Wrangy about the look of 20k Radiums.

 

[Vette67]

I’m afraid to go 20,000 kelvin bulbs. They seem to lose their brightness. I used 10,000k for decades and only recently tried the 14,000k bulbs. I want the 14,000k to be the compromise between the bright white of the 10,000k an dimmer appearance of the 20,000k’s. Maybe I’ll keep my Phoenix 14,000k bulbs and buy a T5 retrofit kit with the 80w , 60” bulb, even though my tank is 72”. We shall see. I do like the fuller spectrum lights, and I don’t think I’m willing to give up my VHO actinic white bulbs to try the super actinic bulbs. My actinic whites are my dusk / dawn bulbs now. Maybe I’ll buy one radium double ended 20,000k bulb to test and see if I like it... What could it hurt, since I’ve never had 20,000k bulbs over my tank.