A.J.'s 125 gallon rebuild

[Anthony.Luciano710]

ok i know everyone though my original tank of 3 months was a "train wreck" because i rushed it so much. but i was dreaming about that tank since the beginning of june and researched non stop every day. until i got to set it up on november 5th 2010. it was like a bell curve everything just went uphill from the start, i had awesome corals and fish were all happy and then i got ich and just went crazy doing to much stuff to get rid of it and then from there it went down until the point i had to take everything apart on February 4th 2011 and with the help of some MR members who taught me well i am rebuilding it since that day taking it slow and doing the important stuff before i actually fill it unlike last time were i had the thing filled with water before i even had the pvc hooked up. i plan to fill it this wednesday when me an reefs4life finish building the sump. and i also want to thank him for drilling my tank and helping me through the process and ryangrieder for giving me sending me some free heaters, and nlynchmob19 for giving me the free 55 gallon sump to build the sump. also everyone else that helped me with advice through the whole setup. ok well i hope you guys enjoy the rebuild and lets hope it goes well this time.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

Fortunato draining the water and drilling the tank. he also built the overflow boxes.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

completed holes and overflows

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

these are where we put all the live rock, and the water. the tank is the 55 gallon tank we are going to make into a sump, and the last pic is just the huge mess of fish stuff all over my basement.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

just got an email saying the led drivers have finally shipped after like a month. i have start moving on this fixture. also i bought 3 heat sinks which i am going to glue with thermal paste onto the top of the aluminum sheet and i have 6 small fans. it will be under a canopy so does anyone have any recommendations on some high powered but quiet fans i can put to blow across the bottom and top of the fixture?

 

[CHEMCHEF]

This is off to a good start. Keep it up.
Keep the pics coming.
You can not take it to slow!!!

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

just got an email saying the led drivers have finally shipped after like a month. i have start moving on this fixture. also i bought 3 heat sinks which i am going to glue with thermal paste onto the top of the aluminum sheet and i have 6 small fans. it will be under a canopy so does anyone have any recommendations on some high powered but quiet fans i can put to blow across the bottom and top of the fixture?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

dont worry about taking it to slow lol im still building my patience skills but having almost all my equipment shipped really contributes to helping build my patience. im trying as hard as a can to take this tank slow and i just really want to do stuff but my mind just holds me back so im getting to that very high patience level haha.

This is off to a good start. Keep it up.
Keep the pics coming.
You can not take it to slow!!!

 

[pauliwalnuts]

You do know that internal pumps create allot of heat and causing the water temperature to rise easily. Plus the internals don't gave the high head pressure you're looking for.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

i dont even think i have enough room under the stand for an external pump. and for heat. im not really worried about the because my temp is very low and with leds i think the heat will be a little cooler then metal halides. and the mag 18 at 6 foot head pressure which i estimated because of all the 90's is about 1,400 gph. i guess an external pump woud be nice but to be honest i really dont like them. i just like the submersible ones you just put in and its done. with an external one i will have to drill this tank now and do more plumbing. maybe it could be a future project if i have problems with the internal one.

You do know that internal pumps create allot of heat and causing the water temperature to rise easily. Plus the internals don't gave the high head pressure you're looking for.

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

patience is the key in this hobby, at least you learned that now, the fun begins next
good to see a good turn around and good to see people helping out new reefers
good luck with the build and keep those pics coming!!!

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

ive been trying to upload pics for the past 2 days of the progress so far but with the site problems recently it keeps saying security token missing.

patience is the key in this hobby, at least you learned that now, the fun begins next
good to see a good turn around and good to see people helping out new reefers
good luck with the build and keep those pics coming!!!

 

[Arati]

looks like you are putting sopme thought into things this time around. looking good.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

ok i made sooo much progress but this site is still not letting me upload pics i put brackets on the pipes, put in the sump and put the centerbrace back on the stand. then i made an amazing new aquascape. i really love it, then i filled up the tank and set up some teperary stuff like heaters and a skimmer and a grounding probe just to keep it running for the night and until i build a cabinet for all the electric because it doesnt fit under the cabinet anymore. and as for new stuff. i got loc-line for the return. then for the leds i got 3 heat sinks. some thermal compound, a 24 wire male and femal plug and im going to cut the wires and connect half to all the drivers which i also got today and the other half to the leds so if i ever have to take them out its just a quick pull of the plug instead of undoing 24 wires. so ill upload some pictures when the site gets fixed. ohh and Paul i think i dont even have to get an external pump. i might even get a smaller mag now because each overflow box is getting about 500 gph so total of 1000. so even a mag 18 might be to big. i estimated the overflow gph because the pump i have right now is a quiet one 3000 and its 730 gph and with all the head pressure im guessing its about 550gph or somewhere around there and if i turn off one overflow the pump pushes water faster then it comes in and then runs dry so either i cut bigger holes in the overflow or just stick with the internal pump and just get a little bigger.

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

ok here are some pics and vids. sorry there not in order. also the smaller pictures are actually videos so if you click them i think it brings you to the vid.

 

[noelskii]

Nice!

Sent from my HTC EVO using Reefs

 

[KuyaMark]

Very nice now get that tank cycled and take your time do it right this time, Good luck bro!

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

these are some pictures is took today with the tank pretty cleared up and i started adjusting the led drivers. they take a LONG time to get right. i did 2 so far it takes like 30 minutes each because it involves setting up the meter and then adjusting the voltage then turning down the amps then switching the meter to amps and rewiring the meter to go in series with the leds then adjusting the driver to get 700ma and then putting the whole driver back together and installing an outlet plug on it because it comes with just 2 wires you stick in the wall so i bought actual plugs. oh and i think in the 8th picture you can see the whites turned on. one of them is defective because as you can see its wired in series and the row lights but not that one so its not shorted or burnt out because electricity is still flowing though it so i think its just defective so i took it off and rapidled told me to send it back.

1 row of 12 royal blue leds lit up the whole room.

 

[Arati]

rock work is dope!

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

lol dope meaning bad or good?

rock work is dope!