Build-diary: 240L ATS only system

[Doompie]

Hi all,

This is going to be my first ATS only reef aquarium.
And (if whishfull, otherwise remove the topic please) i want to take you all on the tour i'm making to get the tank set-up.

So let's talk about the hardware.
Display Tank: 120 x 40 x 50 cm (240 Liters) with external overflow and 3 sides open
Lighting: 6* 54 watt T5 for DT (12/12 and 10/12)
Current: 4x 5000l/h with controller
ATS: SM100 clone; 900cm2; 96 watts 3000K T5 (18/6); gravity fed via 25mm (1") pipe; drain 40mm (1,6")
Return Pump: AM OR2500

planning
September 2011-> End October - Building
End Oktober / mid November - Start Aquarium


Current status
Finaly my old aquarium is sold, so the first thing I had to do was to rebuild my AQ stand. The dog when she was a puppy bit of a corner :lol:

Disassembling..


current status: new basecoat is applied..will be finished end of this week

Then I started with building the ATS. As told it is a SM100 clone (thanks very much SantaMonica for providing the desins free of charge!!)
It is 12mm furniture wood, which is going to be laminated on the inside with acrylic for a water tight fit.

Regarding the drain, because that's where most likely the leaks will start, i came up with the folowing idea:
45mm hole in the plexiglas
60mm hole in the woden base
This way the tank throughput is only connected to the acrylic glas, and the changes of leakage are minimised.



ToDo coming weeks
- Finishing the stand
- Finishing the ATS
- Building together the T5 Lights vor the ATS
- Building the power board

[Doompie]

Alright just a little up-date..

It's been rumorous in my home the past weeks, and the tank has suffered a bit of no attention..

Living room has been re-painted, holidays and a lot of going out to birthdays where just some of the causes..

I had put some frags in without glueing them, the heremites played with them and almost all ended in the sand. Which off-course is not very good for SPS corals..In the christmas holiday after a (way too quick) cleaning, one seal had decided to go and leak, so the tank has been without a scrubber for almost 4 full days before I rebuilded a compelte new one and all was dry..

But that will not happen to me again, since I have a found a local plastic company who is producing now for very very reasonable money..

The test with the LED's has suffered from this leakage also.. One of the units is 50% gone..still did not have had any real steady growth with them..so that is postponed for next month..currently re-stabalising the tank with T5's.
Results with the T5 in my case are just amazing..after just 1,5 week the tank is recovered, growth is back on track and i'm satisfied

Next weekend is my birthday..I have placed the vortech mp40 high on my whish-list to replace the streamers.

But for now just some pics before disaster stroke..will up-date later this week from recovery..

Cleaning 15-12:
Side A


Side B


Harvest


Display tank status 24-12-2011


SPS frag 17-12


Same 24-12


Star polyps 24-12


Montipora Confusa 24-12


Favita 24-12


Strigata goby


Caliendrum (blueish)


Zoo's


Other zoo's


Table growing SPS


Confusa different side


Strigata..


The last cleaning whsh caused dissaster..

LED only (2 e-shine 50w) growth 10 days on 9 hours
Side A


Side B


Harvest


And I was asked to "save" a powder blue tang..

Status 13-12


Status 27-12



Will take some shots later this week about the current status..

[Floyd R Turbo]

I hadn't looked through this whole thread in a while. You have built a very nice scrubber! Your first heavy growth week pics look like they could beat out my system. As for the down-time of the scrubber, there's really not much to worry about. Put the screens in the sump to keep them wet. Even if the new box takes a week to build, your system will be OK. The N and P will drop down in a day or two after putting the new one online and your tank inhabitants will not know the difference. I had to move the contents of a tank when a crack developed, and again when I had the new tank in place. In both instances, the system went without a scrubber for at least 7 days and I had no problems. The first week of growth with the scrubber back online was always phenomenal, followed by a decline in growth the next period (I can't say 'next week' anymore since I clean every 10 days now).

[dota]

Impressive growth... so jeallous..

[Doompie]

Small up-date on Micro organisms..

1) Normal Cleaning


2) Long shutter time to see the particles in the water


3) Schrimp with eggs.. have two them, both have eggs..


4) A colony of...? plus some coraline


5) A schrimp tickled this coral, nice to see some sponges grow between it..


6) Transperant sponge(?) and some yellow sponge


7) Realy no idea, but it grows..


8) Rock bottom


9) A colony of bagpipes..


10) Rich micro life on a stone


11) Here the sand is blown away, and underneath the bottom protector, there had formed some kind of "micro organism fram"


12) Not briljant, but same with flash..


13) These guys are still alaive and growing:


14) streamer


================================================== =================================================
================================================== =================================================
================================================== =================================================

IN " SUMP" pictures..

15) Sump front window


16) ..


17) Tubes on the sump floor


18) ...


19) 4 days growth..


20) Tech:


21) outflow.

[kerry]

Great growth, and nice pics of the tank contents. Thank you!

[bulldog]

can you share how did you assemble your outflow? Mine scrubber drains directly into the sump and causes a lot of micro bubbles in my DT. Have not been able to fix that yet. please share

[Jason]

Wonderfull tank you have !!!

I am going to make a new reef tank as well and start like you >>> Skimmer less

BTW, lived in Holland for 4 years, Haarlem....

[Doompie]

Thanks very much..

The outflow I will take picutres of very soon..I'm a bit busy lately with work..

@Jaseon, Thanks, Haarlem is a nice city, and close too Amsterdam..

Few Coral Shots, sorry, unedited...:

[Doompie]

I've increased feeding..

Last cleaning: 10 days growth

LED side:


T5 side:


Screen growth