Project Erebor

Y

yman182

Active member
Hi all,

I wanted to give a little introduction to the beginning of my new tank build thread.

Currently I have a 29G biocube that I have had up and running for a year. The tank is doing great, but as the saying goes "Bigger is Better". This is where the new build comes in. I have recently purchased this little gem:

9253459511_1883689ab0_z.jpg


The tank is a Deep Sea Aquatics Neo 65g Pro that measures 36"x 20"x 21"

I love the size of it as it is a little deeper than most 65G tanks.

I brought it home and filled it up for a leak test.

9256239836_8c8cefab97_b.jpg


I will leave it filled for a week or so and then move it to the final location.

Below is the equipment that I know I will be getting

2x MP10es (already have 1)

Below is where I need some help on deciding what to get...

Sump/Refugium
Custom Sump 27x16.15.5" by William Lutman!

Return Pump
Eheim 1262 -http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/eheim-1262-universal-pump.html

Skimmer
Super Reef Octopus XP1000SSS 6” Space Saver Cone Skimmer - http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/super-reef-octopus-xp1000sss-6-space-saver-cone-skimmer.html

Got a great deal on this skimmer on eBay

Lighting
Custom LED Setup. - Completed

Reactors
GFO/Carbon Reactor - BRS Deluxe Reactor
Calcium Reactor (if needed)
Magnesium Dosing Pump (If needed)

Controller
I currently have a digital aquatics controller, but may be looking to change out to an Apex controller. (ORDERED)

Powerheads

1xMP10 That I currently have
1x Jebao WP25 - Ordered here on Group Buy


Any suggestions would be appreciated! I will be taking this build slow to make sure everything is done correctly and neatly. Sadly I did not do this the first time around and ended up spending double to fix my mistakes! Happy reefing

Thanks for Reading!

Yury

EDIT: Changed magnesium reactor to dosing pump
EDIT: Ordered my Neptune Apex Unit today!
EDIT: More Updates to equipment
 
Looking at the sump/refugiums you are considering I would strongly recommend the Aqueon. I have an EShopps Refugium and I've learned the hard way that I don't like they way they mount the filter bags. They are a real pain in the butt to change. The Aqueon looks a LOT easier to maintain.
 
It sounds like you are thinking out the build and trying to buy quality gear. Can't wait to see the build come together.

For a 65 gallon, it will probably be easier and cheaper to run calcuim doser instead of a reactor. As for reactors, BRS canister filters are hard to beat for ease of changing carbon and gfo media. For qaulity standalone reactors, Avast is hard to beat for the money.
 
As far as the refugium... It's not a bad thing but Mr. Saltwater tank has said that all of the commercially available ones are too small to put any dent as far as nutrient removal. The nice thing about the Aqueon models is you can experiment with a refugium if you want but go back to a regular sump if you decide it isn't working for you.
 
jrpark22000 said:
It sounds like you are thinking out the build and trying to buy quality gear. Can't wait to see the build come together.

For a 65 gallon, it will probably be easier and cheaper to run calcuim doser instead of a reactor. As for reactors, BRS canister filters are hard to beat for ease of changing carbon and gfo media. For qaulity standalone reactors, Avast is hard to beat for the money.
Click to expand...

Yup, buy once is my motto.

As far as the refugium goes, all the research I've done, the benefits are too great to pass up on. You get some nutrient export with macro algaes. The best part is the refugium provides a safe sanctuary for pods to breed. If you intend on getting certain wrasses, dragonettes, as well as most other fish, the refugium is a necessity for pod production. One additional benefit is that by having a refugium light on a reverse cycle from your DT lights, PH will tend to be more stable rather than dropping at night. Personally, in my next setup, down the road, I will more than likely have a separate refugium from my sump.
 
ddiomede said:
Yup, buy once is my motto.

As far as the refugium goes, all the research I've done, the benefits are too great to pass up on. You get some nutrient export with macro algaes. The best part is the refugium provides a safe sanctuary for pods to breed. If you intend on getting certain wrasses, dragonettes, as well as most other fish, the refugium is a necessity for pod production. One additional benefit is that by having a refugium light on a reverse cycle from your DT lights, PH will tend to be more stable rather than dropping at night. Personally, in my next setup, down the road, I will more than likely have a separate refugium from my sump.
Click to expand...

I was actually debating if I should get a sump and then a 10G aquarium (petco $1 gallon sale) and plumb that for the refugium.
 
So I am now debating on what LED Light setup to go with. Do I go with something simple like the ReefBreeders Photo 32

http://www.reefbreeders.com/controllable_led_fixtures.html

or go with a custom setup using CREE LEDs. The custom setup would be a 32" makers Heatsink with two of the following clusters (taken from Nano-Reef.com)

9260019920_a803399b83_b.jpg


It would also have the dimable driver on the heatsink. Price comes out to be almost the same.

thoughts?
 
yman182 said:
So I am now debating on what LED Light setup to go with. Do I go with something simple like the ReefBreeders Photo 32

http://www.reefbreeders.com/controllable_led_fixtures.html

or go with a custom setup using CREE LEDs. The custom setup would be a 32" makers Heatsink with two of the following clusters (taken from Nano-Reef.com)

9260019920_a803399b83_b.jpg


It would also have the dimable driver on the heatsink. Price comes out to be almost the same.

thoughts?
Click to expand...

To do an apples to apples comparison you'd need to add a controller to the diy to auto dim ramp up ramp down etc to make it comparable so that's an extra cost. You just missed a group buy on the evergrow/reefbreeders leds:eek:

Personally I'd go with the reefbreeders light for the clean look plus I'm pretty sure you can get the to do a custom layout for you if you contact them.

So many people rave about cree leds and how they are more powerful than any other led yet how many people actually run their leds at 100%? Not many that I know of. Reefbreeders uses bridgelux which is widely considered second best to cree so I'm confident in those diodes performance.

I would recommend coralcompulsions leds (a local sponsor) but he only offers a 16" model which you'd need two of and you have no center brace so there's no point really unless Jimmy is coming out with something new soon? Lol.

Hope to have helped.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
 
I built my 36" LED through Milad at ledgroupbuy, I have all the MAKERS components, they are seamless and easy to build, I have a 2 hour sunrise and sunset, a 2 hour peak (8% increase) and a separate moonlight lunar cycle set up all through the Makers controller. I used solderless CREES and did a full spectrum by using 6 ocean coral leds, with the RB, HV and CW standards. I was going to put together a build for my fixture, I have a ton of photos, I just never found the time lol, but looks like you have found a few of the builds and have your plan down.

As far as the sump goes, you will find a large margin of people these days who refuse to run a refugium, but I personally enjoy the abundance of micro fauna that can be grown in the sump. I have a modified eshopps sump :

View attachment 16693

Folks that say fuges are detritus magnets are probably right, but if you have brittle stars, pods , macro algae and moderate flow, you will keep a pretty clean ecosystem. It would be nice to have a larger , dedicated fuge, but small ones can be super fun, if done right. I look forward to seeing your build, looks awesome so far!

I forgot to mention and it's the absolute most critical thing about my sump.... The Herbie overflow / design. As you can see, I have ZERO gurgling, bubbling, salt creep, mess , sound.... it's dead silent, minus the Mag drive hummmmmm..... And I get zero spray or splash, so my interior always looks brand new and I rarely have to wipe anything down. I'm approaching 3 months on my set up and I am still amazed at the silent and bubbleless sump.
 
Currently my tank has 1-1" drain and 2-3/4" returns. So for a herbie, I would have to use one of my returns as a drain? Will that be ok for return flow if I use a 1000gph pump on a 3/4" return pipe?
 
yman182 said:
Currently my tank has 1-1" drain and 2-3/4" returns. So for a herbie, I would have to use one of my returns as a drain? Will that be ok for return flow if I use a 1000gph pump on a 3/4" return pipe?
Click to expand...

Hrmmm, that is a good question. I'm pretty good with biology, but when it comes to physics and math, ummm...yeah... My guess is the 3/4" might not allow for full flow with a 1,000 gph pump. I believe I'm using 1" returns for 950 gph each. Hopefully one of the technical gurus can chime in on that question or maybe a little Google action might find that exact answer! If it does allow for the flow you want, I would certainly try and incorporate it however you can. The benefits are HUGE! You might even try a Google search for "your tank brand with herbie overflow" or something along those lines. Hope that helps!
 
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