75g Rebuild

[beerfish]

Ok, so after a lot of thought, I've decided to set up the 75g again in our new house. Since it's being broken down, and everything is going in the other tank for a little while, I have the opportunity to make some changes to the tank and set it back up the way I want it.

So here's the current equipment:

75g Glass Tank, built in overflow
Aquactinics MH/T5 light fixture
20g High Tank as sump.
ASM G3 Skimmer with recirc mod.
2 Koralia Evo 1400s
Reef Keeper Lite, with additional PC4 and SL2 on the way.
2 TLF reactors
DIY ATO
Chiller (not plumbed in currently)
Heater

So the changes I'm thinking about making are as follows:

Sump will be changed to a 20g Long to make it easier to work in.

Chiller will be plumbed through the return with a ball valve to bypass and hooked up to the RKL.

ASM G3 will be modded for gravity feed from drain and a filter sock will be added to the output.

Plumbing will be added to the drain to create a water change port, allowing me to drain water with a couple of quick ball valve flips.

I've used one of the TLF reactors as a kalk reactor and had excellent results, (this takes some playing around) but am thinking of adding an additional ATO pump and controlling which one goes on based on the tank pH. If the pH is high, the pump that bypasses the kalk will feed the tank from the ATO. When it drops, the pump feeding the kalk into the tank will supply ATO water. In theory, this should provide the tank with stable salinity and pH with nearly zero maintenance on my end.

MH lights will be reduced to 5 hours a day with T5s tacking an hour on to each end of the light cycle.

Any thoughts or suggestions on other ways I can make it easier on myself?

 

[beerfish]

All the opinionated people on here and nothing yet!? lol

 

[OzoneParkGuy]

have you thought about gravity feeding your chiller from the overflow into your sump instead of the return to out.

Congrats and welcome back my friend!!

 

[beerfish]

Thanks... never really left, just thought about breaking down the 75g and only keeping the 24g! lol

I considered it, but feel that I'd have more control over the flow through the chiller if I T'd it off the return. This way if I ever change my return pump I can throttle the flow if needed with a ball valve. If I gravity feed, I'm basically stuck with the drain flow.

 

[E.intheC]

Sounds like a good start. What do you have planned for in tank flow?
I'd go with a larger sump IMO.. I have a 40 breeder with a 20 gal high ... On your 75 I'd go with a 30 or larger, but that's just me.

 

[beerfish]

Sounds like a good start. What do you have planned for in tank flow?
I'd go with a larger sump IMO.. I have a 40 breeder with a 20 gal high ... On your 75 I'd go with a 30 or larger, but that's just me.

Unfortunately there's not much room in the stand for a larger sump. I could maybe pull off a 30g long, but it would be pushing it.

Flow in the tank will be provided by the 2 Koralia Evos. I have a couple of extra K2 and K4s laying around if I need extra flow, but the Evos were doing a pretty good job in it.

 

[KathyC]

Sounds good Eric, can you explain more about how you modded that TLF reactor into a kalk reactor? Pics would be even better!

What kind of livestock are you considering?