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Arvin's 50g low boy frag tank

Arvin R

Arvin R

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I purchased the old frag tank of @ashburn2k from @Srt4eric along with the stand, sump, ato container and frag racks. I'll be setting this up in my garage as I have no more room in the house for tanks (currently have 9 tanks running 2 of which are fw).

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First things first was to modify the stand and raise it up to gain easy access to the sump.

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Next up was to plumb it in. I had a spare eshopps eclipse small overflow laying around and it's supposed to be rated to 600gph max flow. So I decided to use it for this tank. In case it doesn't flow enough then I'll just upgrade it to the med size. The current bulk head hole had to be enlarged to use the eshopps. This was my first time drilling a tank and I feel it went very well considering how I had to position the new hole over the existing. The bottom of the two holes were almost at the same level.

Here is the finished product installed after drilling.

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Next up is to clean the tank and get 1in pvc and a gate valve. I'll also be painting the stand black and raising the sump off the cement. I should have water in it by next weekend!
 
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Just got her wet today. She took 50gal of water exactly. Bringing water up to temp and then going to put in a big piece of live rock in the sump from my main tanks sump to get things rolling! Definitely need to either put my gen 3 radion xr15 pro or get a 2nd led bar for blue. This is Quanta Pro Reef Crest (AB+). Just arrived in the mail today! Still need to clean the frag racks I got then toss them in here.

I can't quite get my gate valve set correctly. I'll set it so overflow box is just below the emergency drain then after awhile it will be way above it and I'll try to tune it down just a smidgen then it goes way low or will be right then creep above again. Does plumbing need to be "broken in" and build up it's slime layer to be consistent or is it my jebao return pump not really staying at a constant flow?

Edit: solved my overflow box/gate valve tuning. Had my return pump setting up too high. Moved it down to 45% and it's working much better now.
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Arvin R said:
Just got her wet today. She took 50gal of water exactly. Bringing water up to temp and then going to put in a big piece of live rock in the sump from my main tanks sump to get things rolling! Definitely need to either put my gen 3 radion xr15 pro or get a 2nd led bar for blue. This is Quanta Pro Reef Crest (AB+). Just arrived in the mail today! Still need to clean the frag racks I got then toss them in here.

I can't quite get my gate valve set correctly. I'll set it so overflow box is just below the emergency drain then after awhile it will be way above it and I'll try to tune it down just a smidgen then it goes way low or will be right then creep above again. Does plumbing need to be "broken in" and build up it's slime layer to be consistent or is it my jebao return pump not really staying at a constant flow?
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Are those powerheads you have in there adjustable? If they’re on a random program and have a large varied flow range, they could potentially cause what you’re seeing.
 
RandyC said:
Are those powerheads you have in there adjustable? If they’re on a random program and have a large varied flow range, they could potentially cause what you’re seeing.
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No. They are constant flow (and I just had them in there for mixing up the salt).

Not sure if it would make a difference but the bottom of the main overflow tube is not under water in the sump so it's just dropping water into the sump. I'll be swapping that and extending it tomorrow to reach just below water level to quiet things down a bit.
 
I figured it out! I had my return pump set way too high and pushing too much flow. Didn't realize this dcp-5000 pushes a max of 1452 gph. I had it at 75% earlier. Turned it down to 45% and all is well. My overflow is rated up to 600gph..lol
 
Nice looking stand rebuild! How are you liking the Quanta Pro out of the box? Looks like with 1 Meso Blue you'll be set for that frag tank. I just ordered 3 more Quanta's for the upcoming tank upgrade. It'll be 5 x 36" bars over a 36"x36"x20" tank.

Sounds like you have space for 2 more garage tanks when I sell the old ones :)
 
Initial impression seems to be a very well built light. The thing just feel solid when I picked it up. I was suprised how bright it is too. Hopefully get a par meter soon as I have a few tanks I need to dial in the light settings on. I'll definitely be adding a Meso Blue bar. With those two Quanta bars I don't even think I'll need to add my XR15.
 
I don't think you will need the Radion hehe. The only reason I went with 5 is the 36x36 footprint. I'm going to have to play with height, spacing and schedule so as not to blast the corals.
 
Got some test frags in. I tried doing some pvc filled with sand and it took four pieces of 1/2in to get this one to stay down. Might have worked better with 2 pieces of 1in pvc. Added the rock for safe measures as the rack was still getting pushed around from the flow a bit. Going to rethink a game plan for the other racks. (Probably just use rocks until they are filled enough to not need the rock).
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