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Fiesta Vallarta Restaurant Tank

H2OPlayar

Supporting Member
Fiesta Vallarta is a Mexican restaurant in downtown Los Altos. They have been open since I was little. The current owners have been there since 2008ish. There are two large aquariums in the restaurant; a 300ish gallon freshwater koi tank, and a 150ish gallon salt water tank. As covid restrictions were getting lifted, I met my parents for dinner at Fiesta Vallarta for dinner, and we were seated underneath this salt water aquarium. Well, I could not help myself, so I asked the staff who took care of the tank because the setup is beautiful, and with a little tweak to their setup, we could get a flourishing reef tank. I invited the owner over to my house to see what a reef tank could look like, but also help educate him in what was required to run a long term, successful system. We decided that converting their closed loop filter into an overflow and sump would give the best chance of success and at a reasonable cost. I began searching craigslist and located an inexpensive 75 gallon glass tank with baffles already siliconed in place. Once we had the design figured out, it was time to call Jesse at Buildsmith Construction again for help. The original plan was to sit the sump on the floor, but with some creative use of the saw-zall, we were able to fit the sump completely underneath the tank.




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Old closed loop filter and pump system


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Removed

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I think these are older than I am.

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Sump in place


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Plumbing the high pressure end

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My old vertex 180i skimmer is going to work great for them as it did for me

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Glue it in, and hope it never needs to come out! This way we don't have to drill any more holes for the inlet, and pvc is not expensive if replumbing is required. We used the grey schedule 80 because the plan is to have both sides of the tank viewable to customers one day.


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Got a nice 800 gph Fiji Cube overflow. It was the widest that we could fit on the short side to keep both viewing sides clean.





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The overflow is controlled with the red ball valve on the right, and tuned so it is quieter than full open. I got my Jaebo pp-20 making some real flow on the right, and my "new" backup AC Jaebo pump in the sump. We only get on or off with this pump, but we could choke the flow with a ball valve on the high pressure side that we installed. It is a bit of a budget build for now, and we will see where we want to spend the money to improve things. For now, a bottle of stabilizer to get the bacteria back in check and the increased flow is all we need.
 
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Note the use of pipe straps wherever possible to keep the plumbing secure.


We are getting a slow (1 drop every 5-10 seconds) leak from the overflow, but we expect that to fill with salt creep soon. My overflow at home did the same thing until it looked like this.


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I did make a "house" call that night though to investigate the leak, and might have gotten to take home a couple margaritas. Perks of helping the local restaurant!
 
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Right now, the tank has about 7 damsel fish. They are keeping the bacteria going, so no need to trap them yet. My plan is to let them rescape it however they want the rocks. Then while they have the rocks out, trap the damsels and donate them back to the LFS. I might do a big clean up crew order and split it with them to get some CUC in the tank. Then I will start with some rabbitfish as they seem to be hearty and algae eaters, and slowly add a couple tangs and wrasses for more algae and pest control. My plan for corals is all softies and anemones so there will be lots of flow and motion to the tank, but no dosing requirements.
 
Went over tonight to install the fuge light and timer as well as donate some cheato, a rbta, and deliver some mushrooms. Thank you @Purgo25 !!!

I added a bit of Reef Enhance and Life Rock Enhance to the tank as well to help kick more bacteria growth in the right direction, as well as a bit of crushed coral from my system and the live rocks from two established systems. I think we are headed in the right direction. Checked the salinity too and added a bit of Instant Ocean. We are not running the skimmer right now to let the bacteria flourish as much as possible.


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Offset overflow due to in wall tank.
 
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"I think these are older than I am."
Careful there, kid - I used to run those Lifeguard modules. I don't need to be reminded that I'm older than my live rock.
Gotta stand on the shoulders of giants to reach the clouds! I appreciate all the work that my elders did to get us where we are! No matter how elder they are.
 
I think I have some old Tunze 6100-ish stored away; they move water nicely.
If they are of use for the restaurant owner, I can dig them out.
That would be awesome! Thank you!

I am trying to save the owner as much money as possible while delivering a quality tank upgrade.
 
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The owner is looking for as much help as possible, so if anyone is feeling generous with time or equipment, we would appreciate any help.

The next big step is the aqua-scape, and he is a bit intimidated. But one thing at a time and we will get a good result.
 
What kind of lights are over it?
Right now, a cheap led bar. The owners brother said he has the light upgrade covered...which worries me a bit. I asked to find out what they were going to get.

I got a little more back story as well. There used to be a sump, but in 2015, there was an electrical fire. I don't know if the tank caused it, but the electrical line next to the tank burnt up. The tank apparently survived the fire. Water has a really high heat capacity. Has anyone ever tried the science experiment where you lake a lighter to a paper cup full of water? The water will boil before the paper catches fire. Anyway, the damsels and the closed loop system are from the repair to the system post fire. And after all that, the green mushrooms are still kicking in the tank!
 
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I’ll have some extra equipment (pumps, heaters, lights, etc) when I make it to the “clean up my mess phase” of setting up my system. In the meantime, I’ve got some mushrooms, softies and ‘nems you’re welcome too.
 
@H2OPlayar, it so nice that you are helping them out to salvage this tank. Keep in mind, seem like this restaurant is very reckless and don't care about their tank. If any thing happen like burn, fire, tank leak... you maybe the one who they will blame.
 
Returning to BAR after a brief break...that's to work fun. Very cool to see the post.

I always thought it was cool that they had a SW setup there when go... I probably wouldn't put a nem in there based on what I read so far. Owners migth not know what they are signing up for with a nem and powerhead in the same space. Last thing customers will want to see is fresh ceviche being made. :)
 
Returning to BAR after a brief break...that's to work fun. Very cool to see the post.

I always thought it was cool that they had a SW setup there when go... I probably wouldn't put a nem in there based on what I read so far. Owners migth not know what they are signing up for with a nem and powerhead in the same space. Last thing customers will want to see is fresh ceviche being made. :)
We were a little concerned about this, so we took down the PP-20, and the rest of the powerheads are up high and far from the rock work. All of the nems I have ever had found a place on the rocks where they could shrink in, and stayed there till a change in the flow caused it to move. If it get's chopped up, now is the time to do it since so little livestock is in there. Plus, they were psyched to get the "free" nem and I was psyched to get it out of my tank.

@H2OPlayar, it so nice that you are helping them out to salvage this tank. Keep in mind, seem like this restaurant is very reckless and don't care about their tank. If any thing happen like burn, fire, tank leak... you maybe the one who they will blame.
They already had a fire in 2015, so that bad luck card got used up (hopefully). We got drip loops and everything now so I am less worried about an electrical fire. There is a slow drip from the place we drilled, but that has all but stopped over a few days from salt creep. The tank is mounted very securely on good lumber. The plumbing I would trust for years given how much pcv glue we used (plumbers want extra glue and no leaks; no return visits). And it is all strapped to the lumber. The owner does care a lot about the tank, they just don't have time to run the restaurant and learn everything we know in the hobby. Most people aren't plumbers + contractors + ichthyologists + coral biologists, so any help that gets them excited and learning is a good thing in my book. He spent a good amount of time with me last night learning about what the ATO and skimmer do, and is excited for our plan. He is watching the BRS videos too, so I see him taking much more ownership over the next month or so once all the equipment gets stable and the tank clears up.

Give a person a fish, they eat for a day. Teach a person to fish, they spend all their weekends away from home. Teach a person to keep fish, they spend all their time looking at their tank and on BAR.
 
It’s great you are helping with their setup! I haven’t been to this restaurant yet, will have to stop by in the future. Do you know if it is owned by the same folks as Fiesta del Mar in downtown Mountain View (that’s one of our favs)?
 
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