56 Column tank build

I am building a new 56 column tank to replace my 20 long that has moisture appearing under the tank. I just ordered the tank from Seascapes yesterday, and plan on getting the stand and sump built before it arrives on Thursday. I really like the size of the column tank, 30 wide, 18 deep, 24 tall. It also will work on my new t5 fixture that we bought for the twenty long. Anyway, This will be my first sump tank, so any advice that might Seem obvious to you but I might miss would help. I will post updates and pictures as I progress.

Thanks

 

Good questions.  I'm going to drill the tank and build an overflow.  I work in a sign shop, and so I have access & expertise in acrylic work, so that shouldn't be to much of a problem.  Right now, I'm going to keep using my bak-pak skimmer that I currently have on the 20gallon, and the BRS dual reactor.  I've been looking at a bunch of different sump designs, and I still haven't decided what design to use.  Right now, it looks like I'll use a 20 gallon high for the sump, but that doesn't leave quite as much room around the sump as I would really like.  Right now I'm still building the stand and waiting on the tank, and researching the sump.  What is the opinion of DSBs? 
Thanks,Michael

 

The tank arrived at Seascapes on Thursday, got it and a 20H for the sump. My mother mentioned to me that the stand for my 75 (which I built in college) is still around holding that tank up, so I might as well fully finish this stand. So, I spent today finishing the outside of the stand in pine. Going to stain and finish it tomorrow, and start on building the sump. The sump at the moment is going to have a skimmer section on the left, 'fuge on the right, return in the center. I'm waiting on word if the 56 back is tempered, or safe to drill. I'm going to order a return pump sometime next week, a mag 9.5 I think. That would turn the tank over ~10 times an hour with a 5 foot head height. Does that seem right? I'll try to post some pics once I"m done staining.



Michael

 

Okay, so a little bit of a gap in the update history.  But late is better than never, right?  I can't watch the lions anymore, so I might as well put this up.
First off, here is the tank and sump, fresh from Seascapes, on the 2x4 frame, screwed and heavily glued together. Next, I bought some nice radial cut pine (what I could afford, it would have been nice to go hardwood, but what can you do?) and skinned the frame.  The top piece is a 3/4 inch plywood, with a finished top. Okay.  Mistake number one, and really, the biggest and worst.  I thought, "gee, I've got the ability to make my own overflow, I have a big (mag 9.5) return pump, and 1.5 inch PVC running the whole way.  To make it actually unrestricted, with the 3/4" Loc Line, I would need at least 4 loc line ports to equal out.  So, I made a nice manifold that would have 6, and circulate water out the top, middle, and bottom.  Well, as was good, but I put the feed for the manifold ~5 inches below waterline, and so if my pump failed, it would dump ~20 gallons on the floor.  I have 'solved' that problem by plugging the bottom two ports, and by using loc line to put the outports equal to the teeth cut in the overflow.  This way it won't dump.  At some point, I might try to cut the manifold apart from inside, but it's awfully tough to even imagine how to go about that at this point.  You live, you learn, you build it better the third time.  Okay!  Got the plumbing, manifold, overflow, and sump built, and everything basically together.  Good Schedule 80 valves, and unions between all critical points. More close up of the top tank portionRear plumbingDoors on, tank in place, in my house, full of water, sand, with a temp light on top.I bought a bunch of live rock from Madjabjoe, which had some amount of softies on it already, and threw some of the live rock from the 20L in as well.  All the rock was stable and cycled, so I never got a 'cycle' spike.After about a month of sitting and running with that live rock in it, I moved my watchmen goby, my firefish, and my 4 sexy shrimp over, as well as my good liverock from the 20L, and decommissioned it.  Good timing, too.  When I moved the tank to the basement, the seam that was weaping sprung, and it leaked all the water that had been in it into the drain I put it by.  About 3 months later, I got a birdnest frag from Dave, and found out that my sexy shrimp love anything fluffy and fuzzy.  (sigh.)  Right now, two of sexies are in the overflow at the bottom, and I'm just waiting them out, hoping the go to investigate the big hole in the standpipe, like they investigated the overflow. I've got the tank pretty close to fully stocked now, with 3 bar gobies, the watchman goby, a royal gramma, a pair of ORA clowns, a McCoskers Wrasse, a mini maxi, a green bubble tip (that the clowns steadfastly ignore.) a Maxima clam, a single hermit crab that hitchhiked, a bunch of softies, and some frags from the fest.  All my levels are pretty darn good, and everyone in the tank seems happy.  I'm not sure I love the rock formations.  I also might get a snail, but haven't needed one.  I've got the tank running an AC3, which controls heater, a BakPak2 skimmer, fan, a 4x30"T5HO light, moon lights (which don't draw enough current to control correctly.  It will just turn on, and stay on.)  Got a BRS dual reactor, fed from the return line, running GFO & carbon.  I have two powerheads, on Hydror 400, and an MP10.  I'm looking to get a second MP10 to replace the 400.And, the new frag-fest clam, hopefully deciding he likes that rock enough to attach. 
Wow!  That's a big post.  Anyway, I want to thank everyone who answered questions, sold equipment & livestock, and generally encouraged me.  Going from a fowlr 20l to a fully blown 56C seems like quite jump, but I guess I've made it.  Right now, my future plans are AI lights, a canopy of the same stained pine, an auto top off system, my own RO-DI so that I don't have to keep lugging gallon jugs from the grocery.  Perhaps a redesigned custom acrylic sump to hold more water, and to add more baffles to eliminate microbubbles.  
Again, thanks!  I'm sure that I wouldn't have been willing to take the leap without GIRS, and even if I had, it would not have gone as (mostly) smoothly. 
Michael