# 110g Rebuild of a Lobster Tank. Need guidance.



## JoeT (Jul 11, 2010)

Hello everyone!

It's been two years since I took down my tank. I acquired a new/used tank this week! New tank means new challenges, right?

It is an old grocery store lobster tank. 



It is a Marineland ML-24SL
The display tank is 110 gallons, but it has a basin under the display that holds at least 25 more gallons:


And as you could see it has a built in chiller. The chiller is functional, but a bit noisy. 


Hope the pics are ok.

I removed and replaced all of the silicone in the tank, and the pic were taken tonight, during its first wet test. It seems to be holding water fine.

I need advice on DIY lighting systems, as well as filtering. I've been watching videos and reading articles on building led lighting systems. Have any of you tried this? What did you do and would you recommend it?

I found a video about doing a filter using rubbermaid container and a set of plastic drawers
Cheap and Easy DIY Aquarium filter - YouTube
I thought I could use the basin under the display to put some sort of filtering system.

And then there is the idea of using the chiller to set up a coldwater reef tank. 

I am open to ideas on what to do with the tank. Please share any good DIY tips and/or projects.


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## lucky07 (Mar 15, 2012)

Coldwater tank would be awesome. But ...

I'd assume the main concerns with a cold water reef would be stocking it, as not many LFSs keep cold water specimens and sweating. Cold tank in a warm environment would undoubtedly sweat unless it was made out of 1" acrylic which might easy that a little. 

Other than that everything is basically the same.

Is the tank completely separate from the basin underneath or were the lobetrs kept up top by a removable piece of acrylic?


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

I would not use that chiller for a Reef tank of any kind. Its using copper tubing for the water in/out, meaning thats a bad thing for Reef tanks.
DIY LEDs are pretty darn good, especially the LEDs they have out there these days
Reef LED Lights | Reef Aquarium LightingReef LED Lights
Then again, unless you can make one for less than this thing, I'd buy a couple of these myself.
CREE Dimmable LED Aquarium Lenses Light 165W 55x3 Watt 24 Month Warranty | eBay
And you can always DIY Sump. Thats a pretty easy project. Heres mine:


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## JoeT (Jul 11, 2010)

Reefing Madness said:


> I would not use that chiller for a Reef tank of any kind. Its using copper tubing for the water in/out, meaning thats a bad thing for Reef tanks.
> DIY LEDs are pretty darn good, especially the LEDs they have out there these days
> Reef LED Lights | Reef Aquarium LightingReef LED Lights
> Then again, unless you can make one for less than this thing, I'd buy a couple of these myself.
> ...


When I first saw the green I thought it was copper, but it is some kind of plastic tubing. 
I have pieces of plastic that separate the basin from the display tank


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Here is a good tank set up for cold water:
Oregonreef.com


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## JoeT (Jul 11, 2010)

Reefing Madness said:


> Here is a good tank set up for cold water:
> Oregonreef.com


Like the idea here, but I live nowhere near cold water so I guess I can't do a coldwater


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Umm, thats what your chiller is for. It was used to hold Lobster. "Cold Water Invert"


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## lucky07 (Mar 15, 2012)

JoeT said:


> I have pieces of plastic that separate the basin from the display tank


Substrate is going to be an issue then. You'd need to completely seal the main tank and use the chiller as a sump ... but then you have no access.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

lucky07 said:


> Substrate is going to be an issue then. You'd need to completely seal the main tank and use the chiller as a sump ... but then you have no access.


You can't use a chiller as a sump. Its a mechanical device, kinda like your AC on your house is.


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## lucky07 (Mar 15, 2012)

Reefing Madness said:


> You can't use a chiller as a sump. Its a mechanical device, kinda like your AC on your house is.


That section of tank underneath is utterly useless unless he plans on having no substrate or decorative items in the tank. Thus it ultimately becomes part of the chiller system as without is there isn't really any means to cool down the water unless it's pumped somehow. 

That a chiller or a compressor? 

To the OP. Why is that green tubing coiled like that? Water return?


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)




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## lucky07 (Mar 15, 2012)

What's with the facepalm man? lol

A chiller is a system which can incorporate many complex systems. But it has to incorporate at least three things in order to work, a compressor/refrigerant combination, a condenser (refrigerant cooling) and either a evaporator (water cooling) where the water can be cooled or a simple coil (if the water isn't being pumped out at a high rate). 

All I see is a compressor, condenser and coil . Same basic principle as a dehumidifier/AC unit. Water doesn't necessarily have to be pumped out of the tank in order to be chilled if it is not to be used elsewhere. All that is needed is enough flow rate over the coils to allow as much water as possible to go through the heat exchange process. Since that coil is part of the main tank and not separate (external evaporator) it theoretically is the evaporator. 

Now the reason why you would coil a water return is based on the temperature at which the water is being returned at. If the water is returned at extremely low heat it could create an extremely cold spot at the outflow potentially causing issues to the stock. By dissipating as much of the "cold" as possible while in a enclosed tube you remove this issue as the water at the outflow would have already reabsorbed some heat from the main tank. Had a long few days and that coil at the bottom is what threw me off.

There is no such thing as cold. "Cold" is simply the absence of heat. That is what the entire principle is based on.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

The looping coil is the refrigerant coil(I'll assume filled with something no good to marine life)That gets cooled by compressor and circulated through the loop to cool water.This link explains the whole show
http://www.marineland.com/commercia...ommercial Files and PDFs/MLseries_manual.ashx


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## lucky07 (Mar 15, 2012)

coralbandit said:


> The looping coil is the refrigerant coil(I'll assume filled with something no good to marine life)That gets cooled by compressor and circulated through the loop to cool water.This link explains the whole show
> http://www.marineland.com/commercia...ommercial Files and PDFs/MLseries_manual.ashx


That's what I assumed initially. It's a mainly passive system and in order to get even cooling throughout the tank water would have to be circulated properly over the coil. 

A cold water ecosystem designed to keep fish alive for years doesn't have the same cooling requirements as a lobster tank designed to keep them alive for a short period of time until they are consumed. 

It's a setup that serves it's purpose well. But unless that coil is incorporated into a sump where all water can be evenly cooled I would be hesitant to use it for a reef tank.


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## JoeT (Jul 11, 2010)

I am going to remove the chiller coils as it seems to be the easiest solution.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

JoeT said:


> I am going to remove the chiller coils as it seems to be the easiest solution.


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