Now lets get some more progress pics.

So with a game plan in mind it was time to run the plumbing.
I didnt get a pic before I started this mess and I should have but still. Currently I have 3 lines coming from my main display into the basement.
2 x 1.5" drains
1 x 1" return line

As the new tank would only have a low flow rate going to it I can easily tap into one of these overflow lines for the overflow from the tank.
And my return pump easily has enough flow to supply both system so I could tap into that as well, so thats what I did.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=2

Adding to these lines sounded easy in theory but it proved to be a bit more difficult in reality. The lines that are curving up are the lines for the display tank. They swoop down through a vent opening that I made in the floor and travel to the left side towards my sump. The horizontal lines going to the right are the ones I just added and go to the new tank.

And here is where the come up and into the living room, through the cold air return from the furnace.
http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=2
After taking this pic I replace the cardboard and sealed up the hole to the basement.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=2
While I was at it, it didnt hurt to get a bit OCD and tack down the speaker wires and router and such to make things a bit cleaner looking.
The metal brackets worked perfectly here as you could just jam them under the base boards and they held the line down to make it nice and straight and tidy.

So now the line have been run to connect the new tank into my existing system.
Next step is to plumb in the tank.

So the lines have been run and the tank is ready for installation but there was a snag.

The last tank was a half cylinder so it tucked into the couch very well and did not obstruct our stairs at all.
But this tank is square plus its a bit wider so it is going to stick out an extra few inches.
Plus now the tank will have plubing on the back so it need to be off the wall which means it stick out a bit further.

This tank was a custom order from Perfecto. The standard tank has a 1" drain in it which is a joke, its just too small. So we had a store custom order this tank with a 1.5" drain and a 3/4" return line from Perfecto. As the 1.5" drain is much larger inside the tank, it also mean that Perfecto had to make their overflow box indie the tank larger. Perfecto did a very nice job extending the overflow box into the tank and unless knew about the extention on the overflow you would nevern notice it.

Building my own tank was an option but If i did this it was going to be 36" deep so that I could have a 12" sand bed to keep garden eels but then as this tank is tieded into my display I didnt want to deal with the headache associated with a dsp attached to a primarily sps system... Plus if I was already building a tank it might as well be bigger... and next thing you know it would be a 180g or something ;)

I had also considered ordering a custom tank but after the whole missing whole adventure on Hookups tank I decided against it.

Ok so back on track, the tank arrived and this is what we found:

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=2

So for someone doing just regular plubing this may not be an issue, but we need this tank to be as tight to the wall as possible and right now that 3/4" bulk head is way too long!

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=2

With the bulkhead that long, and with the 90 that I was going to use, if we did not mod the bulkhead, the 3/4" bulkhead + plubing would push the tank off the wall too far for where the tank sits.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

So we measured twice and cut once.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=2

We left enough material in the 3/4" bulkhead for a good bond and glued in the 90.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=2

With the mods be got the total length of the plumbing off the back of the tank down to about 3.25"
We could have gotten the 3/4" line even closer if we wanted too by cutting the bulkhead shorter and tremeling out the bulkhead so the line could push in deeper but there really was no point as the limiting factor would now be the 1.5" plumbing below.

any updates on the azoo guide release date?
thanks

There are still a few details that we are sorting out. The manual is done so to speak but we are adding a few more details and food recepies from other hobbiests in the USA that have had amazing success with keeping nps tanks.

Have you seen Mikes tank in the Jan issue of advanced aquarist magazine?
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/1/aquarium
His tank is definately what anyone keeping nps corals should aspire have!

Now its time for the drain.

Again as I needed the plumbing to be as tight to the tank as possible I needed a specialty 90.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=2

As you can see in the pic above this is not a standard 90. This 90 has one side that is a female slip fitting and one side that is a male slip fitting. The advantage of this is that the fitting can be just a bit tighter to the tank.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=2

As you can see in the picture, the drain line is sticking out just under 4" off the back of the tank but I would like it to be closer so its time for some mods.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

A few seconds and a cop saw sure made quick work of that one. A word of warning though, you have to go crazy slow if you are going to try this as the plumbing piece wont touch the guide plate (on my saw anyways).

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=2

And now the pumbing for the drain and for the return line both stick off the back of the tank about 3.25"
I could have actually made the 3/4" line go tighter against the tank but I knew the limiting factor would the the 1.5" line and had done some quick math to estimate that the closes I could get this line to the tank was 3.25" so its nice to see that they both worked out to the same length although I suppose I should really have done the 1.5" line first :)

I didnt snap any pics of the process here as it was just some basic plumbing, but here is a pic of the back of the tank with the plumbing complete

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

Not entirely sure who had the brilliant idea to put the 3/4" bulkhead right above the 1.5" bulkhead and so close but a 45 degree elbow took care of it quite nicely.

I did install a double union ball valve on the 3/4" like so that we could controll the flow to the tank from inside the stand. I didnt get a pic of this either, but I am sure it will follow in some later pics.

And as we were using a double union ball valve, we needed to come in closer to the stand which is wy I put in a dog leg right after the 45 degree elbow in the pic.




Now its time for the fun mods!

One of the main reasons for the tank upgrade was so that we could add a fridge to this setup.
Previously when we made the food mash it would only stay good for 2 days at room temp and then it would have to be changed. We have been changing the food every 2 days for what feels like an eternity and both Trina and myself have had enough!

Long ago I had planned to install the frigde in the upper part of my stair well and run the likes down to the tank. This would mean tat you either saw the lines on the wall (not what I want) or I would have to take the drywall off and feed the lines through the wall to the tank (again more work than I care to do).
So when we chose this tank we got a nice stand from perfecto that would easily house a fridge.

Now for the complication...
Before we could fill the tank we had to get the fridge installed as the foor on the front of the stand was decent enough, but not big enough to put a fridge in from the front. It just so happened that I had a small bar fridge left over from university that would do the job quite nicely.
So we put the fridge in from the back of the stand, elevated the fridge so the door would open and pushed it against the wall.
I didnt get a pic of this, but no matter how you positioned the fridge in the stand, when you open the fridge door it hits the door frame for the stand. It does open, but not enough to get easy access into the fridge. So if it is not going to be easy to get into the fridge, chances are it just wont happen as often as it should.

So Shaun stopped by and we did some brain storming and came up with a great idea!
And here it is:

This is a pic of of the top hinge for the fridge door

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

We decided to remove it.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

And instead of leaving it on the top right side, we relocated it to the bottom right side of the door

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

So now if you are thinking about it I bet you have realized that there are 2 bottom hinges to the door and no top hinges, and you would be correct.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

Thats the beauty part!
Now the front door sits on the 2 bottom hinges and the magnets hold the door firmly shut and in place.
When you want to open the door you just pull the top towards you

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

And lift the door off the hinges to remove it from the fridge entirely.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

So while you are in there the door is a bit beyond completely wide open.... but as you only have to go into the fridge once a week to change the food mash mixture I am sure it will be fine.

Here is a pic of the fridge under the stand.
Once we modded the door, there was no need to raise the fridge so that the door would swing open.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

Next up, time to drill the fridge to to run the lines in for the dosing pumps!

For layout, the dosing pump would have to go on top of the fridge. I had originally been thinking of having the dosing pump in the fridge, but I want the extra space and flexability afforded by having the dosing pump outside.
Plus for this type of fridge, its the freezer that actually cools down the rest of the fridge. So if the dosing pump was very high up it might frees the liquids inside of the actual pumps...


Time to measure twice and cut once!

I got out the square and made my marks on the top of the fridge where the line would be going through for the dosing pumps. This too a few min and bit of sketching things out on paper as I wanted the dosing pump the be dead square about the fridge and I wanted the lines to be able to into the fridge perfectly straight.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

To make sure the holes were perfectly lines up I punched the holes... yes with a scribe.... but still.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

First the holes were drilled at 1/8"

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

Then the were drilled out larger

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

And a pic from inside the fridge

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

If you are going to try this yourself I think it is worth mentioning that the holes for the lines that we drilled were just slightly smaller that the diameter of the tube. Not by enough to pinch the line, but by just enough that Trina had to work at it for a while and twist the lines as they went in to get them to fit.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

A decent interference fit should mean that you have zero air movement between the fridge and the lines. You will always have some temp lost due to the lines coming out of the fridge being cold and transmitting the cold to the outside, but it will be minimal.

Here are the lines installed through the top of the fridge.

http://reefwholesale.com/gallery/mai...serialNumber=1

And now finally with the fridge done we can install it under the tank and start to transfer the livestock over and fill the new tank!

Very cool and unique build...
Thanks for sharing.

I thought that the tank you have is a current usa cardiff though, and not a solana?

Thank you.

The old tank was a current USA Solana

The new tank is a perfecto, not quite cube. 24" x 24" x 18" tall

I think if you check the links I posted, you will see that the first picture posted on this thread is of a cardiff and not a solana...

semantics though and I suppose irrelevant in the light of a great build.