Yeah unfortunately Eli was trying to do me a favor and they did not come with the tops. I thought he was ordering them from BRS, but it obviously wasn't from them. They only come with the tops at BRS. But whateves. Just means i'll have to wait longer before using RO water. I wanted to water test with RO, but i'll just use tap water until the new canisters arrive.

Water testing the whole water changing system begins tonight!

The Permanent Upgrade - With fishroom!
 

Looking good!

Maybe Eli can get new tops? (Or did you already check into that..)

Water test on the water changing system was ridiculously successful! !! Would have been a full 40 gallon water change in under 4 minutes! No leaks!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pshook6wgq.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psglalfemp.jpg

Drain! Whirlpool

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pseyldjxxy.jpg

grats on the water change system. Best money A person can spend on equipment imho.

Yours looks very well thought out, If you ever have the desire to get rid of the electrical cord run through your house, I have been having good success with the wemo system from belkin. Just turn on and off my ro pump using my phone.

This amount of flexibility makes me mad jelly.

I literally just spent the last 15 minutes following all the pipes in your tank/plumbing diagram. My only advice would be:

Find some way of labelling all those gate valves in a really in your face manner. By my count you've got to change the position of gate valves on different floors 12 times in a specific sequence to complete the entire circuit from water change, to salt water storage refill, to ATO refill. It's probably the weakest point in your system as it introduces the potential for absent-minded human error. In my system the same pump that empties my water change chamber also drives my GFO reactor. Since the GFO reactor is always running, I put two gate valves between the pump and the drain just to be safe. However, twice now I've gotten interrupted or distracted during a water change and opened the valve to my GFO reactor, turned the pump back on, and walked away without having closed the gate valves to the drain. Thankfully my ATO sounds like a bucket of water pouring in to a toilet so I've caught it really quickly both times, but I'm definitely the weakest link in the system I built.

In your case all it would take is absent-mindedly leaving that gate valve to the upstairs open when you refill the salt water storage bin to either empty half your RO container on to your upstairs floor, or in to your system depending on how you left the valves after the water change.

I know it adds cost and it's redundancy you'll probably never need, but if it were me, for peace of mind I'd want there to be one pump and a dedicated run of pipe just to bring salt water up to the water change tank, and another pump and run of pipe for the fresh water. That way you'd only need to worry about changing the position of two valves (Fill ATO reservoir or salt water reservoir), and they'd both be on the same floor and right in front of you when you needed to change the plumbing 'state'. That would also make it physically impossible to accidentally foul your stored fresh water with salt water.

I'd be constantly second guessing myself and running to the basement to make sure I wasn't filling my ATO reservoir with salt water the way it's set up. But then I'm an air head. Other people might not have the same challenges I cope with on a daily basis.

However, your system saves the need for a second pump and is a way more efficient use of pipe space. I'm still mad jelly, just make sure you're extra careful.

Thanks adam!

There is a chance of human error as usual. However the way I plan on doing this, will be in stages, so that there is less changing of valves all in one sequence. Hopefully, If I follow my plan, things won't go bad! I hope to mix my salt container a few days before the water change, so hopefully that would eliminate a mishap when turning valves.

The only real chance of failure here is the chance that I leave the valve to the RO bin open when filling the sump. I do plan on having a cheap/small controller for my water change system to control perameters in the future, so maybe I could also do a float switch that turns the Mag24 off when the level in the sump reaches a certain level. It might be an idea with or without a controller. I do have an old JBJ ATO with dual float switches that actually might work great for this! I will put it to use.

I also have built (not shown yet) two 1/2" overflows on the brutes that lead directly to the floor drain just in case they boil over. This will help if the float switches in my RO unit fail.

Hopefully by doing the water change in a span of a couple days (in regards to mixing the salt water before hand) it will eliminate a few chances of valve turning errors.

I got a small bit done last night. I was able to install the cord hiding panduit under the first sump to hide wires. This stuff is awesome! and so easy to work with. Sure did tidy everything up so far. Hides all the extra wire from the American DJ powerbars and extension cord for the water changing system nicely.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pstxxqwwyf.png

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pspfvt0oke.jpg


And yes.... eventually the underbelly will get a coat of paint lol

Looks good, man. Love that panduit. Definitely the nicest way to clean up wiring.

So, I need some advice. Should I continue to run my manifold off of the fuge/frag tank return pump like I originally designed. Or should I run it from the 1st stage sump via an extra Mag12 I have sitting around? I would have it recirculating back into the tank because the 1200 gph would be a little much for the manifold, considering only 3-4 outlets would be in use.

I figure if the manifold for the reactors (carbon, GFO, and calcium reactors) are fed directly off of the 1st sump, the water will be straight out of the display, and would be in the best position to be polished/filtered. What do you think?

I also like the location of the manifold on the right wall. it overhangs the tank, so if I did have any leaks, it would leak back into the sump. If I fed it with the bottom return pump, I would have to mount it on the back wall, and if it leaked, it would hit the floor below.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psf95b2c79.png

I also got the frag tank and rack all set up, and the two fuge tanks all done (except for the acrylic overflow teeth....have to go to concept). The taller rear tank will have an 8" DSB and floating mangroves. It will cascade into the bottom fuge which will house the duplex sump idea (egg crate structure on the bottom to create a benthic zone, then live rock, and cheato on the top). It will then overflow into the live rock compartment of the return sump.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pstlwxqgrd.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psamvq6cds.jpg

And the whole thing (minus the return sump)

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psgiqkmja2.jpg

I have no opinion on the manifold, but that looks killer!

Haha daym! I was hoping for your expert opinion!

But thanks anyways!

I'd stick with the manifold where it is, purely because of the possibility for leaks and it leaking back into the sump is always better. :)

Setup looks fantastic!

I'd say keep the manifold where it is too for the same reason.

I guess there's no reason you couldn't just have the mag12 dialed down (backpressure / head pressure aka "closing the valves on the output" means the pump uses less electricity - weird when you think about it - it may lift the water higher, but the impeller turns slower as a result - and it's the speed of turning that influences how much energy is being consumed). But yeah a mag12 is a big pump that you'd only need a fraction of to run those reactors. Can you consider a smaller pump? Trade the mag12 maybe if you have no other use for it?

Yeah I definitely could trade it for a smaller version. Maybe a Mag 9.5 would be better. But I still don't mind having it recirculate back into the tank, shouldn't be an issue. I was just tossing around ideas for mounting the manifold when I came up with the idea. It's nice and clean where it is, and I can run all of the output pipes for the reactors easily. Everything will be super accessible this way. I think i'm going to leave it like this.

It will be nice to have more flow to the left closet as well without the manifold T'd off that pump. I will also have controllability with the DC pump speed to the frag tank.

No opinions but that whole set up looks bad ass, glad I'm still tagging (creeping) along on this thread getting lots of ideas for my next build (There's always a next build right)

Sorry to disappoint! I've never run a manifold. Heck I am barely a man.

LOL. Yes the build is slow. Unfortunately I'm not a rich man. If I had all the money in the world this would have been done 3 years ago lol. I just have to buy one piece of equipment per month until I have everything. This month was all the T5 Lighting to suppliment the halides. Next will be calcium reactor. Then Controller. Then Livestock!

Is a calcium reactor really necessary to fire up the tank tough ? I'm not say you shouldn't get one, I'm just saying, do you need one right away, as a precursor to starting up the tank ?

Oh gosh no! haha. It will be up and wet this week. Just have to plumb the rest (which I will be starting tonight). And if everything goes to plan, the next thing I will be buying all the frikin bags of sand for the DSB.

I'm actually planning on cycling the fuge's before even adding livestock, so calcium reactor won't actually be required for a while.

I will add, that when you don't have the $$$ to buy everything new, everything else takes 3 times as long to do lol. I also have to acid bath all of the used LR i've been collecting for ages haha. Finding the time for all of this is just crazy.

Agree 1000 X's

Looking good so far, keep up the good work :)

Hey Kien, question for you...

When you had those two sumps under your 131 FOWLR add on, did the 3 bulkheads without valves work well to transfer water into the sump below? I was playing around with ideas last night, and I think that I would like to just have them all open and flowing with no valves.

Yes, they actually worked perfectly. Plus it wasn't that noisy at all. I think because the water flowed out of the bulkhead horizontally, then elbowed at 45 down into the next tank.

Question for you: Do you live in Erin Woods or were you working there yesterday around noon? I ran past a truck that had that Lucky-13 logo on the back. I thought of you.

Sorry, I just realized how awkward that sounds..

HAHAHAHAHAHA

No, I live in Douglasdale. Don't frequent Erin Woods at all. And Although I do love the brand, I don't rock it on either of my vehicles :wink:

BUT... thanks for thinking of me!

That's what I thought. I've never ever seen that logo other than in your avatar so I thought maybe it was yours. I didn't know it was a brand.

Mocked up the return pump plumbing. Do you think that I should keep the ball valves? I figured they would be handy to cut off water flow if I need to service the check valves.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psyz3pwdip.jpg

Also plumbed up the manifold pump and mocked up the fuge tank/frag tank plumbing

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pstpmn7ncs.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pspxagq7lw.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pseu0nmdjt.jpg

Looks good more ball valves the better I think, never know and it leaves you wih options later

So I decided to up the size of the ball valves on the return pumps to minimize flow restriction. The 1" true union ball valves that I have been using are tiny inside! They actually reduce in size by about half from your standard internal 1" pipe diameter. So I measured the inside on a 1" pipe, and then the inside of a 1.5" true union ball valve, and the internal diameters were almost the same. The check valves also have a large interior diameter.

These 1.5" valves are frikin huge, but they will work well at not reducing the flow like the 1" would have.

Here is the interior comparison of a 1" to a 1.5"

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pstsmltion.jpg

Here these beasts are all plumbed and ready to go!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psofpuqize.jpg

Also got the finishing touches on my manifold. 4 X 1/2" barbed fittings to go to my reactors/UV.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psf15vwgtw.jpg

Frag tank drains are all plumbed.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psvougrkyt.jpg

And the fuge drain from fuge to main sump is done as well! I have to use a different (frikin expensive) ball valve from western pump, because of the lack of space, and the slight bend in the plumbing into the other closet. This one was a little shorter, and allowed me to use the two 45 degree fittings to make the bend. Only thing is.... the handle is orange. So I will remove it and paint it red like the rest asap! Call me OCD... But it has to match!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pswdkmm2xm.jpg

And since the bottom right sump will be slightly darker underneath, I put an LED light bar in there. Works well! I can actually see what I'm doing when it's dark in the room.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pst0wo0l13.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psc7fjlt2x.jpg

Old ball valves are on in this pic. But here is the LED on with a pitch black room behind me.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps8wm0j90x.jpg

Wow. I like how you are single handedly bringing sexy back with this tank build.

Well...things were going well tonight. I got the return sump in and situated. Return pumps in.


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psgmlccrxh.jpg

Aaaaaaand then as usual.....my luck/stupidity got the best of the evening...

First off...I cant wiggle my 10 gallon ATO tank in beside the bottom sump. No matter how many times I tried. It fits on paper...but getting it in after the sump is in there is impossible....so now I have to dump more money into a custom slim ATO tank. Yay! OH YEAH...and I forgot to mention that I broke the 10G tank while doing this...

But wait! It gets better! While moving the return sump back into position after attempting to stuff the ATO tank in, I elbowed the return drain from the fuge....and broke that tank too!!! Wwweeeeeeeeee!!

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ps7mxyjdhg.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...pscbxxlk5s.jpg

So needless to say, after cracking two tanks im calling it an evening. This one will go in the books...especially my pocketbook! Which already hates me.

Ouch that sucks

Mike I have a slim ato at the shop I'll give you at a deal , it was an extra we made :) can't remember the dimensions off hand but call me later and I'll get them for you:)

Thanks Denny! I'll check it out when I pick up the acrylic overflow covers I ordered. I will also have to order a new fuge tank lol.

pretty wicked dude I just clicked in that your the guy with the UV light duhhh. love the setup