Here's a shot of the tank today, two types of rock curing (Fiji and Tonga) ...

http://pansy-paws.com/aquarium/images/IMG_2942.JPG

I connected the tank into the sump today, so here's a summary of the challenges I had with that part of the design. Hopefully you can visualize what I'm describing, but please ask further questions if not :razz: .

The area under the bar supporting the tank had very little room (we're talking small :exclaim: ) The length is good (over 8 feet) but the width of the area is only 11.5 inches. There is a shelf as well, making the height of the bottom 17" and the top level at 12" (as measured through the doors). The doors, located behind the bar, also posed a problem since anything longer than 21" would not fit through. The end of the bar with the sink provided a bit more space, and a larger door, and this is where I planned my primary sump.

Plan View: note primary sump sketched in at the top, that was the largest possible dimension that could get through the door (31 gal), and as it turned out I could only find a smaller one (20 gal) ... a Tru-Vu acrylic tank that I added baffles to.

http://pansy-paws.com/aquarium/images/bar_plan_view.JPG

Here's a shot to provide some perspective (showing the support frame before the tank was moved).

http://pansy-paws.com/aquarium/images/IMG_2737.JPG

With a 375 gal tank and a 100 gal refugium both draining into the sump, I knew that it was not going to be large enough to hold the drain-back in the event of a power outage. And, I wasn't about the rely on check valves to keep the rug dry. So, I needed more volume.

Plan A:

My first idea was to daisy-chain three 10 gal tanks along the bottom level, and have these raised up on boards a bit to ensure the tops were a bit higher than the sump.

This sketch showed the general plan, with space for a 4th 10 gal on the other side of the sump. The sump is at the top right of this diagram.

http://pansy-paws.com/aquarium/images/linear_sump.JPG

To start with, I used two 10 gal tanks, drilled them for 3/4" bulkheads, and connected them to the sump with barb-hose fittings (big mistake :confused: , really constricts the flow). I drilled the bulkhead holes with a diamond bit dremel, and each hole took about 20 minutes to complete. I got the dremel idea from this posting:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=445481

Once installed I tried it out, knowing that I still had space for two more 10 gal. With just the 100 gal refugium connected, turning the pump off resulted in a faster rate of drain-back than the flow into the 10 gal aquariums could handle, resulting in a precarious peak level in the sump before the water finally expanded into the 10 gallon daisy-chain. No way was this idea going to work with the 375 gal added :evil: :evil:

Plan B:

I toyed with the idea of putting a 150 gal Rubbermaid Stock Tank outside the window, sunk into the ground with a box structure over it, but the wife didn't like the idea (and quite frankly neither did I) :eek: :eek:

Plan C:

I finally stumbled upon using a couple long and skinny plastic tanks, each 16.5 gal (not quite sure of the plastic type, poly-something ... hope that description helps :n00b: ) They had built-in 1.25 inch bulkheads, so that saved me some work. I joined them together using the built-in bulkheads, and added a 1.5" to connect to the sump. Again, they are raised on boards, making the top half of the sump probably 40 gal ... much better drain-back volume.

Here's a shot of the left door and right door along the length of the bar.

http://pansy-paws.com/aquarium/images/IMG_2926.JPG

http://pansy-paws.com/aquarium/images/IMG_2927.JPG

And a shot of these poly tanks connected to the sump.

http://pansy-paws.com/aquarium/images/IMG_2924.JPG

And finally, a look at the primary sump ... there's still plumbing neatening to do ... had to make sure the design worked first.

http://pansy-paws.com/aquarium/images/IMG_2943.JPG


Still got lots of construction to do ... talk later.