Thanks man!

Well to be honest, it's actually not patience. It's either having absolutely no time to work on it other than a half hour here, an hour there, or I haven't got a dime to proceed any further, lol. Lately, work has been killer busy, so I've been able to gather some stuff up, but no time to install or build it. Thankfully I have 2 other tanks running that keeps my interest. Although now (pics coming) now that I've completed another huge step, I think patience is going to be a necessity.

Thanks bud. I can't wait to see it running either. My original plan was to hook this tank up in tandem with my other 2 tanks, slowly move everything from my 77gal into it then shut the 77 down. But seeing how I apparently have AEFW in it, I picked up a 125 gal from Neoh so I'm going to build a new sump and get the 210 running all on it's own. Once it's up and running, I'll dip and QT all my SPS, making sure I don't transfer anything over. Then shut the 77 down and sell the old sump.

Well, I had the afternoon to work on the tank! I finalized my rock work and got the face frames on the cabinet and the trim!!!!!! WOOHOOO! and DAMN, it looks good if I do say so myself. Now, I'm getting eager to see water in it.
So, without further ado..... here's how it sits as of tonight.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psd96b823b.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...pse2e6dc52.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps12dcee6d.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps077bab51.jpg

That looks awesome. You did a hell of a job

Thats soooo sweet

Tiny update, built a shelving unit downstairs under the tank to give at least a wee bit of assistance to the floor joists. An engineer buddy of mine ran the numbers and said I was good, but over built rarely hurts anybody :)

Got a pleasant surprise yesterday. I ordered one of these last week:
http://www.lockewell.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=161

My self discipline is severely lacking and water changes have not exactly been regular, so after reading a bunch on RC about daily water changes I decided to buy one of these pumps and control it with the Apex.
Anyway, I get a call from UPS asking if I have a customs broker or if I want them to do it. I've never been asked that before by UPS! Thankfully I've ordered a bunch of tools and equipment out of the states before and have an account set up with Summit custom's brokers in Van so that should save me a bit of money. Anyway, just surprised they called first rather than give me the bill at my door. They must be getting a lot of Canadians complain.

Pump got delivered on Friday. I can't wait to get it set up.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9aa36a10.jpg

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That thing is amazing! How is it going to work? If it's going to do automated changes for you every day, won't you still need to be super on top of making sure you've got a reservoir of mixed salt water on hand? How do you control it?

Thanks! I'm really looking forward to hooking it up and knowing I'm actually getting water changes done :)

I always have 30 gal of SW mixed and 30 gal of FW for top up in Brute cans. Because the pump has 2 heads and 1 motor, it takes out exactly the same as it puts back in. So my plan is to set the intake of the one head in the first chamber of my sump, where my drains are and the discharge in the drain. The other head will take water from my 30 gal SW can and will pump it into my final return chamber of the sump.
My initial plan is to change 1% a day for a total of 30% a month. There's a thread on RC that shows that accounting for pumping out new water with the old, you still end up changing about 28% volume. This particular pump is rated for 100 gpd change so I'll just do the math and control it via my Apex on one of the plugs on the EB8.
For starters, I'll just do it in a tub of normal water to make sure I have the water volumes right.
I will have to watch my SW reservoir vary carefully to make sure it doesn't empty, but the pump is actually rated to run dry so it won't hurt anything if it does, I just won't be doing any more water changes. My goal is to find a couple 60 gal containers so I have a bit more forgiveness.

Do the lengths of pipe/head pressure in your inlet outlet lines need to be the same for it to always pump the exact same amount of water in and out, or are peristaltic pumps not as affected by that?

My understanding is that it doesn't matter. Because of the roller running over the tube, it actually meters out a set volume each rotation regardless of the length of the intake or discharge. There is a bit of debate on RC about which model/manufacturer does this to the greatest accuracy, but I figure if I check my tank salinity every month when I re-fill my water change can, I can adjust anything if I need to.

They do sell a huge variety of these pumps, from I think 4 gal per day upwards. I bought the 100 gpd so I can do large water changes if I need to.

Whoa! That is one bad ass dosing pump!

Well, like i don't have enough to do, i have embarked on making a true fish room for my tank. Until now my sump, water change station, reactors, pump, QT tanks etc have just kind of populated the centre of the unfinished portion of my basement.
I have always wanted to decrease the humidity in our home, so last summer i had traded a small piece of work equipment for a used HRV. I have also gotten a used 125 gal tank to make a new sump. So before i go and set all this stuff up, I've decided it will be much easier and no doubt safer for my tank, if i built this room, drywalled, taped and painted it before hand. The space I have available is 13' X 9 1/2'
What I'd really appreciated is some input on layout. I think the actual sump location is determined already because of where the piping is coming down out of the ceiling from the tank upstairs. The plumbing for a sink is also set in stone, but it could be piped a few more feet from it's current location. Once I draw it all up, I'll put it up here. But in the meantime, here's the rough blank slate:
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psc022c3f6.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8a7fa1c5.jpg

For better or worse:

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psd90d5637.jpg

Another possible layout I played with this morning:
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...pse3060ff6.jpg

I prefer your second layout. The door in the first one would bother my pretty quickly. Planning as much on paper first will help a lot, but I'm sure you already know that! Looking good.

The second layout looks good. The only change I would make would be to swap the RODI unit with the SW container. That way, the SW container would be closer to the sump, and the flow of water would be more natural.

Just my $ 0.02...

Agree on all points, lol. I really didn't like the door either. I initially had it swinging the other way but I figured the chances of the door knob or something wacking the side of the sump was too great.
I TOTALLY agree with planning on paper first. I have a basement full of messy wires, plumbing, parts and pieces to prove what happens otherwise :)
The new layout does mean pumping the water to the 210 a few extra feet, but I think there's more than enough flow to handle it.

Great idea! I think I tried a similar version but thought it was too constricting in the corner and would have difficulty accessing the calcium reactor, but I re-worked it to include a corner counter. I think this will work better now.

Thanks for the input and support guys.
One thing I also want to include in this room somewhere, is a location for a frag/grow out tank so leaving the one end wall open works very well. So here's where I'm at now. Any other comments suggestions are more than welcome.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps32cd6839.jpg

Got a bit of time to work on the room over the weekend. Finished cleaning it all out and prepped for framing.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps80850e43.jpg

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The floor is not all that smooth or level, but my ceiling height is only 6' 2" or so, so I won't be levelling it any. I do have a bunch of tile left over from another job, so I may end up tiling it, but that's it. And I got almost all my walls framed up. I still have to fir out the wall where the SW and FW tanks will sit, then run all my plumbing, wiring, insulation and vapour barrier.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps85aef857.jpg

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I've had a re-thought about my sump. My skimmer is external so I have gained a huge footprint area I can use for a fuge. My initial thoughts was to have a remote fuge but I'm quickly running out of room. I wanted a large sump to handle the water flow from a power outage. Amazing how much water all that piping and overflow can hold. Here's what I've come up with so far.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps636bc34a.jpg

At the end of the fuge section I added a 6" baffle in case I ended up putting some sand or miracle mud or something in there. I am growing mangroves and would like something for them to root into eventually. I'm a little worried about flow through there being too much, so I am contemplating sectioning off that area and allowing at least a portion of the total flow to bypass the fuge.
Any thoughts?

Looks awesome!

Well, it's been a while for my updates. Bad news is I think I have the plague :(
Good news is it gives me a bit of time to actually work on this build.

I finally finished all my framing, most of the insulation, all the electrical rough in and plumbing rough in.
Next step I guess is to finish the insulation in the ceiling, vapour barrier everything off and start drywalling. Here's some pics I took this aft after finishing the plumbing rough-in.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps27786797.jpg

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looking good there DAP well done i love seeing the insulation going up its a job relieve lol

Looking good daplatapus! Are you planning regular drywall or the mold resistant kind?

I'm pretty sick as well, but I think mine is the Ebola. :crutch:

Thanks guys!
When I renovated my house, my buddy who drywalled my place used some weird drywall I'd never seen before in my bathroom. I had asked for blue board (the regular mould resistant stuff) and he had recommended this other type of drywall. I had just moved here from Alberta so I figured it was just some odd stuff they used down here and said, "Ya, whatever". It seems a bit harder than drywall, and almost felt like it had a grey, plasticky layer on the face side of it. And it has just the hair of a texture to it, so it's not flat and smooth like regular drywall. Anyway, this stuff is amazing around water.
I was thinking of using the same material. Although, it's probably overkill. I have a used HRV I plan on installing to vent the room and the hood above the tank. I also will be using the best bathroom primer and paint I can find and I have a few Marlite FRP panels (left over from jobs) I plan on installing around the sump and sink to protect those area's.

Well, minor progress. Got the room all drywalled, taped and painted. Gonna finish some electrical today, and maybe start the bench for the sump.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps729ab079.jpg

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lets go fella I have been waiting to see this upgrade mister :P

Are we gonna see some water in a tank one day?? :)

Haha, not as much as I :) Work has just been killer busy this year. Time has been hard to come by.


Geez, I sure hope so.

Looks great daplatapus, so fresh and clean!

Thanks man, I hope I can keep it that way, lol.

More progress. I got all my hard wired electrical done. Anything within 6' of the sump is GFI'd. Split some of my plugs and switched them so I can turn stuff on and off easy like my return pumps, skimmer, Ca reactor, RO/DI booster and SW mixing station.
The sink is going to be replaced with something else. I may have a line on a used S.S. commercial sink/wash tray, so hopefully that'll pan out without breaking the bank. The 2" ABS drain line you see on the floor is actually going to my existing sump for when I do water changes. That'll eventually be run from the new sump and tight to the wall behind the SW and Fresh water tanks.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psbbf3887d.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psd49c4002.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps73f8e2e4.jpg

Got my drawers built. Still missing the right glide for the lower left drawer (got 2 lefts instead of a right and a left) so that's why it looks a bit off kilter. Got the top doors mounted with the hold up hardware. Still have to spray all the doors, hopefully that'll happen this week.
Today I concentrate on plumbing the tank to sump and see if I can't get that done.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps62c87495.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4a9f9881.jpg

took me a while but i got caught up on your build and you've been BUSY! love how things are progressing. That metering pump is a great idea... no worrying about calibration drifting on two seperate dosing channels.

cute broom btw.

looking good buds

Your woodworking skills are amazing, that stand/cabinet is top notch!

Thanks guys! Helps knowing people are even reading this, lol :)

Got the rest of the doors on and all but the one drawer front. A bit cool on the island this week (-10 here this morning :scramble: brrrrrrr) and the only make up air for the spray booth exhaust in the shop I spray at is opening the door to outside. Sooo, probably not going to happen this week.

Also got all the plumbing upstairs done, now just have to deal with the fish room.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psd0e0266f.jpg

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psd38e9fe2.jpg

Just read the whole thread. Just awesome!
You have skills!
Following along, keep up the excellent work

Wow awesome!!!

So, I still don't have my doors painted, lol. We got them to my buddies shop and actually got them primed out with ClawLock. But he got married the weekend after that, and work has been off the wall so they've been hanging in his shop till now.
So a painter friend of mine was doing another kitchen door spray job and has agreed to finish my doors for me. Hopefully I'll get them back by next week and this thing will at least look finished on the outside.

Got home a wee bit early yesterday and was able to get the majority of my plumbing done on my mixing station. On my existing one, I'm not that crazy about the pipe I have filling/mixing the water in the SW tub. It's just a 3/4" line that goes in to about 4" off the bottom of the barrel then has a 45 degree elbow forcing water in a circular motion. It's ok, but no more than that. I found I don't get a whole lot of mixing with the top 1/3 of the barrel. And if I add salt too fast I get a big pile right in the middle of the barrel from the circular motion of the water.
SO.... I figured what I would try on this one is a pipe that goes down to roughly 4" or so from the bottom, again with a 45 degree elbow. Because of the slope of the top of my new barrels, the pipe actually goes from the top left side of the barrel to the bottom right side. I've pointed the elbow back towards the bottom centre of the drum and drilled a bunch of holes in a helical pattern all the way down the pipe. The hope is the water flowing through the holes in the pipe will create tons of turbulence in the barrel and will minimize any piling up of the salt in any one area. Only time will tell I guess :)

Anyway here's a couple pics of yesterday's adventure.

The helically drilled pipe. I did this on my drill press with the drill bit entering the pipe as far to one side as I could and not on centre. My hope is that this pattern will actually cause the water to spin out of the pipe, in essence creating a bit of a vortex in the barrel. However the angle of the pipe in the barrel, may counteract that effect...so I'm not sure, lol.
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...pstbvaq2so.jpg

The pipe installed in the barrel
http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...psh6zznliy.jpg

The finished product. I have an old Reefflo Dart that I've got hooked up to this thing. I may plug it into my Apex and have it turn on for a half hour a day to keep things aerated a bit. If anyone hasn't read the whole thread, I'll be doing automated, daily water changes via a big dual head dosing pump. Pics are back a few pages. That's what that extra little manifold is on the right side of the setup.

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4rwsws0w.jpg

Where did you find the Barr containers?
Love the build and great craftsmanship!

I am interested in the pump as well. How much water can it push with a high head?

I picked up the containers directly from Barr plastics in Van.
Thanks for the compliment, all I can say is I try, sometimes it works, sometimes not - those I don't usually post pics of :)

Being a peristalic pump, I'd imagine it would probably push a long ways. It's not affected by head as a impeller pump is. There will only be a few feet of 1/4" tubing on each end of the pump, so not an issue for me. They did have the option of having 3/8 tubing, but for some reason I didn't clue into that until after it had shipped.