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And so it begins....:biggrin:
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Good luck to you and keep us posted. I love reading journals that start from concept and have plenty of pictures.
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I see you are taking care to make sure your stand is level... is your floor level? :wink:
I am excited to see your new build, though, as I have just set up a room divider as well... |
Awe! Its another member of the V-Dub club!
I like where this is going! |
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(mental note: next level I purchase is not going to be made of plastic). |
Looking forward to this build as it's a smaller version of what I'm planning. When you say holes drilled in the eurobracing at the "opposite end" you mean opposite from the overflow. How do you plan to pipe the water to the other end without the pipes looking terrible?
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Yes, the return outlets will be at the opposite end from the overflow box. I hope that works out because that is hellof-a-lot of travel :-)
The pipes are going to run up the side with the overflow box and then across the top of the tank along the long edge eurobrace until they meet up with the elbow and bulkhead at that opposite end. The tank is going to have a canopy to hide the pipes. Lights will sit on top of the canopy much like my current 90 gallon. here is a highly detailed schematic of what I have planned. The red line is the return pipe. It will be 'T'ed off somewhere so that I can run one on either side of the long edge. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1247087026 K. |
So, I still have a bunch of questions just because this is so close to what I'm doing. What are you planning to run as your return pump? What are you planning to stock? Are you planning to use anything at the overflow end for flow? Lastly, are you planning a sand bed or a bare bottom?
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Return pump will be a QuietOne 6000. I currently have a QuietOne 3000 and love how quiet it is. At the overflow end I will reuse my two Koralias 2's for now. I will replace them with a Vortech MP40 by the end of the summer though (hopefully). I had a deep sand bed (4") in my 90 gallon. When I moved it last weekend I kept the sand out of it because I planned on using the sand in the 150. After seeing the 90 for a few days now all bare bottom I have to say I am loving it. Thus I am going to go bare bottom for the 150 and will sell/give away my rubbermaid tub of live sand that's sitting in my living room :-) I'd like to cover the bottom of the 150 with maybe a sprinkling of sand, some zoas, green stars and mushrooms. As for stocking, everything in my current 90 gallon is going to go into the 150. For fish I have a Blue/Regal/Hippo tang, yellow tang, pair of perculas, six line wrasse, flame angel, watchman goby, pair of chromis', lawnmower blenny and some inverts like shrimps, an urchin and hermit crabs. The only new addition I am planning is possibly a purple tang or powder blue. |
Sounds great. I would be surprised if those K2's could give you the flow you need though. I assume you are mostly sticking to softies?
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Oh those K2s are definitely getting swapped out. They are barely enough for my 90 gallon. I have a few SPS' :-) They will have to tough it out until I replace the K2s with at least one Vortech MP40. I thought about getting K4s but I know that I want the Vortechs eventually so I'm just going to save up and go straight to the Vortechs and try to live with the K2s until then. I might have to stick my hand in the tank and stir it vigorously every day for a bit.. :lol:
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I recently purchased a MP40W but I haven't installed it in my 70 yet. I might do so on Sunday and see how it goes. |
Yow, Mark you have an MP40W in your hot little hands but are able to wait until Sunday to install it? Talk about patience! They're so relatively simple to slap on, although take care with the alignment & spacer setting for glass thickness. I recently added a second MP40W to my 75 and it's great. I previously ran the single one at long pulse, full power and with a quiet room, it was quite audible ramping up to full speed. Now with the two, I'm able to run them around 75% power, making things noticeably quieter. Flow is much better at the previously 'other' end of the tank as well. When you get yours going, I'm sure you will see a lot of stuff getting kicked up that you didn't know was in there!
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I'm Baffled!
It was quite a debate.. black stand or white stand. In the end I ended up going with a white stand. Our living room has white leather couches and the stand being as large as it is would probably look like a huge black hole in the middle of the room if I went black.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075159 While the paint on the stand dried I decided that it was time to tackle the sump. Fortunately all my sump equipment was on hand (very important when you are building a sump!). I picked up the skimmer first. I haven't even fired this thing up yet and I'm already in love with it. Hopefully it does not let me down. Hydor Performer 700 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075320 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075422 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075467 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075494 Originally I was going to go with a QuietOnes 6000 but ended up walking out with a Mag18. I'm such a sucker for an upsell. This thing is heavy! http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075560 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075592 Now we just need some baffles. I decided to go with acrylic panels. They are easy to obtain and to work with. All you have to do is measure up your panels. Score your lines with a straight edge of some sort and a scoring knife. I like to run 5 scores on either side of the panel. Then, snap! If you're like me and not quite strong enough (or too chicken) to snap the panel (where you scored it) by hand, just wedge it in between two pieces of 2x4s and step on it. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075805 It all went pretty smooth. Here they are, the baffles! http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248075967 |
There's Sump'in going on..
Okay, so everything for the sump is read to go. At first I was going to go with a 55g. After getting it home and shoving into the stand I decided that I wasn't really happy with it. Even though I have tonnes of room under the stand I still found the 55g a tad tall for my liking. A quick google pointed me to the 45g. It is only 2 inches shorter than the 55g but those two inches made a difference. That's 2 more inches of easy skimmer cup cleaning!
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076313 Time for a dry fit. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076479 From left to right we have the 'fuge, bubble trap, return section, bubble trap, the skimmer/overflow drain section. And here's all the equipment in their respective compartments. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076529 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076555 Okay, looks good. Time to commit with some silicone. *** DISCLAIMER: This will be the ugliest siliconing job you will ever see. Please don't judge me by the aesthetics of the result *** http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076585 Okay, so it is ugly but it gets the job done! http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076777 Overflow grill for the 'fuge. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076816 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076874 But... will it hold water??? http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076923 Fuge holds water! http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248076965 So far so good. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248077010 |
Tanks for all the fish!
Back to the stand. Now that the paint has dried it is time to move it into the house. Originally I had a sheet of 1/2 inch plywood which I was going to use for the top but decided I wanted something a little nicer. I was at Ikea looking for ideas for skinning the stand when I came across some counter tops. A nice one and a half inch slab of MDF, awesome. I went with one of the Numerar counter tops that happened to be just the right size at 73" by 25". No cutting required. While I was there I also found some cabinet door panels that I will use for the stand as well. More on that later.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248077860 This is always a good sign! http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248077886 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248077911 Now that the stand is (somewhat) ready let's get that tank in here. Let me just say, damn that thing is heavy! It took 4 of us to get it in and out of my car and onto the stand and it wasn't all that much fun, but my crew and I pulled it off. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248077989 A 1/2" sheet of pink styrofoam sits between the tank and the top of the stand for cushioning. The edge of the styrofoam was spray painted silver to match the trim and the top of the stand. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248078184 It sure is a lot bigger in person than it is on paper. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248078239 To recap, it is 72" long by 24" wide by 20" deep/high. Here's the external overflow box. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248078281 Two of the four 1" overflow holes. My plan is to have 1 drain straight into the 'fuge, merge two of them into a 1.5" pipe to drain into the skimmer section with a gate valve, and then the 4th hole will be the emergency drain. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248078313 And here are the two 1" returns drilled into the eurobrace at the opposite end from the overflow. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248078699 I put in a special request to move these holes far enough away from the glass panel so that I could easily maneuver a magfloat around the glass without interference. |
looks good i love my divider tank. Are you going to continue the stand up the back wall conceiling your overflow and return. hidden pipes is the way to go
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I might, if I can be bothered :-) The exposed plumbing never bothered me when I had my 90 gallon there, and the 90 gallon was 2 feet away from the wall! :lol: But ya.. I will add that to my "to-do" list and see if I get around to that finishing detail towards the end (pun intended!).
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Looks promising
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Coming along nicely!
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This build is looking so good!! The tank looks great where it's going. Are you happy with the build quality? I'm always wondering because I haven't decided who will build my next tank yet.
In looking at your sump, I see you did something similar to what I did on my current sump (but on a bigger scale) and the first problem that I encountered (about 3 months in) was that acrylic doesn't stick to silicon/glass and some of my baffles started falling over. I haven't fixed it yet, but you might want to research what others have done to combat this. |
Kien's just being modest. He actually carried the tank strapped to his back on his crotch rocket motorbike. I offered to help him carry it home but he was insistent he do it himself. At work on Friday he was using the tank as his coffee mug!
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Looking good Kien. Definitely like Colby's work on tanks. I might go with him for my next tank, but I have a feeling that wont be for 4-5 years haha.
One thing your build shows is that I need to learn how to use my camera cause my shots look like garbage compared to yours. |
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I was somewhat paranoid about this too so I may have over engineered the baffles.. ie, I put gobs and gobs of silicone on.. hehe! That's why it looks like the baffles were installed by a monkey. Did I mention that there were gobs? Quote:
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I'm looking forward to plumbing this bad boy up during the course of this week. Targeting Sunday to start water testing it. |
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Where are you going to be looking for most of your plumbing parts. I went to home depot and the selection was lacking a bit. Lots of copper parts and typical piping parts like 90 degree bends and 45s but some of the other parts are missing. I couldnt find any gate valves that were pvc and no ball and socket spray parts along with other ones I need for my setup.
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Rona has a better selection of PVC than HD. You should be able to find most of what you need there. The only thing they won't have are gate valves if you are planning a herbie.
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I picked up some gate valves and some misc attachments from Red Coral last weekend. I picked up a nice green ball valve from Rona on the weekend as well (I have this thing for green stuff). Colby is providing me with the bulkheads for all my holes. He also suggested that I check out Western Pump. They are literally 5 minutes from my house (on 114st near Barlow Trail SE), so I'm going to stop in on my way home from work one of these evenings and check them out. Although, as xtreme said, Rona has the largest selection I have seen so far, minus the gate valves and bulkheads.
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Plumber's Crack
Okay, so after 4 trips to Rona, a failed trip to Home Depot (how can a hardware store not have 1" PVC pipe ??? ) and 3 trips to Western Pump, I finally collected all the parts I needed. The plumbing wasn't difficult, but there were many challenges that needed to be thought out, drawn out, solved and executed.
Here's my loot! Gate valve from Red Coral, bulkheads from Elite Aquatics. I like to spread the wealth :-) http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248427549 So first up are the stand pipes for the 4 drains (two primaries, 1 to fuge and 1 emergency). Simple enough. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248427749 Next I tackle the main drain. I have two 1" drains that I wanted to merge into one 2" pipe so that I can use one gate valve on it. I believe a 1 1/2" pipe will flow more than two 1" pipes. Here's what I came up with. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248427693 North and South views http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248427847 .. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248427875 I was happy with it so I attached the gate valve and the elbow into the sump. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248427967 .. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428028 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428054 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428133 |
The other two drains went pretty much the same way, minus the gate valve and the merging. Here you can see the trio of drains. That forth pipe in the back there is the return, more on that later! One thing I just noticed is that I should put a gate valve on the line to the fuge. I'm not convinced that this is 100% necessary but I'll probably attach one in the end.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428260 One tricky thing I had to tackle was how to run the fuge line while still giving myself enough clearance for the skimmer cup. The sump is only 12" wide and that skimmer is huge! In the end I just slanted the sump so that the fuge line was running at an angle towards the fuge. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428425 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428544 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428565 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428614 |
Lastly I worked on the return line. At first I was going to run it with a bunch of 90 degree elbows, but after playing around with the wider elbows with the return lines I decide to make a 90 degree turn with two wide elbows to give it more of a gentle turn.
Here's the return line running up the back side and top. In the end I'm not sure if it'll make a huge difference in flow but I figured every little bit helps! http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428792 .. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428927 One thing you may have noticed is that there is no check valve on the return! Honestly, I am not a fan of check valves. I've used them before and after time they just get gunky and don't close properly. Instead, I will be drilling holes into the back of my two return nozzles so that it breaks the siphon in the event of a power loss. I'm currently using this method on my 90 gallon tank and it works quite well. Yes, the nozzles can get plugged with gunk too but it is much easier to clean the nozzles than it is to clean the check valve. Here it is snaking around the front end and dropping into the tank. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248428983 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248429029 Something else you might notice is that I am not using bulkheads for the two return nozzles. I have the bulkheads for them but when I started working on it I quickly realized that the entire return line on top of the tank would have to be raised a few inches off the glass if I used the bulkheads. I didn't like this because then I would have to support the return line with something. Also, it would be a pain to reach into the tank on that side if the return line was higher. In the end I opted not to use those two bulkheads and just shoved the return nozzles right into the holes in the eurobrace. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248429047 So that's the plumbing in a nutshell. It wasn't rocket science but you do need to plan it out and remember to measure twice and cut once! Or, if you're like me, just run out and buy more PVC (but not from Home Depot because for some reason they don't believe in PVC). Here are a couple of full tank shots to wrap up this stage. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248429075 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248429195 |
Looks very tidt and neat!!!
Just make sure that you connect the return pump to the return pipe via flexible tube. It will help to prevent pump vibration going to the pipe and making irritating noise. |
Yup! That's why that bit is empty right now. I have all the barbed fittings to hook up a flexible tube but need the flexible tube :-) It also makes it easier to maintain the return pump in case I need to service.
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Fill 'er up please!
So I finished up some details on the plumbing that I didn't get done last time. Here's the return line plumbed.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248761842 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248761923 http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248761945 Here's the ball valve for the bypass in case I needed to throttle back the return pump. In the end I didn't need to open it at all but it might come in handy. It simply dumps the return back into the skimmer section. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762022 I also decided to add a gate valve to the fuge line. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762075 And away we go! .. with fingers crossed.. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762186 Thankfully the tank held water. The stand did not collapse, or bow for that matter. The overflow box took the overflow and the standpipe drains drained! http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762353 Here they are, draining, herbie style. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762300 .. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762384 The main drain doing its thing. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762439 And the fuge drain.. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762483 |
Houston we have a problem!
I was quite happy with how the system ran. Very quiet and no issues save for this one minor one.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762506 Yes, that is a small leak from that fitting. I guess there wasn't enough teflon. Instead of reapplying it I ended up siliconing all the threaded barbed fittings just to be on the safe side. In order to do that though I had to shut the system down and take those barbed adapters out and dry them. A great opportunity to do a power failure test! This is what the sump looks like after a powerfail and the water has drained back into the sump. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762712 There was definite lack of flood water on the floor which everyone in the house appreciated. The water in the main tank only drained down as far as the bottom edge of the overflow weir. To break the siphon from the returns, these holes were drilled into the sides of the return nozzles which are at the same level as the bottom edge of overflow. In normal operation the water rises above these holes by about a half an inch. This prevents air from being sucked into the return line and shooting bubbles into the tank. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248762891 So now I wait for the silicone to dry and power it up again tomorrow. If all goes well I will flush the tank and sump and fill it with salt water instead of that nasty tap water. |
Just wondering isn't a guy supposed to avoid hose clamps like that due to major rust issues??
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Looks good!
I would move the whole tubes above the sump. That way if you have a leak from some reason, all the water will go to the sump. |
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