MitchM tank build

MitchM · #1 02-13-2011, 10:49 PM

I got the hangers and special nails for the center joists and got those mounted:

put down some plywood and got the tank on the stand.
Here is a pic of the intake portion of the closed loop completed:

Here I've started the framing for the workbench behind the tank with the closed loop pump roughly in place:

I've started the filling of the tank with R/O DI. One thing that I'm not happy with is that the DI cartridge is already 80% exhausted and the tank is only 25% full so far.

The RO unit is a 300 GPD from BRS. The RO unit itself is giving an output value of between 2 and 5 TDS.

I'm stalled a bit for setting up the sump at this point because I don't have a setup finalized for the sump return plumbing. I could set up two pumps and control the bidirectional flow pattern with my Profilux, but I've been in contact with Reeflo and they tell me that the constant on/off cycles would shorten the life of the capacitors and do no damage to the motor itself.
They have also told me that if my valving setup involves a total shut off of the output for any length of time that it would also not damage the pump. It would just result in a transfer of heat to the water trapped in the impeller chamber.

Another option that I came up with is that instead of the pump turning off for the rest cycle, the water could just be diverted back into the sump tank for the hour. That way the pump would run continuously and the sump would get a bit of a "super rinse" cycle.
Perhaps an existing OM unit could be modified with some timers instead of inventing a new setup.

The cycle would then be:

5 hours through output #1
1 hour sump recirculation
5 hours through output #2
1 hour sump recirculation

repeat.

Maybe that's something I can do myself. I haven't had time to sit down and think it through.

MitchM · #2 02-22-2011, 10:22 PM

Well I'm on my third time filling the aquarium now.
About 1/2 full one of the bulkheads started dripping so I drained it and filed down some imperfections in the mould for the bulkheads because I thought that that might be the cause. It wasn't.
Drained it again and thought the problem could be from the way the manufacturer gave me a blue background on the tank.
What they did was take a 1/4" blue acrylic panel and glue it inside to the 1" clear back panel. It's hard to tell, but the water must have found a pathway between the two panels and made it's way to the threaded portion of the bulkhead, bypassing the rubber seal and leaking out the threads.
I took some methylene chloride (solvent for the acrylic) and applied it between the two panels, then clamped it together with the bulkhead.
The tank is about halfway full again and the bulkhead is remaining leak free.
We have low water pressure here - between 40 and 60 psi with an incoming water temp of about 10c, so the 300 gpd RO unit is only producing about 60 gpd.
When I needed to drain the tank I only have a spare 180 gallon old aquarium to transfer the water to, so the rest has to go down the drain.
Not the end of the world, but a little frustrating and time consuming.
Guess that what leak tests are for.

MitchM · #3 03-06-2011, 08:09 PM

Water's in, plumbing's leak free, salt's in, sand's in.

I'm expecting the cloudiness to take a week to settle down.
I need to order some loc-line or something similar to drop the outlets of the Seaswirls about 1-1/2" because they are causing too much turbulence and noise at the top.
The closed loop is running fine, but I had to shorten the lower part of the workbench because I decided to use for a sump an old 180g aquarium I had instead of selling it and buying a plastic replacement. 4' of the sump will be tucked under the aquarium to save on space a bit.
Because I'm now using a glass sump, it's not as easy to drill and experiment with different hookups.
I don't have a final valving configuration for the bidirectional tidal flow yet. Hopefully that will be figured out soon, otherwise I'll be going with two separate pumps.
I would like to get the sump drilled and finalized next weekend.

...and here's a couple of pics:

Delphinus · #4 03-06-2011, 08:42 PM

Looks great Mitch! Bet you can't wait to see "stuff" in there..

Like how you've mounted the seaswirls. One nice thing about these larger tanks is the increased elbow room. I thought my 280g was big until I started getting stuff mounted on the light rack. I want an auto feeder up there somewhere but I haven't figured out where I'll be able to shoehorn it in. I don't imagine you're going to run into a lot of the same issues.

MitchM · #5 03-06-2011, 08:54 PM

Thanks, Tony.
Actually, up to this point I have had a thought in the back of my mind saying to me - what kind of a make work project have you gotten yourself into this time?..

Not until I saw the sand in it today have I really become excited about it!
Now I want to stay home from work and just keep working on it.

Not an option, I'm afraid!

I see they now have come out with 1-1/2" seaswirls. I might upgrade to a couple of those in the future. We'll see how these do.

MitchM · #6 03-06-2011, 09:08 PM

I have an auto-feeder planned too.
The top brace on the tank is 8" wide, so I had lots of room for it to sit.
It's going next to the front left sea swirl.
It comes with a tube that extends down below the surface of the water so it stops the food from going down the overflow.

Delphinus · #7 03-06-2011, 09:25 PM

What is the output nozzle like on the seaswirls? I've been wanting to replace the outputs on my wavysea's with locline too but I think I'd have to switch the output from stock to 1" PVC elbow with a bushing to mount the locline and I kind of worry how bad that would look. Plus when I tried hanging Tunzes off them initially with a DIY bracket, I found that 1" PVC was just ever so slightly too large for a snug fit. I don't know if it's a metric size or what but it's not a standard 1" PVC coupling size for the output apparently.