Martin's 180g Reef Build

[martinmcnally]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

And about your Barracuda ... use lots of Spa-Flex and I mean LOTS
The more the better. I found with my 1262 Eheim pumps, even just a small piece of rigid pvc caused noise.
I have since clamped my spa to the wall with spacers to keep the rigid away and all noise is gone. Except for the return line of course. That is not clamped to any walls and is quieter as is.

Hmm I will have to see if I can use more flex once I get the rubber pad installed and the pump broken in.

Weird about the ABS never heard that. I've had ABS for 5 years on my other tank.

Thanks for the comments.

[gregzz4]

So ABS has never given you grief? No unusual amounts of algae? Slow growth? Deaths? And all that?
As long as you are comfortable with it, 'carry on my wayward son', just wanted to give you a heads up.

The spa flex may have saved my build as there was a time when the wife said ' No way, that is too loud', and I agreed. I changed a bunch of stuff and all is now good.
Use as much of it as you can between every fitting, even your closed loop.
It's amazing how much noise it takes away.
The biggest difference I found was to leave as much room as I could between the pump and the first mounting location.
You'll get the vibration sounds transmitting through your pumbing if you clamp anything rigid to anything solid, like a pipe to a stand.
In my case, I had a piece of Spa clamped to the wall behind our stand and it was humming downstairs. I had to re-position the spa after I un-clamped it to stop issues with the tank, but I got rid of the nasty hum by our front door.
Also, I have re-done my sump plumbing 3 times already with testing, so, because your tank is empty, you may want to fill it and test everything like I did, then think about it for a day or 3.
I am glad I haven't rushed it.

Keep up the posts and pics

[HaZRaTTy]

Possible plumbing idea?

Consider running your emergency into your Fuge, dialing your herbie to whatever flow you want through your fuge. This would remove some clutter and PVC, and still do the trick that you want it and you would control the flow through your fuge from your valve of your main drain?

But other then that I don't see anything wrong with it!! I can't comment on the waste pvc pipe.

[Casey8]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Hiya Martin. Nice build so far.
If you don't mind some constructive criticism ...
Black ABS is for Waste water and may leach some undesired stuff into your system. I'd suggest you do your best to replace it all with 200, sch 40 or sch 80 PVC. You don't want any crap causing surprises that you won't be able to figure out.

And about your Herbie, I have my main 1" pipe about 2/3 up and the Emerg 3/4" pipe just below the DT level. Same as you, I don't want too much overflow box water draining into the sump. Plus it makes for a quieter box with the level higher. And when the emerg kicks in during testing, I hear sucking in the tank long before I hear drainage noise in the sump.

After I read your post it scared me a bit because I had a few pipes and a few elbows made from ABS for my refugium. I don't know how to change to the regular pvc pipe because they are all clued together. I have found this info, I am still not sure if I still require to change the whole thing or not.

http://www.reefaquariumguide.com/for...-pipe-bad.html

[martinmcnally]

Originally Posted by Casey8

After I read your post it scared me a bit because I had a few pipes and a few elbows made from ABS for my refugium. I don't know how to change to the regular pvc pipe because they are all clued together. I have found this info, I am still not sure if I still require to change the whole thing or not.

http://www.reefaquariumguide.com/for...-pipe-bad.html

I dont intend on changing mine. I dont have too much ABS but as you can see from that link its as safe as PVC. I'm not worried about it at all been using it on every tank i've owned for years.

[Casey8]

Originally Posted by martinmcnally

I dont intend on changing mine. I dont have too much ABS but as you can see from that link its as safe as PVC. I'm not worried about it at all been using it on every tank i've owned for years.

Thank you Big relief !

[parkinsn]

Originally Posted by The Grizz

Tank looks great on the stand Martin, can't wait to see how the flow accelerators work for you.

I put one of those flow accelerators on my new box. The only problem that I found is the gap between the outlet and the "nozzel part" will suck air from the surface. I ended up putting it lower in the tank than I wanted to. Had to drill 3 holes for syphon break in the return line in my overflow which works fine. Other than that they are pretty slick. I think I'm ~450gph out of my mag 7 but when you put your hand infront of it feels like it puts more our than my 550gph koralia.

Look like a nice build.

[martinmcnally]

Originally Posted by parkinsn

I put one of those flow accelerators on my new box. The only problem that I found is the gap between the outlet and the "nozzel part" will suck air from the surface. I ended up putting it lower in the tank than I wanted to. Had to drill 3 holes for syphon break in the return line in my overflow which works fine. Other than that they are pretty slick. I think I'm ~450gph out of my mag 7 but when you put your hand infront of it feels like it puts more our than my 550gph koralia.

Look like a nice build.

Yea I noticed that you cant use those near the surface for sure. I ended up going with the regular nozzle just below the surface for the upper return and the flow accelerator for the lower. That way the siphon will break basically as soon as the power is turned off with the regular flat nozzle right at the surface pointing downwards. Will post a pic of that when it get it all tuned.

[reefme]

I didn't see any lighting. Did I missed it?

[The Grizz]

Originally Posted by reefme

I didn't see any lighting. Did I missed it?

I think Martin is just going to go with some old floresecent lights