G&D's Foray Into a 90G Tank (Take One)

[gridley]

Thanks - Doug, it was good to meet you last night. Really appreciate the "tank tour" and all the information.

[gridley]

Deborah and I have spent the past weeks trying to get parts for the plumbing, trying to get time to do the plumbing and trying to just live life. In other words - this has taken a lot longer than I thought it would. In the past few weeks we did manage to get the sump into place and make some aluminum brackets to mount a florescent light that I picked up used.

However . . . I think that we have completed the plumbing - at least "take one". I assembled the last of the fittings and glued everything up tonight. Below are pictures of the sump with the plumbing in place.



We were somewhat limited by the original design of the tank (it was a used tank). We have a 1 1/2" main drain using a gate valve to adjust the flow. There was no emergancy drain so we added a 1" drain but had to plumb that out the side of the overflow and on down. Our return line is a 3/4" line.





We have left room to the right of the return line to mount carbon and GFO reactors to the side of the stand.

Tomorrow we will do a test with fresh water and if all goes well we will get serious about doing the aquascaping. If it doesn't go well - we will be doing "plumbing - take 2". Hopefully (and maybe I'm dreaming or delusional ) we will fill it with salty water by the end of next weekend.

We have also been working on our RO/DI station. It is set up in furnace room but we are not finished and although we can produce water, there are lines running all over the place - so until I get a few more fittings to make it look neater - no pictures!

[gridley]

If this had been a final exam for plumbing school, I'd be on the street looking for a new career! On Sat we put water in the tank to test the lines and I found four leaks . One is a bulkhead - I think that is simple enough to fix. The other three are joints. I'm not sure if I didn't use enough primer, or enough glue or didn't hold the joints long enough - I think it might have been the third. Regardless, it is now time to put preassure on my plumber brother in law and see if he can come do it for me. In the meantime we will continue to admire our empty tank.

We also had some input regarding the amount of flow through our sump. To get more information we posted a thread on the reef forum and have come to the conclusion that at the minimum we will get a new pump. Please take a look at that thread and if you have any additional thoughts it will be helpful. Thanks.

[gridley]

After three weeks of battling leaks and my lack of plumbing ability, the tank finally holds water! I had to call in the professional (my brother-in-law plumber instructor) and we are ready to proceed to the next step.

Nemo has finally gotten wet!


We began to plan the aquascaping today and hopefully will get the dry rock into the tank tomorrow. This shows our first thoughts on how we might do the aquascaping. We have about 70 lbs of dry rock and will add some live rock to that.


We discovered a bit of a problem while we were testing for leaks. The silicone job on the overflow was terrible. Part of it looked terrible and the other side acted more like a sieve than a seal. So while we were trying to get the plumbing solved we cut out the overflow, cleaned everything and today I put it back in place. For some reason there had been slits cut in the overflow along one side from top to bottom. The previous owner sealed it, but it looked ugly - here is the before and after. It is now resealed and a bit nicer.





If all goes well we will have the dry rock into the tank by tomorrow and then start adding water!

[fishytime]

Good to hear George.... Bet ya can't wait to get her alive

[gridley]

Yes Doug - we are really looking foward to getting this up and going. Will do a bit mor etoday but it is looking like yard work might be the first priority.

[gridley]

Well, not all has gone well - we are still a few days from adding water. I did a test of the overflow to ensure that there were no leaks and discovered a leak on one side - so, a bit more silicone tonight and hopefully that will fix the problem. I will do a leak test tomorrow evening and then let the silicone cure a few days before adding water.

[subman]

If its a small leak George the salt creep will plug it in no time. If it's over the sump let it go.

[gridley]

Thanks Jason - yes it is a very small leak - only a drop or two after a few minutes. The way I tested this was to close the gate valve, fill the overflow with water and watch for leaks into the tank. My concern was to ensure that in the case of a power outage, that no water leaks from the tank into the overflow and then down into the sump causing a flood. I have already done another round of silicine in the affected area - if for some reason this is still leaking, you think it will be fine?

[Jason McK]

Great build. Love the electronic cabinet