Guess what! UPGRADE TIME

[Ram3500]

Is it still funny when your the only one laughing? Kirk vrs Gorn is a classic it reminded me of your aqua scape. Anyway are you planing on using a epoxy or somthing to hold your rocks together ? If I was starting from scratch I would . I was working on the rock today it all looked good and than I had a major rock slide making a few unwanted sps frags .

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Ram3500

Is it still funny when your the only one laughing? Kirk vrs Gorn is a classic it reminded me of your aqua scape. Anyway are you planing on using a epoxy or somthing to hold your rocks together ? If I was starting from scratch I would . I was working on the rock today it all looked good and than I had a major rock slide making a few unwanted sps frags .

I am not planning to use any epoxy since if I want to reaquascape (which I will :P), it will be a PITA. Will just use the theory of center of mass to balance everything

[mrhasan]

Time for some updates

So yesterday (30th March, 2013), I made the stand a little more sturdy and posh and the outcome was this:





Will be putting doors infront once everything is together

Also got most of the plumbing parts from concept:



Was hold back yesterday since concept didn't have few of the parts needed so no more progress yesterday.

Today was a very very hectic day for me. From time to time, I do realize how essential owning a car is and today was no different. Took me 4+ hours to go here and there to grab the plumbing parts while, with a car, I could have done it within an hour. On the bright side, I got some exercise

Anyway, I have finally completed the plumbing today Since this was my first plumbing of any sort; I was more of tiring than challenging. Dry fitting and measuring was the hardest part since I lacked the muscle to take those off so had to hammer them to loosen up (without breaking). But overall, it was fun So here's the plumbing:



Not anything fancy but I really liked my own work

And it livesssssssssssssssssssssssss!













Filled this baby up with fresh water to test for licking and everything was perfect Forgot to cement one union which was licking but it was a quick fix. But it was really really happy that everything turned out alright since I was testing everything on a carpet!!!!

Kept the nozzles of the return higher than water level so that no back suction occurs. Had a check valve but forgot to place it The flow is very smooth even at the highest speed and so there's no water splashing noise.

Tuning the overflow seems to be a bit challenging but I guess I will get used to it

Lastly, I simply can't thank Denny enough to teach me how to plumb and giving me the exact amount of things required. Its because of his help that I accomplished (yes a accomplishment for me ) the plumbing in one go!

[daplatapus]

Lookin' good! Always a good feeling doing stuff like this yourself and having it work the first time. Congrats.
Not sure by the pics, but just a teeny suggestion: You may want to provide some support for some of that plumbing. Install support blocks under the return plumbing so that the weight of the piping full of water isn't torquing on the bulk heads. For the drains a hangar strap across the piping where they elbow under the stand would be easy too.
Other than that, well done.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

Lookin' good! Always a good feeling doing stuff like this yourself and having it work the first time. Congrats.
Not sure by the pics, but just a teeny suggestion: You may want to provide some support for some of that plumbing. Install support blocks under the return plumbing so that the weight of the piping full of water isn't torquing on the bulk heads. For the drains a hangar strap across the piping where they elbow under the stand would be easy too.
Other than that, well done.

Thanks for the suggestion I will add some supports for the pipe but will have to figure out how.

[kien]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

Had a check valve but forgot to place it

Have you installed the check valve? If not, then are you planning to? Looking at your sump there doesn't look like a lot of room for back flow in the event of a power failure? Hard to see in the pic to determine for sure though. Did you design the sump with room for back flow in the event of a power failure or were you going to rely entirely on the check valve?

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by kien

Have you installed the check valve? If not, then are you planning to? Looking at your sump there doesn't look like a lot of room for back flow in the event of a power failure? Hard to see in the pic to determine for sure though. Did you design the sump with room for back flow in the event of a power failure or were you going to rely entirely on the check valve?

Nop not installing check valves. I won't be getting any sort of back siphon since the return nozzles remains above the water level while running; it gives a very pleasant waterfall sound (not the irritating one). And I have simulated many power failures till now and the maximum level (after like 30mins of keeping the pump off) is like this:



So there's still room for around 2/3 gallons I presume. The DT looks like this after power failure:

[kien]

Have you tested the powerfail with your skimmer running? The skimmer will hold some water that will dump back into the sump as well. As will any reactors that you might run (carbon, gfo, etc).

While that does appear to be working well in terms of flood resistance, I myself would lose sleep over trusting that those return nozzles stay at that level forever and always. Here's what Murphy could possibly do to you one day...

You are in the tank and decide to move the nozzles away temporarily so you point them down while you are working in the tank. Or maybe you bumped them down by accident. Or maybe I guest was playing around and moved your nozzle. You are done working in the tank and forget to return the nozzles back to their upright position. Power fails while you are away from the tank. FLOOD.

I suspect you will be keeping a close eye on those nozzles for a while but if they get moved while you are not home that could be disaster waiting to happen. Or you may be tired one day and forget to check on the tank to make sure those nozzles have not moved either by accident or on purpose.

At any rate, I would lose sleep over those nozzles :-) With a check valve you would give yourself a larger margin for error here and since you already have the check valve, why not install it?

Or if you really want peace of mind without the check valves, install all your equipment, point the nozzles down all the way (this being the position that they could accidentally be placed in even if you don't intend for them to run this way during normal operations) and do a power fail to see if your sump holds the water. If not, drop the level of your refugium enough so that your sump does hold all the water in the event of a power fail.

Just my two cents :-)

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by kien

Have you tested the powerfail with your skimmer running? The skimmer will hold some water that will dump back into the sump as well. As will any reactors that you might run (carbon, gfo, etc).

While that does appear to be working well in terms of flood resistance, I myself would lose sleep over trusting that those return nozzles stay at that level forever and always. Here's what Murphy could possibly do to you one day...

You are in the tank and decide to move the nozzles away temporarily so you point them down while you are working in the tank. Or maybe you bumped them down by accident. Or maybe I guest was playing around and moved your nozzle. You are done working in the tank and forget to return the nozzles back to their upright position. Power fails while you are away from the tank. FLOOD.

I suspect you will be keeping a close eye on those nozzles for a while but if they get moved while you are not home that could be disaster waiting to happen. Or you may be tired one day and forget to check on the tank to make sure those nozzles have not moved either by accident or on purpose.

At any rate, I would lose sleep over those nozzles :-) With a check valve you would give yourself a larger margin for error here and since you already have the check valve, why not install it?

Or if you really want peace of mind without the check valves, install all your equipment, point the nozzles down all the way (this being the position that they could accidentally be placed in even if you don't intend for them to run this way during normal operations) and do a power fail to see if your sump holds the water. If not, drop the level of your refugium enough so that your sump does hold all the water in the event of a power fail.

Just my two cents :-)

Thanks for the heads up I am getting ready to get the skimmer in and test how things are. I will also try the power failure with nozzle pointed down too. Things are not going very smoothly like I wanted it to be