180 build from scratch!

[michika]

This flood indicator that calls me sounds good. Links?

We are using 3 heaters in the 180g now, 2 for the display, one in the sump. Again, this is me being paranoid about 2 heaters.

I'll look at getting Kevin to re-plumb the dart pump somewhere more elevated. I think its about 2" off the bottom of the stand now, but a bit more wouldn't hurt.

We already do all the drip loops & splash guards so we are good there. I am going to put most of the electronics in a closed, but well ventilated box for the next tank if we can.

Anything else I should be doing specifically with my plumbing per say?

Does DFW stand for Dallas, and or Ft. Worth in Texas?

 

[jnarowe]

My siphon break is actually the open 1" feed line going to my fuge, which is above my display tank. This feed line is above the fuge water level and just spills into it.

Does it work? you betcha! One time I forgot to open its valve, and while doing a water change, noticed that I was pumping out a lot of water and yet the sump level seemed t stay the same. Then I noticed that the tank water level was lower than the overflow combs. I had already pumps out over 200g!

 

[psteeleb]

you already have the pump but make sure you can drain faster the the pump so the main won't overflow

as for other piping ideas:

I like using only hard PVC for drains. Installed with drain fittings (different then others) and sloped 1/8" per foot allowing for water to go down and air to go up with minimal gurgling. Flex pipe in drains when you have horizontal runs in my opinion should be avoided as it will sag between supports creating little pockets and areas of turbidity

Flex pipe on returns is fine but I still prefer hard pipe

over sizing the pipe can make a huge difference on flow rates

plan on extra - I plumbed in a header that feeds my reactors, can be used for my skimmer if my skimmer pump goes bad, and has other valved connections for a future additions like a Ca reactor. I prefer to minimize the extra pumps for these things to avoid inevitable voltage leaks.

I love eductors - it's like free flow

With an extra valve and connection on my supply header my skimmer pump can be hooked up to back up my main in the event it needs to be worked on or replaced

I like to keep the plumbing back and out of the way but as direct as possible

In order of piping priority for space;
- drains first, minimize turns etc they only have gravity to work them and they have to let air escape. This also minimizes flow turbidity, and noise from gurgling

- pump suction pipe = as short and direct as possible, one extra elbow here can cause micro bubbles. Our reef pumps are designed to push water not suck it. Excessive suction will cause a negative back pressure and the impeller will start to create micro bubbles due to cavitation

- then design your returns around the drain and suction

- try to keep everything removable, consider threaded fittings and how they can be unscrewed, use unions as appropriate. Pipe may inevitably have to be removed for cleaning in a healthy reef system.

HTH

I'll have to do a search on that call up flood indicator, it was around $80 and its on my build log somewhere

 

[psteeleb]

sorry DFW stands for Dallas / Ft Worth
like the airport, it's just a common phrase for us people in this metroplex

here is the link for that call up
http://www.smarthome.com/7002P/Water-Alarm-Plus-WA-5000/p.aspx

and a picture of my plumbing, maybe you can get some ideas
Since this picture was taken those outlet boxes had splash covers installed on them

 

[melev]

Looks like Pete covered most of your questions. Yes, I turn off the return pump every night when I feed so the food stays in my reef and out of the sump, skimmer, refugium, etc. 15-30 minutes later, I turn it back on. The VorTechs stay on the entire time, since they are moving the food around in my reef for the fish to chase and the corals to capture.

Pete, when you do dose Phyto, and hour is plenty. Remember a tank with a DSB can suck up oxygen quickly, and 3 hours may be pushing it.

I live in FW, the other part of DFW.

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13560902#post13560902 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Pete, when you do dose Phyto, and hour is plenty. Remember a tank with a DSB can suck up oxygen quickly, and 3 hours may be pushing it.

Marc - thanks for pointing that out, I should have mentioned I'll leave my closed loop and Korilias on when I dose phyto or normal feeding. Everything is off for killing Mojanos, but only for an hour at most.

and I publicly admit - a lot of what I posted, I learned from Marc

 

[jnarowe]

Love the plumbing pic. can someone post a picture of the splash covers you are discussing?

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13561431#post13561431 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Love the plumbing pic. can someone post a picture of the splash covers you are discussing?

here you go

closed - the cords come out a small indentation. the covers can go on a couple different ways and can work for different plug sets. Just to the left you can see the heater control. The orange cord is power that is hard wired on this side and a plug in over to my RK2 (secondary heater control). Further to the left you can see the unit for my ATO plug in's - this unit is then plugged into a 8 unit DJ power strip so it can be switched off during water changes etc.

open

 

[jnarowe]

I haven't seen those. They look very worthwhile though. I bought liquid tight everything, but the fact is, the plugs are still exposed. And I would REALLY like to rig something for all my Neptune outlets too. Even though I installed them all in areas not prone to splashing, I still feel it would be better to protect them further.

Where did you get them, and sorry for the hi-jack!

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13562149#post13562149 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
I haven't seen those. They look very worthwhile though. I bought liquid tight everything, but the fact is, the plugs are still exposed. And I would REALLY like to rig something for all my Neptune outlets too. Even though I installed them all in areas not prone to splashing, I still feel it would be better to protect them further.

Where did you get them, and sorry for the hi-jack!

I picked them up at Lowes or HD. All my in stand outlets are wired in sealed boxes, the cords have plug ends that go over to the DJ strip for on off control or to my RK2. I don't want to hijack either but she asked for ideas My wiring schematic is here.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1320654&perpage=25&pagenumber=3

I had to re do my wiring - it was a mess and an acident waiting to happen. The electrical upgrade is also on my build log pg 15 +

 

[michika]

Please hijack away if you are going to post more photos and such. It is unbelievably useful to see what other people do in regards to plumbing and electrical. Those two things seem to be something that a lot of people skip over when it comes to photos in their builds. Please more photos if you have them!

I love hard plumbing too, its simpler, and less of a potential mess I think. Its also really hard to get the flexible PVC here without breaking the bank. Its a special order kind of deal and it has to come from the US, or from Ontario. I am definitely sticking with hard plumbing.

The new bulkheads we got are all shallow, or streamlined, they have a special name that I can't remember right now.. Pretty much they are shorter overall. We also replaced all the O-rings in our unions because we had the opportunity when the tank was down.

The large system, which is starting to look like it will be an L shape or a shallow cube-like design, is all going to be hard plumbed hopefully in sch 80 pvc if we can find it. If not at least with hayward bulkheads and sch. 80 valves & unions.

I want to include a manifold like you have, the plug covers for anything in the fish room that can't be put in a protective box.

 

[jnarowe]

Well, he's doing something right...look as this wicked mixed reef:

 

[michika]

I love it. Definitely doing more then something right. It looks beautiful!

 

[psteeleb]

hey - thanks

not the best picture with the reflections but shows a lil of everthing

 

[erics3000]

Did you do anything special to attach the ricordia to the rock?

Looks great....

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13569174#post13569174 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by erics3000
Did you do anything special to attach the ricordia to the rock?

Looks great....

I put the softies including ricordia in a box with rubble. A day or so later they are attached to the rubble and I just glue the rubble to what ever I want. I tried the other ways and its just to much of a pain. softies don't take to super glue very well

 

[erics3000]

Thanks...

 

[michika]

Because I said I would, I am offering up photos of the first crash, when the two heaters in the holding tank (our new glass sump) failed.

Looking down on the holding tank. This is about an hour after everything was placed in the tank, and still while Kevin and his brother in law were moving the 180g over here.

Everything in the 180g again. Disgusting water

Left side of the tank

Middle

Right side

I'll post photos of the result of the second crash, the pump failure later, once the lights come on.

So these are a couple of area photos I took at some point since October 3rd of the basement.

Even though the gigas clam died in the second crash, I wanted to post up what was happening to it. One side had actually separated from its shell, and it was in the process of building up a new shell. I think baring the pump failure, the clam would have survived and we could have eventually seen where its transformation was going.

 

[michika]

I THINK the tank is still cycling. I've been run off my feet between derby, work, and school lately, so I haven't been tracking the parameters as closely as I would have liked. I'll be checking them tonight, and then more frequently from now on.

None of the CUC that we missed in the 180g made it. So far we count 3 snail corpses. It also looks like the zoas that we had are melting away. They were somewhat translucent yesterday afternoon. Its unfortunate that we missed them, but now they are serving as the trigger to kick off the tank again.

I did have a brief chat over dosing Vodka/carbon sources to help the tank along while its re-cycling. Since I wouldn't be dosing it for nitrates, etc. I decided it wasn't worth sharing my vodka. I carbon dosed myself instead!

Kevin and I sat down yesterday and tried to come up with a resonable time-line for getting the large tank online. Since we no longer have as many fish to worry about, we changed our approach. In light of the recent stock market problems, we've now opted to only spend about $300-$500 out of pocket per month on getting the tank itself up and running.

I am going to set up a shallow frag system to propagate frags, as well as keeping duplicates separate from the 180g (in case of another disaster). I want to accomplish 3 things with this mini tank; 1) try out working with acrylic, b) try out having an acrylic tank, and 3) try making a mini functional model of our soon to be large tank to tweek out any issues etc.

We have other renovations that need to be completed in the basement to accomodate the fish room properly, so we will be starting with those, once we've fully planned out the layout and tank size we want. I am now leaning towards an L or U shaped tank.

I also really miss my fish. Coming home just isn't the same right now. I can't get a beer and go sit in the basement and watch my tank. I don't think I can ever go without at least a small tank to entertain me.

 

[maroun.c]

hope that soon enough your tank will be up and running again.
I guess the monthly amount for hte tank you mentioned is quite reasonnable.
Will the frag tank be connected to the main tank or will it have its own filtration...?
I also believe keeping duplicates of corals is a very good idea this is why I'm not really sad when some pieces brake of from new corals. fixing them on different rocks in different flow and lighting conditions can sometimes help making changes in the final position of a coral much easier than taking it back and forth.