320 gallons of Serenity, Sea Monsters & Sanctuary

[rjjr1963]

Subscribed.

 

[mvsjrs]

Well, back for some documentation. I was ready to upgrade the overflow drainage plumbing. There are 2 overflows in 120 LR filter tank (seems that "Sanctuary" may require a new name). Each allows for a 1" drain and a 3/4" drain. Since there are no animals planned for this tank, I was comfortable with running two (2) 1" drains as Herbies and then two (2) 3/4 drains as safeties. If one (1) 1" blocks then the two (2) 3/4 can certainly take the excess. If a second drain blocks, well so much for redundancy...it overflows...but that is the nice part of a basement.

The four (4) drains run into a 2" horizontal pipe matching the piping used for the two display tanks. Those run into a single 3" pipe that will run into the settling tank. I know it is way overkill but at least four (4) 1" Herbies will be running together into this portion of the system and I want to slow the velocity of the flow before entering the settling tank. I think this will accomplish this.

Here's the pix:

Original quick setup:

Upgraded:

Here is the final version under the 120 tank. (Ignore the pipe in the front for now.)

 

[mvsjrs]

Started the plumbing which will lead into the settling tank. I way oversized the combined return. So, two 2" pipes will come together into a 3" pipe. I am guessing that BeanAnimal overflows for two tanks on the floor above and two on the live rock tank, the flow has some good potential energy behind it. By bring two 1" BA siphons into a 2" pipe will slow the velocity. Then, when the two 2" lines come into a 3" pipe the velocity will be as slow as possible. Combined with the size of the settling tank, the dwell time in the tank to allow settling to occur should be sufficient.

The connecting underneath line is the two returns on the 120gal.

Close up of the two 2" drain lines with a slight angle & offset to allow the ball valves to turn and to get some support for the 3" lines.

 

[leviburns89]

Before I go to sleep:

Dear lord,

I am sorry for sleeping on this thread. I should have be aware that this persons trials and tribulations were worthy of my notice.
I promise to not give in to my own selfish desires, and take into consideration the stature of responsibility that others have taken before me.

-reefers prayer.

- - leviburns89

Awe inspiring. Jaw dropping. Etc.

This is what we all wish we could do.

 

[mvsjrs]

leviburns89, you're so right. I have to waive my hands and jump up and down so the wife can see the Fish Cave. It would be really bad for my plumbing.

Plumbed the 3" drain into the settling tank. It was painful to cut the whole in the tank for fear of a design change. Getting a 3" pipe into the Uniseals was not very easy. I put a radius on the outer edge with a bench grinder and used Windex as a lubricant. Even that was tight so I put a chamfer on instead, laid the tank on its side, and put full body weight...just made it.

 

[mvsjrs]

Following day, I plumbed the drain line from the settling tank back to the sump. The final two elbows aren't cemented yet because I am unsure where in the sump I want the inflow.

 

[mvsjrs]

Out of order posting. Before I added the settling tank drain line, I wanted to test the amount of bubbles introduced into the ST. The idea was to allow venting of the line with a T instead of the 90 degree elbow then run a vent pipe to above the level of the ST top. Turned out in the test run that no bubble were carried into the ST. I believe that this is because the top of the ST is higher than the bottom of the LR tank. That means that the BeanAnimal drain line was always at least partly full at the very bottom (even with the top of the ST).

Here are the duct taped fittings holding back 60 gallons of water (I know, not dramatic, but still true...)

Added a drain line and improvised gate valve...

 

[mvsjrs]

Thanks leviburns89. Some day I hope to have fish & corals...not just plumbing.

 

[mvsjrs]

So my improvised plumbing test shows almost no bubbles getting into the settling tank. There are a few though. The Blueline 70D is running full into the LR tank with two 3/4" siphons wide open (over 1000 gallons per hour).

You can see a couple bubbles and the minimal disruption to the surface as the inlet is just below the surface.

 

[T Haynes]

Back story (i.e.- not critical to build): Three years ago, my 92 corner was happily running as my first saltwater effort. Along comes "œfamily priorities" and the family is off to Cincinnati. Fortunately, I had 3 months to meticulously plan the move. Everything in containers. Five or six fish warm & cozy, lots of crazy colored invertebrates, modest soft corals & mostly mushrooms, a couple hundred pounds of live rock, live sand rinsed & containerized, and all equipment lined up. Five hundred miles later in July heat, we go to closing only to find that the sellers left their cats alone in the house for three weeks leaving urine damage down to the subfloor. Bad, very bad. We setup emergency accommodations in the garage to limp along a few days and head for a hotel while ripping out all the floors & getting disaster relief cleaning. Yup, doom. A summer thunderstorm trips the power and the skimmer pump magnet fails to restart and just generates heat while sitting in the Rubbermaid stock tank. By the end of the 80 degF night, we arrive to a horrendous stench of stewed marine death. Two years later, a new start"¦

__________________
Jason

Current Tank Info: Getting there...

"You cannot allow [yourself] to avoid the brutal facts. If [you] start living in a dream world, it's going to be bad." General "Mad Dog" Mattis

"Physics is a b!tch. She's always right no matter how sure you were about your plumbing." Me, standing in a puddle of water...

I'd likely have cursed the wind and quit. That's freaking heart breaking

 

[mvsjrs]

I have a "trident" coming off a TurboSea 1740 (aka BlueLine 70 HD). It is rated for 1740 gph. The outlet of the pump is 1". The "trident" expands immediately to 1 1/4" plumbing with three 1" outlets. The vertical head is about 6 feet. There are dual 1" siphon overflows to handle the volume.

So...

Filling a 5 gallon bucket (measured accurately) with 1 outlet of 1" tubing gave 15.7s average. That gives 1,147 gph.

Filling the same 5 gallon bucket with 2 outlets of 1" tubing gave 10.0s average. That gives 1,800 gph.

We can debate the "why's" but my fish will be enjoying 653 gph more flow.

 

[mvsjrs]

Back to the ST inlet, now there is full flow from the 92 and 120 tanks.

The large 3" pipe makes the flow out smooth. The upturned elbow also skims the ST just before it hits the skimmer.

 

[mvsjrs]

One step forward, one sideways, shimmy to the right...

The stand for the filtration was intended to hold a 90gal with 1.5" edge all around. But when the opportunity came to upgrade to a 120gal with dual overflows, I said, "Why not?" However, that meant I now had a 65gal sump in a space 1 or 2" short of a 90 gal. Also, I wanted to use the dual skimmers for robustness, but the opening in the 65gal frame is a frustrating 6" less on each side so....I negotiated with the frame design to find a couple of inches inside and in went the 90gal as the sump.

Here is the original with 65gal sump.

65gal is out with all the rock and 120gal on top. Suffice to say that I probably should have used more than one 2x4 reinforcement.

The 90gal is in behind some permanent vertical supports because there was just not enough real estate to make it removable.

Comparative view with the skimmers in place. The extra foot puts both items on the same side without too much wrangling.

 

[mvsjrs]

This is a good shot of the end of the plumbing into and out of the settling tank.

It also gives rise to a unforeseen complication. There is extra clearance below the ST where the legs of the allow access to the cone base. The top of the settling tank is about 12" higher than the bottom of the 120gal on top and 24" higher than the neutral drain level of the for the siphons. That means that the siphons lose 12-24" of potential energy draining to the ST. In fact, you can observe the water in the dry lines backing upward to reach a height equilibrium. Never quite gets there because there is an excess of drainage capacity but still and indication that decreased siphons.

You can see the backup of siphon water into the dry line.

Periodically the dry line clears itself.

This of course brings up the exhilarating point:
"Physics is a b!tch. She's always right no matter how sure you were about your plumbing design."

 

[mvsjrs]

Now drilling the new return hole for the bulkhead went really well. However, my positing jig was about 1/4" lower leaving a necessary face lift for the pump plumbing section.

In this shot you can see the manifold on the floor for bringing in the three beananiamls lines. I did haev a senior moment and built the entire manifold mirror images but now it's fit down rather than up.

It did however give me the opportunity to square away the chaos (with support connected to the stand platform and concrete wall rather than the rafters so no drum magnification effect). There is still too much vibration but I will be adding several recommended materials to dampen vibration.

You can also now see how the manifold collects the three pipes (siphon, dry and emergency) from above and into the return line. (Down rather than up with temporary swagged lines...hint...hint...from Mother Physics.)

 

[mvsjrs]

Coming out of stasis after nearly a year. Back surgery to delay degenerative vertebrae. Mother diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Another plantar fascia injury--bball after back surgery. All the while though, my rock was cooking and cooking and cooking. I also added a turtle toilet for my ornate box turtles to flush their waste directly into the septic. Indoor reptile plumbing! Anyway, I apologize for the gaps in details that have been missed in documenting the build.

From this:

To this:

:dance::beer::celeb2:

Turtle Toilet:

__________________
Jason

Single system called Pandora Too of three tanks:
• Pandemonium: 92gal corner Softies/FOWLR on fish overload (office)
• Coral Country: 150Xgal LPS (&SPS?) (family room)
• Sanctuary: 120gal REFUGIUM (50% chaeto/50% all dark bacterial LR) (fish/man cave)
• Filtration: 90gal sump, 60gal settling tank?, DSB?

• Serenity: FW105gal Discus (MBr...mood fish...)

"Physics is a b!tch. She's always right no matter how sure you were about your plumbing design." Me, standing in a puddle of water...

"You cannot allow [yourself] to avoid the brutal facts. If [you] start living in a dream world, it's going to be bad." General "Mad Dog” Mattis.

 

[mvsjrs]

I decided to go with a semi-bare bottom / semi-faux sand bed for the 92Cor display tank. First, because this tank is intended to house primarily:
- Snowflake Eel,
- Zebra Moray Eel,
- Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish,
- Fu Manchu,
- Marine Betta,
- Yellow Tang,
- Foxface,
- Spotted Dwarf Scorpionfish, and
- Maroon Clown Pair.
That is also the rough order that I plan to add the fish in.

 

[mvsjrs]

Correction:

The NWV of the setup with only the 92gal running is 332gal = (92 [DT] + 60 [sump] + 60 [setting tank] + 60 [chaeto] + 60 [LR tank]) with a design for 60gal water changes (18%).

The MWV would be around 272gal = (62 [DT] + 60 [sump]+ 60 [setting tank] + 60 [chaeto] + 30 [LR tank]) with a design for 60gal water changes (22%).

 

[mvsjrs]

Meanwhile, I settled on the arrangement of the internal CL returns. I already covered the drilling of the CL drain on the rear right and that has not changed. Here are the four 1” vertical runs in black PVC to get the CL to the bottom of the tank.

The left side vertical has an 3/4" eductor 2/3 of the way down (not in the picture but in the build) to blast waste from the back of the tank where I will make a recess for the eels to bed down.

This is the eductor that I used. I combined it on the left side with a flare nozzle. Both the eductor and the flare nozzle are downsized to 3/4” from the 1” in order to restrict and better balance flow between the nozzles.

The right side vertical has a 90deg and a 3/4" reducer to direct flow forward (remember…from the eel alcove…). The end is also a 3/4” flare nozzle matching the other side

 

[mvsjrs]

The front vertical on each side follows the edge of the wall to the front of the tank and then wraps around. This allowed an nozzle on the corner and at the ends.

This is how the corners were made to stay low, provide an outlet and move water to the next outlet.