430gal., L-shaped display

Status
Not open for further replies.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13850684#post13850684 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by "Umm, fish?"
It's all reinforced spa-flex. The only reason he used white at all was that he underestimated what he needed and the local hardware store only had white. But, I have no idea where he got it. I'll ask him next time I see him.
I have found it a Lowes.

--Ed
 
Thanks, Ed!



"How Is My Day Going?" A photoessay:

img_1284.jpg


img_1285.jpg


img_1286.jpg


img_1287.jpg


Leaks happen.... :) Nice to see water in there, though.
 
WOOHOO water test :bounce3: :bounce2: :thumbsup:
I just finished plumbing the cold water to my equipment room and had a leak at a tee into the cold water main :mad2: :mad2:. I soldered the tee which was against a block wall and guess what - the leak was right around the back against the wall :mad2: :mad2: :mad2:.
I managed to get some flux in there and re-solder. I did NOT want to cut that connection apart. So far - so good.
 
I spoke too soon. Checked the tee again this morning and its weeping a little. It may be time to break out the epoxy.
 
Thanks, Alan!! One step closer. I'm pretty close to my limit with this, though. I probably haven't been really angry in ten years, but I feel like I'm pretty close with this guy. It's not a pretty sight so hopefully I can avoid it. I got the slow-burning Irish-Welsh-Scot fuse instead of the quick-to-anger one. But once it gets going....

Sorry you're still leaking. Good luck with that. It's always where you can't reach it, right?
 
I gave up with trying to re-solder the joint as it's too close to the wall and re-soldering is never very successful. I had to go to Lowes so I picked up some of that epoxy putty. It's pretty cool stuff - has a white center and a blue outer layer. You cut off a bit and knead it together till it's a dirty white. Fixed the leak. Now I have another one on the hot water near the same spot. Just waiting on the putty to go off before turning on the water. I hate soldering on pipes in awkward places as you can't see if the solder has run around the joint. I never have leaks where I can get to it. I do so like PVC. You can't really go wrong. The only leaks I've had (like yours in the photo) is on threaded connections.
 
Well, I hope that takes care of it for you. It pretty much seems to me that teflon tape is useless. When I'm doing the plumbing I silicone all of the threaded connections. You can pull them back apart if you need to and I've never had a siliconed connection leak.

_____________________

Day 2 of the freshwater test:

The leaks upstairs aren't done yet, so I started sending water down the drainpipes to the basement.

6.jpg


10.jpg


11.jpg


I got up to this point before I noticed that one of the unions was weeping slightly:

12.jpg


So, that's the end of day 2.
 
Well I found out that the epoxy putty doesn't stop a large leak :mad2: It was okay on a small weep so I had to pull everything apart and start again :mad2: :mad2: Now no more leaks.
That's a good tip about the silicone on threaded joints. I would have thought that it would be permanent but it's good to know that you can pull them apart. I will do that when I start my PVC plumbing for the sump and tank as I REALLY do not want to use teflon paste. What are you using standard glass tanks for? I see the fill lines but how are you circulating water or draining them - did you drill the bottoms?
 
I'm glad you got your leak taken care of. Sorry you had to pull it all apart to do it. I hate plumbing....

The fishroom tanks are ... well ... to add water volume and to serve as refugiums of all different sorts. I feed a lot and need lots of nutrient processing. One of the 90s will be a RDSB. Another will be for chaeto. I'd like to turn one into an ulva and gracillaria tumbler to grow tang food. Etc.

Only one of them (my old 120) will be able to easily drain to the bottom. I'm using it as a water change tank (with a bulkhead in the bottom and ball valve to a hose I can run to a sink).

The other tanks are designed more to keep water in than let water out. :) You can see one of the glass overflows on the top rear wall of the tank in the photo above. The black spa flex in the center rear of the tank takes overflow water to the drain line. The overflow from the top row of tanks feeds water to the bottom row (or, back to the sump).

The tanks are fed system water that's overflowed from the display tank in the main part of the house. In addition, I have ball valves installed so I can divert some (or all, if I ever need to isolate the display tank) of the return pumps' flow through this downstairs system. That way, if I ever need to isolate the display I don't have to stop the water circulation through the fishroom.

I am able to isolate any of these tanks individually, just by shutting off the ball valve feed to each tank. So, in the beginning of the system, I'm planning to use them as individual, large QT tanks. That way, I can purchase the stock that I want as it becomes available and still introduce the animals in a sensible order to the display. Well, hopefully sensible. We'll see. :)

Did I answer your questions?

After all of that, I realized that it would be easier to just label a photo:

10_annot.jpg
 
No, that's not a siphon. All of the tanks are drilled. The round, black thing is a bulkhead through the wall of the tank. The glass overflow box is on the inside of the tank.
 
Thanks for clearing that up Andy. Did you silicone glass to form the overflow? I ask the question because I want a QT tank and a standard glass tank is less expensive than a custom acrylic. Did you drill them yourself or have a local glass company do it for you?
Thanks
 
The installer handled all of it. He had the tanks sent to the local glass guys for drilling and then he siliconed the overflows together himself and then siliconed them onto the aquariums. Pretty slick, actually.

This is what they look like when the tank is full ( :) ):

14.jpg


___________________________________


Water test, day 3. (Sorry, just phone photos).

1.jpg


Closed-loop pump #1:

3.jpg


4.jpg


Closed-loop pump #2:

7.jpg


From the top, completely full:

11.jpg


There were a few more minor, weepy leaks but nothing major. We drained the display tank back down and sent the water to the fishroom. Everything looks good there, too.

We can go ahead with finishing the floor!!!
 
Wow, fat and slow fish beware... this tank is gonna be crazy high flow. Nice, I like it. Good job, Andy.
 
Thanks, y'all! I can't really tell you how much the eductors are going to add to the flow. I just don't know. That said:

Return pumps: ~3,000 gph
Closed-loop: ~10,000 gph

Tank volume: ~480 gals.

~27x turnover + whatever the eductors add to the flow.

I turned the CL1 pump on again once the tank was full and the flow didn't look too bad in there. More like my old 120 with Tunzes. The surface was certainly agitated, but not so much that any water was coming out the top or anything.

Of course, we didn't try CL1 and CL2 together (only one extension cord). ;)
 
Sigh. He showed up yesterday. I just didn't talk to him. He still says that he's going to do the final cleaning on it, but I have no idea when he's planning on doing it or whether he'll ever really show up. I really don't care if he does at this point.

But, thanks!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top