600 gal display/900+ gal build thread in the Chicago 'burbs.

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You broke down and bought one? I thought you were a Orca Diehard?

I think you are going to be amazed when you see the size of the thing.. then realize its ALL NECK!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13672213#post13672213 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wmilas


The second question is about head and flow. If a pump pushes water up 10 feet, and then does a U turn and comes down 10 feet, In a perfect world with 0 friction in the pipe and0 friction for the U turn part (just pretend) there is 0 head after the pump reaches equilibrium. What happens is the water struggles to go up, then gets sucked down by gravity.

In the real world there are friction losses going up and coming down. However if you go up 9 feet and come down 2.5 you have less head than 9 feet, thats for sure.
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Yup!

As long as the pump can overcome the rise at startup, your pump recognizes vertical head as the difference between the elevation of the surface of the water in your sump that is feeding your pump, and the elevation of the discharge opening. All thanks to gravity! Your frictional losses make up the the rest of your head losses and are the biggest restriction on your flow.
 
Exactly. And even though mine goes up and down a great bit, the difference in the surface of the sump, to the tank, is only about 4ish feet.
 
I wasn't trying knock your plans, just trying to help you avoid potential head aches.

I thought you were going to install Wavy Seas on your returns. If you don't have a lot of velocity coming out of those outputs then you might be wasting your money. If you just want enough water to feed your skimmer, then you're set. I just wouldn't bother with the Wavy Seas.
 
BTW

Thanks for all your detail here, this tread has been extremely intrumental in getting my build plans approved by my wife! Not that my tank will be half this size, but she can now envision how good the family room will look with a built in system.

.... Great work!
 
Yea, you are right. If I was trying to install Wavy seas I'd be in trouble. I'm sorry I wasn't more clear about that. Thanks for your input, and I didnt think you were trying to knock my plans :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13673393#post13673393 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bax
BTW

Thanks for all your detail here, this tread has been extremely intrumental in getting my build plans approved by my wife! Not that my tank will be half this size, but she can now envision how good the family room will look with a built in system.

.... Great work!
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I still can't believe my wife went along with this without me having to show her any builds of other peoples first. I almost fell over when I said "I think I'm going to put a 1000 gallon Reef in the basement" and she responded "Ok, just don't make a mess." She read this thread a while back and remarked that people seemed shocked that she didn't put up a fight, and that started to worry her a bit :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13673417#post13673417 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wmilas
Thanks.

I still can't believe my wife went along with this without me having to show her any builds of other peoples first. I almost fell over when I said "I think I'm going to put a 1000 gallon Reef in the basement" and she responded "Ok, just don't make a mess." She read this thread a while back and remarked that people seemed shocked that she didn't put up a fight, and that started to worry her a bit :)
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Ha ha.... My wife USED to go along with my "hobbies"..... Now she knows to get more details before "YES" comes out of her mouth! :lol:

Keep up the good work!:thumbsup:
 
I love the Reeflo, but the risk of overflow because its external was literally keeping me up at night, so it just wasn't worth the stress it created in my life. I'm having Doug Lehman build me a 2nd sump to house the ATB.
 
I'm forgetting if you are still thinking of a Geo for your CA reactor? I thought I'd throw out there that I'm very happy with the AquaC RX-1 so far. Its recirc design is definitely more efficient than a Geo and it doesn't need a feed pump, plus its footprint is ultra compact due to the square shape (plus it uses an eheim pump instead of an iwaki). Two of these would work well on your system (and provide the benefit of redundancy), or I know Greg Carroll had AquaC make a custom RX-2 for his system....just throwing it out as a consideration.
 
I was still considering a Geo. The problem with the Geo is, as you stated, is that its non recirc design isn't the most efficient and the pump wastes energy. I can live with the design because its built like a tank but the pump is really bothering me.. it goes against my design philosophy.

The problem is though I also try to adhere to the KISS design and 2 reactors is a PITA. Its got to be one. I want it to be large enough to fit 16 lbs of media (twice the size of the RX-1) and I'm not hung up on a separate feed pump as that whole filter loop (carbon, GFO, calc) will be fed off a single efficient pump.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13675217#post13675217 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wmilas
I was still considering a Geo. The problem with the Geo is, as you stated, is that its non recirc design isn't the most efficient and the pump wastes energy. I can live with the design because its built like a tank but the pump is really bothering me.. it goes against my design philosophy.

The problem is though I also try to adhere to the KISS design and 2 reactors is a PITA. Its got to be one. I want it to be large enough to fit 16 lbs of media (twice the size of the RX-1) and I'm not hung up on a separate feed pump as that whole filter loop (carbon, GFO, calc) will be fed off a single efficient pump.
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wmilas, you may want to check out the Austin Oceans Calcium reactors(based on the Barr Aquatic designs). I chose the MoCalc 300, but you may want to look into the 400. I prefer dual chamber designs, which is the primary reason I went with this over the Aqua C. It is also built like a tank and is easy to set up and maintain.
AO MoCalc Reactors

Oh, and awesome built by the way.:D
 
Quick update.

The main loop is 99% plumbed. The fuge loop and manifold are 75% plumbed. The drains are 75% plumbed. The freshwater mix and saltwater mix, delivery, and manifolds are 10% plumbed. The Ro/DI came in and its on the wall but not plumbed yet.

I hate plumbing :(
 
Another quick update. Spent 10 solid hours plumbing today. Its coming along... Slowly.

Main, drain, fuge, and manifolds are 99% done. Starting work on fresh water, salt mixing, RO/DI loops and manifolds tomorrow if I have time after putting up Xmas lights :)
 
Wow this is an awesome build .
Glad found it doing a search, the only thing is now that i got side tracked from doing my own project lol. Hour and a half and the wife thinks i was doing my own project lol
 
I've been out of town for a week. I hope to get the remaining plumbing done in the next few days and perhaps start water testing this weekend.
 
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