600 gallon Acrylic and Glass Reef Construction.
- Thread starter pwhitby
- Start date
Okeedokes.....
Now the CRASE 2008 is put to bed, time to start on my stuff.
I have had my tank in the house for almost 5 months and no time previously to get working on it. I did get the garage/fish room done though...so there was some progression.
Tonight I began the leak test...very simple, add 6-10 inches of water. Leave for a few hours and add more.
I will keep doing this until I get to the holes cut for the closed loop. Just tap water for now but I hope to have SW in there inside the next month.
I have no pitures since there really isnt anything to see.
Paul.
Now the CRASE 2008 is put to bed, time to start on my stuff.
I have had my tank in the house for almost 5 months and no time previously to get working on it. I did get the garage/fish room done though...so there was some progression.
Tonight I began the leak test...very simple, add 6-10 inches of water. Leave for a few hours and add more.
I will keep doing this until I get to the holes cut for the closed loop. Just tap water for now but I hope to have SW in there inside the next month.
I have no pitures since there really isnt anything to see.
Paul.
Today is the day I have been waiting for! I get to start the plumbing.
Having plumbed several tanks in the past I have come to the conclusion that the universe has something against people with fish tanks. For example...no matter how many buckets bins and bags of parts you have, there is always something else you need, even after meticulously writing everything down and visiting the store 3 times.
The other reason is that no matter which store you go to, they will not have everything you need. I swear its a conspiracy.
Well....here goes.....
Paul.
Having plumbed several tanks in the past I have come to the conclusion that the universe has something against people with fish tanks. For example...no matter how many buckets bins and bags of parts you have, there is always something else you need, even after meticulously writing everything down and visiting the store 3 times.
The other reason is that no matter which store you go to, they will not have everything you need. I swear its a conspiracy.
Well....here goes.....
Paul.
youngreef180
New member
Thanks for those frags Paul they look really good! Your fish room is huge! It will be so nice to be able to put everything in there where you need it. I really like the layout with the shelves for the frag tanks.
Jerrod
Jerrod
I finally had time to work on the tank today, my task was installing the internal plumbing for the closed loops.
The tank has 4 holes across the back, 8 inches down from the top. 2 are feed (suction) from the tank to 2 baracuda pumps. (one to each pump). In turn, the pump feeds back to the tank tghrough one of the two tother two remaining holes.
Here is a shot from the back of the tank:
the teo pipes coming down are the overflow pipes and the others are the inlet/outlet of the closed loop. The suction is towards the middle of the tank and the return is at the corner.
The plan with the two loops is to have a racetrack of piping connected to each loop, and a pillar support column at each end. Along the racetrack and on each pillar will be a series of penductors. 2 on the back rail pointing one way, two on the front rail pointing the opposite way and 2 on each pillar. This will give 8 penductors facing in a circle. The idea is that the flow will cause the water in the tank to circulate, like whirlpool.
loop 1.
loop2
and the two laid one inside the other:
The reason I wanted to do this is so that I can alternate the flow in the tank. Loop 1 will run for 3 hours and stop. Loop 2 will then run for 3 hours and stop, then loop 1...etc.... This will have the effect of simulating a tidal motion through the tank. At the changeover both pumps will run for approximately 15 mins for a chaotic flow pattern.
Moving the tank water in this manner will ensure all of the water is moving through all of teh rock and corals placed in the system.
For anyone wondering if the pumps will take this, we checked with Reeflo prior to doing this set up and they say that the pumps will take 30,000 starts...so not a problem.
The tank has 4 holes across the back, 8 inches down from the top. 2 are feed (suction) from the tank to 2 baracuda pumps. (one to each pump). In turn, the pump feeds back to the tank tghrough one of the two tother two remaining holes.
Here is a shot from the back of the tank:
the teo pipes coming down are the overflow pipes and the others are the inlet/outlet of the closed loop. The suction is towards the middle of the tank and the return is at the corner.
The plan with the two loops is to have a racetrack of piping connected to each loop, and a pillar support column at each end. Along the racetrack and on each pillar will be a series of penductors. 2 on the back rail pointing one way, two on the front rail pointing the opposite way and 2 on each pillar. This will give 8 penductors facing in a circle. The idea is that the flow will cause the water in the tank to circulate, like whirlpool.
loop 1.
loop2
and the two laid one inside the other:
The reason I wanted to do this is so that I can alternate the flow in the tank. Loop 1 will run for 3 hours and stop. Loop 2 will then run for 3 hours and stop, then loop 1...etc.... This will have the effect of simulating a tidal motion through the tank. At the changeover both pumps will run for approximately 15 mins for a chaotic flow pattern.
Moving the tank water in this manner will ensure all of the water is moving through all of teh rock and corals placed in the system.
For anyone wondering if the pumps will take this, we checked with Reeflo prior to doing this set up and they say that the pumps will take 30,000 starts...so not a problem.
The reason for making a complete loop inside the tank with the pipework is to even out the pressure such that all the penductors push the same volume of water. This could not be achieved with a single pipe and the penductors branching from it.
Well....thats the theory.
Now for the practical side:
The first loop was pretty easy to do:
the second loop required the pipework to jump over the other loop.
from the inside:
And from the side (end)
As you can see....a spider web of pipework.
Before beginning I took into account the loss of the tank depth with water in it and ensured no pipes were over half the depth of the tank to allow for a lrage sand bed.
I didnt make pillars with the second loop, instead I used longer lengths of locline and will ziptie thse to the pillar of the other loop for stability.
The use of the locline will allow the penductors to be flexible and will allow me to move them as I build the rock around them.
Having built both loops, I did a water test before fully gluing them up.
Once the tank was full I turned on one pump, within 10 seconds the tanki was swirling. The entiore tank contents were moving and partoicles traveled around the tank (a full circuit) every 10 seconds or so. Next, with both pumps on, the particles bounced everywhere until the first pump was turned off, at which point the water stilled, then began to rotate in the other direction.
All in all....so far, Im happy.
Paul.
Well....thats the theory.
Now for the practical side:
The first loop was pretty easy to do:
the second loop required the pipework to jump over the other loop.
from the inside:
And from the side (end)
As you can see....a spider web of pipework.
Before beginning I took into account the loss of the tank depth with water in it and ensured no pipes were over half the depth of the tank to allow for a lrage sand bed.
I didnt make pillars with the second loop, instead I used longer lengths of locline and will ziptie thse to the pillar of the other loop for stability.
The use of the locline will allow the penductors to be flexible and will allow me to move them as I build the rock around them.
Having built both loops, I did a water test before fully gluing them up.
Once the tank was full I turned on one pump, within 10 seconds the tanki was swirling. The entiore tank contents were moving and partoicles traveled around the tank (a full circuit) every 10 seconds or so. Next, with both pumps on, the particles bounced everywhere until the first pump was turned off, at which point the water stilled, then began to rotate in the other direction.
All in all....so far, Im happy.
Paul.
Now all the water is back out of the tank I can get all the joints glued up. I may extend a few of the lengths of loc line to make the rock work easier as well.
Next step is to finish the pipework behind the tank from the overflows to the fish room I built earlier in the year.
This shot shows the pipes from the near side overflow passing under the tank. I have used saddle clips to attach the pipes to the wood of the stand to make them rigid and no prone to being knocked. I am also trying to keep everything as close as possible to the tank to make moving behind it easier. I think there is about 30 inches between the tank and the wall.
the pipes come down adjacent to the second overflow, then go through the wall to the fish room
this is them passing through the space between tank and wall just prior to being connected to the near overflow.
A walkways will be built over the pipes so they dont get banged while I am working back there.
Next step is to finish the pipework behind the tank from the overflows to the fish room I built earlier in the year.
This shot shows the pipes from the near side overflow passing under the tank. I have used saddle clips to attach the pipes to the wood of the stand to make them rigid and no prone to being knocked. I am also trying to keep everything as close as possible to the tank to make moving behind it easier. I think there is about 30 inches between the tank and the wall.
the pipes come down adjacent to the second overflow, then go through the wall to the fish room
this is them passing through the space between tank and wall just prior to being connected to the near overflow.
A walkways will be built over the pipes so they dont get banged while I am working back there.
