750 gallon glass tank

[McPuff]

I do agree with getting the rock away from the wall... unless it's meant to be more of a wall. But I've found that in my own tank, having that flow around, behind, under the rock work makes for much happier tank inhabitants.

And I also agree with you on the larger rocks. If you can find them, it will give you a more majestic feel in my opinion... especially for those outcroppings. If you can have 1 rock instead of 6-7 you'll be happy with it. It'll look terrific.

Overall, I'm very excited to see how this turns out!

 

[rygar]

Bean animal question

Bean animal question

Figured better start figuring out the plumbing. First step is the overflow. There are 3 holes which are 3" on the bottom of the overflow off the back. So I'll be getting 3 bulkhead fittings to fit those 3" holes. My question is what size piping should I bring it down to under the overflow box to get full syphon? My gph thru the overflow will only be maybe 1000 or so.

I could use a huge gate valve to slow it down, but it will not be able to keep full syphon after the gate valve. It would be like a faucet in the large pvc so I have to shrink down the pvc size before and after the gate valve. Just not sure what size it should be. I guess I just don't understand how it can ever get full syphon after the gate valve. The water will want to rush down to the sump after the valve. So how will it be silent going into the sump? I've seen it work on youtube, but just don't see how when your blocking water above the valve, but not below...

 

[chimmike]

1000gph turnover for that large a display? If you're only going for that much a 1" pipe on the siphon should be plenty...

 

[dave.m]

You can quieten the water even more by running it through a 90° bend and some horizontal piping first before dumping into the sump. It helps avoid all the crashing noise of a full syphon.

Dave.M

 

[rygar]

1000gph turnover for that large a display? If you're only going for that much a 1" pipe on the siphon should be plenty...

Why would you think 1000 gph thru the refugium isn't enough?

 

[rygar]

You can quieten the water even more by running it through a 90° bend and some horizontal piping first before dumping into the sump. It helps avoid all the crashing noise of a full syphon.

Dave.M

Sounds like there's a bit of trial and error to contend with. Kinda figured that. Oh well, I'm in no hurry...

 

[BigBlueTang]

Why would you think 1000 gph thru the refugium isn't enough?

Most people do 3x to 5x the tank volume through their overflows. Although it doesn't really matter.

 

[rygar]

Put some thought to it and decided to run 3500 gph thru the tank/sump to help remove uneaten food and particulates. Added a 150 stock tank as the sump. A seperate 1000 gph pump will push water from the 150 stock tank up to a 50 gallon stock tank (refugium), then gravity feed into a 300 gallon (bigger and more fun refugium) and gravity feed back into the 150 sump.
With all this water (1200 gallons) and no covers, (about 80 square feet of surface area in total) evaporation is going to be out of control.
Getting a bit worried about top off. Any ideas on how much I can expect? My last tank was covered, had half the water volume, and evaporated 5 gallons a day. The fish room (renovated full size garage) will be vented and completely seperate and isolated from the rest of the house so no issues there. I just don't want to deal with topping off 150 gallons per week...which is what I'm thinking it could be.
If some of you could let me know how much evap you deal with along with a quick run down of your system, would be interesting and helpful.

 

[rygar]

Thanks dave. Used your advise and the main drain will have 2 90's.

You can quieten the water even more by running it through a 90° bend and some horizontal piping first before dumping into the sump. It helps avoid all the crashing noise of a full syphon.

Dave.M

 

[d-man]

My 1100g system evaporates about 4g a day currently. My heater is set at 76' and it goes on sporadically. My temp goes from 76-78 at moment. In the summer it'll probably get to 83, or 84' s im sure evaporation will increase to 7-9g a day, at which point I will install a room dehumidifier at that point

 

[rygar]

That wouldn't be all that bad. So many things to think about. So many things....

 

[SS_Sean]

Just checked back in and the second addition of the rock-work is fantastic. That is really going to look good once you have lots of covering corals. It's a 1000% better than your typical rock-pile type display setup.... :dance:

 

[rygar]

Hey thanks! Water's going in on Saturday.

Just checked back in and the second addition of the rock-work is fantastic. That is really going to look good once you have lots of covering corals. It's a 1000% better than your typical rock-pile type display setup.... :dance:

 

[SS_Sean]

Most excellent. Good luck and have fun! Nothin better than tank fillin day!! :bounce1::wave:

 

[rygar]

Actually its more like fillin week. My RO unit is only 150 gpd so its gonna take a bit. its the biggest I wanted get even with a simple booster pump which makes the 60 PSI requirement for a 150 gpd. RO unit. I could get a monster booster pump and a huge RO unit, but I've already spent more than I care to admit on this and those 2 things would run me well into the thousands. 150 gpd is plenty.
One of your posts said you live in the mountains...do you have a well then? Wondering because I live in the woods and have well water. Interesting to see what others with a well do to get perfect water.
My output TDS is at 0 for now, but don't know how long it will last.
Water going in is 230. So not too bad considering my last house had city water and TDS going in was over 300. My work city water is 360.

 

[dave.m]

Sounds like Flint.

Dave.M

 

[SS_Sean]

Actually its more like fillin week. My RO unit is only 150 gpd so its gonna take a bit. its the biggest I wanted get even with a simple booster pump which makes the 60 PSI requirement for a 150 gpd. RO unit. I could get a monster booster pump and a huge RO unit, but I've already spent more than I care to admit on this and those 2 things would run me well into the thousands. 150 gpd is plenty.
One of your posts said you live in the mountains...do you have a well then? Wondering because I live in the woods and have well water. Interesting to see what others with a well do to get perfect water.
My output TDS is at 0 for now, but don't know how long it will last.
Water going in is 230. So not too bad considering my last house had city water and TDS going in was over 300. My work city water is 360.

Yes, sir. I'm on well water. I live near a creek, so have some crazy number like 16.8 gpm, which is good. The well did give me TDS, but it really wasn't bad. If I remember correctly it measured like 80-120ppm. I run the 150gpd RODI unit from BRS, with the dual RO veins. Other than having to install a booster pump, I haven't had any issues getting the TDS down to zero. I do burn through a lot of DI resin. Has something to do with oxygenated water, or something to that effect, that you don't have to deal with on city water. But on the other hand, I'm not dealing with city water that has been chemically treated with Floride (sp), etc. I look at it as a trade off. I did have to run the booter pumpe though. Before I was getting 30-35psi out of the well, so once the booster was installed it pumped it up to 80-90psi, making for a more efficient filtering process. I store my water in a 35g barrel which acts as water storage and for gravity feed to the ATO. The barrel is five feet off the floor.

Edit- A couple of things I watch for... making sure my sand filter on the outlet of the well is regularly maintained, and making sure my sediment filter on the RO unit stays clean and in good shape.

 

[sixpackgarage]

Just saw this thread and was gonna say I really like that 'hill', then boom he blows it up.

Nice setup man, looking forward to seeing it grown in.

 

[rygar]

No way!! I just got the same unit from BRS...and then got the booster pump....and live on a creek...weird. And did you notice where I got my tank from? Oregon. Notice I live in Michigan. Shipping that thing cost a fortune. But it made it. Thanks to the seller. He took care of all that for me.

Yes, sir. I'm on well water. I live near a creek, so have some crazy number like 16.8 gpm, which is good. The well did give me TDS, but it really wasn't bad. If I remember correctly it measured like 80-120ppm. I run the 150gpd RODI unit from BRS, with the dual RO veins. Other than having to install a booster pump, I haven't had any issues getting the TDS down to zero. I do burn through a lot of DI resin. Has something to do with oxygenated water, or something to that effect, that you don't have to deal with on city water. But on the other hand, I'm not dealing with city water that has been chemically treated with Floride (sp), etc. I look at it as a trade off. I did have to run the booter pumpe though. Before I was getting 30-35psi out of the well, so once the booster was installed it pumped it up to 80-90psi, making for a more efficient filtering process. I store my water in a 35g barrel which acts as water storage and for gravity feed to the ATO. The barrel is five feet off the floor.

Edit- A couple of things I watch for... making sure my sand filter on the outlet of the well is regularly maintained, and making sure my sediment filter on the RO unit stays clean and in good shape.

 

[rygar]

I know...I liked it too at first. But I think thats mostly because it took me so long to build, but couldn't make it flow with the rest of the tank. Started looking way too out of place. Not enough room for open area at the bottom for it to look natural. Needed at least 5 more feet. Then it would have worked.
The way it is now will be much better for the fish and better placements for corals.

Just saw this thread and was gonna say I really like that 'hill', then boom he blows it up.

Nice setup man, looking forward to seeing it grown in.