A Low Country Reef Tank....one more final upgrade
- Thread starter SPotter
- Start date
SPotter
Active member
Thanks mark! The purple is there...I used it on the closed loop that's leaning. I switched to clear PVC cleaner and clear heavy duty cement for the rest of the plumbing. Looks a lot better!
SPotter
Active member
On the 2nd closed loop I used rigid PVC on the outlet and that's straight. My concern on the first one is that seal on the PVC will fail. I'm thinking about just swapping it out now.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Great progress Steve. For a piece of mind I would hard pipe that. My concern is vibration on the bulkheads.
Lavoisier
Premium Member
I made a lot of progress this week. Getting thru the cinder block was a lot harder than I thought it would since it was filled with cement. After trying to do it with a hammer drill, mason bits and a chisel...I decided to call a tool rental place and this is what they suggested.....
A 25 lb Bosch chipping hammer
Nothing like the right tool! Great work.
SPotter
Active member
LooooooooooKing great
Once you have your ocean motions where you want them I would add a couple of strong ties supporting/holding Flowwold straight and firm. Run ties in opposite direction as Flex can put a constant torque on plumbing unsupported.
Thanks Mace! I have a huge roll of the plastic strapping to secure pipes. We used a bunch of it yesterday to suspend the pvc in my crawl space so I will use that to help secure the diverters. I am going to order a replacement fitting for the dolphin pump just incase it springs a leak.
Im telling you I could hear the drill laughing at the brick as it was breaking a part :rollface:
NewMariner
Reef Tank Aficionado
Come on Steve, its about time a water test is done isn't it? I want to see those wolfs in action...Ive been holding back on plumbing my tank till I see if those wolf's work out...Im anxious already
SPotter
Active member
Come on Steve, its about time a water test is done isn't it? I want to see those wolfs in action...Ive been holding back on plumbing my tank till I see if those wolf's work out...Im anxious already
Im getting there Tony!!! Little by little! :thumbsup:
NewMariner
Reef Tank Aficionado
What do you think your dolphins are going to do flow wise in your tank? I thought about the 4750, but I got scared and went with the 6250's. I wanted some movement. You think they are going to be up to par? Are you putting both on the flow wolfs? What are you doing for a return pump?
SPotter
Active member
I am putting the 4750's on the FW's. Each FW can handle a max of about 3600gph so I am hoping to achieve that or close to it. I had to reduce the 1.5" outlet from the 4750 to 1" for the FW so I will lose some gph there. I spoke with the people at Dolphin and they felt this would be achievable. One of the settings that I am really interested in on the FW is "random" and feel that should create more than enough chaotic movement in the tank. My return pump is a reeflo hammerhead/barracuda. That will be out in the garage which is about 26ft away. I will use that feed the dt and a manifold.
I need to get back on the plumbing wagon again and get this done already! I have been working on getting my Neptune Apex unpacked, cleaned up and running the last two nights. Thats all done so back to plumbing!
What kind of nozzle are you useing for the closed loop? Do all your returns for the closed loop come from the bottom of the tank. I can't even run my closed loop at full capacity because it blows the sand around and is a really strong flow. Just curious what you had in mind are you running sand? I use the sea floor special reef grade sand.
SPotter
Active member
I have 4 returns in the front of the tank on the bottom panel and then 4 on the back panel set about 6" up from the bottom. Im just using the flex nozels from OM on my returns and will be doing a bare bottom tank.
SPotter
Active member
And So It Begins.....
And So It Begins.....
The long wait to fill up! I started filling the tank around 5pm yesterday and at 8 am this morning this is where we are at.....
Very happy to say that there are no drips coming from any of the 10 bulkheads or closed loop plumbing so far! I will power up the pumps and flowwolf later on today when I get home from work. I still have a lot of plumbing to do in the fish room and then on to the electronics!
And So It Begins.....
The long wait to fill up! I started filling the tank around 5pm yesterday and at 8 am this morning this is where we are at.....
Very happy to say that there are no drips coming from any of the 10 bulkheads or closed loop plumbing so far! I will power up the pumps and flowwolf later on today when I get home from work. I still have a lot of plumbing to do in the fish room and then on to the electronics!
Last edited:
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Congrats Steve. Your progress is moving along smoothly. Nothing like hearing no leaks from the bulkheads.
! Tank was about 2/3's full and one of the 2" bulkheads for the cl inlet started to drip and at a good rate. I tried to tighten it but couldn't do it. So tank is now drained.Similar threads
