Acer's new build thread

thanks- your welcome to come down for the July PMASI picnic 7/23/16 ( I think) - it will be at my place this year in Gibsonia 15044. I may need some muscle to move the tank in place - LOL- I wish I had planned that scenario. But seriously - I would like to meet up sometime - always good to know the fellow hobbyists in your area.
 
I wish I could make it, I had surgery about 3 weeks ago on my shoulder, crashed my dirt bike and dislocated my shoulder tearing my labrum. I'll shoot you a request tho and good luck again


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Those are nice pumps. Frank has a large Reeflo still wrapped in plastic that you might want to ask him about. I know that he has mentioned selling it.
The picnic is 7-16-16 :D
 
Yep, With my son being in the hospital ( We are at the hospital now, awaiting discharge = Yeah!!) and a week stay ( unplanned) by the in-laws from Minnesota, I am far behind in my planning/progress.

Kevin (Drone) stopped by yesterday to help figure out some of my plumbing as I purchased a 40 and a 75 that I will be using for my sump and refugium from Hermanease. Since my system wont be set up the same as his we had to reconfigure some of the bulkheads, figure out what plumbing parts I needed to order, etc. But I did get the tanks cleaned they are now ready for baffles. (Pics later today hopefully) .

ON hunt for kitchen cabinets to put under the counter-top that the sump/refugium hospital tank (current 40 tank) , and external pump with sit on. Craigslist looks promising - if not - will be up to Home Depot/Lowes today or tomorrow.

48 hour agenda:

Next : ordering from Bulkreef = 1 inch gate valve ( for the one inch Bean animal siphon drain) , 2 high grade ball valves ( one for each side of the external return pump - size depends on what pump I end up purchasing - see below).

Next = I need to finally decide which pump it will be. Leaning toward a Reeflo Barracuda, as I have opportunity to get 2 of them for very reasonable price. So, if one fails ( history of failed seals on Reeflo pumps) I will have an exact same backup pump ready to go without breaking my budget. Once this is decided for sure, then I will be ordering the flex PVC = 25 feet of 1 inch and 25 feet of 1.5 inch for plumbing to and from display to the basement.

The waiting is killing me on my new tank - hopefully it will be here before the picnic on the 16th. I hope to have the sump, refugium fully set up and circulating ( modifying plumping a bit with a make shift pump scenario) with some new rock "cooking" by tomorrow evening in the sump . Once I know there are no issues ( leaks, etc. ) with that I will then transfer the live rock and all livestock to the 75 from my current reef tanks ( a 65 and a 40 ) along with the MP 40 , and the lights. This is the way it will stay until the new tank arrives.

This weeks agenda:

Then, I will tear down the 65 completely and clean it getting it ready for a new owner and store it in the garage.

Next step: make the holes in the floor for the plumbing to go to the basement and secure the flex PVC with appropriate hardware.

Ready for new tank

**** more waiting *******
 
So, uh, you guys hung out and no one called me? Hmmmm....

As far as base cabinet. Construction Junction off of North Lexington st. in Point Breeze. It's a re-use building supply place. They always have a bunch of cheap cabinets. I actually bought a 4 x 8 full sheet of 1/4 inch black acrylic there last week.
 
Trying to figure out my baffles in the sump/refugium and how high I can make them and still allow for the extra water that will flow into sump/refugium with a power outage or pump failure. Is there any way to figure that out??

I will have about 18 feet of 1 inch Flex PVC for my siphon drain that will be full of water = X gallons, then 12 feet of 1.5 inch Flex PVC for the return hose that will fall back into the sump/refugium area = Y gallons. Then figure another 3-4 gallons in the internal/external overflow system before the water level falls below the siphon drain = Z gallons. And maybe another 5-6 gallons from the display tank before the back siphon on the return hoses is broken. So, how much water is inside 18 feet of 1 inch diameter siphon drain hose and the 12 foot of 1.5 inch diameter hose? There must be a calculator for this.

Edit:

Found a general way of figuring this out = firefighter math website :

1) solve for X : 100 feet of 1.0 inch ID hose holds 4 gallons - so my 18 feet should be less than 1/5 of about 4 gallons ( I figured this would be much more than that) = so for estimate and error on the side of safely= 1 gallon = X.

2) solve for Y : 100 feet of 1.5 ID hose will have 9 gallons of water in it. So again , error on the side of safety - figure 1.5 gallons of water will back flow into the refugium from the return hose = Y.

Add in the estimated internal/external boxes water =4 gallons , and the back siphon water out of the display tank until the siphon is broken = 5 gallons . So a total of 9 gallons .

So, for safety and to prevent a sump/ refugium overflow, I must allow for a minimum of 11.5 gallons of water (X + Y + 9 gallons to fall from the hoses filled with water and the reverse siphons created the sump/refugium area in a electrical power loss or pump failure situation.

Since my 40 gallon breeder sump ( containing filter socks-> skimmer -> live rock) will actually gravity feed into the refugium ( 75 gallon tank). So the only area I need to engineer the baffles to accommodate for the extra 11.5 gallons is in the 75 gallon refugium.

If anybody sees a better way to calculate this or has other opinions -feels free to chime in.
 
Last edited:
x=0.80813
y=1.26909
z=measureable with tank volume calculator
v=volume of water above weir when system is at full flow.

Have fun with those numbers.

Kevin
 
OK - continuing on the above post. I found a chart that says 14 gallons of water is equal to 1.5 cubic feet. MY refugium is a 75 gallon tank (48 inches long by 18 wide by 21 deep). So how much will the surface rise if I add 11.5 gallons of water to my 75 gallon tank ?

hmmmm..... Well I could just go out in the garage and add 14 gallons of water and measure the height of the water in the tank. But there must be a way to figure this out via math.

Edit: Drone - you posted before I got this one up. LOL - I already figured the height of my weir at 1500 gallons per hour is about 1/4 of an inch during the design phase of the 48 inch long internal overflow system. That was a bit of a pain.

Working answer= "good enough" = a container/tank that is 48 long x 18 wide x 4 inches deep holds 15 gallons - so my 75 gallon tank water surface should rise no more than 4 inches with a power outage. So my baffles cannot be any taller than 4 inches below the top of my 75 gallon refugium tank or I will have water on the floor if there is a power outage. So I will make mine 5 inches below the top ( 16 inches high) - just to be safe.
 
Last edited:
If I remember correctly, the formula to figure out the total gallons in a square or rectangular tank is: (Length x Width x Height) / 231

So using your "good enough" example (48*18*4)/231 = 14.96.... gallons (not far from the 15 gallons you said).

Now moving some variables around to figure out how much 11.5 gallons will cause your refugium water level to rise:
(231*11.5)/(48*18) = 3.075... inches
 
Not sure if you remember Adam (though I'm guessing you do) from back in the day. He had that same setup. Not sure what pump he was using, but I'll ask him to hop on and share some of his setup wisdoms.

Been quite a while, btw. Glad to hear you're still in the game.
 
I had a Dolphin (or possible a knock-off) IIRC. I chose it because it provided the flow I wanted, was super quiet and energy efficient. Having your sump up off the ground makes it convenient to work on and reduces head pressure. I built a platform big enough to hold my sump, calcium reactor and return pump all with some working space to spare.

I don't remember a ton of details, but I variously used dolphin, hayward, GRI, Iwaki and little giant pumps. All have pros/cons. GRI were the most durable IMO and fairly quiet. GRI and Iwaki are accurately (if not conservatively) rated. Everyone else rates for absolutely ideal conditions.

Any of the high speed magnetically coupled pumps will be noisy compared to shaft driven "pool style" pumps (unless you get an actual pool pump. My 1hp hayward was a beast, but sounded like a truck running in the basement).

External use only pumps are always a better choice for your kind of set up because of reliability, electrical safety, efficiency and minimal heat addition. IMO, avoid mag-drives and other internal or internal/external pumps even if used externally.

Hope this all helps.
 
WOW- HI guys!! Yes been a while. Great to hear from you. If you didn't know I had to drop out of the hobby due to health reasons some 5 years ago . I got back in last fall when I was given a complete 65 gallon reef setup. I am now setting up my dream tank 150 (5 foot long x 24 x24) with a sump ( 40 breeder) and refugium ( 75 gallon ) in the basement. Would love to pick you brains... come to the club picnic - I'll buy you a beer.

I picked up a Gold Reeflo ( Baldor motor) locally , and ordered a new Barracuda so I have 2 pumps that both use the same 1.5 inch plumbing. Ordering my flex PVC ( 25 feet of 1 inch and 25 feet of 1.5 inch) , a 1.5 inch gate valve ( throttle back the pump-if necessary) , 2 x 2" true union couplings with 4 x 2" to 1.5 " adapters for each side of the return pump, within the next few days.

* if anybody can think of something I am forgetting - please post**
 
update: Trying to decide on a new skimmer - I don't think my modified ASM g3 will do the job. Have a few used options including :

1) vertex int180
2) SRO 3000

neither of these have a highly efficient pumps ( DC ) - but both will certainly do the job. The SRO 3000 may be too big.

parameters if buying new:

a) DC pump for quiet and low wattage usage.
b) easy to breakdown and service
c) rated for 200 - 250 reef medium load ( most are very overrated) .
d) budget= $300 including shipping

opinions wanted.....
 
I was actually thinking about the picnic. Not sure I'm free though.

Quote from Adam: "Just when I thought I was out... they DRAGGED me back in!" :D
 
Not to highjack Ted's Thread but I don't think he'll mind a little prodding, especially if it will bring more advice experiences in the future......

SOOooo...... :celeb2: :beer: :celeb3:

COME ON OVER!!! Some old faces, some new faces, and some OLDER faces.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Kevin

P.S. And drag Adam along with you!!!!!

Python73 said:
I was actually thinking about the picnic. Not sure I'm free though.

Quote from Adam: "Just when I thought I was out... they DRAGGED me back in!" :D
Click to expand...
 
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