Blackthunda77's 80 Gal to 195 Gal upgrade!

AquamanE said:
John- Just curious. Will the returns run up the overflow as well? Dont see that in your 3d sketch at beginning. I ask because I recently installed seaswirls to my tank and am very happy with them. Going up the overflow for return wont give you that option. Just a thought.
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Eddie, at the time when i did the rendering i was not aware the drains were so small so i was planning on just using 1 drain and 1 return in each overflow. However now i decided against that and essentially did 2 herbie style overflows. The returns are now coming up and over the back of the tank. I didnt want to do it at first because i didnt want to ruin the aesthetics of the tank being that it might be an open top tank. But the 2 3/4" returns arent too obtrusive.

Here is a pic
IMAG1609.jpg


Also here is a pic of the plumbing almost complete. You can see how the return pump is plumbed basically. Only difference will be that the pipe from the pump to the first elbow will be replaced with another union. And yes, a 1 1/4" threaded adapter fit perfectly. I decided to go adapter to union instead of union to adapter because it allowed me to buy a 1" union instead of a 1 1/4" union. taking up less space and costing less :)

IMAG1612.jpg
 
PS, i still have to install some pvc hangers or brackets. What do you guys recommend for dampening the vibrations from the PVC. I have some areas where the pipes are really close or touching the wood and am worrying about vibrations. Is there some kind of rubber i can use on those spots where there is touching?

You can also see a couple of the sections where i painted the plumbing with white krylon. Will continue that with the res of the plumbing once its all finalized.
 
Hey John, use some of the foam that they use on plumbing/refrigerant lines. You can find it at Home Depot in the hoses/AC section. Straps I would look for the plastic ones with holes, I know they have ones made of copper for AC but we know that's a big no no.

Also, would going from a 1 1/2" to 1" kill head pressure? I guess we'll find out once you get this up and running. I have mine go from 1 1/2" to 1 1/4" before it splits into 1".
 
rps3 said:
Hey John, use some of the foam that they use on plumbing/refrigerant lines. You can find it at Home Depot in the hoses/AC section. Straps I would look for the plastic ones with holes, I know they have ones made of copper for AC but we know that's a big no no.

Also, would going from a 1 1/2" to 1" kill head pressure? I guess we'll find out once you get this up and running. I have mine go from 1 1/2" to 1 1/4" before it splits into 1".
Click to expand...

My return pvc is 1" anyways, and then goes into a Tee which splits into 2 separate 3/4" inch PVC which goes up above and over as the return. So based on my experience i dont see a difference on whether union is a 1" union or a 1 1/4" union. The pipe after is 1" so essentially it wouldnt make a difference. Thats my understanding atleast. :)

Plus, these pumps are SUPPOSED to be plenty powerful so a little headloss shoulnt be an issue. My return lines are relatively short, maybe 5-6 feet at most.
 
Not sure if you care but if you run the one return on the left out of sump area and T behind the stand you will avoid a few 90's that are currently going to return on right. How much will this decrease head pressue not sure, but i know there are head pressue calculators out there. .

Your using a lot of 45 s on drain, which operates by gravity, but none on return, which affects head pressure. This is coming from someone that used zero 45's in return, :headwally:

Looking good.

Now consider some seaswirls, or marvins other option, they will not be anymore intrusive than what oyu have now but will spread the flow more. Yes its a few $ more, and you can do later, but keep it in mind.
 
John if you are going herbie style and those black pipes that are in the overflow are your main drains, you should cut them way down. About 12" shorter or midway down. Save yourself the trouble of sucking air. Do you have gate valves to control the drainage speed?

Matt informed me that they sell something now in the shape on a mushroom that allows you open up your gate valves all the way and not suck air. interesting
 
Biggar said:
John if you are going herbie style and those black pipes that are in the overflow are your main drains, you should cut them way down. About 12" shorter or midway down. Save yourself the trouble of sucking air. Do you have gate valves to control the drainage speed?

Matt informed me that they sell something now in the shape on a mushroom that allows you open up your gate valves all the way and not suck air. interesting
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Space and height wise, i couldnt fit in the 45's on most of the returns. They essentially take up too much room.
 
Biggar said:
John if you are going herbie style and those black pipes that are in the overflow are your main drains, you should cut them way down. About 12" shorter or midway down. Save yourself the trouble of sucking air. Do you have gate valves to control the drainage speed?

Matt informed me that they sell something now in the shape on a mushroom that allows you open up your gate valves all the way and not suck air. interesting
Click to expand...

The bigger pipe you are seeing is the emergency pipe. I have to cut it down a couple inches. I measured wrong. The main siphon tube is about 7 inches below the overflow. And yes, i do have a valve on each side on each siphon drain to control them.
 
Did a wet test wednesday. Good News, No Leaks, bad news, tank is SLIGHTLY not level. Not much but just enough to annoy me and to make the overflows uneven. In any event, i left the tank running overnight, adjusted the herbies and the refugium drain. I have to admit, im very pleased on how quiet the system is as a whole and i havent even added any rubber dampeners to the pipes or brackets yet to absorb vibration. Also the Jebao pump is performing very well and is extremely quiet.

I drained the tank in the morning, leveled it and am now filling it in with RO/DI. Its taking a loooooong time, lol. Hopefully it it will be full by the end of the weekend. In the mean time im giving the inside of the stand another coat of kilz and will be sealing the edges to make it watertight. I also have to finish plumbing the manifold for my reactors and and painting the remaining plumbing.
 
Sounds like progress! So the DC pump is actually working like it should. Are you impressed with it? More info!!
 
good progress John.

im going to have to re evaluate my over flow system cause its louder than i care for. most of the noise is when it hits the sump i think.
 
Dont really have much more info on it just yet. Only had it working 24hrs before i drained the tank. But so far im satisfied. Alot quieter and less vibration than my Mag7. And the soft start feature is nice when turning on or coming off feed mode. No more gushes of water and bubbles and pipes vibrating when turning pump back on.

I thought the pump was broken when i turned it on first time, lol. Im like "Wheres all the flow??" Then after about 10 secs i realized it was still ramping up to full power, lol.
 
AquamanE said:
good progress John.

im going to have to re evaluate my over flow system cause its louder than i care for. most of the noise is when it hits the sump i think.
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I have all my pipes from the sump exiting BENEATH the water line. Not sure if you have yours set that way but i have no pipes above the waterline. Eliminates all splashing from return lines. Also, are you running herbie? I dont remember. In any event, with herbie and its full siphon, there essentially should not be any air bubbles in the drain line so there are no bubble going into the sump eliminating the bubble sound as well.
 
Dont get me wrong, system is not 100% silent. And i still havent installed my skimmer yet. But i also dont have any doors or side panels on the stand yet either. In any event, if you see the previous pics of the set up you can see that the tank is sitting about 5 feet behind the couch in the living room. We were watching a movie last night with the tank running and did not find the system to be annoying at all. But everyones perception of a "quiet tank" is different i guess.
 
Now we're getting somewhere. After 3 days or so, tank is finally filled with fresh rodi water and am now adding salt. I have another box of salt coming in later this week as well as 2 40lb bags of caribesea special grade reef sand.

avydytys.jpg


hemuha5u.jpg
 
Nice and clean, good job on the execution.

Finally got around to testing the DC9000, it's a pretty good pump. At 6ft head pressure it still was pumping. LOL.
 
rps3 said:
Nice and clean, good job on the execution.

Finally got around to testing the DC9000, it's a pretty good pump. At 6ft head pressure it still was pumping. LOL.
Click to expand...

Thanks. And yes, i too am happy with the DC pump. No problems so far and the lack of noise and vibration is great.
 
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