AquariumSpecialty
.Registered Member
Hey Ben. What is that washing machine doing in your fish room? Is that a whirlpool model? Sweeeeet!
Building Big Bertha: 800G
- Thread starter bbrantley
- Start date
samson78945
New member
i love this tank!!! hopefully in my reef life i can have one like this 
Hiya folks,
No significant progress this past week other than waiting for orders to be delivered. The base rock will be delivered Friday, but we leave for vacation (diving!) early Saturday morning. I don't expect much to happen between now and two weeks from today... except a little evaporation.
Ben
No significant progress this past week other than waiting for orders to be delivered. The base rock will be delivered Friday, but we leave for vacation (diving!) early Saturday morning. I don't expect much to happen between now and two weeks from today... except a little evaporation.
Ben
Steven M
New member
As for the skimmer flow, it needs to be roughly 500-700gph according to the BK experts. The skimmer input already has a valve for dialing it in, so what I need to do is tee the front drain to both it and the sump and put a (second) valve between the tee and the sump. Then I can hopefully adjust the primary drain's flow between the skimmer and sump by adjusting the ratio of the two valves. The concern I have right now is that I don't know how predictable the skimmer is with backpressure. In other words, if the skimmate head crashes (because of some oil in the water or whatever), does the skimmer end up taking more water (or less water?) and would that create a nasty imbalanced feedback loop? Also, if the skimmer shuts down (power failure, whatever), can it passively flow the 500-700gph that will still be feeding into it?
These things I have not tested, and I will have no good way to until I plumb to Bertha and try it. Moreover, sadly, some of them will have to wait until there is "real water" in the tank, as the skimmer won't do anything until it's salty in there. That may turn out to be a true adventure, but I'm kinda just hoping at this point that my theoretical concerns are just that -- theoretical.
Ben [/B][/QUOTE]
The only problem I have had feeding my DIY skimmer from the drain is that when I cleaned the algae from the overflow, it went into the skimmer and blocked the exit gate valve. The skimmer cup overflowed. I only clean the overflow about every three months and I just open the gate valve and then readjust the skimmer. The skimmer should flow the same with pumps on or off, the water in the skimmer well rise when the pumps are on from the air mix.
These things I have not tested, and I will have no good way to until I plumb to Bertha and try it. Moreover, sadly, some of them will have to wait until there is "real water" in the tank, as the skimmer won't do anything until it's salty in there. That may turn out to be a true adventure, but I'm kinda just hoping at this point that my theoretical concerns are just that -- theoretical.
Ben [/B][/QUOTE]
The only problem I have had feeding my DIY skimmer from the drain is that when I cleaned the algae from the overflow, it went into the skimmer and blocked the exit gate valve. The skimmer cup overflowed. I only clean the overflow about every three months and I just open the gate valve and then readjust the skimmer. The skimmer should flow the same with pumps on or off, the water in the skimmer well rise when the pumps are on from the air mix.
Hey folks, just a quick update: the rocks, all 500lb, arrived today by freight in what looks like great shape. I don't have the space or time to unpack them and take pics, so nothing to see of interest here yet. Tomorrow morning I leave for the Bahamas for a week of diving and relaxation, and then back and at 'em. I also got in all the aforementioned plumbing parts and pumps, so everything is here and just waiting for me to do the work. I'm looking forward to it!
Have a great week,
Ben
Have a great week,
Ben
JustOneMoreTank
New member
Have fun diving! Take lots of pictures.
Take lots of pictures. <a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9777318#post9777318 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JustOneMoreTank
Have fun diving!
Diving was great! Alas, no underwater pics, as the video rig was sold a while ago. You could say it was sacrificed in the name of bringing a bit of the reef to Colorado, but that might not be truly correlated.
I got back yesterday, so I eased back into the swing of things this afternoon by doing some more plumbing. I plumbed in the primary drain line (the closest, unfinished gate valve in the earlier pictures) to both the skimmer and the sump. I'm impressed how easy it is to dial in the precise flow rates for both channels using just the BV on the skimmer and the nice big GV. At max flow I'm registering about 700gph through the skimmer, which is in the right ballpark -- and it certainly won't need any more than that.
I also switched out most of the bulkheads for the Hayward ones -- definitely the way to go there. The 2" Hayward gaskets are so much plusher and wider than the Savko ones. Interestingly, the 1.5" Hayward gaskets are not proportionally as wide and nice... though they are, indeed, just as soft and squishy.
I have a few plumbing bits to procure from the hardware store before I can glue in everything and finalize the runs I just tape-fitted tonight. I also want to debug one more drip in the Dart thread fitting (darn that thing) and install the second Dart in place on the sump. Then, I believe, the tank will be ready for the long, tedious grind of RODI production. I'll probably aquascape the base rock in and add the sand while that's happening.
Oh, and the generator is all wired up and working great. I haven't done a full test (power down at the road and watch the tank come back up), but we've a few circuits to tweak tomorrow and then we'll close out the construction permits for both the Bertha room and the generator! Whew.
Ben
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9842035#post9842035 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
sounds great Ben...you know I am not sure what you are referring to as "Savko" bulkheads but I bought all schedule 80 from him and they seem to be great. Are they not Haywards? I know I bought my 3" from a different supplier that had a better price.
Hey Jonathan,
Read back in this thread a bit and you will see the long discussion about bulkheads. The Savko sch80 bulkheads are not Hayward... far from it, I guess, at least from the perspective of a soon-to-be bulkhead snob.
The working theory is that the Savko BHs are just custom-ordered injection-molded pieces from China or something. Not that the Hayward ones aren't, I don't know anything about them... but, there is a definite quality difference. If you've got working Savko BHs, it seems to me that there's no reason they'd fail... but if you're having problems like I was, well, you should've gotten the good stuff in the first place. Ben
chris wright
In Memoriam
Good to see your thread going again Ben.
Hope you enjoyed your diving trip, any aqauscaping ideas picked up along the way?
looking forward to seeing the plumbing and such done.
Chris.
Hope you enjoyed your diving trip, any aqauscaping ideas picked up along the way?
looking forward to seeing the plumbing and such done.
Chris.
asnatlas
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9842234#post9842234 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bbrantley
The Savko sch80 bulkheads are not Hayward... far from it, I guess, at least from the perspective of a soon-to-be bulkhead snob.
Ben if you are able to I would like to see a few shots of them both side by side... I have the Savko BHs and not had any issues, but I would like to see the diff as I hear all this hype about the Haywards...
Also where did you get your Haywards at ??
When I ordered my tank from AO it came with the crappy sched 40 (left) even though I asked for sched 80 BHs
But I replaced them with sched 80s from Savko (right)...
Hi Shawn,
I'm not sure if Ben is still on vacation but I'll try later today to post pic of some various Sch80 bulkheads, Hayward, Spears, Banjo, and I think I have a Savko as well.
Ben got some of the Haywards from me, not sure if he got others elsewhere - I know AquaticEco sells them.
I can't say anything about "hype" of the fittings; I know I like them and the Spears fittings far more than anything else. Spears however are only good for 3/4" and thinner materials.
James
I'm not sure if Ben is still on vacation but I'll try later today to post pic of some various Sch80 bulkheads, Hayward, Spears, Banjo, and I think I have a Savko as well.
Ben got some of the Haywards from me, not sure if he got others elsewhere - I know AquaticEco sells them.
I can't say anything about "hype" of the fittings; I know I like them and the Spears fittings far more than anything else. Spears however are only good for 3/4" and thinner materials.
James
cbui2
Premium Member
http://www.haywardindustrial.com/docs/pvs/Bulkhead.pdf
welcome back Ben
these are the ones i used, didn't need to modify all i did was installed them either way and work out perfectly with no leaks at all. the thread on these are alot wider then savko's which makes it better to use on 1" or thicker glass. only one person is needed for installation.
welcome back Ben
these are the ones i used, didn't need to modify all i did was installed them either way and work out perfectly with no leaks at all. the thread on these are alot wider then savko's which makes it better to use on 1" or thicker glass. only one person is needed for installation.
