*d2mini's new 200g Reeftastic Build*

[d2mini]

Should probably have another ball valve before the UV input otherwise things might get messy when you take it offline!

Yes, that is the plan if I have enough room height wise.
Otherwise, a bucket will be used. lol

What are you planning on running for a return pump? I'd ditch the second chiller pump, upgrade to a larger return pump and run the chiller off a manifold or a T on the return line and send the flow back to the sump or display.
My return pump which was originally a Hammerhead Gold but now a Superdart Gold runs my chiller (which is 50' away in my garage and returns to my sump), my GFO reactor (returns to sump), Carbon reactor (returns to sump), my 60 gallon display refugium (also returns to sump) and still has plenty of flow (2500GPH +/-) left for the return to the tank. I'm guessing that some of your thinking is being influenced by the desire to retain a certain amount of flow to the UV unit. Worst case, you can run lower flow through it and run it 12 hours a day as opposed to 24/7. I run mine 12 hours a day during the summer and while it may shorten bulb life a bit, I've never had any ballast failures.

Actually it just seemed to simplify things after working on yesterday's version to have a separate pump.
My return pump is a Reeflo Barracuda Gold.

 

[overexposed]

Yes, that is the plan if I have enough room height wise.
Otherwise, a bucket will be used. lol


Actually it just seemed to simplify things after working on yesterday's version to have a separate pump.
My return pump is a Reeflo Barracuda Gold.

For the ball valve before the UV my thinking was that you won't be able to run the return pump while the UV is disconnected because it would just pump water all over the floor

 

[slief]

Yes, that is the plan if I have enough room height wise.
Otherwise, a bucket will be used. lol


Actually it just seemed to simplify things after working on yesterday's version to have a separate pump.
My return pump is a Reeflo Barracuda Gold.

I'd stick with the one pump. Upgrade the impeller and volute to a hammerhead one. While on paper the second pump may simplify things, I feel it's is counter productive because it will add more heat to your system in addition to consuming more power. I've been running my setup this way for 5 years. That said, my chiller hasn't turned on in over two years now after increasing my max allowable temp to 82 and using a couple small fans to regulate it from there. This is in spite of our daily 100* + summer averages here in So. Cal and despite the fact that I don't run my AC during the day. In the winter my tank averages 77. Before my last upgrade and pump consolidation and switch to Reeflo's 5 years ago, my tank would have hit 100 if I didn't run a chiller and my 1/2HP chiller was running 12 hours a day mostly from heat transfer from my pumps.

 

[slief]

Yes, that is the plan if I have enough room height wise.
Otherwise, a bucket will be used. lol

Just put a "T" fitting in the PVC line below the UV with a PVC spigot or a gate valve with a Hose fitting. Then you can easily drain the water without a mess on your floor. Heck, you could use a gate valve or ball valve with a barbed fitting and some nylon hose coiled up when not in use. Otherwise, as soon as you open those unions the water will go everywhere before you can get a bucket under them. The added valve with the drain line is something you will be grateful for when it comes time to cleaning your sleeves.. Trust me on that one! It's something I wish I would have added when I set mine up.

 

[d2mini]

For the ball valve before the UV my thinking was that you won't be able to run the return pump while the UV is disconnected because it would just pump water all over the floor

Another great catch!
I'll add that in there.
Thanks!

I'd stick with the one pump. Upgrade the impeller and volute to a hammerhead one. While on paper the second pump may simplify things, I feel it's is counter productive because it will add more heat to your system in addition to consuming more power. I've been running my setup this way for 5 years. That said, my chiller hasn't turned on in over two years now after increasing my max allowable temp to 82 and using a couple small fans to regulate it from there. This is in spite of our daily 100* + summer averages here in So. Cal and despite the fact that I don't run my AC during the day. In the winter my tank averages 77. Before my last upgrade and pump consolidation and switch to Reeflo's 5 years ago, my tank would have hit 100 if I didn't run a chiller and my 1/2HP chiller was running 12 hours a day mostly from heat transfer from my pumps.

Ok, I'll try again at working something out.
I'm pretty crammed for space. That's the main problem. Especially when trying to reduce hard 90's and other tight turns that create friction loss.

Just put a "T" fitting in the PVC line below the UV with a PVC spigot or a gate valve with a Hose fitting. Then you can easily drain the water without a mess on your floor. Heck, you could use a gate valve or ball valve with a barbed fitting and some nylon hose coiled up when not in use. Otherwise, as soon as you open those unions the water will go everywhere before you can get a bucket under them. The added valve with the drain line is something you will be grateful for when it comes time to cleaning your sleeves.. Trust me on that one! It's something I wish I would have added when I set mine up.

Gotcha! Thanks!

 

[slief]

If you upgrade that pump to the Hammerhead volute and impeller, you won't need to worry much about friction loss. The HH is a beast and as I said, I downgraded to the Superdart Gold and still have plenty of flow. I actually had to gate my HH down after the reactors because I had what I felt was too much flow going to my display in spite of my six 90* elbows after the manifold line leading to my pair of 1" Sea Swirls.

Here is the way I laid out my return plumbing. It's fairly well consolidated as I have all of this under my tank.

Same with the addition of my 114w UV.

 

[freezetyle]

Just thinking out loud here but wouldn't it also make more sense to run the effluent from the uv into the chiller? That way you're not heating the water you just cooled off. May not make a big difference but something to think about.

 

[d2mini]

Just thinking out loud here but wouldn't it also make more sense to run the effluent from the uv into the chiller? That way you're not heating the water you just cooled off. May not make a big difference but something to think about.

Well, with around 2000 gph going through the UV, i figured it wouldn't have a chance to heat up much. And then there is the fact that the chiller's largest port size is 3/4" and the UV is 2" with my plumbing being 1.5". So I won't be able to get all the flow through the chiller, or the flow would be too slow through the UV and would end up in max kill mode.

At least that was my thinking.

 

[freezetyle]

Well, with around 2000 gph going through the UV, i figured it wouldn't have a chance to heat up much. And then there is the fact that the chiller's largest port size is 3/4" and the UV is 2" with my plumbing being 1.5". So I won't be able to get all the flow through the chiller, or the flow would be too slow through the UV and would end up in max kill mode.

At least that was my thinking.

I just re-read your post with the diagram stating that you want to be able to adjust/bypass it. sounds like you're on the right track with your plan

 

[dcmartinpc]

"Max Kill Mode" Is that a new feature?

Have you thought about feeding your refugium and frag tank from the drains of the main tank instead of from the return pump? You could run a smaller return pump... just a thought.

Don

 

[d2mini]

"Max Kill Mode" Is that a new feature?

Have you thought about feeding your refugium and frag tank from the drains of the main tank instead of from the return pump? You could run a smaller return pump... just a thought.

Don

Well, i'm running bean animal plumbing so it needs to run at full siphon.
That's way more flow than I want through any of those other tanks, even the frag tank.
Plus with them being so high, i would probably have issues getting the siphon started. The flow might not be an issue if I have the open channel up there, but if the primary ever clogs, I could be screwed.

And yeah... Slief takes credit for "max kill mode". I stole that from him.

 

[skey44]

Nuclear water filter... Well I do buy my power from a reactor.

 

[Saltydrip]

Dennis... More build porn please... My 29g build is keeping me busy but your builds are the stuff of dreams!!! Lol

 

[d2mini]

Dennis... More build porn please... My 29g build is keeping me busy but your builds are the stuff of dreams!!! Lol

haha, check back tonite or tomorrow morning.
I've had some equipment start to trickle in so I will probably take another pic.

I do have some bad news though.
My skimmer wasn't skimming much the last few days which is a little weird.
Last night I happened to look down at the skimmer pump input.
The strainer I had on it had fallen off, and my Powder Brown Tang was stuck to the side with a frozen surprised expression on his little face. My fault.
I knew this was a risk which is why i had the strainer on the pump, but it's not a tight connection.

He was a bit of a bully with new tank mates, but he was a stunner.
He will be missed.

 

[MathiasM.]

So sorry to hear about the powder brown

It's always hard to loose animals, especially when they are characters like that little fellow.

Hope everything else is running and okay !

Best wishes

 

[dcmartinpc]

That sucks about the Powder Brown. Mine is one of my favorite fish. They are one of the most elegant looking fish I have seen.

Good luck with the rest of the swap. Hopefully that sump shows up soon!

Don

 

[iced98lx]

Bummer on the powder brown, beautiful fish.

 

[Wazzel]

Sorry about the tang. Bowser browns are one of my favorite.

About the plumbing. If I was doing a large tank I would use two or more smaller pumps for the system. Reason is redundancy. Your system will still function if you loose one. If you use all the same pump spares would be cheaper. The downside is pumps get more efficient as they get bigger. So one large pump would probably be a litter cheaper to operate.

 

[dwebster86]

Beautiful!

 

[d2mini]

Got my Hamilton Cebu Sun (24") for the frag tank.
Big thanks to Dave at Hamilton for his help!
Blacked out the back and sides of the frag tank with black vinyl.

And I also hung up my old grow light fixture for the mangrove tank which has a 200w CFL bulb in it.
The mangrove tank has been ordered from Glass Cages and should be on a truck to Houston in early January.

My sump and refugium are complete and should ship this week!