JapanReef - 450 gallon In-Wall system

[NexDog]

Damon1 - the racks are made of 1.5" PVC. I cut about about 30 2" pieces of 1.5" pipe that I used to connect all the elbows and Tees. So each rack has 6 Tees and in these Tees I glued in 1.5" x 3/4" bushings and from there screwed the locline adapters in.

Feel free to rip the design as it's not new. I got the idea from Steve Weast's OregonReef but he used a different way to screw in the locline adapters that I couldn't really understand. My way seems more bulky but it's the only way I could think of. Seemed to work well.

jumboshrimp18 - will inspect the 4-Way unit to see if I can work out what you mean. I think with all the union ball valves it should be pretty easy to disassemble. On the penductors, Im not sure if the OM units can handle the back pressure the penductors cause. It would be great though - I'll ask Paul about it.

asnatlas - all glued together except the locline adapters which were taped and screwed in.

Hopefully the Sequence pump won't blow them to pieces when I plumb it in, heh. I think these racks are the perfect solution for keeping sand in a tank. Works out that only 1/3 of the tank has a small layer of sand around the front that can be easily stirred and vacuumed. The rest of the tank is BB with flow that keeps the BB area totally clean. Can't argue with success and Steve's OregonReef tank is stunning with this system.

 

[pwhitby]

Nice Laurence. I was thinking of doing something similar....Im still debating.

How long till you get water in there?

P.

 

[PITSTOP]

Sick stuff!

Amazing plumbing!

Can't wait for seawater!

 

[NexDog]

Thanks PITSTOP.

Paul, it's killing me. I've had the tabk on the stand for a week but because the holes in the stand top for the bottom bulkheads was drilled too small I can't get my fingers in to tighten the bulkheads enough. The carpenters are behind schedule and they are working like crazy to finish a few things off as we move in officially on Wednesday but tomorrow is their last day so it has to happen tomorrow.

Once I can get those bulkheads on tight I can plumb the racks in in 3 minutes and fill her up for the first leak test. Then it will take another 3 minutes to plumb the drains into the intake chamber of the sump and hook the return up and I can test that. Then I'll power up the bottom CL and then I'll plumb in the back 4 on the 4-Way. Water is definitely going in tomorrow anyway!

 

[Bax]

Oh Boy!!! a water test!!!

Excellent progress NexDog!!!

 

[Ginzo]

Hey Laurence,

Can you tell what are the dimensions of your overflow boxes ?

Width, Height, Length ?

Also, your drains are 1.5" inside the overflow boxe, right ?

Thanks !

Trying to finish my tank plans...

 

[NexDog]

I'll measure them up when I go over the house in a minute and let you know. In hindsight I think I'd have liked to have gone wider and deeper. Also design the overflow strainers so the tank water line is nice and high. I have two 1.5" drains in each overflow.

 

[H20ENG]

If your stand is not too thick, and your plumbing hole is not too large, you can just put the bulkhead nut under the stand. (you used plywood for the tank to sit on IIRC?)
The gasket is on the inside anyway. In other words the bulkhead would sandwich the tank, stand top, and stand base together.
This will only work if the hole is the right size. You dont want that nut to **** sideways.

 

[NexDog]

I understand what you're saying but I can screw it in all the way to the acrylic but I can only get my findertips in there. Need to get at least a whole finger and thumb in there to tighten it enough.

 

[pwhitby]

Im excited....

Good luck....though I hope luck doesnt play a part. Good planning beats good luck every day!

P.

 

[NexDog]

Well water is in halfway. Only had one leaking bulkhead which was actually the joint between a threaded elbow and a nipple. Didn't leak bad - just a few drops a minute so I hooked up the bottom bulkheads to a tee and plumbed it into the big Sequence. I put a Tee in instead of an elbow where it goes down into the pump, whacked a union ball valve on there and then piped it to the sink. Closed off the valve at teh pump intake and opened valves under the tank and on the union I put on that Tee and this will be my drain for water changes. Works great and when I'm not using it I can unscrew the pipe at the union and put it in the corner.

Unfortunately I ran out of pipe so couldn't finish the return pump plumbing. So there's going to be a bit of a hiatus while i wait for a delivery from Savko. We started on the light rack but that's not finished either. I have to move in all our stuff now too. Hoped to have it done by now but everything always takes 3 times as long.

 

[melev]

Laurence, I just finished reading your thread. Very interesting, with lots of good progress. Now you may fill it up.

I have a suggestion for the temperature issue. The Ranco controllers are popular, but I've read a few threads dealing with their failure and the associated losses.

Basically, you want something to heat the tank if it is cold, or cool the tank if it is hot. Something like the AquaController can do that, but as you pointed out, they aren't so reliable unfortunately.

If heat is your enemy, cooling the tank with fans is a good option. It doesn't use a lot of power, it can be noisy to the point that you are alerted to the fact, and you can investigate. You linked some thermometers with alarms, which I think are a good idea and I'm considering buying a couple. But what will turn on a fan or fans? Well, here's a small controller that I like:

http://www.automatedaquariums.com/lv_tsd.htm

It should work, don't you think? I've been thinking about buying a couple for separate tanks. Cooling fans can cool a tank too much, but something like this will prevent cooling the tank too much at night when the lights are off.

 

[NexDog]

Awesome, wondered whe you'd show up.

I actually went with the Finnex heaters with the Finnex controllers. They seem to have great feedback so I hope I have that covered. I don't really want to cool the tank with fans though. If you came to southern Japan you'd know why in about 10 seconds after leaving the airport. The humidity is seriously hardcore. So I'll make sure I have a 1/2hp Arctica chiller by mid-May when the humdidy and temperature starts to reach unbearable levels. I think those controllers look like a great solution though but I really think a chiller is my best bet as it cools without causing evap issues like fans do. I had a fan over my 50g all summer and evap was a nightmare. And in the winter the Finnex controllers should take care of this but if they both fail then I'll be unlucky and in a bit of a pickle. So I really do want some tank control but to tell you the truth all I need is something reliable to tell when there is a problem. In the summer the chiller just does all the legwork. I'm not after a controller to turn the fans on, then these lights and then those lights etc. And in the winter the heating controllers control ther heat. And I have timers for the lights and CL pumps. I have 2 30 amp circuits in there and have lights and 2 CL pumps on one and the return and another CL pump on the other so if a breaker trips at night I still have flow. It would be nice to have a controller do everything but in the interests of redundancy is this a good thing? What if the controller fries or something? I dunno, just a bit wary of controllers at the moment so have opted for different systems controlling different things at the moment.

Granted it's more things that can go wrong but the only 2 things I'm worried about is overheating or heat loss in which case I need something to alert me and your favourite - pump failure (or pumps getting switched off for some reason). For instance if both 30 amp circuits tripped then I'd be left with no water movement so I have bought a hefty battery air pump but ideally I'd like a mini battery operated generator that I plug one of the pumps into. So if the power cuts one of the pumps with run for a while. Do you think they exist?

Savko should be sending out my latest order today and should have everything by the end of teh week so I can complete the plumbing. I drained half the tank and redid the nipple on one the CL bulkheads and that doesn't leak anymore. There's the tiniest of leaks on one of the bottom bulkheads but we are talking one drip per hour. I never did get the holes redrilled in the stand top. We lifted the tank up and I got my hand in and tightened manually and then lowered but obviously not ideal. I'll have another go at it this week.

 

[NexDog]

We've fully moved into the new house although there are a few things outstanding. I moved the 50g 2 days ago and it went well. I took the opportunity to dump out the sand and clean the tank and I have to say that the corals and anenomes have never looked better. I have a brain that is like a real barometer to water quality and with the sand gone it's extended more than I've ever seen before.

My coral beauty did a dive out the bucket and spent at least 5 minutes on the porch floor. I realeased the fish back into the tank and was puzzled by the absence of the purple fish but assumed that I'd just missed it under crabs and snails when I dumped the contents in. A few minutes later I walked out the front door and saw the CB on the floor. In a panic I picked it up and was amazed to see it move a little. I ran to the tank and put it in and it started to swim - albeit very badly. I didn't think it was going to make it but 30 minutes later it was swimming normally. Amazing.

 

[melev]

Nice save!

The new Vortech pump will have the option for a 36 hour battery backup. I'm definitely going that route for my tank.

 

[Bax]

NexDog

I have been wrestling with evap problems in my office 75 g (which has all been practice for my 500g system in planning). I was hoping not to use a chiller, but during the summer, with fans doing all the cooling, I was using 2-3 gal of make up water a day (that's with the AC set on 73 deg F). Even now I go through 1.5 to 2 gal per day. That reduction mainly comes from controlling the fans with the temp sensor on my ReefKeeper instead of leaving them on whenever the MH lights are on. That's like tossing a half a bucket of water on the walls every day! That ratio has stunned me and I can't imagine how much water would evap off of a 500 g set up!



So, I am committed to running a chiller on this 75 system and the new 500 g set up, I just can't have that humidity at home. I'll be plumbing in the chiller when the office is closed for a week between Christmas and New Years. Once you go for a certain level of wattage in lighting I don't see how you can avoid it.

Any way I am rambling what I stopped by to say was ...

Your system and house are looking great!

Glad your CB is OK!!! Show us a pic of the 50 with the livestock you'll be transferring.

 

[NexDog]

The 50 is pathetic and I've never been able to get any good pics. My digital camera is broken so all the pics you see in this thread are from a standard camera with photos scanned in, cut and resized. The camera just won't focus past the glass and as I can't see the photos until they've been developed, it's been a waste of money.

 

[Bax]

Well then your gonna have to ask Santa for a digi cam at Christmas cause we will definitely need pics by then

 

[NexDog]

I have a very vexing problem.

So I'm testing the lights out. Put up a shelf for the ballasts, sliders are almost done. I fired up all thee 3 halides in the hood - all good. I then lit up the 4 PCs and the 2 halides in the dual ballast flickered off. But the ballast was still humming away.

So I turned everything up and relit without the PCs and the 3 halides lit. Turned on the PCs, one died and then the other.....

Hmmm, killed it all again, relit. Two came on, one from each ballast. Then the one on the dual ballast died and the other lit instead. Now it just died again.

What could be going on?

 

[NexDog]

The halides in the ballasts are marked MH1 and MH2. So they aren't even working properly with the PCs off. They are off now and MH1 just flickered on for about 2 minutes.