cableguy69846
New member
Holy crap. I love it. The plumbing is genius. I can't wait to see what you do for the light.
Jims 16" bubble
- Thread starter fullmonti
- Start date
fullmonti
now is the time
You know how some times it seems like a conspiracy to keep you from your plan. I may get water in Sunday, but probably just freshwater test. I did get the finished overflow plumbing done today. Very nerve racking to get all the pieces cut & fitted so they all meet up & line up right. Planing on spaying the light rig black tomorrow afternoon & photo it then. Ever one needs some one to keep them on task, laugh looks like you are mine.
Jim
Jim
fullmonti
now is the time
Don't know about TOTM? But I have a lock on the over thought, over built, & over spent on a small tank award! I'm hoping this tank will be very cool in my living room, to make all the effort & expense worth it. My best friends definition of a persons personal style is your inability to do it any other way.
Jim
Jim
fullmonti
now is the time
no water yet, bur close
no water yet, bur close
No water today, mostly because need to let some glue set. Basically it's done (assuming nothing leaks). Got it all assembled but one pipe needed to be secured. Couple pix though.
Had to completely rebuild the overflow plumbing, so the two pipes would be plum & parallel. Then I realized the whole assembly was cantilevered out (unsupported) from the plumbing coming out of the bottom of the tank. So included two unions so the assembly could be removed, & a acrylic piece to tie the two pipes together. Still not supported enough so figured out the plumbing inside the sump area, & glue it to the wall of the sump for more support (no pix of this yet).
The Light is a piece of 1/2" conduit bent into 180 degrees (took five tries to get the bend to come out to the correct distance apart). The light socket was a problem. At first couldn't find one that looked decent. I had a Boost LED goose neck clamp on light fixture. It has a very nice socket, so as a last resort I cut the clamp part off & fished the wire through the pipe goose neck part & all. As it turned out the goose neck part wedged in the conduit perfectly. It was a little wobbly so braced the whole thing with a threaded rod to the stand.
More pix tomorrow or next day, maybe with water test.
Jim
no water yet, bur close
No water today, mostly because need to let some glue set. Basically it's done (assuming nothing leaks). Got it all assembled but one pipe needed to be secured. Couple pix though.
Had to completely rebuild the overflow plumbing, so the two pipes would be plum & parallel. Then I realized the whole assembly was cantilevered out (unsupported) from the plumbing coming out of the bottom of the tank. So included two unions so the assembly could be removed, & a acrylic piece to tie the two pipes together. Still not supported enough so figured out the plumbing inside the sump area, & glue it to the wall of the sump for more support (no pix of this yet).
The Light is a piece of 1/2" conduit bent into 180 degrees (took five tries to get the bend to come out to the correct distance apart). The light socket was a problem. At first couldn't find one that looked decent. I had a Boost LED goose neck clamp on light fixture. It has a very nice socket, so as a last resort I cut the clamp part off & fished the wire through the pipe goose neck part & all. As it turned out the goose neck part wedged in the conduit perfectly. It was a little wobbly so braced the whole thing with a threaded rod to the stand.
More pix tomorrow or next day, maybe with water test.
Jim
fullmonti
now is the time
Thanks. I'll be really excited if every thing passes the leak test.
Yes, Should have saltwater in this week. I have had the new rock that sets on the plumbing ring & some extra rocks for the sump in my SPS system sump for about a month now. I will get sand & water from SPS system, so shouldn't be much of a cycle. I got a barnacle bleeny today for this tank & already have good bit of NPS corals for it. So sooner is better!
Jim
Yes, Should have saltwater in this week. I have had the new rock that sets on the plumbing ring & some extra rocks for the sump in my SPS system sump for about a month now. I will get sand & water from SPS system, so shouldn't be much of a cycle. I got a barnacle bleeny today for this tank & already have good bit of NPS corals for it. So sooner is better!
Jim
fullmonti
now is the time
freshwater test
freshwater test
Sorry not nearly as exciting a photo as it was to actually see it running. The distortion from the water in the sphere is really cool, or awful depending on your point of view.
So much for water keeping it level.
The water in the tank was about 3" above the overflow level. So had to take the overflow apart & cut some length off the pipes. The goods news is they weren't glued in, the bad news is they were painted. Anyway it's working just fine now.
It runs pretty quiet, except for a big glug sound a few times a minute. I tried the air line down the pipes, but did nothing. Any ideas on how to stop a big air bubble glug? Here is the inside overflow plumbing.
I thought the T in the sump would let air escape from water in the pipe & not make a bunch of noise, but once again the plan has gone askew.
Let me know if you have some way to stop the glug. I'm going to let it run in the horse washing stall for couple days to make sure all is well. And to try & stop the glug.
Jim
freshwater test
Sorry not nearly as exciting a photo as it was to actually see it running. The distortion from the water in the sphere is really cool, or awful depending on your point of view.
So much for water keeping it level.
The water in the tank was about 3" above the overflow level. So had to take the overflow apart & cut some length off the pipes. The goods news is they weren't glued in, the bad news is they were painted. Anyway it's working just fine now.
It runs pretty quiet, except for a big glug sound a few times a minute. I tried the air line down the pipes, but did nothing. Any ideas on how to stop a big air bubble glug? Here is the inside overflow plumbing.
I thought the T in the sump would let air escape from water in the pipe & not make a bunch of noise, but once again the plan has gone askew.
Let me know if you have some way to stop the glug. I'm going to let it run in the horse washing stall for couple days to make sure all is well. And to try & stop the glug.
Jim
laugh
Member of the Registry
Try the airline again. Sometimes it's a matter of finding a "sweet" spot for the line. I can adjust the noise level of my overflows by pushing the airline in or pulling it out a little. Also I think after it has been running for a few days and the pipes get a little slimey on the inside it will quiet up a bit. Maybe try taking some length off the drain line as well. So it isn't so far below the water line in the sump. Oh and "You go Jim!"
fullmonti
now is the time
The glug is where the water comes out of the overflow pipe in the sump. The overflow up top is quite quiet. I did try moving the air line up & down, but not a lot, was kinda in a hurry by then. I agree some times thing run better/smoother after awhile.
As much as I thought about all this. I still missed a valve to shutoff water to the return pump, for when I need to clean pump/check valve. Have one coming wed, so it can run with freshwater till then anyway.
It is really cool that I made every thing so it can come apart if need be. I even have it so I can disconnect the overflow & return pump & remove the tank & top (with water) from the stand. Hope I never need to though, because that would mean some thing had gone very wrong in the sump area. It makes it easy at this point though because I can take it all apart when it's time to move it upstairs.
As much as I thought about all this. I still missed a valve to shutoff water to the return pump, for when I need to clean pump/check valve. Have one coming wed, so it can run with freshwater till then anyway.
It is really cool that I made every thing so it can come apart if need be. I even have it so I can disconnect the overflow & return pump & remove the tank & top (with water) from the stand. Hope I never need to though, because that would mean some thing had gone very wrong in the sump area. It makes it easy at this point though because I can take it all apart when it's time to move it upstairs.
laugh
Member of the Registry
Hmmmm... if the glug is in the sump then I would try increasing the size of the pipe below the T and just leave it go straight down. This will allow more room for the air to go up while the water is going down. Also it should slow the water down a bit. Water moving in a confined space like a pipe tends to drag air with it. The bigger the pipe the slower the water and the more room for air to escape. Aside from that I believe it will quiet down after a week of running salt water.
