Just a little grow out system build.. open to advice and suggestions
- Thread starter bvysochin
- Start date
Just realized we missed an update on here a while back.. here's the missed update, and another big update!
FROM A WHILE BACK: Been a while since we updated.. lots of new adventures since then... including, a baby!
Future bathroom. You can see the digital timers for the individual fans on the right. Still need to paint/install doors and do a bunch of trim / touch up everywhere.
Started acquiring bathroom supplies.. Future sink. Has a really cool glass waterfall faucet to go with it.
We went with all schedule 80 bulkheads.. Between 1.5" and 2" ones, over 40 of them.. Come to find out, our holes that were drilled in the bottoms of our tanks were slightly too small to accommodate the larger bulkheads. Like a tiny bit too small.. maybe 1/8". Ugh. For future info, incase anyone else runs into this problem, a rotozip with a diamond cutting bit, with glass cutting lube, works great for reaming the holes out to the proper size. Little bit of chipping on the outer edges but nothing that the huge gasket of a schedule 80 bulkhead can't seal. Worked fantastic and vastly superior in our opinion.. The gasket alone is probably 3x as thick. A bit overkill, but well worth it!
Sumps were picked up.. and needed to be drilled. Everything was so tightly fit together, there wasn't much room for error. Huge, huge, HUGE thanks to Steve for coming over and spending hours and hours drilling these for us. 18 holes in total.
Originally, we had planned to use 2x 24" x 30" x 96" tall rectangular water barrels for the water change station. For some reason, I thought I remembered being able to source them out... When the time came to order them, I was S.O.L. Couldn't find anything in those dimensions.. Sucks because everything was planned around those dimensions. Aisle spacing, tank sizing, rack sizing/spacing, everything. Had to modify our plans a bit and compromise.. Oh well. Decided to go with 32" diameter, 96" tall, 310 gallon capacity.
Water barrels have arrived.. Cody.. I feel your pain. These things were freaking expensive and came from halfway across the country from the only plant that makes them in this particular size.. ugh.
Noticed this while inspecting our racks.. Someone must have been welding these towards the end of their shift on a Friday.. Completely missed welding this cross beam.. Only a few tacks holding it together. Crisis averted..
Picked up a tub for the bathroom.. to lounge in after a long fragging session
FROM A WHILE BACK: Been a while since we updated.. lots of new adventures since then... including, a baby!
Future bathroom. You can see the digital timers for the individual fans on the right. Still need to paint/install doors and do a bunch of trim / touch up everywhere.
Started acquiring bathroom supplies.. Future sink. Has a really cool glass waterfall faucet to go with it.
We went with all schedule 80 bulkheads.. Between 1.5" and 2" ones, over 40 of them.. Come to find out, our holes that were drilled in the bottoms of our tanks were slightly too small to accommodate the larger bulkheads. Like a tiny bit too small.. maybe 1/8". Ugh. For future info, incase anyone else runs into this problem, a rotozip with a diamond cutting bit, with glass cutting lube, works great for reaming the holes out to the proper size. Little bit of chipping on the outer edges but nothing that the huge gasket of a schedule 80 bulkhead can't seal. Worked fantastic and vastly superior in our opinion.. The gasket alone is probably 3x as thick. A bit overkill, but well worth it!
Sumps were picked up.. and needed to be drilled. Everything was so tightly fit together, there wasn't much room for error. Huge, huge, HUGE thanks to Steve for coming over and spending hours and hours drilling these for us. 18 holes in total.
Originally, we had planned to use 2x 24" x 30" x 96" tall rectangular water barrels for the water change station. For some reason, I thought I remembered being able to source them out... When the time came to order them, I was S.O.L. Couldn't find anything in those dimensions.. Sucks because everything was planned around those dimensions. Aisle spacing, tank sizing, rack sizing/spacing, everything. Had to modify our plans a bit and compromise.. Oh well. Decided to go with 32" diameter, 96" tall, 310 gallon capacity.
Water barrels have arrived.. Cody.. I feel your pain. These things were freaking expensive and came from halfway across the country from the only plant that makes them in this particular size.. ugh.
Noticed this while inspecting our racks.. Someone must have been welding these towards the end of their shift on a Friday.. Completely missed welding this cross beam.. Only a few tacks holding it together. Crisis averted..
Picked up a tub for the bathroom.. to lounge in after a long fragging session
Starting to plumb the sumps.. Imagine trying to get 14 holes to line up in a straight line, across 8 glass tanks, across 25 feet. That's what you're seeing below.. Again.. huge thanks to Steve!
Need to do more yoga...
A size reference.. these 2" gate valves are pretty massive. Probably not the highest quality, but good enough for this project!
Leak testing..
Started doing the plumbing on the tanks. We wanted colored PVC but didn't like the cost, or the lack of availability of fittings, etc. So.. we decided to paint it ourselves. This whole plumbing process took so much longer than was anticipated, between the tight spacing, painting everything, securing everything, and leak testing.. It took about 5 full 10-12 hour days with two people.
Getting supplies ready.. bought out every 1.5" PVC elbow between three major home improvement stores in this area.. lol. These pictures show like 1/3 or 1/4 of what we had to buy..
Left fitting: regular spray paint for plastic with no primer applied before painting..
Right fitting: krylon fusion applied directly to a pvc fitting, no primer applied before painting..
Need to do more yoga...
A size reference.. these 2" gate valves are pretty massive. Probably not the highest quality, but good enough for this project!
Leak testing..
Started doing the plumbing on the tanks. We wanted colored PVC but didn't like the cost, or the lack of availability of fittings, etc. So.. we decided to paint it ourselves. This whole plumbing process took so much longer than was anticipated, between the tight spacing, painting everything, securing everything, and leak testing.. It took about 5 full 10-12 hour days with two people.
Getting supplies ready.. bought out every 1.5" PVC elbow between three major home improvement stores in this area.. lol. These pictures show like 1/3 or 1/4 of what we had to buy..
Left fitting: regular spray paint for plastic with no primer applied before painting..
Right fitting: krylon fusion applied directly to a pvc fitting, no primer applied before painting..
Plumbing..
Never knew my body could bend in these ways before this project..
Shortly after getting one row done.. we wanted to leak test. We were originally just planning on going with regular old durso stand pipes, as we've never had issues with noise in the past.. but then again, our return flow rates were never this high. As such, we used one of the 1.5" holes as the overflow, and the second 1.5" hole as an emergency. On the upper two tanks, we tied the emergency drains together into one.. What a mistake..
While leak testing, the noise was absolutely horrendous. Like standing next to a huge waterfall. Couldn't have a conversation or even think.. And that's with only 3 of the 12 tanks running.
We only had two holes drilled in the overflow areas on the tanks, so a bean animal was out of the question, but herbie is what we decided to go with. This required modifying our original plumbing plan.
We made it so that every tank had a dedicated siphon overflow line, and a wet overflow line, leading down into the sump. If the siphon overflow was to ever clog, the 1.5" wet overflow could easily handle the overflow, and the loud noise would alert us to an issue..
Plumbing fittings.. and valves.. and gate valves.. and bulkheads.. and strainers.. and unions.. and etc etc etc. This only shows about 1/4 of what was bought.
These true union ball valves are sweet! Super easy to turn, adjustable (for when they get tight to turn), and even come with both threaded and glue end connectors..
Return pumps. Wanted something inexpensive (relatively speaking), energy efficient, readily serviceable and replaceable. As tempting as the new DC pumps were.. we decided against them at this point. Well see how these hold up in the long term. The price was right, and this company was recommended by another reefer. 165-170 watts running with about 45-50 gpm at 8' head.
Never knew my body could bend in these ways before this project..
Shortly after getting one row done.. we wanted to leak test. We were originally just planning on going with regular old durso stand pipes, as we've never had issues with noise in the past.. but then again, our return flow rates were never this high. As such, we used one of the 1.5" holes as the overflow, and the second 1.5" hole as an emergency. On the upper two tanks, we tied the emergency drains together into one.. What a mistake..
While leak testing, the noise was absolutely horrendous. Like standing next to a huge waterfall. Couldn't have a conversation or even think.. And that's with only 3 of the 12 tanks running.
We only had two holes drilled in the overflow areas on the tanks, so a bean animal was out of the question, but herbie is what we decided to go with. This required modifying our original plumbing plan.
We made it so that every tank had a dedicated siphon overflow line, and a wet overflow line, leading down into the sump. If the siphon overflow was to ever clog, the 1.5" wet overflow could easily handle the overflow, and the loud noise would alert us to an issue..
Plumbing fittings.. and valves.. and gate valves.. and bulkheads.. and strainers.. and unions.. and etc etc etc. This only shows about 1/4 of what was bought.
These true union ball valves are sweet! Super easy to turn, adjustable (for when they get tight to turn), and even come with both threaded and glue end connectors..
Return pumps. Wanted something inexpensive (relatively speaking), energy efficient, readily serviceable and replaceable. As tempting as the new DC pumps were.. we decided against them at this point. Well see how these hold up in the long term. The price was right, and this company was recommended by another reefer. 165-170 watts running with about 45-50 gpm at 8' head.
Size comparison vs a Reeflo Dart/Snapper.
Time to put those huge water barrels to use.. Needed to make a small stand for the water change station to be slightly elevated to allow room for the pump.
Went with 1.5" .250 wall thickness steel tubing. 267 lbs for just the steel. A bit overkill, but we figured with over 5,000 lbs of water, we didn't want to take any chances.
Don't have any experience with metal fabrication, etc... so.. next hurdle: trying to figure out how to cut the tubing!
A 14" abrasive disc saw was hardly tickling the steel.. and after 10 minutes, was about a quarter of the way through. Looked like the steel was being tempered more than anything..
Got a new toy.. a slow (relatively speaking) cutting miter saw..
A cut that took about 10 seconds or less. Good enough for this project!!
Our first attempt at building a steel stand..
Temporary tack welding
A quick mock up..
Time to put those huge water barrels to use.. Needed to make a small stand for the water change station to be slightly elevated to allow room for the pump.
Went with 1.5" .250 wall thickness steel tubing. 267 lbs for just the steel. A bit overkill, but we figured with over 5,000 lbs of water, we didn't want to take any chances.
Don't have any experience with metal fabrication, etc... so.. next hurdle: trying to figure out how to cut the tubing!
A 14" abrasive disc saw was hardly tickling the steel.. and after 10 minutes, was about a quarter of the way through. Looked like the steel was being tempered more than anything..
Got a new toy.. a slow (relatively speaking) cutting miter saw..
A cut that took about 10 seconds or less. Good enough for this project!!
Our first attempt at building a steel stand..
Temporary tack welding
A quick mock up..
Afterwards, everything was taken to my very helpful neighbor across the street who laid down some very serious welds with his huge MIG.. Afterwards, primed, and painted.. and voila! Was actually a fun project and we're confident this thing can survive an earthquake..
Next dilemma.. a smaller water storage container to fit between the containers that are now 4" larger than expected, and the already-installed stainless sink... Ugh.
A few days or searching and we decided on a 55 gallon Ace Rotomold. 18" x 18" x 44" tall, with expensive shipping, like last time.. Ugh.
Making a little stand for it..
So cute..
One of four pex heating loops that will be going into the sumps. This Pex-Al-Pex stuff is actually pretty cool!
Another huge pex loop.. Still need to finalize the system design and order the necessary components to put this into action.,
An updated sump/plumbing photo.. excuse the dirty floors.
Water testing the jetted tub..
Time to plumb the water change station.
Next dilemma.. a smaller water storage container to fit between the containers that are now 4" larger than expected, and the already-installed stainless sink... Ugh.
A few days or searching and we decided on a 55 gallon Ace Rotomold. 18" x 18" x 44" tall, with expensive shipping, like last time.. Ugh.
Making a little stand for it..
So cute..
One of four pex heating loops that will be going into the sumps. This Pex-Al-Pex stuff is actually pretty cool!
Another huge pex loop.. Still need to finalize the system design and order the necessary components to put this into action.,
An updated sump/plumbing photo.. excuse the dirty floors.
Water testing the jetted tub..
Time to plumb the water change station.
Pure water feed for the awesome Spectrapure RO system that was ordered. At the end of filling up the fresh water container, and periodically during operation, this system actually draws up fresh RODI water from the fresh water container to "pickle" the membrane for future use.. this eliminates any TDS creep that you would normally see with an R.O. system.. To keep the line from curling up inside the 8' tall barrel, we used a piece of spare acrylic rod and zip tied the 3/8 line to it.
Top of the water change system.. this is 10' up in the air. Notice the 2-3" clearance between the mini split AC unit and the top of the barrel.. tight tight tight spacing for this entire project..
Water change station.. almost done..
Needed space to mount the RO system, and future recirculating heat system, with LOTS of plumbing in the wall directly behind.. So.. this piece of plywood will serve a very useful job, providing us a medium to screw into.
Starting to make some water.. tanks are so close to getting wet!!
Time to wrap the plywood and make it look pretty and durable. We used "polywall" utility paneling.. It's almost like FRP, and is pretty resilient, durable, and waterproof. We then framed the edges with aluminum trim for a cleaner look. Can't believe it, but we don't have a picture of it all completed.. Will have to take one.
RO system temporarily mounted, and starting to make a small batch of salt water.. With this water change system design, we can quickly open up a 200 gallon box of IO, grab a 50 gallon bag, and just dump it in, without having to measure out the correct amount of salt. The little white barrel wasn't absolutely necessary, but the alternative would have been climbing a ladder about 9 feet to dump salt into the top of the black barrel... No thanks.
Went with an amazing Spectrapure UHE system.. 1:1 ratio, 100 gpd, comes with booster pump, computer controlled auto flush, and high/low floats already included. Was originally going to DIY a system using an Apex with solenoids and floats.. but why reinvent the wheel when something like this is already available in an easy-to-install package.. 420 TDS coming in, 3 TDS coming out of the membrane (99%+ rejection rate).. We expect this DI resin to last A REALLY LONG time.. Sweet!!
Starting to work on the bathroom.. this photo was taken 4 days before our baby girl was born..
Top of the water change system.. this is 10' up in the air. Notice the 2-3" clearance between the mini split AC unit and the top of the barrel.. tight tight tight spacing for this entire project..
Water change station.. almost done..
Needed space to mount the RO system, and future recirculating heat system, with LOTS of plumbing in the wall directly behind.. So.. this piece of plywood will serve a very useful job, providing us a medium to screw into.
Starting to make some water.. tanks are so close to getting wet!!
Time to wrap the plywood and make it look pretty and durable. We used "polywall" utility paneling.. It's almost like FRP, and is pretty resilient, durable, and waterproof. We then framed the edges with aluminum trim for a cleaner look. Can't believe it, but we don't have a picture of it all completed.. Will have to take one.
RO system temporarily mounted, and starting to make a small batch of salt water.. With this water change system design, we can quickly open up a 200 gallon box of IO, grab a 50 gallon bag, and just dump it in, without having to measure out the correct amount of salt. The little white barrel wasn't absolutely necessary, but the alternative would have been climbing a ladder about 9 feet to dump salt into the top of the black barrel... No thanks.
Went with an amazing Spectrapure UHE system.. 1:1 ratio, 100 gpd, comes with booster pump, computer controlled auto flush, and high/low floats already included. Was originally going to DIY a system using an Apex with solenoids and floats.. but why reinvent the wheel when something like this is already available in an easy-to-install package.. 420 TDS coming in, 3 TDS coming out of the membrane (99%+ rejection rate).. We expect this DI resin to last A REALLY LONG time.. Sweet!!
Starting to work on the bathroom.. this photo was taken 4 days before our baby girl was born..
Plumbing up in the attic.. excuse the mess.. The white coiled up tubes are the copper line sets for the AC units that still need to be installed, before summer comes!
And that's it for now guys.. still a work in progress, but slowly getting there.. in between the 2-3 hour newborn feeding sessions..
Well guys, it's been a while. We're still in it. Sorry for the lack of updates.. since kid #4 came, we've been swamped. A lot of the tanks are now wet. We're currently running 9 of the 12, with one of the tanks acting as a remote refugium.
There's been some up and downs.. mostly due to neglect.
Here's some photos.
Bathroom build..
This Redgard stuff is really cool.
This tile leveling system is awesome, once you get the hang of it. No more tile spacers or having to keep removing tiles as you're setting them to get the levels right!
Started doing pavers simultaneously.. Slight learning curve, to do it right, but came out great!
And that's it for now guys.. still a work in progress, but slowly getting there.. in between the 2-3 hour newborn feeding sessions..
Well guys, it's been a while. We're still in it. Sorry for the lack of updates.. since kid #4 came, we've been swamped. A lot of the tanks are now wet. We're currently running 9 of the 12, with one of the tanks acting as a remote refugium.
There's been some up and downs.. mostly due to neglect.
Here's some photos.
Bathroom build..
This Redgard stuff is really cool.
This tile leveling system is awesome, once you get the hang of it. No more tile spacers or having to keep removing tiles as you're setting them to get the levels right!
Started doing pavers simultaneously.. Slight learning curve, to do it right, but came out great!
Started setting tile.. Went with 12x24 large format. Pretty easy to work with. We decided to tile the entire thing.. ceiling and all. Didn't want any moisture issues, and we like the look! Never done a ceiling before, but it wasn't bad at all! Plus, we saved thousands doing the entire job ourselves.
These little cubbies, to showcase dead coral skeletons, were a pain in the ***!
Coming along!
After trying 2 cheapie mini fridges off Amazon and not having any luck, we decided to get this, for cool refreshing beverages!
These little cubbies, to showcase dead coral skeletons, were a pain in the ***!
Coming along!
After trying 2 cheapie mini fridges off Amazon and not having any luck, we decided to get this, for cool refreshing beverages!
Starting to work on the tanks..
Garage went on hold for a while.. as we demo'd and built a new kitchen..
Then.. Thomas Fire came..
We literally just got the garage done and our new kitchen put in, like a week before this fire came..
This photo is standing in our front yard, looking across the street..
This was in the middle of the day.. apolocalyptic is an understatement.
We took a long break.. went on a few trips, to get away from all of this..
Then got back in again..
Garage went on hold for a while.. as we demo'd and built a new kitchen..
Then.. Thomas Fire came..
We literally just got the garage done and our new kitchen put in, like a week before this fire came..
This photo is standing in our front yard, looking across the street..
This was in the middle of the day.. apolocalyptic is an understatement.
We took a long break.. went on a few trips, to get away from all of this..
Then got back in again..
July, 2018
August, 2018.. we started having a lot of nitrate issues at this point. Lots of pale colors, poor growth. Lots of nuisance algae growth. Depressing!
Tried dosing KNo3.. tried feeding heavier.. but it just wasn't working out.
Unfortunately, we kinda just let things go at this point.. We hardly stepped foot into the new garage for the next few months.
And then we ran into issues with our Spectrapure system.. Pumps were just about running dry as our top off barrel ran out...
System was sent in for repair, and all was good again.. Decided to solve our nitrate issues by increasing our bioload.
Over these last few months, we've added about 40 tangs, 5 foxface, and about 70 other small fish. Fish are fed pellets twice daily, and we try to feed about 25 cubes of frozen, daily. Nitrates are hovering at about 10. Things are doing much better now!
Feb, 2019
This was our first batch of fish we added..
August, 2018.. we started having a lot of nitrate issues at this point. Lots of pale colors, poor growth. Lots of nuisance algae growth. Depressing!
Tried dosing KNo3.. tried feeding heavier.. but it just wasn't working out.
Unfortunately, we kinda just let things go at this point.. We hardly stepped foot into the new garage for the next few months.
And then we ran into issues with our Spectrapure system.. Pumps were just about running dry as our top off barrel ran out...
System was sent in for repair, and all was good again.. Decided to solve our nitrate issues by increasing our bioload.
Over these last few months, we've added about 40 tangs, 5 foxface, and about 70 other small fish. Fish are fed pellets twice daily, and we try to feed about 25 cubes of frozen, daily. Nitrates are hovering at about 10. Things are doing much better now!
Feb, 2019
This was our first batch of fish we added..
Feb, 2019.. We realized our flow sucked. We added a few Jebao PP20's and boy.. what a difference. We rebooted one of the tanks with the upgraded flow.
March, 2019
This Kenya tree has gotten out of control, and has smothered out a lot of nicer coral we had... It was time to prune it back. We also had a HUGE bubble algae outbreak.. Like an entire 8’ x 4’ tank, to the point you could not see any eggcrate.
This was about 2 of 10 tubs we took out..
March, 2019
March, 2019
This Kenya tree has gotten out of control, and has smothered out a lot of nicer coral we had... It was time to prune it back. We also had a HUGE bubble algae outbreak.. Like an entire 8’ x 4’ tank, to the point you could not see any eggcrate.
This was about 2 of 10 tubs we took out..
March, 2019
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April 2019. Refilled Calcium Reactor again..
We plan to order a 2nd Geo 1218 soon, as we have noticed a huge increase in Alk consumption. 10 clams may have something to do with it ��
The tank bottom and eggcrate are just about completely covered in Coralline now.. with the exception of the little area surrounding the clams, where the fish are afraid to swim/eat algae. Crazy how fast it took over!
Started a little ric garden.. April, 2019
As of a week ago, April 22, 2019
We plan to order a 2nd Geo 1218 soon, as we have noticed a huge increase in Alk consumption. 10 clams may have something to do with it ��
The tank bottom and eggcrate are just about completely covered in Coralline now.. with the exception of the little area surrounding the clams, where the fish are afraid to swim/eat algae. Crazy how fast it took over!
Started a little ric garden.. April, 2019
As of a week ago, April 22, 2019
Last edited:
dodgerblew
Team RC
Thanks for the update Crystal and congrats on #4. Really looking good
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