I'm glad the HX tubes are no longer under the structure.
I agree. I decided the remove the enclosing structure around the heat exchanger tubes, but reduced the risk of catastrophic irreparable failure by moving it from underneath the slab.
Unsure on the stand's structure/likelihood of staying level, and honestly a bit concerned about thinking too much about it. Like the uniseals.
Went through some permutations of the stand with more support wood and a more solid framing.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2650902&page=2
<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/Designs/0_zpswbbeklmg.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/Designs/0_zpswbbeklmg.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 0_zpswbbeklmg.jpg"/></a>
I would think that the trick in leveling it is in having the slab be as level as possible or pouring a thin layer of leveling concrete under the treated wood to ensure that it is. The rest should be based on the wood-cutting?
The uniseals I actually have a lot of confidence in. I've been using them and they've been solid so far.
Unsure about the concrete. Not sure what it does in salt water (any leaching concerns?).
No worries. My entire tank today is concrete and my learning is to cure it with heavy aeration long enough or accelerate the leaching with Lanthanum. Public aquariums use concrete so I'm not too worried.
Did you get rid of the height changing overflow box?
No. It's under the acrylic overflow box. That structure is small, but includes the air cavity to create buoyancy + the PVC extenders to actuate the height level + filament line to drive the actuation. That's why there's a glass "overflow guide" box with a little escape hatch at the bottom, and then the acrylic overflow that actually connects to the plumbing. I'm still thinking both tidal and surge effects.
For surges what about tubes with flapper valves that pull from a sump and dump to the tank? Not enough volume?
Actually the tank will have the option for a number of surge mechanisms. Some controlled and some uncontrolled/pseudo-passive. The controlled surge would be the vacuum chambers where one side is pressurized and the other vacuumed so that the flow of air drives the surge/countersurge without any flow going into the sump. This is still to be proven effective. The uncontrolled surge is basically allowing normal air pressure to release into the vacuum chambers which would release a massive volume of water into the tank... and the sump would need to absorb all that! .... which it's designed to do.
Also, the normal "raised fuge" returns are actuated, so they can operate in normal return flow mode, or opened wide to create multi-directional surges.
The barrels being that high seem like an issue for pulling the vacuum (harder as higher, although you get more pressure as well).
I think you're talking about the rear surge chambers (cylinders). They're actually not that high. The tops only about 36" above DT water level and the bottom is close to the DT floor. The tank is 27" high and the chambers basically occupy that same height + 3' above... Lifting 2' is not a problem and that's probably where most of the operation will be. The last foot is to experiment with high power vacuums later.
Why three sinks?
I have one sink now and I just WISH I had three. One for dirty work - chemicals, etc... One for normal work (tap water) for washing things... and one with saltwater for living work. This is for scrubbing rock or removing pests... or just anything that you'd do in your aquarium, but wouldn't it more convenient in a sink that you can just unplug and drain? That's why there are three taps too with three kinds of water.. tap water, RODI water, and saltwater.
Would be cool if you could have a full size sunlit mangrove.
I've actually thought about it... but that would require significant real estate with the "root structure" protected from the elements. Of course, having it in the garden means that that kind of expansion is technically possible...
I'll bet you end up trying to grow coral in the outdoor fuge section, but that's just a guess on my part.
Well.. If history is a predictor of future activity... my corals find their way into all kinds of spaces. My current fuge became my "waste bin" for unhealthy, misbehaving or bad coral.. and a few polyps turned into a second coral fuge... which I now regret. I'm certainly not going to allow xenia or palys in my display tank again... but maybe experiment with zoas or GSP in a controlled zone. No idea - it's a gamble.
