Lightsluvr's 340G Upgrade

[Lytehouse]

Almost half way to a split in 45 days.... dude you're thread is smokin' as fast as your buile!

I love the color coded pipe. I know it's a little late for your build. Would colored tape give the same effect? Is there any chance of it sticking?

Wild looking snake in your back yard....

 

[Lightsluvr]

Closed loop

Closed loop

The closed loop is glued and reinstalled under the tank...ran out of time to put tap water in the tank tonight - will do that in the morning. Besides, the inspection crew took over the tank when I started installing the strainers and flow accelerators... once again, everything passed the cat inspection:

You lookin' at me?

I'm a celebrity - now get me out of here!

On top of the world...

After tomorrow, it won't be possible for them to get in the tank...unless they want to swim: (unlikely)

Here is the configuration of the closed loop:

Water tomorrow to test the closed loop!

Thanks for following along - please leave a note to let us know you've been here!

LL

 

[purebullet417]

nice to see you got the closed loop done with the strainers. how high off the bottom are yours? i went about 8" cause of the deeper sandbed we wanted for inside the tank.

 

[cody6766]

You're making awesome progress, George! I haven't checked in since page 17 and it's looking like you've been busy. The cabinets and plumbing look great, btw. As everyone else is, I'll be hanging out, waiting for more pics!

I got a chuckle out of your cats. It's the birds that have to inspect my projects. We have two Indian Ringneck Parakeets, blue phase. These aren't the little budgies you see at the pet stores, they're bigger, poop bigger and make more noise! Plus they're smarter and love a lot more. I'll quit boring everyone with the birds though. Google the species name if you want to know what they are...ON WITH THE FISH!

I can't wait to see more!

 

[Lightsluvr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15297459#post15297459 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cody6766
You're making awesome progress, George! I haven't checked in since page 17 and it's looking like you've been busy. The cabinets and plumbing look great, btw. As everyone else is, I'll be hanging out, waiting for more pics!

I got a chuckle out of your cats. It's the birds that have to inspect my projects. We have two Indian Ringneck Parakeets, blue phase. These aren't the little budgies you see at the pet stores, they're bigger, poop bigger and make more noise! Plus they're smarter and love a lot more. I'll quit boring everyone with the birds though. Google the species name if you want to know what they are...ON WITH THE FISH!

I can't wait to see more!

You could cause a cycle in your tanks if one of those birds pooped in the water!

We used to raise Gouldian Finches, and loved them. But birds are so darn messy.

My wife had several zebra finches she hand fed that would take baths out of her hand... cute.

LL

 

[Lightsluvr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15296570#post15296570 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by purebullet417
nice to see you got the closed loop done with the strainers. how high off the bottom are yours? i went about 8" cause of the deeper sandbed we wanted for inside the tank.

We'll probably have a 2-3" sandbed in most places... the strainers and returns are 4-6" from the tank bottom. Of course they will be hidden by the aquascaping, which I plan in three islands - left, center and right. Using the 3 to 5 ratio configuration as much as possible. No "stacks of rocks" and nothing touching any of the tank walls...(including the back).

At least that's the plan. We'll see hows it works, once I start moving LR from the old tanks to the new one...

I'm still studying other projects here on the large reef tank forum for inspiration.

LL

 

[FUA]

nice plumbing set up

 

[Lightsluvr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15297927#post15297927 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FUA
nice plumbing set up

Thanks again for stopping by - I am waiting for the glue to set up on some last minute adjustments I made to the closed loop pump feed... then the tap water test will commence. Hopefully I won't need all the clean towels we own...

LL

 

[skiformance]

bout time, i have been trolling your progress. i have come to the conclusion that i have big tank envy. i should have got your 180 instead of the 120 lol to hell with walls!!!

 

[Lightsluvr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15298002#post15298002 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skiformance
bout time, i have been trolling your progress. i have come to the conclusion that i have big tank envy. i should have got your 180 instead of the 120 lol to hell with walls!!!

That's funny - the guy who bought my 180 said he was looking for a 120G...

LL

 

[Dtking]

Hey George,
Thanks for the PM, I have been away for about two weeks on a mission. Everything is looking great and giving me really good ideas!! You are moving along really fast and its been really organized so far! GOOD JOB!

 

[Lightsluvr]

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks, Dustin - good to see you back. Always get a little nervous, knowing where you are...

If you believe the news reports over here, our guys are being sent to the countryside...out of the big cities, etc. But who believes the news media these days...

But I digress...

The closed loop test will be this morning...I sure hope I didn't screw something up... :eek2:

LL

 

[Lightsluvr]

Houston, we have a problem

Houston, we have a problem

Well, I had about 10" of water in the Kahuna this morning - about 135 gallons...everything was looking good...then I noticed a fast drip coming from the "wet" side of a double union valve on the closed loop. Oh, crap!

I tried to tighten the valve while Ms. LL broke out the towels. It would not stop dripping, no matter how hard I tightened.

Finally, I just tossed in the towels (literally) and grabbed a Mag 7 to drain out the water. After I got the water down below the closed loop bulkheads, I was able to remove the problem double union and discovered a crimped O-ring. No way it would have held water.

Somewhere along the way, the O-ring got squished - probably when being tightened by me or the previous owner.

I made a quick run to Ace Hardware, the friendly Hardware place, and found an O-ring of the proper size. Amazing for July 4th!

All the plumbing has been put back in place and I'm off to put water back in the tank...

LL

 

[Poseidon]

Good catch! That would have a made a rather large mess for sure.

 

[skiformance]

tank 1 george 0 lol
round 2 ding ding

 

[Lightsluvr]

Round 2

Round 2

Round 2

Threaded fittings on both suction and outflow on the Barracuda Gold leaking... drip, drip, drip

...no doubt when pumping, it would be more than a drip.

Remove the pump - rework both fittings...

Tank 2 George 0

Round 3

(before you ding dinged me again, Mike)

LL

 

[Lightsluvr]

A lot of $%#@& trouble!

A lot of $%#@& trouble!

This is the blankety-blank double union valve that did me in earlier...

then all of the threaded connections to the Barracuda pump, all hand tightened as instructed, were leaking.

I was not a happy camper trying to figure a way to pump 135 gallons of water outside - the longest 3/4" hose I have is maybe 8 feet long! So I pumped water from a Mag 7 thru what little hose I had, into the longest piece of 1.5" PVC I had left over, then into the longest piece of 1" PVC I had - all duct-taped together! Redneck...

This is a picture of a pi$$ed off Okie:

Don't say a darn thing, Mike... :smokin:

LL

 

[OkR33Fer]

Re: Round 2

Re: Round 2

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15303590#post15303590 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lightsluvr
(before you ding dinged me again, Mike)

LL [/B]

You two should get a room for that! :lol:

Let's see some water pics this time around.

 

[cody6766]

And that's why we do 'dry' (what an inappropriate term) runs before the saltwater goes in. It's good you took it slow. I have a tendency to get excited and rush. I would have likely had a wet and angry 4th had I been in your shoes.

Take it slow and good luck! You'll get those kinks hammered out soon enough.

If it's any encouragement, I had a few setbacks on my 33g when I set it up in the new apartment. They were caused by my chronic case of rectal-cranial inversion.
First, I fired the return pump and soaked the wall behind the tank with saltwater. Oops...forgot to make sure ALL the connections were seated and clamped properly.
Second, I wake up to make my oh-so-necessary morning coffee at 5:45 AM and my pump in my ATO tank was giving me the "I'm Empty!" grinding. I go to top it off and fill the 2.5g tank to the top with DI water. By the time my coffee is half done I hear the grind again. ***? I go over, start to top it off again (remember, it's now 5:50 and I'm a worthless turd in the morning) and it clicks....the water had to go somewhere and the sump is at its normal level. Uh oh...the hose fell out of the sump and I spent almost 3 gallons of DI watering the carpet behind the tank. I toweled up what I could, tossed a fan on it and said to hell with it. I sat in the shower, drinking my coffee and decided it was time to get out and zip-tie the hose to something in the tank.

Just some words of encouragement!

 

[Poseidon]

It wouldn't be any fun if it was easy!