Lots of water, or What the heck are you thinking

Northside-

here is a pic of the linear actuator I told you about- I referenced it with a coke bottle so you can get an idea of the size.
linear.jpg


You'll like the 4way- I had to hook that up and play with it the day I got it. That's the only water my tank has seen yet and it's a very cool device. Paul make some good stuff.

July huh? I am hoping for August myself! It's hard to wait but just like you I want to make sure it gets done right the first time and there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything you want done accomplished. I have a whole spare bedroom full of acyrlic, pumps, airconditioners, ducting, plumbing, electrical, you name it just ready to be intstalled if I could ony find the time.

It will be nice to see one of us finish 'on time' so keep it up ! :)
 
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This is great, I am glad to see what you are doing, I have a 180 main sytem with a few Rubbermaid tub connected to it, They are a good cheap way to go. You can not beat the price of them, I am currently looking at changing out my 75 sump for a 300 gallon tub. What all will you have in the tubs?
 
Wow

Wow

Are you married? I don't know many women that would take this in stride.......if you are married, please proceed to Tiffany and Co. and get her something that has a carat weight:D
 
Great setup. I cant wait to see this up.

On a side note: You mentioned the eBay RO/DI units, and i did not see too many replies about them. They are excellent, IMO. I am posting a link to a thread I started a few months ago that is pretty informative. I would reccommend reading it because I am a nit picky person and asked alot of questions about them. Some, I am sure you will already know the answers to, but some you may not.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=556066

Hope this helps.
 
Scott, thanks for the picture. How does it work? Does a piston extend from that main shaft, to lift up what is connected to the eyelet?
 
melev- I answered on the other thread as well but just in case-

You can't really see it in the picture but there is a mounting hole on the back- basically where the back of the piston would be. The gold colored eye on the front of the shaft (that you can see in the picture) is where you mount it in the front. In the picture above it is fully retracted and it had a 10" throw if I remember correctly. I think the whole unit is 18" retracted and 28" extended. You got the basic idea- it's a piston that extends from the main body 10". HTH

Sorry Northside- didn't mean to get your thread off on this tangent
 
merlock116 said:
that big reservoir you've got, you might want to consider putting a closed loop pump that's plumbed to spray the entire bottom. Occasionally, you can isolate the reservoir w/ some ball valves, turn on the closed loop pump, and then drop in a small pump that goes to a filter sock, which of course drains back into the reservoir.

I get a lot of detritus that collects in my sump... can't imagine how much will collect in your giant reservoir.
Click to expand...

Hi, there is a CL already on the reservoir

reservoirCL.jpg


after driving the becket on the MRC-3 I should still have about 2400 GPH for the recirculation of the reservoir.

only practice will tell for sure if that will be enough to keep detritus from building in the reservoir.


marinelife said:
This is great, I am glad to see what you are doing, I have a 180 main sytem with a few Rubbermaid tub connected to it, They are a good cheap way to go. You can not beat the price of them, I am currently looking at changing out my 75 sump for a 300 gallon tub. What all will you have in the tubs?
Click to expand...

I plan to use macro algae, live rock and live sand in the refugiums.
I have been reading Steve Tyree's book on the use of live sponges as a filtration method. it is an interesting thought, I am not sure how I will go in that regard.

fish_taste_good said:
Great setup. I cant wait to see this up.

On a side note: You mentioned the eBay RO/DI units, and i did not see too many replies about them. They are excellent, IMO. I am posting a link to a thread I started a few months ago that is pretty informative. I would reccommend reading it because I am a nit picky person and asked alot of questions about them. Some, I am sure you will already know the answers to, but some you may not.
Click to expand...

I purchased one from a RC member who has been a great, great help in my quest for knowledge on captive reef systems :)

sidewinder770 said:
melev- I answered on the other thread as well but just in case-

You can't really see it in the picture but there is a mounting hole on the back- basically where the back of the piston would be. The gold colored eye on the front of the shaft (that you can see in the picture) is where you mount it in the front. In the picture above it is fully retracted and it had a 10" throw if I remember correctly. I think the whole unit is 18" retracted and 28" extended. You got the basic idea- it's a piston that extends from the main body 10". HTH

Sorry Northside- didn't mean to get your thread off on this tangent
Click to expand...

No problem at all Scott. There is a lot of interest in that actuator by quite a few of us. I went ahead and purchased one to play with as well.
 
has anyone ever used this type of check valve?

wyecheck.jpg


it's $100.00 for a 2" but if it works it will be well worth it.

those crappy ones from HD are next to worthless IMO
 
I had a check exactly like that on my 55 gallon tank. Works great if you clean it every couple of weeks and do not get any material in the valve seat. If not, it leaks water backwards. IMHO and IME check valves are not my way to go, they are very risky. What are you planning on doing with the check valves?
 
I have used on and it worked well but I had to clean algea out of it on a weekly basis. The clear body is not the best design. If budget allows, you may want do do a redundant check valve set-up.
 
Bryan89 said:
I had a check exactly like that on my 55 gallon tank. Works great if you clean it every couple of weeks and do not get any material in the valve seat. If not, it leaks water backwards. IMHO and IME check valves are not my way to go, they are very risky. What are you planning on doing with the check valves?
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure my sump can handle the volume if I lose power and the water flows back, I was just hoping for a bit of insurance.
In the words of Scotty ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œI canââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t defy the laws of physics captainââ"šÂ¬Ã‚.

I will just have to wait and see when I get that far. Thanks for the feed back guys.
 
sidewinder770 said:
melev- I answered on the other thread as well but just in case-

You can't really see it in the picture but there is a mounting hole on the back- basically where the back of the piston would be. The gold colored eye on the front of the shaft (that you can see in the picture) is where you mount it in the front. In the picture above it is fully retracted and it had a 10" throw if I remember correctly. I think the whole unit is 18" retracted and 28" extended. You got the basic idea- it's a piston that extends from the main body 10". HTH

Sorry Northside- didn't mean to get your thread off on this tangent
Click to expand...

I can't make up my mind. Since I'm making columns on each end of my tank, I could use counterbalances that drop within the columns, completely out of sight and yet holding the canopy up nicely. I'm looking forward to both of your opinions of this device, but may just go with my original plan after all.

The good thing is that if I put the pulley system at each end of my L-shaped canopy, it is less likely to twist and bind. At least in theory. :D
 
Steve i too do not use check valves on my 125. I have a close loop which means there is nothing to worry about there and on my return, my outlets are just below the surface so the level in the tank drops less then 1/2 inch (My sump level rises around 2-3 inchs. i have a 50 gallon sump). When i didnt have a closed loop i just drilled a small hole in the line just below the waters surface as it goes into the tank. This just breaks the sipion.
 
An alternative to check valves is system design. While not always possible, it is IMO and IME much safer and usually easier to utilize small siphon breaks on lines versus check valves. A siphon break is a 1/16" (or slightly larger) hole drilled into the side of a pipe that will uncover as soon as a pump is turned off to allow air back into the return line and therefore "break" the siphon from a lower point, such as a sump to tank return when the sump is lower than the tank.

A siphon break is a passive device that does not need to move/reposition to work. An active device like a check valve needs to move to work. Siphon breaks also can and do fail, I'd recommend two of them at 180 degrees apart of 3 at 120 apart to prevent snails and debris from preventing operation of the siphon break. J

Just my Engineer mindset 2 cents, but IME the check valves used in aquariums are cheap and likely to fail at the worst time. To be effective a check valve must seal completely; any leakage will still drain your tank to the siphon point.

HTH

Bryan
 
Bryan89 said:
An alternative to check valves is system design. While not always possible, it is IMO and IME much safer and usually easier to utilize small siphon breaks on lines versus check valves. A siphon break is a 1/16" (or slightly larger) hole drilled into the side of a pipe that will uncover as soon as a pump is turned off to allow air back into the return line and therefore "break" the siphon from a lower point, such as a sump to tank return when the sump is lower than the tank.

A siphon break is a passive device that does not need to move/reposition to work. An active device like a check valve needs to move to work. Siphon breaks also can and do fail, I'd recommend two of them at 180 degrees apart of 3 at 120 apart to prevent snails and debris from preventing operation of the siphon break. J

Just my Engineer mindset 2 cents, but IME the check valves used in aquariums are cheap and likely to fail at the worst time. To be effective a check valve must seal completely; any leakage will still drain your tank to the siphon point.

HTH

Bryan
Click to expand...

Hi, Bryan
It is not the water siphoning from the tank I am trying to stop. it is the 35' horizontal travel and 14' vertical travel before I get to the tank I was trying to keep from flowing back

that is only about 10 gallons of water (hose diameter is 2") the sump holds 187 gallons I will be about the 150 gallon mark in the sump I should be safe.

I just wanted the check valve as a "just in case something went wrong" insurance policy :)
 
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