Mike's Starphire 150 w/ frag tank build

[polyped]

Well I got the unions and the pump in. I wanted to use 2" spaflex pvc to help minimize any vibration from sump to the pump but I could not find any. I will however use 1.5" flexible tubing to go from the pump to the first tee.

I also started on the wyes that will divert the flow into the tank. There will be two 1.5" lines that tee off the main line then wye and terminate in lockline adapter so that I can position the lockline where I see fit once the tank is up and running.

I switched to smaller pics when uploading to photobucket. Thought it may make the viewing easier and the pics look better. I have neither a good camera nor much skill in the photography department. Two thing I hope to remedy in the near future.

 

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Okay the idea for this glue covered monstrosity is that I didn't want the flow from the pump having a straight path to the first return line so I used one of my sanitary tee's that wouldnt fit in the left of my overflow box and created this. I wanted the majority of the flow to go past the first return line, I hope the shape of the sanitary tee will aid with this yet still allow ~500 gph to pass through the left side.

I am using unions on the system for a few reasons. The foremost being that I hope to be buying a place of my own in the near future and want the tank to come apart without a ton of cutting. I also want to be able to clean if needed or replace any sections that leak or get damaged. I hope nothing leaks...

 

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Well I got some stuff done today... I could have probably kept it much simpler but I didn't want to have to chop up the pvc later and add tee's so I tried to think ahead. Anyway, got the display returns installed...

is this going to work? not a pro at fluid dynamics, chose biochem not physics...

I am securing all the piping and insulating from vibration at the same time using the rubberized weatherseal. I feel that securing the pvc will also provide support to the external overflow. The collars I got from the electrical section in HD. I went with the pvc ones rather than the metal and am pleased with their strength thus far.

 

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Here is what it looks like with the lockline tubing split from the returns. I wonder how they will react when pressurized?? Time will tell... oh and pardon my mess.

 

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okay this christmas tree is for my accessories. From left to right.

3/4" line for the chiller
1/2" line for phos / carbon reactor. not sure how or when I will use the reactor yet.
1/2" that will reduce to 1/4" JG fitting to feed my Ca reactor
Gate valve that will control the flow to the 30 gal frag tank.

Here it is all plumbed in

well I forgot the 1/2" JG fitting for the carbon reactor so back to HD tomorrow.

I installed the gate valve upside down so that it would be easier to turn, and if it were to leak it would do so no matter what angle it was placed due to the pressure anyway.

 

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One more deviation from KISS tomorrow as I build / install the overflows. On the main overflow from the frag tank I am going to install a 25W UV sterilizer. The thought behind this is that if need be I could use the 24 X 24 X 12 frag tank as a quarantine for either incoming fish or corals and that sterilizer would destroy any pests before they entered my display... If nothing else it will polish the water Any thoughts on this?

 

[sunsetSPS]

It's gonna be a great setup. Is it a sunset monti you have in your current tank?

 

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<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15331367#post15331367 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sunsetSPS
It's gonna be a great setup. Is it a sunset monti you have in your current tank?

Yeah I got it from a legend down here in San Diego Jasper Paris (rest in peace) who got it from Tim (Rollinghead) by way of Tyree. It is vibrant orange with big green polyps. I have a ton of frags but everyone down here already has it, so my sand bed is littered with sunset frags that are getting huge. Want one?

Here is a better pic of it, real colors straight our of the camera. As stated before I know very little about photography. It is just one click down on the exposure of my Cannon PAS on manual macro.

 

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Got the plumbing done for the 25watt UV sterilizer. It was one of the more difficult things to plumb. I added the ball valve so that I could have an option to divert all of the flow through the sterilizer. I figured this way I could use the frag tank as a quarantine... Now that I have it all plumbed I dont really need the valve I should have just plumbed it so water flows straight through the UV. If I have this ball valve it would have only made sense to put one on the tee's that feed the UV as well so that I could take it out if need be for cleaning or whatever. However it is done now so I will use it as is. Pics:

You can see the weather stripping and brackets in the pic above that I used to secure all of my PVC work.

All plumbed in. I also used plastic plumbers tape for any pvc lines that were hanging. I used 1/2" screws and just screwed them into the 3/4" ply that the tank is sitting on.

 

[polyped]

I got all of the plumbing done this weekend and yes the pump is a little much... I still have two more reactors to add but I think that I will turn down the ball valve on return side union just a fraction. The tank is dead silent, except for the return pump humming and the trickle of water into the external overflow. I must admit I wish I couldn't here the water going into the overflow at all but thats what I get when the tank only has a linear overflow size of 24". Herbie on the left (frag tank) Beananimal on the right (display) and am getting a very small amount of micro bubbles from the fuge side overflow crashing 3" to the return chamber. May add one more baffle to knock the bubbles down. Added the first bit of my sand tonight, will get picks up tomorrow.

Next is building the rock structures.

 

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Oh also ordered magnets for the skin of the tank. The ceramic disk magnets I got from HD didn't cut it so I ordered some magnets from http://kjmagnetics.com/

I got the DA2-N52's, with a pull force of ~31 lbs I hope I will be able to get the the skin off when I need to... I will secure the magnets to the wood with liquid nails... I wonder what will be stronger, me the magnets, or the liquid nails, I am hoping me > liquid nails > magnet... we'll see
http://kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DA2%2DN52

 

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Here are the siphon and Durso from bean's setup. I had to use street 90's due to the space. I couldn't find two in white so had to use a black one. + 1$

I wanted to use sanitary Tee's on both but space was an issue so I only used it on the siphon.

 

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Here it is all finished

and with the cover that is helping a lot with evaporation.

You can also see the lockline returns time will tell wether they were a good choice or not.

 

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Frag tank all plumbed in

With Herbie overflow

All plumbed in

The frag tank empties to the fuge then overflows to the return chamber.

 

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Got the chiller all hooked up

The chiller empties into the return chamber of the sump.

 

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To fill the tank I did not want to waste a bunch of water so I used a industrial DI unit.

The TDA shown here is our local tap water

and the reading here is taken in the tank as it was filling

Here is the unit I used

and a pic of it filling

 

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A pic of the main return side once the system was up and running. The left line is the siphon, with 1 1/2" gate valve plumbed in. The middle is the emergency stand pipe and the right is the durso.

What it looks like running

and the bubble trap

 

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I dumped in one container of salt to set up the system, it was pretty close to 1.025 when it had finished mixing so I was happy

and stirred it around

 

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My magnets finally came for the skin

To hold them onto the skin I used

though in a few instances they pulled out of the wood and I resorted to Gorilla Glue.

A typical side before glue notice the areas for the magnets are notched out

 

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The depth of my sump is 11" when the water is flowing so I built a stand to get my protein skimmer to a depth of ~8"

after it has been siliconed together

I covered the top and bottom with silicon to reduce vibration