Mission Impossible: 90AGA

[Jamesurq]

Looks great!! Not to bring the element of hindsight in, but wouldn't that steel be strong enough without a center brace? I have the AGA 90 gallon with the modern series stand and canopy in cherry and my biggest complaint is that center brace makes it impossible to remove my sump without draining the main tank.

Nice job - and good move switching to furniture grade ply....

 

[lilbuddy]

great work!!! now post pics of the full set up once you get it running.

 

[Demeter]

Jamesurq - You are right. I was kicking myself when I had to stand my sump on its side to get it into place. If I was thinking I when I designed the stand, I wouldn't have used the center brace. Hindsight is 20/20

More pics to follow...

 

[prop-frags]

Just whip out that cutting torch and take that center brace right on outta there!

 

[Demeter]

I've started installing the sump, protein skimmer and calcium reactor. I ordered the CLR1-125 from Lifereef along with LCR1. Below are some pictures on the setup. I think all the connections are correct, but if they are not, please let me know.

Here's the main maifold connected to the main pump.

The bulkhead connection to the pump. I think the 2nd connection may not be needed and I can cap that bulkhead?

A few pictures of the protein skimmer connections.

 

[Demeter]

I finally got it figured out with Jeff's help. I'll post pictures of the complete setup later today.

 

[Demeter]

Here are the pictures of the sump and protein skimmer all hooked up. I am by no means a plumber and it shows...

A pic of the pump...

A pic of the skimmer inside the sump. You can see the I cut the return to short. I'll need to cut a longer return tomorrow.

A full shot of the sump, skimmer and pump inside the cabinet. You can see the difference from the pump return to the plumbing for the return. I'm not sure if that makes that much difference, but it would look better if the increase was a little more gradual.

I ordered and received a RO/DI unit on eBay from Aqua-Safe. It was very easy to install and the instructions were well written. I have to get a BIG trash can to move the water from the kitchen to where the tank is located. The should happen tomorrow and I'll be making salt water. Still need to buy a few items like heaters and powerheads. I like the Tunze Stream but haven't done enough research on it yet. It may be a little overkill for a 90, but I hear they are excellent for moving water. I have to clean out the tank (there's a lot of saw dust in there) and add the sand tomorrow. More pics to come...

 

[Demeter]

I turned on the water for the RO/DI unit and noticed a couple of leaks. It was leaking form the water outlet to the drain and from the last filter cartridge housing. I tightened the housing, but it was still leaking a little. I had some PVC cement around that I used on the water outlet, let that set for 2 hours and no drips at all. The unit is kind noisy when running, not sure what I can do about that. I went to Lowes and got a Rubbermaid 44 Gallon Brute with the dolly. I made about 30 - 35 gallons on waters tonight, but I don't have any salt to mix the water. Off to the LFS tomorrow to buy a 5 gallon bucket of salt mix.

 

[Demeter]

I have an elecrtical question about my setup. I'll need connections for the following:

- Lifereef 125, which has a Little Giant and MAG 5 pump
- 250W dual HQI MH ballast
- 2 IceCap Fans
- 1 fan in the stand
- 1 heater
- 1 Calcium Reactor

I have 2 recepticles on the wall near the tank. I believe there are 15 or 20 amp breakers in the box for those recepticles. I'll have to use power strips to connect all the equipment. I can't do anything with the wiring since I live in an apartment. What are the chances that I'll blow a fuse or fuses?

 

[Jamesurq]

you should be fine.

 

[Demeter]

As I stated above, I hooked up the RO/DI unit and thought this was a breeze. The unit filled a 44 gallon trash can in about 2 hours; pretty good right? Well, I didn't put in the RO membrane. So I installed the RO and now my unit barely makes any water at all. I think it has to do with the water pressure in the apartment. It's not very strong to begin with and I do see any way to increase the pressure. If I take the RO membrane out, the water is flowing thru the unit.

If the RO membrane is out, what kind of water can i expect? DI water? Is that sufficient for the tank? I remember a link to everything you every wanted to know about RO/DI units. Does any have that link?

 

[yessongs]

At the beginning of your post i thought something was wrong 44g in 2 hours is not right it takes me 22 hours to fill my 25g, 3 days for the 100g, talk about bad pressure, but i believe the longer the water is in the filter the better.
BTW the RO membrane removes nitrates arsenic bacteria and dissolved solids, so removing it might not be a good idea.

 

[Demeter]

I got all the plumbing finished for the sump. I decided to glue all the slip fittings and use pipe dope on the threaded connections. I have a CR in the front which has not been hooked up yet. I'll get to that later.

I added 200lbs of Southdown sand. It's about 5" deep. When I add the water to the tank tomorrow that will hopefully compact the sand. I made some LR structures with the help of Ninong. I think they turned out pretty good. They are 3/4" PVC side-out 90 degree elbows, 3/4" 90 degree elbows, 3/4" "T's", and 1" cast acrylic pipe. I had to go to a glass shop and pay the $30 per half/hr. to have the 4' rods cut. If I had a bandsaw I could have cut them myself. I ran out of 12" rods so I had to use what was available for the two outside structures. That was 1" PVC that should be covered so it won't be noticed.

 

[Demeter]

Thanks yessongs - do you know how much water is wasted to make a gallon of RO/DI water?

 

[BoricuaMojao]

Demeter,

Depending on your water pressure, you may get from a 1 to 1, to a 1 to 4 gallons ratio of good water vs. refuse water.

If you only run the DI part of your system your resin will be spent WAY faster. Generally on RO/DI systems the RO brings your TDS to the 0-20 TDS range(depending on the TDS of your raw water) and then the DI part brings the TDS to zero.

To fix your problem you will most likely need a booster pump, to boost the pressure to your system.

Who did you buy this system from? They should be able to help you with that. If not check with aquatic reef systems, they hosted the last meeting of our local club and are very knowlegeable people with very good prices.

BoricuaMojao

 

[Demeter]

I bought the system from on eBay from AquaSafeCanada. I've sent them an email about this problem on Wednesday, but haven't heard anything back from them. That's a little strange, Aay? I called Aquatic Reef Systems this morning and they do have a booster pump which should help with the problem I'm having. I started the unit about 10:00pm Friday night, let it run all night. I have about 5 gallons of RO/DI water from the unit. I'm not sure if that's good or not. It seems a little on the low side to me.

Thanks for the info.

 

[BoricuaMojao]

yup

yup

It sounds low to me as well.

You are probably are wasting more water than you need.
The lesser the pressure, the less good water goes trhough the membrane, and more is left behind as reject.

Do you know for a fact that you have low water pressure at your house. Have you actually measured it?
I would verify this before investing on a booster pump and then to find out you had a faulty membrane or connection.

 

[yessongs]

Thanks yessongs - do you know how much water is wasted to make a gallon of RO/DI water?

About 4 to 1.
As boricua said check the pressure before you get the pump, i have the same RO/DI system as you, and before i installed it in my apartment which i was told by my plumber has low pressure, i had it down the basement and it would filter the water in half the time it does upstairs.

 

[Demeter]

I'll have the water pressure checked on Monday. I have about 20+ gallons in 23 hrs. I guess that's not too bad. If the pressure if low, then the booster pump may be the way to go.

 

[Demeter]

The bldg mgr wasn't able to give me a good measurement of the water psi. I eventually made 40+ gallons in 48hrs. I decided to get a manual flow restrictor from Aqyatic Reef Systems . That should give me the ability to regulate my waste water from 3 to 1, 4 to 1, and so on. That should be here soon. I got the tank 1/3 filled with the water from the other night. I ran a freshwater test on all the fittings and found no leaks. I'm filling the trash can again, which should take all day Wednesday and Thursday morning, then I should be OK for the initial fill-up. I followed a post on this board about how to aviod the Southdown milkshake, so far so good.

More pics to follow...