My 150 Reef Photo Journal

[Lageo04]

Yikes Dan, You can always mount that thing and use it as some abstract art.:lol:
If you're going through the fuge won't it be impossible to connect a tube between the two bulkheads? Unless on the inner plate of the fuge you install a uniseal and slip the tube through to the outside bulkhead.
I've read different posts that you can do what you want on the discharge side of pumps but the inlet has to be no restrictions.
Just a thought.
By the way, today I was doing a test on my tank water to see if taking a sample of aquarium water and aerating it with outside air to see if PH would come up (I believe my closed up house is pumping co2 into the tank) and sure enough right up to 8.2, I need to get rid of the big swings in ph between day and night.
Talk about screwing up, the wife knows you have the same tank and I made the mistake of showing her your plumbing layout. You should of heard her response when I told her that's what I need to do to ours.
Well it looks like it won't be long and you'll be posting a pic with the tank up and running, can't wait.
Good luck: George

 

[dtaranath]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7279374#post7279374 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GoldStripe
This is the carcas of PVC that will likely be garbage. Oh well, what's 50 bucks down the drain!

I have several carcasses as well.


By the way, are you planning on painting the back of your tank?

 

[GoldStripe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7280737#post7280737 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lageo04
Yikes Dan, You can always mount that thing and use it as some abstract art.:lol:
If you're going through the fuge won't it be impossible to connect a tube between the two bulkheads? Unless on the inner plate of the fuge you install a uniseal and slip the tube through to the outside bulkhead.
I've read different posts that you can do what you want on the discharge side of pumps but the inlet has to be no restrictions.
Just a thought.
By the way, today I was doing a test on my tank water to see if taking a sample of aquarium water and aerating it with outside air to see if PH would come up (I believe my closed up house is pumping co2 into the tank) and sure enough right up to 8.2, I need to get rid of the big swings in ph between day and night.
Talk about screwing up, the wife knows you have the same tank and I made the mistake of showing her your plumbing layout. You should of heard her response when I told her that's what I need to do to ours.
Well it looks like it won't be long and you'll be posting a pic with the tank up and running, can't wait.
Good luck: George

I don't think it'll be impossible to connect the two if I do it right. I thought about that last night. If I put the bulk that will be in the fuge baffle backwards so that if I need to take it out it would pull out of the hole into the return section I should be ok. I don't think I will glue this pipe just for that reason. Plus I really don't see a problem if it's not 100% watertight. It will be submerged so no chance of sucking air. But the uniseal thing, hmm. That may be even better cause I can jam the pipe from the return section thru the seal in the fuge baffle and into the bulkhead on the side of the sump.

Yeah you did screw up, lmao!! My wife keeps asking "is all this really necessary". I just say of course it is honey, everyone does their tanks like this, ha. So you're going to redo the plumbing on your tank huh? Does that mean you're taking it down for a little while?

 

[GoldStripe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7280778#post7280778 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dtaranath
I have several carcasses as well.


By the way, are you planning on painting the back of your tank?

Definitely going to paint the back. I just haven't done it yet. Wanted to get all the plumbing done so I wouldn't be rubbing the paint off the back with the pipes. Almost there now except for this whole return pump reconfiguration.

 

[tgunn]

Dan,
I have a box full of plumbing carcasses and a variety of "halves of unions" kicking around. I think it goes with the territory. When I was plumbing my tank the clerk at the plumbing store asked me, "so what are you doing with all these fittings? Are you making super mario world or something?".

Bummer about the cavitation. I hope the straight run works out for you. My PCX-70 return still has a slight bit of cavitation to this day. I ran 1 1/2" pipe from the sump to near it. However, my plumbing goes out the side of the sump, down, under the stand and then into the pump; clearly too many bends... I think the straight run into the pump should work well for you. My PCX-40 skimmer pump only has one bend in the 1 1/2" off the sump and it works fine cavitation free.

Tyler

 

[GoldStripe]

Lowe's hates me for all the plumbing I've been buying, and then returning. They especially hate you bringing it back!! Oh well, that's what they get paid for right? The new return setup will be much better I think. I'm also going to incorporate 2 of those Rainbow Lifegard cannisters to run carbon and/or phosphate remover. Or, I can leave them empty if I want to. Have you seen those? Pretty handy, you just plumb them together and they make 3 different sizes.

 

[Edge]

Lifegard systems are nice and easy to maintian. A fish store I worked at many years ago had a big LifeGard system as their central system. Just slip out the cartriges to clean. We had UV lights and carbon canisters. The carbon sleeves are hard plastic mesh tubes. The holes are kinda big so use a carbon with large uniform grains.

ED

 

[GoldStripe]

Thanks for the tip ED. I was wondering if anyone else had used them before. I've got a question posted in the equipment forum that I want to have answered before I buy them. The question was with a high pressure pump, am I using more electricity by T'ing off of it mutliple times (or using a ball valve to throttle it back) as opposed to running it wide open?

 

[tgunn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7281614#post7281614 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GoldStripe
Lowe's hates me for all the plumbing I've been buying, and then returning. They especially hate you bringing it back!! Oh well, that's what they get paid for right? The new return setup will be much better I think. I'm also going to incorporate 2 of those Rainbow Lifegard cannisters to run carbon and/or phosphate remover. Or, I can leave them empty if I want to. Have you seen those? Pretty handy, you just plumb them together and they make 3 different sizes.

I've got a question posted in the equipment forum that I want to have answered before I buy them. The question was with a high pressure pump, am I using more electricity by T'ing off of it mutliple times (or using a ball valve to throttle it back) as opposed to running it wide open?

Eventually I ended up just getting a whole bunch of the common 1 1/2" fittings since I always seem to need an elbow or something and hate having to drive out to get one.

Those canisters are pretty neat; I hadn't seen those before.

As for the valving back of the pressure pump; it sounds strange, but you'll actually use LESS power as you close the ball valve to throttle back the pump. I have one of those power usage meters you plug things into, so I tried it with my PCX-40. Running wide open it uses 160w and dialed back 1/2 it drops to around 140w. So Teeing off and what not shouldn't be a problem at all.

Tyler

 

[GoldStripe]

Thanks Tyler, I just ordered one of those kill-a-watt things now. I'm gonna order those cannisters today as well. Easy way to run carbon, phos, or whatever you want! Or if you don't wanna run anything just leave 'em empty.

 

[Acroholic]

Hey Dan,
Have you picked a spot for the canister filters? I was just thinking, you need to make sure you have access from above, since they are top loading and would be a pain to service them any other way.......you might want to put them in the space to the rear and cutout the wood over them or put them all the way on the left side of the stand where you can access them through the top opening door you have there on the left.....

 

[GoldStripe]

thanks for the suggestion Acroholic. I think I'm going to put them behind where the return pump will be and have them exit back into the sump in that hole in the front of the sump (the old return pump inlet). Still haven't ordered them yet, bout to do that now along with some other stuff.

I'm debating on getting some sort of temp controller because that POS Won Bros unit is freaking out. The built in thermostat must be shot. In the course of 60 seconds the temp jumps from 78 to 32 to 16 to 108, etc etc. Of course the heater is clicking on and off the whole time, which can't be good for it. If I had a controller I could turn it all the way up and just let the controller handle the tank temp.

 

[GoldStripe]

Allright I'm gonna pull my hair out. I got the 1.5" bulkheads drilled and installed on the sump. I have totally re-plumbed my return pump including the 2 media cannisters and the damn pump still cavitates if run wide open!! I don't understand why. I stepped up the intake side to 1.5" straight shot right into the pump. My new configuration, which makes more sense, does little or nothing to stop my cavitation issues. Just for kicks I measured the internal diameter of the Iwaki on the suction side. It is only 3/4". So if I'm supplying water through a pipe that is twice that size, how am I starving the pump? Help Jack, lol. I'm about done with this pump and it's brand new!! I'll post a pic or two shortly.

 

[dtaranath]

excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by 'cavitation'? does the pump die on you?

vocab was never one of my strong suits. i'm a math guy and science guy.

 

[Ocnreef]

Cavitation is caused when the water is passed through the pump at a high speed which in turn causes a small vacuum to occur.

 

[dtaranath]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7279374#post7279374 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GoldStripe
This is the carcas of PVC that will likely be garbage. Oh well, what's 50 bucks down the drain!

just looking again at your picture, you might be able to salvage some of those unions and the one ball valve by cutting them along the connecting pipes. then you could use them again in line with cheap coupling pieces.

 

[GoldStripe]

Thanks Dan, I actually did do that. I've gotta take some new pics today and get them up here. I'm just do darn fed up with this pump I could spit!! I may sell the thing before it's all said and done.

 

[GoldStripe]

Took a little longer than I thought but here's some pictures of the new layout. My return pump is T'd off several times to feed the skimmer, fuge, a couple of cannisters, and then up into the tank. I measureed the ID of the volute on the pump and here are some pics.

 

[GoldStripe]

With stepping up the suction side to 1.5" I thought my cavitation problems would be over but I was wrong. I did some more research on cavitation and it occurs when the pressure of the water on the suction side is too low or the head pressure on the exit side to too low (head pressure) which explains why the pump calms down if I restrict the exit. Even if I close all my T offs and run wide open into the display, it still cavitates. I think the pump is doing what's called "runout". I guess I'll just have to keep that valve partially closed. The addition of salt will change the properties of the water and may alleviate some of the problem. Anyhow here's a couple more pics.

 

[GoldStripe]

The suction side now goes through the fuge section and into the pump. Straight shot. Oh and I added a union since I stepped up to bigger pipe I didn't think it would hurt.