My 400G Through-wall "deceptively deep" tank
- Thread starter Spaced Cowboy
- Start date
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
Thanks Dave. I'm pretty sure that green wall board is the same stuff they used when they renovated both bathrooms recently. They told me they'd use the same for this room too. It was actually their idea to go for the external humidistat, so they're aware of the water issue.
And "Stand pipe" is the term I was struggling to remember this morning (yet to partake of the morning coffee) when I was trying to describe the conversation with the plumber. Cheers
Simon
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
That's an interesting idea. I'll definitely pass that along to the builders, thanks
I haven't really talked to them yet about sound insulation, but it is high on my list...
Cheers,
Simon
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
It exists!
It exists!
So, Miracles sent through a few shots of the tank now that they've started to put it together...
I made one order-change earlier, which was to make all 4 sides starfire glass. There actually is one more small change to be made on the back - the overflow box needs to go all the way to the end on the left hand side, to better fit the bean-animal overflow returns. If you look at some of the earlier designs, there isn't much room for maneuver in how the drains flow water down to the sump. To try and minimize the loading on the back panel, Miracles reduced the size of the overflow, but I was actually using the space they removed for the BeanAnimal drain elbows.
Anyway, a telephone conversation later it was all sorted out and Miracles will put a new overflow box on the back with the correct space for the drains Derek is a good person to deal with - once he saw the issue, it was just "lets do this properly, no 'fix', we'll just replace it".
Looks like I'm still on-target for the 29th, although we're cutting it a *bit* fine now. It ought to arrive on the 27th in the depot. I'll have it picked up on 28th and then I'll be on vacation on 29th for a week...
Simon.
It exists!
So, Miracles sent through a few shots of the tank now that they've started to put it together...
I made one order-change earlier, which was to make all 4 sides starfire glass. There actually is one more small change to be made on the back - the overflow box needs to go all the way to the end on the left hand side, to better fit the bean-animal overflow returns. If you look at some of the earlier designs, there isn't much room for maneuver in how the drains flow water down to the sump. To try and minimize the loading on the back panel, Miracles reduced the size of the overflow, but I was actually using the space they removed for the BeanAnimal drain elbows.
Anyway, a telephone conversation later it was all sorted out and Miracles will put a new overflow box on the back with the correct space for the drains
Derek is a good person to deal with - once he saw the issue, it was just "lets do this properly, no 'fix', we'll just replace it".Looks like I'm still on-target for the 29th, although we're cutting it a *bit* fine now. It ought to arrive on the 27th in the depot. I'll have it picked up on 28th and then I'll be on vacation on 29th for a week...
Simon.
Last edited:
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
More stocking up...
More stocking up...
So I originally had 2 closed loops plumbed into the tank, and although I've wanted to try them for a while, they do incur more risk (even if only a small delta) over not drilling holes in the tank. The problem was what to replace the CL's with...
Enter the Maxspect gyre. This has several advantages:
One thing I'd heard was that there was about to be a new Gyre model with a controller that worked with the Apex, so I was holding off buying anything until that resolved itself. However it seems they've just made it (the 'Icecap' controller) work with all the Gyres ...
.. so I upped and bought a couple of the XF-150 gyres and the extra-strong magnets that I'm going to need on my tank, which is 3/4" thick glass...
Since I'll be mounting one at each end of the tank, I may need to find some extension cables for the controller wires, but that's a problem for another day On a complete tangent, the gyres come in rather nice metal boxes, it's a bit like unpacking an Apple product
Simon
More stocking up...
So I originally had 2 closed loops plumbed into the tank, and although I've wanted to try them for a while, they do incur more risk (even if only a small delta) over not drilling holes in the tank. The problem was what to replace the CL's with...
Enter the Maxspect gyre. This has several advantages:
- If it needs cleaning, it's a lot easier to take down and clean. The gyre just lifts out of the tank and I can do what I need to do. The CL needs to be isolated (since the outlets were in the bottom of the tank) and it's a much larger job.
- Hiding all 8 of the CL outlets was going to be an issue. Again, I'm going for the "pocket of ocean poking out into the room" look, so I don't want anything man-made easy to see in the display. The gyre can sit horizontally above the viewing rectangle of the tank, and work its magic from there.
- Power consumption. The (2) Reeflo Dart Gold pumps I was planning on using for the closed loops (1 pump per CL) take about 145W each at full bore. The Gyre takes about 1/3 of that at just under 50W each when switched to maximum output. Considering these pumps will be running 24/7, it's important to get the leanest and meanest pumps I can.
One thing I'd heard was that there was about to be a new Gyre model with a controller that worked with the Apex, so I was holding off buying anything until that resolved itself. However
it seems they've just made it (the 'Icecap' controller) work with all the Gyres ...
.. so I upped and bought a couple of the XF-150 gyres and the extra-strong magnets that I'm going to need on my tank, which is 3/4" thick glass...
Since I'll be mounting one at each end of the tank, I may need to find some extension cables for the controller wires, but that's a problem for another day
On a complete tangent, the gyres come in rather nice metal boxes, it's a bit like unpacking an Apple product Simon
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
Thanks, I've been planning this for a while, and for me it's as important to put effort into this stage as it is later on.
I actually found Sketchup pretty easy to use. It's important to get the group functionality down for complex things, and download the 'rotate group around axis' extensions. Other than that, draw a plan view, use the Pull tool to make it 3D, use the ruler to provide you with guides, and always snap to the guides. Repeat as needed, either adding or removing (delete key) regions to/from your model.
Simon.
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
The breakdown...
The breakdown...
So, the day has come, and as I write it's gone. The tank inhabitants have been moved over to the temporary tank in the shed, and the old tank starts its official retirement; at least until someone else buys it, and phoenix-like it will burst into life again. Hopefully.
Anyway, when the time came, I switched off everything apart from an extension cable to pump out the water...
and (after removing the fish, the rock, and as many snails/crabs as I could find) the tank looked like this...
... before I pumped out all the water. It's cloudy as hell because moving those rocks stirred up a *lot* of debris.
I stopped the pump when there was about 1cm of water left above the sand, and left it there until this evening, when the nocturnal-type snails make their move. I found another 40 or so snails making their way up the glass to the water boundary.
After the water was out, I also found a blue chromis that I thought I'd lost just swimming around in the overflow, so that was good - getting him out was a bit of a nightmare, but eventually we got him
I'll make one more pass before I go to bed, and one more again in the morning, but thereafter, I'm afraid it's "for reals" for anything that played dead that long...
Simon.
The breakdown...
So, the day has come, and as I write it's gone. The tank inhabitants have been moved over to the temporary tank in the shed, and the old tank starts its official retirement; at least until someone else buys it, and phoenix-like it will burst into life again. Hopefully.
Anyway, when the time came, I switched off everything apart from an extension cable to pump out the water...
and (after removing the fish, the rock, and as many snails/crabs as I could find) the tank looked like this...
... before I pumped out all the water. It's cloudy as hell because moving those rocks stirred up a *lot* of debris.
I stopped the pump when there was about 1cm of water left above the sand, and left it there until this evening, when the nocturnal-type snails make their move. I found another 40 or so snails making their way up the glass to the water boundary.
After the water was out, I also found a blue chromis that I thought I'd lost just swimming around in the overflow, so that was good - getting him out was a bit of a nightmare, but eventually we got him
I'll make one more pass before I go to bed, and one more again in the morning, but thereafter, I'm afraid it's "for reals" for anything that played dead that long...
Simon.
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
Phew
Phew
So, a lot of hard work emptying sand and cleaning later and the tank is ready for sale (see here if interested). It's amazing how, when you've had the noise of a tank in the background for 7 years or so, the absence of said noise really hits you...
Anyway, I've had a productive weekend, the fish/crabs/snails are moved across to the temporary tank, the old tank has been broken down and cleaned for sale, and I ache all over... I'm getting too old for all this [grin]
Simon.
Phew
So, a lot of hard work emptying sand and cleaning later and the tank is ready for sale (see here if interested). It's amazing how, when you've had the noise of a tank in the background for 7 years or so, the absence of said noise really hits you...
Anyway, I've had a productive weekend, the fish/crabs/snails are moved across to the temporary tank, the old tank has been broken down and cleaned for sale, and I ache all over... I'm getting too old for all this [grin]
Simon.
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
Building things, and stuff.
Building things, and stuff.
The sky is practically the limit, but here's a few ideas to get started with
- The spray-bar jets are one thing I want to use it for, to try and build in a penductor in the limited space I have. Store-bought ones would be visible.
- At the right side of the overflow, I intend to build a plastic insert tailor made for the overflow which will take a 0.25" feed from the return, and jet it along the bottom of the overflow, to clear out any detritus that might settle there due to all the drainage being on the left side.
- I'm going to be using filter socks, and the mesh bags without support at the top are a lot cheaper than the ones with the built-in rings. I'm planning on making something I can put the mesh bag on and it'll work to hold it in place
- I've become quite keen on those magnetic cable/pipe/tube holders, but they're really expensive. I want to buy a pack of 50 of so rare earth magnetic cubes (which are pretty cheap) that I can embed into custom supports for tubing, prove holders etc.
- There's also the structural stuff. I'll be using it to build custom brackets to hold the TVs in place along the back, and the shadow-boxes along the side.
I'm also expecting there to be moments along the way when I think to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if I could just do *this*", and now have the ability to do exactly *that*
Simon.
Building things, and stuff.
The sky is practically the limit, but here's a few ideas to get started with
- The spray-bar jets are one thing I want to use it for, to try and build in a penductor in the limited space I have. Store-bought ones would be visible.
- At the right side of the overflow, I intend to build a plastic insert tailor made for the overflow which will take a 0.25" feed from the return, and jet it along the bottom of the overflow, to clear out any detritus that might settle there due to all the drainage being on the left side.
- I'm going to be using filter socks, and the mesh bags without support at the top are a lot cheaper than the ones with the built-in rings. I'm planning on making something I can put the mesh bag on and it'll work to hold it in place
- I've become quite keen on those magnetic cable/pipe/tube holders, but they're really expensive. I want to buy a pack of 50 of so rare earth magnetic cubes (which are pretty cheap) that I can embed into custom supports for tubing, prove holders etc.
- There's also the structural stuff. I'll be using it to build custom brackets to hold the TVs in place along the back, and the shadow-boxes along the side.
I'm also expecting there to be moments along the way when I think to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if I could just do *this*", and now have the ability to do exactly *that*
Simon.
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
LNell
New member
I'm also expecting there to be moments along the way when I think to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if I could just do *this*", and now have the ability to do exactly *that*
This part is what I was initially thinking when I saw it. As an obsessive tinkerer, I drool at the thought!
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
It holds water!
It holds water!
So Derek and Miracles have finished the tank, it's even been water-tested!
... and it's to be packaged up and sent out for delivery on Friday, arriving at the local depot in Sunny CA on Wednesday. Not bad for shipment from Canada.
I asked Derek how many people it would take to lift the tank, and he recommended 10-12, and the use of suction cups. I actually have 6 suction cups from when I bought my old tank, so I'll just get a few more...
Simon
It holds water!
So Derek and Miracles have finished the tank, it's even been water-tested!
... and it's to be packaged up and sent out for delivery on Friday, arriving at the local depot in Sunny CA on Wednesday. Not bad for shipment from Canada.
I asked Derek how many people it would take to lift the tank, and he recommended 10-12, and the use of suction cups. I actually have 6 suction cups from when I bought my old tank, so I'll just get a few more...
Simon
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
I assume so - it's starFire all round, so I'll see what it looks like with real seawater in it when it gets installed
Cheers
Simon
Spaced Cowboy
South Bay Reefer
Let there be light!
Let there be light!
We've had great success with some 10" solar tubes we installed in one of the bathrooms we recently renovated, so after reading around (I was concerned about sunlight encouraging algae growth) and seeing that other people seem to cope well with solar tubes, I've decided to go ahead and get them installed while we renovate the "fish room".
I'm going to put 3 14" tubes above the tank, something like:
where the red circles are the solar tubes, and the blue rectangles are AI 52's for supplemental lighting. Given that 2 10" tubes are sufficient to light up our bathroom, I'm thinking that 3 14" tubes will be pretty powerful. I also don't intend to fit the diffuser that goes on the bottom of the tube, so I won't be losing light there.
Tank arrives (at local storage depot) on Wednesday, work begins next Monday. It's getting to be squeaky-bottom time
Simon
Let there be light!
We've had great success with some 10" solar tubes we installed in one of the bathrooms we recently renovated, so after reading around (I was concerned about sunlight encouraging algae growth) and seeing that other people seem to cope well with solar tubes, I've decided to go ahead and get them installed while we renovate the "fish room".
I'm going to put 3 14" tubes above the tank, something like:
where the red circles are the solar tubes, and the blue rectangles are AI 52's for supplemental lighting. Given that 2 10" tubes are sufficient to light up our bathroom, I'm thinking that 3 14" tubes will be pretty powerful. I also don't intend to fit the diffuser that goes on the bottom of the tube, so I won't be losing light there.
Tank arrives (at local storage depot) on Wednesday, work begins next Monday. It's getting to be squeaky-bottom time
Simon
