My Custom 160 Build :)

[juzz.raath]

Welp... its about 80% done!

Ran out of glass too, but still have a few things to finish up...
The Filter Sock Tray, Return Line holder and as well as a few baffles are still on the to do list.

Enough chit chat.
Here's some pics of the progress... Again [emoji14]

It's not "pretty" but it will work that's for sure

As you guys can see the reactors are at the back of the sump and they drain into the pump chamber...

Did you design the sump yourself? Pretty nice little project mate. I'm doing mine at the moment as well. I may be pulling some pieces out tommorow after looking at yours though [emoji30]

 

[Audi_Guy]

Did you design the sump yourself? Pretty nice little project mate. I'm doing mine at the moment as well. I may be pulling some pieces out tommorow after looking at yours though [emoji30]

Yes, it's something I cooked up in my head, then it went on paper... then used cardboard for mock up. In a way I screwed myself as I would have had enough glass, but messing around I broke quite a few panes :headwallblue:

Also I added a few supports to the "trays" that will be supporting weight.
I have someone locally that's trying to unload some things I'm looking for fairly cheap and im still on the hunt for a small and quiet pump for the reactor chamber...

 

[Audi_Guy]

Worked out the dimensions for the "fuge" and its gonna be about 10Gal which is more than enough for me

AND!!!

Even have 2 ways of doing this with a single pump!!
A.
The pump will be feeding the reactor AND the refugium as it will sit above the bottom of the tank and will be closer to the rim of the tank. The feed will be split across the reactor and the refuge via a T and 2 valves on to even out the flow / pressure between the 2. The drain from the refugium would drain into the same chamber as the main tank drain and would go through the same "filtration" process as the display.

B.
The pump would feed the refugium, then the drain from the refuge would be plumbed into the reactor feed. This way the water would "free flow" from one to the next as the water level would be a few inches higher than the reactors. The plumbing would be simpler as well.

Either one would allow "cycling" of the sump / tank with hardy inhabitants in the refuge without having to chase them or trying trap them later in the display tank meanwhile providing the system with a bio load of some sort.
Raising the refuge from the sump bottom allows me to place heaters below, as well as acting as a bubble trap. The small pump would also fit perfectly in front of the protein skimmer, without interfering with maintenance.
The feed to the refugium in either case would be a spray bar to promote tumbling of water for Chaetomorpha growth.

As you guys can see this is "build it as I go" and it's coming together nicely

 

[Audi_Guy]

May even do a "combo" of the 2 options...

Drain from Fuge feeding the reactor though a tee'd with a feed with valve on the inlet with a reducer on the pressure side to act as a venturi. larger pump maybe required with this route...

 

[Audi_Guy]

This Week progress has been slow... and by that I mean nothing got done !
Work has been crazy busy and been putting in quite a bit of OT, on top of that I think I'm coming down with a cold :rolleye1:

I was supposed to pick up another 40 breeder for glass as its cheaper to buy a used tank than it is to buy glass as the 6mm is almost $30 / sq.ft. :sad2:

Hopefully things calm down a bit over the weekend and i can get back to getting this sump done.

 

[Audi_Guy]

Well...
Today I went shopping

I think I did good for $120 LOL

Needs a bit of TLC, but everything works including the power heads as well as the Aqueon 1200 pump which I originally intended to use as circulation pump for the sump.
PS:
Tank is another sacrificial unit for reclaiming glass for the Refugium.
Light is a 6 bulb T5 Fixture by Aquatic Life LF4-48. Works great... one set of blues stay on constantly though and requires a bit of investigating tho

 

[Audi_Guy]

Well

She's ALMOST done...

As you can see the Refugium is 4" above the bottom of the sump. This way the heater can be laid down on the bottom of the sump without the worry of them floating up.
The Minimum water level is set by the last baffle in the sump which is 12" giving me volume of 45 Gallons and another 14 Gallons for the Refugium.
Total System Volume would be 59 Gallons on top of the 160 Gallon Display tank, which puts me where I wanted to originally be around the 200-220 Gallon mark.
Also added an LCD temperature "sticker" as a backup to the electronic sensors.

Added some "Euro" bracing to the refugium.

6 Lbs of crushed base rock isn't nearly enough... looks like it will take about 20Lbs to fill the reactor.

Skimmer will need to be raised about 3" in order to be at the "adequate" water level of 8 - 10". Stand is in the works...

The valve in this pic is acting as a restriction / bypass which will be feeding a "shower head" that will be placed above the live rock. This is bypass is in place in case the 3/4" drain cant keep up with the flow.

Spray bar can be seen at the front of the refugium and a Durso style drain at the rear.

Still got a bit of plumbing to do as you can see

 

[Audi_Guy]

Sump is up and running !!!
With the water operating level, top removed and doors open... I'm at a modest 45db!

Also ordered the relays for that T5 fixture, which should arrive tomorrow as well.

What can I say... I'm happier than a tornado in a trailer park right now

 

[Audi_Guy]

Yesterday night I placed 20 Lbs of crushed coral into the bottom of the refuge. Now on the hunt for some cheeto as no one around here seems to have any.

As you can see the water is still a bit cloudy, but this should clear up by tonight or tomorrow morning
Other than that did a water test, results below:

DATE: Saturday Jan 30th 2016
Salinity: 1.025
PH: ~8.4
KH: 90mg/L
PO4: 0.5
NH3: 0
NO3: 0
NO2: 0

Time to "taint" the water... Shrimp going in tonight :jester:

 

[Jeremy837]

did you get it the first time you did it transforming a tank to a sump or did it take time?

 

[Audi_Guy]

did you get it the first time you did it transforming a tank to a sump or did it take time?

Depends on what your needs are...
I already had an idea what I wanted / needed so putting your thoughts on a piece of paper does help the project move along quicker.
Once everything is on paper and your "happy" then its time to go shopping for a suitable tank. The logical next step is after obtaining a tank is to make a mock up and see if everything lines up and creating mock dividers using cardboard and hot glue. once satisfied that everything "fits" and it meets your needs, then its time to move on to the actual build process.
Keep in mind that the above is a lot more time consuming than the build process as once you have the material ( glass ) cut there's no turning back ( I mean you could, but you'd be throwing money out the window unless you can still use the cut glass ) specially once the silicone sets.

Other than that its pretty simple and some basic prep needs to be done as in cleaning the glass with alcohol so the surface is grease / oil free ( from your hands and fingerprints ) and clean so the silicone can stick... Others may chime in and say that's not necessary but I did it anyway.

 

[Audi_Guy]

Update
24Hrs after the initial shot above...

As can be seen, pretty much cleared up well and the skimmer is working good as well...

Here's a few quick shots of the "plumbing" as well...

I'm in the process of adding a second valve for "flow control" for the refuge...
Second valve will go inline here:

Will need to "shave" half an inch on each side of the valve as its too long to correctly fit.
Other than that I still need to have the filter sock pane drilled as I don't have an 4" hole saw and the return bulkhead pane needs to get drilled as well. Both go in this cavity on the far left of the sump...

Hopefully I can wrap all this up this weekend and set the tank on the stand finally !!

 

[Audi_Guy]

Well...

Today I got lucky
What are the chance of someone I ran into on a Local FB Group had a 4" diamond hole saw kicking around ??

Thanks Nick

One step closer now...
Last piece of the puzzle is the plate at the back that will support the return lines.
Also today I will drill the holes in the back of the stand for the feed and return lines as well as the electrical and 2 fans that will move the air in and out of the stand.

Will post more pics of the progress later on tonight.

 

[Audi_Guy]

Time for an update

Finally had the Ammonia spike i been waiting for!
Lucky for this guy... a lot of people are tearing tanks down and I'm getting some nice live rock for next to nothing! The one guy that I came across has 100 Lbs of live rock and 200Lbs of live sand for $250 while the other has 80Lbs of mixed tonga, fiji and pukani for $100. AND... I was also able to score a Jebao DC12000 for $100

Recap:
65 Lbs chunk of base I already have
100 Lbs
80 Lbs of Fiji, Tonga, Pukani
200 Lbs of Live Sand
AND
DC12000

Tomorrow I gotta go and grab that 80 Lbs and next Monday when the other guy gets back in town I will grab the other 100lbs of it and the live sand.
A bit of work is involved, but nothing that cant be solved with a of elbow grease and dedication
Now, still gotta get that tank in ASAP and start plumbing !!!

 

[Lilbitreefer]

so I really like your sump design can you show how the water flows?

 

[Audi_Guy]

Its simple yet a bit of a nightmare LOL

Water comes in at from the drains at the far left corner at the back of the sump.
From here it flows towards the front of it and through the filter sucks.
Water exist at the bottom through a single baffle into the skimmer chamber.
Water from here goes under the refuge ( which is raised off the bottom of the sump by 4" )and can go 2 ways...
1. On the left side of the fuge is pumped out using a 800GPH pump that feeds both the fuge and top of reactor 1 then overflows into reactor 2 from where it drains out into the pump chamber
2. Over the baffle into the pump chamber

Notes:
Baffle 1 is in place to set overall depth for filter sock chamber... the deeper the water the less noise.
Baffle 2 is to set depth for main chamber / skimmer compartment.
Reason for raising the refuge off the floor of the sump is simple... allow the placement of heaters and other devices without the worry of them floating up if the suction cup comes loose
None of these baffles affect refuge water level as water is being fed from here to fuge via dedicated pump.

Chaetomorpha will be placed in reactor #2 for natural nitrate reduction and buffer zone for copa pods...

 

[Audi_Guy]

What an ordeal!!
Took 5 of us to get the tank in and in its place.

Now just gotta put the trim on...

Needs a good cleaning... badly!!

Better view of the overflow box configuration... Bean Animal with 2" drains and SIX 1" feeds.

And last but not least...

The $20 fixture that had the relay welded on... in the end it was a really easy fix

 

[Audi_Guy]

And let the plumbing begin

I'm short a few things, but I went ahead and made due with what I had on hand... and yes...
I installed the bulkheads upside down for ease of servicing or in case i want to change something up.

Again.. as you can see I opted to use unions on every "drop"...

Pipes are staggered because the drains, which will drop in between the 2 feeds.

In stand shot... Feed A and Feed B

Each feed will have its own dedicated DC12000.
These pumps will eventually going to be driven by my own driver/controller, which will employ a wavemaker function...

 

[Audi_Guy]

And that's it for the night...
Materials used today:
8x 1" elbow
4x 1" bulkheads
4x 1" unions
2x 1" tee
2x 1" Slip to Thread ( 1" NPT )
2x 10' lengths of 1" pipe
And I'm almost out of glue 1/3 or less in can now.

Next step is the drains!
Shopping list:
- 1x 6' piece of 1" clear tubing
- 2x 1" barb by thread
- 4x 1" bulkhead
- 3x 2" bulkhead
- 3x 2" unions ( again... if anything gets stuck or plugged its easier to clean / unplug )
- 2x 10' 2" pipe
- 1x 2" Gate Valve ( this ain't gonna be cheap )
- 12 x 2" elbow
That's it for now... I guess, even though there's plenty more that can be added this is mostly the vital items to finish the plumbing

 

[Audi_Guy]

Well...
Picked up another 100Lbs of rock on Thursday night as well as 200Lbs of live sand that I have to clean ( someone was shutting their down as they were moving and got too good of a deal to pass up )

Today on the agenda is aquascaping
Will follow up with pics later on...