My Seven Footer

[CW from the OC]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11303403#post11303403 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FishTruck
Wow CW, that is an awesome built in cabinet!

Glad to hear that your vent plan is working nicely. Do you run a chiller? What happens in your tank when it rains outside.... does your lighting equipment get condensation on it?

Ryan

Thanks FT and Rhinochaser!

I don't run a chiller. No need, even when it is 100+ degrees outside. I run AC in the house, and am using all T5 lighiting.

It just rained over the weekend as well, and no condensation on lights or anywhere. I do run the vent fan pulling air out of the hood, so it is pulling high humidty out of the cabinet, which is being replaced with air from the rest of the house. No condensation on the lighting, and I can't say I've ever seen condensate on lights in my 30 years of tanks....

Enough about my tank, let's get back to FT's. Man, your plumbing is looking REALLY good. Keep the pictures coming!

 

[crvz]

I'll have to keep my eyes peeled on this build, everything looks really good so far. Congrats on a great display, and I can only predict the inhabitants will be as striking as their home.

 

[FishTruck]

Well, thanks in no small part to a little encouragement from you all... instead of going to bed, I whipped up a shelf for my system pump and got it mounted up. It floats on four rubber grommetts. I can add six more to the wood block between the motor and the shelf if noisy. Also, I added wing nuts for a quick pump exchange if/when it fails.

Sump is still holding water. I will need to drill out the bulkhead hole soon.

I was going to run two return pumps for redundancy, but, considering space and wattage, I have decided to go with just one. Also, I am going to feed what I can by gravity, use in a drop in chiller, and push water through the UV sterilizer and media reactors with the main pump. So, only ONE big pump for this 450 gallon system.

I will probably drill an extra bulkhead port from the raw water feed chamber of the sump in case I need an additional pump to feed equipment later. Easier to do now I suppose.

The pump is a reeflo Marlin. My goal is 1500 gph with 18 feet of head and enough muscle to feed four eductors in the display.

Cheers!

 

[wassdog]

Yes that total system looks great. I hope you post pics of the tanks progress and I am eager to see your aquascaping.

 

[FishTruck]

Thanks wassdog! The aquascaping will be somewhat unique. The lighting too.

Tonight, I tweaked the plumbing a bit. As you can see, I added a bit of downward slope to my horizontal runs. About 1/2 inch per foot of run. I can still walk under all pipes without hitting my head.

Also drained the sump out. Will drill some holes tomorrow. I am still trying to figure out how to plumb the media reactors and the UV sterilizer.

R

 

[FishTruck]

I had the week off, but, my two year old came down with something nasty sunday. By tuesday, the whole house and one of our baby sitters was sick. Only our 5 month old escaped unscathed.

Today (friday) I was finally back in action and worked from 9 pm to 2 am. I built a table to hold my BRUTE s.w. resevior. Did some permanent plumbing, plubed the skimmer, and did the overflow box plumbing. The overflow was pretty crowded when done! Glad I went with CJ standpipes instead of dursos! The pipe in the middle is the dry run for the electrical to run up to the hood. Looking down, this reminded me (after a gin and tonic at midnight) of the power plant in the death star.

Also, caught my clowns racked up on their favorite "brain beds". I think Melev would call this "CUTE". It really was. Anyway, I had to give up target feeding the brains because the clowns really maul them. I am wrestling with the idea of keeping my current fish... which have certain undesireable quirks... versus taking them back to the LFS for a new batch. Once they go in the big tank... they will never come out (alive).

This will be a stopping place for me until 2008. Have a nice surprise shipping from Canada to show you all soon. For now, I've got to focus on the holidays!

Cheers everyone.

I forgot to mention, but, all construction is being done with "left over" lumber that was left here by the previous owner. Part of the "pitch" to my wife was that I would consume all of this wood and make more room in the garage. I have not purchased a single piece of wood so far for this project. I wish I could say the same about plumbing parts.

 

[FishTruck]

By the way, even after seven months in the baby pool... at two a.m.... I can't figure out where the six line wrasse sleeps! Does he have a coccoon? I can't disprove it.

R

 

[Birdmanbrian]

FishTruck, Thanks for sharing your work! I really love where you are headed! I too have a daylight basement that I completely refinished with tile, new walls, and ceiling. I have been giving a lot of thought about using a gravity system like what you are doing. I'm on board to follow your success, can't wait to see more!! I have a question for you and others here:

I have installed two custom cut pieces of acrylic to completely encapsulate the top of my 55g tank. There are of course variances around my equipment in the back of the tank that allow some air exchange, plus I have a OTB skimmer. I placed these covers on last week, and I have notice a 50% drop in my evaporation rate. Before placing these I would evaporate about a gallon per day, now I'm evaporating about a 1/2 gallon per day.

I'm curious if this is acceptable for larger systems. I have a 180g tank in my basement that I just purchased for 500 bucks! Pre-drilled too! I'll likely set it up next year after collecting all necessities. I haven't given much thought to increasing more evaporation with a bigger tank...my 180 and sump will be like 7 or 8 gallons per day!

Does anyone know if this is ok? Everything appears to be fine. I do not have any heat issue. I have a TEK light pedestal running four 55w T-5's (awesome lights BTW). This is my first SW tank, love it, and I am learning so much from everyone's comments and ideas. I will try to post a picture for you guys to look at for comments regarding moisture/evaporation.

I understand evaporation is good as it allows us to introduce necessary chemicals and new SW, I'm just curious if this is a safe practice. If so, would this make a difference in a larger system like yours? How big of a problem is moisture for larger systems? I know climate matters, I live in Oregon, it's green country over here on the W coast, rains a lot, and only dips to low teens occasionally during the winter where I'm located.

I don't want to misdirect your thread, I'm just more curious about evaporation, the problems others may have experienced with it, and why you have implemented resources to deal with this issue (namely, I know you are concerned about moisture problems, has this been a problem for you before?). I have seen a lot of tanks here on RC, and I can't say that I have seen to many take in precautions such as yours to deal with the moisture/evaporation.

Thanks everyone for any influence here. Sorry for the small photo, I haven't figured out all the amenities of this site.

Respectfully,

Brian.

 

[FishTruck]

Brian, thanks for the post!

Regarding your semi sealed tank lid.

There are a couple of other considerations.

1. first... is, the need to wipe it to keep it clear for light transmission. Also, for heat issues from the plastic itself if near metal halide lamps. I opted for a eurobraced top to eliminate this chore from my routine and allow me to raise and lower MH lamps without worrying about cracking any plastic.

2. will it get in your way when you need to get into the tank?

Short of that... if your tank is cool and aereated, I can see no problem.

Second, regarding humidity. I started with the vent system primarily to eliminate the need for fans in the hood. Using a remote fan and equipment room, the display room should be silent. I do plan to encourage evaporation since I run a kalk reactor, so...

This evolved into me considering the downside of dumping humid air into my already humid basement and I devised a plan to get this out of the house if necessary.

Finally, I got the idea from Hop to bring outside air in to vent the tank. Nine months per year, this should be cool enough to help reduce the need for a chiller. This mostly isolates the tank completely from the house!

Secondarily, I got concerned about mold problems, sweating windows, expanding doors, and other humidity related problems that some people have had. Seems like tanks over 200 gallons are about where this can be an issue. As you say, certain climates it is probably a non issue.

Ironically, we just bougt a humidifier for the third floor, which is running at 18% humidity. :rollface:

This may be way overkill on the HVAC end of this project, but, one more fun thing to tinker with!

By the way, the equipment room is in the 90 year old unfinished portion of our basement. This is my man cave. I am the only one that goes there, so, my spousal unit could care less what I do there! It is great! The adjacet part of our basement has nine foot celings and a sweet walkout, fireplace, guest room, full bath, etc... Just don't want to create the impression that I live in a hovel! :lol:

 

[matt & pam]

Brian,
By limiting evaporation you will make it more challenging to maintain calcium levels, as most usually make up losses with kalkwasser. Minimal evaporation means you'll need to depend more on supplements or a good calcium reactor.

HTH...Matt

 

[FishTruck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11343065#post11343065 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matt & pam
Brian,
By limiting evaporation you will make it more challenging to maintain calcium levels, as most usually make up losses with kalkwasser. Minimal evaporation means you'll need to depend more on supplements or a good calcium reactor.

HTH...Matt

Right. This is why I am encouraging evap. in my system. But, if you had a softie tank, you might not need the kalk. Depends on the system.

RGM

 

[khoivo1]

hi,,,where did you get the fan at?? what size are they?/ i have one heat and a/c register right behind my tank so do you think if i could use this for air input and then add another fan like your to run the air output,,??
i see that your air flow up and above the tank and the air draw out and down in basement is that right??
will that fans strong enough to input and output the air///thananks

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11154335#post11154335 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matt & pam
Are all those hinges/screws quality stainless steel? I use a panasonic fan to vent my sealed hood, and it is VERY quite. I highly recommend their whisper line.

Nice setup, BTW.

 

[khoivo1]

how many vortech are you gonna have in this thing?? any other thing like closeloop or tunze??/
is this gonna be all soft or mixx or hard coral/??

 

[matt & pam]

I bought my panasonic whisper fan online, I choose a model that moves about 110 cfm, but there are larger fans. I'm no HVAC expert, but I would avoid using your a/c air as the sole source of ventilation air. I would suggest have a fresh air access vented into the hood or fishroom, and another that has the whisper fan blowing the humid air out.

My tank is in the basement, I vent straight outside through the floor sill. I have passive air from the room that replaces the exhausted air.

 

[new_world_disor]

wow. love the setup. im in love with ur sump. good work

 

[mdaybowls]

Awesome setup. I am thinking about setting up something similar. So I'm tagging along.

 

[FishTruck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11423430#post11423430 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by khoivo1
hi,,,where did you get the fan at?? what size are they?/ i have one heat and a/c register right behind my tank so do you think if i could use this for air input and then add another fan like your to run the air output,,??
i see that your air flow up and above the tank and the air draw out and down in basement is that right??
will that fans strong enough to input and output the air///thananks

I plan to pull air in from outside and push it back outside. I will put registers along both paths so that I can feed with basement air, or, exhaust into the basement. I have a BIG dehumidifier in the basement as backup and will have to try various airflow patterns each season to see what works best. I will try to run it on negative pressure relative to the tank by putting the fan near the exhaust end of the vent system.

There will be no direct connection to my home HVAC system.

 

[FishTruck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11423477#post11423477 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by khoivo1
how many vortech are you gonna have in this thing?? any other thing like closeloop or tunze??/
is this gonna be all soft or mixx or hard coral/??

knoivi1. Well, I wanted to run four Vortechs. However... I forgot that the acrylic can only be 3/4 inch thick (mine is 1.25 inches thick). So no vortechs.

Current plan is Four Tunzes with four eductors on my main return nozzles. No closed loop (too much plumbing for me).

I plan a mixed reef with SPS on top, LPS in the lower / shaded regions, and four clams in a sand bed in the middle, with a decent load of fish. It will be 80% SPS. That part still seems a long way away!

Ryan.

 

[FishTruck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11427685#post11427685 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mdaybowls
Awesome setup. I am thinking about setting up something similar. So I'm tagging along.

Thanks Mday! The more the merrier!

 

[FishTruck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11424607#post11424607 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by new_world_disor
wow. love the setup. im in love with ur sump. good work

Thanks New World! My first big sump! Hopefully, I can photograph it with a nice curio shelf of frags in the front section someday soon!