New 75 Gallon Build Plans Review

[BlurrVT]

I'm in the beginning stages of planning a 75 gal build. I've done some stand plans and plumbing plans and it's time to check my work. I've attached some renderings in the thread and I'd like to get some feedback on what you all think. If you see anything missing, or if there's a better way, please chime in. I'd rather take the advice/criticism now and build it right the first time

Equipment I already have from a previous build is a Trigger Systems sump, an Eheim 1262 return pump, BRS reactor (I'll be adding a second for GFO), Apex w/ various IO's, Tunze ATO, a VorTec MP10 (I'll be adding a second), and some Marine Pure.

Equipment I need to get and would like some suggestions on are heaters (I want to replace the one I have with dual, more reliable heaters), a skimmer, an overflow (planning on using Reef Saavy), lighting (Leaning towards two or three Kessil A360W) and anything else I might be missing.

The previous build was a 55 gal freshwater tank and was really to test out the sump, Apex, and some other things I had never done before. I'm moving so I had to break that down, but now that the testing is out of the way, it's on to a bigger set up. I do plan to start FOWLR and get maintenance schedules down, the tank stable, etc, before approaching corals.

Pics are attached. I couldn't get embedded links to work from dropbox or google photos. The stand is the Rocket design.

Next is a front and rear view of the whole set up.

The last two are close ups of the Plumbing. All pipe is 1in. You can see the three drains, one with a gate valve. The main drain has a filter sock on it. I plan to use some silicone tubing to connect the return pump to the PVC though it's not shown. The manifold from left to right is:
Spare 0.5in mur-lok valve, spare 1in PVC valve, 0.5in mur-lok valve for GFO reactor, spare 1in PVC valve, 0.5in mur-lok valve for carbon reactor, and return valve.

There are valves for each of the return lines along with Wye check valves. Unions are in positions I think would make the whole thing easy to disassemble and clean/repair when needed. You can also see some blocking I plan to use to attach the PVC to the frame for support. Anyone have anything they use for this that works well?


Some questions I have on the setup:

Bulkheads - for the return bulkheads, is there a way to plumb them so they can be removed if they ever need to be? If I glue a fitting on the back, how will it will pull through the hole in the glass. Are threaded bulkheads reliable for connecting plumbing? I could also be totally missing something...

Overflow - is it necessary to have the full siphon elbow just a little lower than the secondary drain? I'm not showing the air inlet on the secondary drain, but I know it needs to be there. Is there a guideline for how high the emergency drain should sit?

Possible Additions - I have some spare valves built into the manifold. Not sure what I will use them for, but one idea is to use one as a drain for water changes. I could theoretically open it to drain and use another pump to put water back in at the same time while keeping everything running. I also might use the spares to help circulate water in the sump sections to keep detritus off the bottom. If I go that route, I may change the 1in spares to mur-lok.

I don't show the ATO tank yet. It's in a yet to be drafted side addition to the stand. I'm thinking one side will hold ATO, chemicals, parts, etc, and the other side will hold electrical.

Anyone else have anything fun they have in their plumbing set ups?

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Hopefully I'm not too far off with the design. I appreciate the help!

 

[BlurrVT]

Pictures did not attach. Here they are.

 

[TONY_C]

I'm new here too and still working on setting up my first tank but a lot of what I have read about plumbing to and from sumps suggests not to use check valves to keep the returns from draining down to the sump in the event of a power failure. The idea is that it is just another point of failure. Rather, you should have enough room above the normal water line in your sump to allow the returns to drain into the sump if the pump shuts off for any reason without overflowing the sump.

 

[BlurrVT]

I'm new here too and still working on setting up my first tank but a lot of what I have read about plumbing to and from sumps suggests not to use check valves to keep the returns from draining down to the sump in the event of a power failure. The idea is that it is just another point of failure. Rather, you should have enough room above the normal water line in your sump to allow the returns to drain into the sump if the pump shuts off for any reason without overflowing the sump.

Yea, I thought about that too. I do plan on having enough room in the sump to take the excess in case the check valves fail, but I like the idea of having them there as a redundancy.

The Wye check valves are supposed to be pretty good. You can take them apart and clean the parts to keep them working smoothly. That said, I'm trying to make sure I'm not reliant on any one part to keep water in the system. Redundancy is key

I also moved the check valves below the ball valves. That way I can cut the ball valves off to maintain the check valves.

 

[Johnnydaz143]

I thought about not putting in check valves as well but many reefers recommend putting them in. So what I did was made a bigger sump to hold the water in case the rhe check valves stop working

 

[RocketEngineer]

I don't know of any knowledgeable reefer that recommends check valves. Even if cleaned every day, they still are likely to fail because the type of system we are keeping includes numerous organisms which grow on any available surface within the setup. And freshly cleaned surfaces are particularly attractive since nature hates a vacuum. All it will take is a sponge or feather duster deciding to grow on the seat of the valve and you've negated the entire device. They do not redundancy. The only fail safe option is to have enough sump capacity to handle the entire back flow from the display. That doesn't require redundancy because it will always work. Gravity never fails.

 

[BlurrVT]

I don't know of any knowledgeable reefer that recommends check valves. Even if cleaned every day, they still are likely to fail because the type of system we are keeping includes numerous organisms which grow on any available surface within the setup. And freshly cleaned surfaces are particularly attractive since nature hates a vacuum. All it will take is a sponge or feather duster deciding to grow on the seat of the valve and you've negated the entire device. They do not redundancy. The only fail safe option is to have enough sump capacity to handle the entire back flow from the display. That doesn't require redundancy because it will always work. Gravity never fails.

Duly noted and thanks for the feedback. Will leave the check valves out and let the tank drain into the sump. One less thing to maintain. Do you see anything else that sticks out at you as not needed or anything you would change?

Also, thanks for the stand design

 

[RocketEngineer]

Duly noted and thanks for the feedback. Will leave the check valves out and let the tank drain into the sump. One less thing to maintain. Do you see anything else that sticks out at you as not needed or anything you would change?

Also, thanks for the stand design

I noticed the stand design. That thread is very popular for some reason :lolspin:.

You have a lot of "spares" which I personally wouldn't include. I've only ever run the one reactor so having two plus a single spare would be more than I use. I understand wanting extras but if you aren't going to use them they just take up space and cost money. I prefer to keep my setups simple.

Good luck.

 

[BlurrVT]

I wanted to include them for now as I don't know what else I might add in. I'm thinking of using one of them for a water change drain. I would rather do the plumbing once than need something in the future and not have it. I've still got a lot of planning to do before I get started so if I really can't think of a potential use for all of them, I'll probably nix the ones I don't need.

 

[BlurrVT]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm hoping since no one else has chimed in that the rest of the design is relatively solid.