New In-wall Project Begins

[dougchambers]

Hey Tyler,

We are using a hybrid Durso with a 1.5" cross, two (2) 90Ã"šÃ‚° street elbows, and a cap on top. The drain line also has a gate valve just above the sump.

Here is how I dialed it in;

1. Throttled the GenX PCX55-HP up until we had about 3/4" of water rise on the teeth of the overflow. (3/8-1/2" remaining but the water level is above the trim on the viewing side - OK the house interior side. Some people actually prefer to view the equipment side...)

2. Closed off the drain gate valve until the water level in the overflow just hit the top of the emergency drain port.

3. Opened the gate valve just a touch.

4. Drilled holes in the removable cap until we didn't get any level changes in the overflow.

Keep in mind that we have three (3) 1.5" bulkheads in our overflow. One is for the return that comes over the top of the tank and splits. The second one is for the hybrid Durso. The third one is wide open without restriction to the sump. In the event we get something stuck in the Durso or a rogue event with the pumping, we don't get flooded. (It's already happend once )

Right now it's completely silent. The only thing you can hear in the reef room is the whirring of pumps and a little background noise from the MR3.

 

[tgunn]

Hey Tyler,

We are using a hybrid Durso with a 1.5" cross, two (2) 90Ã"šÃ‚° street elbows, and a cap on top. The drain line also has a gate valve just above the sump.

Here is how I dialed it in;

1. Throttled the GenX PCX55-HP up until we had about 3/4" of water rise on the teeth of the overflow. (3/8-1/2" remaining but the water level is above the trim on the viewing side - OK the house interior side. Some people actually prefer to view the equipment side...)

2. Closed off the drain gate valve until the water level in the overflow just hit the top of the emergency drain port.

3. Opened the gate valve just a touch.

4. Drilled holes in the removable cap until we didn't get any level changes in the overflow.

Keep in mind that we have three (3) 1.5" bulkheads in our overflow. One is for the return that comes over the top of the tank and splits. The second one is for the hybrid Durso. The third one is wide open without restriction to the sump. In the event we get something stuck in the Durso or a rogue event with the pumping, we don't get flooded. (It's already happend once )

Right now it's completely silent. The only thing you can hear in the reef room is the whirring of pumps and a little background noise from the MR3.

Hey Doug,
Thanks for the great description of how you did it...

I have a feeling that having my two 1.5" drains combine into a single 2" pipe is where half of my problem is coming from...

I like the idea of the hybrid durso; mind if I ask what the "width" of the hybrid durso is? I'm not sure if I can fit that in my overflow.. Mind you, since I have both 1.5" lines combined into the same drain pipe I can just use 2 dursos to get roughly the same idea.

I think the gate on the drain just before the sump is what I'm missing. A large portion of the sound I'm getting is from the water sloshing through the pipes. Being able to dial back the drain will let me keep the drain running saturated.

My only trepidation about gating back near my sump is that I end up losing my backup drain. I guess I should've thought of that when I planned it all. Oh well.

I've come close to overflowing the tank while tweaking the overflows . Heh. Gotta keep my fingers crossed!

Thanks again,
Tyler

 

[McGinnis]

Doug,
This is a beautiful tank! Really accents the wall well, and makes that room look great. I like how you aquascaped it too! Reminds me a little of oregonreef's tank with the large valley inbetween the two ridges. Great tank! Keep us updated with pics!

 

[jeffbrig]

Doug, your kitchen cabinets look very similar to the ones we put in our kitchen (and tank stand). Kitchen looks fantastic, BTW. Tank's not bad either.

I managed to lose track of your thread somewhere along the way - thanks for posting a link in mine!

Jeff

 

[dougchambers]

Doug,
This is a beautiful tank! Really accents the wall well, and makes that room look great. I like how you aquascaped it too! Reminds me a little of oregonreef's tank with the large valley in-between the two ridges. Great tank! Keep us updated with pics!

Thanks! I'm still not completely happy with the aquascaping, but it's getting better. I'm going to rebuild the trim piece around the tank this weekend because the corners didn't meet up as well as I wanted. It's a detail thing, but it drives me crazy. I'll shoot some updates this weekend while I'm doing some maintenance.

Originally posted by tgunn
I like the idea of the hybrid durso; mind if I ask what the "width" of the hybrid durso is? I'm not sure if I can fit that in my overflow.. Mind you, since I have both 1.5" lines combined into the same drain pipe I can just use 2 dursos to get roughly the same idea.

Tyler - I'll measure it for you tonight when I get home. If you don't have an emergency overflow port available, you might look at something we did in our old 75g. The system is quite simple and saved my hind end more times than I'd like to admit. The first time was when a large snail went through the Durso and got caught at the bulkhead.

originally posted by jeffbrig]
Doug, your kitchen cabinets look very similar to the ones we put in our kitchen (and tank stand). Kitchen looks fantastic, BTW. Tank's not bad either.
I managed to lose track of your thread somewhere along the way - thanks for posting a link in mine!
Jeff

Jeff - What can I say... Your system is incredible and your patience keeps me in awe. The kitchen turned out very nice and we are loving the new house. We really like the open viewing of the family room from the kitchen and being able to see the fish tank from anywhere in the two rooms.

 

[dougchambers]

Tyler - Our hybrid Durso built from a 1.5" cross and two 1.5" 90Ã"šÃ‚° Street elbows measures right about 9.5" from side to side.

Not sure if you can fit that in or not. I pulled our cap off tonight to take a look and with the gate valve throttled back, we have no bubbles going down the tube.

-Doug

 

[JustOneMoreTank]

I always had thought that putting any kind of Valve or Restriction on a drain was a big "no no". Isnt that just asking for a clog sometime when you are not around to fix it?
Sorry... I just had to ask and I hope that I am not jinxing your tank. :eek1:

 

[dougchambers]

I always had thought that putting any kind of Valve or Restriction on a drain was a big "no no". Isnt that just asking for a clog sometime when you are not around to fix it?
Sorry... I just had to ask and I hope that I am not jinxing your tank. :eek1:

In my opinion, it is a huge "no no" unless you take proper precautions. In our 75RR we had tank and sump interlocks that would shut down the return pump in the event of high or low water conditions.

In the new 135g, we have two drains to the sump. The primary has the hybrid durso and gate valve. The second drain is wide open to the sump. Looking from the top, I can see strait through to the refugium area. If we get a clog or backup in the primary drain, the backup can handle the problem without issue.

Good question!

-Doug

 

[Markk96]

Doug your project is looking awesome.

 

[dougchambers]

Hey Mark... It's good to hear from you. The "Project" is coming along. I had a dream that the tank cracked last night, but all is well. I'm ready for snow so I have an excuse to stop working in the yard and get some work done on the tank.

-Doug

 

[Markk96]

Hey Mark... It's good to hear from you. The "Project" is coming along. I had a dream that the tank cracked last night, but all is well. I'm ready for snow so I have an excuse to stop working in the yard and get some work done on the tank.

-Doug

LOL that would be a scary dream. Soon as it snows here I will be able to work on my basement and get things finished up for the 210 gallon I have sitting on the floor just waiting to be installed.

 

[tgunn]

Tyler - Our hybrid Durso built from a 1.5" cross and two 1.5" 90Ã"šÃ‚° Street elbows measures right about 9.5" from side to side.

Not sure if you can fit that in or not. I pulled our cap off tonight to take a look and with the gate valve throttled back, we have no bubbles going down the tube.

-Doug

Hey Doug,

Thanks for the measurements; I'll have to see if I can fit that in my overflow or perhaps cut down the fittings enought o make it fit.

I've reconsidered my drains and tommorow I'm going to pick up the parts and a gate valve to plumb one of the drains directly to the sump leaving the 2" line as a "backup". It means another hole in the floor but I think I'd feel much more comfortable with it that way.

I definitely like the high/low cutoff system you've got there. I will probably devise something for my sump to prevent the pump from sucking itself dry in the case of a failure somewhere along the line; and it's probably not a horrible idea to have yet another backup to prevent overflow.

Thanks,
Tyler

 

[dougchambers]

Tyler - Hope it helps! Let me know if you need any other dimensions. I'd bet you could trim at least an inch off the 9.5" by cutting back the street elbow and cross for a shorter coupling.

I REALLY like having an open drain to the sump for an added safety factor. It has saved us once already when a snail got caught at the bulkhead. Yea... I forgot to install the grate in the Durso to keep critters from going for a ride.

 

[tgunn]

Tyler - Hope it helps! Let me know if you need any other dimensions. I'd bet you could trim at least an inch off the 9.5" by cutting back the street elbow and cross for a shorter coupling.

I REALLY like having an open drain to the sump for an added safety factor. It has saved us once already when a snail got caught at the bulkhead. Yea... I forgot to install the grate in the Durso to keep critters from going for a ride.

HMm, looks like I won't be able to fit a double durso. I may try making a 2" durso and reducing down to the 1 1/2" plumbing... A single wasn't able to handle the flow by itself..

Wow, a snail in the drain was enough to cause it to back up? I guess it's pretty well balanced in terms of flow in and out, so I can see it.

Tyler

 

[jeffbrig]

Wow, a snail in the drain was enough to cause it to back up?

You'd be amazed at what a snail can do.

I have a setup similar to what Dave is running, except no standpipe at all on the primary drain, just an open bulkhead. A gate valve on the drain line backs it up so that just a small amount of water drains through a taller Durso. A mexican turbo lodged right at the valve, severely resitricting the flow. It ends up, my durso was a little too tall, so the water level in overflow AND the tank rose almost an inch before before the durso was running at full capacity. The water was almost even with the top of the 1" thick eurobracing!! Thank goodness none spilled over.

Like Dave, I didn't have the proper critter blockers in place, a problem I immediately corrected. I'm also going to lower the durso about an inch so I don't have to worry about the level rising too high again.

Jeff

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Doug

Any updates???

Henry

 

[dougchambers]

Happy holidays Henry. We haven't done a lot lately because work has been a little insane, but here are a couple of things since our last update;

I put some dead rock in to create more mounting areas about 3 weeks ago and it's starting to get coraline growth.

I re-routed the tank drain outlet to the inlet side of the skimmer pump and moved the return pickup to the other side of the sump. There is still a little bit of a micro-bubble problem coming from the sump return line that has me perplexed.

We picked up a temp 2-stage temp controller and installed a new 300W WON titanium heater to keep the temperatures in check a little better. I think our high was about 24Ã"šÃ‚° today, so things are pretty cool.

We changed out the MH bulbs about 3 weeks ago to the new Coralvue UltraLux 250W 10,000K's. They look very good an we've seen some good changes in a few frags mounted up.

I shot a couple of new pictures of the display tonight. Excuse the quick sizing and I didn't have time to adjust the images, but I owed everyone an update. You can see that we have a bit of an aptasia problem brewing. We've put in a couple different batches of peppermint shrimp, but given the size of our Sally Lightfoot, I think they've become expensive crab food. Guess I need to pick up some Joes Juice or make up some Kalk.

Here are the quick shots;

Full View:

Left Side:

Center:

Right Side:

Couple of Frags and our Red Brain:

Indy:

Gynx:

I need to move some things around a little and get the micro-bubbles under control. The coraline has taken off in the last 10 days on all the glass and new rock. The Clams need to be tipped back up and situated a little better. There's always something!

 

[HOZERTHEBONEFISH]

Doug

Lookin nice! Thanks for the update.

Henry

 

[tgunn]

Hey Doug,
Everything is looking spectacular!

Do you find that your skimmer is producing better now that you've redirected the overflow drain water directly into the skimmer?

Later,
Tyler

 

[dougchambers]

Thanks Henry... The pictures look a little darker on my screen at work, but there is some progress. Technically, Friday was just the 6-month mark for the new tank so I guess I can't be too disappointed?

-Doug