New tank 125 (note: this may progress slowly)

[Rysam]

i just realized that you were an engineer.... hmm.
ok well i want to have my tank drain normally, ie no pumps on the drain(it was suggested)
i have 36 inches to the floor in the livingroom and another 12" to the garage floor. so i want to go under the house with the plumbing. approx 46" with joists and such. then approx 40' horiz into the garage which puts my plumbing damn close to ground level. then back up approx 30" to the sump. so i would be at 18"ish below the drains 40' away relying on nothing but head pressure to flow to the garage. pumping it back wont be a problem just flowing enough from the tank to keep up with the return pump

 

[boviac]

That's no problem. Just oversize your horizontal drain and put it at even a slight downward slope and it will drain no problem. Even if it isn't oversized... you'll find that as long as it's an open end, the water will be pulled out towards the final outlet. Water always wants to find it's lowest level.

I'm not sure I fully understand what you're saying but I'd be happy to come up sometime to see if we can make it work.

The only problem I can see if the return pump shuts off or power outage. You'd need quite a bit of sump room for all that water in the pipes to flow back into. Easy enough to calc out. Plus I was wrong its closer to 120 gal actually. So in reality you have pleanty of real estate in that beast to hold pipe return water.

Also, my wife is of the opinion right now that we may one day be able to use it as a sump ourselves (i.e. own house, special tank room and sump/equipment room) :rolleye1: - sorry someday is just too far out in the cloudy future for me. I'd rather get rid of this six foot beast and be able to gain some of my coveted garage space back. :lol:

 

[boviac]

Ok I finally have an update. I went all the way to Applegate yesterday to score a great deal on a light fixture. I was originally going to indefinatley put up my current canopy modified to fit a 6' tank until I could afford a Solaris.

Here it is off

So here it is. It looks like this because it is so bright, to average the light out it had to darken everything else... ha ha

Here it is up and MH on

Here it is with just actinics

Here is the KillAWatt with just Actinics and its ballast 83W

Here is the KillAWatt with just the Halides and fan and ballast 616W!!!!

 

[boviac]

Also a while back I gave up with buying and messing with used tanks.... I bought this.

Of course the obligatory kid in new tank shot

Another for size comparison

And until I can get all the other tanks and 'crap' out of my garage to start a build, that's about it. Plus I really need to nail down a design and stick with it.

 

[boviac]

Ok last night after my wife helped clean out some outstanding garage sale items, I have made even more improvements in cleaning and making room for construction in the garage.

I put the two smaller tanks on CL and began rebuilding the stand walls for the 125 I want to sell. As soon as I can rid that one I will be going full speed ahead on building and updating this thread!

I hope to post some design pics soon

 

[boviac]

Last night I got some of that cool blue painters tape and started taping the back of my tank. I finally took of the shipping cardboard in order to do this as well as scrapped of some sloppy silicone smears and goops left behind during assemby. Its pretty clear that they - AGA - or I forget their new name, use their fingers to form and clear excess off the seams. At least they are made in America!

A little help from Tatiana! She's putting tape all over the place.

Also last night I could not find my PVC pipe cutter but I doubted it would cut 1.25" fittings, so I proceded to make my own Street Elbows for my Durso overflows with a hack saw and a clamp to my ladder. So I cut about 1/4-3/8 of the ends of the middle of the Tee and the 90 elbow for each Durso. Sanded with a dremel and glued. I suspect I easily saved a little more than half an inch in overflow footprint since I could not find street elbows. Not much progress but a beginning. I think I'll try to put all the plumbing out and take a picture to post.

And today was a BIG, clean out the garage and all the boxes of 'stuff' (feel free to insert your own choice word here) to be reorgainzed/ consolidated, and another trip for donations. Since we started this early and rolled, dragged, or pushed EVERYTHING out, the bikes went out onto the lawn, and we had like at least three people stop by and ask how much for the bikes as if we were having a yard sale. Ha.

Amazing! It's like we rid ourselves of 50% of the 'Stuff'. We emptied and broke down about eight cardboard boxes and emptied at least six containers and donated a few more with their contents.

Look at all that available workspace now!!!

Yeah now that Halli's completed her Master's Degree and only working one job, she's found new energy and interest to complete things she's put off for a long time too.

It seems sometimes motivations can rub off... :lol:

 

[Underwaterparadise]

Good stuff. You need to move this thread to the Chico club site!!

 

[boviac]

Thanks Rob! I've posted a link there to this site since this is where I started it. Also, I personally prefer this site as I have others on RC that I know that might visit this link than one on the Chico site.

 

[Underwaterparadise]

Yes, but as a club what is the point of putting soo much time and effort into a website if no one uses it?? IMO the clubs should have there own forums and RC should use this space for other discussions.

Just my .02c

 

[boviac]

Thanks again Rob! A little off-topic here but as far as local forums... I personally feel local forums can be more disastrous than the drama sometimes experienced by moderators on RC. I personally like the fact that RC has specific rules and is pretty good at enforcing them. For the most part I also like that RC moderators are generally above and beyond the local drama of the club and can keep it level.

I do participate in and appreciate the local club site. I'm all for the club having a local informational web page much like MARS but I think unless otherwise unknown to me, the forums here are more than sufficient to gain the most exposure and a one-stop site to get more than enough info that I could handle with my time. I do understand MARS is setting up its own member-privileged forum. With a club that big I can see its usefulness. But I doubt that much traffic will be routed there specifically and be left out of the MARS RC forum. Plus, RC is generally free and it looks like we have to pony up $5 again (and again...) to remove the annoying, juvenile, and lame advertisements on our CRC site. The ones here at least are reef-related and often I find they sometimes flash the new or improved items out there that catch my attention as I don't often have time to keep up on all aspects of my hobbies.

All that being said, I often have both RC and CRC sites tabbed open in the same window. I suppose from this point going forward, I could easily post progress and updates to both sites. Thanks for tipping me off to do this.

 

[boviac]

Ok so here goes the painting process.

Here it is all taped and covered.

Here's the paint.

Here's the first coat

Second

Third

Fourth

Fifth

Sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and an empty can:

Here it is with the light on (glare on front reflected from nearby bicycle) but it is dusty on the bottom.

 

[boviac]

Here are the series of 3/4" bulkheads I had to go through before finally finding the right ones: MarineDepot (Heavy Duty Sch 80) & YourReef - both too large of a diameter for the mfgr. 3/4" megaflow hole, and finally the correct ones from Reef Connections). Notice the height difference too. Funny thing is the 1" MD Heavy Duty Sch. 80 worked for the 1" hole but they didn't for the 3/4" hole. With the moderate cost of plumbing and its importance overall in the build process and for insurance for the long run, I tried to go with the better materials i.e. heavy duty bulkheads but it simply didn't work for these guys.

Top view - Maybe you can see the thickness on the left four compared to the right most ones. I'd tell you the difference but my digital calipers' battery died.

 

[boviac]

Here's the right Durso (when facing front)

Here's the left Durso (when facing front)

I think I am going to shorten the height of these Durso's as I do not want them extending up that far. Here's the link I used to make these: http://www.dursostandpipes.com/BuildYourOwn/tabid/54/Default.aspx
I couldn't find 1.25" street El's so I simply hacksawed off about 3/8" off a Tee and a 90. Sanded and presto - DIY street El. Since these are not under pressure or vacuum... As long as the portion that remained cemented - the joint will be fine.

I plan to obtain some loc-line and extend that from the megaflow wall to direct the return. I'm on the fence if I want to split the 3/4" line to two 3/4" 6" lengths with the wide nozzles returning the flow or just keep it at one per side. I'm going to be putting in my koralias on each side and considering when I make the big bucks, the controlled koralias.

I plan to use a ReefFlo Dart rated for about 2800 gal at 6' head. I plan to split a manifold off the Dart Return: 1" Recirc, 3/4" chiller to have independent tank return near the center of the back (over wall), 3/4" option to suppy the skimmer, another 3/4" option to provide for other auxilliaries like PO4 & Carbon rx, and possibly a CaRx and/or nitrate rx in the future as well as a port to open for water changes. Based upon my calcs of about 700 gph for the chiller and about 500gph for the skimmer (if I don't tap it off one of the tank overflows) and say another 200-300 gph for the rx's that leaves about 1300-2100gph going to the tank off the return. Since the 1" diameter and the megaflows are rated for about 600 gph each for 1200gph, I am thinking I'll be pushing around 1800-2000gph through the tank with the chiller return included... I might be running them in siphon mode instead of gravity feed.

Further, there's a megaflow mod here I'm considering: http://www.dursostandpipes.com/PopularModifications/MegaFlowModification/tabid/70/Default.aspx
To save you the link hassle, basically one drills or dremels out the top teeth of the overflow and then adhears some critter barrier like gutter guard over the opening which greatly increases the available surface return flow. I do not know however, how this will effect the lower and middle draw ports on the mega flow. Though I question their worth anyway. I simply do not see hydraulically how it effectively works. Since the top of the inside megaflow barrier is actually a bit higher than the bottom of the top teeth, I can see a small draw about maybe 10-20% from bottom and middle but 80-90% will be coming from the top. Anyway I did email the guy who submitted this mod a while back now but no response yet.

Once I have the stand built I plan to plumb everything and run it with water to see if the overflows will work with the recirc open simulating the other flows. At that point I'll decide if I want to go ahead and drill out the top teeth and glue in some gutter guard. I suppose at that point I can see if I need an additional loc-line return as well.

 

[Underwaterparadise]

Sounds like you have a solid plan. I think you are over estimating your flow though. The Dart only does about 2400 GPH at 6' and after passing through ball valves,chiller ports,CaRx,etc. you lose a lot of flow.

I think you will be fine though. IMO 2000gph through the sump is too much any way. Can your skimmer pump handle 2000gph?...................nevermind I re read and I guess you have a direct feed skimmer?

BTW, IME those overflows can handle FAR more then 600gph. I have a customer with a 120g that was pushing a Mag 9.5 and 12 through them and the only other thing they were feeding was a chiller.

 

[boviac]

Yes Rob I agree that I am not taking fitting loss into my calcs. But that works in my favor in this case with a bigger pump.

Yes, I will be running a lot through the sump but I plan to have a portion of the sump supply flow to the fuge initially too. and extra room for possibly a grow out area. I'll try to post some pics of my design when I get around to finishing them on SolidWorks.

The skimmer I plan to use is the MARS version 1 skimmer that is a direct feed recirc style with a Mag 7 recircing. I ran it briefly on my 50 gal but it didn't pull any more foam than my HOB prizm. Prizm (9w) vs Mag 7 at (57W). Pulled the larger skimmer out and went back to just the prizm which still does fine.

Thanks for your comments!

 

[melev]

Hey, I remember this thread. :wave: Welcome back from the fathoms beneath...

The thicker bulkheads are Schedule 80. Usually to use those, you need larger holes to accomodate that additional material thickness.

 

[boviac]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13250552#post13250552 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Hey, I remember this thread. :wave: Welcome back from the fathoms beneath...

Thanks Melev!!! I appreciate the visit and comment. I plan to build my sump based upon your tutorial and suggestions. I hope to post some drawings soon.

 

[boviac]

Wow my post per day average is climbing!!!! I'm now at 0.79! That's like double what it was last time I checked!!!

 

[boviac]

One photo I forgot to upload before was the top down showing how much (or really how little) space I have after making my own Street El.

I suppose my angle is a bit off but you can barely see the 3/4" bulkhead hole to the right. The 3/4" pipe will fit free and clear however. But I doubt it would have had I not made the modification.

 

[boviac]

OK so much time has passed again... After hearing what happened to Brian's tank and simply being tired of two tank maintenance when I have my upgrade single tank sitting in my garage.... I've got a new plan.

See in order to completely upgrade, I'd have to run an additional 20A dedicated line to my tank outlet and note: I still rent. Further, I believe my landlord appeared to have a questioning concern about replacing two with one larger. I still have to build my stand and eventually a sump.

Since I've hit a stagnant point about my design- enjoying the design phase too much... I've decided to take the stand from the alternate stand/tank/canopy I've been trying to sell and use it with my current sump/return pump situation. That way I can get motivated to finally build a better stand and eventually the sump. But I can use the tank and consolidate my tanks into one making my life simpler. We're posting our daughters pre-school art all over the walls via tape since we are on the fence of our ability to stay here month to month. So that being said... I think I'll go ahead.

So far I've been thinking about trying to use only one of the pump returns and just place a higher stand pipe in the other. Further I think I'll throttle the tank return to the sump from one of them into my small, existing sump (DelRay 125) pump return area and have the other full flow to the exisitng sump inlet. This will keep me from needing the additional dedicated line. I'll just have to ensure the chiller (~500-700W) and new light (700W), etc are not on at the same time. Shouldn't be a problem with the ACII!

Now I just need to clean out my garage again. get the old tank off the stand and try to sell just that and it's canopy.