Hello everyone. I am a long time lurker and am finally putting together my tanks.
A bit of background. A few years ago, I bought a 90g tank and 120g tank off craigslist with rocks, sump, skimmer, canister filters, T5 lights, and other equipment. At the time, I bleached and acid bath the rocks and cleaned up the 120g tank. I set up the 120g tank to check for leaks and it was fine.
Fast forward to today. I have been planning to setup the 120g tank for a while and now with the SAH orders, it is the perfect distraction.
However, I keep getting wrapped up in the plumbing and the skimmer.
THE TANKS
The 120g tank is a glass tank with 4 holes drilled for the overflow.
The 90g tank is a glass tank with no predrilled holes.
Both have custom DIY stands.
Acrylic sump 2ft x 14" approximately.
I also have a 10g tank ready as a quarantine tank.
Equipment
Issue 1:
The protein skimmer I received is an old AES ETSS protein skimmer. It looks like an 800, but is square instead of round. I didn't receive a pump with the skimmer and looking at the price of the pump, I am not sure if I should try to use this skimmer or just upgrade to a newer skimmer. Also, the sump is not pre-drilled for the skimmer. I have read the excellent ETSS skimmer thread here, but still can't decided if I want to spend the money on an external pump only to find out I should have gone with a newer in-sump pump. I don't want to spend a fortune on the skimmer at the moment.
The acrylic sump is not the largest, it is about 2ft long and 14 inches wide. It is basically one big chamber, two baffles, and the return chamber. I am going to add a piece of acrylic to make a refugium before the return.
I also plan to convert one of the container filters into a denitrator.
I also recently purchased an RO/DO unit and plan to make a mixing station and have an ATO.
Plumbing
I plan to use either the Herbie or BeanAnimal method. The sump has two filter socks in the first chamber, which I plan to continue to use. Then I would have either an in-sump protein skimmer or use the ETSS skimmer either in sump or externally without drilling into the sump. I am not sure if the denitrator should come before or after the refugium. Off the return, I plan to have a manifold for any further additions. I forgot to mention, I am planning on hard plumbing everything.
I am rather surprised at the cost of valves and this forum has been great to find alternatives to some of the more expensive valves. I am trying to plan and draw out the plans before buying the valves online, so I know the type and number of valves and unions I need.
The tanks are in a former bathroom in the basement. There is a spout on the other side of the room from the tanks. There is a in-ground drain, but I think it is rusted out and only the emergency trap drains. There are also two drain pipe from other bathrooms accessible in the room. So my plan is to have waste lines plumbed into these drains. RO/DI unit is easy. I have seen some plans for skimmer to connect to a drain and would like to have possible overflow go straight to the drain. Every once in a while my power goes out for a minute or so, so I want to avoid any flooding as much as possible. I plan to have shutoffs and some type of float valves in RO/DI and sump where needed. I also have an APC unit I can use as power backup.
With all this said, I am terrible at drawing out plans and knowing what really should go where. I have been watching youtube videos on plumbing, BRS videos, and researching, but would greatly appreciate any help.
As to the 90g tank, I haven't decided what to do since it is not pre-drilled. At first, I wanted to connect both tanks to the same system. Now, I am leaning towards making that a freshwater tank for the kiddo since I have another canister filter to use.
Thanks.
A bit of background. A few years ago, I bought a 90g tank and 120g tank off craigslist with rocks, sump, skimmer, canister filters, T5 lights, and other equipment. At the time, I bleached and acid bath the rocks and cleaned up the 120g tank. I set up the 120g tank to check for leaks and it was fine.
Fast forward to today. I have been planning to setup the 120g tank for a while and now with the SAH orders, it is the perfect distraction.
However, I keep getting wrapped up in the plumbing and the skimmer.
THE TANKS
The 120g tank is a glass tank with 4 holes drilled for the overflow.
The 90g tank is a glass tank with no predrilled holes.
Both have custom DIY stands.
Acrylic sump 2ft x 14" approximately.
I also have a 10g tank ready as a quarantine tank.
Equipment
Issue 1:
The protein skimmer I received is an old AES ETSS protein skimmer. It looks like an 800, but is square instead of round. I didn't receive a pump with the skimmer and looking at the price of the pump, I am not sure if I should try to use this skimmer or just upgrade to a newer skimmer. Also, the sump is not pre-drilled for the skimmer. I have read the excellent ETSS skimmer thread here, but still can't decided if I want to spend the money on an external pump only to find out I should have gone with a newer in-sump pump. I don't want to spend a fortune on the skimmer at the moment.
The acrylic sump is not the largest, it is about 2ft long and 14 inches wide. It is basically one big chamber, two baffles, and the return chamber. I am going to add a piece of acrylic to make a refugium before the return.
I also plan to convert one of the container filters into a denitrator.
I also recently purchased an RO/DO unit and plan to make a mixing station and have an ATO.
Plumbing
I plan to use either the Herbie or BeanAnimal method. The sump has two filter socks in the first chamber, which I plan to continue to use. Then I would have either an in-sump protein skimmer or use the ETSS skimmer either in sump or externally without drilling into the sump. I am not sure if the denitrator should come before or after the refugium. Off the return, I plan to have a manifold for any further additions. I forgot to mention, I am planning on hard plumbing everything.
I am rather surprised at the cost of valves and this forum has been great to find alternatives to some of the more expensive valves. I am trying to plan and draw out the plans before buying the valves online, so I know the type and number of valves and unions I need.
The tanks are in a former bathroom in the basement. There is a spout on the other side of the room from the tanks. There is a in-ground drain, but I think it is rusted out and only the emergency trap drains. There are also two drain pipe from other bathrooms accessible in the room. So my plan is to have waste lines plumbed into these drains. RO/DI unit is easy. I have seen some plans for skimmer to connect to a drain and would like to have possible overflow go straight to the drain. Every once in a while my power goes out for a minute or so, so I want to avoid any flooding as much as possible. I plan to have shutoffs and some type of float valves in RO/DI and sump where needed. I also have an APC unit I can use as power backup.
With all this said, I am terrible at drawing out plans and knowing what really should go where. I have been watching youtube videos on plumbing, BRS videos, and researching, but would greatly appreciate any help.
As to the 90g tank, I haven't decided what to do since it is not pre-drilled. At first, I wanted to connect both tanks to the same system. Now, I am leaning towards making that a freshwater tank for the kiddo since I have another canister filter to use.
Thanks.
