Our 375 Gallon project
- Thread starter sidewinder770
- Start date
mrpet
Member
scott awsome i am going to steal the stand and canopy design 
im doing a 360 here in the near future was going to use a metal stand as well its ging to be an in wall set up. i was going to have it powder coated but i think im going to use an automotive paint.
they used it at my wholesaler and after 2 years still looks great.
man that stand is awsome. thanks for sharing.
great name to bro
scott
im doing a 360 here in the near future was going to use a metal stand as well its ging to be an in wall set up. i was going to have it powder coated but i think im going to use an automotive paint.
they used it at my wholesaler and after 2 years still looks great.
man that stand is awsome. thanks for sharing.
great name to bro
scott
qwuintus
New member
this reminds of me platapus/180gallonreef's tanks with the stand and canopy...
i read you used black pond foam.. is that all you used, or did you coat it with epoxy afterwards? im intrested to get a link or something so i can check out this stuff.. seems better than the 'great stuff' foam.
i read you used black pond foam.. is that all you used, or did you coat it with epoxy afterwards? im intrested to get a link or something so i can check out this stuff.. seems better than the 'great stuff' foam.
Nefarious77
New member
looks like a nice setup so far. Any updates?
sidewinder770
New member
Thanks all for the compliments. Sorry for not having anything exciting to post- just had a lot of other projects requiring my attention. It's hard to have this sitting with no water in it!
Unfortunately we are still several months from being complete. The next step will be running the plumbing needed to go from the display tank to the sump room that will be 60+/- feet away. Along with that is the building of the sump room itself that will be about 6'x12' and have it's own heating/cooling system. It will also have ducting going from the display canopy to the sump room so that ait circulation through the canopy will go through the sump room and will hopefull avoid a lot of the common heat/humidity problems associated with large tanks. The canopy will basically be sealed and air will be pushed from the sump room via a high volume fan through the canopy and back to the sump room- set to turn on depending on temperature in the canopy. It will keep the heat/humidity/fan noise out of the house and be seperately climate controlled which we think will be a big help and hopefully keep electricty costs down by not having to use the house AC to keep everything cool.
I know everyone likes pics so I'll throw this one in just for the heck of it. We'll probably be posting some pics of the plumbing and sump room build as well once that gets underway- which will hopefully be in the next week or 2- We have to get the plumbing and sump room done before it gets to hot!
Unfortunately we are still several months from being complete. The next step will be running the plumbing needed to go from the display tank to the sump room that will be 60+/- feet away. Along with that is the building of the sump room itself that will be about 6'x12' and have it's own heating/cooling system. It will also have ducting going from the display canopy to the sump room so that ait circulation through the canopy will go through the sump room and will hopefull avoid a lot of the common heat/humidity problems associated with large tanks. The canopy will basically be sealed and air will be pushed from the sump room via a high volume fan through the canopy and back to the sump room- set to turn on depending on temperature in the canopy. It will keep the heat/humidity/fan noise out of the house and be seperately climate controlled which we think will be a big help and hopefully keep electricty costs down by not having to use the house AC to keep everything cool.
I know everyone likes pics so I'll throw this one in just for the heck of it. We'll probably be posting some pics of the plumbing and sump room build as well once that gets underway- which will hopefully be in the next week or 2- We have to get the plumbing and sump room done before it gets to hot!
Last edited:
sidewinder770
New member
dvj81-
Yeah- it's all pvc. Below all the ball valves is flexible PVC just for vibration dampening and so as not to put a lot of stress on the bulkheads- it also makes it easy to remove the pumps if I need to. It may be hard to tell from the pictures but I can close the ball valves and remove all the plumbing and/or pumps with the unions. I find working with hard PVC a beeze and fairly cheap- until you throw in all the ball valves and unions of course !
NOLACLS-
That's exactly how I built it. The section in the front (including center support) is removable for a full 8'x18" front access or I can keep that piece in and use it to support myself over the tank while working in the tank. The whole canopy "frame" is attached to the stand as well as the wall and shouldn't "flex" at all with a few hundred pounds of weight on it. The removable section isn't needed to support the weight of the canopy as the whole front "skin" section of the canopy will be on lift struts to completely open the front of the canopy. It will also have functional doors that I can open just to feed or look inside the canopy if I want to without "opening" the whole front of the canopy.
Yeah- it's all pvc. Below all the ball valves is flexible PVC just for vibration dampening and so as not to put a lot of stress on the bulkheads- it also makes it easy to remove the pumps if I need to. It may be hard to tell from the pictures but I can close the ball valves and remove all the plumbing and/or pumps with the unions. I find working with hard PVC a beeze and fairly cheap- until you throw in all the ball valves and unions of course
!NOLACLS-
That's exactly how I built it. The section in the front (including center support) is removable for a full 8'x18" front access or I can keep that piece in and use it to support myself over the tank while working in the tank. The whole canopy "frame" is attached to the stand as well as the wall and shouldn't "flex" at all with a few hundred pounds of weight on it. The removable section isn't needed to support the weight of the canopy as the whole front "skin" section of the canopy will be on lift struts to completely open the front of the canopy. It will also have functional doors that I can open just to feed or look inside the canopy if I want to without "opening" the whole front of the canopy.
tomviolence
In Memoriam
looking good
invincible569
New member
Great job! I love reading these types of threads. Thanks for sharing.
sidewinder770
New member
Not the greatest schematic but you should be able to get the idea- There is obviously a few things missing like all the ball valves and unions involved but it gives you the basic idea of how things will hopefull work. The plumbing in the last few pictures is just the closed loop systems so I still have a long way to go as you can tell. I haven't even hooked up the overflow drains as of yet.
I'll try and get a better picture of the foam in the next few days- it's kind of hard to get a good picture with the glare but I'll see what I can do.
I'll try and get a better picture of the foam in the next few days- it's kind of hard to get a good picture with the glare but I'll see what I can do.
RocketSeason
New member
I may not be reading this right, but it looks like your QT is part of your system???
I asume this can be cut off from the rest of the system easily?
I asume this can be cut off from the rest of the system easily?
sidewinder770
New member
Rocketseason-
Yeah- it is part of the system except when it's in QT mode or being drained for a water change- it will have a 3 way ball valve on the intake from the main sump and a ball valve on the return to the sump so I can make it a seperate QT tank anytime I want too very easily- the rest of the time it will help as it will add to the total system water volume and make things more stable. When I want to do a water change I just close the ball valves- drain the QT tank and fill it with the mixed water above it- then crack the ball valve for a nice slow trickle into the main system- never have to worry about the sump water level getting low during water changes that way- and I'll have a perfect place to QT things.
Yeah- it is part of the system except when it's in QT mode or being drained for a water change- it will have a 3 way ball valve on the intake from the main sump and a ball valve on the return to the sump so I can make it a seperate QT tank anytime I want too very easily- the rest of the time it will help as it will add to the total system water volume and make things more stable. When I want to do a water change I just close the ball valves- drain the QT tank and fill it with the mixed water above it- then crack the ball valve for a nice slow trickle into the main system- never have to worry about the sump water level getting low during water changes that way- and I'll have a perfect place to QT things.
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