Poker Room 70G Build - New to Reefing

[coyote97]

New Updates

New Updates

Been a while since I've updated the thread. Since my last post I've purchased bulkheads from Marine Depot and a Spectrapure Max Cap RO/DI system during their sale. Tonight I put the glass overflow together that I had made by a glass shop. If you are planning to use the Marine Depot 1-1/2" bulkheads make sure your hole is 65mm or 2.56" in diameter. Whatever it says on their website is wrong. I had to have the glass shop enlarge the holes after they drilled 2.5" diameter holes. Here's a picture of the overflow. It is approximately 32" long.

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[Rocketboy52]

Looking good!

The trapped air in the plastic will only cause a leak if there is a breech in the bond line from inside to out. I had some small trapped air in a couple of my bond lines as well. After I did a couple I got better. Did you read the thread about bonding acrylic together using guitar string spacers? I didnt find that thread until after I glued my sump together but it looked like a good method to use because you basicly overfill the gap whith solvent while the spacers are in, and then remove the steel wire and the acrylic settles down onto itself and squeezes out the excess solvent. On my one leaky corner, I stabbed a needle all the way through the bond line and reinjected the solvent in the small breech and it sealed up good on the 2nd try.

 

[coyote97]

Overflow mounted to tank

Overflow mounted to tank

Rocket, I leak tested the sump and the refugium that I built and both leaked. I think I have the sump sealed now but I still need to fix the fuge. I did read the acrylic thread and I used the pin method. I guess it just takes some practice to get good.

I mounted the overflow to the tank and test fit the bulkheads. Here's some pictures.

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Up next - modifying the stand and plumbing!!

 

[coyote97]

leak free sump and fuge!

leak free sump and fuge!

I had to cut one of the stand's back braces, but I was able to finally get the new sump under the stand! After the test fit I sealed up the last leaks in both the sump and fuge. Here's a picture of what I put together. Because I have a limited size opening in the stand I had to go with a separate fuge and sump. The right side has the skimmer section. I have to build a stand to get the skimmer up a little higher. I was thinking I'd have two 1-1/2" drains come in here - one being the syphon. The third 1-1/2 pipe would be the emergency drain that I was thinking would dump into the fuge. The return section is the left section of the sump. I have an Eheim 1262 that I will split to two 1" return lines. I'm thinking one to each side of the tank. My thought is I may supply flow with Koralia's or Vortech MP40. Anyone have any comments about the plumbing plans? What would be the best way to get the water from the fuge into the return section of the sump? Do I need to raise the fuge up off the stand bottom and have it syphon into the sump? Should I put another pump in the fuge and just go up and over? If I were to drill the fuge where would be the best place to do it? I have extra bulkheads. The sump and fuge aren't completely finished. I have braces for the tops but they haven't been put on because I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to need to drill them or cut them down. I also have an extra baffle I can add to the sump if necessary but there isn't much room left. Please don't be shy about posting opinions. I'm trying to get this done soon, but I'm not rushing. I want to hear tips from the pros!!

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[IridescentLily]

I like your overflow, looks great!

 

[Rocketboy52]

Looking good! My only comment on the plumbing, I'm on my third drain manifold, the big reason being that I want to supply the fuge and the sump proper with water from the drain pipes. What I first did was run the siphon line to the skimmer section and the the vented siphon line to the fuge. The problem with that is your vented siphone doesn't always flow, especially after the drain system has stabalized. I tried to slow down the siphon to force more water through the vented siphon, but then a majority of the water would run through the vented siphon, and the emergency drain, and I didn't like that, because you are effectivley using your emergency drain as the vented siphon's balance.

So, then I changed the drain manifold in the sump to have a "T" going with valves between the two openings emptying into the sump and fuge. I still wasn't getting enough water to the fuge because even with the fuge ball all the way open and the skimmer valve 2/3 closed most of the water was still feeding the skimmer section.

The manifold I'm making tonight, splits the drain differently so the water path of least resistance is into the fuge and the 2nd "exit" is to the skimmer section and hopefully this way I can easily throttle the amount going into the fuge and the skimmer is essentially everything else. If this doesn't work, I'm going to buy a small power head like 50-100gph and just pump water over the fuge wall and make a real simple straight shot drain.

 

[coyote97]

I'm thinking I'm going to supply the fuge with water from the return pump instead of the drain line. Do you see any problems with that?

 

[coyote97]

Oh, and thank you for the compliment Abril. I also like how the overflow came out.

 

[Rocketboy52]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15737291#post15737291 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by coyote97
I'm thinking I'm going to supply the fuge with water from the return pump instead of the drain line. Do you see any problems with that?

Sure you could use the return pump. I was trying to get un-skimmed water to fuge so that the small critters had plenty to eat, but in realitiy only a small percentage of the water that goes through the skimmer section actually makes it into the skimmer.

The new manifold did work much better by the way, so if you do it the way I did and split the main siphon drain line, you need to be sensitive about how you set it up.

 

[coyote97]

Progress - please criticize my plumbing

Progress - please criticize my plumbing

Laundry list of things done since my last post.
1. Built a little stand to raise the refugium up.
2. Drilled the refugium for return lines.

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3. Did some mods to the stand to run plumbing, including building support to keep from breaking the overflow. I still have to cut it so that it splits into two pieces and allows for the plumbing to be easily removed later.

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4. Ran upper return line plumbing into the canopy. Still have to put ends on.

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5. Ran emergency drain into refugium.

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Next things to do:
1. Must finish plumbing drains - should I send water from the drains to the refugium or should I use return water?
2. Must finish plumbing return lines.
3. Add euro bracing to refugium and sump.
4. Build stand to raise skimmer.

I'm sure I have more to go but I wanted to post pictures to get some feedback on what I've done thus far on the plumbing. I'm wondering if I should have ball valves on the returns from the refugium? Should the return lines go as deep as I have them? They go to about 1" from the bottom. How high should the sanitary tees and elbows be off the bottom of the overflow? All the plumbing is just mocked up - no glue yet, so I can change anything. Comments please.

 

[coyote97]

After getting some feedback in the DIY area, I re-plumbed the right return line so that the canopy could be removed without separating the plumbing.

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Here is what the lower part of the return lines look like. I'm going to replace the T with a cross so I can connect a hose when I need to do water changes.

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[jvr1102]

I to bought my tank for poker, the reason I bought my tank was to sit next to my computer to keep me calm when I play online poker....Won a tourny for 10 grand the first week I had it up so I justified it as it already paid for itself!

 

[coyote97]

Plumbing support

Plumbing support

Finished the plumbing support on the back of the stand. Used inserts so that 1/4-20 bolts could be used to hold the support together while allowing it to be separated later. The foam I used in the holes was a little thick for the 1-1/2" pipes so I had to go a little thinner. It works great though.

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Now the bad news - had the sump on the kitchen counter for a final leak check before setting it in place - yada, yada, yada - it's now broken and scrap acrylic. So I either have to build another or get a 15-20 gallon tank and add baffles. Not going to get down about it, I've made a lot of progress to this point!

 

[reefbro]

Nice start. Looking good.

 

[coyote97]

It's time to start thinking about lighting. Anyone have any recommendations? You can see I have some room in the canopy. Should I go with a fixture or retro-fit? I was thinking T-5's but I will listen to opinions. I read some of Grim Reaper's T-5 thread and he seems to like ATI.

 

[coyote97]

Gonna drop my drawers!

Gonna drop my drawers!

The drawers in my stand have to go. As much as I like them because they are big and provide a lot of storage, they don't allow the room I need for plumbing. So here's a picture of one of the drawers that won't be used on the stand anymore.

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[coyote97]

Deep BLUE sea!

Deep BLUE sea!

This is where I put in a plug for product that my company fabricates and sellls. We're an authorized converter for 3M. I used one of their new products - low profile dual lock - to hold the background inside the tank. It's great stuff! This will allow me to easily remove the background later if I need to. I first put a strip along the top and a couple pieces on the bottom of the 1/8" thick blue acrylic.

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I then put some on the inside of the tank opposite the pieces on the acrylic sheet.

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Pressed the background against the tank and voila!

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[coyote97]

Pristine plumbing?

Pristine plumbing?

What do you think? Is my pluimbing worthy of joining the pristine plumbing thread?

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[muttley000]

Plumbing looks great! When is this thing going to get wet?

 

[atwinparadox2]

Nice job on the plumbing!!