Rebuild and recovery of a dead tank

[Floyd R Turbo]

Decided to upgrade the tank over the weekend.

Figured 66,781,911,840 gallons might be big enough for the finding dori fishes I'm bound to be requested to get as soon as the kids watch the movie.

I'm hoping this overflow is big enough

Not much surface skimming action there, I think you need a coast to coast

 

[jason2459]

Not much surface skimming action there, I think you need a coast to coast

lol, I'm still awaiting back a quote for that...

 

[jason2459]

New addition to ATO.

I've had this sitting around and finally got it hooked up.

It's an Avast diaphragm pump that does like 400ml/m along with another pressure switch that is wired for a controller switch input.

I also had a float valve hanging around and slapped that in too.

I have the tsunami at1 as an independent redundancy from the controller in case it fails. It is set slightly higher then the dual in line float switches and slightly under the sump high single float.

The dual float switches in series work together. One is on top of the other. If either floats up the circuit is opened. This has been in use for many years since around 2010.

The sump high single float switch is even older. It was part of the ato I setup in 2009 for my 55 gallon from auto top off.com or something like that. Its always out of the water. Or should be. If it opens then there's a big issue. This is used for my AWC and Lime dosing.

Then there's the new stuff. The avast pressure switch hooks up to the apex like the float switches. Its set slightly higher then the bottom of the dual in line floats and slightly lower or about the same as the second top dual float setup.

And for added measure the ATO water is fed into the sump via a float valve. It is set higher then both the avast pressure switch and dual floats but lower then the tsunami.

So, it goes
ATO resivour > check valve for just in case but not needed under normal operation >
Diaphragm pump > Tsunami AT1 pressure switch > apex outlet < dual inline floats and avast pressure switch and separate high sump float
> float valve > sump


Yeah, probably overkill. And thats just for my ATO. I've got things so setup for my AWC, lime dosing, carbon dosing, return pump, skimmers, and even the back overflow of the display. I've got input switches everywhere. [emoji1]

I've got 3 BoBs just about filled.

Here's the new pressure switch and float valve.

The old switches still in use for the ato. Hard to see the dual floats.

 

[jason2459]

It turns out I didn't have the float the right way. It was reversed from the direction it needs to be. I was awoken very early this morning with my ATO Fail alert which goes off after my ATO warning. If the sump low switch inputs are in a closed state for to long the alerts go off saying my ATO is failing and not filling.

I go down not understanding whats going on. The diaphragm pump was pumping but the sump level was low. Then finally traced it to the float valve wasn't allowing the water out. Basically if it was down it was shut.

I just had to rotate the valve and flip the float the other way. All better.

 

[jason2459]

And now for something completely different...

I got the waveline dc12000 with the stock 684 mazzei installed tonight. I'm using the waveline controller for this too. I can hook it up to the apex but I'll do that later. The waveline controller has 12 speed settings so that will be more then enough to test with for now.

Pics with the all new plumbing and fully modular now with unions and 1" spaflex. Detailed the fittings earlier in this thread.

I tried out all 12 settings quickly and took some video at each level. Needless to say I was pretty surprised at the initial air draw at even the first speed setting.

I'll get that video uploaded and I will have to refer to it as well for the air draw numbers. But I do remember at the lowest settings it was already pulling 10scfh but water level/flow was very low. By the highest setting the water level was overflowing the collection cup.

What was interesting was the little to no difference in air draw once past level 8 I believe it was. Maxing out around that 20scfh of air draw. Very promising I think. Then will slightly lower flow at a slightly lower setting perform better then all out power on.

Right now I've left it to run for a starting point at level 8 and it's pulling about 18scfh of air. I left it with the water level right at the flange again.

Will update more with initial air draw numbers at different levels later.

 

[jason2459]

Quick swipe of the ATS screen last night. Its showing where the flow is uneven most likely from not being very flat

 

[jason2459]

Video

Run through with all 12 settings. Notes added to say what level it's at
https://youtu.be/RZW0EqO2EJ8

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RZW0EqO2EJ8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>




Level 8 that it's currently running at right now to start with
https://youtu.be/MPXmIhPxDBQ

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MPXmIhPxDBQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[jason2459]

This is great!

Some cool stats update 2

Aquamaxx Em 300
Air draw: ~38-40 scfh
Watts: rated 27watts actual: 31.38watts
Skimmate produced: ~1 cup dry/day and ~3cups wet/day low side

Mag18 as return pump w/ ~12' head height
Max head height:16.85'
Watts: rated 150watts actual: 71.18watts
Flow: rated 1500gph@0 head actual: ~750gph@12' head pressure

Mag18 with MVX stock 684 mazzei venturi
Air draw: ~12 scfh
Max head height:16.85'
Watts: rated 150watts actual: 62-63watts
Skimmate produced: ~3 cups dry/day high side

Mag18 with 784 mazzei
Air draw: ~14scf
Max head height: 16.85'
Watts: rated 150watts actual: 65-66watts
Skimmate produced: ~3 cups dryish/day low side

Waveline DC 12000 @ Level 8 w/ 684 mazzei
Air draw: ~18scfh
Max head height: 22.96'
Watts: rated: 150watts (w/ adapter) 139watts (after adapter) actual: 114wattts (w/ adapter)
Skimmate produced: ~4 cups dry/day!!!

Best performance yet of any skimmer I've ever owned. Biggest beast I've had previously was a reef octopus SRO 3000. Around 42scfh air draw and it produced about 4 cups per day wet. I haven't even gotten into wet skimming yet. Or at least on purpose to test out.

Biggest issue I had with the SRO 3000 was instability. It would just overflow out of no where. The aquamaxx was very consistant but did go crazy with LRS frozen. This MVX has been rock solid through any kinds or amounts of food I've thrown at it.


Day 3

Again can't see a darn thing

That looks like 3/4ish gallons to me or around 4 cups per day

Ended up averaging around 114 watts

 

[jason2459]

Getting the new "lab" table together. Laptop. Mini fridge. Shelves up. And more storage for misc stuff up. I've actually thrown away 4 garbage bags full of "stuff" already. It's absolutely crazy what collects over the years. Still a lot of organization left to do.

 

[biecacka]

Looking good buddy.



Corey

 

[jason2459]

Looking good buddy.



Corey

Thanks man. I'm excited to just have my microscope readily available now and not have to box it up after each use.

 

[jason2459]

Thanks mr.bot. You having posted in my thread for a while now.

 

[jason2459]

Yay! The old lady finally moved in with her new found mate.

 

[jason2459]

Bud aka Floyd R Turbo (or something like that) aka turbo aquatics got me a new mortar screen for my warped as heck old screen that got baked for who knows how long.

Letting it soak a few days first.

 

[jason2459]

I found this hilarious

So yes, a very warped screen will effect production...

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

OMG that is about as defined of a "burn spot" as you can possibly get!!!

 

[jason2459]

OMG that is about as defined of a "burn spot" as you can possibly get!!!

I laughed pretty good when I pulled that out. Once I'm done playing with the metro here soon I'll put the new screen on and thanks again very much for sending that for me.

 

[jason2459]

Lots of projects going on around the house not to mention this hobby. But I finally got around to hooking this up so no more extension cords to the apex power bars


2 separate dedicated 20 amp afci/gfci circuits.

There's 2 separate gfci circuits upstairs for the main display too. Life supports spread across circuits in case one pops.

 

[jason2459]

I've moved my sump and water station and decided to go super simple.

65 gallon brute for rodi water, 23 gallon slimjim for ATO, 55 gallon brute for saltwater automatic water changes.

29 gallon rubbermaid tote is next to the 55g new saltmix brute not in the picture.

Mag 18 in the 65g rodi brute and when I need to fill one of the other containers up I just plug it in. 23g ATO and 29 gallon tote takes less then a minute and the 55g new saltmix brute about a minute.

 

[jason2459]

Well I no longer have a pair of clown fish