Rickztah's Low Iron 22g Peninsula RBTA / Euphyllia / Clownfish (build)

[rickztahone]

I'll apologize in advance because this next post will be a LONG one with a lot of pics.

So, things to mention:

The stand is intentionally bigger than the tank. This was on purpose so that I can put a nice acrylic or glass finish to reflect the tank a little along the lip. Also, it is larger to fit a larger tank down below so that it isn't so snug.

Also, I still need to add plywood on both tank bottom and sump bottom. They are just sitting on cross beams now. Will fix this soon. There's cardboard under the tank to preserve the painted bottom.

The outer overflow box WILL be painted so it will not be an eyesore as it is now. It will be painted the same white as the stand so I am waiting to get that in before I paint this section.

I am sure I am forgetting other things, but as it stands, it is more than half way done. Pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Let me know what you think.

Lets go:



DSC08911 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr


DSC08913 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08915 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08918 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08919 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08922 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08923 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08924 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08928 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

 

[rickztahone]

DSC08932 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08933 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08936 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08937 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08938 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08939 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

DSC08940 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

 

[pandimus]

Spectacular Rick... Looks really high end.

 

[m0nkie]

I'm not sure if you did this, BA says drill a hole on 1 of the drains with air tube.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

First off, really nice setup. I had an acrylic tank built for my wife's work a while back. It was similar dimensions to yours. It was such a cool tank. Wife eventually got tired of carrying water to work, so we broke it down. Fun little tank though.

Couple suggestion, why are you not hanging that light from the ceiling? Would look so much cleaner without those feet holding the light to the tank.

Also I would ditch the strainers on your drains. They aren't necessary, and will eventually just clog with debris. That's a big no no IMO.

I would also change up your overflow a bit. The drain that will be full siphon, should be shorter then the secondary drain. Should look like this

What valve are you using to control the full siphon drain?
What about water fall noise from how far the water has to travel to go over and down that acrylic overflow you built?

 

[rickztahone]

Spectacular Rick... Looks really high end.

Thanks Johnny.

I'm not sure if you did this, BA says drill a hole on 1 of the drains with air tube.

Yes, it will be added. I have the airline ready I just haven't got to it, but thanks for pointing it out just in case

 

[rickztahone]

First off, really nice setup. I had an acrylic tank built for my wife's work a while back. It was similar dimensions to yours. It was such a cool tank. Wife eventually got tired of carrying water to work, so we broke it down. Fun little tank though.

Couple suggestion, why are you not hanging that light from the ceiling? Would look so much cleaner without those feet holding the light to the tank.

Also I would ditch the strainers on your drains. They aren't necessary, and will eventually just clog with debris. That's a big no no IMO.

I would also change up your overflow a bit. The drain that will be full siphon, should be shorter then the secondary drain. Should look like this

What valve are you using to control the full siphon drain?
What about water fall noise from how far the water has to travel to go over and down that acrylic overflow you built?

Sry, I just realized I never mentioned this, the light will be hanging. In fact. I have a great idea for hanging it that I hope pans out. No way would I have left it on feet though, I like clean looking tanks .

As far as the strainers are concerned, you have a good point. However, my concern really is that a critter will end up in the overflow. I have a bean animal setup exactly like this on my 75g. The first week I had it, a discus ended up in the outer overflow. It just so happens that I saw it happen and I turned off the return pump immediately.

After I saw this I created a "screen" if you will made out of egg crate that has foam to catch debris. The system works out great actually. I was thinking of possibly integrating that in to this build but it would require for me to paint the inner overflow section and not be see through like it currently is. This would trap a lot of debris/critters and serves as a great prefilter as well. I may still do it though, we'll see.

As far as what valve I'm using? I will use gate valves all through this build with only a few true union valves where necessary.

As far as water noise in the inner overflow, I added a slight "slope" to it so that the water doesn't just fall over this section but rather hugs the inside of that sloped inner overflow. Whether or not that will work is yet to be seen however.

Thanks for all the questions. Questions help me think about things I hadn't previously thought of.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Rickztah's Low Iron 22g Peninsula RBTA / Euphyllia / Clownfish (build)

Sry, I just realized I never mentioned this, the light will be hanging. In fact. I have a great idea for hanging it that I hope pans out. No way would I have left it on feet though, I like clean looking tanks .



As far as the strainers are concerned, you have a good point. However, my concern really is that a critter will end up in the overflow. I have a bean animal setup exactly like this on my 75g. The first week I had it, a discus ended up in the outer overflow. It just so happens that I saw it happen and I turned off the return pump immediately.



After I saw this I created a "screen" if you will made out of egg crate that has foam to catch debris. The system works out great actually. I was thinking of possibly integrating that in to this build but it would require for me to paint the inner overflow section and not be see through like it currently is. This would trap a lot of debris/critters and serves as a great prefilter as well. I may still do it though, we'll see.



As far as what valve I'm using? I will use gate valves all through this build with only a few true union valves where necessary.



As far as water noise in the inner overflow, I added a slight "slope" to it so that the water doesn't just fall over this section but rather hugs the inside of that sloped inner overflow. Whether or not that will work is yet to be seen however.



Thanks for all the questions. Questions help me think about things I hadn't previously thought of.

Didn't see the part about the slope. That should work great. I still don't like any type of foam/strainer before my drains, just another thing to worry about getting clogged and backing up your tank. Worse case if a fish gets in the overflow, you can always just catch him in your sump.
When you buy the valve for the full siphon, check out Spears gate valves. I'm running one on my tank, and it makes a huge difference having a quality valve.


Oh and I'm glad your hanging those lights. Tank looks way to clean to have legs sitting on it. I was like "what is he thinking???" Lol

 

[rickztahone]

Didn't see the part about the slope. That should work great. I still don't like any type of foam/strainer before my drains, just another thing to worry about getting clogged and backing up your tank. Worse case if a fish gets in the overflow, you can always just catch him in your sump.
When you buy the valve for the full siphon, check out Spears gate valves. I'm running one on my tank, and it makes a huge difference having a quality valve.


Oh and I'm glad your hanging those lights. Tank looks way to clean to have legs sitting on it. I was like "what is he thinking???" Lol

I have decided to not use a prefilter foam. Additionally, I may axe the strainers simply because if something WERE to go back there, the pressure of the full siphon may kill whatever may otherwise end up in the sump filter sock

WRT the valve, I have been using kings valves for a while now and trust them. However, with this build I may just buy a Spears for peace of mind and go kings with everything else.

 

[rickztahone]

Looking for suggestions here. I have 2x DC3000's. I was going to run one for return and another for a manifold. Wondering if I could simply run the DC3000 for the return and manifold and simply have the second one as backup. I was going to buy a third one for backup in case either of those broke down but as of now I am yet to purchase it and am wondering if I can save money by just using one.

The manifold will feed a chiller/BRS dual reactor/ and probably a TLF reactor as well.

any advice is appreciated.

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Looking for suggestions here. I have 2x DC3000's. I was going to run one for return and another for a manifold. Wondering if I could simply run the DC3000 for the return and manifold and simply have the second one as backup. I was going to buy a third one for backup in case either of those broke down but as of now I am yet to purchase it and am wondering if I can save money by just using one.

The manifold will feed a chiller/BRS dual reactor/ and probably a TLF reactor as well.

any advice is appreciated.

What's the gph on that pump? A 22g tank doesn't need all that much flow. More turn over = a louder tank.

 

[ChefZilla]

Looking good rik... one if these days I need to come over and see it in person.

 

[rickztahone]

What's the gph on that pump? A 22g tank doesn't need all that much flow. More turn over = a louder tank.

794gph max on the pump. Definitely trying to avoid loud as it will be in the living room area.

Looking good rik... one if these days I need to come over and see it in person.

Brent, you just let me know when you want to come over bud. We can grill something too, maybe a steak or something

 

[SchnitzelReef]

794gph max on the pump. Definitely trying to avoid loud as it will be in the living room area.





Brent, you just let me know when you want to come over bud. We can grill something too, maybe a steak or something

I had a 30g frag tank, and I was running 300gph. But I I don't think 300-400 gph is enough to run a chiller and multiple reactors. Can you sell one of the pumps and get the next model up? You can always dial it back if it's too much flow.

 

[rickztahone]

I had a 30g frag tank, and I was running 300gph. But I I don't think 300-400 gph is enough to run a chiller and multiple reactors. Can you sell one of the pumps and get the next model up? You can always dial it back if it's too much flow.

lol, I just swapped a DC12000 for the DC3000. Of course I can always use one for the return and one for the manifold and only buy another DC3000 as backup. Do you think this would be a better option?

 

[ChefZilla]

794gph max on the pump. Definitely trying to avoid loud as it will be in the living room area.


Brent, you just let me know when you want to come over bud. We can grill something too, maybe a steak or something

Nice.... I'll bring the steaks. My tanks getting better and getting some colors besides green. Getting pinks/reds, blues, golds ect ect...

 

[SchnitzelReef]

lol, I just swapped a DC12000 for the DC3000. Of course I can always use one for the return and one for the manifold and only buy another DC3000 as backup. Do you think this would be a better option?

Then you need to swap the 3000 for a 6000. Hahaha.

Pros and cons to both setups. Personally, I run 1 large pump and T it off to go to my reactors. Kind of convenient having 1 pump to deal with vs 2. That's just my personal preference.

If it was me, and your dead set on running a jebao, I would run 1 6000 instead of 2 3000s...1 less pump to hassle with.

 

[dodgerblew]

I run a 6000 for my return on my 60 cube (72 with sump) and it also tees of for my chiller and I don't run it on full power.

 

[SanClementeEric]

How are you going to run the return line?

 

[rickztahone]

Nice.... I'll bring the steaks. My tanks getting better and getting some colors besides green. Getting pinks/reds, blues, golds ect ect...

Whenever your tank is ready just let me know and I can take the camera over

Then you need to swap the 3000 for a 6000. Hahaha.

Pros and cons to both setups. Personally, I run 1 large pump and T it off to go to my reactors. Kind of convenient having 1 pump to deal with vs 2. That's just my personal preference.

If it was me, and your dead set on running a jebao, I would run 1 6000 instead of 2 3000s...1 less pump to hassle with.

Gotcha. I will keep this in mind.

I run a 6000 for my return on my 60 cube (72 with sump) and it also tees of for my chiller and I don't run it on full power.

Good to know Rik. Thank you.

How are you going to run the return line?

Hard plumbed pvc and up and over to 3/4 loc line.