Scott's 270 aka Project Mayhem

Great build Scott. I am starting a large build myself and my cabinet maker and I have not decided how to secure the hood. How did you? Is it attached to the wall, the ceiling or sitting on the tank? Any issues with it?

I was at MACNA this weekend and spoke with Klaus from Royal Exclusiv about the new DC pumps. He had the 80W 2150gph on display at the Premium Aquatics booth and said it will be shipping at the end of the month. It will have a 0-10V connection so it can be controlled by an Apex or Profilux. The big news for me is that they are releasing a 240W 4000+gph controllable pump at the end of the year! That will be perfect for my closed loop. The hard part is waiting. I may have to spring for a couple of Blue eco 240W pumps so I can complete my build before next year.
 
Hi acesq, thanks for the compliment. The cabinetry is affixed directly to the bulk head I have made above the tank. The cabinet door hinges are right into the 2x4 framing around the opening. Now I had a specific request for the front doors which they didn't do correctly. I wanted there to be no, as in zero, cabinetry in my way to lean into the tank when the doors are open. They built a bottom portion that stays when the doors open. Since then they have removed it and are rebuilding it to my original requirements.

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Jeremy took a video of the 80w RD3 for me from MACNA haahaa :) I was planning on going but then work needed me. Ah well, next year is Denver! I will bring the wife and take her to a show at Red Rocks.

The plan has been to get that exact pump you mentioned. I am a little disappointed if there is still going to be a 1-2 month wait for the 0-10v connection though. I want to get this puppy running! I may just put a dummy pump in to get everything running. I am using vortechs in tank to bump up my turn over. 4 MP40's gives me ~4000-12,800 GPH above my return pump. I have been seriously debating getting the Abyzz A200 if the RD3's aren't ready soon! I haven't found one negative about them aside from price.

I had a friend of mine, who is smarter than I am, to work out my max flow through my weir. His math said I could flow ~3800 GPH through the overflow teeth. I wanted to figure out what size return pump to get that wasn't under/overkill. My buddy Colby, and LFS owner, suggested 5x turnover (of display tank volume) through the sump was sufficient. So that would mean I should aim for ~1350 GPH from the return pump. I will likely go for a little more, but I don't want the pump I choose to be running at 100%.

Cheers,
Scott
 
Scott, thanks for the picture. I'll show it to my contractor and ask him to build the hood in the same way.
 
They are supposed to be back on thursday to finish up the work. Once they finish it up I will take a couple more pictures of the finished product for you.
 
Some tank shots. Carpet's in, baseboards are on!

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Fish room.

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The Snake wall. Still needs some backing, tanks cleaned, a little light sealing, bla bla bla.

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Fireplace, cabinetry, carpets, tile... nearly done!

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I still need some ducting work, and a light fixture or two. Then all the work on the tank :)

Cheers,
Scott
 
Scythanith said:
RE RD3 speedy 65W 1848 gph $753 2.45g per $ 2yr warranty
Speedwave DC10000 2640 gph $200 13.2g per $ can't find literature (assume 1 yr)
Waveline DC12000 3170 gph $280 11.3g per $ can't find literature (assume 1 yr)
Abyzz A400 4910 gph $2340 2.1g per $ 10yr warranty

Where does this leave me... I don't know. The higher the inferred quality, the higher the price. I just have to decide what my pocket book will handle.
Click to expand...

I feel your pain; I really want a fully controllable DC pump but between quality reports, production delays, etc...well, ugh.

In your case with a new build and lots of room (so jealous) have you considered going with the less expensive pump but plumbing in a 2nd, back-up pump as either fully redundant or splitting the flow between them? Since you'll have the controller in place if something bad happens while you're away all the wife would have to do is turn a valve or two and you'd be back in business - unless, of course, you add in controllable valves! :thumbsup:
 
Scythanith said:
I have an issue with the dimensions of the sump and my sump chamber. It fits almost perfectly aside from a bulkhead I have in the back righthand of the sump. The base for the skimmer just overlaps the bulkhead so the skimmer doesn't sit flat. I am going to find someone that CNC's plastic and have them build me a little 1/2" tall base that the system sits on.
Click to expand...


I ran in to a similar problem and ended up going the DIY route. I had some spare grey Matala sheets for my pond filter. It cuts easily with a bread knife in to any shape you want and you can slice it as thin as about 1/4". Since I vacuum my sump during water changes I didn't worry about accumulated gunk but you could wrap it in 50 micron filter pad material if prefer to keep it clean.

Total time: 10 min. Total cost < $5.00. :dance:
 
Hurting2Ride said:
I feel your pain; I really want a fully controllable DC pump but between quality reports, production delays, etc...well, ugh.

In your case with a new build and lots of room (so jealous) have you considered going with the less expensive pump but plumbing in a 2nd, back-up pump as either fully redundant or splitting the flow between them? Since you'll have the controller in place if something bad happens while you're away all the wife would have to do is turn a valve or two and you'd be back in business - unless, of course, you add in controllable valves! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

The system is already designed for two return pumps :) Great minds think alike ! I won't have controllable valves on them but they will have their own check valves in case one fails the other should still deliver water to the tank.
 
Hurting2Ride said:
I ran in to a similar problem and ended up going the DIY route. I had some spare grey Matala sheets for my pond filter. It cuts easily with a bread knife in to any shape you want and you can slice it as thin as about 1/4". Since I vacuum my sump during water changes I didn't worry about accumulated gunk but you could wrap it in 50 micron filter pad material if prefer to keep it clean.

Total time: 10 min. Total cost < $5.00. :dance:
Click to expand...

I had a local plastic CNC company make me a base out of 1/2 acrylic. I put the skimmer and pump on a piece of cardboard and traced it out. I then cut out the template and put it in the sump to account for the bulkhead. It worked out great! Cost was $75 though!
 
acesq said:
Scott, thanks for the picture. I'll show it to my contractor and ask him to build the hood in the same way.
Click to expand...

The contractor told me after the fact that it would have been better if he had built the bulkhead/cabinetry from scratch and suspended it himself. My bulkhead wasn't exactly plumb and that gave them some fitment issues. FYI.
 
So I have narrowed it down to two pumps: 3 x RD3 80w with 0-10v controllers OR 3 x Abyzz A100. I could have the Abyzz in a week. The RD3's "possibly" sometime in October. The only catch is the 3 RD3's would cost as much as 2 A100's... But I like the idea of running the A100's controllers as they were meant to, in tandem working together. I could easily work the return plumbing to maximize what the programming could allow for.

Also, I plumbed some spa-flex between the overflow and returns and am getting a slow drip from both bulkheads on the top sump. I am going to cut out the spa-flex, grab a female/female 2" coupler and new bulkheads and remake the connection with 2" rigid. That should alleviate any weird stress on the bulkhead gasket. Any objections?
 
I pulled the trigger and ordered a Profilux 3.1N eX Ultimate set, a second 6D-PAB powerbar, mitras controller, vortech controller, some optical level sensors, and a humidity/temperature sensor and card, slave doser.

I decided to go with GHL since I have 3 Mitras already, and the programming support is there if you look for it, and the programability is endless. I want the Mitras and doser to be controlled, ATO & AWC operational, email alerts and monitoring/controllability away from the system. I want to be able to asses the system for Wendy when I am away from work!

It won't all be in until the start of October, which is ok since that's when the RD3 80w is supposed to be released. If the pumps aren't ready then I have decided to buy the Abyzz pumps, which are available now.
 
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