Sinistard's 68.8 Acrylic Tank Journal [Photo Intense]

[melev]

Well I filled the tank to leak test and test the sump size. Good news on the leak test none of my glued fittings leaked and I only had a small leak on 2 of the threaded bulkheads which will be easy enough to fix.

Now as far as the water level. With the pumps running the water level was around 1-1.5 inches from the top of the tank. I could get the sump around half full and not have it overflow when the pumps were turned off.

I'm not real happy with this and should have planed better for it and not tried to "save" money by going with the 10g for the sump. I guess this is what happens when you are not sure whats going to happen before you get going, live and learn. I think it would work if worse came to worse but it would be a huge pain to change it down the road so I am going to go ahead and bite the bullet and do something about it now.

I am going to check into making my own. I am going to call around tomorrow to check on prices of supplies. I will probably have to get the pieces cut since I don't have a table saw. Is it possible to cut acrylic with a circular saw?

If I end up making it I'm going to make it 20x15x13. This would give me around 17gallons so I would have around 10g of water in the tank and still have room if the pumps fail. I may check into how much it would cost to have one made as well.

Thanks melev for all the help with this and I may have a few more questions for you if I end up making my own sump.

Oh and I still need to get some pictures of the closed loop I just need to get all the water out of the tank so I can take off a few parts to make it easier to see.

The unit that you won in the raffle is only a refugium, right? It won't fit this application at all? It looked like the skimmer you are going to use is an Aqua C Urchin or Urchin Pro, correct?

If you chose to use a Remora Pro (Hang on Back) on your tank, you could just run the refugium under the tank. Hiding heaters down there and running the return pump externally might be the solution.

I'm happy to help if you need any assistance.

 

[chrismunn]

NASA should hire you to build thier space shuttles....you stuff is C L E A N !!!

 

[Sinistard]

i have a 10gal for my sump!! i can't fit anything else down there too much equipment.

mine runs less then 1/2 when running and is about 3" from the top when everythign is shut off.

one thing i did was put your return lines HIGH in the water column. that way when the power gets shut off they break siphon sooner...try it

Lunchbucket

I am a little worried about having space for other goodies down the road like a calcium reactor and such. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

My returns are pretty high so I hope to have minimum siphon effect.

The unit that you won in the raffle is only a refugium, right? It won't fit this application at all? It looked like the skimmer you are going to use is an Aqua C Urchin or Urchin Pro, correct?

If you chose to use a Remora Pro (Hang on Back) on your tank, you could just run the refugium under the tank. Hiding heaters down there and running the return pump externally might be the solution.

I'm happy to help if you need any assistance.

I appreciate it.

Yes the unit I won is more of a refugium(it may be able to be used as a sump but it seems to be designed as a refugium), and I don't think it will do the trick for what I want. If I don't end up selling it it may get used as a display fuge.

I have a Urchin for now but down the road I plan to get a better skimmer. I got a deal on the Urchin so I am going to go ahead and use it for now. I will probably end up with a GEO skimmer but that's after I pay off what I have spent already on the tank....LOL.

With this in mind I would like to stick to my original plan with the fuge separate from the sump and just make a bigger sump to replace the 10g. I'm going to fugure out what it will cost to get the pieces I need to make a sump cut since I don't have a table saw and then stick it together my self.

NASA should hire you to build thier space shuttles....you stuff is C L E A N !!!

Thank you. I like the symmetrical clean look and for better or worse don't stop until I have it


And yes rjwilson37 that is one established refugium

 

[melev]

With this in mind I would like to stick to my original plan with the fuge separate from the sump and just make a bigger sump to replace the 10g. I'm going to fugure out what it will cost to get the pieces I need to make a sump cut since I don't have a table saw and then stick it together my self.

Be sure to refer to my site because the section about Acrylics should give you everything you need to know. That is listed on my Hidden Treasures page, accessible from the front page of my site.

 

[Sinistard]

I found a place that sells and cuts acrylic. If I wanted to make a tank 20x14.5x13.5 should I have the pieces cut to exact size or leave them big and then route off the extra? I am going to go tomorrow to find out how much it will cost to get the pieces cut to see if its going to be worth making myself or if I should just have one made. I may have the tank made then add the bubble trap myself depending on price.

Also how tall should my dividers for my bubble trap be?

Also what should I do for a bubble trap for the drain from the fuge to the sump?

here is a picture of the pieces I think I would need, how does this look?

 

[melev]

That should work out.

Personally, I like to have the end pieces and the internal baffles all the same width, and the front and back piece are 1/2" too long. That way I can route off the excess (1/4" on each end).

The bottom and top are also 1/2" too long & too wide, so I can route that off as well. I'm guessing you won't put a top.

I make the baffles 9" tall on average. This is based on the depth the skimmer can sit in.

For the refugium, 12" tall is good. You can glue eggcrate on top of that baffle to act as the teeth, to keep the snails and plants out of the return section.

 

[Sinistard]

Thanks melev for all the help.

Finally some updates...

I have been busy with other stuff and have not had much of a chance to work on my tank. I finally got some time today and got my plumbing done.

After looking into an acrylic sump, either having one made or making one myself, I decided it was going to be to expensive or to much of a pain so I decided to go with a 20g long tank to replace the 10g as my sump.

I cut a hole in the 20g with my dremel the same way I did the 2 10g tanks.

I had to rework some plumbing to get the 20g to fit, mostly on the sump return line and my drain but all in all it was not to bad. Here are a few pictures of the final plumbing. It is all glued and will be ready to leak test tomorrow.

Now all I need to do is build the hood, run the electric, stick a bubble trap in the sump and finish a bit of sealing and I will be ready to add water.

 

[NexDog]

Very slick plumbing indeed.

 

[Lunchbucket]

that is quite the plumbing set up. is that black pvc or did you color it??

nice job using all sorts of dual union ball valves. get it all from savko??

one problem/concern. how many outlets will be going at one time from one pump. if there are more then 2 i would bet that you are gonna get WAY less flow out of them then you want.

Lunchbucket

 

[melev]

That really is more art than plumbing. :thumbsup:

 

[Sinistard]

Thanks for the compliments on my plumbing. I do wish I could go back and start over now that I have a bit of experience. There are a few extra couplers that I had to add because I moved things or something did not fit just right but it should work.

that is quite the plumbing set up. is that black pvc or did you color it??

nice job using all sorts of dual union ball valves. get it all from savko??

one problem/concern. how many outlets will be going at one time from one pump. if there are more then 2 i would bet that you are gonna get WAY less flow out of them then you want.

Lunchbucket

It is black PVC they sell most parts in black at Savko. There are a few pieces that only came in white that's why there are spattering of white in my setup. All the dual union ball valves did come from Savco in fact all the plumbing parts came from Sako.

On the sump returns there are 2 outlets and on the closed loop there are 4. They do all run at the same time, I plan to use the ball valves to adjust the flow and try to get higher flow towards the top and lower toward the bottom.

I had thought about using a OM squirt and still may down the road. I just did not have the money to get one right now. With my plumbing it shouldn't be hard to add one if I decide to go that route.

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I did my leak test today and the only things that leaked where the 2 threaded closed loop intakes and a 45 that drains into my sump that managed to get cracked some how. Both should be easy fixes. The 20g tank allowed for a lot more volume in the sump with no worries about overflow.

My other problem is my Iwaki pump is very loud, much louder then I expected or hoped it would be. The pan world pump that is much bigger is actually quieter, in fact to only thing loud about it is the fan. I don't know why the Iwaki is so loud, I think its vibrating the stand and I have tried to isolate it with rubber and Styrofoam with no luck. Could there be something out of alignment in the pump causing the vibration? Any suggestions are welcome.

Hopefully I will be able to get water in it sometime in the next few weeks.

Thanks again for the complements on my plumbing.

 

[melev]

Try a mouse pad under your pump. And if it is connected to rigid PVC, replace that with a piece of SpaFlex instead because it absorb some of the vibration that is transferring and amplifying into the sump and plumbing. You'll need to find the source of course, then make the slight change to resolve this.

 

[Sinistard]

Thanks again melev, I'm going to go out and get a couple mouse pads. Is SpaFlex just flexible PVC? If so Savko carries it in stock.

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I added the baffles to my sump for the bubble trap. Here is a picture of the setup. I am going to add an egg crate shelf to the section where the fuge drains in to hold any carbon, chemi pure, etc.

I left enough room in the skimmer section for when I upgrade skimmers down the road. I am very glad I decided to upgrade the sump from 10g to 20g, there is so much more room to work with.

 

[Lunchbucket]

20gal sumps are way better...but it won't fit under my tank

Lunchbucket

 

[xdusty6920]

its looking sweet sinistard. hows the flow rate with so many lines? what kinda lighting scheme are you leaning towards? what do you intend to house in your new setup?

 

[melev]

Very nice. If you don't make a bubble tower in the corner, you could try this option instead: http://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/pvc_solution.jpg

 

[Sinistard]

its looking sweet sinistard. hows the flow rate with so many lines? what kinda lighting scheme are you leaning towards? what do you intend to house in your new setup?

Thanks Dusty.

From what I can tell the flow is pretty high even through multiple lines. I really don't have experience with external pumps or even tanks this big so I can't say for sure if I am getting enough flow or not. When I had the 10g sump hooked up I timed how long it took to drain it half way down and came up with around 750 gph to through the overflow and back out the 2 returns. Using the RC calculator I figure my Closed loop will be around 1200 gph. This will give me a 25-30 time turn over though the main tank with 6 outlets pumping between 200-400 gph each. I know this is probably not ideal for SPS but I hope with proper placement it will work. I plan to keep the 2 lower returns from the closed loop around half way closed so most of the flow will be around the top of the tank.

For lighting I am going to have 2 250 HQI MHs with 130w of actinic PC for a dusk to dawn effect. I may upgrade the PC to T5 down the road. All the lights are going to be in a custom hood I have yet to build that will be attached to the wall.

For aquascaping I am going to have 2 towers, one more of a peak and one a shelf, with a "valley" in the middle. I am planning on keeping SPS on the top of the 2 towers with LPS and softies lower on the LR and in the sand bed. I will probably have a couple clams as well. The 2 MHs will be positioned above the 2 towers for provide maximum light to the SPS. I may end up with SPS only on the "peak" with something else on the "shelf". If I do this I can concentrate more flow toward the SPS.

As far as fish I am still figuring that out. I have 2 false perc clowns in my nano that will get transferred but other then that I'm sill up in the air. I am thinking about a purple tang and then maybe a few smaller fish. After the tank matures I plan on getting a mandarin. Any other suggestions on fish are welcome.

 

[Sinistard]

Very nice. If you don't make a bubble tower in the corner, you could try this option instead: http://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/pvc_solution.jpg

Thanks melev.

Do you mean a bubble tower for the drain coming into the sump? I really had not though about that. I may have to try the PVC solution.

I will probably need on for both the direct drain from the overflow as well as the drain from the fuge.

 

[xdusty6920]

what kind of bulb are you going to use? id go with 10k for the par value and then suppliment color with your pcs or t5s. your plans sounds great for your aquascaping. the problem i ran into with my tank is with all the lps sps get choked out pretty quickly. so id suggest if your going to house lps, sps, and softys. try and keep them all at an equal ratio.
good news though. i just got permission (from the gf) to finally let me set up a 35g so im gonna be starting a project very similiar to your real soon. nothing but rare sps and tons of clams. would you be interested in drilling my tank and tossing a few overflows and bulkheads in for alittle cash? lol
looking great and seeing you construct your tank in the organized, skillfull, and patient way you have deffinently shows a promising future for that tank.

 

[melev]

Thanks melev.

Do you mean a bubble tower for the drain coming into the sump? I really had not though about that. I may have to try the PVC solution.

I will probably need on for both the direct drain from the overflow as well as the drain from the fuge.

Yes, you need something to break up the bubbles in the first place. A 3" piece of PVC standing up in the corner will work as well. There are a few options.

Where the water enters the refugium, just have the water come out an elbow that is half-submerged/half-above-water so air can breathe out of the line and water tumbles out gently, rippling the surface.