The Fish Room 500

[Strandedthinker]

Id also like to add something. This thread is quite old, and Im nopt sure how old, but old . Anyway, it seems you have displayed the <B>most important</b> virtues of reefing, patience and research.

 

[Forestal]

Sean, have been silently following a while and am very impressed. My wife won't let me do anything as radical unfortunately, but i do have my basement.
Where and how much (if you don't mind me asking) for the mixing tank. Something like that would be very handy, and more convenient than the 96 gallon garbage cans and a powerhead/stirring stick

Keep up the great work, and I look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[H20ENG]

Sean,
Looking good!
A thought about your PE surge tank. Check the specs on it, as some will say not for free standing applications. What this means is it will bow considerably when filled with water (speaking from experience! ). You can just wrap it with some strapping material, or build a plywood enclosure to support the sides.
Chris

 

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

very good pch !!

 

[reeftechie]

Looks great bro, damn nice

 

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

i need a newer picture though !

 

[Chip Douglas]

bump for the new pics that are coming soon (we all hope )

 

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

good bump Chip !!

 

[pch90265]

The Moment of TRUTH!!!

The Moment of TRUTH!!!

Well, the "moment of Truth" final arrived yesterday . . . around 2:00 PM I started my first freshwater fill of the system! Keep in mind, there are still some ancillary things that need finishing -- the plumbing of the skimmer, the plumbing of the chiller, the plumbing of the surge tank, etc -- BUT, the main return and drain lines are done, the six bulkheads feeding the "life support" out of the sump all have ball-valves plumbed to them, and I just could sit and stare at an empty tank any longer without going nuts!!!

Here's the obligatory hose shot... sorry, but I had to...

It took about an hour for the tank to fill -- not bad for 560 Gallons, IMO. As it gradually spilled over the overflow for the first time, the drain got its first trial run...

Yes, that's ABS. I've done a ton of reading here on RC on the pros/cons of ABS. Mr. Chemistry, Randy Holmes-Farley, didn't puke on using it, so I'm running with that... Besides, with the amount of GAC I'm planning to keep moving through the system, I really didn't think that spending 8-10X the cost on 3" PVC was wise.

The drain checked out OK. The return lines checked out OK fully-flooded, so I spun up my 1HP Sweetwater (Baldor) Pump and here's the flow that resulted . . .

As soon as I finish this post I'm running to the local plumbing store -- I need a pair of 3" male adaptors to set my Dursos in place...

 

[pch90265]

What's it look like?!?

What's it look like?!?

What does 6000 GPH look like?!? Well, I haven't finished the surge tank, so we can't check that out. I haven't put in any elbows or tees or anything else to divert the flow...

So, this is what 6000 GPH looks like at the surface of the tank right now!!!

That's coming out of the eight-way valve from OceansMotions that I installed as seen below. It may look a bit messy, but there is method to my madness. I had James at Envision put eight holes in the bottom of my tank especially for this purpose (earlier in the thread there is a pic where you can see the eight holes pretty clearly.) One bulkhead per hole, one outlet on the eight-way per bulkhead... and, each outlet plumbed so that they "fire" in different areas of the tank with each successive port. In other words, just because the motion of the drum in the valve is circular, doesn't mean I wanted a circular pattern of outlets discharging into the tank.

Here's a composite of each of the ports going off -- notice how the surface of the water is disturbed in different areas of the tank with each port.

 

[slave-of-rock]

ive been thinkin about makin a fish room like you have with a 425, ive changed my mind , that is ALOT of work you have been doin to that tank/room/shed, kudos to you for all th work you put in for fish, me and my dad were wonderin' if you plan on selling fish with all this stuff you have, or if you just have the tank cause you love your fish

 

[DerekW]

So the bulkheads are in the bottom of the tank, right now just pointing straight up. How do you plan on directing the current? PVC risers and 45's or 90's to direct the flow?
In the pic below it looks like at least 4 of the outputs could be hid within the rock work, but what about the 4 corner ones?

 

[pch90265]

Hey Derek,

You're right on... I'm planning to use PVC risers to get above the sand bed, 45's to give a little angle, and then I was planning to make a little custom "fan" for the flow. I'm going to take a PVC "tee," plug both ends, and then carve out a slot from one plug to the other. I'd use a nice loc-line fan, but I haven't seen them in 1" . . .

And, yes, I do plan to hide as many as I can behind the rock work. I'm not really worried about a couple of them being exposed.

--SM--

 

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

Looks like the real ocean alright !!

 

[David P]

I installed my oceans motion much the same way you did, a 1.5" port in each bottom corner. I put 45s in the front and 90s in the back. I did some trimming to make the fittings lower profile so theyre not quite so ugly. The other thing I did on the 90s was stick half of the fitting in a pot of boiling water for about 45 sec so the pvc got fairly soft and just squished the fitting with my hands so it became a nice oval. Just thought you may like the idea...

 

[pch90265]

Thanks for the tip on the fittings David!!! That sounds like it will save me a ton of hassel.

--SM--

 

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

see david 2 the rescue that is so nice !

 

[gumbybc]

To make my own fans, I first heated up a piece of pipe, or a 45, then shoved it down on a glass bottle to widen the opening, then flattened it out with a pair of pliers to give a nice wide fan. Took some finicking with, but I got it down pat pretty soon.

 

[Tunjee]

NICE!!

 

[joe_himself]

Simply amazing,