On the good news front, I've been able to put in more time on the system over the past few weeks than anticipated. The not so good news is that it is going even more slowly than I hoped, so I've done less in 30-ish hours of project time than I was hoping to get done in 15.
Since the last update:
- Speakers and squeezebox installed in fish room and garage-- very important considering the number of hours I'm spending in these rooms!
- ~80% of plumbing and wiring for RO/DI and salt mixing station
- ~60% of plumbing between display and sump completed
- Aragacrete applied to exposed PVC in the aquascape
- Received sump and skimmer for coral quarantine
- Ordered Hydro Wizard ECM63 and 4 Tunze 6255s
- Cabinetry for reactors and filter sock drying partially installed
Ceiling Spaghetti
The HVAC installers did not do me any favors with their duct routing. The two 1.5" dog legs around the duct are the return lines supplying the sea swirls. While the Pentair has more than enough power to deal with a few extra fittings I can't help but wonder much those will cost me over the years of running the pump.
For all of these pipes coming through the ceiling I am still working on a solution for supporting them. Currently they are held up only by the threaded fittings on the display tank overflow. I don't know if additional support is necessary, but I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of having the weight of 10' of schedule 80 pipes filled with water being born entirely by threads of the bulkhead fittings. Best idea so far is to use riser clamps strapped to the ceiling (ceiling is backed by 3/4 plywood).
Drain Plumbing
I believe the technical term is "a mess of pipes": three 2" and two 1.5" drain lines, and the 1" vacuum system line all route from the ceiling over to the pipe tray above sump. The inside of the tray is sloped at 1/4" per foot. Ran out of 2" black flex PVC on the last drain line. Ordered more, but the seller shipped white flex instead of black. Still waiting for the new pipe.
Playing in the Mud
Getting ready to mix up the aragacrete. When I called the local concrete suppliers to ask for a mortar that is both food safe and corrosion resistant I could sense, over the phone, that they were looking at me like I had 3 eyes. Then I remembered that
mr.wilson mentioned a specific mortar in
nineball's Coral Tank from Canada thread. Thank you again, guys, definitely one of the all time great threads!
Big Bird Looking Better
Applied aragacrete to all of the exposed PVC in the aquascape. Now the
ostrich doesn't have to feel self conscious about having his spine exposed.
RO/DI and Salt Mixing Station
This is where most of my time went the past few weeks. What I thought would be a 5 or 6 hour project is currently at 20 hours and counting. Routing plumbing and electrical for 4 pumps, 2 UVs, float switches, and RO/DI all added up quickly.
First challenge was how to mount the lower float switch in a 7' tall reservoir with only an 8" diameter top opening. I initially started building a PVC contraption to lower in from the top but didn't like how kludgy it was looking. Then had the idea to use uniseals to punch in the float switches, until I realized that for any given pipe size the fitting that would hold the switch would fit over the outside of the pipe and make it impossible to get through the uniseal.
Timfish to the rescue with his router: turns out that with a little work a 1.5" female NPT adapter will fit inside a 2" pipe. Now the question is, will the float switch rubber washer be up to the task of holding back 6' of water head?
Float switches for RO/DI installed in reservoir.
Pumps for the RO/DI reservoir are mounted behind the skimmer and Alk/Ca reservoirs.
Plumbing completed for the input side of the salt mixing station. Relocated the small UV recirc pump over to right side of reservoir, not pictured.
Mixing station about 80% complete. Still to go: output manifold for the Panworld 70, ATO and auto water change feeds, 50' Apex control cable for the power bar, connect top UV to RO/DI reservoir.
The four plug Apex power bar controls the two UV units and recirc pumps. The manually switched plugs are for the Panworld 100 pump that moves water from the RO/DI reservoir to the saltwater reservoir, and for the Panworld 70 that drives the mixing eductor and (I hope) draws salt slurry from the conical mixing tank.
