Bloke's 180g - It was bound to happen...

[Scooterman]

You got it, the over the top would be another CL independent of the OM CL

I got you a little crossed because You can supply a dart with a 1 1/2" BH & just up size the plumbing to 2" for the supply You'll loose a little gph this way but then you can use the second 1 1/2" BH for the second CL over the top.
Reason why I suggest two CL's Is because of the way an OM works, squirting out from only one port at a time, adding a second CL would add more flow throughout the entire tank, the OM CL would just be used to create random flows.

If you don't like the thoughts of drilling glass for two 1 1/2" BH's, then you can do an over the top suction for both CL's or just for one, this would add a 2" pipe into the tank but not so bad considering what your getting in return. The question would be how much flow do you really need or want? I'm just posing plans so you have more ideas to think about before you set it all up & realize you could use more flow. Tanks that size I would get several opinions on how much flow do you think you should have. If the glass is thick & you know someone who can do the drilling, to me after the first hole, making a few more is just as risky but the outcome could have awesome potential. Obviously this isn't something you do without lots of though, tanks aren't cheap & you have not much room for error, JMO!
If this was my tank, I would even consider making 4 of the 3/4" Heavy Duty bulkheads for outlets & 1 1/2" HD BH for the suction & put one 5,000gph pump on it for a CL. I'd do the OM over the top with over the top suction with the dart for the random flow. One way or the other would work out fine IMO.


What are the dimensions of your 180?
My tank is 125g 48"Lx25"Wx24"D, I could easily add 2 or 3 more thousand gph.

 

[Bloke]

Or I could simply do this:

 

[Scooterman]

Or I could simply do this:

Yup you can do whatever you want but I think your trying to do everything with one pump & will eventually understand why I suggested separating them. Regardless, It should be a nice tank!

 

[trido]

I agree with scooty all the way on this.
I would highly recommend keeping every system separate. Im no expert but in the last three years have helped set up four large successful reefs (ranging form 120 -240 display tanks) and have become familiar with a few others. For a 180 SPS you will want at least 5000GPH I would recommend 10 thousand if possible. I think I posted it in here before but I am pushing 9000GPH in my 120 mixed reef and all of my corals are happier since Ive started pushing it.

I recommend getting a small return pump, a skimmer feed pump, a MJ1200 for a Ca rxtr feed pump, and as much CL as you can get. Two darts or one barracuda. Two darts will be quieter. IMO if you try to utilize one pump you will just be replumbing it all within the year anyway. Also, if the one pump fails or you need to clean it, your whole system is down. With multiple pumps on seperate systems, you have a fail safe way to keep your reef breathing.

 

[Bloke]

You're right. I decided to do just that. There is NO reason why I should try to get by like that when it would only be cutting corners. And "if you can't find the time to do it right, how will you find the time to do it again?"

 

[Bloke]

Well, we had no idea that when this panel was first removed at 11:00 that it wouldn't get put back on until 6:30! Chad (stomperks), David (dngspot), and Jim (missile150) swung by today at varying intervals, to run the electrical lines throughout the basement.

Believe it or not, we never stopped nor sat down for a break! We kept working straight through and really spent the last hour trying to figure out just what was in the head of the electricians that wired the basement in the first place. For some reason, the original electricians wired together the furnace, the doorbell, the smoke detector, the bedroom closet light, and an upstairs hallway light. Of course as we ran power to the bedroom circuit, which included the closet, the line was double fed forcing the breaker to trip every time. We took apart the utility room switch and furnace switch several times. Now I admit, each time we did we found something needing fixed (the light over the stairs had to be run on the same circuit as the basement circuit, etc.) but it was aggrivating to trace wires running into some lost reaches of the upstairs.

In the end, I have a TON of trash and debris requiring some attention tomorrow, but after 7 hours of work the thing is complete. No more blown breakers and no more turning on the hallway light to watch the closet light up along with it. We ended up running two 15a breakers; 1 for the basement bedroom and one for the den/storage. Additionally, we ran three 20s breakers for the fish room. That should be plenty.

I can not thank the guys enough for their day's labor. Chad, the only certified electrician among us, worked his butt off and didn't even grab a piece of pizza until 6:00 (6 hours after it arrived). David killed about 6 bottles of beer and was a great help. Jim, well, he held up a few walls and contributed best when belittling David. I killed a few beers, a few slices of pizza, but worst of all, my finger! Not only once, but TWICE on the same finger, while nailing wires to the stud. Teacher's hands aren't supposed to suffer this kind of abuse!

 

[Bloke]

Tomorrow I have to finish the header over the tank as well as put a few nailers in for the drywall. I believe the drywall will be hung this coming week! Which should mean that I'll have the tank in place before too long and then fun REALLY begins!

 

[trido]

Im not suprised at all, that the electricians wired all of that together. Codes were different 20 years ago and wiring was thought of differently. We didint have a TV or computer in every room. Sometimes at work I like to play "guess the decade". Its tough to figure out old wiring, especially when theres four different kinds in the same wall. At least electricians did it as opposed to DIY home owners. Now thats usually the scary stuff! No offense intended. Looks like your doing things right.

Keep up the good work..

Also, I forgot to mention. I replumbed my tank three times in the first year. Thats why Im so adament on seperating everything. I learned the hard way.

 

[Scooterman]

Also, I forgot to mention. I replumbed my tank three times in the first year. Thats why Im so adament on seperating everything. I learned the hard way.

Only three times huh, not bad

I've done lots of plumbing over on my tank, getting optimal flow, better control of it & when I need to shut things down I can isolate portions while never disturbing the tank completely. Last was reliability, planning into the flow design upfront if probably one of the three most important things to get done right before you fill your tank up with all that water, fish & corals, I ran water & flow test for a few weeks upfront until I got it right, last thing about design, sometimes you can't get to portions of plumbing once the tank is filled, these can be big issues.

As far as electrical, well lets just say I'm an Industrial Electrical Designer & even though I haven't jumped into the dirty work for some time, I've seen some crazy stuff, glad to see that is also getting done right upfront.

 

[Bloke]

Im not suprised at all, that the electricians wired all of that together. Codes were different 20 years ago and wiring was thought of differently...

LMAO! This house is three years old!

 

[Bloke]

Well, I've officially crossed the point of no return. David (dngspot) came by today for a little bit and we drilled the first four holes for the closed loop; four 2 3/8" holes to feed two external pumps.

All went well - except for my thumb on the already damaged hand which now has a 1/2" cut from the glass. I wont post a picture of this one - you'd only make fun of me.

 

[Bloke]

Well, I've called it good for the weekend. After David left I managed to put the final nailers along the window wall and then installed four can lights in the den.

The drywall is being delivered tomorrow and being hung on Tuesday. I still need to put in the header for the tank and run the cable and phone lines, but I should be able to do that tomorrow when I get home.

Whew... what a weekend. Seven hours of electrical wiring, 2.5 hours of tank drilling, one hour of framing, and then a few hours hanging can lights. I'm not used to wiping sweat from my brow.

 

[Bloke]

YEE HAW! They delivered drywall today! But as you can see, I am not ready for them to hang it yet! They are scheduled to be here early tomorrow morning and I still am missing the header for the tank as well as cable and phone lines to each room.

I built the header first since it was going to take the longest and decided to go with a full 36" wide opening (top to bottom). The tank itself is about 25-1/4" tall so that will leave me room to build some sort of front access panel.

Here is a shot from the reverse side of the stand. I still have to run support under the center braces, but I can do that after the drywall is installed.

 

[Bloke]

Drywall is almost completely hung. It still needs to be taped, etc. and then the ceiling sprayed and walls textured.

It's coming along. Perhaps next weekend I can have some students over to paint.

 

[MC Lighting]

lookin good sure wish I had a house to be doing thsi stuff I have to try and keep it all contained in a condo that I rent making modifications that are easily removed and small drywall pathces then paint when I move out...

 

[bbehring]

Bloke enjoying tagging along! Lookin good man! Looks like the hard work is about to pay off!

 

[Tundra]

nice job on the build

 

[bbehring]

Bloke, I wish I wouldn't have sprayed my ceilings with the acoustic textured popcorn. It's a real eye sore IMO. regular knock off texture is so much cleaner IMO. When I do my addition, I'm going to scrape it all off and just spray on a regular drywall texture. I know you probably be spraying for the insulation/acuoustic factor. I don't have a basement (it's so cal baby).

 

[trido]

Do people really use popcorn texture now days? I thought that was a thing of the past. Orange peel or a light knock down texture is easiest on the eyes if you aren't going with a smooth wall look. Love those ten foot sheets. Glad I wasnt hanging it. I'm a wimp and stick with eights.

 

[Bloke]

LOL - the popcorn is being added because that is how the rest of the house was done. It's important to me for the basement to reflect consistent patterns with upper levels of the house. The remainder of the house has acoustic ceilings and knock0don textured walls therefore, the same for these rooms.