Project 58!! (Image intense)

[MtnDewMan]

This is a pretty cool documentation of your reef Nick ... it's great. Thanks for sharing the progress with us.

 

[Maxx]

What are the dimensions of your Cube? Guesstimating...somewhere in the vicinity of 36Lx36Wx24H??? My 58 is 36Lx18Wx21H...I had initially wanted an 8 way and Paul talked me out of it. He said it would have been a handful trying to plumb.....in hindsight, I have to agree with him...for my set up anyway. Do you have plan drawn up for your plumbing? If so I'd love to see it.

Chuck, thanks for the kind words. Mike and Curt are really owed a huge thanks for all of their help. I'm just the monkey doing all the grunt work.
Nick

 

[Maxx]

I've had alot going on.....got engaged....the whole world had to be put on hold until we got her ring squared away and figured out where, and when the wedding and reception were going to be. At last, I'm sorta back to being able to work on the tank.
Okay....I had every thing plumbed up, and dry fitted. The I started gluing....I was really kinda nervous about messing with that since I had never done it before. It was a snap. Nothing to worry about at all.
Naturally the problems came into to play AFTER I had glued all the closed loop plumbing and the return plumbing.
I didnt like any of it. It made things 1000 times more complicated and was definately not user friendly, which was one of the original goals for this tank.
So......I scrapped it, and started over. Got it done in a couple of hours, made things much more user friendly, saved space and used less PVC in the process. I also made a big decision to bite the bullet, and order a new skimmer in place of the ETSS 600 clone I have. The ETSS is a great skimmer, just took up alot more space under my stand and behind my tank than made me happy. It was actually the source for all of the non user friendly plumbing in the first place, what with trying to work around that monster. So I ordered the biggest skimmer I could squeeze into my sump, a Euro-Reef CS6-2. Hopefully it will get here soon.
Nick

 

[Maxx]

when I started the wet-test I found three small leaks immediately, and that was it. The first leak was from the 1 inch drain bulkhead to from the overflowto the sump. It was easily fixed by tightening the bulkhead a little more.
The next two were in the closed loop itself. The Oceans Motions HD 4 way unit has a 2 inch female pipe threaded opening to feed it. My Iwaki 55RLT has 1 inch ports, so I bought a 2 inch to 1 inch adapter to make the transition. Evidently I forgot to put teflon tape on the threads of the adapter and had a slow, seeping leak as water forced its way through the threads. I removed that piece and covered the threads with teflon tape. The final leak was a slow steady 2 drips a minute from one of the 45 degree elbows of a return arm from the OM unit. Rather than attempt to make something work, I just made another one from the numerous extra plumbing parts I had from Lowes. A quick word of advice:
ALWAYS BUY 4 MORE ELBOWS/ADAPTERS/COUPLINGS/T'S/ETC, WHEN MAKING PLUMBING PURCHASES!!! THIS WILL SAVE YOU FROM MAKING 10 BAZILLION TRIPS TO HOME DEPOT/ LOWES AND HAVING THE PLUMBING PEOPLE PUT A RESTRAINING ORDER ON YOU BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY ARE BEING STALKED!!
I glued the new arm in place and it was ready to go the next day.
I did have the Iwaki and the OM unit fired up for about 5 minutes while I did the quick check for leaks........it was AWESOME!!!! The flow generated by this combination in my 58 gallon tank was nothing short of amazing. I may have to adjust things abit by splitting my loc-line returns even more than they already are. Currently, each of the 4 returns from the closed loop go to a Loc-line Y which turns 4 outlets into 8. I may have to go to 16 outlets total. It doesnt looklike keeping SPS with this much random current will be a problem. I may be severely limited in my ability to keep clams though......
It will definately require some creative rock work design to "make" some low flow areas.
Nick

 

[DisturbedReefer]

Yeah you guessed right 36x36x24. I do have plans drawn up but only on graph paper, the plumbing is pretty staight forward, I'm bringing the 8-way up to the back/bottom of the tank, from there black SPA FLEX out to each of the 8 bulkheads, each line out will have it's own true union ball valve.

Here is a pick of the tank on my house thread: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2895

 

[Maxx]

When I got back from work the following day, I had to fire everything up just to see..... No Leaks!!!! Yay for my side!!!
I left it all running for three days just to be sure there were no more leaks. Just as I figured, there were none. I still had to stain and seal the lightbox support arms in order to move the whole set up in the house. My only concern at this point is electrical. This house is old and has a 100 amp box for our floor. I'm worried that the circuit breakers will trip if I run my lights, pumps, and central air simultaneously. Any ideas from you electrical gurus out there on how to check this out besides plugging everything in, turning it on, and seeing if my house explodes?
Nick

 

[Maxx]

This is a frontal shot of the closed loop system using the OceansMotions Heavy Duty 4 way unit. I'm loving this thing!! The Spa-Flex runs into the overflow to two ports coming out the sides of my overflow. This lets me hit the bottom of the tank with a random flow as well.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Yeah you guessed right 36x36x24. I do have plans drawn up but only on graph paper, the plumbing is pretty staight forward, I'm bringing the 8-way up to the back/bottom of the tank, from there black SPA FLEX out to each of the 8 bulkheads, each line out will have it's own true union ball valve.

Here is a pick of the tank on my house thread: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2895

You might want to rethink the spa flex.....this stuff was not fun. I will honestly try like hell to avoid using it again in the future. If you do decide to go that route, keep in mind you can use hot water, a hot oven, (200 degrees for a few minutes), and allegedly (cause I havent tried it....I just did the hot water) you can use a hair dryer to heat up the Spa flex and make it more pliable for your needs. Do you know how to use Microsoft paint? If you do...draw up your plumbing scheme...I'd love to see it.
Nick
Nick

 

[Maxx]

Left side of OceansMotions closed loop showing plumbing. I built a small shelf behind the tank to support the Iwaki pump. You can also see the closed loop intake priming hook. The priming hook allows me to fill the pump with water for starting it.

 

[Maxx]

Right side of the closed loop. This image also shows the PVC P trap I used for the sump return in order to eliminate 45 or 90 degree angles in the plumbing which would impede flow. The Rigid PVC arm really is slightly curved. I heated it up using boiling water and bent it in order to fit the outside of the tank better.

 

[Maxx]

This image shows my overflow drain. I have placed it beneath the surface of the water in order to reduce noise and splashing. It is not glued in place. I just moved it rearward to be visible for this photo. The two 90 degree elbows are for securing a filter sock to the drain to remove larger bits of debris that will be kicked up when I turkey baste the rocks. This where my Euro-Reef CS6-2 in sump skimmer will go. There is plenty of room to access it back here, and it wont get in the way of my plumbing.

 

[Maxx]

This is the sump return. I used 1/2 inch P traps in order to avoid using 45 or 90 degree elbows which would reduce flow. I honestly dont know how much more efficient these are....but I'm guessing they work better this way since there are gentle curves in the plumbing as opposed to sharper angles. I will do a test later to calculate how much water this is moving, (Mag 7 with about 4 feet of head...According to Custom Aquatic's catalog, it should be in the vicinity of 460 GPH if I remember correctly). I will also use the RC flow calculator and estimate what the flow would be using 45 degree elbows and also with 90 degree elbows just to compare.
These Rigid P traps were available at Lowes, and were available in 1/2 and 3/4 inch sizes. I was not able to find them at Home Depot, (actually got blank looks when I asked about them).

 

[Maxx]

Its uh......a top down (sorta) shot of my closed loop and sump return. The top left OM return is transition to run while this photo was taken.

 

[Maxx]

Priming hook for closed loop intake. The threaded cap at the top unscrews and allows water to be poured into the pump to get it primed for starting. Also shows Loc-Line Y return.
This also shows how I colored the PVC inside the tank black. I saw a thread on RC where Randy Holmes Farley said a Black Sharpie magic marker would not harm a reef tank.....so rather than spend $40 something on a gallon of reef safe epoxy from Aquatic Ecosystems, I just uh...colored it in. If you look closely at it in person, you can see variations in the color, (darker and lighter etc) but when the back of the tank is painted it will be much less distracting than the white PVC would have been.

 

[Maxx]

this is the right side of the closed loop and tank. you can see the sump return in this photo also colored balck by a Sharpie magic marker. The zip tie on the Spa-Flex keeps it from flopping out and putting more outward pressure on the overflow. Yes, I will trim off the excess before the tank is moved inside.For frame of reference the overflow is 10 inches wide from left to right.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Things left to do:
Stain and seal the canopy/lightbox support arms.
Construct the handwheel for raising and lowering the lighting.
Install Lighting
Mount that all on top of the tank.
Set up the skimmer and get it in place.
Order the StarBoard bottom, (I will actually be using Cutting Board from the cutting board company, StarBoard just sounds cooler).
AQUASCAPE!!!!
Set up and run Calcium Reactor.
Enjoy my tank!

It still kinda sounds like alot to do, but its not really. Installing the lighting is really just a matter of mounting it via eye bolts and wood screws into the canopy. In fact the biggest PITA is going to be staining and sealing and setting up the calcium reactor.

Assuming my house can handle the added electrical consumption.

 

[Maxx]

The support arms for the canopy are almost dry from the final coat of wood stain. I will do the first coat of poly-urethane tomorrow, have to work again tonight. After I get these sealed, the tank can be moved into the house and then I can begin mounting the lighting and plaing around with the aquascaping.
The protein skimmer is en route from Marine Depot and should arrive 11-15-04. Ive been on the phone and emailing Euro-Reef alot in the last couple of days. The skimmer is a Euro-Reef CS6-2 which is rated by the manufacturer up to a 110 gallon tank. It comes with a Sedra 3500 pump. According to Jeff at ER customer service, this runs the skimmer at about 250 GPH. Which puts my skimmer tank volume turnover at around 3 times an hour. Not bad, but I would prefer to get closer to 4 or more times an hour.
I cant remember if I've already posted this link up or not....Skimmer Math but this is a well written explanation of why you want a skimmer rated for your tank, and how to figure out the proper way to calculate your skimmers turnover rate.
Jeff, (at ER) said that I could have gone with a custom CS6-2+ which would have fit in my sump for only 10% more than standard price of the CS62+.......wish I'd known that prior to buying the CS6-2. But he did said I could replace the Sedra 3500 with a Sedra 5000 which would most likely fit just fine in my sump. The Sedra 5000 pumps about 350 gallons per hour when connected to the skimmer according to Jeff. This would put me at my desired goal of 4 times an hour. I plan on waiting until I can test the skimmer for a true rating before I go and buy another pump. If it does what I want to begin with, why spend the money?
Another thing I ordered was some Penn Plax B-11 Silent Air Pumps.
Curt told me about them awhile back. I found that site on the web and never thought about it again. What I didnt realize was that they werent in stock when I found them. I have heard many rumors, (all of which are un-verified ) that the manufacturer is discontinuing them. Looking around on the web to find any for sale was kinda tough....most of the places I found them for sale were out of stock. I finally found some in stock and for sale in Canada. They were more expensive, but better than going without IMO.
Richard Durso wrote a neat article on "Disaster Readiness" for the reef aquarium in a 2002 Advanced Aquarist Online Magazine. In that article he talks about these pumps. Me being Joe Paranoid, and having had several encounters with that Murphy guy, ($@^!&*%), I tend to plan for the worst...(Did you see my stand construction???) anyway...its a neat article.
Disaster Readiness

 

[Maxx]

I went out today and bought some unions for the Spa-Flex running from the OM to the overflow...I should have done that from the beginning for maintenance reasons. After putting them in I will be able to take the OM unit offline for a few hours so it can be soaked in vinager to remove calcium deposits. I also bought some egg crate material for the top of the tank...keeps fish in...lets air out.
I've also decided to hit the stand with silicone again once more, just to reinforce a couple of spots where the "Marine Goop" didnt seal very well.
I will be posting pics of all of this later....
The timeline for the tank being set up is by the end of the month.
Nick

 

[wrightme43]

Disturbed reefer, A super handy tool for that spaflex, and for hard pvc as well is at lowes, in plumbing supplies, its a 12$ ratcheting cutter. Very nice I just got one and used it on a new tank I did last week. Saved all kinds of time and very straight cuts with out a miter box. I glued all my spaflex with true unions. Worked out great. Maybe it will save you some time. Steve

 

[Maxx]

Thats the tool I used....definately would not have done all of this with out it....
Nick