Project 58!! (Image intense)

[Maxx]

Cheapest answer will be to redo my plumbing and use 3/4 inch plumbing to allow more flow.....
Decisions, decisions......
The new unions worked great....no leaks...I let everything run a few hours just to make sure. Then I drained the tank and sump, taped the back of the tank, and painted the glass on either side of the overflow. I decided against painting the glass behind the overflow.
If for some whackadoo reason I ever needed to see back there....I still can, and the black overflow will blend seamlessly with the black paint on the rear of the glass.
I removed the sump and siliconed the snot out of every seam in the bottom of the "water proof box" in the base of the stand. My original calculations of the box's water volume capacity was 21 gallons. With the sump in there, I'm sure its closer to 7-10 gallons...but thats still a significant amount of water on an 80 gallon system...enough that it should be noticeable should it suddenly turn up there......(Screw you Murphy!)
Nick

 

[Maxx]

The Penn Plax B-11 Battery back up air pumps arrived today. They are a lot smaller than I expected....thats not a bad thing....I just sort of expected these things to be bigger.
The paint on the back of the tank is dry, and so is the silicone in the bottom of the stand. The tank is ready to move inside!!
Rocio works from home and her boss will be making a home visit tomorrow.....I guess to make sure she has everything set up right, or just to be nosy....I don't know for sure. But I'm not allowed to clutter up the house with an empty fish tank until Thursday, 18 November....so it will sit in the garage a little longer.
I will also be re doing the plumbing for the Mag 7. I will increase the diameter of the plumbing from 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in an effort to increase flow. I want to have at least 4 times system turnover per hour...which will mean that I can upgrade my skimmer pump so it will cycle all 80 gallons 4 times an hour....I just need to make things complicated....

 

[Maxx]

I brought the tank inside today.....got it skinned and placed the Euro-Reef CS6-2 in the sump. I looks great inside the house all dressed up. I still need to attach the light box....but its coming along. I'm pretty happy with the way the stand and canopy wood look. It doesnt quite match the floors, (its a little warmer toned than in the pictures). But I still like it.

Heres the stand skinned up with tank on top and painted.

Sideshot looking towards the living room.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

You can see the access door I made to allow me into the back of the stand but keep my dogs out. You can also see the top of my Euro-Reef CS6-2 skimmer poking out. It will have to be raised at least 4-6 inches so more of it will be visible. The manufacturer reccomends 5-8 inches of water depth for their skimmers to sit in...mine sits in 12 1/2 right now....hence the need for risers.

Here is a close up of the access door. Ther are two, one for each side.

Here is a shot with the access door opened...you can see how much easier its going to be to get to the skimmer for maintenance. Easy is better.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Here is a close up of the space behind the stand for maintence and showing how easy it is to get to the skimmer for cleaning.

I also hated stands that had narrow doors, stands with doors that have a support or partition in the middle of them, or worst of all stand with narrow partitioned doors....ya cant fit anything under there that wont fit thru one of those itty bitty doors!
So I built my stand with a huge honkin door....with no partitions!
I have room for my 30 gallon custom sump, and room for my calcium reactor under there too....

 

[Maxx]

Still need to:

Stain and seal the arms the light box will hang from.
Stain and seal the dowel rod the light box will be raised and lowered from.
Need to make the hand crank, and then stain and seal it.
Hang the lightbox.
Purchase two American DJ PC-100/A AC Power Centers. ( the local Guiter Center in town has them for the same price...no shipping charges.)
Lay down the starboard bottom...(prolly need to get on ordering that then...DOH!)
AQUASCAPE!!

Tomorrow will be redoing the return pump plumbing in 3/4 inch for better flow. I will also hopefully be able to knock out some of the other wood work.
Nick

 

[DisturbedReefer]

Nick

Everything is looking great!! I can't wait till I get this far

 

[Maxx]

Yeah, I'm pretty stoked about it too. Ive been working on setting this up for awhile now....seemed like a pipe dream some nights. But its inside, I'll get the plumbing upgrade done tomorrow, and start filling it with water on Saturday. I dont have 80 gallons of RO/DI water ready, so it wont be ready to turn things on until at least Sunday...
But its in the HOUSE!!!!!!
Nick

 

[Scooterman]

Very Nice Max, you've done great work here, congrats.

 

[Maxx]

Thanks Scott!
Quick question...you being an electrical genius and all....
Where do I look to see if my house's antiquated electrical system can handle all of this new power draw? I know I can total up just about everything I've bought to get a real close idea of what will be used, (calcium reactor was bought second hand...but I can conotact the manufacturer), but where can I look to see what the house is capable of? I just dont want the circuit breaker to trip when the Central AC is on, the tank has lights up and running, and my fiance decides to blow dry her hair....
That used to happen upstairs in this house...although it was a wall unit ac upstairs.
Nick

 

[Maxx]

Bought a couple of things today.

First was a riser for my skimmer. Euro-Reef recommends their skimmers sit in only 5-8 inches of water for maximum efficiency. Unfortunately, the way my sump was designed by me, (hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20.....sigh), the skimmer would be sitting in 12.5 inches of water. So I needed to fix that. I bought two 6 inch (diameter) fitting clean out bodies from Lowes, and two 6 inch flat topped caps. Total cost $30.00, but when dry fitted together they make a 6 inch flat topped platform for my skimmer and pump.

Here the two pieces are apart.

Here are all four pieces assembled into two risers.

Here is the skimmer sitting ontop of the risers. For frame of reference the skimmer is a Euro-Reef CS6-2, ( 6 inch diameter tube, 24 inches high.)

This is how deep the skimmer sat before the risers.

Here is the skimmer after the risers.....with Gracie's head in the way.

Here is a different angle.
Before risers:

After risers:

Nick

 

[Maxx]

I also bought a Watch Dog water alarm from Lowes. $19.99 from the link I attached......$9.99 at Lowes in the plumbing aisle by sump pumps. 110 decibels of notification that a leak is in progress. Think Fire Alarm only for flooding....
This will sit in the stand (which has been water proofed with silicone seams) and should alert pretty much the whole freakin house that there is a problem with the aquarium, and that something should be done before the house is ruined or the tank runs dry....which would also suck.......alot.

BTW Home Depot also sells these online for $9.99 but their website was down for back ups when I posted this....

I also bought more plumbing and more egg crate. Playing with egg crate SUCKS!!!! Anyone know a way to cut this stuff without having it explode into a bazillion shards???

Nick

 

[big t]

Looking good Nick! Egg crate is very easy to cut. Just use some dykes and snip each piece as you go in a line and it work good. Good idea on the water alarm! Another good idea on the plumbing stuff for your little stand.

 

[Forestal]

Just found your thread Nick, and i must say, it is very obvious your planning has paid off..(btw..i also diy when i can and without proper planning i stared disaster in the face a number of times ..so i have to triple plan always )... love your set up... Although my wife gave in long ago to my obsession (umm 9 tanks now i think)... i have never really done a tank the right way..

so i am in the initial planning stages for my 150 gallon tank, planning on the biotope i want then will do the plumbing using closed loop and hopefully an adjustable light for height...nicely done on yours...

i will be avidly following along

 

[DisturbedReefer]

Great idea with the water alarm Nick. I have a water bug in the area of the tank that is connected to the home alarm...that way I can get a nice phone call on my cell letting me know that my house is flooded :shock: The major downfall to all that is the $$$

 

[Maxx]

Thanks for the kind words guys...

Big T...I was using dykes originally, but they were on the little side so they werent going all the way through with each cut....wiggling them to bite through caused egg crate to explode. Went to scissors.... which did the same thing...only faster. I may have to buy a new pair of larger dykes.

Forestal...yeah, planning is definately one of the more interesting stages of all of this. I look back on the plans I originally had for this tank, and am amazed at how much things have changed along the way, (for the better usually). I've also learned a couple of things along the way to do differently next time. Its been fun. My fiance is getting a little excited about it now too. She says it looks much better than she intially thought it would, cause she was only seeing it in pieces in the basement or in the garage. She likes the fact that I made the stand and put all of the rest of this together myself....with some outside assistance from timt to time, but largerly on my own. Its a neat sense of pride to....

DR....I saw one of these on a thread on another board, and liked the concept. Jiust one more way to keep the landlord convinced I've done everything humanly possible to prevent water damage to his house.
I wish I could get one of these to call my cell phone...but I wouldnt be able to do anything about it anyway.....so all it would do would get me all annoyed at work. I hate feeling unable to do anything when I know theres a problem....

Nick

 

[Maxx]

I just tested the flow rate of the new return plumbing....(bumped up from 1/2 to 3/4 inch diameter PVC).
I made a HUGE gain in flow...from 316 GPH up to 453.85 gallons...roughly 454 gph, which turns my 80 gallon tank volume over approximately 5.67 times per hour. Right where I wanted it. And this is using a Mag 7 as my return pump. Still havent made the jump to a Mag 9.5...might not need to.
Nick

 

[Scooterman]

Hey Nick, sorry I'm just getting back. I never thought about the skimmer having issues with the depth of water it is in, I may have to do the very same for mine. Now as far as your house, you need to find the breaker that supplies power to your outlets. The cheapest way of doing this is by flipping off each breaker one at a time, then going around to each room to see what was turned off, when doing this you may want to shut everything off but a light in each room. I used a small light & went to the room that the breaker turned off and plugged it in to every outlet, sometimes one breaker will cover several rooms, so take notes, & make a list, this is time consuming I know but will pay off later. Once you get a complete list, you can see what size breaker/s that feed your aquarium, & other devices. In most post-modern homes the big electrical demands were, kitchens, I.e., refrigerators, toasters etc. The other was your central A/C/electric stoves, which big ticket items used 220v double pole breakers, usually they are very obvious in the breaker box. Modern homes, electric water heaters, microwaves, dish washers, dryers etc. so they have larger breakers supplying those areas, sometime several breakers feed the kitchen (I think I have one 50A for the stove, one 30A & one 20A in my kitchen). The under sight until recently has been the living room, this room these days also use up lots of power. Most all other rooms can span one breaker with no problems. As you make a list, on the breaker panel, either write the rooms each breaker supplies or post a detailed list next to it, in emergencies it will be helpful. In an older home, it may be difficult to power a huge reef & maintain a safety factor, It could be as easy as adding another breaker & dedicated line to the tank area, or it could mean totally breaker box replacement, then adding another line to the tank area, this is when you will need to call in a professional, certified, or at least well experienced in retrofitting & meeting the proper codes in your local area. Now that I scared you, LOL, you can use plan "B", after locating all of your breakers & their feeds, you can devise a split on power maybe. Try and use two separate breakers, & save you lots of cash. One good thing about breakers, if you are pushing them too far, they should trip (if properly wired in the first place), that is their purpose, if you do trip a breaker, then it is time for alternative planning. I hope this helps Nick.

 

[DisturbedReefer]

Great info Scooterman, that should not only help Nick but me as well.

 

[Maxx]

Thanks Scotty 'preciate the info. Now I know how to try and figure this out.
Looks like I know how my free time is being spent the next weekend I have off.
Nick