The Plumbing and Water flow Workshop

[wave98]

Gosh Scooty, I already had lunch, and it's salad for dinner!


Some of the rest of you might want to actually use some accurate flow information, but to each his own. Hey, cut once, and don't bother measuring at all! :lol:

And i thought comedy central was good! > Wave98

 

[Wayupnorth]

I am still wondering how you know if a pump is pressure rated. Does anyone know if a sequence hammerhead is a pressure rated pump? Thanks

Ruth

 

[wave98]

Hey Ruth, pressure ratings huh? Well, I checked around a bit, but could not find a Mfgs. site for "Sequence". Plenty of vendors though with good technical informaton, but no "pressure ratings" or "pressure rated" status to be found.

However, a pump like your Hammerhead, that's rated at 5800 gph, and retains 5000gph at 8' head is losing a small percentage of flow for that amount of head. In other words it is a relatively "high pressure" type of pump, and probably about as good as you're going to find for your application, in terms of retaining pressure, and ultimately, flow.

So, you might be pushing about 25 times your water volume with this, once "actual water volume" is considered for you 190 gal. This is a pretty good amount of flow for most tanks this size. It isn't "Megaflow" to be sure, but it is probably about right for flow that you use to keep the bottom clean, and detritus in suspension.

It doesn't sound like you've purchased the OM unit yet. Paul, at Oceansmotions.com is very freindly and helpful, and not hard to get a hold of either. You have a lot of options just with the OM unit if you go that way, and then you could supplement with Tunezs' or whatever to tune in your "Megaflow" requirements. :idea:

There are a lot of options out there, but there's your Hammerhead "pressure rating" anyway.

Best of luck, hope you don't need any! > Wave98

 

[DonW]

I am still wondering how you know if a pump is pressure rated. Does anyone know if a sequence hammerhead is a pressure rated pump? Thanks

Ruth

No its not one of their pressure pumps. It would be a flow pump like a ampmaster. They do have their "UNO series like the tarpon that are more compared to the iwaki pressure pumps.

Don

 

[Wayupnorth]

I do have the OM already and you are right Paul is very helpful - it's just me that is confused. My original plan was to go with the OM and hammerhead and Mike designed a plan for me. Then I got all twisted out of shape about drilling my tank and considered just going with the Tunzes. I am a real idiot when it comes to plumbing. I am still torn about whether to go with the plan Mike did up and suppliment with 2 X 6200 Tunzes or just go with 4 X 6200 Tunzes? I know that at the end of the day I want to end up with a SPS tank with a low bioload and lots of flow. I have a plan for how much live rock, sort of how I want to aquascape, what fish I will have etc. etc. I will be going BB so not worried about sandstorm etc. You see I am not such a ditz that I don't know where I want to go just confused about how to get there.

 

[wave98]

Gosh, The OM with "plan", plus the Tunzes sounds mighty good. I'm working on a similar sized system, but not BB. If you're looking to "dump" the OM stuff ( and or the "non-pressure rated" pump ), let me know.

Sounds to me like you've got it! > Wave98

 

[Wayupnorth]

I DRILLED MY FREAKING TANK I screwed up my courage and after the 1st couple of holes I felt pretty good. Anyway I got all 10 holes drilled - no cracks WHOOHOO Now if I can just get the plumbing figured out I am just about ready to go. Just waiting on a couple of more pieces of equipment that are supposed to be here this week. I can't believe it.
Ruth

 

[Kensn]

See Ruth I knew you could do it!!! WOOHOO!! I think you will be so happy that you did it. Good for you!!!

 

[Wayupnorth]

Thanks Ken - you have no idea - I thought I was going to puke doing the first hole. I was like a biker revving the drill and then I would have a smoke - reve the drill - go fill the bird feeders - you get the picture. Once I got going though I was OK. Got the piece of acrylic stuck in the hole saw once and had to go over and get the neighbor kid to help me and while I was over there my dog locked the truck doors with the keys in it. Needless to say that bought me some more time but actually by then I was really into it and now IT IS DONE.

 

[Kensn]

I'll take the locked keys in the truck, over a cracked tank!! It is a Karma thing...Good balance..

 

[Skipper J]

Way to go Ruth! I knew you could do it! Like I said there is really nothing to it. Now the tricky part plumbing!You have to go back to the first page of this thread and read Mikes description on how to do it! I read it several time while I was doing my plumbing it help somehow and still took me a long time doing it. Here you have to be really very careful.What I did was to cut and fit everytime several times making sure I optimized the length of the pipe I can insert. I'll do a more detailed description in my tank thread.Just remember don't apply pvc glue until you are absolutely sure that your manifold fits perfectly with the holes. Remember what they say about the PVC plumbing and fittings "Big boys/girls lego".

 

[Wayupnorth]

Well I hate lego! At least PVC pipe is cheap not like putting a crack in your tank. I'm sure that I will have to make up some new curse words when I start on the plumbing. For today the neighbor kid is coming over when he gets back from hunting and we are going to get it in the house and on the stand. I probably won't start on plumbing until later in the week as I have to go out of town next week for 3 days. I am so thrilled I actually drilled without incident and want to thank you Joey because looking at your pictures of what you did and your description really helped me.

 

[parajack]

Are you ready for another one? I'll try and summarize and keep your reading time brief. I've been playing at the hobby for years both fresh and salt, but mostly just killing the marine stuff (no, I'm not proud of that fact). Anyway, this larger tank has been a dream for years and is finally sitting in my shop downstairs along with custom stand and hood by Tenecor. 320g FBX 64" x 24" x 17" x 40", 36"s deep. Full 360 view tank with no "back". Drain box is 9"s square and centered in the tank. All plumbing through the floor. All lighting and any Tenzie wiring through a 2" dry bay in the drain box. Hood will be on a rc preplanned hoist located above the tank. When I built the house I built a separate fish room about 25' away (same elevation) and plumbed 2, 2" lines to the display location. I'd like to duplicate the oregonreef.com (look at the circulation link) for the cl setup, and although it will be quite a challenge, I'd like to have pretty much everything buried and out of view in this setup. I think I'm gonna go with lower flow through the fish room (maybe 1000gph max) and high flow through cl and Tenzies only if I have to. I'm pretty much tired of forum reading and ready to do some hands on stuff. Pretty much zero LFS help and no local club or anything that I'm aware of anyway.

You guys and gals could help me by chunking out my project into manageable tasks. I've got plenty of ideas and have read a ton but I'm sure I still probably really don't have a clue.....

First up: How far do I take the "pre tank setup" while it is in the shop (actually an airplane hanger with sink and large floor drain) before I hire a lift truck to hoist the thing to our upper deck for placement in the center of our greatroom? So far I have: finish drilling for 2, 1 1/2" cl systems (only drain box was predrilled by Tenecor). Install all BHs and build and install all cl plumbing, including pumps and get them up and running. We can go over more specifics when appropriate. Setup a makeshift sump, return line, and drain line to help determine the final elevation of my fish room sump. This will be tricky as I have only 2, 1" drains in the drain box, and will need 'x' amount of head pressure in the 36" tall drainbox to get me 1000gph to the fish room through the 2" line....this is a complete unknown to me at this point... any ideas?

So if this was your project, what else would you get done while the tank is in the 'testing' phase off location? I should probably marine seal the stand. I'm going to foam the drain box with a 1-2" layer of black pond foam and was wondering if I should install 2 Tenzies and actually foam around them into the drain box wall maybe 6"s or so from the top? This way I could bury most of the Tenzie and the wire right up to the overflow teeth anyway.....ok, starting to ramble.. I'm not even sure I'll ever need Tenzies if I build the cl right.... time to submit. ok .one last question: Is there any reason why I shouldn't order up some 1/4 and 1/2" acrylic stock and start building my fish room components? I assume with a bit of practice, it's not too hard to drill, cut, and glue acrylic? Is there a link to Sump building 101 around here somewhere?
Jack

 

[NaH2O]

parajack - See if these articles help out:

How Does A Sump Work?

An Abundance of Sumps

Everything you Always wanted to know about Sumps - Part 1

Everything you Always Wanted to Know about Sumps - Part 2

Everything you always wanted to know about sumps - part 3


Also, I wanted to add something new to the plumbing thread. At MACNA (and I can't remember who is making these....mike or chuck, help me out here), there were new "powerheads" that were similar to Tunzes. However, only the impellor was on the inside of the tank. The bulk of the powerhead/unit was attached via magnet on the outside of the tank. I'll shoot Chuck a PM and find out who was making these. I know he talked to these guys. This might be a nice option for those that don't want to drill their tank, yet don't want Tunzes, or other powerheads taking up space in the tank.

 

[CarlaW]

I DRILLED MY FREAKING TANK I screwed up my courage and after the 1st couple of holes I felt pretty good. Anyway I got all 10 holes drilled - no cracks WHOOHOO Now if I can just get the plumbing figured out I am just about ready to go. Just waiting on a couple of more pieces of equipment that are supposed to be here this week. I can't believe it.
Ruth

Atta girl, I knew it was possible. Why don't you snap some pics of the "swiss cheese", I mean tank and let us see why it took a full pack of smokes to get 'er done??

 

[Wayupnorth]

I have a couple of pictures - not much to see really - I should have taken them before I got the tank in the house but oh well. There are 4 holes on one side of the overflow and 6 on the other.

 

[MtnDewMan]

Also, I wanted to add something new to the plumbing thread. At MACNA (and I can't remember who is making these....mike or chuck, help me out here), there were new "powerheads" that were similar to Tunzes. However, only the impellor was on the inside of the tank. The bulk of the powerhead/unit was attached via magnet on the outside of the tank. I'll shoot Chuck a PM and find out who was making these. I know he talked to these guys. This might be a nice option for those that don't want to drill their tank, yet don't want Tunzes, or other powerheads taking up space in the tank.

It was a neat pump for sure. It is very Tunze-Like ... Large propeller flow type device. Large water movement. Keeps the heat out of the tank instead of in the tank by mounting the motor on the outside of the tank via a magnet to the propeller assembly on the inside of the tank. I believe the flowrate is variable between about 100 gph to 3000 gph. It also uses a battery backup supplied by Icecap, so in the event of a power failure it can still operate from 12 to 36 hours (they are still working on maximizing the battery potential). All in all a pretty impressive device. I am going to try to get a beta version if they let me and put it in my tank

Here is a link to the site ...

http://www.ecotechmarine.com/home.htm

It received a lot of attention at the show indeed.

 

[parajack]

Thanks NaH2O,
Thats allot of good info to digest. If you run across any other specific DIY which addresses specifically cutting, gluing, drilling acrylic... not theory but how to stuff, that would be great. I know I need to just jump in and have at it... I'm looking for stock and was quoted $320 today for a 4 x 8 sheet of 1/4". Does that seem pricey to you or reasonable? I looked around Lowes and they didn't have any hole bits big enough for the BHs I'll be drilling, not to mention anything for drilling plastic. Can you recommend a good internet supply for acrylic working supplies?
Thanks again,
Jack

 

[NaH2O]

Here's another shot of the cool flow device. Pic taken by dgasmd. Chuck, I had forgotten about the battery back-up. Really cool.

Jack - I'm not a DIYer, so I don't know the answers to your questions. I do know the cost of acrylic went up since my tank was built, but I don't know if the price you were quoted is reasonable. You might want to start a new thread with this same post in the DIY section, and send DonW and big t a PM asking them to take a look at it. Both are great DIY guys that have worked with acrylic. Sorry I couldn't have been more helpful.

 

[Maryrosi]

Any ball park prices on those, Chuck or Nikki?