The Twin 180 Project

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R

roy

Active member
Joined
Feb 10, 2004
Messages
29
Location
El Dorado Ar
A major undertaking is about to happen at our home. The living rooms carpet will be chunked out the front door and will be replaced with saltwater friendly marble...the west wall will be opened up and two brand new electrical circuits will be added for my new tanks high electrical demand...and a custom stand with an entertainment system will be built to house the two new tanks :)

So far I'm still in the planing stages, and this project wont be cheap...I want it done right, so I'm placing myself under a bit of pressure here.

the Equipment list thus far is

Two GlassCages low Fe 180s 72x24x25 EuroBraced, corner overflows, haven't decided on drain hole size and return hole size yet...

Custom built stand

Custom Built acrylic sump/fuge 72x18x20 roughly 110 gallons

OM 8way custom Drum

OM 4way

1 sequence hammerhead(closed loop)

1 Sequence Barracuda(open loop return)

MRC4 skimmer with a pressure rated pump (not sure yet which pump)

2 PFO mine pendants

2 phoenix 250DE 14k bulbs

1 PFO Dual HQI ballast

various fittings and valves for the plumbing...and lots of flex hose.

and about 100 to 150lbs more live rock

1/2 horse Pacific coast chiller and pump( haven't researched what pump ill need, but have a mag7 and a quiet one 4000 laying around after I break down my clam tank and 75.

Both of the tanks will have 4 return holes drilled in the back that will be feed by the eight way I'm guessing one inch bulkheads...a two inch bulkhead will feed the hammerhead pump...and a 2inch drain will connect the 180s together from left to right to keep the tanks level equalized for the closed loop and thus will conversely increase some flow to the sps tank....I forgot to mention that one tank will be sps oriented and one will be lps and softy...

Ill have the 4 way set up for the sump return...each tank will have a 1 or one and one half inch outlet that will alternate from left to right...with the barracuda pump feeding it...the reason I went with the larger pumps is that they will likely have about six feet of head pressure ...


thats the general gist of what I want to do...haven't decided on the fine details yet like hole placement on the tanks and hole sizes yet...Ill like to error on the side of caution though....If anyone has any ideas please chime in...like I stated earlyer this has to be done right...I made my share of mistakes with the first two tanks I set up and I want this new system perfect if thats possible....thanks Roy
 
sounds nice. pics pics pics pics pics pics pics pics pics pics pics pics/ We need pics pics pics pics....
 
Thanks Brad, haven't started the project yet, still in the planing stages, but have emailed several venders thus far, paul over at oceans motions, andy at MRC, marc levenson, and the glass cages people....Ill start making some equipment orders soon, once I have my plans set in stone

At the moment I'm wondering how ill leak test that monster...kinda mind boggling already and I haven't even ordered the tanks yet lol
 
Wow roy - sounds incredible! I can't wait to see this come together! There is a local reefer here that did twin 220s...similar kind of thing...one is a SPS tank, and the other softies (can't remember if LPS were in there). Are you going to have a substrate in the sps tank? Just curious for flow placement reasons.
 
Yea Roy it sounds like a big project, but well worth it in the end. I would say the best thing would be to do a rough drawing of you plumbing plan and throw it out for some opinions. The more eyes the better, that way if you are missing something or thier might be an easier way to do it, you get a look prior to ordering stuff.


mike
 
Im going to go starboard...with a small splattering of sand to to pretty up the look of it....if the sand is a problem then Ill siphon it out...

Yeah Mojo I wish I had the software to draw up a diagram, so far its just been me goofing off with a pen and paper...Ill wait till my buddy that does autocad comes back from vacation and he will draw it out on the PC for me...

Hopefully the construction/destruction part will start up in the next week or so..need to get the living room preped..and I still have to break down the 75 and clam tank and move it to another room untill the project is completed...
 
topdown.jpg
 
Sorry was my first attempt at computer graphics...the above pic is a top down view , you can see the corner overflows in the corners...the reddish brown color is the drains haven't decided what size yet...Im guessing at least 1 1/2" to 2" drains for added security and so a snail or hermit cant plug it...

The four blue marks are returns coming from the oceans motions barracuda powered 4 way...one each will come out of an overflow box...and two will enter between the 180s in the center...the flow pattern will toggle off and on switching between left and right for both tanks....the red line between both tanks is the equalization drain for both tanks.
 
The above pic is the back views and represents the plumbing plan for the OM eight way off of a sequence barracuda pump. The blue holes are the eight returns from the om 8 way Haven't decided weather ill go with one inch or inch and a half yet. The single green hole in the sps tank will be the suction feed for the barracuda Haven't decided yet on the hole size...the tank on the right dosent have a suction feed hole .....I got around that by having the tank equalization drain up high connecting both tanks that way the closed loop will pull its added needed water through that drain...

Thats the gist of what I want to do, just having figured out what hole sizes are best and will work yet..
 
NaH2o that sounds great twin 220s, I origionaly wanted the twin 220s but decided to go with the 180s for some cost savings...I mean im selling my fishing boat to help fund this project lol...Does the man have any pics on the web or any info, I bet he has some pretty good insites...
 
Mojo the pipe was a recommendation from Paul at oceans motions to keep the levels equal, also for the closed loop..that way when the closed loop is turned on it will equally pull from the other tank as well.
 
looks great...I also look forward to following your progress
 
sweet setup.
Do you get cramps in your neck watching tv or you really have the T.V. there to appease the family and look more at the tanks??LOL
 
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