270 Gallon SPS tank for JBNY - Page 19

JB NY · #**451** 07/09/2007, 03:59 PM

Thanks for the good wishes guys, I appreciate it.

kev apsley I live in Port Jefferson, you are more than welcome to come visit whe the tank is up and running.

[b]taekim78/b]Wow, that looks great. Good luck with the tank, it served me well!

invincible569 Edward, It will be about 90% SPS. I'm going to go with a SSB and less rock giving the corals more room to grow than I had with the old tank. For the aquascaping I'm probably going to play around using some fiberglass rods and see if I can come up with some interesting structures.

melev Marc, I'm planning on having some dividers in the sump. I've been playing with some ideas in my head, but basically I want to set up a bubble trap on one side and then use a divider or two to help the return pump not take in any bubbles. I never use filter socks so I'm sure I will have to play with things to get no bubbles in the return lines. If you have any suggestions let me know. I'll post some of my ideas when I get the tank up and running.

JB NY · #**452** 07/09/2007, 04:13 PM

Here is the main pump plumbed into the sump. Took awhile to get things setup and correct. I have the pump on the bottom and the return line going up through bulkhead and from there it will go up to the main tank.

I am not using the ball valves from HD or lowes. I had nothing but problems with them last time. They work good for a year or two then they become increasingly more difficult to open and close, eventually then lock and you can't get them to move anymore. These ones from Savko worked flawlessly over 3 years without any problems in my last setup.

Returns from the tank is done. I used cam locks for the bulkheads in the tank. I used them in the past for my skimmer and they were very easy to use. They are a two piece system, inexpensive and well made. They make it super easy if you ever need to remove the tubing.

Looking up at the tank bulkheads, before the cam lock is connected.

And after, I am using flex tubing for the drains. They make less noise than hard PVC.

JB NY · #**453** 07/09/2007, 04:22 PM

The drains flow down into the refugium. In the old setup I had the drains just dump right into the refugium. the 8 foot drop from one floor to the other created a lot of bubbles. So for this setup I am having the drains flow through this.

I used similar ones in the old tank. They cut down on the turbulence and bubbles dramatically. Here it is in the refugium.

Basically the first 90d bend slows up the water a little so it's not rushing into the tank, then the tee pushes it down into the tank. The top of the tee is open and allows some of the air to escape so there are not as much bubbles. I have to play with the length of the air tube. I think I can make it a 1" tube rather than a 1.5" that I have on right now. The 45d cut at the end of the drain just lets me stick it on the bottom of the tank and still allow the water to easily get out.

I'll post some more shots later.

melev · #**454** 07/09/2007, 05:11 PM

That's pretty neat!

lfduty · #**455** 07/09/2007, 05:49 PM

good job i like the 90 to slow the water thank's for the id on thatmy water run's in the the fuge so fast and will come out the top some times when it burps I haft to put a big rock on the lid to stop the water coming out.

bklynmet · #**456** 07/09/2007, 10:04 PM

Joe, (or anyone who knows the answer)

Can you swap out just the valve part in a union valve with any brand? I'm having the same issue with it becoming difficult to turn after only 5 months

...

boozeman · #**457** 07/10/2007, 08:43 AM

sorry to hear about your parents/in-laws health issues...having lost my father to lymphoma I realize how difficult this all can be....my prayers are with you.
Tank is looking great so far !!

nss9400 · #**458** 07/10/2007, 01:20 PM

sweet!

AngGenova23 · #**459** 07/23/2007, 09:01 PM

updates?=)

bleedingthought · #**460** 07/24/2007, 06:28 PM

Joe, that drain looks very neat!

BTW, are you putting all of your drain water through the fuge?

erics3000 · #**461** 07/25/2007, 02:41 AM

Wow just too much to take in. 1st I hope your family is doing well.

I just read old and new post and looked at your old TOM. Your growth in your old tank is Inspiring. I am doing an in wall and have been thin king about wood on the other side for my office. Your wood skills are sweet. I also like a lot of here have wanted a external display on my wall. I already have a spare pc that I was going to use with an aqua controller. I was thinking about using a 15 flat screen monitor I had. Your use of the display is sweet. I am going to look into that. Top notch build so far. I might send you a pm down the line for some info on your sensors. Great progress !!!!!!

JB NY · #**462** 07/25/2007, 02:17 PM

Thanks guys.

My Dad is doing great, the operation went as good as it could go. They think they got everything and found no other signs of cancer. So that is great news.

My grandfather on my step-mom's side passed away this past Friday. It was not unexpected and his quality of life was terrible for the past few weeks so it was for the best. He did make it to 87 though.

But on the reefing side. I have made good progress, so let me show you where I am at.

I forgot to show that I put a lip around the edges of the equipment racks. In case any water spills from one of the tanks it will not overflow all over the place rather I have the water channeled to the front of the stands keeping it away from the equipment as much as possible.

I put some molding on the corners and put down silicone to seal it.

I don't know if I mentioned it but I also put silicone on the floor where the base molding meets the floor. I already spilled about 1 gallon of water on the floor and it just pooled up on the side of the floor near the wall. The silicone prevented the water from getting out of the room.

Ok next I finally decided to put sand in the tank. I had great luck with sand in my old tank and I really like the look over a bare bottom.

Next I set up my RO/DI with fresh new cartridges and a new RO filter and started filling up the tank. With a 75 GPD unit it takes about 4 days to fill up everything.

You can see how much water is coming out of the hose.

Sara B · #**463** 07/25/2007, 02:21 PM

Looking good! That's a great idea about putting silicone on the floor where the base molding meets the floor ... I'm going to try that as well!

JB NY · #**464** 07/25/2007, 02:27 PM

After about 1 day.

On the 3rd day.

On the 4th day it finally started to fill up the tanks below.

Finally I turned everything back on. I found a few small leaks where I just needed to put on some more Teflon tape or tighten something up but eventually I ran it with no leaks!

Hear are the drains going into the refugium from the main tank. In the past I had used this design on drains without too much height on them. With the water coming down from the floor above I had water coming out of the top of the tee so I just put a cap on it and ran an airline hose to help air escape. Every once in a while I might get a little bit of water out of the airline hose, so I pointed it towards the water. I still get some bubbles but nothing like I had when I had a straight run down to the sump.

Put some heaters in the sump and brought the temp up to 78F.

Rock is going into the tank on Friday. I still have to get the skimmer running. I have a dinner for work that I need to attend tonight hopefully I can get out early and get the skimmer finished.

RGibson · #**465** 07/25/2007, 02:34 PM

Joe what sand are you using in the tank?

JB NY · #**466** 07/25/2007, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sara B
Looking good! That's a great idea about putting silicone on the floor where the base molding meets the floor ... I'm going to try that as well!

Thank Sara, yeah it's a bit of a pain. And probably one of the reasons this project has been taking so long is I have been doing little things like that. But in the past I had more than a few big spills of 5 gallons or so. it would get all over the carpet, the floor is pitched to the front of the house so the water would also get under the wall and into the next room on the big spills. It would always take me 10-30 minutes to clean everything up with the wet vac. This time with the vinyl floor and the nylon molding silconed to the floor. I just pulled out a mop and had the whole thing cleaned up in about 3 minutes. Yeah!

JB NY · #**467** 07/25/2007, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RGibson
Joe what sand are you using in the tank?

I can't remember the name right now. It's playsand... koolscape or something like that.

jgs107 · #**468** 07/25/2007, 02:48 PM

looks great.you got quite a set up there

melev · #**469** 07/25/2007, 02:49 PM

Have you added the salt yet? Thanks for the update! The tank looks beautiful - new and shiny and clean.

JB NY · #**470** 07/25/2007, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Have you added the salt yet? Thanks for the update! The tank looks beautiful - new and shiny and clean.

Oops forgot that part. Yea I added the salt too.

tanya72806 · #**471** 07/25/2007, 02:56 PM

Hey Joe juust wondering do you have some sort of drain in the fishroom ? fo so you can drill some holes into those lips that you built and add tubing to them to the drain. So if it overflows for some reason now the water will drain into the drainpipe JMHO

kev apsley · #**472** 07/25/2007, 06:24 PM

Joe,
Looking good!I always say that we learn from our mistakes in this hobby and it looks like you have made some excellent tweaks in this set-up, from the drain pipes to the silicon on the baseboard.

bleedingthought · #**473** 07/25/2007, 06:51 PM

Joe, looking great!!!

Where did you get the playsand from? It's a really nice white! I wouldn't mind having that in my tank.

Also, I think you missed it - how much of flow from your drains will you be running through the fuge? Does everything go into the fuge, then into the frag tank, and then into the sump? And what do you calculate you'll be draining (GPH)?

Lunchbucket · #**474** 07/25/2007, 06:59 PM

Looking GREAT. Can't believe it has water in it!! YIPPIE!!

You using your old rock or new?

Lunchbucket

AngGenova23 · #**475** 07/25/2007, 08:16 PM

looking great cant wait to see it progress!