Our 375 Gallon project

[NOLACLS]

That is true about the cost of the large magnets. I might look into velcro now My stand will be coated in a 2 part epoxy they use offshore...I guess it should have no problem sticking to that.

[mrpet]

scott awsome i am going to steal the stand and canopy design
im doing a 360 here in the near future was going to use a metal stand as well its ging to be an in wall set up. i was going to have it powder coated but i think im going to use an automotive paint.
they used it at my wholesaler and after 2 years still looks great.
man that stand is awsome. thanks for sharing.

great name to bro

scott

[qwuintus]

this reminds of me platapus/180gallonreef's tanks with the stand and canopy...

i read you used black pond foam.. is that all you used, or did you coat it with epoxy afterwards? im intrested to get a link or something so i can check out this stuff.. seems better than the 'great stuff' foam.

[mikeo1210]

Originally posted by qwuintus
im intrested to get a link or something so i can check out this stuff.. seems better than the 'great stuff' foam.

Link was posted above.. try this

IMO it does look better then the Great Stuff.

[philfish]

I can't wait to see pics of this when it is all set up!! I'm excited for you.

[aha24]

I wish I had read this thread before I built my 75gal. stand I work for a company that makes steal tubing I deliver it every thing is looking great will keep following progress

[Nefarious77]

looks like a nice setup so far. Any updates?

[sidewinder770]

Thanks all for the compliments. Sorry for not having anything exciting to post- just had a lot of other projects requiring my attention. It's hard to have this sitting with no water in it!

Unfortunately we are still several months from being complete. The next step will be running the plumbing needed to go from the display tank to the sump room that will be 60+/- feet away. Along with that is the building of the sump room itself that will be about 6'x12' and have it's own heating/cooling system. It will also have ducting going from the display canopy to the sump room so that ait circulation through the canopy will go through the sump room and will hopefull avoid a lot of the common heat/humidity problems associated with large tanks. The canopy will basically be sealed and air will be pushed from the sump room via a high volume fan through the canopy and back to the sump room- set to turn on depending on temperature in the canopy. It will keep the heat/humidity/fan noise out of the house and be seperately climate controlled which we think will be a big help and hopefully keep electricty costs down by not having to use the house AC to keep everything cool.

I know everyone likes pics so I'll throw this one in just for the heck of it. We'll probably be posting some pics of the plumbing and sump room build as well once that gets underway- which will hopefully be in the next week or 2- We have to get the plumbing and sump room done before it gets to hot!

[dvj81]

Looking good. Is all the under tank plumping hard plumped (ie PVC no vinyl tubing)?

[NOLACLS]

I got a question...how sturdy is that canopy hanging over the tank?? Would you feel comfortable using it as support while digging in the tank??

Lookin good

[sidewinder770]

dvj81-
Yeah- it's all pvc. Below all the ball valves is flexible PVC just for vibration dampening and so as not to put a lot of stress on the bulkheads- it also makes it easy to remove the pumps if I need to. It may be hard to tell from the pictures but I can close the ball valves and remove all the plumbing and/or pumps with the unions. I find working with hard PVC a beeze and fairly cheap- until you throw in all the ball valves and unions of course !

NOLACLS-
That's exactly how I built it. The section in the front (including center support) is removable for a full 8'x18" front access or I can keep that piece in and use it to support myself over the tank while working in the tank. The whole canopy "frame" is attached to the stand as well as the wall and shouldn't "flex" at all with a few hundred pounds of weight on it. The removable section isn't needed to support the weight of the canopy as the whole front "skin" section of the canopy will be on lift struts to completely open the front of the canopy. It will also have functional doors that I can open just to feed or look inside the canopy if I want to without "opening" the whole front of the canopy.

[MdM31]

just tagging along!

[NOLACLS]

Ahhh perfect news! Thats exactly what I want to do for my tank when it arrives. Might come in next week woohoo!

[tomviolence]

looking good

[MuskyM]

Looking good Scott!

I'd still appreciate a plumbing diagram when you get the chance. Right now I'm trying to guess at the In's and outs.

[invincible569]

Great job! I love reading these types of threads. Thanks for sharing.

[k9asia]

can you post a close up picture of the foam and how it turned out.

[sidewinder770]

Not the greatest schematic but you should be able to get the idea- There is obviously a few things missing like all the ball valves and unions involved but it gives you the basic idea of how things will hopefull work. The plumbing in the last few pictures is just the closed loop systems so I still have a long way to go as you can tell. I haven't even hooked up the overflow drains as of yet.

I'll try and get a better picture of the foam in the next few days- it's kind of hard to get a good picture with the glare but I'll see what I can do.

[RocketSeason]

I may not be reading this right, but it looks like your QT is part of your system???

I asume this can be cut off from the rest of the system easily?

[sidewinder770]

Rocketseason-
Yeah- it is part of the system except when it's in QT mode or being drained for a water change- it will have a 3 way ball valve on the intake from the main sump and a ball valve on the return to the sump so I can make it a seperate QT tank anytime I want too very easily- the rest of the time it will help as it will add to the total system water volume and make things more stable. When I want to do a water change I just close the ball valves- drain the QT tank and fill it with the mixed water above it- then crack the ball valve for a nice slow trickle into the main system- never have to worry about the sump water level getting low during water changes that way- and I'll have a perfect place to QT things.

[RocketSeason]

that is awsome.

why can't water changes be as quick and easy on my system?

[sidewinder770]

I'm actually looking forward to changing water with this setup it should be a snap- I'll know exactly how much water to take out based on the water level of the mixing tank which will drain into the QT tank fairly quickily with a 1" drain pipe. It's basically just a matter of turn a few ball valves and wait a few minutes and open a few more- instant, simple, and safe water change....hmmm...unless I have a fish in QT I guess . In that case I guess I'll just have to drip the new mixed water directly into the sump after I drain the sump a bit- still pretty easy but I'll just have to monitor the water levels a little more.

[anthworks]

What about bad guys getting into the main system from the QT. You should always sterilize the QT after you use it for new or sick fish.

[NOLACLS]

Also if you medicate the QT with something you will have to make sure its completely out of the water before you can open any ball valves and that might get tricky to do. Good idea tho...hop it works

[Reefdogjim]

Nice!