Hi all,
me and my wife started with a 14g biocube about 9 months ago.
Then we added a 10g as a frag tank, but soon was converted to a second nano display.
Today we had a great deal on a 65g Truvu with sump, skimmer, stand and hood with t5.
The tank is kinda scratched, so I'm gonna try to polish it somehow.
Wife is gonna take care of restoring the stand.

There is already some plumbing:
a small bhead on the right side
sump
Little giant te 5 for return and skimmer (looks like a cheap one)
a small bhead as return

There is an icecap ballast, but the previous owner told me it was working on and off.
So I was thinking go to for 2 250MH + actinics T5 (open top, no hood).

I really need some advices from you guys. I would like to setup a good plumbing layout.

Some pics:
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Thanks!

Where is the scratch? Is it on the front glass? I saw a video that used a blow tourch on the edges to "polish" them out. It also took the cut marks out of the glass and was a requirement to do before glueing the edges together.

I am sure those that have experience in acrylic will be along soon.

They are in the front glass, unfortunately. Thanks for the advice, I will look around for some infos about that metod. I did a search here on NR and seems some people had luck with some chemicals.
Somebody else told me to use a power tool and a compound for polishing.

For the plumbing I have some more infos: the return is 1/2 of an inch and the drain is 3/4.
The sump doesnt have any internal wall and I was wondering where and how I should put some. I know I need to put an air trap after the skimmer and I need a wall as separation for the side of the sump that will be the fuge. I would like to have a sand bed, lr and cheato in the sump.
Any advice is appreciated!

Today I tryed with novus 1-2-3, baking soda, toothpaste, vinegar but there is no way to clean that layer of dirth/scratches.
I will try with bbq sauce and beer later
I think the only way is using a power tool.
Any ideas?

I switched to sand paper (2000) + Novus 1-2-3 and it's working great.
I'm attaching pics of the first results.
I still need some advices about plumbing. I'm gonna post some pics and diagrams of the plumbing soon, hoping that somebody can help :-)

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Some pics. Today I worked on the sump and drilling holes.
Tomorrow I should be able to paint the stand, finish to clean the tank and test the sump.
Plumbing is scheduled for the next day and then water test :-)

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Something I've learned here with nano tanks: a filtering tower with chemi-pure elite and filter floss inside the fuge part of the sump
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front view of the flow: far left and right is the return (3/4 and 1), left bottom for the closed loop intake (1") in the middle the 2 output of the closed loop (3/4 with scwid)
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not fancy but so I can change the position later if the bubble trap is not working well. I only have 3/4 of an inch between them
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the sump: on the left the suspended low-flow fuge area with the calcium reactor intake and output for the external pump
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the massive 1,5" double drain
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The bulkheads from the back
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Step of the filter tower construction

I think my post was censored for some reasons. Maybe because I wrote the name of that company that sells kits for drilling holes in the glass tanks or because I said that a famous marine shop sent me some wrong items.

Whatever, re-posting a couple of pictures:

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sanding the old stand

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adopt a pump program

You where not censored. Nano-reef.com does not do that. We had server data curroption around 10 pm July 13th. The latest file CM could get up and running was July 1st. Everyone lost any post after July 1st. Sucked big time but its working now. Such is life.

Keep up the good work.

I wonder just how effective a bubble trap will be on such a big sump. My sump is 30'' long and I never had the need for a bubble trap. I can see the need for them on much smaller sumps though.

What is that external return pump and whats its GPH. Looks like you are pushing a lot of flow and only through 1/2''?

Sorry, I thought I was because the post was showing some ####.
For the server problem, I'm a web programmer and I understand the pain it could generate...

I modified the return to have a 1" bulkhead on the right side and re-drilled the left return from 1/2 to 3/4.
So now I have 2 BH for return (1" and 3/4) and It should be more than enought for the 1000gph pump (it is a Little Giant with some 1050gph @ 0).
The sump is not that big (24x12x18) and it was a wet/dry filter that I modified to be a sump/fuge. So the fuge area is closing the way out for the bubbles for almost 3/4 of the sump lenght. That's why I went for a bubble trap. Let's see if it is gonna work well. in case, it is just bonded with silicone and I can modify a little.

Here is the actual design:

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The RO cript. 2:1 in water waste... I can't tell in beers ;-)
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Stand almost ready

Updates!

Sump in place
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View of the plumbing: always work with little or no space ;-)
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Water test. 2 bulkheads were leaking. Obviously the most difficult to reach: sump and lover closed loop drain
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Salt!
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We are out of budget, so fo the lights we found a double 175W MH + actinics used for a good deal. This will be our temporary light for the first 1 or 2 months.
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Some LR I got from members of the PNWMAS for a good price. I also bought a big dead rock piece that I will cure in a setup I'm thinking about.
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Tank room before
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and after (not done yet)
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So far I'm impressed by the water flow. The 2 returns are generating a lot of surface movement, especially the 1". The closed loop is great too. I have to think about what kind of deflectors/fittings to put at the end of them. The 2 pumps (Little Giant and Fasco) are rated for about 1000gph at 0 each and the plumbing is not so complicated.

Looking good.

Thanks Lalani.
BTW, I remember that a few months ago I sent you a link about abandoned locations, for photography.
I've found this link a few days ago, maybe you know it already: http://www.artificialowl.net/

Oooooh, no I hadn't found that site yet. Thank you!!

That is a sweet tank room.

Thanks! I'm also setting up the other side of the basement for water treatment, live rock curing and some propagation. Finally some space: I was living in a studio with the 2 nanos before :-)

Nice. I was in a 1 BR apartment with my 125, 54 corner, and a 10 until a few months ago. It's a 2 BR townhouse now so I'm working on some new setups like you. A frag tank will probably happen this weekend or the next.

Nice room and tank is looking great. You have like an aquarium attraction in your basement. You should charge people to come inside. I wish I had a basement. I don't think there are too many houses in southern california with one. I was about to ask why you did not put the big tank in front of the couch but I just saw the beam in between the two tanks. Maybe you can put the couch in the middle of the room facing the big tank and put one of the smaller tanks to the left and right of the couch. Just a suggestion.

Thanks for the comments! The aquarium room is getting better and better.
Recently a friend and member of the Portland and NW marine aquarium society built for me a nice hanging system for the 65g. It is made of 2 stainless steel tubes, bent and with 2 sailing fittings that are perfect to attach the fixture.
I also got a tube bender and with a 1/2inch alluminum tube I made a support for the lights of my 10 gallon.
In the other room of the basement I setted up my "wather station". I was bored of difficult water changes so with some $30 I built this unit. As you can see from the pics the left bucket is feed by RO/Di. Then a diy bulkhead feed by gravity the second bucket, where I make the salt wather. An heater and an old powerhead are into this second unit.
I plan to add a float valve and a solenoid to have always the fresh water bucket filled up.
It is working very well. When you need to make salt you just open the lower valve and the water goes into the second unit. Add salt and switch on pump and heater and you are set. Also the 2 buckets feature 2 ball valves for easily serve fresh or salt wather. In the future I plan to add a couple of pumps to feed the auto topoff and wather change of my new tank (yes! the 4th one). This is a 100g rubbermaid tub that I will use for propagation. At now is filled with about 100lb of a mix of LR and dead rock I got from less than $2. There is also a venturi skimmer and a MJ 1200 with the 2100gph kit.

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Just did my first wather change with the new setup and it's amazing the time I can save this way :-)

After 7 weeks I got my NAC6. I'm impressed!
Last picture shows the skimmer running after 8 hrs in a 100g rubbermaid sump with just some LR. No vinegar or anything added, Just out of the box into the sump!

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looking good!!!