circusordie16 Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 drilling was successful. pretty easy too although it was a little nerve wracking. going to the store today to pick up some pvc stuff and get started on the rest of the plumbing. pictures will come of the stand and plumbing. thinking of a mag3 for the return pump which reefcentral's calculator says should give me about 215 gph after 4.5' vertical rise and (4) 90* elbows. Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 another question, if i use a mag3 the outlet is 1/2". should i keep it at 1/2" pipe the whole way up or expand it to 3/4" right after the pump? Link to comment
SpringFever Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Return pump depends on lots of factors such as what type of power head/flow is in the DT, skimmer capacity, and fuge arrangement. My suggestion would be to go with a mag7 or quietone 3000. You can always back off if there is too much flow, but there won't. Lots of people are using mag9s with great results. PVC: Leave it the size of the output... eductor (sp?) Nozzles will give you more efficient output. Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 put together most of my plumbing today. havent glued it together yet in case somebody finds a problem with it. im gonna make a glass over flow box out of greylite glass which should hopefully hide the strainers and bulkheads well enough. got a mag5 for the return pump and a 10 gallon tank for the sump. i know its kinda small but i want this tank to be in the living room and if im gonna do that i have to have enough room under the stand to store stuff. pictures below are kinda dark but are of the stand, the bulkheads, the inside of the stand/sump, and the plumbing. let me know what you guys think. Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 any experience with supporting the pvc pipes attached to the bulkheads? i dont like having all that weight hanging from the bulkheads. has anybody used a clamp on the vertical section of pipe or do people usually just support the horizontal portion inside the stand? Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 idea for supporting the pipes if anyone has any input to offer. i think im just gonna shim between the pipes and the bottom of the opening in my stand and then clamp the vertical section of the drain pipes to the stand. there is a union shortly after the bulkhead so this should allow me to get the pipes at the right height and clamp them there and screw them together with the union. good idea? bad idea? Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 ive been moving along slowly. my unofficial goal is to have it filled with water in 2 weeks. things i have left to do: silicone the baffles into the sump, silicone the overflow box together, silicone the box to the tank, and glue the pvc together. i have some pictures. some show the plumbing and how im supporting it. im going to have plastic hangars holding the pipe up where it comes into the stand and im going to have the pvc clamped to a metal hook on the side of the stand just below the tank to support it there too. first two pictures show this. any forseeable problems with that? other pictures are just of how the plumbing looks, the greylite glass i got for my overflow box, and the beginning of an aquascape. got my rock from marco rocks and im very happy with it, good shapes and look to it. Link to comment
gutterguy Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Looking good. As far as bracket to hold the pvc, I dont think the wieght is a problem, but if you are bumping into the pvc when doing something in the sump that could be a problem. I need to do that myself. I like the scape in the last picture too. good luck gg Link to comment
captainbastard Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Looking good, Ive never seen anyone drill on that side of the tank before though, interesting. Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 yeah me neither, im hoping it works out ok with the flow and everything but only time will tell. Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 im getting closer! made the sump and overflow box. sump is ugly but oh well. overflow box is sweet i think. all i have left is to glue the pipes together which i plan to do this weekend. then i can move it to its final resting place and fill it up! pictures of the overflow box below. Link to comment
gutterguy Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 NIce job on the overflow. following along Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 finally got everything set up and am adding water. really slowly unfortunately but itll be full eventually and then ill get some pictures. question: does it matter what powerstrip i use? all the ones at home depot say not for aquarium use but i assume thats just a liability thing? should i get one thats specifically for aquarium use? Link to comment
Coastie Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I am using just random powerstrips, they are fine just don't get em wet. Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 the tank is alive! been pretty lazy updating this but ill have pictures later today after i get home from work. added a chunk of live rock from a lfs's display tank a few weeks ago and ive transferred a couple corals over from my 5 gallon as well. everythings going good. had a fairly big diatom bloom but that died off pretty quick. questions: for a cover im thinking of getting a piece of glass to cover half of the aquarium and then making a screen top for the other half. this way ill cut down on evaporation a little bit but still have easy access to feed and stuff by taking the screen half off. anybody see any problems with this? im thinking about getting my first ever (saltwater) fish this weekend. going to get a pair of clowns but im wondering how to do that. should i get one at a time and just make sure the second one i get is larger or smaller than the first so that they pair up? or should i just get two at the same time and get one larger and one smaller? Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 as promised- pictures. first one is the overflow box working well. second is under the stand. last few are just of the aquascaping. Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 thanks adam. found the answer to my clownfish question but still wondering if anybody has any input on my plan for a top? Link to comment
grease-monkey Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 definitely helped me decide on doing my overflow the same i have been going back and forth for days about it thanks for the pics Link to comment
MGDMIRAGE Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Love the setup i wanted to make my 40 BR peninsula at first too but didn't have a stand for it. Love your scape. Link to comment
killrblue Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Could you take a pic of your return from the back. I'm wondering how your return pipe is kept in place. Link to comment
circusordie16 Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 im bringing my own thread back from the dead. im thinking about switching to leds for fun. thinking about DIY so ive read a ton about them the last few days and here are my plans. any input would be greatly appreciated, i might start a thread in the lighting forum too. initially i think im going to try to retrofit this into my existing 36" nova extreme 6bulb T5 fixture. that way i have a splashguard already and can just drill a (12) cree XP-E cool white leds (24) cree XP-E royal blue leds (3) Mean Well ELN 60-48D 8.46" (or 10") x 32" (approx) heatsink i am only going with (36) leds because i saw a couple threads that said 48 was too much and they just dimmed them down anyways. do you think i can still get enough coverage with a 12x3 arrangement with the row of whites down the middle (about 3" on center)? also, is 2:1 blue-white ratio ok or should i go with 1:1? also, should i put some optics (80* probably) on these leds or maybe just on the outer lines to reduce light spill over? i will get the light control module for RKL and do the sunrise/sunset dimming with this. thanks for any input. Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Glad your tank came back from the dead. lol Looking good! Yes you should start a thread on your led build and supplies so i can follow along. i am having a tough time figuring out what i want to upgrade. Not sure if i want MH/T5 or T5/LEDs. But keep us updated! Tagging along:) Link to comment
banshee Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 I really like your tank! I'm glad you bumped this back up! New pics, updates, etc? I want to see where this goes as I'm thinking a 40B is what I'll upgrade to in a year or two! Link to comment
duoc9119 Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 Have you turned the pump off to check for flooding? I was going to use a 10 gallon but was worried that the tank would drain too much and flood. Link to comment
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