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Innovative Marine Aquariums

My humble SPS journey - Shallow 80g


joshky

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Got the tank drilled for a return line so I could use the internal weir as a herbie drain. Also got the background on, it's frosted glass window tint. Hopefully I don't regret doing it. :D

 

Return is temporary I think. :P

 

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and the overflow plumbing mostly finished, still needs to be tested for leaks.

 

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Quick question, is the drain on the left going to be your full siphon drain? If so, shouldn't that be the smaller of the two drains? That way if it does get clogged, you have a larger back up? Since it's a siphon you would have to cut it down even further anyways.

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Quick question, is the drain on the left going to be your full siphon drain? If so, shouldn't that be the smaller of the two drains? That way if it does get clogged, you have a larger back up? Since it's a siphon you would have to cut it down even further anyways.

 

Yeah on a proper herbie the larger drain should be the emergency drain, I modified it because I wanted more flow through my sump. With proper contengencies and maintenance I think it'll be fine, and it's a lot better than a durso IMO which is what the tank was set up for. My weir will be covered and I'll have a strainer on the full siphon so the rest will be up to me on keeping it clean, thanks for the concern. :)

 

Oh this will be fun to watch and tanks like this make me want to setup something just for sps!

 

Thanks!

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Quick question, is the drain on the left going to be your full siphon drain? If so, shouldn't that be the smaller of the two drains? That way if it does get clogged, you have a larger back up? Since it's a siphon you would have to cut it down even further anyways.

 

Spot on. They should be the same size or the emergency is bigger. But never have the main overflow line bigger.

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Like they refunded your money and sent you a new one anyways?! That is fantastic customer service!

No money back, just a new sump and they are paying for shipping. I do agree they have great customer service though. The staff was very helpful in getting our problem solved quickly and efficiently. Will look at getting stuff from them for my tank when I get it setup.
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Sweet build so far! I'm upgrading my 40 Breeder to that Deep Blue 80 Breeder once I get home next month from deployment. I can't wait top get the build going for it. Post some more pics please!

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You can actually have the main siphon as the larger of the two as long as the emergency one is still large enough to accommodate the other one being fully clogged. I'm not sure what kind of flow you're going to be putting through the sump so the 3/4" tubing as the emergency may not be enough which is where the problem lies.

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Almost there guys....
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Sweet build so far! I'm upgrading my 40 Breeder to that Deep Blue 80 Breeder once I get home next month from deployment. I can't wait top get the build going for it. Post some more pics please!

 

Working on it slowly but surely, thanks. :)

 

You can actually have the main siphon as the larger of the two as long as the emergency one is still large enough to accommodate the other one being fully clogged. I'm not sure what kind of flow you're going to be putting through the sump so the 3/4" tubing as the emergency may not be enough which is where the problem lies.

 

Well I ended up switching it anyways, and well.. the hard plumbing didn't quite work out, I had some leaks. I didn't feel like redoing it so I went tubing, I hate having to admit defeat but I'll leave that work to people who do it for a living next time.

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I couldn't get any threaded pieces to seal without using silicone. It definitely isn't ideal but I used a thick bead of silicone around any seem that was leaking.

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I couldn't get any threaded pieces to seal without using silicone. It definitely isn't ideal but I used a thick bead of silicone around any seem that was leaking.

 

My threaded pieces were okay, I had about 5 cemented pieces that had small leaks. I'm not sure what went wrong but if I try again the future I might go all threaded. Or hire a plumber because it's not fun to do. :P

 

 

Looking good, will be tagging along. :D

 

Thanks James, glad to have you here! :D

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My threaded pieces were okay, I had about 5 cemented pieces that had small leaks. I'm not sure what went wrong but if I try again the future I might go all threaded. Or hire a plumber because it's not fun to do. :P

 

 

 

Thanks James, glad to have you here! :D

With the slip fittings all you need is the nice purple primer and then a nice layer of glue and you're good to go. The only slip fitting that leaked for me was on the bulkhead itself and that's because it just didn't really fit very snugly as I had hoped. Eventually I just put the thick bead and called it a day. I didn't even think about it until well after but I should have just used teflon tape on the threads and it probably would have worked just fine.

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Well I ended up switching it anyways, and well.. the hard plumbing didn't quite work out, I had some leaks. I didn't feel like redoing it so I went tubing, I hate having to admit defeat but I'll leave that work to people who do it for a living next time.

 

 

I'm going to be doing the same thing you did and go with tubing and not the PVC plumbing. The tubing just seems a lot easier to work with and less chance to cause a crack in the tank if bumped slightly, at least with the tubing you have flexibility.

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With the slip fittings all you need is the nice purple primer and then a nice layer of glue and you're good to go. The only slip fitting that leaked for me was on the bulkhead itself and that's because it just didn't really fit very snugly as I had hoped. Eventually I just put the thick bead and called it a day. I didn't even think about it until well after but I should have just used teflon tape on the threads and it probably would have worked just fine.

 

I'm not sure what went wrong to be honest, just know that I had a few small leaks. Teflon tape and threaded pieces are nice, I don't know why I didn't do it all threaded to begin with. :P

 

 

I'm going to be doing the same thing you did and go with tubing and not the PVC plumbing. The tubing just seems a lot easier to work with and less chance to cause a crack in the tank if bumped slightly, at least with the tubing you have flexibility.

 

It's very simple to work with, not as pretty as PVC pipes can be but it does the job and isn't an eyesore. Of course this is all opinion based. ;)

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It's very simple to work with, not as pretty as PVC pipes can be but it does the job and isn't an eyesore. Of course this is all opinion based. ;)

 

That's why I want to go with it because of the simplicity of it, and who cares if people think it's "ugly/eyesore" it's all under the tank hidden so nobody will really see it. Plus in an emergency it's a lot quicker to make new fittings for that than multiple PVC joints.

 

Tank looks awesome!

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Tank as it sits right now, I still haven't tackled aquascaping but that should be done this week.
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My frag rack
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Two top down photos
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Devil's Armor Palys
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Can I get some tips on taking top down photos with T5's? I never had an issue with LED's because they were so easy to push out of the way during a photoshoot, but this is proving to be difficult and surely there's an easy way to do this.

Nice tank and equipment.

 

Thanks! :)

 

 

That's why I want to go with it because of the simplicity of it, and who cares if people think it's "ugly/eyesore" it's all under the tank hidden so nobody will really see it. Plus in an emergency it's a lot quicker to make new fittings for that than multiple PVC joints.

 

Tank looks awesome!

 

Yeah I understand that sentiment.

 

Thank you. :D

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Damn man,those are some sweet ass sps. As for the t5's,i just had to find that right angle where enough light could hit the coral to get the picture lol I know that doesn't help much... How high is the light over the tank ?

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Three more photos
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These duncans look so different under this light spectrum
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Damn man,those are some sweet ass sps. As for the t5's,i just had to find that right angle where enough light could hit the coral to get the picture lol I know that doesn't help much... How high is the light over the tank ?

 

Thanks! I'll figure out how to take better top down photos with T5's eventually. :P I'm keeping them 8" above the water line for now, they were raised for tank maintenance and photos etc..

 

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I love watching these super clean builds. I mean, your sump is amazing, and everything is so bright and happy.

 

Cant wait to see the final rockscape.

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I love watching these super clean builds. I mean, your sump is amazing, and everything is so bright and happy.

 

Cant wait to see the final rockscape.

 

Thank you. :) I should start working on the scape tomorrow.

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