Urchinhead Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 Welcome to my new tank thread. After the Southern California Edison caused tank crash on my 39 gallon CAD Pro I decided that I wasn't happy with the CAD and wanted to take a stab at rolling my own. So I sat down and designed this: It is modeled after the standard Lee Mar 56 gallon 36"l x 18"w x 20"d tank with a few "optional extras": Starfire glass on all three sides Rimless so it looks allot like the ELOS tanks Dual drain line Closed loop Overflow box that didn't take up a big part of the tank and that light could pass through so I wasn't loosing space Total cost for the tank came out to $700 The stand is a stock Lee Mar stand with a large centered door. This tank is going to serve as a display tank for a dual dosing/ATO reservoir system and combination refugium/sump that I have designed and plan to offer for sale. In the sump there will be: Tunze 9010 skimmer Neptune Systems ORP, Temp, and pH probes The sump portion is designed to have a flow rate of about 400 gallons an hour and the refugium a flow rate of 100 gallons an hour. This is to maximize skimming potential and to allow for nice things like pods to grow more comfortably in the fuge area. The return compartment will be empty except for a Tunze Osmolator sensor suite and return holes for my chiller, dosing system, and ATO. The return compartment will also serve as the primary "Oh Crap!" overflow for the tank. a secondary "Oh Holy Crap!" overflow is a 16"l x 16"w x 4"t acrylic box that the sump/fuge sits in with a Maxijet 1200 and float switch in it. Total overflow capacity at that point is 6 gallons. If the float switch in the box activates the Maxijet will kick off and pump water into a 5 gallon container giving me a total "OH SWEET JESUS FROG ON A POGO STICK THINGS ARE REALLY BAD!" overflow capacity of 11 gallons or 20%ish of the total system volume and a 100% over the estimated overflow capacity based on back syphon from the return lines and drain. The return pump will be an external Poseidon T3 pump. It will feed flow from the sump/fuge back to the main tank as well as feed a closed chiller loop and a polyreactor and 18w Coralife UV sterilizer closed loop. The T3 has a flow rate of 700 gph at 20 feet of head and I plan to have 100 gph flow going through the UV/Polyreactor (don't want the GFO the start breaking up) and another 200 gph going to the chiller with both dumping back into the return compartment. After running a couple of refugiums in the past where I had a deep sand bed, live rock, and live rock rubble I came to the conclusion that unless I am doing a "display refugium" for people to look at having a DSB and LRR is more trouble than its worth. So in the refugium I will only have chaeto. Lastly the lighting will be an ATI Powermodule T5 Six Bulb 39 watt unit with the following light bulbs listed from front to back: ATI Blue Plus ATI Aquablue ATI Pro Color ATI Aquablue GE 6500K Daylight ATI Blue Plus Here are some shots of the plumbing and the tank. The plumbing is about 80% complete. The 1/2" ball valves you see sticking off the closed loop drain and return are for water changes. The closed loop drain side will be for water out and the return for water in. Water in will come from a Mag 5 pump placed in a bucket. The reason I am doing this is because one of the main reasons why I would get wet carpets was that I wasn't always very careful on my syphon and refill and that tended to piss She Who Must Be Obeyed off quite a bit. Yeah... Yeah... I found I need a PhD in Physics and a MS in Mechanical Engineering as well as a advanced submariner course from Damn Neck Naval Submarine Force Training Command. Drain line ball valves are to shut down completely either (both) drain line for maintenance of the sump or the line itself. Gate valves on the drain line are to fine tune the amount of flow going into the sump and refugium. Ball valves on the 1" return are for turning flow on and off to the return pump and to the water change out line (1/2" line and ball valve) Ball valves on the return line (the one with the + connector) is for maintenance on the pump and the line. Gate valve is for fine tuning the output to the tank. The two 1/2" ball valves (not in photo) will be to regulate flow to the chiller and UV/Polyreactor 3/4" ball valve on the closed loop return is for line maintenance. The 1/2" one is for adding water back into the system during water changes. No gate valve will be used here because I am not really all that concerned about fine tuning the flow here. Unions are for taking apart the lines for maintenance. The 45* bends are to allow me to attach the piping to the stand so that I don't put strain on the bulkheads from the weight of the pvc and the vibrations from the water flow. The odd angles into the sump are because my wife #####ed about salt creep and the possibility of flood. What worries me the most is the flow coming down the drain lines. Running the math[1] I get about 338 gph from a 1" drain line with 1" of water weight pressing down on it via gravity draw no syphon. With two main lines I get 677 gph With the bends and loss from the components I am worried that I am going to reduce that to below what I would like. UH [1] Algorithm for those of you who are into that kind of thing or who just like pain: Velocity of water out an opening: V = 8 Sq Root h ft per second where h is in feet Flow rate: q = AV where A is in sq feet q = 8A Sq Root h ft'3 Link to comment
Babyham6 Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 You had me until the end. Welcome back stranger Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 You had me until the end. Welcome back stranger Cheers. The very end with the ugly math part or before? Link to comment
Phixion Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Schematics > math. Mirrors, needs mirrors for the back! lol! Link to comment
scottyreef Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Any update's there urchin well looking good anyway Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 I've seen this tank is person and the plumbing and all that and it's even more insane in person than in pics! But it is surprisingly simple!! Link to comment
fewskillz Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 It all makes sense once I realized the picture was sideways. Top notch plumbing! Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 I see one problem. Not enough pictures. Link to comment
jerzsky Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Welcome to my new tank thread. After the Southern California Edison caused tank crash on my 39 gallon CAD Pro I decided that I wasn't happy with the CAD and wanted to take a stab at rolling my own. So I sat down and designed this: It is modeled after the standard Lee Mar 56 gallon 36"l x 18"w x 20"d tank with a few "optional extras": Starfire glass on all three sides Rimless so it looks allot like the ELOS tanks Dual drain line Closed loop Overflow box that didn't take up a big part of the tank and that light could pass through so I wasn't loosing space Total cost for the tank came out to $700 The stand is a stock Lee Mar stand with a large centered door. This tank is going to serve as a display tank for a dual dosing/ATO reservoir system and combination refugium/sump that I have designed and plan to offer for sale. In the sump there will be: Tunze 9010 skimmer Neptune Systems ORP, Temp, and pH probes The sump portion is designed to have a flow rate of about 400 gallons an hour and the refugium a flow rate of 100 gallons an hour. This is to maximize skimming potential and to allow for nice things like pods to grow more comfortably in the fuge area. The return compartment will be empty except for a Tunze Osmolator sensor suite and return holes for my chiller, dosing system, and ATO. The return compartment will also serve as the primary "Oh Crap!" overflow for the tank. a secondary "Oh Holy Crap!" overflow is a 16"l x 16"w x 4"t acrylic box that the sump/fuge sits in with a Maxijet 1200 and float switch in it. Total overflow capacity at that point is 6 gallons. If the float switch in the box activates the Maxijet will kick off and pump water into a 5 gallon container giving me a total "OH SWEET JESUS FROG ON A POGO STICK THINGS ARE REALLY BAD!" overflow capacity of 11 gallons or 20%ish of the total system volume and a 100% over the estimated overflow capacity based on back syphon from the return lines and drain. wow!! nice tank!! sweet build!!! and great overall planning!!! this should be one hell of a tank!!! and hopefully no...."oh holy craps" goin on!! good luck!! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 6, 2009 Author Share Posted April 6, 2009 Ask and ye shall receive... Sigh... Made it half again as close to getting the new tank on line this last Friday by avoiding the Honey-Do list courtesy of work. Got about 2 hours of work done on it intermittently during the day and night so *NOW* all thats left is to pipe dope the ATO feed, attach the return/closed loop pump hoses to the hose barbs, water/load test it, soft cycle it and I am in business... I figure that by the end of the month I will be fully operational if I can sneak about three more hours past SWMBO... That is unless I end up moving out of the house this week in which case I will be doing a massive DBTC donation! Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 MOVING?!? I know SWMBO can't be that bad, lol!! After MAX this weekend, I'm inspired to get my 30g back up ASAP!! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 6, 2009 Author Share Posted April 6, 2009 Welcome to marriage mate. Things happen. Some things get so bad that a bit of a walk away for a while to get some perspective least one ends up eating a bullet because the other party drives you to the point where death is better than living is required. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Welcome to marriage mate. Things happen. Truth. Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Welcome to marriage mate. Things happen. Some things get so bad that a bit of a walk away for a while to get some perspective least one ends up eating a bullet because the other party drives you to the point where death is better than living is required. I totally understand mate! I do hope things work out for the best! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 Cheers. Not bloody likely at this point after what she said to me but I am not moving out for what thats worth. Some things just cross the bloody rubicon which puts them beyond the pale as far as I am concerned. And I am Irish enough that I do not forgive or forget. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Well, that doesn't sound light and feathery. Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 I'm here if you want to talk/vent, you know my boat so we can relate on some things. Now to get some water in this tank. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 7, 2009 Author Share Posted April 7, 2009 Aye Carinya. She has a temper to match a pairing of a German, Irishwoman, and Han Chinese and a mouth to match. I am not a prince either but I have learned over time to pause and think before I blurt out the first thing(s) to come to mind. She hasn't. I have discussed it with her more times than I have fingers and toes and there is only so much I am willing to put up with. Yep. Just like sushi or cotton candy, Mr. F. Fills you up initially but about an hour later you are hungry again. Thank you Phixion. Tonight's mission is to finish off the Return plumbing and if I am lucky the ATO as well. Link to comment
here fishy fishy Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Cheers. Not bloody likely at this point after what she said to me but I am not moving out for what thats worth. Some things just cross the bloody rubicon which puts them beyond the pale as far as I am concerned. And I am Irish enough that I do not forgive or forget. Sorry you are dealing with this. It's not fun stuff. Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Just let me know if you need a hand, mate! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted April 8, 2009 Author Share Posted April 8, 2009 Cheers gents and thanks. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted May 4, 2009 Author Share Posted May 4, 2009 For those of you following along at home I spent too much time staring at my plumbing setup and not enough time getting the tank up so I went ahead and redid the whole thing at 10:30 pm on a Friday. Silly me. But its (somewhat) better and more efficient from a fluid dynamics and flow perspective and moderately more elegant from an engineering one. Sadly its still FrankenPlumbing! Design considerations were: 1. Hard plumbed as much as possible 2. As Modular as possible without detracting too much from flow speeds so that one section of the infrastructure could be taken off line for maintenance without having to take the whole system or subsystem off line. 3. The following subsystems: a) Chiller filtration(poly-reactor and UV) c) redundant drain with separate feed to refugium, d) return e) dosing (not pictured) f) ATO (not pictured) g) water change 4) Use as few pumps as possible. Thus filtration is run off of closed loop and chiller is run off return pump. 5) Make it as simple as possible but still meeting the design goals (Yeah... About that... Its a B1tch...And this is what I could come up with) For all ya all who are all about "Didn't happen without pic's..." The Whole Enchilada: Detail (with commentary) of the drain lines: Detail (with commentary) of the close loop and return: Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 That looks like plumbing all right! Link to comment
Carinya Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 All that detail & commentary is going to be very helpful to someone I'm sure but it makes my head hurt. Link to comment
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