When you get bored.........

[zachxbass]

looks amazing... you have just inspired me to download sketchup....

[JohnOTS]

me too! Downloaded a week ago and cant stop playing with it! awesome program

[Whacked]

I like it.

 

is that a gate valve on your main drain? its a must have for herbies. I used all gate valve on my tank, I hate ball valves.

 

How wide are the overflow teeth openings? make sure you match that surface area to the drain flow. I originally made mine too narrow thus the water sprayed into the overflow box instead of flowing into. I had to dremel them wider.

 

On the main drain, I probably wouldnt put a extension inside the overflow box. Just leave the bulkhead as it is. the increased height distance between main drain and the emergency drain will make dialing in much easier. On the plus side, when you shut the system down for maintenance is will suck any gunk in the overflow down into your sump. you could also put a piece of eggcrate into the bulkhead (divide the opening into quarters). That would break up the flow into the bulkhead and help prevent a vortex from forming. although I dont know how much that might impede flow.

 

are you going to leave the tank open top?

if not, you could build up the stand to connect to canopy and run to the wall. That would hide the back of the tank. 'course then you'll have to move the valves on your return.

[Vancouver Reefer]

The Gate valve is for setting up the Herbie. I like the idea of no standpipe in the overflow allowing for all detritus to drain down into the sump. Ill have to incorporate that!!

 

As for the overflow teeth i have scrapped that idea. Im now going with just and rounded lip to allow for laminar flow, then ill block off the overflow with some black egg crate to stop the critters.

 

 

As for hiding the pipes, i will be having some black acrylic sheets cut to size to fit down each side and over the overflow. These will be secured and be removable as needed. The pipes for the OM will be dropped down and the valves turned into the cabinet so they can be accessed though the front door.

 

For lighting i will be retrofitting a light pendant similar to the solana with LED's so i can keep the clean, crisp look:

 

[Whacked]

Ohhh, I like the black acrylic side idea.

 

Might want to rethink the eggcrate teeth bit. you dont want a lip over the inside of the overflow box, that would create a waterfall and negate the quietness of herbies.

If you put the eggcrate so the back is flush with the inside of the overflow box it "might" solve that problem.

[Vancouver Reefer]

The egg crate is just a first idea. I will play around with different materials until i find one that will work silently. I work for an aquarium maintenance company and have seen MANY ways of how not to do things with aquariums and setups etc.

 

Ill be sure to post my findings once i work it out!

 

VR

[imcosmokramer]

wow. those are great 3d drawings.

[medic1030]

Awesome job with sketchup!

 

You should totally go into business designing people's sump/system plans for them.

[Vancouver Reefer]

Gimmie your specs of what you want, $50 via paypal and ill design you anything you like. I spend most of my days installing systems anyways!!! Ive seen alot of CRAP designs and installations out there!!!!

[medic1030]

Gimmie your specs of what you want, $50 via paypal and ill design you anything you like. I spend most of my days installing systems anyways!!! Ive seen alot of CRAP designs and installations out there!!!!

 

I might just do that in the near future. Right now I don't need any planning/rendering of my 20g with eventual 10g sump as most of it is sitting right next to me. I'm still learning this hobby as I go and I love it. I'm in the midst of finishing my basement right now and when it's done it'll contain a 120 gallon reef tank with plumbing running back through the wall behind it into my laundry room where the sump and equipment will be. I'm thinking it'll be rather helpful to see that all planned in advance. I'll PM you when I'm ready and take you up on that offer perhaps.

[Vancouver Reefer]

Sounds good. Just let me know. I have great experiance with what works and what doesnt. Just installed an Aquarium in a $14mil house today. Crazy money being spent there!!!

[luckydud13]

I just wanted to let you know, your skills are amazing! As i type this I am in drafting class using Auto-CAD, and my teacher saw what you made as was astounded. lol

[neanderthalman]

Your overflow teeth look too deep, IMO.

 

If you're going to the trouble of an OM squirt...go for the four port. You may need the super squirt to handle your flow, so keep that in mind as well.

 

With the two extra ports, you can bring two pipes to the front corners of the tank, from underneath, to bulkheads in the bottom glass. There, you can install a pair of OM revolutions (V14)

 

 

 

 

In addition, I would strongly recommend against mounting your closed loop pump inside the stand like that. There are a few reasons - one is noise. It's going to be loud. The vibrations of the pump are going to resonate throughout the wood and it will hum like powerlines in your living room. I've played with various vibration damping in an attempt to do the same thing you're trying, and in the end the easiest way was to just put the damn pump on the floor behind the stand. Even if you can manage to dampen the vibrations, you still have the noise of the fan cooling on the pump, which cannot be dampened. Why not put that noise elsewhere?

 

Second reason - accessibility. If you install the closed loop pump down in your man-cave, it is accessible for easy removal for regular cleaning. This is not the case for installation inside the stand. Add valves and unions (union valves @ lowes), downstairs, so you can remove, clean, and reinstall the pump without walking up and down the stairs. Keep a second set of unions upstairs, near the bulkheads, so you can move this sucker in the future. You will not lose any head to elevation, as it is a closed loop, and the head loss from some long straight sections of pipe is minimal.

 

 

Another suggestion - keep your sump return section large enough to accommodate an entire water change. That way, you can do a water change without turning off your pumps. With a redundant herbie drain, you do not have to worry about a clogged drain incident, so there's no need to minimize your return section volume. This also allows you to set up automatic water changes. Hint. Hint.

[juniormmm]

I would go with an external, no questions asked. I have a 40G cube right now with a center internal overflow and can not wait to get a new tank early next year with an external.

The grass is always greener on the other side...

[bad coffee]

Looking good.

 

Suggestions:

 

OM's are LOUD. You're going to hear it buzzing away in the stand. If you haven't listened to one in a quiet room, do so. My old tank had a 4-way in the living room. I had to put a switch on the OM so I could turn it off while watching a movie.

 

Put in some overflow teeth. I haven't seen anything that works as well or as eloquently as simple teeth. Get a piece big enough to cover the whole back of the tank and silicone it in. Water pressure will hold the piece against the wall, so it doesn't have to be a strong joint- unlike acrylic baffles in a glass sump.

 

If you can find someone with a CNC or a laser cutter, you could easily just do slots, rather than teeth. That way you won't break up the top edge of the plastic.

 

B

[neanderthalman]

Looking good.

 

Suggestions:

 

OM's are LOUD. You're going to hear it buzzing away in the stand.

 

Pretty sure that if your OM is buzzing that loudly, then there's a problem with it. Have you contacted the guys at ocean's motions about it? They're really awesome at fixing their stuff and making it right.

[Vancouver Reefer]

Ok so a new idea....

 

Keep the closed loop design or replace it with a Vortech or 2 ?????

 

 

 

Pretty sure that if your OM is buzzing that loudly, then there's a problem with it. Have you contacted the guys at ocean's motions about it? They're really awesome at fixing their stuff and making it right.

[Whacked]

I am not a fan of closed loop systems. They do make the tank look nice and clean.

I tend to mess around with my powerheads to get optimum flow and minimal dead spots.

 

I had a few pieces of LR with some heavy GHA and yesterday I put them in the sump (no light area) to kill algae and keep the goodies alive. Now I see some spots of cyano so I have to adjust my powerheads again.

[neanderthalman]

Ok so a new idea....

 

Keep the closed loop design or replace it with a Vortech or 2 ?????

 

I'm a fan of closed loops. However, if you've got the cash, the Vortechs are f'n sweet. I'd be tempted.

 

The advantage of the closed loops is that you can use nozzles to direct your flow in corners, etc, to help lift detritus into the water for mechanical filtration to remove it.

 

You can't really do that with the wide, broad flow of a vortech.

 

The vortech is a lot easier to set up and should be quieter than a closed loop/OM. Keep in mind, however, that the only place you can put it on your tank without it looking like crap is on the back. Put it on the sides and it will ruin your nice clean look

 

In the end it's up to you.

[medic1030]

Any new updates on this system/design? I was following along earlier. The computer design work is awesome.

[Vancouver Reefer]

We move into our new house on March 30th, then the installation will begin once i decide on what size and shape of tank will work best. The Aquatroller is coming along and i hope to have that completed in the next few weeks so as soon as something new happens ill be sure to post!

 

VR

[adinsxq]

i agree

 

why sqwd when you can squirt

[C-Rad]

I'm about to design a 60 cube system, so I love what you've done. Great job, and thanks for posting it.

 

FWIW:

Because of the 10 foot drop you'll have ,instead of the 3 foot drop if the sump were under your tank, the siphon on the Herbie is going to pull more than three times harder. You'll need to restrict the flow by about 70%% just to compensate for that. That means that the precision of your flow adjustment will be as little as 30% as precise as it would be with a Herbie and a sump right under the tank. It will be hard to get just the right flow rate. You've already said you'll be using a gate valve, if you also us a smaller diameter pipe for the siphon, you will get more precision out of your gate valve.

[fishguy306]

That is a great looking build! Really nicely done.

 

On a side note, did you use the follow me tool for all of you pipes? I tried and found out I suck at making pipes. Yours look great though! Figured I would ask.

 

edit...I think I figured it out. Still doesnt look as nice as yours, but its getting there

[coolwaters]

for second there i though u got bored and made a 1/10 model out of clay and plastic...

nice software