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squirrel's 40g CAD 2.0 - Stuff n Junk


squirrelieygrrrl

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doppelganger

what the... I swore I subscribed to this... I am now either way! :)

 

Yes teflon tape is considered reef safe by most I believe. Tho I'm not so good with pumbing.

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squirrelieygrrrl

thanks dg,

 

ill break the whole thing down and teflon tape it and see if that helps.

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alright,

 

finally got it all plumbed, were getting closer! im gonna do a fw leak test today and see how it goes.

 

im still having issues with the light, this morning were back to not firing. im so frustrated with this damn thing. its probably something really simple and obvious that im just missing. the reflector on the other hand is friggin amazing, and ive heard nothing but good reviews on the lumatek, seems the consensus is that it definitely puts out way more light than its competitors. for some reason i just cant seem to get the damn bulb seated in its sockets properly, heaven forbid i move the pendant and the bulb moves out of contact. urgh.

 

any one ever used one of these lumenbright reflectors with a 250w bulb? whats the deal!?!?

 

heres a couple of shots of the newly laid out sump.

 

DSC04490.jpg

sump+kitty ears!

 

DSC04492.jpg

 

does any one see any issues with my layout? im definitely not crazy about the stock sump or plumbing. i can totally see these being upgraded fast. im already irritated with it.i just really dont like the idea of putting the skimmer in the return chamber. what good are baffles if you have to put the skimmer in the return?!?!

 

im still gonna try to plumb a bio pellet reactor, probably run the pump externally. im gonna try to have the return from the reactor some how go into or near the skimmer.

 

is the first chamber too cramped?

 

can i fit filter sock in there some how?

 

second chamber will definitely be a cryptic fuge full of sponges, tunicates and other filter feeders. there has been a new study that states that cryptic organisms may benefit from organic carbon. so im insanely keen on playing around with this.

 

third chamber will hold a carbon/gfo reactor, and what ever other doodads fit/work in there.

 

final chamber will probably hold ato(?), probes, heater, return pump.

 

input PLEASE! this is my first sump, so i have no idea if it will work like i intend.

 

What I would do is (from left to right):

 

First chamber: Filter holder and sock (I bought a huge holder before, need to cut a little to fit), and MJ1200(bio pellet reactor pump and water goes to the second chamber)

Second chamber: skimmer

Third chamber: live rock and chaeto

Fourth chamber: return pump, MJ900(carbon reactor pump and water goes to the third chamber), ATO, and probes

 

BTW: how is your nac3+, I purchased a nac3.5before, but the noise drives me nuts.

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phi delt reefer

make sure you gaskets for the bulkheads are in the "wet side" of the tank.

 

You can use teflon tape and teflon grease (maybe called plumbers grease?) on teh threads to help with the seal.

 

no need for sch 80 if you do decide to upgrade. its super expensive and meant for high pressure applications/rich folk.

 

sch 40 is more than sufficient.

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squirrelieygrrrl
What I would do is (from left to right):

 

First chamber: Filter holder and sock (I bought a huge holder before, need to cut a little to fit), and MJ1200(bio pellet reactor pump and water goes to the second chamber)

Second chamber: skimmer

Third chamber: live rock and chaeto

Fourth chamber: return pump, MJ900(carbon reactor pump and water goes to the third chamber), ATO, and probes

 

BTW: how is your nac3+, I purchased a nac3.5before, but the noise drives me nuts.

 

DSC04507.jpg

 

i had to call eddie about my plumbing sitch, he said its supposed to be laid out like in the pic. the skimmer is supposed to go in the first chamber because the water level stays constant there, he apparenly designed the baffles with this exact skimmer in mind to optimize its preformance. so im kind of locked in with where the skimmer can go in this sump.

 

atm i couldnt hear the skimmer over the water sound of the drain. definitely need a filter sock.

 

i think its gonna have to go something like this;

 

chamber 1. drain line into filter sock, mj1200 under it feeding the bp reactor. output from the bp to the skimmer(this is apparently the recommended set up for bp reactors so that you dont run the bacteria back into the display)

 

chamber 2. probably doodads like ato, probes, and i dunno what else.

 

chamber 3. fuge

 

chamber 4. carbon/gfo reactor and return.

 

im gonna have to stick the heater in the overflow i think. i dunno how you would ever fit any sort of reasonably sized heater in this sump. im also planning on putting a small foat switch in the overflow box as a preventative measure once i get my apex.

 

 

make sure you gaskets for the bulkheads are in the "wet side" of the tank.

 

You can use teflon tape and teflon grease (maybe called plumbers grease?) on teh threads to help with the seal.

 

no need for sch 80 if you do decide to upgrade. its super expensive and meant for high pressure applications/rich folk.

 

sch 40 is more than sufficient.

 

these bulkheads have gaskets on both the wet and dry side. they are a little different for sure. ill take some pics once i break it all down to do the teflon tape.

 

i know its total overkill but that grey pvc just looks so much better. lol. i think for a small set up like this its probably not gonna be too expensive though.

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DSC04507.jpg

 

i had to call eddie about my plumbing sitch, he said its supposed to be laid out like in the pic. the skimmer is supposed to go in the first chamber because the water level stays constant there, he apparenly designed the baffles with this exact skimmer in mind to optimize its preformance. so im kind of locked in with where the skimmer can go in this sump.

 

atm i couldnt hear the skimmer over the water sound of the drain. definitely need a filter sock.

 

i think its gonna have to go something like this;

 

chamber 1. drain line into filter sock, mj1200 under it feeding the bp reactor. output from the bp to the skimmer(this is apparently the recommended set up for bp reactors so that you dont run the bacteria back into the display)

 

chamber 2. probably doodads like ato, probes, and i dunno what else.

 

chamber 3. fuge

 

chamber 4. carbon/gfo reactor and return.

 

im gonna have to stick the heater in the overflow i think. i dunno how you would ever fit any sort of reasonably sized heater in this sump. im also planning on putting a small foat switch in the overflow box as a preventative measure once i get my apex.

 

 

 

 

these bulkheads have gaskets on both the wet and dry side. they are a little different for sure. ill take some pics once i break it all down to do the teflon tape.

 

i know its total overkill but that grey pvc just looks so much better. lol. i think for a small set up like this its probably not gonna be too expensive though.

 

I need to go back to re-arrange to see if that works the best.

 

Comment: ATO shouldn't be in the second chamber, since the water level never change their, should be in the 4th.

 

BTW: Did you ask about the two mysterious glass?

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squirrelieygrrrl

allright,

 

plumbing all broken down. teflon tape on every thread fitting except for the bulkhead threads. dont think its necessary for those.

 

gonna reassemble in a few, cross my fingers, say a magic word, and hold my breath. hope it works this time.

 

heres a couple of pics of the plumbing kit and bulkheads. eddie swears theyre better than the standard sch40/80 style. we will see.... so far im not convinced.

 

DSC04511.jpg

 

DSC04509.jpg

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ColorMeBlue
That's what I thought before, but they are way too big for the sump. Plus I got two pieces. Have no ideas how to arrange them

 

About the evap issue, I am thinking adding a PC case fan to the back of the cabinet. What you think?

 

 

The two pieces of glass are likely for a glass cover for the tank. It's what I got with mine, along with some silicone hinges and some plastic clips. When I called Eddie because I was rather baffled as to how it went together, he told me how it was intended to be used. Mind you, I'm still baffled, as when I did a wet run, in trying to get the cover off the tank, it just slid *into* the water.

 

- ColorMeBlue

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I think chamber 2 is for a bag of carbon and a bag of bio balls on top of the carbon.

 

Since I would use carbon reactor, not sure what to put there. probably some live rocks : )

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squirrelieygrrrl
I need to go back to re-arrange to see if that works the best.

 

Comment: ATO shouldn't be in the second chamber, since the water level never change their, should be in the 4th.

 

BTW: Did you ask about the two mysterious glass?

 

duh, youre right. eddie did say that that the only chamber with a constant water level is the first. i havnt played around with water levels in the sump yet to confirm or deny.

 

i did, funny story. eddie had cut some spare pieces of glass intended to be sump covers. the idea didnt pan out and he over sized the slabs with the first few that came out of production. so therye useless. eddie forgot to take them out of the tank kits before they shipped.

 

ill probably re-purpose mine into shelves to go behind the tank for extra schtuffs to sit on.

 

 

The two pieces of glass are likely for a glass cover for the tank. It's what I got with mine, along with some silicone hinges and some plastic clips. When I called Eddie because I was rather baffled as to how it went together, he told me how it was intended to be used. Mind you, I'm still baffled, as when I did a wet run, in trying to get the cover off the tank, it just slid *into* the water.

 

- ColorMeBlue

 

the ones derek and i recieved are vastly oversized, with no silicone hinges. so they wont work on the sumps we have.

 

 

I think chamber 2 is for a bag of carbon and a bag of bio balls on top of the carbon.

 

Since I would use carbon reactor, not sure what to put there. probably some live rocks : )

 

exactly, eddie called it the 'bio chamber'. i agree im not putting any bio stuff in there, and i dont think the trickle flow is enough for a bag of carbon. so ill probably put all the random things in there.

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squirrelieygrrrl

you might be right there mike.

 

 

ugh. no dice, still leaking. seemingly more than before. it all seems to come from the bulkheads......... effin things.

 

i think im just gonna cave and get the sch 80's when i place my brs group buy order. do any of you think i can still get by with the rest of the plumbing kit? or should i just upgrade the whole damn thing?

 

it shouldnt be this difficult. ive never had these kinds of problems when repairing the plumbing in my house.......

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awesome stup man! I envy you so much for this tank. I wish I could get one of those locally. I don't think that can be shipped to my country :( I'm planning a 40 breeder and this tank has me crazy

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awesome stup man! I envy you so much for this tank. I wish I could get one of those locally. I don't think that can be shipped to my country :( I'm planning a 40 breeder and this tank has me crazy

 

I got it shipped to Canada : )

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you might be right there mike.

 

 

ugh. no dice, still leaking. seemingly more than before. it all seems to come from the bulkheads......... effin things.

Sorry about the bad news. I haven't tested mine. I think you should apply some sealing glue between the bulkhead and the gasket, and between the gasket and the glass.

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squirrelieygrrrl
awesome stup man! I envy you so much for this tank. I wish I could get one of those locally. I don't think that can be shipped to my country :( I'm planning a 40 breeder and this tank has me crazy

 

thank you so much sammy! its turning out pretty darn nice so far!

 

Sorry about the bad news. I haven't tested mine. I think you should apply some sealing glue between the bulkhead and the gasket, and between the gasket and the glass.

 

meh, its ok derek.

 

guess thats just the name of the game when your doing a build. im glad im ironing out the kinks now rather than later when theres lr and sand in.

 

im having an aquarium consultant come over today and see if he can give me a recommendation. though ultimately i think i already know the answer. the bulkheads are junk.

 

kletsch who was in on the group buy with me said he had the exact same problems. plus you have to route out the hole in the stand just to accommodate them.

 

ill look into a sealant, i was also considering trying to find better gaskets cuz i think thats really the source of the problem.

 

 

Hmm that sounds good! maybe there's a chance for me!

 

oooo! there may be hope for you yet!

 

 

This tank thread is getting sexier every day!!!

 

aw schucks neb thanks a ton!

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DemiseAngel

Pic of mine, not where I want to it be but I am still new to this hobby, also I got the original 40 gallon Artisan from them when it just came out. Also forget about the mp10, the glass is too thick, only a mp40 will work on this tank.

post-49162-1301759697_thumb.jpg

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squirrelieygrrrl
Pic of mine, not where I want to it be but I am still new to this hobby, also I got the original 40 gallon Artisan from them when it just came out. Also forget about the mp10, the glass is too thick, only a mp40 will work on this tank.

 

nice tank Demise!

 

are you satisfied with it so far?

 

keltsch, who also got one of these said that the mp10 does work (the glass is only .5mm too thick according to the specs) it just dosnt have the grab that it would on a tank with thinner glass.

 

 

 

in other news!!

 

huzzah! sucess! so it turns out that the source of the leaks was not the gaskets on the bulkheads but rather the thread fit unions inside the bulkheads that were leaking. for any one who is setting up one of these with the 'upgraded' plumbing kit you have to us a metric chit ton of teflon tape for the thread fit unions inside the bulkheads. way more than you would think is necessary. there is just a smidge of play like <16th of an inch difference from the bulkhead threads and the pvc male end fittings. so fill er up with teflon and you should be good to go.

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Do you have any trouble with the mp10 mounting on the tank because on the website it say its rated for 9.5mm but the tank is 10mm. Planning on a build using this tank soon an wanted to make sure before i order a mp10 thanks in advance.

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redseadan74

Nice tank, I bought the same one from Eddie from cadlights,nice guy. sorry to here about the pluming problem but, I had a problem with my pluming too,the two return jets were not long enough so I had to go to the hardware store and buy different pvc to customize to fit that kind of sucked but all is good now,your sump is a little different then the one I got mine is only three chambers with the first chamber having a separator of glass making it two chambers. In the first I have the overflow coming in and second part of the first chamber I have the protein skimmer in the second I have 2 inch sand bed and live rock and chateo and in third I have return pump and phosband reactor. I am new to this but I thought that would be a good set up.here is a pic of mine. Dan

post-63386-1301801489_thumb.jpg

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huzzah! sucess! so it turns out that the source of the leaks was not the gaskets on the bulkheads but rather the thread fit unions inside the bulkheads that were leaking. for any one who is setting up one of these with the 'upgraded' plumbing kit you have to us a metric chit ton of teflon tape for the thread fit unions inside the bulkheads. way more than you would think is necessary. there is just a smidge of play like <16th of an inch difference from the bulkhead threads and the pvc male end fittings. so fill er up with teflon and you should be good to go.

 

" rather the thread fit unions inside the bulkheads that were leaking", you mean the thread that is for the return line? can you post a pic? I am a little bit confused.

 

After checking the bulkhead I bought before (they only have one gasket), I think using only one gasket might be a better idea. In that way, I think I can apply more presure between the gasket and the glass, make a better sealing. What do you think?

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squirrelieygrrrl
Do you have any trouble with the mp10 mounting on the tank because on the website it say its rated for 9.5mm but the tank is 10mm. Planning on a build using this tank soon an wanted to make sure before i order a mp10 thanks in advance.

 

i havnt actually tested to see if it works, but i have been told it does. once i get to that stage of my build ill post my thoughts. right now my mp10 is on my 16 bow, but if im feeling inspired ill take it off and see how it does on the cad.

 

 

Nice tank, I bought the same one from Eddie from cadlights,nice guy. sorry to here about the pluming problem but, I had a problem with my pluming too,the two return jets were not long enough so I had to go to the hardware store and buy different pvc to customize to fit that kind of sucked but all is good now,your sump is a little different then the one I got mine is only three chambers with the first chamber having a separator of glass making it two chambers. In the first I have the overflow coming in and second part of the first chamber I have the protein skimmer in the second I have 2 inch sand bed and live rock and chateo and in third I have return pump and phosband reactor. I am new to this but I thought that would be a good set up.here is a pic of mine. Dan

 

thanks dan,

 

im starting to wonder if eddie didnt just slap the plumbing kits together as an afterthought. glad to hear you got it sorted. mine was starting to drive me crazy.

 

i guess the sump i have is the new design, though the way he has it laid out the flow through the chambers is pretty low. ive been noticing a fair amount of crud and flotsam building up in the media and fuge chamber. not too impressed, ill probably have to add a small powerhead to the fuge to keep things circulated.

 

id love to see some more pics of your sump and a closer fts of your tank. it looks pretty nice. im not gonna get all militant on you but i really dont think that your 40g is sufficient for a tang. they need alot more open water to swim in. they really need at least a 70g tank to be comfortable, but im of the opinion that large open water fish have no place in home aquaria unless the tank is massive.

 

 

" rather the thread fit unions inside the bulkheads that were leaking", you mean the thread that is for the return line? can you post a pic? I am a little bit confused.

 

After checking the bulkhead I bought before (they only have one gasket), I think using only one gasket might be a better idea. In that way, I think I can apply more presure between the gasket and the glass, make a better sealing. What do you think?

 

welll since its all assembled and im running fw for my leak test i cant dissasemble atm. when i drain it im gonna have to reapply some more teflon on the return union so i can take a pic of what im talking about then. i have a very very slight leak still, less than 5 drops in an hour. but i can see that getting full of salt creep if i dont fix it.

 

ill try to explain, the bulkheads have pvc connections that are threaded down through the center of the bulkhead, this union of pvc and the nylon bulkheads are what was leaking for me. completely disassemble the entire bulkhead, pvc connections and all. seal every single union with teflon. youll see what im talking about once you get into them. specifically it was my return bulkhead that was leaking, where the blue pvc fittings were screwed into the center of the nylon bulkhead. these pvc to nylon unions was where i was having the prob. simple fix though, just use a crap ton of teflon and it should work just fine.

 

you can use a standard sch40/80 bulkhead if you like, though really the seal from the nylon bulkheads eddie sent work just fine. the fish tank guy that came over a couple of days ago to help me get the plumbing thing sorted used a slight amount of vaseline on the bulkhead gasket, and turned them around so that the smooth side of the gasket was what met the glass, works just fine. you really dont need the bulkhead to be uber tight to work, just a quarter turn past hand tightened is fine.

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squirrelieygrrrl

ive been seriously considering more and more to just go get the live rock from my lfs uncured, its been there now for 3 days. one would assume that most of the initial detritus on the rocks has had time to settle to the bottom of their curing bin.

 

does any one have any thoughts on this they would like to share? im totally open to suggestions on this front.

 

it would save me about a $1 a pound if i remember correctly. it also increases the chances of me getting both bad and good hitchhikers. though i really love that phase of a new tank. this rock is fresh from the importers its only been in the country for about a week. so probably two to three weeks out of the ocean from indonesia(i believe).

 

i guess it really all boils down to how clean it is at the lfs, i still havnt been over there to go see.

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