Chris George Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 The overflow column/box has 4 holes drilled on the bottom glass, and 1 hole on each side wall of the overflow. I wanted all of my return pipes to be inside the overflow, so it's pretty wide at 12 inches. The two center holes are drains and were drilled for 1" standard bulkheads. The two outer drains (returns) were drilled for 3/4" Sch80 bulkheads or for 1" standard bulkheads, since I wasn't 100% decided how I was going to plumb this thing when I first had the tank made. That means all 4 holes are the same size, 42mm. The two holes in the side of the overflow box where the water comes back into the tank are drilled for 3/4" standard bulkheads, so the holes are 34mm. There are two drains so that I could make it a Herbie-style overflow. It is so quiet, which was essential since it's in my living room and we like a quiet house when the kids aren't awake. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I might throw together a video of exactly how this tank is set up. Before this project, I had never done any plumbing before. I found all of my info on the net, but it was scattered everywhere and I had to piece it together. The BRS videos were pretty helpful, as were a few random Youtube vids I found on Herbie overflows. Link to comment
phi delt reefer Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 are you going to shower line the entire interior? - looks really nice though Link to comment
Chris George Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 I shower lined the floor, wrapping it up the walls a little bit. I calculated it will hold about 2 to 2.5 gallons before it would overflow out the front. I figure that's a pretty good safety net. I may put a sensor on the floor near the front to shut everything down in the event it overflows. I'm pretty confident about my setup though. I have a check valve and quite a bit of extra space in the sump. Thanks for the kind words everyone. I'm getting excited to add my lighting. Link to comment
cees Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 your tank is sick! cant wait to see it all stocked up! Link to comment
Chris George Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 New FTS and other photos. AI Sol Blue up and running! My quarantine tank and transferred inhabitants from my BC14: Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 subscribed!!! tell me more about your herbie! so far everything is looking awesome, just need to break up the rock alittle more. what's your plans for stocking? Link to comment
Chris George Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 Oh yeah, I should mention that the rock is just thrown in at the moment. Aquascape happens this weekend. My general stocking plans are on the OP, but it's mainly SPS, Zoas, and Acans. I also want a single clam at some point. The herbie overflow with the returns piped through the overflow box was a great decision for me. I wanted the tank up against the wall, so I couldn't run pipes behind. There are two drains, one with a 7" standpipe and one with a 9.5" standpipe. The 7" standpipe has a gate valve on the drain, just underneath the tank. When you fire up your return pump for the first time, you keep the gate valve all the way open. A ton of air will get sucked down that drain with the water, making the most awful noise ever. That's when you close the gate little by little until the water line in the overflow box stops between the two pipes and no more air is getting sucked in. The second drain is there as an emergency in case something starts restricting the flow of the main drain. The water will rise in the overflow box and just pour down the second drain. It's super-silent.My BC14 made WAY more noise than this. Sorry for the layman's description of the Herbie. I wasn't sure how much you knew of them, and I figured the info would be helpful for anyone else. Link to comment
TAttel Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Is there a reason you used pipe and not flex tubing on your plumbing leading to the sump? Link to comment
Enyo Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Holy ####. Want to trade your tank for my Elos? Hows the spread of the single AI unit? Looks smashing. Link to comment
Chris George Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 Is there a reason you used pipe and not flex tubing on your plumbing leading to the sump? I actually wanted to make the entire setup with rigid pipe and not use any flex tubing. I prefer how stable and solid a plumbing system is when it's all PVC. Trying to get adjust a gate valve that's suspended on flex tubing would've been awkward as well. I ended up using flex for the return lines just to make it easy on myself. Plumbing is not a simple task and I was a little worn out getting the drains to work and the bulkheads to stop leaking. Link to comment
Chris George Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 Holy ####. Want to trade your tank for my Elos? Hows the spread of the single AI unit? Looks smashing. Thanks for the kind words. With how much time and money I've put into this, there's no way I'm trading. The spread of the single AI will be fine for how I'm going to arrange my coral. All of my sps and light-loving corals will be centered, with the easier corals near the outsides. Visually it looks totally fine, there's very little dimming to the naked eye on the side and front panels. Link to comment
Chris George Posted July 9, 2011 Author Share Posted July 9, 2011 I ordered my clean up crew from John at Reefcleaners today. I'm very excited to get something living in this tank. I have sand and my aquascape is now "finished." I quoted that because I'm sure I'll change it. I'll take pics as soon as the dust settles. I posted a new thread in the equipment forum awhile back asking if anyone had ideas for getting rid of skimmer bubbles in the sump. I added a filter sock to the output of my skimmer and the bubbles are all gone. I do want to add a bubble trap baffle though to ensure they don't make it into the tank even when they're in the sump. Link to comment
TheWAND Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 Damn. This setup is looking slick. Link to comment
Chris George Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 New FTS. Added CUC from ReefCleaners. Most made it through priority shipping, but the box was thrashed and the bag with Florida Ceriths drained. None of them made the trip. I've been dosing MicroBacter7 for two weeks in addition to dosing Reef Fuel and feeding the tank for a week with flake food and Arcti-pods. The Nassarius snails love the feedings. My top-off system works flawlessly. I've got a Tom's Aqualifter set on the RKE's float switch. AquaLifters might not be able to push water up very far, but they can sure push water sideways. My top off container and tank are about 6 feet apart with the pump at the tank. The lifter pulls the water from the top-off container no sweat. Tests today were as follows: Ammonia: 0.0 Nitrite: 0.25 Nitrate: <10 PH: 8.3 (why haven't I hooked up my RKE's ph probe yet?) I'm going to remove my cleaner shrimp from the quarantine tank and move him into the display this weekend, assuming things progress like they have been. Exciting times. It's nearly time to go out and grab my first coral. Link to comment
Chris George Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 I initiated a "do-over" on my aquascape and moved everything around and added some new pieces. I cable tied and glued some new dry rock together to make a spire and an arch. I'm really happy with the results. A couple of rocks need to be removed to finish the new scape, but since I have livestock in here now, I'm waiting for the bacteria to seed on the new rocks before taking out the old. Link to comment
Chris George Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 First coral added on Saturday, July 30th. 90% sure it's Echinopora sp, but the sales guy at the lfs wasn't sure. He thought it was a monti cap, and I didn't want to argue with him. Looked cool, my wife and I love any type of vase or chalice-shaped corals, so I bought it. Took this top-down pic of my clown begging for food while I was taking shots tonight. Link to comment
MGDMIRAGE Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Looks good Honestly though something about the scape bugs me, i absolutely love the arch you have going on though. I agree on the two rocks you are going to remove, but the front right one i think would look good gone, and the back right one moved back to the spot the one you are removing is. I change my rock work around every few months cause I'm never happy with it though. Your tank looks great and even if you left the rock as is it looks amazing imo. Link to comment
Paigee Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Great start! I'll follow along! Link to comment
bwoodward0012 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 nice score on the chalice, especially if you got it cheap. looks kinda similar to an alien eye chalice. lookin good so far Link to comment
teamschreiba Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Looks good! The scape really looks great from the top down view. Link to comment
Aqua fire/medic Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Great looking build Link to comment
bongsterr046 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Very nice tank bud! Keep it up! Link to comment
Chris George Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Thanks everyone! I think the aquascape looks great from above and from the right panel (not shown). The rear-right rock is ruining my spire from the front view, and I think it will look 10x better once I've removed that. Also, the front FTS shot is taken from about 12 feet away zoomed in, so there is very little perspective on the rocks. They all appear to be in a row from left to right when photographed like that, whereas you can tell that is not the case from the top-down. I'm stopping by Vivid Aquariums today after work (literally around the corner) to see about getting my second coral. I'll be hooking up my dosing system (2 part on Aqua Lifters) tomorrow, now that I have corals that will be using the calcium. Exciting times. Link to comment
vanisher Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Thanks everyone! I think the aquascape looks great from above and from the right panel (not shown). The rear-right rock is ruining my spire from the front view, and I think it will look 10x better once I've removed that. Also, the front FTS shot is taken from about 12 feet away zoomed in, so there is very little perspective on the rocks. They all appear to be in a row from left to right when photographed like that, whereas you can tell that is not the case from the top-down. I'm stopping by Vivid Aquariums today after work (literally around the corner) to see about getting my second coral. I'll be hooking up my dosing system (2 part on Aqua Lifters) tomorrow, now that I have corals that will be using the calcium. Exciting times. Looking very nice! Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Thanks everyone! I think the aquascape looks great from above and from the right panel (not shown). The rear-right rock is ruining my spire from the front view, and I think it will look 10x better once I've removed that. Also, the front FTS shot is taken from about 12 feet away zoomed in, so there is very little perspective on the rocks. They all appear to be in a row from left to right when photographed like that, whereas you can tell that is not the case from the top-down. I'm stopping by Vivid Aquariums today after work (literally around the corner) to see about getting my second coral. I'll be hooking up my dosing system (2 part on Aqua Lifters) tomorrow, now that I have corals that will be using the calcium. Exciting times. You have no idea how jealous I am that Vivid is your LFS... I ordered from them all the time and have never been anything but pleased with their livestock. Link to comment
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