World's slowest custom 85g system. ...and there was coral. (p.18)

[FlowerMama]

not much longer..

[Rollermonkey]

Probably be full tomorrow night-ish.

[Rollermonkey]

3rd 20-gallon batch of salt water is mixing and aerating. I'll pump it up before bed tonight. I estimate that should get the water level to just about the overflow teeth, maybe put a little water in the overflow, but probably not anything into the sump yet.

 

I'm timing how long it takes to fill the next 20G jug. It just doesn't seem like I'm getting a rate of 125GPD out of this RODI. That would be 4 hours, and I think it's taking more than 6 hours to make 20 gallons.

[Reefmaster1996]

nice work, keep it up no matter how long it takes!

[Rollermonkey]

Well I'm not going to just throw the garden hose in there at this point.

[Rollermonkey]

Just before I hit 60 gallons in the system, I was surprised when water started going down the overflow...

 

Duh. Sand and rock displacement.

 

Fortunately, at the 60 gallon mark, the water level in the sump is at a point where I can easily compute how much is down there. Mmm hmm.. carry the one... 2.6 gallons in the sump. 3.9 gallons in the overflow call it 4... Um, 6 gallons of volume for the rock and sand the balance in the display area is just about 53.5 gallons at the height of the overflow teeth.

 

Anyways, y'all don't care about that.

 

Almost exactly 3 inches in the sump:

 

http://s179.photobucket.com/user/rollermonkey/media/P1000851_zps3d5960c1.jpg.html'>

 

And the FTS I've been waiting for:

 

http://s179.photobucket.com/user/rollermonkey/media/P1000850_zpsa29bcd09.jpg.html'>

[FlowerMama]

it's a Filled Tank Shot!

[GHill762]

That reactor setup is pretty snazzy

[ReeVo]

Turn on those pumps and get this puppy rollin. How are you planning on cycling the tank?

[Rollermonkey]

Aaack! Setback!

 

I've got some leaking... At first, I thought it was the sump, but it's the union on the main overflow between the bulkhead and the throttle valve.

 

In a total bonehead move, I never checked to see if that was all watertight, because I'd cranked down on them so hard.

 

Then I had to go back and fix the gasket on the bulkhead and never tightened everything down as tightly.

 

That means I had to climb into my stand from the right side (all the way to my waist) and try to tighten everything up from that highly uncomfortable position, without loosening the bulkheads...

 

I think it's fixed but won't know until I start adding more water.

[Rollermonkey]

Even worse, the sump may actually have a leak.

 

I'm continuing to get water in the stand despite no more water being added, and water has made it from the skimmer section to the fuge section, despite never having gone over the wall...

 

Fu(|<. I know that they water tested my tank, I never suspected that they wouldn't test the sump, too. $#!+.

[FlowerMama]

sorry to hear about your troubles- dang, almost there too.

[Mr. Mustache]

So frustrating, that sucks man!

[Rollermonkey]

Yup. Almost done draining the display now. I had to run out and buy a couple Brutes, as I didn't have enough storage volume.

 

I'm going to have to do a lot of backtracking to figure out what went wrong. I'll need to take the sump out and water test it at a minimum. The shop already said they'll do whatever it takes to fix it, most likely to completely build an all new sump.

 

I'm going to test my overflow plumbing better, too.

[Mr. Mustache]

Great that the shop is standing behind their work. Hopefully it is something minor. Good luck.

[Rollermonkey]

Well, I drained the overflow box and removed all the gear and plumbing from the stand except the sump itself and there's still water oozing out from under the sump. I think I have identified the culprit, but I'll test it in the garage anyways.

 

However, I'm done for the weekend. I have three Finals this week: Calculus II, Engineering Physics I and Engineering Statics, and I haven't studied at all yet. First test is Tuesday at 5:30 PM, with the other two Wednesday morning, so I have all day tomorrow and part of Tuesday to study.

[ReeVo]

Gl man, take care of your schooling first. Can always come back to your tank when your done.

 

[Rollermonkey]

I lied.

 

I drained the sump, slid the stand back out, (much harder with an extra 100 pounds of water in there), removed the brace, removed the sump, dumped out the dregs of water, and cleaned up my mess.

 

Then I made a skimmer stand from an 8X10 piece of Lexan and four two-inch pieces of 1" pipe. The superglue is drying now.

[Rollermonkey]

Confirmed the leaking sump as soon as I took it out of the stand last night and brought it back to the builder today.

 

He's rebuilding it entirely. Apparently someone used the wrong type of acrylic. (Mine wasn't the only one.)

[FlowerMama]

And you figure when you're having someone else do it that it'll be correct, no problem.

[Giga]

yeah set back always suck, like this

 

 

just have to keep on keeping on!

[Reefmaster1996]

Yikes time for a new everything! Lol

[Rollermonkey]

Yikes time for a new everything! Lol

 

There's the rub: Everything IS new.

[Rollermonkey]

I guess I won't have much reason to update this for at least a couple weeks.

 

I'm sure that I'll have the last couple of Apex components (2nd EB8, an LSM and moonlights) before I get the replacement sump.

[GHill762]

Confirmed the leaking sump as soon as I took it out of the stand last night and brought it back to the builder today.

 

He's rebuilding it entirely. Apparently someone used the wrong type of acrylic. (Mine wasn't the only one.)