Tower of Doom

[Justin MD]

Corny I know. But hey, you clicked the thread to see wth I'm going on about.

 

I'm in the slow process of building an equipmentless display. The overflow will be near edge to edge on the rear with a 1" return powered by an Ehiem 5000. I have drilled a few large holes in some dry rock. I have a ways to go before I'm done but I thought I would share some of the progress.

 

This is a first try. I wasn't really feeling the tonga branch. And I used some of this rock in a Nuvo16 I picked up. But if you see something you like your feedback is welcome. Actually it's welcome if you don't like it too.

 

 

 

 

 

I also didn't like how the shelves I incorporated were in the back. Since the rock that is in my Nuvo will be used as a Sump DT I had to go after it in a whole new direction. Here is the progress so far.

 

 

 

[Spiderguardnano]

looks good scape looks sick

what tank will you be using?

[GHill762]

I like it!

 

IMO you should remove one or two links in the loc-line, looks a little long.. or maybe remove one link and the wide nozzle..

 

either way, looks good man

[hey]

looks cool, are you just drilling holes through the rock or chiseling them out?

[Justin MD]

I'm using a glass hole diamond but. 45mm. Core bits are too expensive for the little I'm doing.

 

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll post more when I find some time.

[dmasterx1x]

definitely following this. I was always dreaming of doing something like that, with as much of the plumbing disguised as possible. good luck with the build.

[HM3105]

That looks really cool. While you're putting it together though keep in mind that once you add water it's going to compress and everything is going to look closer. I only say that to make sure you can adjust it if you need to once it is full of water.

 

Any concern about torquing that return line running through the rock?

 

Again not trying to be critical, that set up is really slick!

[Justin MD]

looks good scape looks sick

what tank will you be using?

34g Solana

[Justin MD]

That looks really cool. While you're putting it together though keep in mind that once you add water it's going to compress and everything is going to look closer. I only say that to make sure you can adjust it if you need to once it is full of water.

 

Any concern about torquing that return line running through the rock?

 

Again not trying to be critical, that set up is really slick!

The 1 inch PVC is amazingly strong. The bulkhead that is going to the bottom of the tank will be covered with a large piece of prime cut rock that has a hole drilled in it. When I take apart the scape to Epoxy the rock and finalize everything I will take pictures as I stack them.

[metrokat]

Your tower of doom looks cool, I was expecting to see evil spires and the like.

[Justin MD]

 

Your tower of doom looks cool, I was expecting to see evil spires and the like.

I'm not quite finished yet.

[metrokat]

topped by a fat head dendro maybe

[hypostatic]

[CatfishSoupFTW]

the long branch could work, but if maybe it emerges from the substrate, and you play around a bit with the substrate depth. As for the return nozzles in the aquascape - very nice. i forget who, some aussie around here as a beauty of a tank with a similar design. But - any concerns of servicing, or if things grow and cover it etc?

[R1sky_Biz]

This is sick! Cant wait to see your progress!

 

So the PVC pipe with the rocks around it is your return????

[Justin MD]

 

the long branch could work, but if maybe it emerges from the substrate, and you play around a bit with the substrate depth. As for the return nozzles in the aquascape - very nice. i forget who, some aussie around here as a beauty of a tank with a similar design. But - any concerns of servicing, or if things grow and cover it etc?

the goal in the end is to make it so it almost snaps together like Legos. After I get the rocks to play nice I will see if I can incorporate the branch. If I can make it flow and not like an afterthought I'll use it.

 

This is sick! Cant wait to see your progress!

 

So the PVC pipe with the rocks around it is your return????

It is the return. I have a 1250gph pump that should give me all the flow I need through the 4 outlets.

[Benny314]

How are you going to deal with drain back from the return to the sump as most of the outlets are fairly low in the DT?

Relying on a non-return valve would be a hell of a risk given their tendencies to stick or suffer bounce.

[Justin MD]

I have some more putty work to do and I am picking up some acrylic rod and a bit tomorrow to help strengthen the scape.

 

The tonga up front and the piece under the lower shelf rock are for support. But the tonga might be used somewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eye level.

 

 

 

 

[Justin MD]

A couple of loose rocks that are not part of the stack at the moment.

 

 

One alternative.

 

 

How are you going to deal with drain back from the return to the sump as most of the outlets are fairly low in the DT?Relying on a non-return valve would be a hell of a risk given their tendencies to stick or suffer bounce.

the 40g sump should catch most of it. And I am seriously considering 2 check valves instead of 1.

[Benny314]

Right, be bad news for any coral above the drain water line in the event of a long term outage. Check valves will allow slow creep of water over time and how big is your return pump going to be. Check valves will reduce the flow considerably.

Not just being negative for the hell of it, just all things that need to be considered as it could get expensive stock wise first power cut you have.

[Benny314]

Just had a really random thought, don't know how much space you have behind the tank.

 

Could always have a large u bend in the return.

 

Basically run your return up behind the tank to the minimum water level you want to maintain. Then with 2 90 degree elbows swing it back down the back of the tank to run under the tank to the return bulkhead in the middle.

 

It will cause a flow loss, but can't be much worse than 2 check valves.

 

The only thing is you'd need a sprung loaded or gravity float syphon brake valve in the u bend at the back (might be able to use a non-return valve), water pressure keeps it shut when all is running, but when the water drains back like a non-return/check valve the ball/float drops and opens the pipe up to air stopping the plumbing syphoning your tank.

[Benny314]

I have way to much time on my hands when it's quiet at work......................

[k4ndyk1ng]

Following along, and I love the idea above benny!

[CatfishSoupFTW]

oops I was wrong, the guy is from South Africa.

 

check it out, he did his tank similar to what you are up to. the end result is a beauty, but he said it was a pain to set up.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/335821-made-in-africa-a-shallow-reef/

[jamescstein]

Take a look @ http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/355609-january-2015-featured-reef-nanotopias-7-gallon-nano-reef/#entry4917936 she might have some idea's about how to deal with that.