Planning Long Slow Road Back to Hobby

[Smite]

Ah, I like your style. Ask for forgiveness not permission

Those look like great sumps.

The MM is well built. If you're going external I think that's the best choice. I'm not sure if they caught up but when I was building my current tank they had an insane back log, months of waiting so I went with something else.
This next tank I'm going all Tunze so I dont need that gap for mp40s behind the tank. with the dimensions of the tank combined with it being in a corner I decided to go internal corner overflow to be safe. Externals are awesome but I've had to fix leaks and its a nightmare if you didn't plan placement right.

If you do go external on that size do yourself a favor and offset to one side or there other incase you need to get to it for a leak or maintenance. I centered my 180g 72x24x24 and it was a nightmare when it ended up leaking. My fault because:
1. I should have strapped/supported the pipes better.
2. I wish I had put some type of seismic flex conduit somewhere in the run to allow for bumps and reduce any leverage from imperfect conduit runs. 1.5" conduit is pretty heavy and strong. I think I got leaks from not having it plumbed perfectly, or possibly moving around below and allowing the conduit to apply pressure to the overflow box resulting in the leak after time. My thought is the pipes possibly werent allowing the box to rest flush/parellel to the back of the tank.

Oh yeah, put your straps where you can access them. I strapped it all up then slid the tank back and couldnt get to any off it.

 

[Jimbo327]

Should I go with 1" drains instead? I think you are absolutely right, those 1.5" drain pipes need to be supported somehow.

Offsetting the overflow would drive me crazy though because I really like symmetry. I will definitely use silicone on the bulkheads and threads to prevent leaks.

What do you mean by straps?

I do think external looks great, but leaks do scare me because I don't think anyone can really get to it. There is no way I'm going to be able to reach those pipes behind the tank. CDA charging $480 for BA plumbing...am I being cheap...or does that seem ridiculously high for 1.5" drains and PVC fittings for an overflow?

 

[Smite]

Should I go with 1" drains instead? I think you are absolutely right, those 1.5" drain pipes need to be supported somehow.

Offsetting the overflow would drive me crazy though because I really like symmetry. I will definitely use silicone on the bulkheads and threads to prevent leaks.

What do you mean by straps?

I do think external looks great, but leaks do scare me because I don't think anyone can really get to it. There is no way I'm going to be able to reach those pipes behind the tank. CDA charging $480 for BA plumbing...am I being cheap...or does that seem ridiculously high for 1.5" drains and PVC fittings for an overflow?

Costs of everything have gone up on material and then factor in labor that’s probably what it costs to have someone do it. You could probably save more than half doing it yourself for sure though.
Honestly, it’s black on black you won’t really notice or at least I wouldn’t. Also most of the time the drain to the sump is either to the left or right so it may work out better for plumbing depending on the stand and sump design. Less bends and fittings. If you can avoid silicon I would it shouldn’t be needed. I think most would go 1.5. I went 1” based off my 180g gate almost being closed with 1.5. I don’t push a lot of flow through the sump. Just enough to keep display temp stable.

 

[taima1shu]

Glad to see you are sharing the planning process in such detail. I will be taking notes just in case I want a big tank down the road.

 

[Jimbo327]

Trying to buy my CDA tank through Ali (LFS - Amazing Aquariums & Reef) to support a friend and small business, but CDA is just not giving him much room to profit. I guess business is that good they don't need LFS anymore. So I haven't placed an order yet.

 

[Jimbo327]

Another reefer is upgrading to a bigger CDA tank in a few months, and I'm going to buy his current CDA tank. I will have to repaint the stand to white and change a few things, but it's all doable.

So that means I need to start curing my old rocks starting this weekend.

And I hope to visit a few local reefers tank to get more pointers on how to set up a big tank. I know nothing about plumbing or even electronics. I'm also thinking of keeping my freshwater barrel outside of my house, and feeding the water (through the house wall) to the sump.

 

[Smite]

Very nice! What size tank is it?

I do the same. I have a 25g food grade barrel on the side of my house the tank is on. It's fairly shady over there but keep that in mind. You don't want to be toping off in the summer with heated water. I used a few cinder blocks to raise it and tapped the bottom for 1/4" john guest fitting. It gravity feeds to a shut off float valve in my sump. Consistent salinity/top off with no chance of pump failure. Plus a very small hole in the wall.

I also ran a secondary 1/4" john guest line I split off my RODI product water line. I split off with a tee and 1/4 gate valve. I ran the tubing through my crawl space and to the top off container on the side of my house. So when I make water, both my 25g top off container and 50g RODI water container get filled. It really makes top off so much easier. I have a float valves for auto shut off of the RODI unit in both the 50g and 25g containers. So the 50 fills, valve shuts off and it fills the 25g until that shuts off. Once both are full the RODI unit stops producing water. This way I turn the water on to the unit and shut it off next day for roughly 75g of water made, but if I forget it's no biggie.

 

[Jimbo327]

I have to come out and check out your setup one of these days.

This is what I was planning to do. To have the 55g water barrels outside of house (sharing same wall as the tank.). Then cutting a small hole in the wall, and feeding 2 small lines through the wall. 1 line for water to go in, and 1 line for water to go out. The fresh water barrel is filled by my RO unit and shut off with a mechanical float valve at top of barrel. I was thinking of using a DOS or some type of peristaltic pump at my sump to pull water from the barrel. Didn't consider a gravity feed but it may work, and it's 1 less pump. What does your float valve look like and which chamber in sump did you put it in?

Most likely will set up a salt water barrel as well, which will share the fresh water line with mechanical valves. So I can have the option to feed fresh water or salt water. Basically a water change setup.

I like to have water ready if I need it to do big water change on a 225g tank.

 

[Smite]

Just let me know when you're in the area and drop in, check it out.

The float valve goes in the return pump chamber. That's where the level drops first in the sump.

Sounds similar to my 55g setup.

Not the prettiest but it works. If I could do it over I would have plumbed out the bottom of the barrels.

 

[Jimbo327]

That's nice, yours is still in the garage and out of the elements. Mine will be literally outside of the house. I need a plastic shed to keep critters from getting into my barrels. I'm jealous, you could literally convert your garage into a sump room.

 

[Smite]

My tools and motorcycles hate me enough as it is

If I had room, I'd prefer for this to be outside in a shed.

 

[Jimbo327]

The problem for setting up anything outside is critters to get into them, and they like to chew on plastic/rubber hoses. I opened the garden hose box, which I don't use often, and I can see rats have built a nest with leaves in it. They also proceeded to chew through the garden hose. F#$@!

So I will have to figure out a way to run some RO tubing and have some tubing protection from critters. I will have to add some mosquito traps as well, these new tiger mosquitos are no joke. I'm working outside for 5 minutes and I can see a swarm of them headed for my legs.

I would rather have room inside and avoid all this.

 

[Jimbo327]

I just put together my plastic shed to contain my 55 gal fresh water barrels, and I keep thinking that I should put my whole sump and equipment in the shed instead. Just not sure these plastic sheds have enough insulation.

This would require me to create a big hole on the exterior of my house to run the drains and return lines. And that makes me nervous. But the idea of putting all the equipment outside also seems like a really good idea for noise and smell. I would need to drill 5 holes (for 3 drains and 2 returns).

 

[Smite]

I'm thinking of doing the same thing. This member already did it pretty perfectly. If I do it, I'll be mimicking this setup.
http://www.socalireefs.com/index.ph...peninsula-socal-tank-room-build.102114/page-2

 

[Jimbo327]

Yes, I've followed gofor100's thread from the beginning. He has a really nice custom shed. I kept thinking that if I was going to drill a hole in the wall for freshwater makeup, I might as well run the whole sump outside as well. It is definitely a departure of what I was originally planning, which is under the tank sump.

 

[Jimbo327]

I ordered a cheap metal shelf from Walmart, and will try to fit it into my plastic shed when it gets here. Looking for a simple 44"-46" long acrylic sump.

 

[Jimbo327]

Here is the shed so far. Had to cut some of the rack on the top to fit it inside the shed. This rack is a little flimsy though. My next biggest challenge is drilling holes into the wall. I don’t know if I should make 1 big rectangular hole in the wall or 6 pipe size holes (just enough to run the pipes). I’m leaning towards cutting 6 holes and have less chance of bugs/wind slipping through.

 

[Smite]

If you do holes you could use that expanding foam in a can and fill in the gaps to re-insulate those areas. Keep bugs from getting in.

 

[Jimbo327]

Ended up buying 2" PVC schedule 80 threaded nipples (10" length) at Grainger. I'll use 2" PVC schedule 80 pipes as exterior wall pass-through for the 1.5" PVC drains. And I'll use 1-1/4" PVC schedule 40 pipes as exterior wall pass-through for the 1" returns. This way I make sure there is no water getting in between the walls if there is a leak. There should be minimum space for bugs to get through, hopefully I don't need the expanding foam in a can. Just a little silicone should do the trick. The scariest part is next...cutting the holes in the wall, and not hit any studs or wiring...and have them line up.

Update: forget the pipe pass through, just going to have the pipe go right through the wall.

 

[Jimbo327]

Looks like CDA is really backed up, they are delaying the new tank build for the person that I’m buying his old tank. So chain reaction, I probably won’t get his old tank until March. Supply chain issues. That’s life in the pandemic world, so have to roll with the punches. Maybe give me time to try rockscaping. I will order a new sump from John at AA, and will be copying the same simple sump design as gofor100. I’m not much of a sump design guy, I really don’t need crazy designs for a sump.