240 gallon complete tear down and rebuild. [emoji51]

His & Hers. 240 Reef · Nov 1, 2016

Let me start off by saying I AM NO PLUMBER! Nor will I ever be or desire to be! Let's just say I made more than one trip to the hardware store. But it's all plumed in. FINALLY. 2 new return pumps with flapper style check valves for when the power goes out and the blue Posiden pump is one of my old ones. I was running 3 of these but they were very hot to the touch and kept my tank around 82 degrees. So I figured I'd give these a try. Cheap I know but there speed adjustable and also have a feed mode and I plumbed everything so they can be easily replaced if need be.

So we went with a theme for the coloring.
Red = return line.
Black = drain lines. "back in black"
Grey = UV Sterilizer.

I figured the would make show and tell a little easier plus it just plain looks cool.

A BRS dual reactor will also be on this left wall running carbon and GFO. Yet to be installed.

His & Hers. 240 Reef · Nov 1, 2016

The 40 watt Aqua UV sterilizer and new Hydor ATO system with a 3.5 GPH aqualift pump plumbed to a 10 gallon tank.

His & Hers. 240 Reef · Nov 1, 2016

This section of the sump originally had a top on it. The 1.5" drain lines came in thru the back wall where I now have the bulkheads plugging it off. This section was for rubble rock before but now I have cut the top off and rigged it up for 2 filter socks.

His & Hers. 240 Reef · Nov 1, 2016

The 10 gallon to keep full of top off water for the ATO. A 20" tall is what I wanted but it was 3/4 of an inch to long. [emoji57] but in the past we were just lugging in a 5 gallon bucket in from the garage and just pouring in around 2.5 gallons at a time once per day. So this should last almost 4 days.

His & Hers. 240 Reef · Nov 1, 2016

So there it is! All plumbed and ready to go. I had hoped to get further on my 7 days off from work but this is what I got done.

Next trip. Finish running wiring. Install reactor. Build aquascape. Install aquascape. Sand. And bolt the canopy to the wall and install lights.

ryan316 · Nov 1, 2016

What size is your sump?

His & Hers. 240 Reef · Nov 1, 2016

ryan316 said:
What size is your sump?

It's right at 50 gallons.

Bps619 · Nov 2, 2016

I like it!

His & Hers. 240 Reef · Nov 2, 2016

Bps619 said:
I like it!

Me too! Thanks man!

Daniel@R2R · Nov 3, 2016

His & Hers. 240 Reef said:
So there it is! All plumbed and ready to go. I had hoped to get further on my 7 days off from work but this is what I got done.

Next trip. Finish running wiring. Install reactor. Build aquascape. Install aquascape. Sand. And bolt the canopy to the wall and install lights.

Sweet plumbing job! That looks awesome!

His & Hers. 240 Reef · Nov 3, 2016

mdbannister said:
Sweet plumbing job! That looks awesome!

Ya think?! Thanks. I love it. It was a lot more work than I anticipated. Lol

Daniel@R2R · Nov 4, 2016

His & Hers. 240 Reef said:
Ya think?! Thanks. I love it. It was a lot more work than I anticipated. Lol

I'm getting ready to do mine...reluctantly. LOL This will be my first attempt at plumbing in a way that I hope will be something aesthetic. I've plumbed tanks before underneath, but I never cared how it looked before. LOL

sawdonkey · Nov 5, 2016

His & Hers. 240 Reef said:
The two new return pumps arrived. Looking forward to having the adjustable speed and the feed mode.

Looks like a fun rebuild. There are so many things I'd do differently if I could reset.

Curious, why two return pumps? I think one of those push plenty of water,no? I had one on my 220 and never ran it much more that 50%. Also, why'd you go external with the pumps? It seems you could get a lot more real estate in your cabinet if they were in your sump? I'm sure you've got good reasons for the way you did it, just curious.

His & Hers. 240 Reef · Nov 5, 2016

mdbannister said:
I'm getting ready to do mine...reluctantly. LOL This will be my first attempt at plumbing in a way that I hope will be something aesthetic. I've plumbed tanks before underneath, but I never cared how it looked before. LOL

I tried to make mine look good also. And figured it would make it funner when you pop the hood to show people that are interested just how it all works. But it was a serious pain!

His & Hers. 240 Reef · Nov 5, 2016

sawdonkey said:
Looks like a fun rebuild. There are so many things I'd do differently if I could reset.

Curious, why two return pumps? I think one of those push plenty of water,no? I had one on my 220 and never ran it much more that 50%. Also, why'd you go external with the pumps? It seems you could get a lot more real estate in your cabinet if they were in your sump? I'm sure you've got good reasons for the way you did it, just curious.

Yeah 2 was over kill, but there cheaper pumps so if one goes out I'll just shut it off and run the other and not have to panic to get it back going. I'll just order another and replace when I can get to it. So just for the redundancy factor.

And as far as external. Those pumps are capable of going in the sump but there's just no room for it. Slimmer barley fits in one chamber, the other big chamber will be refugium with cheato. That only leaves one tiny compartment and only a small pump will fit and that's where I put my submersible for my reactor. Here's an old pick you can tell better.