336 Peninsula build

[Tub Life]

Baby steps... I'm slow going, so I should at least put pics up lol
picked up some new bulkheads from the LFS... doing a dry fit.
3 x 1.5" slip for drains and 2 x 1" threaded for the returns.

 

[jasonvan]

wow thats a cool build. great to see another bc local with a huge tank. not many out there

 

[Tub Life]

wow thats a cool build. great to see another bc local with a huge tank. not many out there

Hey! Yeah you don't hear about many large tanks here, probably more than we know of though.
You still make your way back? Assuming you're in Seattle now?

Anyhow, here's some Thanksgiving day dry-fit goodness!

I was able to salvage exactly enough 1.5" and 1" PVC that I had laying around!

 

[Venturing Squirrel]

Following along! Can't wait to see it up and running.

 

[delv2323]

What system pump are we thinking?

 

[Tub Life]

What system pump are we thinking?

For the return pump, I am using a Sunpole VSB-12000 that pushes 3170gph (12,000lph) of water @ 150W.

 

[Tub Life]

So you know that saying, "measure twice and cut once"?
Well, that's a good saying! lol
I started glueing some plumbing and well, I didn't push the pieces together very well during the dry fit.
Ending up with situations like this...
where the pipes don't reach anymore

3 x faulty flanges for the 1.5" drain bulkheads.
I'm guessing a metric/imperial mismatch between the flange and body as the flange is a bit loose and won't hold.
Once you try to tighten or put any pressure on it, the flange dislodges.
Was able to reuse flanges from some old bulkheads, snug fit, and holds tight!

Monkey Wrench is your friend!
Hand-tighten the flanges and use this for a 1/4 turn to seal the deal!

bought a 3' piece of 1.5" pvc for $12 and kept going...

done!

This project was made possible by:

for threaded connections, aside from the unions that have gaskets, 2 rounds of "Teflon"/PTFE tape, and a smear of pipe thread compound, hand tightened.

for slip connections:
primer on fitting
primer on pipe
primer on fitting
glue on pipe
glue on fitting
glue on pipe
push together and hold for 30 seconds to prevent pushback before the joint sets
paper towel to wipe excess glue from the joint.

 

[Janci]

Great work.
What is this valve for at the return section?

 

[Tub Life]

Hey Jan,

That valve is so I can expand on the plumbing if needed without taking the returns offline.

I have grand ideas of adding a secondary tank in the stand below the main display.
I could then house my BTA colony in there, or do a display refugium, or perhaps and most likely of the options would be to have a frag tank there one day.

My reefing style is to allow corals to grow out to allow for a natural-looking display. I do not like the clutter of frags, especially if they are frags not being added to the tank!

 

[Janci]

Hey Jan,

That valve is so I can expand on the plumbing if needed without taking the returns offline.

I have grand ideas of adding a secondary tank in the stand below the main display.
I could then house my BTA colony in there, or do a display refugium, or perhaps and most likely of the options would be to have a frag tank there one day.

My reefing style is to allow corals to grow out to allow for a natural-looking display. I do not like the clutter of frags, especially if they are frags not being added to the tank!

Hi, good to hear that.
Did you keep the corals, anemone, fish in the tub for 3 years?

 

[Tub Life]

Hi, good to hear that.
Did you keep the corals, anemone, fish in the tub for 3 years?

Yup, the survivors have been in a tub in my garage (hence my username).

Lost the majority of coral initially, a few more die-offs along the way, and lost a few fish as well.
It wasn't intended to be a long-term situation, but Covid and lockdowns happened and that killed any sense of urgency... and then life just carried on.

But I'm stoked to get this display going now!

 

[Tub Life]

Let's go!

>50' of tubing and we're off to the races!

I'm at 50psi... I feel like my house water pressure was way higher back in the day. I recently had my water main replaced, so probably just need to adjust the PRV. What psi are you all running in your household?

 

[Tub Life]

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs.

Took a couple days to fill before I got it all salty.
It's around 76F so far and approx 1.026.

 

[Tub Life]

And we have some clarity! (Looks greener than I remember it being. All viewing panes are "starfire" low-iron glass; 12mm)

Behind the scenes, I got the Apex back online. EB832 had fried, so I snagged a used one from a local reefer. Got the ATO back up and running via the Apex, so it's no longer running in standalone mode.

 

[Ironwill723]

Hello...great tank build. I am in the process of setting up a 10ft tank myself. I was wondering if you removed the hardwoods under the tank stand for required structural reasons or just preference?

 

[Tub Life]

Hello...great tank build. I am in the process of setting up a 10ft tank myself. I was wondering if you removed the hardwoods under the tank stand for required structural reasons or just preference?

Yes and yes.

The tank is on the main (middle) floor, so reinforcement with additional beams was necessary. The plywood subfloor was cut open as part of that process.

Also, we were doing renovations, so the wooden built-in stand was put in before the floors were done. Figured there was no point in putting hardwood floors underneath the tank, so the stand was built directly onto the subfloor.

At one point I was thinking of prettying it up and putting hardwood to cover the exposed subfloor in the stand (I have some leftover hardwood flooring), but with my idea of having a frag tank under there, also made it seem like a waste of time and materials.

 

[Tub Life]

Sunburst Bulb Tentacle Anemone

After the tank leak, I lost all my Flame tip BTAs, which were my favorite BTAs.
Haven't seen them available at all so I finally got myself a sunburst! It was added to the tub yesterday.

 

[Tub Life]

Power Outage

Late Friday, Nov 10th the power went out.
Hooked up inverter to a spare battery and plugged in 1 of the 4 Jebao SOW-20 wavemaker powerheads.
Remembered how cold it gets at night, and with the tub in the garage, plugged in a heater too.

Woke up with the power on and the inverter throwing an error.

Excuse the blurriness, I didn't turn the garage lights on.
At some point, the inverter failed. I didn't look up the error, could be because the powerhead is dc, or could be this el-cheapo inverter just couldn't handle the heater.

Anyways, temp was low for a few more hours as the heaters played catch up.
No casualties.

 

[Tub Life]

DIY Ecotech Versa tubing replacement

Had some issues with my Ecotech Versa pumps a while back.
So in anticipation of needing at least 1 working unit, I checked them out and the easiest one to get running would appear to just need a new 'Ecotech Versa Push to Connector Tube Connector Assembly'.

At $25cdn a pop, I researched alternatives and a DIY remedy.

I ordered some 5mm ID, 8mm OD, silicone tubing from amazon. $22.49cdn for 5m. this leaked.
ordered some 4.8mm ID, 8mm OD, silicone tubing from amazon. $29.99cdn for 5m.

Getting started.

pull out 'Ecotech Versa Push to Connector Tube Connector Assembly' and push clips off the barbs.

Pry tubing off, it's tight.

Measure the old tubing: 6". Tubing is discolored, misshapen, and firm.

Cut a new piece and push the clamps back on.

Push the tubing back onto the barbs.
I tried pushing the clamps lower, to get a better grip on the barbs, but I did not use too much force as I was more afraid of breaking the barbs.
I just try to push in the tubing in front of the roller and then turn the roller manually to catch and push the tubing into place. Then do the same for the next roller.

Insert the retainer ring and place the cover back on.

Blue is the 'feed'. Yellow is the 'output'.
Success!

Ignore the mess.
Everything is planned out in my mind. And in there, it's meticulous, orchestrated and precise.
After that, I'm just happy if I get something done.

Things to note,
The Versa self-primes.
The Versas are older and didn't come with the 'retainer ring' and stores don't sell them. Although they will apparently ship them to you for free if you live in the US, here in Canada I had to jump through so many hoops to get them.
I will probably source out some clamps for the tubing. Re-using them seems to have a high risk of damaging the barbs, at least in this attempt.

 

[csund]

They are Oetiker clamps, make sure to get the crimpers as well.