Diggler's Weird 90 Gallon Reef Tank

[DirtDiggler2823]

After a sacrifice to the blood-god of DIY, i finally got all the plumbing from the DT to the sump. Now it's time to plumb the return.

 

[Diamond1]

Real DIYers use duct tape for bandages.

The plumbing looks good. Is the drain that has the short pipe going into the skimmer section the emergency drain?

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

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Real DIYers use duct tape for bandages.

The plumbing looks good. Is the drain that has the short pipe going into the skimmer section the emergency drain?

Yes, it's emergency drain. I had band-aids from dollar general on hand so I went with those. I almost went with the barbie ones.... LOL. The next challenge is using the braided tubing to hard pipe, as it has a curve to it.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Real DIYers use duct tape for bandages.

The plumbing looks good. Is the drain that has the short pipe going into the skimmer section the emergency drain?

Luckily the pump has some wiggle room to work with. Starting at the 3/4 inch pipes first, then to the Tee to 1-1/2 inch pipe. THEN i get to plumb the UV sterilizer, but that's all braided vinyl.

 

[Diamond1]

Why buy a controller, when you can save a ton of money by building your own?

By the way this picture inspired me to get my reef pi going.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

By the way this picture inspired me to get my reef pi going.

Nice! How is it going so far?

 

[Diamond1]

I have a thread in the DIY section at
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-pi-build.482170/
The modules are put together and done. Now I'm bench testing to make sure everything is working correctly. If I can get it up and running reliably I should have it installed on the tank by next weekend.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

I have a thread in the DIY section at
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef-pi-build.482170/
The modules are put together and done. Now I'm bench testing to make sure everything is working correctly. If I can get it up and running reliably I should have it installed on the tank by next weekend.

I'm waiting until the entire thing is published so I can do one buildout. I'm in no rush to get it going, as you can see. I still need to get this thing filled, and cycles, so I have lots of time, but that's great that you are so far along. How are you enjoying the soldering?

 

[Diamond1]

The soldering went OK but I've never done that kind of work before and my eyes aren't what they used to be.
In the end though I think it turned out OK.
All of the circuits seem to be working except the temp probe, but I think maybe I have a bad probe or jack.

 

[Diamond1]

I saw the light module was published last week and the dosing pumps is coming soon.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

The soldering went OK but I've never done that kind of work before and my eyes aren't what they used to be.
In the end though I think it turned out OK.
All of the circuits seem to be working except the temp probe, but I think maybe I have a bad probe or jack.

Do you have a multimeter?

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

I saw the light module was published last week and the dosing pumps is coming soon.

The least fun part so far. Almost done with the plumbing. Also, check to see if your probe is getting hot. If so, it might be wired backward.

 

[Diamond1]

Yes I do it's an older analog model but it's very accurate. As a mater of fact I just checked the circuits, the pcb and the jack both seem to be ok. Not sure how to check the probe with it though since it only has 3 wires sticking out of the end. I need to post to Ranjib's thread and see what's up. I saw something in the bugs section on github about reef pi sometimes doesn't recognize the temp probe, It may be a bug in the 2.0 version or a bad probe.

 

[Diamond1]

Is that a closed loop pump in the chamber to the left of the overflows?

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Is that a closed loop pump in the chamber to the left of the overflows?

Yep. The tank was an AIO so i had to do a lot of work to add the sump and i still had the original pump, so i decided it was small enough to usr with a twist-12 UV sterilizer that i already had laying around from an earlier freshwater project. This build has challenged my engineering skills and creativity quite a bit, but it's been fun work so far.

 

[Diamond1]

Ahhh very cool. Your doing a heck of a job so far on the re-engineering!

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Ahhh very cool. Your doing a heck of a job so far on the re-engineering!

Thanks. I did a lot of studying before i began work. I think as long as i take my time, that things will work out well.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

Slight plumbing improvements, also tossed in some j hooks to support the horizontal pipes. Almost ready to test. Also i added another plank of wood to act as pipe support.

 

[DirtDiggler2823]

The moment of truth.....

 

[Diamond1]

Keeping my fingers crossed!