Greener Pastures (Amoo's 32g Rimless build)

Amoo · Aug 23, 2017

So after 2 years of the 28G JBJ in the living room I just couldn't do it anymore. The space constraints and hoops I have to jump through to get anything remotely resembling an "easy maintenance" system are simply non existent. So after my recent power outage and crashing of basically all of my tanks due to what I'm calling "Fuge Nuking" my systems, I decided I was dune trying to put humpty dumpty back together again with that 28G nightmare.

Now some of you may be wondering, "Wait is going from a 28G to a 32G really that big of a difference?" Well when you're going from a formed tank with all of the filtering components inside the back of the tank or silly HOB stuff to a Low Iron Rimless Drilled tank, yes, yes it is.

The first of the new items came in today let's take a look and see what we have.

Wait didn't I say this was going to be a drilled tank? Oh yeah we'll be doing that ourselves, fun times.

Along with the 24x18x18 tank we got ourselves a Trigger Systems Crystal Cube 18 Sump. This is the first time I won't be building my own sump so we'll see how that goes.

No Sump of mine is complete without a skimmer and this one will be sporting the Reef Octopus Classic 110 Space Saver

We've got 40lbs of CaribSea Special Grade dry sand as we'll be using dry sand and already cycled rocks for this build.

We're going to be starting out with a Sicce Syncra Silent 3.0 return pump rated for 714 GPH which should be more then ample turnover for this little guy. If it ends up not working out or being too loud or something we can always re-purpose that later.

You might also spot the mini BRS reactor sitting there next to some BioPellets as we're going to be trying those on this build. I know there are a lot of bio pellets out there right now, and they're kind of dropping out of flavor, but I have wanted to try these for a very long time and if I'm going to try biopellets, you better believe they will be the ecoBak ones. I have plenty of materials around for an Algae Reactor or something of that sort, but I want to learn about this whole biopellet thing so that's what we're starting with.

So that's what we're starting with. More updates and materials to come.

Shep · Aug 23, 2017

Cant wait to see it built and stocked!

Amoo · Aug 23, 2017

Thanks @Shep and welcome aboard. Fortunately for me the ONLY thing that survived in our living room tank after the Fuge Nuke was the single Black Ice Clown. It's basically the tank I shove stuff in my wife likes to look at and that was her favorite of everything that was in there. Personally I would have loved to have gone with two Maroons in this build and call it a day, but I've been instructed I will be getting her a "new home" and a "new friend". So Nems and a second clown are definitely on the docket along with the Coral Banded Shrimp currently in QT.

Amoo · Aug 27, 2017

Alright so I have played around with multiple different overflow systems and all of the common types, most all can be made reliable. For this build we're going to take a risk, that I hope based on maths, doesn't come back to bite us later. A couple of years ago somebody posted a picture of the sleekest looking overflow I had seen, but they weren't sold here in the US. Well times have changed and now we have the Xaqua inout overflows available stateside. Considering the minimal amount of space we have in here to begin with, I decided I would throw to of these on it and see how they perform.

First some problems. We all know 1 overflow pipe on a marine system is a disaster waiting to happen. So right off the bat I knew I needed to run two of these. The kicker though is I had to design my return flow around the flowrate of 1. So they are individually rated for 660GPH, hence out Sicce pump estimated to put out 714GPH before you account for head loss which should put us safely inside the rating of 1 of these. The second concern here is noise. With both overflows drilled to the same tank height they should ideally share the flow which COULD mean they're both loud. I weighed the options of staggering the height and using them Herbie style, but decided I would start with them both even height. Both will be hard plumbed and have gate valves so ideally I can dial these in. If not I can always ditch the front protector and add two elbows and turn it into a true Herbie style drain which would be easy to dial in afterwards. So we have options.

Without further ado.

I must admit the drill template that comes with these is SUPER nice. It's made of a thick plastic and you could use it as a drill guide with clamps if you could find bits to fit the exact measurements. Sadly BRS doesn't sell the exact sizes, but the get us close enough with their 42mm and 30mm that we still end up well inside the o-ring. I also decided for $25 I would give their drill guide a shot. I was expecting it to be a little flimsy, but I can tell you right now this thing was worth it's weight in gold.

Here we are, at that moment of truth. Your stomach is churning, your hands are shaking, something about your mom's spaghetti pops into your head. It's now or never. Tank is marked, tape installed, towel to catch, guide in place, time to add water and go for it.

Wait we made it? Okay, breathe and think. Quick check the other side. Looks solid. Okay but can we really do this 3 more times?

Okay we made it. Now what? Wash off the glass, yes sounds like a good plan and set it to dry. OH WAIT!!! What if the overflows don't fit. Quick rush in the house to get them and test. I know I was right on the guide marks, but what if somehow something is screwed up? Oh no there's mom's spaghetti again.

Whew everything fits. Yeah that was super easy, no sweat.

Amoo · Aug 31, 2017

My order from BRS should get here tomorrow with all of the plumbing stuff I should need. Well at least the tubes and what not. I should try to take a trip to Lowes tomorrow so I have all my Schedule 40 stuff on hand before it arrives. Besides we all know I'm going to have to go at least 3 times before plumbing is finished. Also the plan is to paint the back of the tank tomorrow so you guys should get some updates there. My wife also refuses to let me call it her tank even though it sits in a room she is in all the time and is stocked with stuff she likes.....so we may be picking up a can of burnt orange paint because it is absolutely the one color I like that she flat out can stand.

If I'm not back with updates by late tomorrow night, don't bother sending a search team, my wife is a vet and has plenty of ways to dispose of my body without it being found. and @Tahoe61 you can come get my clowns.

Amoo · Aug 31, 2017

So about that whole burnt orange thing I was talking about yesterday.

still needs to dry and at least one more coat, but yeah we're going burnt orange with white trim. The top will not be painted, but that's another surprise that's coming soon. In the meantime, anybody down for some frosted glass?

Amoo · Sep 6, 2017

Ok time for some updates here. The final coat of trim paint was put on the stand yesterday. I've got all of the soft tubing and all fittings and I believe I actually have EVERYTHING I need somehow, with of coarse one exception.....I forgot to buy PVC pipe itself....no worries the local small town hardware store sells 20' sticks or I can get it cut in length, plus I haven't checked my stock outside yet. Either way let's see some progression for the stand.

So that's where she currently sits. As you can see I still need to add trim around the tile and peel the tape. I also still need a door (s), though I have something clever planned for that as well. I'm going to take some wood and route out an area so I can make a slide. I'm then going to get two pieces of plexi glass and spray them with the same frosted orange that I did the back of the tank and add those as doors inside the slide. I'll need to glue on handles, but that shouldn't be an issue. Either way things appear to be coming along nicely.

Daniel@R2R · Sep 6, 2017

This is gonna be nice! Following!

Amoo · Sep 6, 2017

mdbannister said:
This is gonna be nice! Following!

Welcome aboard @mdbannister

So yeah, my wife said, "I'm tired of you settling for picking up things you can find on the cheap and DIYing everything, if you want to put a small tank out here again, do it right." The 28jbj is still hanging on, but it's literally nothing but 1 clown and some snails, oh and I think the RODI needs filling as I heard it beeping at me when I went out there. I really hate that thing.

Um, okay. There will still be plenty of DIY in this thread, make no mistake about it, but man it was really nice to just find a sump with the dimensions and chamber sizes I was looking for and hitting the pay button, as opposed to "Okay I have this much space, now I need to plan out these sections in a cad program, now I need to go to the glass shop and have them cut all these odd sizes...etc". So yeah this is kind of a different experience for me.

Maritimer · Sep 6, 2017

But ... you're clearly very good at DIY . . .

You've got a slew of great components, the skills to bring them together - looking forward to the final result!

~Bruce

Amoo · Sep 6, 2017

Maritimer said:
But ... you're clearly very good at DIY . . .

You've got a slew of great components, the skills to bring them together - looking forward to the final result!

~Bruce

LOL welcome about @Maritimer and thanks for the compliment....I think

I know I know I'm not supposed to be DIYing stuff on this tank right? Meanwhile we've already drilled the tank and are heavily modifying the stand...sigh. Some people never learn.

The new fish on the block · Sep 9, 2017

Nice build following

Amoo · Sep 21, 2017

Ok so for those following, this is where we left off:

...and until tonight that's exactly how my child's playroom has looked. Nothing like a little hurricane and extended power outage to throw things all out of whack. I made it my goal in life though to make sure I got SOMETHING done on this build today and I did.

So we did a little bit of this:

Some of this:

and wala

Once that sets up I can wood filler in the corners that didn't meet up perfectly, toss a few coats of white on it, add some caulk to the inside of the trim along the tile so no water gets underneath and we should be onto the next step.

That should consist of either working on the door or working on the plumbing or both concurrently. Most likely both concurrently. We'll see.

Also remember kids, if you're going to fly a flag at night, make sure it's lit.

SashimiTurtle · Sep 30, 2017

Shhh... nobody tell @Amoo I've been stalking this thread looking for updates.

Amoo · Sep 30, 2017

Robin Haselden said:
Shhh... nobody tell @Amoo I've been stalking this thread looking for updates.

LOL I actually made some modifications to the sump today and brought it inside to glue back on an oopsy and take some pictures. Update coming on this build tonight. Hope you're on shift tonight

SashimiTurtle · Sep 30, 2017

Day shift. I need to sleep, but R2R...

Amoo · Sep 30, 2017

Ok boys and girls, It's time to start working on the plumbing. A TON of planning has gone into exactly how I want to do this. I'm a big fan of redundancy and this overflow system doesn't exactly lend itself to this very easily. Sadly because the returns themselves are not threaded I had no choice but to start with tubing and move that to PVC. So a little cutting with a knife and some heat from the wife's blow dryer and:

I've decided to reduce the 1 1/2" overflow piping down to 1" as I honestly feel the 1 1/2" is overkill for this small of a system and not necessary.

From here everything runs to directly under the wood where it receives a union. The two overflows will get gate vales and the two returns will get ball valves. This is where the really tough decisions need to be made. I had a few options here. The sump itself was only plumbed for 1, 1" overflow and I was certainly not going to use just that. Besides let me show you what their idea of a bulkhead was vs what I believe a bulkhead is:

The bottom in that picture is what came with the sump, yeah no thanks. The top is what I bought because I was considering running a 1 1/2" manifold where I would connect the two 1" drains into the manifold then route those into the sump via the manifold. The more and more I thought about it, the more I disliked this idea. Cutting Plexi isn't really that big of a deal and the whole sump is eurobraced with a preformed piece extruded out to hold their version of a bulkhead. Unfortunately this is where the oopsie happened. I THOUGHT my jigsaw was on the downstroke when I checked for clearance between the edge of the sump and the filter sock holder, turns out I was on the upstroke. This caused me to chip a piece of the filter sock holder off as well as take a piece out of the bracing. At this point there were some choice words and I said screw it and just went after the other side with wreckless abandon and took a nice sized chunk out of the brace on the other side as well. Since the filter sock holder isn't exactly a critical seam or anything a little super glue and she's back on there. I'll pick up some acrylic glue next week at the store, but here's a picture of the damage and partial repair.

As you can see, nothing major, but enough to be an annoyance and add "just one more thing" to the list. Once I give that glue a chance to dry, I'll finish piping in the plumbing tonight then take everything apart and take it all outside and paint it. At that point it'll just be a matter of making sure I don't have to modify the bracing to get my skimmer to fit then time to fill this puppy with water and leak test it while I work on the doors.

Rakie · Oct 1, 2017

I think there's some rust on your display buddy. Also, how are you growing rust on your glass? Nothing like natural GFO

SashimiTurtle · Oct 1, 2017

Amoo said:
Ok boys and girls, It's time to start working on the plumbing. A TON of planning has gone into exactly how I want to do this. I'm a big fan of redundancy and this overflow system doesn't exactly lend itself to this very easily. Sadly because the returns themselves are not threaded I had no choice but to start with tubing and move that to PVC. So a little cutting with a knife and some heat from the wife's blow dryer and:

I've decided to reduce the 1 1/2" overflow piping down to 1" as I honestly feel the 1 1/2" is overkill for this small of a system and not necessary.

From here everything runs to directly under the wood where it receives a union. The two overflows will get gate vales and the two returns will get ball valves. This is where the really tough decisions need to be made. I had a few options here. The sump itself was only plumbed for 1, 1" overflow and I was certainly not going to use just that. Besides let me show you what their idea of a bulkhead was vs what I believe a bulkhead is:

The bottom in that picture is what came with the sump, yeah no thanks. The top is what I bought because I was considering running a 1 1/2" manifold where I would connect the two 1" drains into the manifold then route those into the sump via the manifold. The more and more I thought about it, the more I disliked this idea. Cutting Plexi isn't really that big of a deal and the whole sump is eurobraced with a preformed piece extruded out to hold their version of a bulkhead. Unfortunately this is where the oopsie happened. I THOUGHT my jigsaw was on the downstroke when I checked for clearance between the edge of the sump and the filter sock holder, turns out I was on the upstroke. This caused me to chip a piece of the filter sock holder off as well as take a piece out of the bracing. At this point there were some choice words and I said screw it and just went after the other side with wreckless abandon and took a nice sized chunk out of the brace on the other side as well. Since the filter sock holder isn't exactly a critical seam or anything a little super glue and she's back on there. I'll pick up some acrylic glue next week at the store, but here's a picture of the damage and partial repair.

As you can see, nothing major, but enough to be an annoyance and add "just one more thing" to the list. Once I give that glue a chance to dry, I'll finish piping in the plumbing tonight then take everything apart and take it all outside and paint it. At that point it'll just be a matter of making sure I don't have to modify the bracing to get my skimmer to fit then time to fill this puppy with water and leak test it while I work on the doors.

Easy there Chainsaw... I believe I would have used a fine toothed hole saw for cutting metal to make the hole for the new bulkhead. Jig saws are great and all, but usually end up doing that to plastic because of the sudden jerk when they start. If you must use a jig saw, always get the saw up to speed before starting the cut, and if you can clamp a piece of scrap acrylic to your cut, the extra thickness will add support and help it to not crack.