Meredith's 180 In-wall happy place

[120reefkeeper]

Wow looking really good! [emoji51]

 

[cameronh]

Got the sand in there! Shes looking so good. Now to start making water. Im going to move the RODI into the fish room on friday, so until then there will be some heavy lifting of jugs.

Nice nice nice!!! I like the depth of the sandbed and the scape!
Put water in it!!!!!!!!
Lights?
How many pounds of sand is that? Like 200?
EDIT: nevermind, just read about the sand=)

 

[MaccaPopEye]

How about this, it's my water change hook,I just loop it over my tank and add a little water to hose before it's on my tank, when I lower my hose it starts siphon and I drain it into my wash sink or buckets. Just lift out to stop siphon.

That's fantastic! I was going to put something like that on then end of the hose for adding water, but I never thought to use it for taking water back out. Boy... it's funny how changing the perspective on something can fix a problem Thank You!

Looking good! Really coming together

And just a little note on this type of setup - with a bit of planning and/or trial and error you can also cut the pipe that goes into the tank so that it automatically breaks the siphon at the right water level for your tank every time.

That way a simple water change looks like:
Place hard plumbing siphon tube over the edge of the tank
Take other end of the hose outside/to a drain
Start siphon - either by filling hose with water beforehand of a quick suck (shouldn't get water in your mouth with a long hose as it wont take much to start a siphon)
Plumbing stops the siphon automatically at the right water level
Connect end of hose to water mixing station and fill back up (have to monitor this bit as to not overfill if you have a large SW storage bin )

Not quite just turning a valve but it really isn't far off!

 

[DJ Monty]

Great build.. Just managed to read from the beginning & loved the whole thing.. Looking forward to seeing the rest..

 

[Brew12]

Looking good! Really coming together

And just a little note on this type of setup - with a bit of planning and/or trial and error you can also cut the pipe that goes into the tank so that it automatically breaks the siphon at the right water level for your tank every time.

That way a simple water change looks like:
Place hard plumbing siphon tube over the edge of the tank
Take other end of the hose outside/to a drain
Start siphon - either by filling hose with water beforehand of a quick suck (shouldn't get water in your mouth with a long hose as it wont take much to start a siphon)
Plumbing stops the siphon automatically at the right water level
Connect end of hose to water mixing station and fill back up (have to monitor this bit as to not overfill if you have a large SW storage bin )

Not quite just turning a valve but it really isn't far off!

That is a great idea! You wouldn't even have to figure it out before you built it. You could just drill a hole in the PVC at the level you wanted the syphon to break at.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

That is a great idea! You wouldn't even have to figure it out before you built it. You could just drill a hole in the PVC at the level you wanted the syphon to break at.

Hahaha yeah that works too, I didn't think of that

 

[melypr1985]

Wow looking really good! [emoji51]

Thanks! I'm getting really excited now. There's still so much to do, but this is the best part. Getting Wet!!!

Nice nice nice!!! I like the depth of the sandbed and the scape!
Put water in it!!!!!!!!
Lights?
How many pounds of sand is that? Like 200?
EDIT: nevermind, just read about the sand=)

LOL. I'm putting water in it 5 gallons at a time. We realized too late that I don't have any more tubing for the RODI, so I gotta wait to move it until I can get some more. Until then, it's a labor of love.

Looking good! Really coming together

And just a little note on this type of setup - with a bit of planning and/or trial and error you can also cut the pipe that goes into the tank so that it automatically breaks the siphon at the right water level for your tank every time.

That way a simple water change looks like:
Place hard plumbing siphon tube over the edge of the tank
Take other end of the hose outside/to a drain
Start siphon - either by filling hose with water beforehand of a quick suck (shouldn't get water in your mouth with a long hose as it wont take much to start a siphon)
Plumbing stops the siphon automatically at the right water level
Connect end of hose to water mixing station and fill back up (have to monitor this bit as to not overfill if you have a large SW storage bin )

Not quite just turning a valve but it really isn't far off!

Good point and idea. I'm going to have to work on this part, but it shouldn't be hard since i have all this left over PVC and elbows.

Great build.. Just managed to read from the beginning & loved the whole thing.. Looking forward to seeing the rest..

Thanks so much for the kind words! There's even more fun stuff coming up! water mixing station, Quarantine Corner, the frag tank move ect ect. Lots to do!

 

[rayn]

Congrats on the upgrade! In wall builds are awesome

 

[melypr1985]

Congrats on the upgrade! In wall builds are awesome

Thanks!! I've always wanted to do this. I'm lucky my husband is such a pushover Of course, now he's saying "this is OUR tank" so I know I'm in trouble. lol

 

[melypr1985]

Well, we gotta leak. One of the bulk heads is leaking some. I used that bulk head wrench to tighten it down and thought it was pretty good at the time. My husband thinks we need to tighten it more, but that makes me nervous because your're not supposed to over tighten them. What to do right? Any advice?

 

[tcarter1936]

I've set up quite a few tanks and this has happened before to me. What I do is tighten them and wait until next day if possible them go over them all again sometimes also when doing the plumbing they get twisted or bumped and it don't take much to loosen one up.
Another thing that helps is lubing threads with a dab of silicone grease. And moisten gasket with water during install.

 

[melypr1985]

I've set up quite a few tanks and this has happened before to me. What I do is tighten them and wait until next day if possible them go over them all again sometimes also when doing the plumbing they get twisted or bumped and it don't take much to loosen one up.
Another thing that helps is lubing threads with a dab of silicone grease. And moisten gasket with water during install.

OK thanks! I'll give that a shot. I've already glued down all the plumbing so it's tricky to get in there and tighten the nut. We'll see what happens though

 

[tcarter1936]

OK thanks! I'll give that a shot. I've already glued down all the plumbing so it's tricky to get in there and tighten the nut. We'll see what happens though

You'll get it right, besides it's not a tank build without at least one leak lol

 

[melypr1985]

You'll get it right, besides it's not a tank build without at least one leak lol

Very true. Any suggestions for getting to the nut that is 3 or so inches into the top of the stand without cutting the pipe to use the bulk head wrench

 

[tcarter1936]

Very true. Any suggestions for getting to the nut that is 3 or so inches into the top of the stand without cutting the pipe to use the bulk head wrench

Unfortunately no, now is the time to just cut it and get it right before livestock is in and all electronics are installed.
One suggestion is that if you feel the nut is already tight then the bulkhead may be defective then have a spare in case it don't go well or just replace it alll together.
I'm all about peace of mind. Good luck!

 

[melypr1985]

Unfortunately no, now is the time to just cut it and get it right before livestock is in and all electronics are installed.
One suggestion is that if you feel the nut is already tight then the bulkhead may be defective then have a spare in case it don't go well or just replace it alll together.
I'm all about peace of mind. Good luck!

I was afraid you would say that. You're right of course, but I do hate to do that. I'll have to get on it tomorrow.

 

[melypr1985]

Oh boy!! While I try to find the time to take apart my lovely plumbing and fix that stupid bulk head..... I'm still filling the tank. This is taking FOREVER!!! And of course, I can't fill the 5 gallon jug up all the way because I need to carry it up this darn ladder to dump it in. That's right, I bought a dang ladder to be able to reach my tank! lol

It's such a mess in here still. I gotta find some time to clean it up and organize. Of course, it's difficult to do when I don't have the cabinets yet to put things away in. I still need to go through all the stuff in here to figure out what needs to be thrown away and what needs to be kept. Blah... boring! I'll probably procrastinate that part until I absolutely have to do something about it.

 

[DLHDesign]

Could you dump the bucket into the sump and then use the return pump to get it into the tank (use a bit of hose to keep it from slashing, perhaps)? Or do you have a spare pump sitting around that could help eliminate the ladder, at least?

 

[melypr1985]

Could you dump the bucket into the sump and then use the return pump to get it into the tank (use a bit of hose to keep it from slashing, perhaps)? Or do you have a spare pump sitting around that could help eliminate the ladder, at least?

I do have a spare pump I could use, but it's so slooowww. I'm just filling it to about 4 gallons since I seem to be able to handle that well enough. I'm almost at half way full. My RODI only makes 75gpd so even if I left it running constantly it should take about 2 and 1/2 days to fill the tank. I have a powerhead in the tank to keep the water moving until I get it filled as well.

 

[cameronh]

Oh boy!! While I try to find the time to take apart my lovely plumbing and fix that stupid bulk head..... I'm still filling the tank. This is taking FOREVER!!! And of course, I can't fill the 5 gallon jug up all the way because I need to carry it up this darn ladder to dump it in. That's right, I bought a dang ladder to be able to reach my tank! lol

It's such a mess in here still. I gotta find some time to clean it up and organize. Of course, it's difficult to do when I don't have the cabinets yet to put things away in. I still need to go through all the stuff in here to figure out what needs to be thrown away and what needs to be kept. Blah... boring! I'll probably procrastinate that part until I absolutely have to do something about it.

Hey.....i have that same sticker!!