My Reefing Room Begins...

[PerplexyHexy]

4’ tank is dry plumbed... BOOM!!!!

 

[Sumo Reef]

Im screwed

Try having all plumbing on your tank in metric and not standard... I can't find ANY plumbing LOL

 

[PerplexyHexy]

Try having all plumbing on your tank in metric and not standard... I can't find ANY plumbing LOL

Hahahahahhahahah!!!

 

[PerplexyHexy]

Went as far as I could with plumbing on 6’ tank... just waiting on reactor fittings, two 90 fittings for 1 1/4” pvc, two 1/2 gate valves for reactor, 1 1/4” check valve, and a few other things... Anyone see any problems with this setup? Both 1” and 1 1/4” both get reduced down to 3/4” bulkhead/loclines the last 7”... is this going to be an issue with flow at all?

 

[PerplexyHexy]

Return plumbing... have the emergency drain going to refugium area

 

[PerplexyHexy]

Seems like its never ending!!!

 

[Muttley000]

It sure is looking good though! Keep up the good work!

 

[PerplexyHexy]

So I got the 75 gallon tank up and running today... no leaks that I have seen so far... checked really good with a flashlight... Only issue I am having is the overflow sucks big time... I have to dial the pump done way slow and the gate valve nearly closed to not get any air bubbles in 100 gallon tub... tried drilling more tiny holes, but that made it worse... so i covered the top complety and it flowed perfect and could crank my pump up and dial in flow flawlessly with gate valve... Something is not right... would appreciate some advice... im also getting air bubbles from the overflow box on the 100 gallon tub to the acrylic sump... drilled 3/8” holes in elbows and put tubing in them to see if it would help... samething... air bubbles, air bubbles, air bubbles!!! Been going since 8 this morning... exhausted!!! Now Im just looking for info and advice on how to make that durso drain better... thats pretty bad

Should note thats all pvc piping in the overflow is 1 1/4” and then everything under the table going into the trough is 1” pvc

 

[PerplexyHexy]

So a buddy came over and pulled the entire durso and pipe oit and it worked flawlessly
Think Im gonna buy a new cap for the durso and drill a 5/16 hole and run rubber tubing in it with and rodi on/off valve to dial in the right air flow

 

[anthamm93]

Loving this thread can't wait to see the finished project. It's gonna look amazing and congratulations on the sobriety.

 

[PerplexyHexy]

Woke up to this!!! Im done... over it all!!!

Bulkhead snapped in the middle of the night... tried to silicone it when I woke up to stop the leak... didnt work onviously.... had to use 5 gallon buckets to drain... seriously questioning if I really wanna do this now... really messed with my emotions today...

 

[Muttley000]

Woke up to this!!! Im done... over it all!!!

Bulkhead snapped in the middle of the night... tried to silicone it when I woke up to stop the leak... didnt work onviously.... had to use 5 gallon buckets to drain... seriously questioning if I really wanna do this now... really messed with my emotions today...

Man that sucks, but put into perspective how much plumbing you did. Setbacks do happen, but you have to continue to see the rewards at the end. Take a few days off the project if you need to, but don't give up!

 

[PerplexyHexy]

Wasnt too bad... luckily i sealed the baseboards... it was just a thin layer on the floor... having the floor coated helped too... shop vac sucked it all up in about 15 mins... Really dont do well with these types of things... especially being sober... Im gonna take a break for a bit... go see the new wreck ot ralph with the family... Feel bad, I was a monster this morning!!!

 

[Muttley000]

That's the trick my friend, admitting a fault and finding a constructive way to deal with it. For some of us it never comes naturally

 

[PerplexyHexy]

So I finally got the 4’ tank back up and running with tap water again... everything running smooth... been running the tank for 8 hours whike im around and shutting it off when im not around... very excited about that... I have to say im oretty impressed with the jebao pump so far... with hiw I plumbed it and ran everything it works great... Im stolill going to buy back up pumps though... next is the 6’ tank... I have some 1 1/4” pvc clamps coming to support the pvc running for that tank cause its crazy heavy... hoping to start working on that next week... Im just super nervous with everything failing that last time... I cleaned all surfaces bery well this time and uses silicone grease to stop the runber gaskets from rippling up from friction of tightening the bulkhead... I also didnt go crazy with tightening threaded fittings... basically did all the. Bulkheads all ober again because it made me nervous... that 1 1/4” bulkhead worries me that seals the bottom of that rubbermaid tub... was thinking I should bump it up to a sch 80, but I dont have any room to drill for a bigger thro hole at that location... so Im just gonna have to roll the dice... scares me, cause once all that water is in, thats the lowest point in the tank and its gonna drain it all... no bueno!

Also added a filter sock to the overflow from the tub to catch all the bubbles and detritus once all the liverock is in the tub... it also quites down the rush of water entering the sump area... so far so good... fingers crossed... been praying every night... so hard falling asleep thinking about the downstairs being under water again....

 

[PerplexyHexy]

Solar was installed as well... just waiting on a few other things... gonna be nice having a fixed bill year round... no more $700 summer bills

 

[PerplexyHexy]

So I got the plumbing all done... for the most part... A few areas I want to add unions just in case I wanna make some mods in certain areas... There are a few concerns... I have the tables complety level, but for some reason the tanks look very odd... there are gnarly gaps inder the 4’ tank and the 6’ wabbles back and forth... so there is an issue using the 2 tables the way I am with the tanks on them... Ive filled both tanks and ran the system completely and everything looks great... Im gonna have to use foam padding under both tanks to prevent pressure points on the tanks... The table is as level as I can get it, but for some reason the tanks are all over the place... also, I see why someone would not have wanted the 6’ tank... The way it was built or designed by someone was not very smart... the overflow is too high so the water level is honestly about 5/8” from the top... no joke!!! Im gonna have to modify the overflow in someway to lower the water level, but by doing so I pretty much take all value away from the tank if I ever wanna sell it... either way, it sucks... only thing I can think of is cutting deeper slits in the weirs so the water level goes down... also, the 1” bean animal setup I had did not work at all... I had to pull off the first pipe completely for it to drain properly... Have no idea what to do there... I purchased more 1 1/4” pvc to upsize the 1” to 1 1/4” to see if that will help the flow... also water comes in the overflow so quickly it flows into the emergency pipe, which isnt an issue, but still shouldnt happen... the overflow box was created with the tank build and is way to small to fit everything on the inside. I believe that tank was a custom made order that someone drew up and had advanced acrylics make and the previous owner realized there were some issues and thats why He sold it... Sucks... Im just figuring this out... So... Now I have some more thinking to do... The workbenches came with power strips that can handle 5 amps each... I basically just flipped them around and put them underneather the tables for easy access for equipment... 14 protected outlets under the table... I siliconed everything around the power strip boxes, but for the most part they are very safely enclosed from the elements... so... thats where Im at

 

[lbacha]

How much flow are you putting through the 6’ tank. If the overflow is undersized you can try reducing it. You only need a few times the tank size in turnover

Len

 

[PerplexyHexy]

How much flow are you putting through the 6’ tank. If the overflow is undersized you can try reducing it. You only need a few times the tank size in turnover

Len

It doesnt matter... slowing the flow did not decrease the water level in the tank... which is my major concern because I will not be able to have wave makers in the tank what so ever because I have no room for error at the top of the tank... any variation of water height in the tank more than 1/2” is gonna be a mess... Im pretty sure the ammount of water running thru the overflow will not be an issue once I convert the 1” to 1 1/4”... its really not an issue with the 1” it has now... I jusy want to upsize the pipe for my peace of mind... like I said... its crammed in that overflow box...

I removed the front drain because It wasnt keeping up with the water flow... once removed the water flow was perfect through the box... the emergency drain has water pouring into it coming from the weir... because like I said everything’s crammed in there and the water drains directly into emergency drain thru the weir... thats the absolute highest I can put the emergency pipe without it draining back into tank... The weir grooves need to be longer so that the water level goes down in the tank... id feel safer with the water level going down about an 1”... Then I would feel safe running my XF250s... but as of right now... Not very safe

 

[Muttley000]

The gaps and rocking of the tanks worries me. How big are the gaps under it? It sounds like even though you are level something is not flat which can be a big concern over time