New Tank build sketch up 40B

BullSnapper · Jul 7, 2012

So this is what i have planned, I'd appreciate if you guys can check it out to see if it makes any sense or if it needs any adjustments.

Tank: 40Gal Breeder
Sump/Fuge: 20Gal Long

Equipment:

SCA-301 Skimmer (65gal)
Return Pump Eheim Compact 2000 (528gph) or 3000 (792gph)
Heater 200w (is that enough?)

Sorry about the 1st pictures bad quality, i tried with my iPhone

Loki · Jul 7, 2012

A 200w heater is good. May I suggest getting two 100w heaters just in case one gets stuck on it will give you a better chance of catching it before something bad happens.

The setup looks good. How are you going to get the water into the fuge and or skimmer section?

BullSnapper · Jul 7, 2012

What do you mean by getting stuck?

Have you tried other heater brands besides Eheim? I had that and not sure its worth $30 price tag as opposed to a $16 Aqueon or whatever brands there are.

Here is a sketch from the rear... BTW, not sure what type of PVC i need for the straight long parts.

BullSnapper · Jul 7, 2012

Ignore the Long part PVC part, not sure why i wrote that lol, as I would need smile straight PVC haha.

kschweer · Jul 7, 2012

I think what he means is having the 2 heaters for redundancy. In my tank I run 1 150watt heater as my main heater set at 78 degrees and a smaller 100watt heater set at 74 as a back up just incase the main heater fails the temp will not drop below 74 degrees. Hope that makes sense.

Loki · Jul 7, 2012

Sorry. Wasn't clear. I have heard of a heater getting stuck in the on position and raising the tank temp quickly killing everything before you have a chance to notice it. If you have two small heaters and one fails while on it will take much longer for the small heater to heat your tank. Just a little fail safe.

I use a controller on my tank and a temp probe. When the tank gets .02 degrees higher than my set point it turns power off to the heater.

BullSnapper · Jul 8, 2012

Oh I see! So one at 79 and the other at 75 is fine?

What do u think of the piping sketch

kschweer · Jul 8, 2012

Loki I kind of misunderstood but that is another very good point as I have also seen heaters "stuck" in the "on" position.

Loki · Jul 8, 2012

BullSnapper said:
Oh I see! So one at 79 and the other at 75 is fine?

I would use two at the same temp, but having a tank get too cold isn't a real problem for me.

Loki · Jul 8, 2012

BullSnapper said:
What do u think of the piping sketch

It looks good. I would move where you have the valve for the fuge down to the fuge line. That way you can adjust the flow into the fuge.

kschweer · Jul 8, 2012

After looking a bit closer I have a question. Is the only thing feeding your fuge going to be your "emergency" drain? Or is the fuge tied in to the system another way?

Loki · Jul 8, 2012

In the third drawing it shows a T off of the return line. The T will be the main feed of the fuge from my understanding.

Loki · Jul 8, 2012

kschweer said:
Loki I kind of misunderstood but that is another very good point as I have also seen heaters "stuck" in the "on" position.

No problem

I tend to not make sense while working. I think I go into auto pilot here because I'm tired.

wysiwyg · Jul 8, 2012

looks good keep us posted on your build

BullSnapper · Jul 8, 2012

Thanks wysiwyg...Gotta give a shout out to Loki, he's helped me throughout all this planning.

Yes, that is correct, my T is what is feeding the fuge, not sure if i will lose a lot of pressure to push it back up to the return though?

I do think that ball valve in the fuge line is a far better idea, thanks.

Singlefin · Jul 8, 2012

Is your bubble trap backwards? Shouldn't the center baffle be 1" off the ground?

Part of me is salty...,

BullSnapper · Jul 8, 2012

the emergency drain isn't' feeding anything except for going straight into the fuge. That drawing kind of should show the emergency is behind the return line which isn't connecting to one another just tough to show via sketch.

Do I drill all 3 holes on the same line across height wise from the rim or does the emergency one need to be slightly higher?

BullSnapper · Jul 8, 2012

Singlefin said:
Is your bubble trap backwards? Shouldn't the center baffle be 1" off the ground?

Part of me is salty...,

it is 1" off the ground

BullSnapper · Jul 8, 2012

1 question, if I want to shut it off for whatever reason, say because i have to drain 10gallons of water out, how do I shut all this off without overflowing or spilling etc?