OldSchool 225 build with some new twists.
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OP
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While I’m waiting for another tube of Weldon 16 to arrive I might as well do more Sump Pimping. There is plenty of work to be done on compartment lids sanding edges smooth (I hate cutting myself on sharp acrylic) and I still have to make the cutout for the skimmer.
Next section to tackle is the fuge, It will be small (8.5 X 14) so I’m going to pack in as much OldSchool as I can. Remote DSB with Plenum topped with Miracle Mud. Plenum construction is pretty straight forward, some 1/2 PVC, egg crate rapped in window screen. Tie it all together with some fishing line and top off with progressively finer sand.
Next section to tackle is the fuge, It will be small (8.5 X 14) so I’m going to pack in as much OldSchool as I can. Remote DSB with Plenum topped with Miracle Mud. Plenum construction is pretty straight forward, some 1/2 PVC, egg crate rapped in window screen. Tie it all together with some fishing line and top off with progressively finer sand.
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OP
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If you haven’t caught on I’m partial to German tech and when I saw these Vertex Reactors I had to have them! My buddy knew what he was doing when he brought them over when he was getting some live rock to sweeten the deal. I still wanna think I got the better deal! Anyway the plumbing just wasn’t going to be plug and play but there really wasn’t enough pipe to cut and start over. Sometimes Drastic measures are called for and this was one of those times. I don’t like doing it but it can be done, cut the fittings and salvage as much pipe as possible. Once you have the fitting cut in half, Cut a slot just down to the pipe and pry off slowly. You may end up having to cut a few slots but if you’re careful it will be fine.
Clean up the remainder of glue with a box knife and sand smooth you can now trim to length and add new fittings.
My glue just arrived but I won’t have enough time until Friday to finish gluing the top on :mad:
Clean up the remainder of glue with a box knife and sand smooth you can now trim to length and add new fittings.
My glue just arrived but I won’t have enough time until Friday to finish gluing the top on :mad:
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OP
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It will be more impressive when it’s in the stand and I can fill it with water and start plumbing it all together. Everything has been on some form of life support for months now!
OP
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The last bit of Pimping details going on before I glue the top down, not real important at this stage but definitely happening once everything gets established. ATO Calcium Reactor and Dosing pumps and they all have to dump into the sump somewhere you may as well make it look good! Simple right just drill and tap some holes screw in some Mur Lok fittings and you are done. Well no one ever said Pimping is easy!
Do some measurements try to figure out how many ports you could possibly need, draw up some prints, cut some scraps. Easy right?
layout the first set of holes and drill is the easy part but doing this about 8 times and getting things right every time is next to impossible! Can you find .55 on a ruler?
Layout and Drill holes in part 1, once. That’s done clamp it to other part and use part 1 as a drill guide then clamp parts 1 and 2 to part 3 and drill. Easy right? I thought I had plenty of clamps and have used every clamp I owned....NOPE (I'm constantly tripping over them) I had to drag out some Cleco clamps and buy a few more bar clamps to finish the top. So the process now is bar clamp measure line everything up one more clamp remeasure and adjust. find a hole that isnt covered by clamp that can be reached and drilled, drill hole and put in Cleco clamp move to next available hole and repeat, remove bar clamps and finish.
you only have to repeat this a few more times Easy right?
Now we get to transfer this to the sump top, measure layout transfer pattern and lets tale a few pictures so we keep the orientation right, drill Cleco drill Cleco 10 more holes.
Do some measurements try to figure out how many ports you could possibly need, draw up some prints, cut some scraps. Easy right?
layout the first set of holes and drill is the easy part but doing this about 8 times and getting things right every time is next to impossible! Can you find .55 on a ruler?
Layout and Drill holes in part 1, once. That’s done clamp it to other part and use part 1 as a drill guide then clamp parts 1 and 2 to part 3 and drill. Easy right? I thought I had plenty of clamps and have used every clamp I owned....NOPE (I'm constantly tripping over them) I had to drag out some Cleco clamps and buy a few more bar clamps to finish the top. So the process now is bar clamp measure line everything up one more clamp remeasure and adjust. find a hole that isnt covered by clamp that can be reached and drilled, drill hole and put in Cleco clamp move to next available hole and repeat, remove bar clamps and finish.
you only have to repeat this a few more times Easy right?
Now we get to transfer this to the sump top, measure layout transfer pattern and lets tale a few pictures so we keep the orientation right, drill Cleco drill Cleco 10 more holes.
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OP
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That was fun! I bought some 1/4 push connect bulkheads but they just aren’t deep enough for this application so I’ll have to drill and tap for fittings later. I’ll just drill everything to 1/4 so the lines pass through in the time being.
That new RedSea Dos is real Pimp and if it does half of what they say it will do I’m down! Going to have to wait for it to be available before I can commit to fittings!
I bought some 1/4 push connect bulkheads but they just aren’t deep enough for this application so I’ll have to drill and tap for fittings later. I’ll just drill everything to 1/4 so the lines pass through in the time being.
That new RedSea Dos is real Pimp and if it does half of what they say it will do I’m down! Going to have to wait for it to be available before I can commit to fittings!
OP
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Lots has happened in the last 24 hours except sleeping 
Finished the Doser ports,scrubbed down the sump with citric acid leak tested with fresh water drained and sopped up the remainder and wiped it dry! Did I mention Sham Wow “you gotta get some of those” their German!
Cleaned the sticky side of the top alcohol and started laying down the Weldon. As always, I never have enough clamps good thing I didn’t toss out that mud!
After baking for a few hours I popped the clamps and ran some Weldon 3 on the seams for good measure.
it’s amazing how heavy that thing got. With the help of a wheelie cart I got it around the side of the house through the kitchen and dining room to it’s final destination!
Lots of position shifting putting in and taking out components, mocking up plumbing to get the perfect spot in the stand
was challenging at times because I couldn’t run the chopsaw to get a proper length of pipe. It was late but who needs sleep if I’m up working shouldn’t the neighbors be up too? Well lots of head scratching and giving the beer ledge a good workout I was making water by 1am.
Finished the Doser ports,scrubbed down the sump with citric acid leak tested with fresh water drained and sopped up the remainder and wiped it dry! Did I mention Sham Wow “you gotta get some of those” their German!Cleaned the sticky side of the top alcohol and started laying down the Weldon. As always, I never have enough clamps good thing I didn’t toss out that mud!
After baking for a few hours I popped the clamps and ran some Weldon 3 on the seams for good measure.
it’s amazing how heavy that thing got. With the help of a wheelie cart I got it around the side of the house through the kitchen and dining room to it’s final destination!
Lots of position shifting putting in and taking out components, mocking up plumbing to get the perfect spot in the stand
was challenging at times because I couldn’t run the chopsaw to get a proper length of pipe. It was late but who needs sleep if I’m up working shouldn’t the neighbors be up too?
Well lots of head scratching and giving the beer ledge a good workout I was making water by 1am.
OP
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No matter how big you make it there is never enough room! I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve moved plumbing around mocking this thing up! :mad: I Finally have everything where it is NOT interfering with something else! Aggravation level 11 thank God for the beer ledge.... but then again the beer ledge could be adding to some of the aggravation. Anyway it’s time to get glueing!
F i s h y
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That plumbing looks very clean. I absolutely love the custom sump. Tank is gonna be crazy. How long until salty you think?No matter how big you make it there is never enough room! I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve moved plumbing around mocking this thing up! :mad: I Finally have everything where it is NOT interfering with something else! Aggravation level 11 thank God for the beer ledge.... but then again the beer ledge could be adding to some of the aggravation. Anyway it’s time to get glueing!
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There is 75 gallons of 35ppt in the sump now and another 50 gallons on the other side of the wall waiting on some plumbing! It should be flowing tonight or first thing in the morning!
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Well we’re still not flowing
.... things happen I think it’s a little bit of an understatement to say I’m kinda anal about this build! I want it to be clean and simple there is only so much room under the stand and everything will need maintenance sooner or later so having access to all of it is a must! So I didn’t listen to my buddy when he said plumb the reactors from above. I tried to get all the feeds from the pump in a straight line and that just didn’t happen when the glue dried if I got the reactors lined up the water change wasn’t hitting the hole in the wall not to mention that the plumbing was blocking a good part of the fuge, sure I could have chipped some concrete and redone the lids for the reactor chamber and lived with the reactors out of line but probably not for too long. Rip it out, cut it in half and buy a few plumbing fittings and start over.
My buddy was right the reactors should be fed from above!
.... things happen I think it’s a little bit of an understatement to say I’m kinda anal about this build! I want it to be clean and simple there is only so much room under the stand and everything will need maintenance sooner or later so having access to all of it is a must! So I didn’t listen to my buddy when he said plumb the reactors from above. I tried to get all the feeds from the pump in a straight line and that just didn’t happen when the glue dried if I got the reactors lined up the water change wasn’t hitting the hole in the wall not to mention that the plumbing was blocking a good part of the fuge, sure I could have chipped some concrete and redone the lids for the reactor chamber and lived with the reactors out of line but probably not for too long. Rip it out, cut it in half and buy a few plumbing fittings and start over.
My buddy was right the reactors should be fed from above!
OP
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I hate it when Work gets in the way with reefing! Good days happen when I’m on the road running around and I can get some reefing supplies when I’m at it. Was a few blocks away from that OldSchool Sign guy and I thought I’d do a drive buy and see if there was any action going on there. 
He was there, happy and sad about it so I pull up and tell him I’m sorry for his loss! He had sold out to a major National chain and was cleaning up what they didn’t take.I asked about a few scraps of acrylic left in this rack and he said take it or it’s going to the dump. Grabbed a few pieces that were about a 1/3 of a sheet and tossed them in the truck, one-more to go so I grab and start pulling...... and pulling..... and pulling
a full sheet of 1/4”!red and he wouldn’t take a penny for it. I know what color my adjustable wears will be made of now! Back to the job site and cut a few feet off the full sheet because short bed truck and I got more driving to do. Off to the Granite shop to pick up some sills I go. Since I was no longer going to have a canopy and the cabinets were no longer going to go floor to ceiling on the side I needed to extend the beer ledge. What are the odds that they would have any left, after I got a remnant from remnant to begin with. Walk the yard and sure enough there was a chunk just big enough for what I needed! I do a little Happy dance!
He was there, happy and sad about it so I pull up and tell him I’m sorry for his loss! He had sold out to a major National chain and was cleaning up what they didn’t take.I asked about a few scraps of acrylic left in this rack and he said take it or it’s going to the dump. Grabbed a few pieces that were about a 1/3 of a sheet and tossed them in the truck, one-more to go so I grab and start pulling...... and pulling..... and pulling a full sheet of 1/4”!red and he wouldn’t take a penny for it. I know what color my adjustable wears will be made of now! Back to the job site and cut a few feet off the full sheet because short bed truck and I got more driving to do. Off to the Granite shop to pick up some sills I go. Since I was no longer going to have a canopy and the cabinets were no longer going to go floor to ceiling on the side I needed to extend the beer ledge. What are the odds that they would have any left, after I got a remnant from remnant to begin with. Walk the yard and sure enough there was a chunk just big enough for what I needed! I do a little Happy dance!
OP
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No sleep for the weary! Beer ledge extension drawings sent to the Granite shop. a simple piece and it should be done by Thursday if not i wont be back down until Tuesday next week. I'm not in a big rush for it right now i have plumbing to finish.
Ricksreeefs
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Absolutely love the custom sump! Can wait to see what happens!
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I had to move some plumbing to accommodate the water change station (temporarily it will be totally reconfigured and rebuilt) I still had to chip away at a huge hole in the concrete for the pipe to sit level.
I love how got 50 gallons of saltwater in the sump in about 5 minutes, water changes are going to be so easy that I MAY do them regularly. About 25 gallons of that was pumped into the tank before the rest was trapped in the other compartments of the sump. So it’s time to make another 50 gallons.
Wife says it’s time to move the rest of the live rock before I fill everything up with water and waist salt making room for the rock later. Looks like I need to work on some Aquascape plans.
I love how got 50 gallons of saltwater in the sump in about 5 minutes, water changes are going to be so easy that I MAY do them regularly. About 25 gallons of that was pumped into the tank before the rest was trapped in the other compartments of the sump. So it’s time to make another 50 gallons.
Wife says it’s time to move the rest of the live rock before I fill everything up with water and waist salt making room for the rock later. Looks like I need to work on some Aquascape plans.
DH78
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I've always been amazed how often I end up moving plumbing and wiring to try and get access to everything when setting up a tank or adding equipment. Doesn;t seem to matter how well I think i planned or measured, I always have to redo something.
Based on your thread, I don't think this will happen to you, but don't let it end up just "good enough". You will either kick yourself later or have to redo it when the system is running. I've done this more than I can to admit.
Based on your thread, I don't think this will happen to you, but don't let it end up just "good enough". You will either kick yourself later or have to redo it when the system is running. I've done this more than I can to admit.
OP
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Yeah I have already changed something since you posted this! But seriously this hobby takes a lot of thinking on many levels and on many more subject matters. If you aren’t asking questions of others and yourself you are going to have to fix it eventually! I have taken out my Klir and put it back in more times than I can count it fits well but is very tight and it binds ever so slightly taking it out, of course it never had a wet full roll of floss on it and I’m sure with that little extra weight it will be harder! You can bet that I’ll fix that before I put it into use
