Rob's Really Rad 180 Reef Rally

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Rob.bucek said:
It's full and still standing!

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I kept not trusting my stand design lol. But so far so good. Gonna run with this tap water leak and flow balancing test for at least a few days into next week. I'm gonna do some crash tests etc. Pull the power, drop a pump etc learn what biotch did under duress so I'm not surprised later when it actually happens, cuz we all know it will haha. Short 2 minute video below. Feel free to leave any comments or heckling below.

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Almost there! o_O
 
Deltec
Crash testing the 180!

For many of you, this is something you probably already know the answers to. For myself, this is my first drilled tank with a real sump and I don't like surprises haha. I'm really enjoying this learning experience and the confidence it helps build just can't be underrated.

I'm also hoping this helps anyone looking at doing a drilled tank with a similar approach and they find it helpful while figuring things out.

Crash Test #1 - loss of one out of two returns.

Will it keep stable? - Yes it does!

Will the sump overflow? - No it didn't.

Will I lose the siphon on the main drain? - Darn right I did...


Crash Test #2 - loss of both returns.

How much water will siphon to the sump through the returns? - Calculated around 14 gallons.

Will the sump hold the volume of water before the siphon breaks? - It did with room to spare!

Will the power heads still provide surface agitation? - As installed they did.


Crash Test #3 - system recovery from Test #2

Will the water levels return to normal in the DT? - Yes they did.

Will the main recover a full siphon? - Yes.

How long will it take to stabilize? - Surprisingly fast.

Will the returns shoot water over the top? - Thankfully no haha.


Hopefully somebody finds this useful, I know I sure did!
 
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Deltec
Like I mentioned earlier I would be messing with this thing all weekend haha!

So doing some rough flow calculations. I don't think these are insanely accurate but I firmly believe it puts me in the ball park at least. Feel free to shoot holes in this if you have other experience to help me out.

Inside tank dimensions are 72.75 x 22.25 (.625 thick glass). Below is a shot of tape I placed on the glass. Top one is normal water level, bottom is after the siphon break with the pumps shut off. The gap is 1.5"
1600549849438.png


My volume calculation is (72.75 x 22.25 x 1.5)/231cubic in = 10.75 gallons goes to the sump.

I am running the two COR-20's at 50%
1600550023465.png


It took 30 seconds for it to fill back to the top line. I timed it from when water first came out of the nozzle so I might be off a second or two.

so 10.75 x .2 = 21.5gpm x 60min = 1,290 gph. Just assume a system volume of 180 (in reality I know it's less) for discussion purposes that would be 1,290/180 = 7x turn over approximately. Based on the flow chart for that pump if I back into it and assume 100% gives me double the flow (perhaps average of 1,300 gph per pump) that would estimate to be around 6-7ft of head pressure on average for each pump. Though clearly one has more than the other due to how the runs are. I think I can definitely live with that at the power rate I'm running those pumps.
 
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jk_s124 said:
Looks good to me.......of course a close approximation of me doing math would be something like this....
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I'm just having fun with this. Hoping to learn and figure out all I can before moving out into place and getting it locked in. That seriously cracked me up btw!
 
Nutramar Foods
Rob.bucek said:
so 10.75 x .2 = 21.5gpm x 60min = 1,290 gph. Just assume a system volume of 180 (in reality I know it's less) for discussion purposes that would be 1,290/180 = 7x turn over approximately. Based on the flow chart for that pump if I back into it and assume 100% gives me double the flow (perhaps average of 1,300 gph per pump) that would estimate to be around 6-7ft of head pressure on average for each pump. Though clearly one has more than the other due to how the runs are. I think I can definitely live with that at the power rate I'm running those pumps.
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Remember the COR pumps have a soft start, so they’re not 0 to 50% instantly. Your actual flow rate is probably a bit higher than you’ve calculated because of that.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
Recently inspired by Ryan from @Bulk Reef Supply in his 360 video on flow I thought I would test my own new tank's flow using proven scientific methods to determine accurate flow required to sustain corals and other marine life without resorting to insanely expensive and accurate tools.

 
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Albertan22 said:
Remember the COR pumps have a soft start, so they’re not 0 to 50% instantly. Your actual flow rate is probably a bit higher than you’ve calculated because of that.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I noticed they seem to ramp up so that's why I waited till I saw water. Makes sense
 
Deltec
Well, leak testing was definitely not a waste of time because I ended up finding two! However, either through being stubborn or not wanting to reinvest the time to rebuild two runs (or large sections thereof) I decided to repair them. Noticed them Sunday morning just before the football games started.

They were so slow it was hard to determine in one case if it was happening from the union joint up top or the elbow fitting below. In the past I've used a technique to figure out exactly where a given leak was coming from if it wasn't really obvious, or if it was from multiple places etc in a joint. In my return there was one coming from the glued portion of a union which I was able to see without the test method I'll show below. The other was from the same joint type but on my secondary drain coming from the overflow.

I threw some water on the pipe to illustrate how this works. You just wrap paper towel around the pipe and look for the wet spot. I did this because it matters how many and where on the fitting the leaks are for the fix.
1600806615167.png


For instances like these where I don't want to do a proper and legit fix (read replace everything between the unions) I've taken a section of the same type of pipe and cut a ring about 3/8" - 1/2" wide and then cut a slot in the ring (approx 3/8") so you can snap the ring over the pipe. This works as long as your leaks can be contained within the given circumference of the ring section.

Apply solvent to the base of the union slip fitting as well as the pipe all the way around and then a somewhat generous portion of glue after. Slide the ring up against the fitting and grasping the ring all the way around twist it back and forth to get an aggressive bond against the pipe as well as the face of the fitting so you bond to both. While this is not a kosher method per se I have yet to have it fail on me yet. Just saying those words will no doubt have doomed this attempt to failure haha. Keeping with my plan to run the test till Wednesday but since I've had no other leaks develop and the fixes are holding as intended.

1" return repair
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1 1/2" drain repair
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For better or for worse, that's the route I'm going for now.
 
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