And here it is, my first setback... I'm leaking!
First, a few pics of my progress since the last update:
Tank in on the stand and all the equipment has been taken out of their boxes and placed in their rightful location.
There is an ugly mess with the wires on the right side of the stand but that's because I did not try to organize it or plug in anything yet. It will NOT look like this when I'm ready to power on the beast.
The plumbing is done and even though I made a little bit of a mess with the hot blue glue (didn't realize I didn't buy clear glue until it was too late), I think this is looking ok. I did make a few mistakes the pipes do not land exactly where I intended them to. The main issue is that once the primer and glue are applied to the pipes, they get a lot more slippery and they go all the way in the elbows. So, even though I did all the dry fitting and I had everything measured precisely, it all go thrown a little bit out of whack once the glue was applied. Not a big deal, I can live with it.
I played with the rocks this week-end and came up with an aquascape I like. There is a tunnel in the rocks on the left side and the pile on the right side has a big cave that will be visible from the side panel. I am happy with it because it's not symmetrical and I was able to build the features I wanted (a tunnel, a cave and a small island). Of course, if anybody has feedback or suggestions, I'll gladly listen.
My acrylics rod came in the mail today so I'll be drilling and mounting soon so that I can bring them in the tank without worrying about the piles falling down.
Now, for the setback/reality-check. I was so excited for my plumbing to be done and tank to be ready that I decided to do a water test last night. I poured some water in the different chambers in the sump and everything went according to plan. Silicone is holding up, no leaks, we're good.
I then started adding some water to the main tank and did not see any leaks with the overflow or anything else (granted I did not add a whole lot of water to it).
I then decided to test the overflow/plumbing and that's where it all went wrong. I was on my step-stool, pouring water in the overflow and after about 3-4 gallons, I can hear the water flowing and splashing everywhere in the stand. When I first looked it seemed that the water was coming out of the first union on the main drain but once that flow started slowing down I realized that I had water coming from all 3 bulk heads
I tightened all 3 of them as tight as I could by hand as recommended but after doing some reading it seems that the recommendation is to actually put an extra 1/4 turn with a wrench. I probably should have read that before starting the plumbing but I was too excited to get it all together.
I now have to figure out how I am going to tighten those bulkheads with a wrench since they are in the back of the stand, and recessed inside the holes I made in the 3/4 inch plywood. I'll have to get creative.
My fear is that this is not the only issue. I can't tell because everything was wet very quickly with water flowing from everywhere but can't tell if that was just the water dripping from the bulkheads along the pipes or if I have other leaks.
This was very disappointed but considering how well everything went so far, I guess I needed a reminder that it's not supposed to be an easy process, I need to be more patient and I have to prepare better for flooding.
You live, you learn...
