Tank build - 140 gallon

[Shaun Sweeney]

This is the finished plumbing on my new 140 gallon build. There are four input lines (those are the black tubes) and one input line that is spare so I can support a temporary tank off to the side. That's the cross pipe. There are 3 return lines from the ESHOPP overflow. Three of the red valves are accessed thru the back of the tank stand while the other 2 can be reached from the back edges of the tank. The wooden supports are temporary and will be removed right before I push the tank back against the wall.
After the tank is pushed into place, I will insert 4 pieces of ABS pipe - each with 16 holes drilled into them. This will ensure that I get good overall water movement throughout the water column. The can be rotated from time to time and the amount of flow going into each is controlled by the red valves.

 

[jsker]

That's a lot of plumbing, excited to see this one go together

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

That's a lot of plumbing, excited to see this one go together

Thanks for the interest. The 2nd tank is the same but the plumbing will be much different. It will include a frag tray and a QT tank. Since it is already plumbed for salt (and in use) the water supply will be different as well.

 

[Saybng]

I'm curios if you push the tank in place, how are you going to leak test your plumbing?, or am I missing something here. ..

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

I'm curios if you push the tank in place, how are you going to leak test your plumbing?, or am I missing something here. ..

Good point. I also run a 700 + solar reservoir and a 2700 + swim tank (mostly heated by evacuated tube technology) so I can easily fill my system with fresh water for testing. I can run for a few days and then look for leaks. Once that's done, I'll put my fresh water back into the reservoir and switch to salt. Thanks for watching out for me.

 

[Abusfullofnuns]

Sounds gangster

 

[Saybng]

Good point. I also run a 700 + solar reservoir and a 2700 + swim tank (mostly heated by evacuated tube technology) so I can easily fill my system with fresh water for testing. I can run for a few days and then look for leaks. Once that's done, I'll put my fresh water back into the reservoir and switch to salt. Thanks for watching out for me.

Sounds like a plan...carry on...

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

Sounds like a plan...carry on...

"Nothing can go wrong," he said, "as he plummeted past the 14th floor window!

 

[Pepcrylic]

Why ABS Pipes??

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

Why ABS Pipes??

I needed 4 pieces of pipe sticking down into the tank and I didn't want white. I've since learned that I could dye the white pipe but I've already used the black. Near as I can tell (from my research) the black won't poison the tank. It's not too late for me to change, just more work.

 

[ReeferBob]

What return pump are you using? The way your return plumbing is built, it looks like your pump will go up 5x resulting in a lot of added head height. I think I would have gone up once, then split off into the 4 diffuser nozzles. In fact, that is how I did the plumbing on my 125. One pipe going up and distributed to 4 outlets at the top of the tank. I am not certain but I think how you built this is the equivalent of whatever the height of one of those is times 4 - like 20 feet of head? Also the way mine is built I used a union right at the top after it turns horizontal. This allows me to swing all 4 of my diffusers up and out of the way for maintenance.

In addition, although I see the spaflex with the metal clamps, I would highly recommend you put in some unions to be able to remove that manifold for maintenance. I think it will be a bear to remove even one of those let alone 4.

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

Thank you for the input Bob. I think you're right about multiplying the head but what might not have been obvious in the photo is that the individual runs (3' each) are coming off a 2" manifold. Given your comment, I probably could have lifted the manifold about 1' without interfering with some of the other requirements. The 2" mains run back to the pump and the total head is about 8'. The pumps are 1/4 horse Goby pump from Reeflo. I met those folks at MACNA and they recommended the pump based on my specs. The pump input/output pipes are 1.5" but they agreed that 2" would be even better. I'll be testing flow rate with my fresh water testing so I'll post what the output is. I like your idea about the union but I've made the pieces of pipe that are inside the tank easily removable and I suspect that if there was going to be buildup of crud, that is where it would happen. Thanks again for taking the time to look at my project.