Project 58!! (Image intense)

[Maxx]

Looks interesting Mike.....
http://www.fishermansheadquarters.com/28_baitwell accesories.html
I was able to find a better image of what this thing really looks like through the link above....all I can see is that it has copper battery clips....Where are they located? anyway you can bypass them or remove/replace them?
Nick

 

[mps9506]

I think it only has copper battery clamps. I don't see any copper parts anywhere. I don't know why something intended for SW applications would use any copper parts though? Guess just because it is a better conductor, seems like a bad choice for something that maybe used in a corrosive environment.
They just use regular clamps like you find on jumper cables.
You can cut the cables if you want and probably hard wire into a transformer I would imagine.
Mike

 

[Maxx]

I cut the Spa-flex and glued two unions in line. This will allow me to completely remove the OM unit for maintenance. I also glued a union into the vertical length of my return plumbing. This will allow me to "swivel" the return nozzle so I can angle it pretty much where ever I want. The skimmer also arrived today. I havent opened it yet....I know, I know...but I had some other stuff to do first. The plan today is to drain the tank and sump, test the return pump flow rate, paint the back of the tank, and slather silicone into all the seams of the stand that the Marine Goop did not seal right. If I get all of this done in the garage, my fiance wont be able to complain about the smell of drying paint and silicone.

 

[Maxx]

Okay....this was weird.....
According to the math, my return pump in its present configuration is only putting out 316 GPH.
I used the Skimmer Math link to calculate the return pump flow. If its works for skimmers, it ought to be able to work for smaller return pumps...

How to measure your skimmers capacity.
Gallons per hour rating can easily be measured by anyone, all it takes is a watch and a 5 gallon bucket. Measure the time it takes to fill the bucket with the skimmers discharge. No guessing, no "trust me" here.
Total gallons filled (divided by) Seconds to fill (x) 360 = Skimmers GPH flow rate
e.g. 30 seconds to fill a 5 gallon bucket would equal a 600 GPH flow rate.

Just to be on the safe side I did the math using the example they provided.....came up with 60. Did it again. Same answer.
So I decided that it was necessary to add a zero at the end of the answer. Then went out and got a bucket, and an oversized piece of flexible tubing. The tubing was oversized in order to prevent friction from being a factor. At no time was the hose completely filled with water from the return pipe...just kinda like a water slide...all along the sides and bottom of the tubing. It took 57 seconds to fill the 5 gallon bucket.
5 divided by 57 multiplied by 360 equals 31.5789.....roughly 31.6. Adding a zero gets me 316 gph. This is a mag 7 and I was expecting somewhere in the 400 gph range.
Next I went to the RC head loss calculator and entering in all the info I would have if I were plumbing it with 90 degree elbows.....it came out to 410 gph. BUT the smallest diameter plumbing that it allows to be used in the calculator is 3/4 inch...and I'm running 1/2 inch....so that might make a large difference....
I remember reading on a long forgotten thread that MAg drive pumps require oversize plumbing...but that made no sense to me. Anybody know if this the case?
Nick

 

[mps9506]

Yes, Mags require oversized plumbing, they are horrible when they encounter any head or frictional losses in the plumbing.

Using the number of seconds it took to fill the bucket I got roughly 360 gph. I'm not sure what math you are using
Mebe I'm wrong, but makes sense to me...

If you want more flow I would highly suggest running 1 inch plumbing as much as you can, knock out the 90's wherever possible. I beleive when danner creates those graphs for theflow rates at different heights they use 1.5 inch pipes or something like that. Makes a big difference.

Mike

 

[Maxx]

Mike....I used the math I posted up above...I have no idea how you came up with 360. Can you post up the math you used?
I'm wanting to know here because If your math is right..then I'm getting 4.5 times total system turnover through my sump. Upgrading the pump on the skimmer so it can handle 4 times the total system turnover is kinda useless if the sump only has 3 1/2 times turnover through it.....Know what I mean?
Nick

 

[mps9506]

Ok my math skills suck, I got 315 using the calculator this time.
I have been out of college for almost a year now, I need to go back so I maybe doing this wrong but to get gph from a 5 gallon bucket it should go like this:
5gallons/57secsx3600seconds/1hour= ~315 gph

there are 60 secs in a minute 60 seconds in an hour so 3600 secs per hour, not 360...

Mike

 

[mps9506]

And I think we need to get you bigger return lines, and a bigger pump while we are at it Thing that sucks is that most submersible pumps don't handle head pressure very well so you need to factor the plumbing in before choosing the pump. Mag 9.5 is supposed to be better at handling head, but who really knows... I would go with a mag 12 just in case or a dolphin dp1127.

 

[Maxx]

Yeah...thats kinda what I'm thinking too.....
However if I go with a Mag 9.5 I'm splitting the flow to two spray bars....might have to think about the direction of flow with them...either left and right along the sides of the tank,flowing towards center, or left and right on either side of the overflow, blowing down to flush crap out from under the lower closed loop returns........
Cheapest answer will be to redo my plumbing and use 3/4 inch plumbing to allow more flow.....
Decisions, decisions......
The new unions worked great....no leaks...I let everything run a few hours just to make sure. Then I drained the tank and sump, taped the back of the tank, and painted the glass on either side of the overflow. I decided against painting the glass behind the overflow.
If for some whackadoo reason I ever needed to see back there....I still can, and the black overflow will blend seamlessly with the black paint on the rear of the glass.
I removed the sump and siliconed the snot out of every seam in the bottom of the "water proof box" in the base of the stand. My original calculations of the box's water volume capacity was 21 gallons. With the sump in there, I'm sure its closer to 7-10 gallons...but thats still a significant amount of water on an 80 gallon system...enough that it should be noticable should it suddenly turn up there......(Screw you Murphy!)
Nick

 

[Maxx]

The Penn PLax B-11 Battery back up air pumps arrived today. They are a lot smaller than I expected....thats not a bad thing....I just sort of expected these things to be bigger.
The paint on the tback of the tank is dry, and so is the silicone in the bottom of the stand. The tank is ready to move inside!!
Rocio works from home and her boss will be making a home visit tomorrow.....I guess to make sure she has everything set up right, or just to be nosy....I don't know for sure. But I'm not allowed to clutter up the house with an empty fish tank until Thursday, 18 November....so it will sit in the garage a little longer.
I will also be re doing the plumbing for the Mag 7. I will increase the diameter of the plumbing from 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in an effort to increase flow. I want to have at least 4 times system turnover per hour...which will mean that I can upgrade my skimmer pump so it will cycle all 80 gallons 4 times an hour....I just need to make things complicated....
Nick

 

[Maxx]

I brought the tank inside today.....got it skinned and placed the Euro-Reef CS6-2 in the sump. I looks great inside the house all dressed up. I still need to attach the light box....but its coming along. I'm pretty happy with the way the stand and canopy wood look. It doesnt quite match the floors, (its a little warmer toned than in the pictures). But I still like it.

Heres the stand skinned up with tank on top and painted.

Sideshot looking towards the living room.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

You can see the access door I made to allow me into the back of the stand but keep my dogs out. You can also see the top of my Euro-Reef CS6-2 skimmer poking out. It will have to be raised at least 4-6 inches so more of it will be visible. The manufacturer reccomends 5-8 inches of water depth for their skimmers to sit in...mine sits in 12 1/2 right now....hence the need for risers.

Here is a close up of the access door. Ther are two, one for each side.

Here is a shot with the access door opened...you can see how much easier its going to be to get to the skimmer for maintenance. Easy is better.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Here is a close up of the space behind the stand for maintence and showing how easy it is to get to the skimmer for cleaning.

I also hated stands that had narrow doors, stands with doors that have a support or partition in the middle of them, or worst of all stand with narrow partitioned doors....ya cant fit anything under there that wont fit thru one of those itty bitty doors!
So I built my stand with a huge honkin door....with no partitions!
I have room for my 30 gallon custom sump, and room for my calcium reactor under there too....

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Fabulous Maxx!

 

[Maxx]

Still need to:

Stain and seal the arms the light box will hang from.
Stain and seal the dowel rod the light box will be raised and lowered from.
Need to make the hand crank, and then stain and seal it.
Hang the lightbox.
Purchase two American DJ PC-100/A AC Power Centers. (The local Guitar Center has them for the same price..no shipping charges)
Lay down the starboard bottom...(prolly need to get on ordering that then...DOH!)
AQUASCAPE!!

Tomorrow will be redoing the return pump plumbing in 3/4 inch for better flow. I will also hopefully be able to knock out some of the other wood work.
Nick

 

[Maxx]

Bought a couple of things today.

First was a riser for my skimmer. Euro-Reef recommends their skimmers sit in only 5-8 inches of water for maximum efficiency. Unfortunately, the way my sump was designed by me, (hindsight is ALWAYS 20/20.....sigh), the skimmer would be sitting in 12.5 inches of water. So I needed to fix that. I bought two 6 inch (diameter) fitting clean out bodies from Lowes, and two 6 inch flat topped caps. Total cost $30.00, but when dry fitted together they make a 6 inch flat topped platform for my skimmer and pump.

Here the two pieces are apart.

Here are all four pieces assembled into two risers.

Here is the skimmer sitting ontop of the risers. For frame of reference the skimmer is a Euro-Reef CS6-2, ( 6 inch diameter tube, 24 inches high.)

This is how deep the skimmer sat before the risers.

Here is the skimmer after the risers.....with Gracie's head in the way.

Here is a different angle.
Before risers:

After risers:

Nick

 

[Maxx]

I also bought a Watch Dog water alarm from Lowes. $19.99 from the link I attached......$9.99 at Lowes in the plumbing aisle by sump pumps. 110 decibels of notification that a leak is in progress. Think Fire Alarm only for flooding....
This will sit in the stand (which has been water proofed with silicone seams) and should alert pretty much the whole freakin house that there is a problem with the aquarium, and that something should be done before the house is ruined or the tank runs dry....which would also suck.......alot.

BTW Home Depot also sells these online for $9.99 but their website was down for back ups when I posted this....

I also bought more plumbing and more egg crate. Playing with egg crate SUCKS!!!! Anyone know a way to cut this stuff without having it explode into a bazillion shards???

Nick

 

[Craig Manoukian]

Great stuff Nick! Whose that long nosed and big eared inspector?

 

[Maxx]

Thats Gracie, our one year old crack monke...uh Labrador retriever. She's the main reason for the access doors.
Nick

 

[Maxx]

I just tested the flow rate of the new return plumbing....(bumped up from 1/2 to 3/4 inch diameter PVC).
I made a HUGE gain in flow...from 316 GPH up to 453.85 gallons...roughly 454 gph, which turns my 80 gallon tank volume over approximately 5.67 times per hour. Right where I wanted it. And this is using a Mag 7 as my return pump. Still havent made the jump to a Mag 9.5...might not need to.
Nick