Up coming plywood tank project

[brian_e]

It has ibeams one is about a foot infront of the tank the other is about 3 feet behind the tank so i went beneath the floor where the stand is and put 2 6x6 side by side on on 16x16 footers front and back of stand if this makes any sense

 

[jerry26]

Concrete footers?

 

[brian_e]

4x8x16 blocks set in ground like when u set a mobile home and double blocked pier

 

[Willie McDaries]

My diy ca reactor

Brian,did you use the avast flange kit to build this with ?

I've been looking at their DIY reactor kits and thinking seriously about going that rout to DIY a Ca reactor for my tank

 

[brian_e]

Yep avast 6inch it matches up with extruded acrylic a lot better than cast
The first chamber i cracked first go around where i had the pipe in the side so the rebild i done all fittings in the flanges

 

[Willie McDaries]

Yep avast 6inch it matches up with extruded acrylic a lot better than cast
The first chamber i cracked first go around where i had the pipe in the side so the rebild i done all fittings in the flanges

it looks awesome,do you have more detailed pics of how you did the pH probe and CO2 tank hook up,bubble counter and all that...I think I see the probe in the lid of the first chamber,that's what I was thinking would be best...I know that Avast repurposed their media reactors for their Ca Reactors,I figured I could do the same but they have the probe in a plumbing Tee rather than in the lid

 

[requiem]

Hope this project is a success. Plywood is not a suitable building material in saltwater environments. I have seen epoxy covered tanks leak numerous times. Additionally plywood cored tanks can easily absorb moister and expand causing joints to fail.

 

[brian_e]

Hope this project is a success. Plywood is not a suitable building material in saltwater environments. I have seen epoxy covered tanks leak numerous times. Additionally plywood cored tanks can easily absorb moister and expand causing joints to fail.

Tank has epoxy inside and out and I know there is a chance of leaking as there is with anything with water but I have seen stories of them lasting 10 years

 

[brian_e]

I drilled and tapped lid 1/2 for ph probe 1" for circulation pipe and 1/4 for the effluent outlet
Anything u want pics of up close let me know

 

[Willie McDaries]

Tank has epoxy inside and out and I know there is a chance of leaking as there is with anything with water but I have seen stories of them lasting 10 years

some of the guys on fingerlakesreef have had plywood tanks for 30 plus years,it's no different than building a wooden boat,if you build it strong in the seams and seal it inside and out,there's little chance of a failure,I've already had more all glass tanks to leak than my plywood tank,I'm confident enough in mine that I'll never buy another all glass tank....but if it does get a leak,it will be a mess to find and probable be impossible to fix...

plywood ain't for everybody,I say if you're not confident enough in your carpentry skills,don't try it...you have to have some knowledge of structural strengths of wood and how to make a strong joint or it might fail,fiberglass can only hold so much...I will be honest though,I had doubts in mine holding,even though I knew it had strong seams LOL

 

[Willie McDaries]

I drilled and tapped lid 1/2 for ph probe 1" for circulation pipe and 1/4 for the effluent outlet
Anything u want pics of up close let me know

I was mostly curious as to how you connect the CO2 and how you did your bubble counter

 

[brian_e]

red co2 in the line on other side is the inlet with a maxi jet feeding it

 

[Willie McDaries]

excellent,thanks for the close up pics Brian....I see the 3 way elbow on the pump output serves as a drain too,I wasn't understanding that in the first pic either,that's very clever.....and the effluent output from the main body exits the top and enters the bottom of the second chamber and out the top of the second chamber....that's simple enough I think even I can do it LOL

do you think an Eheim 1262 pump would work well for the recirculating pump ? or should I looks for something different ? I also have a Little Giant 4-MDQX-SC with 1325GPH I'm using for my return pump now,I plan to replace it with a ReeFlo Dart that I have,I could use the Little Giant on the reactor if you think the Eheim 1262 would be too small...that looks like a seriously strong flow pump you're using

 

[brian_e]

I used the same pump as on the Geo 6x24 reactor there 6x18 has a eheim pump on it

 

[brian_e]

My tank has had a very bad week
Before https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpLjB0eC5c4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etBlkuOxGhk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[jerry26]

Been almost a year for it now, hows it lookin?

 

[brian_e]

New pics its 1 year old this month
New pics

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Gorgeous & great growth ! Soooooo pretty !!!

 

[brian_e]

This is after a tank crash I had in DEC do to my screw up witch I lost around 50 of my sps frags

 

[PSU4ME]

Awesome set up and a sizable collection of SPS thats for sure!