Kim’s 120 Possibilities

[KimPossible]

Hi all ! Many of you know that I have been staring at the plumbing of a 120 that I designed for about 8 months now ….I took apart and reconfigured my dry plumb ideas a couple of times. Bottom line, if I would have trusted myself more and not freaked myself out this would have been done a long time ago….but, it is what it is….

Here’s what I have.

A 120 – 3 sided Starfire AGA

Drilled Closed Loop system with a Super Squirt sequencing unit from Oceans Motion.
I bought the drum for both the 1,2,3,4 sequencing pattern and 1&3 , 2&4 pattern , but after trying them both out I chose the first.

The circulation pump driving the CL is a Little Giant 3 MDQX-SC.

Calculating the Head Loss from the minimal plumbing I have on the CL (2 return lines are soft, but still calculated as horizontal length), I have flow rate of around 614 gph. I’m not happy with this! I guess I should have bought a larger pump.

I have a Little Giant 3 MDQ-SC feeding my return with a calculated flow rate after plumbing of 657 gph. I know this is not accurate because the return is diverted through my ¼ chiller which I don’t have a clue how to calculate the loss from this.

SOooooo, My flow running at a total of 1271 gph , a 10x turn over rate. Hmmmmmm….

I plan on keeping with Softies and LPS. Hmmmmmm….. I wanted a little more flow but not with strategically placed power heads in the display. Maybe I’ll just have to get over it !!!!

I have an Octopus Recirc. 150 Skimmer it has a needlewheel driven recirculation pump;
and a Maxi Jet 1200 as the feed pump. Someone told me to hook the skimmer up inline, and I was moving on figuring out a mod for it but Cheeks talked me out of that in a thread….good move for me….Thanks Cheeks!

My stand and cabinet are made out of a new…well, maybe not so new, but new in the aquarium industry…material called Extera it’s the stuff people make billboards out of that is weather proof. I have my chiller in the cabinet and have the back of the shelves routed out and 2 IceCap 120mm Canopy fans w/sensors mounted up top to draw hot air out of the cabinet.

The sump/fuge is a basic 2 chamber acrilic box with only 2 baffles measuring
30" x 14" x 16"

I have everything listed above plumbed and running in the garage…day 2 and no leaks…yippie…

Tonight I’ll get my auto top off set up and start working on this Gurgle Buster.
Once the standpipe mod is in, I’ll be making the move into the living room.

I’m going to try to get some pics up this afternoon…..

[Woodstock]

Very nice Kim! I am excited for you! I can't wait to see pics!

[blue_eyes53813]

Cant waite to see pictures Kim..

[boozeman]

catchy thread tittle

[KimPossible]

Thanks everyone! I cant wait to see the pics up here either...LOL...this has really been a loooong time coming....

[cheeks69]

Very cool Kim can't wait to see this thread develop. I'd like to see how the Octopus rec. skimmer works so don't forget we love pics...

[KimPossible]

This is how I plumbed the CL. See all the soft lines... I was trying not to constrict my pumps. I want MORE! flow...



and this is from the front,,,

Nice big Lifters so I don't suck my fish up


Chiller drilled through the stand...again ... flow....


And, drum roll please... the dissapointing pumps...

[Frans]

Kim,
I can't tell from your pick, but it looks like your chiller is boxed in? Ours put out a lot of heat and circulates quit a bit of air. It actually circulates so much air that we had to move our couch in order for it to work correctly. Have you tested your yet and verified that it will keep your temps down with light on?

[zimboy]

[quote=KimPossible;242460]
I have an Octopus Recirc. 150 Skimmer it has a needlewheel driven recirculation pump;
and a Maxi Jet 1200 as the feed pump. Someone told me to hook the skimmer up inline, and I was moving on figuring out a mod for it but Cheeks talked me out of that in a thread….good move for me….Thanks Cheeks!

[quote]

just wondering what the reason was for not hooking up the skimmer in-line? i was planning on doing this exact thing with mine, and would like to know the pros and cons... thanks

P.S. good job on the leak free plumbing, I wasn't so fortunate my first time hooking up a system

[KimPossible]

Hi Fran
Well, its been on, No lights yet, although I'll probably go with Coralites XMQ's
I hope that the routing on my shelves and the 2 canopy fans will pull enough hot air out and draw enough cool air in. Here's a couple pics
Closed Cabinet


Open Cabinet


The backs of the shelves

[KimPossible]

Zimboy, I just started to look into it and read multiple threads about external skimmers and overflows. I realized that I was achieving the same results feeding it with a pump vs. inline plumbing.

[sasquatch]

Really impressive Kim! the little giants are a good pump just dont forget to OIL them, and they run pretty hot. I like the lifters too. Carry ON!!! Steve

[Rougiem]

Looks Great Kim! Welcome back...good to see you posting again! I need to get going on my tank one of these days...

Cheers!

[Frans]

I would recommend cutting some holes in the lower part of your front door and then covering it with some black speaker screen. It actually looks pretty good and really increases air flow. I'll see if Lynn can find our tanks end shots so you can see what I'm talking about. We have a large cutout covered with black speaker screen. Then we covered it with 1/8" oak plywood and used fish stencils to cut out several openings. Just a thought.

[cioutlaw]

Very nice! I like the cabinet next to the tank. Have thought of doing something similar.