Project 58!! (Image intense)

[Maxx]

Thanks Katrina and Mick,

Send the GF to lunch and fire up the saw!!!

ROFL....
I'll try that tomorrow, I hafta go fight crime and divert terrorism....somewhere else.
Nick

[strat]

lookin great nick, cant wait to see those anenomes in pvc endcaps 'planted' around your tank. you are the research man..

strat

[Craig Manoukian]

That looks like it will withstand a natural disaster with all those screws! Awesome job Nick!

[middletonmark]

Wow, you have one with a center overflow. Super nice!
[thanks for making me wish mine had one ]

Can't wait to see all the pieces in place, really nicely done.

[Maxx]

Strat,
I've gotta get it finished before I canget things planted in PVC....
Craig,
Yeah, I know I used a lot of screws......On the trim the screws were pretty small, so I was worried about them gripping properly. I stopped inserting screws when I couldnt move the trim any more.

Mark,
actually that was the old overflow. The new one is larger, (10 x 7x 20) and offset from the center. Its more to the right than middle now. I think it looks pretty good though. Pics will definately follow to show what I mean. I needed to get a larger overflow in order to hide part of my closed loop returns. I'm using an Oceans Motions HD 4 way wave maker connected to an Iwaki MD55RLT for my closed loop.
How is your overflow positioned? I know you have a 58 gallon as well. I'd love to see pics of it sometime. Have you started a thread here on it, or have I just seen misc pics over at RC?

Nick

[TDEVIL]

man you are becoming a craftsman with this project

looking great, cant wait to see it running

Jay

[Maxx]

Okay, I'm feeling kinda discouraged here. Getting kinda annoyed with plumbing in general. I've been playing with it abit this weekend, (dont really have the free time to devote to this the way I want since my sleep scheduled is 16 kinds of whacked out from working midnight shift this month, (hence I'm posting this at 2 am St Louis time instead of in bed sleeping...sigh). Its tough to get parts needed for the never ending plumbing project when you wake up just a couple of hours before things close for the night....
Okay nuff w/ the whining....
I had to trim some of the Spa flex tubing used on the closed loop from the OM 4 way unit. The spa flex is so rigid that it was putting pressure on my rigid PVC and I wasnt wildly comfortable with it doing that.....I now need to go back to Lowes to get two more MPT barbed nipples to connect between the spa flex and the OM unit.
Basically its gonna look like a friggin maze behind the tank between closed loop plumbing, return plumbing, and skimmer plumbing.......
Just gonna hafta suck it up and make this happen soon, its gettin colder,
Nick

[Craig Manoukian]

Hang in there Nick!

[Maxx]

Okay,
Bought the needed plumbing fittings, (again....does plumbing ever really end?)....and I'm all set to make things happen tomorrow. Hopefully I can make some real good progress tomorrow....
Nick

[Craig Manoukian]

Good luck and post those pics Nick!

[Maxx]

Okay, Got alot accomplished on the tank today which is good. I was really getting unhappy and discouraged about the plumbing. Things just werent quite right, and every time I adjusted something to compensate, it threw something else outta whack. Felt like I couldnt win for losing, and after coming all this way on playing with this stuff, I was really feeling annoyed. So I took some time off from it, and came back at it with a different perspective.........
I'm a former United States Infantry Marine, and I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY AN INANIMATE OBJECT!!!!!
So I won......
Moral of the story for those who might follow along......don't quit when your frustrated. Take a break, relax (something this hobby is sposed to be good for......riiiiight....), and try a different approach.

The source of all this frustration was Spa-Flex. Curt had come over to help me out and we had managed to stuff pieces, (??? What the heck is the plural of spa-flex???) into the new 10 inch overflow that IAP made for me.
I guess I should post images of how the closed loop is sposed to look so everyone can follow along....
Here is the plan for the closed loop flow.



The blue lines in the overhead view indicate flow patterns from the upper level returns of the closed loop. The red lines indicate the flow patterns in the lower level returns of the closed loop.

This tank is going to be bare bottom, with high random flow, and heavy skimming in order to make it as nutrient poor as possible. It is being planned out as an SPS reef primarily, with some clams and maybe an anemone.
Nick

[Maxx]

However things have changed slightly from the initial plan. Because Spa-flex is more flexible than PVC, it is also called...uh...flexible PVC....
However its really not that wildly flexible so it was fun trying to get that to work the way I wanted to.
Fortunately, CurtSwearing was able to help out and get me pointed in the right direction. Man, It seems like that guy is always saving somebody!!! First Nikki, (who really is beyond help.... , (JK Nikki)
then me...
Who says superhero's don't exist?
Anyway.....
Curt and I managed to stuff the spa flex into my new 10 inch wide overflow. It required alot effort, alot of thought, some foul language, and boiling water. The boiling water was to heat up and soften the Spa flex so it would more easily accept the threaded barbs which are connected to the OM HD 4way wavemaker.

Worked like a charm.

Whats interesting is that the spa flex didnt allow for much room for the standpipe. Since the tank had been drilled more or less centered along the back wall....I was now having issues getting my oveflow centered like I had originally planned. Curt being the wild and crazy guy that he is suggested that I just adapt and move the overflow more to right of the aquarium. This placed it offset more to the right, and it looked kinda funky I thought, and I said so. Curt being the super genius that he is, pointed out that I didnt have much choice, unless I felt like redoing everything.....
Suddenly, I found myself enjoying the non traditional offset overflow box.

[Maxx]

The problem with the plumbing was that the Spa flex was too long. This pushed the OM unit out from the tank too far. I have built all of this with the idea of the stand being flush up against the wall of the house to keep the dogs out. But the Spa-flex pushed the OM unit out past the back of the stand by several inches.
Being a former Marine, I attempted to force it. This resulted in ALOT of stress down the closed loop rigid PVC plumbiing that connects the pump with the OM unit. It also put alot of stress against the overflow. Eventually it would have either popped the overflow free of the silicone bindings, (Bad), or would have cracked the closed loop plumbing, (VERY Bad).
I really didnt want to have to cut this stuff, cause it would have meant more boiling water at the very least, and there was the potential to cut it too short necessitating redoing all of that crap again. I didn't want to cut it because I didnt think I would be able to lure Curt back over hear again.
He's getting suspicious since every time he comes over he winds up working on my tank. I may have to bribe himn with some of Rocio's world fameous Chocolate Chip Cookies.....Whaddya say Curt?????
Anyway,
I tried Plan C which involved forcing the Spa flex to submit to will and loop it up and then down to the OM unit. The problem with this was that would have interferred with the canopy.....Grrrr....

[Maxx]

So I broke down and cut it shorter.
I measured it 6 bajillion times and decided that it needed to lose approximately 7 inches from the ends. So I cut it shorter, and brought the tank inside for the boiling water ritual.
Rocio wasnt really thrilled about being pressed into tank moving service, (Cookies Curt!! Rich Chocolaty, Gooey Cookies!!! Cant ya just taste em Curt????), but was a good sport about it. She was also a good sport about helping with the boiling water.
Since the offending Spa-flex was connected to the tank overflow, (which was connected to the tank...), I had to bring the boiling water to the Spa-flex. Naturally this is a two person type job. (Helloooooooo Curt! Anyone seen Curt?)
Rocio held the Pot 'o Boiling Water, and I stuffed the ends of the Spa-flex into the water and tried not to get burned......much.
Once the Spa-flex was warm and pliable, I just stuffed the Threaded/Barbed adapters in. That easy. The threaded part of the adapters was screwed into the OM unit, and teflon taped to get a good seal. The barbed part of the adapters went into the Spa-flex.

Here is a pic of the tank sitting on my kitchen counter waiting for the water to boil.........

Close up.......

Nick

[Maxx]

Here it is after the hot water treatment. Special thanks to my fiance for helping out in so many ways.....she also works well as a hand model.

Thes pics kinda give you a sense of how large the OM unit is. I dont think its too big at all, but its definately built industrial grade strong. I'm impressed with it and I havent even been able to plug it in yet!

And another closeup.....

Nick