Project 58!! (Image intense)

[livingreef2004]

maxx if they get stuck again you can heat the hose with a hair dryer if they are dry and the spa flex will be flexible again and the barb will come out ive had the same problem b4 hope that helps

[Maxx]

Update!!!!
Alright...I've been a huge tease lately, and havent shown any pics.....well, I'm doing the exact same thing again here.
However, I've had alot going on.....got engaged....the whole world had to be put on hold until we got her ring squared away and figured out where, and when the wedding and reception were going to be. At last, I'm sorta back to being able to work on the tank.
Okay....I had every thing plumbed up, and dry fitted. The I started gluing....I was really kinda nervous about messing with that since I had never done it before. It was a snap. Nothing to worry about at all.
Naturally the problems came into to play AFTER I had glued all the closed loop plumbing and the return plumbing.
I didnt like any of it. It made things 1000 times more complicated and was definately not user friendly, which was one of the original goals for this tank.
So......I scrapped it, and started over. Got it done in a couple of hours, made things much more user friendly, saved space and used less PVC in the process. I also made a big decision to bite the bullet, and order a new skimmer in place of the ETSS 600 clone I have. The ETSS is a great skimmer, just took up alot more space under my stand and behind my tank than made me happy. It was actually the source for all of the non user friendly plumbing in the first place, what with trying to work around that monster. So I ordered the biggest skimmer I could squeeze into my sump, a Euro-Reef CS6-2. Hopefully it will get here soon. I just finished gluing the final coupling to the return plumbing, and I expect to be able to start the wet testing, (looking for leaks) tomorrow.
Unfortunately, I now have to go to work.
Pics will follow soon folks, thanks for being patient!
Nick

[Spooda420]

Nick congrats on the engagement and the tank, seems like its coming along slowly but surely, and thats what counts.

lemme kow how you like the ER

Chris

[Maxx]

Started the wet test today. I found three small leaks immediately, and that was it. The first leak was from the 1 inch drain bulkhead to from the overflow. It was easily fixed by tightening the bulkhead a little more.
The next two were in the closed loop itself. The Oceans Motions HD 4 way unit has a 2 inch female pipe threaded opening to feed it. My Iwaki 55RLT has 1 inch ports, so I bought a 2 inch to 1 inch adapter to make the transition. Evidently I forgot to put teflon tape on the threads of the adapter and had a slow, seeping leak as water forced its way through the threads. I removed that piece and covered the threads with teflon tape. The final leak was a slow steady 2 drips a minute from one of the 45 degree elbows of a return arm from the OM unit. Rather than attempt to make something work, I just made another one from the numerous extra plumbing parts I had from Lowes. A quick word of advice:
ALWAYS BUY 4 MORE ELBOWS/ADAPTERS/COUPLINGS/T'S/ETC, WHEN MAKING PLUMBING PURCHASES!!! THIS WILL SAVE YOU FROM MAKING 10 BAZILLION TRIPS TO HOME DEPOT/ LOWES AND HAVING THE PLUMBING PEOPLE PUT A RESTRAINING ORDER ON YOU BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY ARE BEING STALKED!!
I glued the new arm in place about an hour ago, it should be ready to fire up again by tomorrow. I did have the Iwaki and the OM unit fired up for about 5 minutes while I did a quick check for leaks........it was AWESOME!!!! The flow generated y this combination in my 58 gallon tank was nothing short of amazing. I may have to adjust things abit by splitting my loc-line returns even more than they already are. Currently, each of the 4 returns from the closed loop go to a Loc-line Y which turns 4 outlets into 8. I may have to go to 16 outlets total. It doesnt looklike keeping SPS with this much random current will be a problem. I may be severely limited in my ability to keep clams though......
It will definately require some creative rock work design to "make" some low flow areas.
Pics, where are the Pics you ask????? My camera batteries crapped out when trying to take just one shot of the set up wet-testing in the garage. The battery is re-charging, but it wont be ready in time for me to take pics before I have to go to work tonight. I'm sorry guys...
But I am very excited to have this beast finally filled with water, (even if it is sitting in my garage).
Nick

[TDEVIL]

now get that in the room and running

i was wandering if there was going to be more flow than you actually thought
the scaping challenge begins

Jay

[cheeks69]

ALWAYS BUY 4 MORE ELBOWS/ADAPTERS/COUPLINGS/T'S/ETC, WHEN MAKING PLUMBING PURCHASES!!! THIS WILL SAVE YOU FROM MAKING 10 BAZILLION TRIPS TO HOME DEPOT/ LOWES AND HAVING THE PLUMBING PEOPLE PUT A RESTRAINING ORDER ON YOU BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY ARE BEING STALKED!!

Boy I can really relate to that

But I am very excited to have this beast finally filled with water, (even if it is sitting in my garage).

Thats great news Nick can't wait to see the pics.

[Maxx]

Thanks guys....
I just got back from work, (gotta love midnights!!) and had to fire everything up just to see..... No Leaks!!!! Yay for my side!!!
I will leave it all running for approximately 3 days just to see if any leaks develop before I bring it all into the house. I really kinda doubt any will, but it never hurts. Besides I have to stain and seal the canopy/light box support arms....which ought to take about 3 days. My only concern at this point is electrical. This house is old and has a 100 amp box for our floor. I'm worried that the circuit breakers will trip if I run my lights, pumps, and central air simultaneously. Any ideas from you electrical gurus out there on how to check this out besides plugging everything in, turning it on, and seeing if my house explodes?
BTW, I will post pics after I get some sleep.
Nick

[Maxx]

Pics as promised!
This is a frontal shot of the closed loop system using the OceansMottions Heavy Duty 4 way unit. I'm loving this thing!! The Spa-Flex runs into the overflow to two ports coming out the sides of my overflow. This lets me hit the bottom of the tank with a random flow as well.



Nick

[Maxx]

Left side of OceansMotions closed loop showing plumbing. I built a small shelf behind the tank to support the Iwaki pump. You can also see the closed loop intake priming hook. The priming hook allows me to fill the pump with water for starting it. Note- the priming hook needs to be airtight in order to prevent air from being sucked into the closed loop and causing a micro-bubble problem from Hell! So make sure the threaded cap at the top is sealed with teflon tape.



Nick

[Maxx]

Right side of the closed loop. This image also shows the PVC P trap I used for the sump return in order to eliminate 45 or 90 degree angles in the plumbing which would impede flow. The Rigid PVC arm really is slightly curved. I heated it up using boiling water and bent it in order to fit the outside of the tank better.



Nick

[Maxx]

This image shows my overflow drain. I have placed it beneath the surface of the water in order to reduce noise and splashing. It is not glued in place. I just moved it rearward to be visible for this photo. The two 90 degree elbows are for securing a filter sock to the drain to remove larger bits of debris that will be kicked up when I turkey baste the rocks. This where my Euro-Reef CS6-2 in sump skimmer will go. There is plenty of room to access it back here, and it wont get in the way of my plumbing.



Nick

[Maxx]

This is the sump return. I used 1/2 inch P traps in order to avoid using 45 or 90 degree elbows which would reduce flow. I honestly dont know how much more efficient these are....but I'm guessing they work better this way since there are gentle curves in the plumbing as opposed to sharper angles. I will do a test later to calculate how much water this is moving, (Mag 7 with about 4 feet of head...According to Custom Aquatic's catalog, it should be in the vicinity of 460 GPH if I remember correctly). I will also use the RC flow calculator and estimate what the flow would be using 45 degree elbows and also with 90 degree elbows just to compare.
These Rigid P traps were available at Lowes, and were available in 1/2 and 3/4 inch sizes. I was not able to find them at Home Depot, (actually got blank looks when I asked about them).


Nick

[Maxx]

Its uh......a top down (sorta) shot of my closed loop and sump return. The top left OM return is transition to run while this photo was taken.



Nick

[Maxx]

Priming hook for closed loop intake. The threaded cap at the top unscrews and allows water to be poured into the pump to get it primed for starting. Also shows Loc-Line Y return.
This also shows how I colored the PVC inside the tank black. I saw a thread on RC where Randy Holmes Farley said a Black Sharpie magic marker would not harm a reef tank.....so rather than spend $40 something on a gallon of reef safe epoxy from Aquatic Ecosystems, I just uh...colored it in. If you look closely at it in person, you can see variations in the color, (darker and lighter etc) but when the back of the tank is painted it will be much less distracting than the white PVC would have been.



Nick

[Hooked]

Wow Nick, that's awesome (although that first pic is going to give me nightmares!!!)

The P traps are a great idea. Based on the turbulence on the surface, it looks like you're going to have great flow!