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Reef #2 - The Unplanned Upgrade (1 Viewer)

Varig said:
Hrm, I’m trying to understand what you mean by a slip bulkhead screen. Just something like this?

View attachment 64194

The 45 I understand, and you have it just high enough that you get the water level you want in the overflow box with barely any water going into that secondary?

I’m definitely willing to play around. Looking at the weather forecast it seems I have about a week :).

And interesting that it will be different with saltwater. I could understand that the final valve position would be different, but I assumed if I can’t make it silent on freshwater, I won’t be able to make it silent on saltwater?
Click to expand...

Yep exactly that pictured and correct on the 45. And it’s not even a requirement more just for warm and fuzzies that a snail or something could somehow get into the overflow box and in the main drain. Heck the synergy has nothing to stop that.
 
Yea for sure. It’s just an open tube. Easy for something to and up in the gate valve for sure. Looks like a trip to Menards is in order ;)
 
Looks pretty good. You have a few extra bends that I probably would have tried to get out. The only other thing I see is that you don't have any way of limiting or closing the secondary and emergency lines. Most builds I've seen have valves on those, too. It may not be a big deal for you, but you'll have to allow the overflow to empty out if you need to do any work on the lines. Last, I would have suggested using the union gate instead of the hard gate. If you ever need to clean out, it looks like you'll have to cut it off and replace it. congrats on your progress! I'm still building my stand :confused:
 
If you find a union gate, let me know :). That was straight from BRS, the only one I saw, though maybe I’m blind? Perhaps somewhere else on the internet? I can say that it completely disassembles from the valve handle side. So I can easily remove that pipe, remove the gate valve itself from the top, and hopefully that will be enough access. I thought about adding individual unions on either side, but obviously decided against it. Could have been a dumb move.

Genuinely interested which bends you would have removed. In the overflow pipes or the return? The overflows just have 2 total 45s each. Again, it’s my first time so feedback is always good.

Regarding the valves on the secondary and emergency, I did definitely think about those. But it didn’t make sense to me in the end to have them. You never adjust the secondary drain for level on a bean animal as I understand it. And sure re: maintenance, but what I see is with the return pump off the water level drops well below the secondary and emergency, so I can remove those without doing anything special. Meh. I guess time will tell if that was a mistake.

@spsick - to your point I bought a bulkhead strainer and 45 today to try it. I only tried the 45 first on the secondary to see what happened:

IMG_2946.jpeg

Is this what you meant? If so it worked to get the primary to be fully submerged and the water level adjusted so that just a little was coming into the secondary, but it was pretty noisy with the water going into the secondary (much worse than with the reef synergy U bend). Thoughts? Did I do it wrong?

Regardless I like the idea of the strainer on the primary return. I’m going to figure out a way to incorporate that to keep big stuff out of the drain (though I guess it would have to get through the overflow weir first, so maybe nothing big can get through anyway?

Thanks guys!
 
I was looking at the return with respect to bends. With a strong pump, it doesn’t really matter, tho. If the gate comes apart, you can at least clean it out, which is the main issue. I’ve never used the ball valves on my secondary or emergency, so you’re probably fine without them.
It looks really good, honestly.
I had issues with my triple drain being noisy, too. I finally just took out the stand pipe for the main and left it an open hole.
 
Yea, I hear you and understand what you mean. I debated on the return, maybe leaving the pipe at a 45 instead of 90. But couldn’t make the manifold land where I wanted it to. So I just did the 2x 45s to sweep the bend a bit more and figured it would be fine. As you stated, the pump is plenty oversized (I expect to run it at like 20-30%). So should be good to go.

Let me know if you find a true union gate valve though. Something to consider in the future if I have issues.
 
Yeah that looks like the right amount of water going through the 45. Again, saltwater will be quieter because the bubbles are finer.

What size pump are you working with? That overflow is rated for 1200gph but IMO if you want it silent 300gph is a better target.
 
Well the good news is it’s super easy to pull off the u shape thing and try the 45 even once it’s installed.

Re pump, it’s a Sicce 6.0. I estimated with the head loss at max speed it’s maybe 800gpm. I was testing at max speed as I figured that would be the most likely leak. But to your point I expect to only run it at ~250-300gph (~3-4x turnover). I turned it down just to check and for sure it was all quieter. Perhaps it will be good as is.
 
Progress made. Thanks to @zoolan70 I got the tank moved into the house before the freeze.

IMG_2965.jpeg

I’m stilling doing a couple little things before I get actual water in the tank. Again, slowly but surely. Once I’m ready I’ll drain down the old tank and temporarily move it over where the new tank is and get it running again. Then I’ll get the new tank leveled and in position. Scape etc in. Then probably let it continue to cycle for a week or two with the new sand before dumping fish over. We’ll see, for that part perhaps I’ll get impatient. The rock has been cycling for 5 weeks at this point. It’s processing ammonia so I’m sure it would support the fish I have without issues. We’ll see.

Excited to have it so close.
 
Quick update, I got my UV mounted to the back of the stand:

IMG-2987.jpgIMG-2986.jpg

I thought this way it would stay out of the sump area and since I'm leaving it a bit off the wall I could still get back there to change the bulb. I tilted it a little to help clear air bubbles. The lines will be a little backwards, but obviously I will pump into the low side, probably from the first chamber and then it will exit the high side into the return chamber (so that I don't keep circulating the same water). At least that's the plan until you guys tell me I'm a dummy.

Only big thing remaining is for me to buy the 80/20 for my light mount so that I can screw it to the back of the stand before shoving the stand into position. I guess I should really get that ordered....
 
What is an 80/20?
 
Varig said:
Quick update, I got my UV mounted to the back of the stand:

View attachment 64283View attachment 64284

I thought this way it would stay out of the sump area and since I'm leaving it a bit off the wall I could still get back there to change the bulb. I tilted it a little to help clear air bubbles. The lines will be a little backwards, but obviously I will pump into the low side, probably from the first chamber and then it will exit the high side into the return chamber (so that I don't keep circulating the same water). At least that's the plan until you guys tell me I'm a dummy.

Only big thing remaining is for me to buy the 80/20 for my light mount so that I can screw it to the back of the stand before shoving the stand into position. I guess I should really get that ordered....
Click to expand...
Curious to see what’s you come up with for the light mount.
 
80/20 = aluminum extrusion. Like this:

1698723122384.png

Going to mount 2 verticals on the back of the tank, 90 degree at the top to a piece that extends over the tank. Then hang my ATI Powermodule from that. My thought process was that should be pretty future proof for any different type of light I would want to mount in the future. I could just buy some additional extrusion and put a cross piece in or whatever I needed. At least...that's the plan. Definitely excited to see how it turns out vs what is in my head :).
 
Made some progress. The 80/20 came so I got that mounted. I think it’s going to work great. I have caps to hide the unanodized ends. I’ll put them on once the light is all mounted.

IMG_3073.jpegIMG_3074.jpeg

I think I’m really close to the swap. I need to finish plumbing the UV (should be fast). And then get the sand etc rinsed. Perhaps next weekend I’ll finally make the swap. Or at least swap the tank position and get the new one filled with saltwater. I think after the rock swap I’ll let it run for a week or so before moving fish in (rockwork has been dark cycling for close to 8 weeks and is processing ammonia, but I’ll let the sand bed get seeded a bit.).

I’m excited to see it full.

Oh, question. What brand silicone do you guys use inside the tank? I have two little pieces of acrylic to put in (I know silicone doesn’t stick great to acrylic). But due to how the back was originally painted I need to hide two little blue lines. You can see them if you zoom in close to the left and right of the overflow. Plan is to just hide it with some black acrylic since that paint is under the metal rim and can’t be scraped off and painted black.

More to come soon I hope.
 
Some petco’s carry aquarium silicone. If you cant find it there. Norther tool carries a JB weld hand held tube that says great for aquariums on it as well. They have the same stuff in clear and black. But only the clear specifically says good for aquariums.
 
Any silicone is fine as long as it doesn't contain additives. I typically use DAP silicone from Menards because it comes in a nice tube with a cap that actually seals so you can use the tube over and over without it plugging up.

www.menards.com

DAP® Clear All-Purpose 100% Silicone Sealant - 2.8 oz.

DAP® 100% Silicone Window, Door & Siding Sealant is an all-purpose, one component, acetoxy cure sealant ideal for indoor/outdoor use. It provides a watertight, flexible seal that won't crack, crumble or shrink. Once cured, it is unaffected by temperature extremes (-40°F to 400°F).
www.menards.com www.menards.com
 
Thanks guys. I just went ahead and ordered the Aqueon one since it's cheap. Should be there tomorrow, plenty of time to get them applied and have the silicone dry before the tank gets wet.
 
Where is the blue still showing? It was like a plasti-dip type paint so it peels off. Doesn’t help much if tank is in place with water though…
 
Hey Ben. So from what I see the blue is "under" that upper metal rim. Jackie scraped off what she could to paint the back black, but she couldn't remove what was underneath the frame. I assumed the blue was applied at the factory, prior to putting the rim on. Hence the issue. So what she had done, and what I plan to replicate, was just to cover that blue from the inside of the tank with the black acrylic. But I'm open to other, better ideas?

1699383094073.png
 
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