Rimless 120g TSVBI Dream Build

[siliconinja]

Originally Posted by JonezNReef

Super clean build! I will be following along

Thank you! I appreciate you tagging along!

Originally Posted by fishresponse

Was the paint you used oil-based or latex?

I used Gloss Black rustoleum professional which is oil based, following the instructions on the BRS video here: https://youtu.be/b4k7uE6vukQ

I used a 4" foam roller made for cabinetry, the smoothest the depot had.



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[siliconinja]

I'm doing something cool with my wiring! Picked up a 6' stick of plastic wiring chase, something I used to use back in my networking days. So far it's working out perfectly










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[siliconinja]

I also needed to paint the inside of the cut holes in the tank. You could clearly see them even when the bulkheads were installed.

I was careful to apply tape generously to the interior of the tank to prevent any contact with the water. With the gasket I don't see much of an issue, there's really no water contact.

Looks sweet!









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[fishresponse]

I painted the back of my tank black using the same paint and I'm going to have to redo it. Bunch of little lines and bubbles. I think because I used a brush. You used a foam roller right?

Edit- never mind I see you used a 4" foam roller from a few posts above... reading is a skill I will learn some day

[siliconinja]

Originally Posted by fishresponse

I painted the back of my tank black using the same paint and I'm going to have to redo it. Bunch of little lines and bubbles. I think because I used a brush. You used a foam roller right?

Edit- never mind I see you used a 4" foam roller from a few posts above... reading is a skill I will learn some day

After working with the product I can definitely see how that could happen on glass. When using a foam roller, the first coat is incredibly thin, I wish I had taken more photos for you. The "tack coat" is barely covering anything, it looks more like a shadow than black-out. Once you put the second coat on you get real coverage. On the third coat, I shined a light from the interior of the tank to help guide my application and ensure coverage.

I wasn't expecting to do the interior of the cut holes. But as I went to apply the .75" bulkheads again, I quickly found out you can clearly still see the holes from both the interior of the tank, and through the sides of the glass. Even the top of the glass if you are looking for it.

Now that I painted the holes, it looks like a factory job, very happy with the results


Btw my synergy reef shadow overflow comes in today! This weekend will show some major progress!


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[siliconinja]

Synergy Reef 16" Shadow Overflow is in!!
















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[JonezNReef]

Everything is coming together quite nicely. The overflow box looks great too, love how it takes up such little tank space.

[siliconinja]

Originally Posted by JonezNReef

Everything is coming together quite nicely. The overflow box looks great too, love how it takes up such little tank space.

The overflow is an engineering masterpiece. Love it, totally worth the wait!




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[siliconinja]

Tonight we made exceptional progress, pictures first and I'll do my best to cover in text all the ground we covered.

Teaser


Starting electrical wiring


Attaching physical controllers





Electrical wiring side (mostly)



Slow flow tubing side (mostly)




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[siliconinja]

Wiring the Under Tank Area




Pulling tubing / electric / USB



ATO Pump Install



Success! Water flows from the back room all the way to the sump through tunze 3155 pump


Foam installed





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[siliconinja]

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[siliconinja]

My basement was a wreck before we got started. Tomorrow is cleanup day, I'm placing a final order from BRS for a few last plumbing fittings and shipping back whatever I didn't use.





Once I get those final fittings in, I'll finish up the hard plumbing and start filling with water.

I'm thinking I should fill with regular tap water to leak test, then drain and wipe down with RODI. Then finally fill with RODI and get it running to mix salt!


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[siliconinja]

Fixed a couple of issues. First involved the MaxSpect Gyres.

When I first started to scope this tank project, my thought was to use a single MP40 or MP60 to power the whole tank, with the pump placed on the return side.

I heard of several issues with noise and many people told me that the single point of flow origination would lead to unnatural growth patterns in coral. When I visited MACNA I saw the MaxSpect Gyres in person, loved the flow. I spoke with Rick from Synergy Reef about placing one of the Gyres on the internal portion of the Shadow Overflow, he said it could be done and was quite beneficial to surface skimming.

So that brought me to my first issue: the magnet for the Gyre pump doesn't fit in the internal overflow box. I was on the verge of emailing rick to ask if it was ok to use a Dremel to remove the center bracing to allow for placement of the magnet.


Luckily I was cleaning up and found the two spare magnets that came with my osmolator. I'm not sure why tunze shipped it with two spares, but I'm glad it did! The magnets are about 1.5-2" round and we're more than strong enough to hold the pump through the thin overflow box

Speaking of magnet strength, even with the xf250 rated for 3/4" glass, the pump was barely held into place, I was concerned upon initial placement, it with just shy of slowly sliding down. I used the unused magnet to hold the pump on the return side, with 2 magnets it seemed to hold quite well.


With the pumps lined up to 3" below the bottom of the teeth on the overflow's weir, they look pretty fierce. The cable provided is plenty long enough to reach the controller






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[siliconinja]

Separately, I fixed another curious issue. So when we fired up the ATO pump (for which the optical/float sensor and effluent output is in the return section of the sump beneath the tank, and the pump is in the back room within the RODI storage tank) it created a siphon.

After some searching on RC I discovered this is a common issue with the Tunze pump, and most pumps really. Known as a forward siphon, it could not be broken using an inline check valve. The output of the effluent would have to be above the water line in the RODI storage container, even located in the back room, in order for the siphon not to occur.

I toyed with the idea of building an air gap out of 3/4" pvc, a 3/4" reducing bushing to 1/4" npt, and a 1/4" npt to mur-lock. This would have to be mounted high in the column to be functional. I saw too much risk for spillage with this method, and generally unsanitary over time.

I decided to add a vent in the top-off line to break the siphon. I did this by finding the highest point the osmolator pump pushed the water, and installed a tee fitting. I then ran a short piece of 1/4" tubing back into the RODI storage tank.

When the pump runs, it pushes water to both the sump, as well as back into the holding tank. When the pump is shut off, the short tubing breaks the siphon.

The tubing is just long enough to be securely held within the bulkhead in the top of the RODI storage container. It's several inches above the high float sensor, so it would never create a back siphon.






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[siliconinja]

The tank is wet!



















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[siliconinja]

[iliriano6]

Looking nice.


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[siliconinja]

Flow from the Gyres is great!


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[siliconinja]

Originally Posted by iliriano6

Looking nice.


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Thanks Iliriano6!

I'm pretty excited to have hit this milestone. At this time, I've water tested the important stuff without any leaks:

The tank
Both return bulkheads
The overflow

When we started plumbing the tank, I initially did the top manifold of the return plumbing that ran into the return bulkheads.

Next I did the center line of the drain plumbing that had the 1.5" gate valve. I made a mistake in a few ways on this line, needless to say it had a leak in it. I have a fix, it only requires a few parts (~$7) so I've ordered them to make sure it's done right.

I then finished up the other two drain pipes from the overflow box. I finished the plumbing portion of the build with the return line. I initially planned for 3/4" throughout but ended up doing 1" up from the pump and reducing at the 1" T at the top. Because I didn't have a 1" ball valve, but did have a 1" gate valve I installed it on the return line.

Upon start-up, the large leak in the main (center) drain line was found immediately. I changed around the plumbing in the overflow box to test the other two drains. With some tightening of the unions installed throughout, I was able to eliminate all leaks in the other two drain lines. The gate valve on the return leaked a bit, but I found out because it was "out" too far.

All in all, very happy with the plumbing work. I haven't pulled an all nighter in some time, but once we got started I didn't stop until we finished and saw water running in the tank. Started around 8pm and finished around 8am.

Once I fix the main drain line, I'll be able to tune the drain to a full siphon using both gate valves.



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[siliconinja]

Currently the tank is filled with tap water. I setup the apex without network (existing configuration was there) and got the heaters running overnight to test them out.

I'll take some more pictures shortly to show how tight the tolerances are with this plumbing job. This was my first real attempt at plumbing, I'm pretty happy with it over all. I wish I would have known about the gray sch80 glue, but once the tank is boarded up no one will see it. At least I don't have any running primer drip marks or sloppy work!

[JonezNReef]

NICE! Super clean and well planned. Tank looks awesome in place and filled with water.
Quick question, did you drill the top of both elbows in both drains in the OF?

[nursedude]

Incredible build, I can't wait to see it full of life. Please keep the updates coming.

[siliconinja]

Originally Posted by JonezNReef

NICE! Super clean and well planned. Tank looks awesome in place and filled with water.
Quick question, did you drill the top of both elbows in both drains in the OF?

Thank you JonezNReef, I did my best to plan well but I know things will creep up in the future. The space allowed for plumbing was basically minimum allowable. I did my best guess for access door placement in the column, it worked out well to allow access to all important valves and electronics!

The elbows came in pre-drilled with that hole from Synergy Reef. I was under the impression the hole only needed to be added for the stability overflow and not the full siphon main drain, but I guess it's best for safety purposes. The overflow was really well built, but those elbows are starting to split a bit already. I was really thankful I waited for the new Shadow Overflow, the one piece all-abs construction allowed for the right amount of flex for this tight plumbing job.

Steve at Bashsea spaced the inlet bulkheads on the sump at the exact right spacing to match the overflow drains perfectly, which made the plumbing quite a bit easier.

Originally Posted by nursedude

Incredible build, I can't wait to see it full of life. Please keep the updates coming.

I will! I was planning on uploading a video or two soon, the photos don't do well enough! Thanks for the comment and encouragement Nursedude.



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[JonezNReef]

That's odd I was under the impression you would want a full syphon on the primary drain and a hole for air in the secondary so that it could go full syphon if the primary drain clogged and the air hole was covered with water. But like you said that OF is very well made and I'm sure they have there reasons for it.

[siliconinja]

Originally Posted by JonezNReef

That's odd I was under the impression you would want a full syphon on the primary drain and a hole for air in the secondary so that it could go full syphon if the primary drain clogged and the air hole was covered with water. But like you said that OF is very well made and I'm sure they have there reasons for it.

I'm thinking along the same lines, in a few days I'll receive my last couple of plumbing parts (1" union and 1" slip elbow) to hook up the main drain that has the gate valve. Then I'll be able to play with it to tune the overflow to create the full siphon. I may remove the elbow on the siphon drain, and slightly increase the height of the stability Overflow.


I'll report back on my findings, perhaps with video!

Thanks for following along and providing feedback JonezNReef!


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