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Unread 02/01/2010, 09:13 PM   #51
teesquare
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If I can suggest - about gluing this stuff:

I like the clear primer/cleaner (- comes in a yellow can at Lowe's). Be liberal with it on the flex pipe. There is some form release agent on it, that really needs to be cleaned off well. Before it has a chance to dry - using a clean paper towel wipe it off well. It will flash dry - then, re-wet with primer.
Prime the hard PVC fittings one good time, and as they flash off - apply the PVC glue to both pieces - and push, rotate until you feel the glue begin to "bite" into the pipe. Hold it for a few seconds. Done.

It is a bit more involved than regular - rigid PVC pipe. But the ability to avoid so many flow reducing ells, and it is quieter - make it worthwhile. And - it is faster to put in place as well.
T


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Unread 02/03/2010, 06:25 AM   #52
RichK
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I see you are using the standard overflows. What are your plans for keeping them silent? I am going with the same tank, but I am thinking about an internal coastal overflow about 6-8: deep and 6" front to back with 4 1.5" bulkheads. I am planning on using the method that Beanimal wrote about. My main reason for this is that the tank will be viewable on both sides and the front, which will all be starphire.


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Unread 02/03/2010, 07:32 AM   #53
teesquare
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RichK- sounds verymuch like what I did, witht eh 4 holed BeanAnimal/Coast to Coast style
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...eefer%21%21%21

T


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Unread 02/03/2010, 08:00 AM   #54
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I just found your thread T. I like it but I think I want the overflow inside the tank to get as close to the wall as possible.


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Unread 02/05/2010, 04:22 PM   #55
teesquare
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coralnewbee View Post
too much work
not enough experience ....

Actually the work is much less --- if ---you take the time to set up the tank right.


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Unread 02/05/2010, 09:05 PM   #56
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RichK We are going to experiment! For starters, we are going to mod the overflow by widening and cutting out the stock teeth, like Steve's overflow mod., only wider. My first attempt is going to be a herbie/BeanAnimal hybrid with a full siphon and emergency/open channel durso in each overflow. Thanks to T, I've got a new plan to add a second drain line down to the sump (that will be this weekend's project). Here's a pic of the revised drain line plumbing plan:


On the left is the durso line - 1" BH to a union, then 1" spa flex into the 1.5" combo wye and 1.5" drain line down to the sump.

On the right is the herbie line - 1" union valves into 1.5" spa flex, then into the 2" combo wye and 2" drain line down to the sump.



On the "struggling to keep 180g setup in a 125g holding tank" topic:
I was traveling out of state on business this week. Terry was baby sitting the 125g (feeding, top off, 2-part dosing, etc.)

Yesterday, I'm in a big meeting when I get an SMS text from Terry. Here's how the text conversation went:
Quote:
2:52 We lost the wrasse
2:59 NOOOOOOOOO! What happened!!??!
2:59 no idea... can't find him. was fine last night. couldn't find him at am or pm feeding. ckd sump and overflow. must have jumped...
8:34 any sign of the wrasse yet?
8:42 nope.
Our African leopard wrasse is one of our prize pets. I was quite distraught. Actually, both of us were. So after 12 hours of airports, delays, snow, sleet and blah blah I finally arrived back home this evening. I went down to the garage and in an act of denial I took the big flash light and looked all around for the leopard. Behind the tank? nope. In the sump? nope. Skimmer? nope. Last ditch, look in the overflows again. BINGO! There's the leopard looking anxious and hungry!!

We crack open a cold beer and celebrate one of life's small victories!



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Current Tank Info: 200g temp garage tank

Last edited by Dino; 04/20/2013 at 04:48 AM.
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Unread 02/05/2010, 09:10 PM   #57
teesquare
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I smell primer and glue......Mother's milk to a Reef-a-holic!!!

T


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Unread 02/06/2010, 06:06 AM   #58
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Mike, that sounds interesting. I'm very curious as to how you are adding the second drain and will patiently wait for the pics/results. I am still really unsure of what I am going to do overflow-wise. It all depends on where the tank goes and how much room I have.


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Unread 02/06/2010, 10:28 PM   #59
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Alrighty!
Another snowy weekend here in the mid-Atlantic:


What better to do than stay inside and play with PVC!
Under the tank, recall that we already had two holes going through into the laundry room.
We just needed to cut a new one for the new 2" drain for the herbies. It needed to be lower than the old drain line because we need to leave room for the combo wyes and other goodies that will tie both herbie lines together. Here's a pic showing the new 2" hole:


This is how we are making the transitions through the wall. This rig is essentially two long-turn 90's with an extension in between (we'll dial them into just the right direction on the display room side once we connect up the drain lines):


On the laundry room side, we attach the 2" spa flex up to the wall pass-through piece. Thanks to T for the refresher on the spa flex cementing process. The only thing we recommend is to use Weld-on 795 for spa flex instead of regular pvc cement. I read that somewhere several years ago and have always used it for that extra piece of mind:


And of course, we need Hermione the plumbing inspector to ensure the hole was up to code:


Next up was just more of the same. Cut a new hole for the 1.5" drain line for the open channel/emergency dursos. Put together a through-the-wall-transition piece, and connect up the 1.5" spa flex. Here's a shot from the laundry room side showing both drain lines and the 1" return line passing through the wall:


And here's looking down the other direction as those three lines pass into the now-bigger-than-ever hole into the garage:



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Current Tank Info: 200g temp garage tank

Last edited by Dino; 04/20/2013 at 04:49 AM.
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Unread 02/06/2010, 10:35 PM   #60
teesquare
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" I love the smell of PVC glue in the morning...."

Keep up the good work!
T


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Unread 02/06/2010, 10:43 PM   #61
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Continuing the snow-day plumbing fun...

Once we had the spa flex drain lines coming out into the garage, we needed to join them up to the hard pvc lines that will continue the run down into the sump room. It's not exactly a straight shot, since we have to curve around slightly behind the water heater and such, so for the big honkin' 2" line, we used a 22.5 degree elbow to help take some strain off of the joint. The 1.5" line didn't have that much of a strain so we just used a standard coupler:


Here's a shot of the lines coming into the "sump shack". That hole needed to be enlarged a bit too. We spent considerable time researching the whole "rise over run" thing to ensure that we had sufficient angles on the drain lines. Not sure we ever really got a conclusive answer, but there is well over 1/4" rise per linear foot, and from what we read, that should be sufficient:


This is a bit of a wider-angle shot to show the drain lines coming across the sump. We intend to have the 2" with the swoop T feeding the skimmer and overflowing into the left most end of the sump. The 1.5" line will just dump into that same compartment:


Finally, we did some dry fitting of the combo wye fittings up in the display room under the stand. It may change a bit once the tank arrives and we actually plumb in the lines from the drain bulkheads.


This seems like just a simple little bit of the overall work, but wow was it time-consuming. Took us the better part of all day to do it.

Now it's time for a beer before bed. Let us know what you guys think so far!!
We just love reading your comments and your advice has been very helpful.


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Current Tank Info: 200g temp garage tank

Last edited by Dino; 04/20/2013 at 04:49 AM.
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Unread 02/07/2010, 05:58 AM   #62
RichK
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Looking good Mike. I spent the day painting and cleaning up around the house. Then I went outside to try and dig out from the 20" of snow we got. Your garage must be pretty warm to keep the sump out there.


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Unread 02/08/2010, 10:36 PM   #63
prop-frags
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RichK View Post
Looking good Mike. I spent the day painting and cleaning up around the house. Then I went outside to try and dig out from the 20" of snow we got. Your garage must be pretty warm to keep the sump out there.
Thanks Rich!
The pump shack out in the garage is well insulated. The garage isn't all that warm. It gets down in the 50's out there, but we've got a few heaters in the tank to keep it toasty. The nights where we get down in the teens, I will sometimes put a little oil-filled space heater out there to give the tank heaters a little help.


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Unread 02/09/2010, 09:17 PM   #64
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A minor update:

Did a little bit of plumbing on the CL pump and OM-4.
The 2" stuff is just so large and heavy. We think the best way to handle this is to keep the union valve on the ground to keep all that weight off of the intake bulkhead. We also want to use the spa flex between the bulkheads and the pump and OM-4, to isolate the noise and vibration, and to provide a little flexibility in moving the pump around a bit. We used a 1.5" union on the outlet of the pump to the OM4. We figured since we would be putting union valves on the outlet lines and the intake, a valve between the pump and OM-4 seems like a waste.


Another cool development is we went over to the quartz supply warehouse today and picked up samples to decide on the countertop/surround for the stand. We have it narrowed to these two:


The great thing about this quartz (it's the Cambria brand) is that it's a sealed finish product so no salt messing with it, and its very resistant to staining or scratches, unlike granite or marble. What do you guys think? I'm leaning towards the darker one on the left and Terry likes the one on the right. Any preferences?


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Current Tank Info: 200g temp garage tank

Last edited by Dino; 04/20/2013 at 04:50 AM.
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Unread 02/09/2010, 09:40 PM   #65
teesquare
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Just a thought Mike....If you ever need to remove the OM-4 ( and - it is likely) for just maintenance, or to replace a part - whatever the reason - you may want to put another TUBV immediately below the OM-4. It looks like it will be easy for you, because the Lowes unions are compatible with the Tru Union Ball Valves that they sell.
And - the same for all of the 1'' pipes coming off of the OM-4! makes it much simpler....
Looking Good!
T


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Unread 02/10/2010, 12:42 AM   #66
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Quote:
Originally Posted by teesquare View Post
Just a thought Mike....If you ever need to remove the OM-4 ( and - it is likely) for just maintenance, or to replace a part - whatever the reason - you may want to put another TUBV immediately below the OM-4. It looks like it will be easy for you, because the Lowes unions are compatible with the Tru Union Ball Valves that they sell.
And - the same for all of the 1'' pipes coming off of the OM-4! makes it much simpler....
Looking Good!
T
Absolutely required to put TUBVs on the pipes coming off the OM-4.

Although I did put valves between the OM4way and my pumps, in practice I don't really use them and the valve on the pump intake is adequate. The union alone will allow for removal of the OM4way...the trick is draining the water out of the pipe before you crack open the union. There is a 1/4" drain at the bottom of the pump that you can tap into with a bit of planning.


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Unread 02/10/2010, 07:27 AM   #67
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Mike, I like your choices for the countertop. I like the darker one as well. Although the lighter one looks great, I think it will draw too much attention to the black frame of the tank. With the darker material, the frame will blend in and keep your attention on the contents of the tank. Either way, I think it is going to look awesome!


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Unread 02/10/2010, 08:02 AM   #68
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Mike, I vote for the darker one as well. Nice contrast to the wood finish and the colors in the tank.


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Unread 02/10/2010, 10:17 PM   #69
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It looking really good Mike. If you need any help just call. Dont be shy about calling. Anna said it would give her a chance to get to talk to your wife again. Cant wait until we get to see it full. After what the 180 looked like i cant imagine this one.


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Unread 02/10/2010, 10:38 PM   #70
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Liken the lighter one as it goes better w/ your stand.


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Unread 02/11/2010, 08:08 AM   #71
teesquare
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Regardless of your color choice - that is going to be one "classy chasis"

T


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Unread 02/11/2010, 06:45 PM   #72
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Untamed12 View Post
Absolutely required to put TUBVs on the pipes coming off the OM-4.

Although I did put valves between the OM4way and my pumps, in practice I don't really use them and the valve on the pump intake is adequate. The union alone will allow for removal of the OM4way...the trick is draining the water out of the pipe before you crack open the union. There is a 1/4" drain at the bottom of the pump that you can tap into with a bit of planning.
Good tip on using the pump drain. We'll look into using that to neatly control the drainage when we need to take the OM4 & CL pump off line for maintenance. Did you actually plumb a drain line into that with a valve on it? On the 180, we would just put a pail under the TUBV when we cracked it open and then clean up the mess afterwords

Quote:
RichK Mike, I like your choices for the countertop. I like the darker one as well. Although the lighter one looks great, I think it will draw too much attention to the black frame of the tank. With the darker material, the frame will blend in and keep your attention on the contents of the tank. Either way, I think it is going to look awesome!

blumoon reefers Mike, I vote for the darker one as well. Nice contrast to the wood finish and the colors in the tank.

PSU Liken the lighter one as it goes better w/ your stand.

teesquare Regardless of your color choice - that is going to be one "classy chasis"
Thank you all for your votes. We both really appreciate you taking the time to share your ideas. The countertop installer is coming Monday, so we had to make our choice last night. The decision was tough. We're going with the darker one. Of course, Terry wants to get rid of the formica in the kitchen - you don't think I could get away with putting quartz on the fish tank and her not getting new countertops for the kitchen do you? Good thing I'm getting a tax refund. Just so you know, we're putting both colors in the kitchen. Let us know if you want details on the whole kitchen thing

Quote:
lhcorals It looking really good Mike. If you need any help just call. Dont be shy about calling. Anna said it would give her a chance to get to talk to your wife again. Cant wait until we get to see it full. After what the 180 looked like i cant imagine this one.
Lynn: thanks so much. I can only hope it looks as good as your setup. We'll definitely have you guys over!! Maybe we'll have an aquascaping party. You guys probably got 3 feet of snow up there didn't ya?



Speaking of snow...
The tank is delayed again. Snow is not our friend for a tank that needs to come from New York down through mid-atlantic that has gone through one of the worst winters in recorded history. Our dealer tells us that maybe Friday, or more likely next Tuesday is when we'll get the tank.

Same goes for the LME reflectors. The UPS tracking says "weather advisory" and they are stuck in Pennsylvania somewhere...

On the upside, the delays give us more pause, and more time to do planning and prep work. We really need to get crackin' on the aquascaping tests with the fiberglass rods. Has anyone used the fiberglass rods before? What method did you use to secure the rock to the rods? Epoxy? What kind?


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Unread 02/11/2010, 06:47 PM   #73
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Mike,

Same for us...if you need help, just let Chuck and I know. We will be glad to help.


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Unread 02/11/2010, 07:51 PM   #74
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On the upside, the delays give us more pause, and more time to do planning and prep work. We really need to get crackin' on the aquascaping tests with the fiberglass rods. Has anyone used the fiberglass rods before? What method did you use to secure the rock to the rods? Epoxy? What kind?

Mike, when i built my column i used 1/2" schedule 40 PVC. I put together some nice size rock and it has held up really well. As far as epoxy i have no complaints about this one:
http://www.theaquariumsolution.com/f...scape+Pack.jpg

It is easy to mix up and is very strong after it sets up.


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Unread 02/12/2010, 12:21 AM   #75
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Quote:
Originally Posted by prop-frags View Post
Good tip on using the pump drain. We'll look into using that to neatly control the drainage when we need to take the OM4 & CL pump off line for maintenance. Did you actually plumb a drain line into that with a valve on it? On the 180, we would just put a pail under the TUBV when we cracked it open and then clean up the mess afterwords
I didn't plumb a line into that 1/4" drain on the pump. I saw someone who screwed a 1/4" valve right onto the pump, replacing the drain plug. That seems a good idea to me.

You can drain the line by just cracking the union on the pump side of the TUBV on the pump intake. This is actually what I do. However, better planning than me would have placed the pump HIGHER, so that it is possible to get a tray or bucket underneath there. If you put the pump right on the floor, there isn't enough height there to do that. Key here is to learn from other's mistakes...that is one of mine.


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