WilRams

I don't know why I enjoy looking at plumbing pictures so much. Nice work. Glad your taking the writing off. I have used acetone before. Works well.

Small update like they all will be. Got my lights mounted. Found some pretty trick mounts. I really like them. I also started the plumbing. Just a teaser pic for now because of course I'm 4 fittings shy from finishing but should hopefully have water running by midweek! I also finished my little experiment. These mollies have been acclimated to saltwater for about 2 weeks now.

This thread needs pictures!

Ah good to see this thread since I can tell I'm going to run into this issue with the top of container I plan on using.

Forgot to update this. Thanks for the suggestions and advice everyone. To be clear on the 2 gasket deal it is designed to use a gasket on either side of the glass. Not on the same side just incase anyone thought thats what I meant. After an extensive search I found a way to use the bulkheads they supplied. I found the correct adapters. I got adapters that will take me from 20mm to 1/2 (emergency drain), 25mm to 3/4 (return) and 40mm to 1 1/4 (drain). I might step it up to 1 1/2 on the drain only because of the pipe I want to use. I now have the gate valve, pipe, unions and all the fittings I should need. Now just gotta find time to actually do it this weekend.

Awesome!

Correct that is the way I have always used bulkheads. I don't see the need to use both gaskets. If I go with one of the other options I posted I will first try only using the one gasket. I thought about drilling it but the whole would need to be made over half an inch bigger in order to accommodate a 1 1/2 bulkhead. I'll have to post a picture of the overflow. It looks a little tight in there to me. I could also go with a 1 1/4 bulkhead but they are not as easy to find when I went to a LFS or online. Also the slight fact that I personally don't feel comfortable doing it myself.

So I'm trying to do the plumbing on my new tank. Its a Cadlights 100g. I love the tank so far but the fact that it has metric drilled holes and fittings is very frustrating. The tank comes with all the plumbing needed but the drain has a ball valve which id rather switch to a gate valve and has no unions to help servicing later. The emergency and return lines are just hose that I would rather hard plumb for aesthetic reasons. Yeah I know its just the sump but hey. So for all those reasons I want to redo the plumbing. So to start with the drain. Whatever solution I find for this will apply to my other two lines. They use bulkheads unlike I have ever used before. It has a gasket on either side of the glass. The pipe coming out of it is glued into the fitting and it is OD 40mm and ID 35mm. Don't mind the blue tape. Option 1: I was able to find a union that from flex pvc that would slip onto the 40mm and get me to 1 1/14 on the other side. The only problem is I'm not too confident on the 40mm side. The pipe doesn't fit snug like normal fittings. It has a little bit more play then I would like. Would priming and glueing be enough to make up for a small amount of difference? Option 2: I realized the bulkhead had stamped 1 1/4 - 32 on it. I tried a 1 1/4 fitting and sure enough thats the size. Now I'm confused. I messed with it and figured out it is just a 1 1/4 nipple threaded into one side and then the other bulkhead threads onto it. With that I went to the plumbing aisle. I figured on the sump side instead of using their fitting I could use a 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 adapter. That's the fitting that would give me the most surface area onto the glass. After that I could do whatever I please in 1 1/2 pipe and fittings. Would this work? Option 3: Am I missing something? Is there a regular ole regular bulkhead that will work? I tried a 1in bulkhead and it fit perfect. I feel like that would be restricting it way too much though. I don't have a 1 1/4 bulkhead otherwise I would try that to see if I'm lucky. By what I read in my research though that would be a no go. I haven't found a solution looking online at other builds so I'm kind of stumped. Any suggestions or ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks! Side question. They shipped their bulkheads with a gasket on ether side. Is that necessary? When I have used traditional bulkheads they only came with a gasket to use on the inside glass.

Ah bummer.

I will make sure to post up the info. It was only last week and I already lost it the invoice... I can always call the company and figure out who I talked to.

I just picked up a 15 gallon container from Abbey Drum Company in Baltimore. They have every shape and size you could think of in stock. The one I picked up was $35 which I thought was quite reasonable. I could always dig up the contact information for the sales person who I talked to. This is what I bought from them. I know you would be looking at something bigger but just for reference.

Does it have to be gravity fed? I feel like it's over complicating it and maybe not as precise. Would a Smart ATO work for you? Compact, simple, and the price point is much better then a lot of other units.

Well small update. This will be slow going. Got a little done the last two days. Got a laundry sick installed in the basement and got my RO/DI mounted. I just need to clean up the lines since I don't need them that long anymore. On the opposite side of the wall of where the tank is I converted the regular outlet to GFI and turned it around. I will be putting a board to mount all my electronics in here to help keep things clean and out of the stand. I will use the hole left over from the old outlet to run my wires and what not into the stand. I also just about finished with my QT. Just need to do some cord management. These are dual 40 breeders. The bottom one is used for ATO. I didn't need 2 40's but it was cheaper to get 2 40's and a rack. If a fish needs to go into a hospital tank while theres a fish in QT then I can easily convert the bottom tank into a hospital tank. Thats it for now. Just waiting on a metric to standard adapter from flexpvc.com to plumb the big tank.

I see a dude.

It's a Cadlights 48x24x20. Kind of stalled right now. My issue is it comes with metric bulkheads and soft plumbing. I'd rather hard plumb it all throughout but the holes are drilled metric. By what I have researched online my options are redrilling it (I would never trust myself) or using their bulkheads and getting adapters from a place like flexpvc.com Annoying....

Well its finally here! I have been hoarding parts left and right while I waited on the tank to get here. I have spent way too much time online but have managed to get away with some pretty sweet deals. I think I have enough now to get this bad boy going. I have a QT going and am picking up a frag tank from Haywood so this thread should have a lot going on! For now this is all you get... Of course it showed up Wednesday in the snow...

So just as a general blanket treatment Coral RX ad Revive seem to be the ones?

It's great! Until I go to pay the credit card....

Lol I just noticed the great autocorrect... Paid up the day I signed up to the forums so I'm all set. I did the family deal so the GF can join in.

I'm driving all the way from Owings Mills and not complaining about it one bit! Looking forward to my first mamas meeting.

To think we were both doing the same thing at almost the same time...

If you don't mind since this is close enough on topic is there general information on meetings? I have been to plenty fish meeting (CCA) but this will be my first WAMAS meeting.

Has yours shipped out? Mine was suppose to ship out last week....but they keep pushing it back because FedEx/UPS keeps running out of trucks so they say. Kind of annoying.

Nice. I love those Deep Blue 60 tanks.

Thought about going first thing tomorrow morning before the games but I wonder if it will be extremely busy.