EBR

sorry to see this thread, Jason. PM on the way.

Very nice work, Bob. (and poor form for not progress pictures ;-) What did you use to prime/finish? And how do you like the center vac system? It (or it's tubing) appears to be integrated into the bench -- is that right? I wish I had the space for that. Very, very cool. Matt

I think it could be a fun way to level the playing field for those that don't have super fancy-schmanzy $500 cameras. On the other hand, not everyone has a cell phone with a fancy-schmanzy camera built in (which is why I didn't have much to say at first ;-) I know, it's a tough call either way.

One problem with taking two years to gather the pieces and parts for this tank has been the occasional time when I forget what I already have. Case in point: I somehow now have two automatic top off systems. Funny thing is, I got them both from the same person! The first is the Tunze Osmolator that I got with a bunch of other stuff: The second is the Tsunami AT1, which I got about a year before the Tunze when the same person upgraded to the Tunze: I guess I'll try them both out while I still have the garden-hose water in the tank, although I think I'll stay with the Tunze for the overflow protection. But it does seem to be missing a couple of mounting clamps (now, just where IS that scrap piece of acrylic I saw a month ago??). Matt

Hmmmm. Hadn't really considered that, as the piece is really jammed in there -- but nothing a spot of glue wouldn't hurt. Thanks. Matt

Thanks for the kind words, Alex -- very nice of you -- although there are a lot people involved, directly and indirectly to get it this far. I'm just trying to keep the momentum going and get the doors made and the canopy finished. After all, it's only been two years in the making (ugh). More updates soon...

Thanks, Guys -- I'm glad you like it. A little update -- The return from the sump is split in two, and this is the one on the far end furthest from the drain -- just a way to get all of the surface scum to the drain: And I think I finally got the drain noise under control. Funny thing is, this is nothing new, as I've seen it on other tanks before -- this was the first time, though, that I put together why it works. Looking at the unmodified drain here: You see how the funnel effect takes advantage of the wide pipe, thus the length of the funnel itself can reach quite far into the elbow itself, creating a cavernous echo as the water passes down its gullet. So I thought that if the surface area of the whirpool were somehow constrained (thus the length of the resulting funnel is reduced), it might make less noise. So then there is this, a simple scrap of egg crate to fit inside the lip of the elbow: As an added bonus, it prevents the little critters from taking a short ride to the sump (thanks for the reminder, Charlie). Each hole of the egg crate effectively creates a bunch of smaller whirlpools instead of one huge one. The result (compare with the previous video): Finally, I needed a way to keep the power cords out of the way inside the tank, and came up with this. Just a spare section of 1" PVC with a bunch of 1/2" holes drilled all over it -- basically, just a lot of places to zip-tie anything up and out of the way: Now that the water noise is managed, I'm hoping to start filling it with SW this weekend :-) Matt

After several nights of trial and error, and drilling out the wrong parts with the wrong sized holes, and then going BACK to True Value for more of the same parts (uh, twice) I think the drain noise is almost gone. The crashing sound in the sump is all but gone, thanks to a suggestion from YBeNormal: The gurgling/slurping behind the tank where the drain exits the bulkhead has also stopped (again, thanks YBeNormal). Amazing what a little piece of CPVC can do -- I haven't cut the pipe to length yet here: All that's left is the noise from the drain itself at the water surface. Basically, it simply just the sound of water rushing through a hollow tube (imagine that?) -- no gurgles, no splashes: And here's a video/sound that I hope gives you a good idea of what I'm talking about. The crashing sound at the end is my daughter dropping her princess tea set (ugh): Any ideas how to silence this a bit more? Thanks. Matt

Now THIS is advice I wish I had when I first started my 55g (which is also only 12" wide). Being new to this at the time, I was told "a pound of rock for every gallon -- one and a half, really. Now TWO pounds per gallon... now you're cooking!" So I dutifully went and bought 110 pounds of rock for a 55g. Yeah. It took some time to figure it out (ugh), but I finally ripped half of it out. Here is a thread on CMAS when I overhauled the entire tank: Refresh for a 55g The first picture is the before shot, a rock wall in all it's glory. It was all stacked in the middle so that I could get some flow in the back, but that never really worked. The next photos, and those on page 3, show a better open arrangement, a) with less rock, b) some beach-front real estate in the front, and c) taking advantage of the back wall to gently lean some rocks. Note the maxijets on the egg-crate stands. There is one in each back corner, blowing toward the middle -- those have actually helped a lot to keep the detritus out of there and accessible for cleaning. Hope this helps. Good luck -- and post some pics! We love pictures. Matt

darn, physics is cool! Having just stuck in a 1/2" PVC into the T behind the drain, I feel kinda silly for not thinking of it myself, only because it makes so much sense. Basically, this moves the point at which the air gets sucked in further down the line instead of at the opening. Beautiful -- thanks! Now just gotta figure out a neat way to attach it in place :-) And there is some noise where the water enters the sump, but I need another trip to the hardware store for the right sized T. Confidence is high, however -- it, too, makes a lot of sense -- give it a source of air where YOU want it, not where IT wants it :-) Again, many thanks. Whoo Hoo! Matt

I just stumbled on this thread as I am setting up a new 125g, and took your advice. Many thanks! I had the returns plumbed with 3/4", and realized the 1" would be better after reading your pretty solid argument. Thanks again. Matt

Good news: I followed the advice of the thread I mentioned, and replumbed the return with 1" all around, and am MUCH happier with the flow -- many thanks to dchild for posting a most compelling argument :-) Bad news: after re-plumbing the drain from 1 1/2" to 1 1/4", it still sounds awful. I got the gurgling and air-sucking to stop with a ball valve to recirculate back into the sump (effectively cutting the flow back to the tank), but the crashing water is still much too loud, compared to others' tank I've seen on tank tours. So what else could I do? The drain is straight PVC with two 45 degree elbows before reaching the sump, and it is positioned at an angle so that it is not a vertical drop. The return is powered by an Eheim 1262, which at 5' of head should be putting out about 600 gph. Thanks. Matt

Yeah, me, too! And thanks for the kind words. Last night I re-plumbed the drain into the basement, as the trap underneath had a small leak (so annoying). Next, I need to give the inside of the tank a good cleaning (still has a bit of schmutz from the previous set up), drain it, and start filling it with RO/DI. There was another thread here about plumbing sizes, and I think I'm convinced to change the return to 1" rather than the 3/4" I have now. The return flow is good, but this is going to be the last time I'll be able to move the tank away from the wall. Matt

I agree. I've been debating how to 'scape my 125, and have been leaning toward two islands with beach front in the middle, but I like your take where one is larger than the other. Sort of a main island with a smaller barrier beach. I've never been diligent about taking FTSs on a regular interval -- need to work on that. Very cool tank -- thanks for sharing. Matt

My wife got home yesterday with the camera, so here is the result of last week's work, which entailed: 1) getting the tank in the house and on the stand 2) finishing the plumbing for the overflow, drain and returns 3) building the canopy To wit: Some close ups of the canopy. Obviously, it's not finished -- in fact, I still need to plug the screw holes, sand, stain, and finish, but I wanted to fit it to the tank and get the plumbing run (and any access holes drilled) beforehand. I'm pretty happy with it, although I may beef up the top rail a bit -- it just doesn't have the same visual heft: The lid will flip up from the back (T5 lights), and will rest along the internal rail around the edge Inside supports: And the plumbing. Eheim 1262, ASM G4, and NAGA original sump that I won on a raffle: Turns out the overflow drain (made with 1 1/2" PVC) sounds like a bucket of water crashing into a hollow pit, so I'm going to re-plumb it with 1.25" PVC to try and quiet it down. Of course, the tank is now too close to wall to unscrew the pipe -- but that's OK. I need to drain the tank (it's just got garden hose water) and move it out a bit for some other things I want to do (like add a support onto the stand for a future closed loop pump). And I am really (no, I mean it -- REALLY happy) with the direct-to-drain connection from the sump. Water changes are gonna be sweet :-) Matt

Like it says -- I've got a PVC joint that turns out to have a slight leak. Normally, I'd cut out the offending coupling and replace with a new one -- but it's in a pretty awkward location and is not be easy to reach. Is there a way to seal it? I doubt that glopping more PVC cement on the joint would work, but what about something like the stuff to join acrylic? (I forgot the brand name -- Weld On, I think?) Any suggestions welcome. Thanks. Matt

Sounds good, thanks. I went ahead and leveled it, and it turned out to not be as big a chore as I feared -- it's amazing how well a simple 2x4 does as a lever ;-) The stand sat flat to the floor, and the tank is flat to the stand -- it's just that the floor tilted a bit -- a whopping .29 degrees. Not much at all, but enough to throw off the flow rate through the two drains. Anyway, I think it's spot-on now :-) Thanks for the help -- I'll post pictures soon. Matt

Made a bit of progress this past week, and made the canopy and got the tank in the house! Whoo Hoo! The canopy still needs to be sanded, stained, and finished, but the basic structure with moldings is all done. I'll posted pics soon. And let me tell you, the combination of the stand, tank, and canopy creates a rather imposing piece of furniture. I knew the whole thing would be 7 feet tall, but darn -- that's big. Anyway, I'm getting ready to level the stand, and am debating with myself how picky I need to be. From left to right, the height difference is about 1/4" (over a six foot span), and should be pretty straight-forward to level out. But from front to back, the difference is a little less than 1/8", and being that the low side is against the wall, the shims won't be as easy to get at. Do-able, but just a PITA. ==> Will this little bit of a difference pose that much of a risk? Thanks. Matt

What is it doing (or not doing) that is of concern? Can you test the output of the DI, and is it near or at zero TDS? Can you post a picture of the entire setup, with all hoses and connections visible? I'd like to see where the yellow and blue are attached. Do you have an RO bypass so that you hook up the RO output for drinking water? Did you use the color hoses they recommend? I have only the experience of installing one unit, and the colors were: red == raw, unfiltered water black == waste water blue (or clear) is RO or DI As for the valve, I'm not sure why it would on the output, unless the red line is really the input. This would allow you to shut the supply to the system for maintenance, etc. Let's start there before going further ;-) Thanks. Matt

Well, now isn't that a handy little calculator. Thanks! Matt

Cool - thanks for the sanity check, guys. Much appreciated. Matt

Sorry about that -- I had to check the LaMonte kit to confirm, but it is "ppm total alkalinity in ppm calcium carbonate CaCO3"

Yup, I can see that -- I actually saved as much of the existing water as I could during the move. Matt

Thanks. and yeah, the lights were not on this morning when I sampled the water -- in fact, the actinics just turned on as I'm typing this -- and yes, I agree with the 8.2-ish target. I think the move and big water change had a much bigger impact than I appreciated. But I think the regular dosing will bring it back in line, no? Matt

Hey Everyone -- Well, the one head of the hammer that was retracted has totally disappeared, and the one immediately next to it (on the same stem, retracted a bit as well, but seems to have stabilized after a water change. All other heads appear normal. If it continues, I think I might just snip 'em off. I also think that since the hammer was moved, it is in a completely different orientation to the lighting, and that perhaps these two that were on the shady side are now getting much more light than they are used to. But really don't know for sure. Anyway, the parameters are: Ph: 7.8 nitrite: 0 ammonia 0 nitrate 5-10 calcium ~380 phosphate <0.25 alk 160 For many years, I've been dosing Seachem's reef complete and reef carbonate, but see now that I've been a little 'lax about it. I also need to brush up on my reef chemistry, and would appreciate any advice if you think these readings are out of whack. Thanks. Matt