Chad's 195 total gallon VB garage build

[Chad]

Finished up the garage plumbing...

 

And it begins...

[Origami]

Wow, that's clean work, Chad. Great job.

 

Hey, how are you liking Virginia Beach and the new job?

[Sharkey18]

I love the idea and I can't wait to watch it unfold.

[surf&turf]

Looks great Chad!! Can't wait to see it wet!

[Chad]

Thanks, Tom.

 

I like Virginia Beach a lot. The area is really nice and it's great to be closer to the ocean with all it has to offer. Job-wise, I guess I'm still getting the hang of it, but I like it as well. So things here are going well. Elsa isn't working full time yet - few prospects so far, but she is finding some relief work and volunteer stuff to fill her time. So things are going pretty well thanks for asking!

 

Thanks, Laura and Frank, I'm looking forward to seeing it unfold too!

[Muddy357]

Wow things look to be coming together nicely. I can't wait to see this thing full of water.

[flooddc]

Looking good! nice and clean.

Since you are so close to the ocean, are you going to fill it up with natural seawater?

[flowerseller]

Great job Chad, nice to have coffee reading with you this morning.

[Chad]

Thanks, y'all!

 

Chip, nice having coffee with you too! You know, I ran into a guy the other day that asked about you when he found out I moved from the DC area and was active in WAMAS... A bigger guy named Jim (didn't catch his last name) who said he started CMAS with his wife when they lived up there, anyway, he said hello and was considering heading up to the winter meeting.

 

Chuck, no, I am not planning on using natural seawater... although I am sure I could find a few places that would make it worthwhile, the logistics of moving water around, storing and processing it aren't something that I want to tackle!

 

Man, RO fill is going SLOOOOOW!

 

[Chad]

I made a little, hardly noteworthy, progress over the weekend... the tank is filled and lights are hanging, though I found a flaw in my plan.... The massive box that Tunze puts on their pumps doesn't go around the 1.5" PVC 90s I plumbed through the wall for the emergency drain and neither does the MH plug!! (I planned on dual purposing the emergency dry drain as a conduit for stuff that needed to go from the living room to the garage).

 

GRRR...

 

My solution will be to leave the tunzes on the 7096 controller I had for sale rather than plugging them into the APEX and putting an EB8 in my stand. Oh well, the timing is good on a controller group buy, huh? LOL.

 

Also, I had a conversation over the weekend that reminded me that I wanted to touch on my overall philosophy when setting everything up and that's: Failures happen, plan for them to prevent occurence, mitigate the effect, or make the failure obvious so you can quickly do something about it. For a lot of things, I just implement this sort of stuff and don't think about it very much, it was a converstation with am excited new reefer at my home that prompted this. So if you have a question about why I did something a certain way, ask! I'll do my best to answer

 

For example let's take my RO top off system. Here's a sketch of how it's set up.

 

 

Taking the principle that everything fails, I have two separate ways to stop the RODI water into my holding container and preventing an overflow. First, there is a mechanical method using a standard float valve and an auto-shut off valve with the RO system. Second uses a pressure switch that detects level and disconnects power to the booster pump on the RODI and also shuts a pressure rated solenoid valve.

 

We've all heard stories where float valves fail and such, so by hitting it with this two pronged approach a single failure is not likely to cause an overflow.

 

However, if an overflow occured, none of this is tied directly to my ato system. Even in the event of an overflow, salinity will remain unaffected.

 

I'm a little neurotic when it comes down to it, but hey, that's what I do.

[Origami]

Set your Apex up to only allow water production in certain windows. This can reduce DI resin costs if done right.

 

Also, set it up to alarm if it ever detects high water in the storage container, which it should only do if there is a float valve failure.

 

If there were a floor drain nearby, you could install a bulkhead up high in the storage container as a final check that diverts high water to a drain rather than spilling over the top of the container.

 

I don't know how often, if ever, RO storage containers split their sides, but consider mitigating that risk with reinforcement or some other measure. The safety measures that you have in place are not setup to detect this kind of failure.

 

You're on city water where you're at, right? Not well water or dealing with low pressure? If so, the booster pump may be an unneeded component that decreases overall reliability.

[Chad]

I thought about the booster pump issue. Yes, I'm on city water (now) and pressure is certainly high enough here that I don't really need it, but water doesn't flow past it either, so it's an easy way (without the solenoid, which only recently arrived) to stop flow through the unit. Besides it does raise pressure a bit which probably reduces the waste water.

 

Good thoughts on failure of the holding tank... I think the probability is low enough that (other than putting it in the garage, where consequences really aren't that high), not too much else needs to be done with it.

 

I'll definitely have it send me a text if the pressure switch hits... that's a good idea!

 

(The RO only runs on weekends, by the way - which also coincides with when I steal water to fill my saltwater makeup container )

[Origami]

I wouldn't have thought of the reservoir failing except that somebody here recently had one split or tip over when they were gone. (I think that they had it on some sort of dolly and the guess was that maybe it was imbalanced enough that it was blown over.) Early on, I used a cheaper trash can (other than a one of the more durable 44 gallon Brutes) and had it begin to split on me. I think that I read somewhere that some people will wrap duct tape or something around them to give them reinforcement. I can't say that I've tried it or that I even reinforce my reservoirs, instead relying upon a durable, high quality model.

[RicSG]

WOW Chad, So far it is looking awesome. Love the idea of cabinet shelf style area in garage. Not only clean job inside but outside too. WOW Great great job.

[Chad]

I also had one of the more inexpensive trash cans fail on me (during a water change, 20 gallons of water on the carpeted floor!), the Brute style is the only way I'd do it now. Though I think coral hind had one of the brutes fail on him, though his is the only case I've heard of that happening.

 

Thanks, Ric! One of my goals with this build is an overall aesthetic quality to not only the tank itself, but also to the filtration, plumbing, and support systems. So far I'm pretty happy with it (barring my own dumb mistakes along the way!)...

[ToddR]

Tank is looking great Chad. Have you gotten a chance to check out the beach at Oceanview?? Great place to collect. Purple seafans wash up on the beach there after storms!!!!!!

[Chad]

Thanks, Todd! I've been out a couple of times and seen the gorgs out there before... Just today I was talking to one of the LFS owners who was telling me about some of the tropical strays he collects here in the fall (some angels, butterflies and a few others). Anyway, he was saying most of the gorgs off shore here are non-photosynthetic, I offered to join him on a few collection trips in the summer so I'll check them out!

 

I also found a couple of great new toys in his store... H-E-double hockey sticks yea... combine this with the two I have and can we say capability for 100x turnover?

 

 

 

For those counting, that's two 6055s and two 6015s (or the equivalent of two MP40s and two MP10s).

[cowlr]

Thanks, Todd! I've been out a couple of times and seen the gorgs out there before... Just today I was talking to one of the LFS owners who was telling me about some of the tropical strays he collects here in the fall (some angels, butterflies and a few others). Anyway, he was saying most of the gorgs off shore here are non-photosynthetic, I offered to join him on a few collection trips in the summer so I'll check them out!

 

I also found a couple of great new toys in his store... H-E-double hockey sticks yea... combine this with the two I have and can we say capability for 100x turnover?

 

 

 

For those counting, that's two 6055s and two 6015s (or the equivalent of two MP40s and two MP10s).

 

I think the 6055 is rated at about 1500 gph (equivalent of an MP10) and the 6015 about 500 gph (about a third of an MP10). Am I missing something? If so, I want to pick myself up some 6015's.

[Chad]

Nope, your not missing anything... You caught a typo... 6105s... Not 6015s...

 

(I promise, I'm not lexdysic... )

[epleeds]

I hope your goin bare bottom. That is a ton of flow. I only have two 6105's in my 6' tank.

[ToddR]

Thanks, Todd! I've been out a couple of times and seen the gorgs out there before... Just today I was talking to one of the LFS owners who was telling me about some of the tropical strays he collects here in the fall (some angels, butterflies and a few others). Anyway, he was saying most of the gorgs off shore here are non-photosynthetic, I offered to join him on a few collection trips in the summer so I'll check them out!

 

I also found a couple of great new toys in his store... H-E-double hockey sticks yea... combine this with the two I have and can we say capability for 100x turnover?

 

 

 

For those counting, that's two 6055s and two 6015s (or the equivalent of two MP40s and two MP10s).

 

 

Nice pick-up. I'm looking forward to my own collecting day in June on my yearly trek to visit my sister. Hope some of those angels and butteryflys are around then.!!

Edited February 17, 2013 by ToddR

[Chad]

Eric, not planning on it... I don't really like the look, though I'm well aware it might end up that way. May add a little crushed coral to the parts that get pushed away on the glass.

 

June might be a little early yet for tropical strays since the water is at it's warmest at the end of the summer... But I'll let you know if I find any earlier than that!

 

Some major progress today:

 

 

This structure is super stable... I picked up a few new flat dry rock pieces from a local guy who mines the stuff, then I combined it with some of the live rock I had by drilling holes with a long masonry bit and filling the holes with fiberglass rods (former driveway markers from HD for 2.99 a piece). Finally places where the rock rests upon another rock, I used some 2 part epoxy putty to build up a spot that ends up fitting both rocks.

 

It's still cloudy, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. (check out the flow at the water line!)

 

There is one fish, about a half a dozen shrimp of various type, and some random CUC members.

[YHSublime]

Looking great!

[CaptainRon]

Did your 6105's come with three jumpers or one? I have two, one of them came with just one jumper, one came with all three.

 

Scape looks nice too. Can't wait to see it all loaded up!

[Chad]

Thanks, y'all... I'm looking forward to it too... and starting it soon!

 

Ron, the both came with three total jumpers (12, 18, and 24). I figure I'll start with the 18 V and swap out for the 24s when I get some growth starting to block the flow a bit.

 

Right now, I have the 6105s in the back bottom right and left corners pointed diagonally toward the opposite corners and the 6055s in the back top right and left corners (I'll post pics when the water clears up a bit) pointed across the top of the flat rocks. I'm really happy with the flow in the tank!