Rob's 150 gal reef build

[Rob A]

It's fine for the display and similar to the flow rate I had on my 220 - about 5 times turnover - but I need to have some reserve capacity because I also want to run water through a frag tank and have water available for reactors and whatnot.

 

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Edited September 26, 2016 by Rob A

[Rob A]

https://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/57e86e8b80dc9/tips.pdf

 

Uping the pipe size could help dramatically. Even from 1" to 1.5"

 

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I plan on making it 1-1/2 from the pump to possibly the point where the line splits to go to the two tank returns. I don't know why I made it 1 inch...I was replacing the coupling and check valve fitting left behind by the previous owner and didn't think for myself, I just copied the part he had screwed into the pump which was 1-1/2" to 1" reducer.

[Rob A]

Okay, it's about to get weird up in here. I've ordered some spring benders from pipe Viper and I'm going to do some hot bending to get rid of some elbows. I don't know if it will make a ton of difference but we'll see.

 

http://www.thepipeviper.com

[Rob A]

I received my spring benders. Here is the first bent piece. A 5" inch offset in 1-1/2" pipe

 

Edited September 28, 2016 by Rob A

[Rob A]

A new manifold, now with 1-1/2" x 1" Tees. I could have bought a few nice fish with the $$ I've spent on all this pvc...

 

 

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[khh27]

Have you tested it yet? If so what's the increased flow?

 

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[Rob A]

Haven't finished re-piping yet. I hope to have it done by the weekend and will post the new flow numbers.

[khh27]

Yea I'll be interested to see what happens

 

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[Origami]

Nice bends. Do you heat the PVC to soften it for the bend? You do this outside, right? PVC gives off toxic fumes when heated, I think.

 

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[Rob A]

Yea I'll be interested to see what happens

 

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Me too! Taking the 1-1/2" to 1" reducer off the pump will probably make a big difference. I'd like to do flow tests with the pipes set up in a few different configs, like using elbows vs using bent pipe. I'm also going to reconfigure the return lines on the back of the tank (lot of elbows there now) but maybe they would be fine now that I'm enlarging the pump outlet piping. I'd like to test multiple configs there as well but time and money are at stake. We'll see how I feel over the next few days.

Now that I think about it...Since I really only need 750 gph or better at the tank and I had 850 maybe that piping behind the tank is fine. I just couldn't open any lines on the manifold without it dropping the tank flow below the 750. Upping the line size to the manifold might solve that problem. If I do that AND improve the piping to the back of the tank too much then the flow to the tank will just have to be throttled back, which is already kind of being done by all the elbows back there.

 

 

Nice bends. Do you heat the PVC to soften it for the bend? You do this outside, right? PVC gives off toxic fumes when heated, I think.

 

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Thanks, yes I used a heat gun to make it soft before bending. 

Based on what I can find online, supposedly the deadly part ( chlorine ) in the PVC will only be released by combustion, like if the PVC is actually on fire. I didn't notice any fumes from using the heat gun but I suppose other fumes could still be released. I have heated it in the garage and also on the back porch but it's probably best to keep the garage doors open when inside. Plus if it accidentally did start on fire you would want to escape to clean air. I have to open the garage doors when cementing the PVC because that stuff stinks!

Edited September 29, 2016 by Rob A

[Rob A]

I made this a couple years ago for a return for a frag tank that I didn't want to drill. I burned a little spot on it with the heat gun.... I did't have the bending springs so I filled it with sand and built a form to bend it around. The frag tank is no longer set up but this pump and pipe rig is still in use, running my holding tubs.

 

This was the config (drain line not shown)



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Edited September 29, 2016 by Rob A

[Rob A]

I've reconfigured the pump output and manifold to be 1-1/2". Flow test pending. I only have the one bent pipe installed but it has 2 bends, which does away with the 3 45s I would have had to use.

 

 

Here is a jig where I practiced the main bend coming off the pump

 

 

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[Rob A]

Flow rates are in.

The tests were conducted by shoving a 5 gal bucket under the flowing water and hitting the stopwatch button. The flow to the display tank was measured at the return lines after the water level had remained steady for a few minutes.

The first test (a few days ago with all 1 inch piping) yielded 850 gph at the tank with manifold valves all shut, or if I closed the line to the tank then I could get 1,300 gph at the manifold. That was with only one of the manifold valves open. If I tired to open one manifold and the tank valve at the same time there wasn't enough water going to the tank to make it flow properly so I didn't try measuring it. I didn't try opening multiple manifold valves as the system had already failed to provide enough flow.

Now, with 1-1/2" lines running to just past the manifold I can get 923 GPH at the tank AND 1,176 GPH out of the manifold at the same time, for a combined approx output of 2,100 GPH. I don't know what I would get with more manifold valves open, so that measurement is with the flow coming through a single 1-1/2" x 1" Tee.

 

I guess it would be useful to see what comes out at the manifold with the tank valve closed to compare that with the very first test but the flow must max out at some point so that info might not be useful. I'll try it though.

I hope this makes sense...here is a picture

Edited September 30, 2016 by Rob A

[Origami]

Your test really shows the benefit of using large diameter pipe to reduce dynamic (friction) losses. I'm assuming that you have 1" ball valves coming off of the manifold. Is that correct? If you look inside at the opening in a 1" ball valve, you'll see that it's considerably narrower. That winds up causing some losses, but the shorter run is less likely to cause much of an impact. You could get even greater flow at the tank if you were to run 1-1/2" line right up to the point where you had to convert to 1" at the tank. 

 

What kind of return pump do  you have?

[Rob A]

The pump is the Reeflo Dart hybrid but I'm not sure which impeller it has (2,500 or 3,500 GPH) since I bought it used. I wrote to Reflo to see if they could tell me what the 2 different impeller dimensions are but they never wrote back.

 

I had actually intended to run the 1-1/2" line closer to the tank but I figured that first I would stop it just past the manifold and see what I got then if it wasn't enough i would run it farther. I would have to move the tank away from the wall to repipe the back of it and since the flow was okay I decided not to. I thought about trying to do a flow test with all 4 manifold valves open at the same time, just for fun, but right now that just sounds hard.

 

I was getting tired of buying and then having to cut out fittings and valves so the ones installed on my manifold are threaded (so they can be reused if i have to redo the piping again) which means they probably have even less flow than the socket style valves. The threaded adapters seem a little narrower inside compared to the pipe but I didn't actually measure it.

 

In other news I got my Apex out of the box where it has been sitting for the last two-and-a-half months and the display wouldn't work but after fiddling with it for the last two days ir finally started working.

Edited October 2, 2016 by Rob A

[Rob A]

Time to start stacking rock. My live rock that is in the holding tank is going to go in the sump for awhile and I'm going to start over with dead rock in the display.I have about 130 lbs picked out so far on the table. The stuff on the far left came from the National Aquarium - I won it in an auction at a WAMAS meet.

 

 

Then I have another 100+ lbs of smaller pieces. I'm aiming for 150 lbs minimum.

 

 

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[Bruleyii]

I think you have a hitchhiker. Who knew that could happen on dry rock.

[Rob A]

I think you have a hitchhiker. Who knew that could happen on dry rock.

 

 That's how we got all of our cats, lol. They just show up.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Rob A

[Bruleyii]

lol

[Rob A]

I've never felt like I was any good at aqua-scaping but here goes. 155lbs of rock...

There is space behind so fish can go all the way around if they want. I tried to add plenty of holes for them to swim through or hide in as well.

 

 

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[YHSublime]

Looking good, Rob. Nothing wrong with the wall, so long as you can anticipate the corals you want to grow on it. Sounds like it's in the middle of the tank, consider using the back wall and teiring it down towards the front, creating caves and whatnot. Aquascaping is my favorite part of a build.

[Rob A]

I wanted to tier it. I'm afraid of there being too many shadows and wasted space, but I am no artist and not very creative :(

 

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[Rob A]

Back at Christmas time I got a Theiling rollermat but I was not able to set it up due to a lack of space in the system at the other house. Now that I have room I got it out and started plumbing it and when I went to plug it in the wires didn't match between the unit and the power block. I called Bulk Reef Supply to ask them if I was missing something and they said that had been an issue back when they were first shipping them out and they would be sending me an adapter 2nd day air. So, shout out to Bulk Reef Supply for great customer service!

 

 

 

 

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[Origami]

Ha! That's a pretty blatant mismatch! Glad that they're taking care of you.

[Rob A]

I set up an ATI Bubble King 250 skimmer and temporarily plumbed the rollermat (minus the overflow...I will do that today). It has done a great job at clearung up the initial cloudiness. The rollermat will move to the left to be fed from the tank overflow...at least that is the plan. It will have to have a bypass line since it's only rated for 600gph max and the overflow is about 900. Oh, and clearly I need to do some wire management. Things are still in flux while I figure out how I want to set it all up.



Here is a shot of the tank from this morning. I have some temporary lights up (Chinese Evergrows) until I decide how I want to hang my programmable ones. I have around 500 PAR at the surface and 100 at the sand bed with these at 60% so I'm in no hurry i guess. The left one is just blue and white while the right side is full spectrum so the color is a little different.

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I made an initial attempt to scoop some fish out of the barrel last night but they were not having any part of that. I might have to wait until this weekend when I can plan on just taking the whole holding system down to catch everybody.

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Edited October 7, 2016 by Rob A