Finally ready!!

[Jscwerve]

Well, once my garden hose is thawed out so I can fill and test and tune in my garage.

I posted the stand build in another thread, finally got all the plumbing done today and everything ready to go.

Tank is a 125 gallon 6' long. Synergy reef "ghost" overflow. I got the tank from another member. It had a painted back and the entire back glass on the inside was covered in a layer of silicone from what I'm assuming was a really elaborate aquascape. Either way it took numerous hours to scrape both the outside and the inside of the tank. The overflow and all of the bulkheads, including the ones in the overflow, were covered in silicone, some kind of clay/epoxy/silly putty sealer, and god knows what else. There had obviously been some leaking through the fittings without them being addressed properly. I removed all the bulkheads and replaced every one of them. The overflow had bulkheads that couldn't be removed, so I replaced all the gaskets, hope they hold or I'm gonna have to get ahold of synergy.

Did the "bean animal" style drains in the overflow so it will run silent and be failsafe.

As soon as I get it filled with tap water I want to let it run in my garage for a few days before I drain it and move it into the house. I very stoked about the whole situation!

 

[Jscwerve]

Some progress!

After having to wait for a hose to thaw so I could test this with fresh water and not possibly flood my house I have had success.

Not at first, my idiot self put some o-rings on the wrong place on the overflow that leaked when I first filled it up.

Here is a video of the bean animal tuned correctly and running silent. Pay no attention to the sump, it's thrown together from an old lifereef sump and I probably won't be using it if I can find an alternative by the weekend (thinking possibly just rubbermaid stock tank temporarily).

The returns on this are drilled kind of low, which leaves the possibility of a whole lot of water draining into the sump on a power outage. I may hard plumb the returns higher inside the tank because I don't trust the loc-line to be waterproof or rigid enough to not get moved down by something.

[video=youtube;-sxLo2oSdUg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sxLo2oSdUg[/video]

 

[SynDen]

looks good man. Once the pipes have passed leak test, maybe spray paint them black? I know the wife didn't want to see all the plumbing and cords. A couple coats of black spray paint would make them disappear more. Just a thought, but nice work either way.

 

[CRW Reef]

Ya great work !!! That bean animal overflow is killer! Love that stand a lot though

 

[FinsUp]

looks good man. Once the pipes have passed leak test, maybe spray paint them black? I know the wife didn't want to see all the plumbing and cords. A couple coats of black spray paint would make them disappear more. Just a thought, but nice work either way.

+1

That thing is sexy, and would look nearly invisible painted black. Love how quiet it is.

 

[Jscwerve]

Ya, I'm probably going to mask everything off this evening and get to spray painting the pipes. I also have to get a coat of poly on the stand before I move it this weekend. I would have been farther along, but lost a day on Sunday with a tailgate party and the game. Hopefully I can maintain some warmth in the garage so I can be done.

I'm so ready to have this finished and running.

It is absolutely QUIET. The only noise is from the return pump, and that's minimal.

 

[Rausch]

Great Work! Looks awesome!

 

[LeviK]

Bean animal uses 1 full siphon, 1 durso and 1 emergency. I had mine setup as 2 siphon with gate valves and it's very hard to tune. Switched my 2nd siphon to durso and it's completely silent. Only noise I have in my tank is the skimmer and water overflowing filter socks when they are dirty.

 

[Jscwerve]

Bean animal uses 1 full siphon, 1 durso and 1 emergency. I had mine setup as 2 siphon with gate valves and it's very hard to tune. Switched my 2nd siphon to durso and it's completely silent. Only noise I have in my tank is the skimmer and water overflowing filter socks when they are dirty.

Right. I found also that a ball valve is NO BUENO for the main siphon line. The adjustability just isn't there I've seen it done with ball valves and I can admire the effort it must have taken. Gate valve all the way. I also thought "why does the full siphon need the durso style downturn?", and found out quickly that without it that a vortex is created and will suck some air into the full siphon.

Also, if the standpipes are too short, the level in the overflow box goes below the bulkheads and air bubbles are created where from the water coming through the tank bulkheads and making a little noise.

 

[sethsolomon]

This is going to be awesome! Any thoughts on lights yet? You going to go tried and true halides? The widely used ATI T5's and reefbrites? LED by its self?

 

[Jscwerve]

This is going to be awesome! Any thoughts on lights yet? You going to go tried and true halides? The widely used ATI T5's and reefbrites? LED by its self?

That's the can of worms right there isn't it!

I honestly don't know at this point. It will be the most expensive part of this whole build up I'm sure. At this point I have a power concern as where this tank is going I only have a single in-floor outlet (it is GFCI). The plan is for now to stick with cheapo LED lighting until I can finish up some other home improvement projects, get my RO and mixing stations built, and find the time to run an additional dedicated circuit for the tank.

I have one of the 165w Chinese "black box" type LED fixtures and will be picking up another this week for the initial lighting. I will not be attempting any SPS for quite a while, so it will be fine for fish and LPS/softies. It's going to be at least 6-8 weeks before I get any inhabitants at all, so I have time.

Also, the better half does not want to put a canopy on this tank, so for the time being I'm obliging her and I will let here change her mind on her own when she sees how much light escapes between the tank and lights into the living room, and how annoying it will be when trying to watch a movie or something. Then once I build a canopy I will do lighting rails with a mixture of several types of lighting.:spy:

 

[sethsolomon]

That's the can of worms right there isn't it!

It could be I guess, I just like to bring the possibilities out

the china black boxes are a great starting light. WAYYYY better than crap like the Marineland, Current, and Aquaeon LED's.

Since you are on a single outlet, I would also like to toss in the idea of a DC pump for your return pump. This will help save some power draw on the outlet.


But I look forward to seeing what you do with this tank.

 

[reef dummy]

Your build looks great, following along. Todd

 

[LeviK]

Right. I found also that a ball valve is NO BUENO for the main siphon line. The adjustability just isn't there I've seen it done with ball valves and I can admire the effort it must have taken. Gate valve all the way. I also thought "why does the full siphon need the durso style downturn?", and found out quickly that without it that a vortex is created and will suck some air into the full siphon.

Also, if the standpipes are too short, the level in the overflow box goes below the bulkheads and air bubbles are created where from the water coming through the tank bulkheads and making a little noise.

My full siphon is about 1/3 of the way turned down. The durso is 100% open. No gate valve on the emergency. I made my emergency 1.5" pipe and my 2 drains at 1".