Jump to content

Johns 135 Cube build


HarleyGuy

Recommended Posts

15 hours ago, Jimbo662 said:

I like that the stand is wider than the tank.

Something I think about often when designing my dream tank of the future in my head.  Not only does it give you more room underneath, but it's just SO DANG HELPFUL to be able to put things down RIGHT THERE when fiddling w/ the tank.

What material is the top layer, John?  My unsolicited advice would be to go price out a slab of granite/quartz/whatever at the local shop - that size piece could easily be found as the scrap from someone else's dream kitchen and be had for cheap (I have a ton of friends in that biz).  Something that looks really nice and can't be messed up by saltwater.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, BobcatReefer said:

Something I think about often when designing my dream tank of the future in my head.  Not only does it give you more room underneath, but it's just SO DANG HELPFUL to be able to put things down RIGHT THERE when fiddling w/ the tank.

What material is the top layer, John?  My unsolicited advice would be to go price out a slab of granite/quartz/whatever at the local shop - that size piece could easily be found as the scrap from someone else's dream kitchen and be had for cheap (I have a ton of friends in that biz).  Something that looks really nice and can't be messed up by saltwater.

I agree completely. I did the same thing on my 40gal starphire 70gal sump build 10+ years ago. i hate not having space to put stuff down. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Jimbo662 said:

I like that the stand is wider than the tank.

Thanks! I did this for 2 reasons,

1: I couldn't fit all of the hardware underneath. 🙂

2: I thought the hand rail around the top would look nice, give the stand a more finished look, and integrate nicely with the magnetic side skins that I'm building to cover the rest of the stand. All wood  panels will be stained to match the cherry kitchen Cabinets. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, BobcatReefer said:

Something I think about often when designing my dream tank of the future in my head.  Not only does it give you more room underneath, but it's just SO DANG HELPFUL to be able to put things down RIGHT THERE when fiddling w/ the tank.

What material is the top layer, John?  My unsolicited advice would be to go price out a slab of granite/quartz/whatever at the local shop - that size piece could easily be found as the scrap from someone else's dream kitchen and be had for cheap (I have a ton of friends in that biz).  Something that looks really nice and can't be messed up by saltwater.

That's a great idea Bobcat, thanks. Granite would hold up great and look a lot better than the hardwood for this usage. Also, yes, I'm using that 4" shelf a lot already in the build and the tank isn't even done yet. Very handy to have the shelf. That top layer is the pink insulation board. I wasn't sure if I was going to put the wood on top or  cut it out. I've since decided to cut the insulation board even with the tank dimensions and mount the "granite" directly to the 3/4 plywood. 🙂

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats a good idea, If i remember correctly John you have some pretty nice counter tops in your place, darker in color if i remember correctly, maybe you can find a match to those being where the tank is sitting closer to the kitchen area. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/1/2020 at 11:08 AM, HarleyGuy said:

Question all. I’m putting an MP40 on 3/4” glass not holding in its own. If I had a clip or mount for the top edge of the glass to hold the cable that would probably do it unless there are better ideas? I also need a mount to route the cable on the top of the glass. How do I proceed?  Thanks!

Hi all, well I figured this out. I'm going to go with 2 x Gyre 350's (5280 gph) and I'm going to sell my (brand new) MP40WQD.  The 3/4'" glass on this tank is just too thick for the MP40.  So I'll have that flat 5280 gph Gyre flow coming from the back of the tank and from the left side. (The primary viewing panels on this tank are front and right side. ) That would be about a maximum of 78X flow in the tank (not including the return flow coming from the sump) which should be more than enough, although time will tell.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The H380 is a great light, i have to cut my Chaeto back every other week roughly 5-6 lbs. its like a thick mat by the end of 2 weeks in my 25gal fuge. this pic is from the last batch in a 30gal trash can 
 
 20200105_171158.thumb.jpg.a1120405d2b858a480834679b376686c.jpg

Can I have some? [emoji16]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, HarleyGuy said:

Hi all, well I figured this out. I'm going to go with 2 x Gyre 350's (5280 gph) and I'm going to sell my (brand new) MP40WQD.  The 3/4'" glass on this tank is just too thick for the MP40.  So I'll have that flat 5280 gph Gyre flow coming from the back of the tank and from the left side. (The primary viewing panels on this tank are front and right side. ) That would be about a maximum of 78X flow in the tank (not including the return flow coming from the sump) which should be more than enough, although time will tell.  

I really like my gyre/wav combo. I have two gyres on the ends of the tank and then two wavs on the back of the tank. tunzes could fill that same role. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Plumbing:

Here is the beginning of the plumbing. I plumbed the overflow. All 3 x 1" lines into the sump from the Bean Animal Modular Marine overflow. I ran Spears Gate Valves from the direct line and Durso lines on the Bean Animal to allow water depth adjustment in the overflow. I also plumbed 3 x unions, 1 per line to allow adjustment and removal if required. The last piece on each line going into the sump is pressed in, not glued which should be adequate. I'm now working on the 3/4" return line from the Neptune COR15. 

 

135 plumb 1.jpg

135 plumb 2.jpg

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the likes! Much appreciated. This was actually harder than is looks (for me) to get all the parts perfectly aligned and with the right lengths. I'm also ashamed to say that I have a few wasted pieces. There were some sacrifices to my learning process since this was my first time at this intricate of a plumbing job. I like the way it turned out, but I didn't get all the plumbing done, so I will be working on the return lines and the manifold this week/weekend.

The return will be supplied by the Neptune COR-15 pump (1500 GPH DC pump) and the manifold will be supplied by the RO Varios-6 (1720 GPH DC pump). The manifold will in turn supply the 3 x Aquamaxx Media reactors. The Carbon and GFO reactors will be hanging from the manifold (hard plumbed) and the Biopellet reactor will be plumbed hanging in a remote location next to the Calcium Reactor. 

The overflow plumbing was done in 1" red pvc and the return and manifold plumbing will be done in 3/4" red pvc. The supply/return lines on the media reactors will be done in 1/2" red pvc. Some of you may be interested in the remainder of this setup.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It looks really nice, you did a good job, have you given any thought to tying in both pumps to the return section of plumbing? maybe separate the pluming with a gate valve so if you needed to work on or repair or worst case the core goes out all you have to really do is open a gate valve and minimize or turn off the reactors to continue the life support to the tank? Also worth mentioning, I did not find a way to hang the reactors from the manifold hard plumbed that could be easily removed from the manifold. I had my Spears rep at my house trying to figure this out with me and there just isn't a good way. we ended up using a 1/2 inch gate valve swedged down to 1/4 to fit the reactors top, but we had to use NPT to slip fittings to actually connect to the reactor, with the hard plumbing down to the tank you cant simply screw the reactor out of the gate valve because i didn't have enough room, i can remove the reactor body from the top sure, but that doesn't solve this issue. something to think about when your building the manifold. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, BobcatReefer said:

@mhart032 why?  What's the deal w/ that stuff? Never seen it before.

Its more dense, dont have to use as much and make a much better seal, not to mention if you mess up or have to unscrew the plumbing it will stay on the pieces and you dont have to reapply. It was recommended to me by the guys at Spears to use with PVC, it has a much better give due to the density and you can really wrench down on it without possibly cracking the fittings. I recommened it to a few guys having issues with bulkheads and standard teflon and worked great for them as well. you can buy it at most plumbing stores, Ferguson's, Morrison's, Moore Plumbing, most commercial plumbing stores, I tend to use them because there prices are really a ton lower than the big box stores and most the time they have everything in stock that we really need. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
31 minutes ago, jolt said:

This is looking great John!

Thanks! I’ll add some more pics of the inside plumbing in a while. I’ve had to re-do a few things, but now is the time to get it right. 😊

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are pics from the sump side of the tank. Pic #2 is the pellet reactor (next to the Calcium Reactor), not sure that I'll need it with the large fuge that I have, but better to have and not need it. Pic #4 is where I extended the manifold to the location of the pellet reactor (front of sump).  Pic #3 is showing the 2 x media reactors. I built 2 little plex shelves to sit them on since there was not enough head room to hang them as originally thought. Pic #5 shows the other end of the manifold and the connection to the Varios 6 pump that feeds the manifold, and the hard line connection out the back from the COR 15 pump that is feeding the return to the tank. In the middle of the end of the manifold line (there is a gap) where I'm adding one more valve to feed a 25 watt Aqua UV Sterilizer that I'm mounting on the back side of stand. I'll provide those pics after I install it. This weekend I'll be building the Controller Cabinet. That will be a fun build and very much needed for this setup. More to come....:-)

   

plumb i2.jpg

plumb i3.jpg

plumb i4.jpg

plumb i5.jpg

plumbing5.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, BobcatReefer said:

I was already impressed by the clean plumbing, but that control cabinet!! 😍 😍 😍 

Hi Bobcat, this pic is just an example. I'm building mine this weekend. It will be bigger and include LED lighting. I'll provide pics. 🙂

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Here are some more pics of the plumbing. I added a UV Sterilizer on the back (Aqua UV) and pulled all of my controllers off of the back of the stand to clean up the messy wiring. Instead I decided to build a separate cabinet for my Apex and all of my controllers and wiring. 

 

plumbing1.jpg

plumbing2.jpg

plumbing3.jpg

plumbing4.jpg

plumbing5.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...