HarleyGuy

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. 🙂

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....:-)

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. 😊

For Sale

A beautiful Koran Juvenile Angel, about 4" and very fat from eating Sea Veggies Seaweed:  $40

A very healthy bonded pair of Lightening Maroon Clown fish, selling the pair together since it took 3 males before the female bonded with this one.

A medium/large female and small male: $60 for the bonded pair

I'll add some better pics later.

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.   

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. 

MP40 no longer for sale. Thanks to some help from my buddy Marvin, I got this pump to stick to the 3/4" glass on this cube, so I'm going to keep it. 

It will work really good in addition to the Gyre pump that I have on the tank. 

I built one that looks pretty cool, I'll take a couple pics and show ya.

I have some nice dry rock if your interested. I'm going with the purple dry rock (mostly caribsea), so I have some nice white Marco Rocks pieces available. 

Hi All, I have a brand new in the box EcoTech Vortech MP40WQD Quietdrive Propeller Pump for sale for $330 (cheaper than BRS and Ebay, no tax, no shipping :-)).

I just recently bought it for my new 135 Cube, but the glass is too thick for it.  I thought the glass was only 3/4" thick (which is the max for these pumps) but it appears to be a tad thicker.

Again, this is brand new in the box, never touched water, I've only had it for a couple weeks. Over 4500 GPH, multiple flow modes, great design.

These are the most popular reef pumps out there at the moment and there are none of these available on BRS so first come first served. (Cash please)

Since I only have 36" across the tank and two Gyres hitting it from two sides, I'm thinking flow will not be a problem. 🙂 

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.  

Yes, thanks. I was thinking the same thing. Hopefully find the same granite as I already have in the kitchen to match both the counter tops and the cabinets themselves. 🙂

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. 🙂

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. 

Yes! I've been working on this design, HW, everything for over a year.  🙂

Here is the new tank. You can kinda get a feel for the 3foot x 3foot Rimless size and the 3/4” glass with polished edges. The blacked out back is a vinyl provided by Planet, very cool. I love the Modular Marine overflow as well. It also came with a 1" PVC bottom that is also black. I love this Planet Aquariums build!  
 

4 hours ago, mhart032 said:

I understand that completely, currently i give it to John at reefcleaner.org but ive never seen anything in it, i dont have aptasia or anything like that i dip everything i get. I know some are prone to bristle worms as well, but ive never seen any in mine and because it goes to John i inspect it and pull it apart to make sure im not sending him anything he cant use. 

That sounds good. I'll ping you when I get to the part where I'm starting to see some Nitrates in the tank.

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!

I definitely do if it’s clean. I got some from another guy, put it in a white container and it was loaded with stuff (stuff you wouldn’t want in your tank). 😊

1 hour ago, mhart032 said:

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 

 

 

That's awesome! Thanks, this is what I'm looking for.

5 hours ago, jolt said:

The list looks awesome.  Did you have any trouble getting Planet to drill for the modular marine overflow?

Thanks! No actually Planet asked me to send the overflow to them so that they could ensure the drilled holes were perfect. I just got the tank delivered today by River City and the holes line up exact 🙂

13 hours ago, mhart032 said:

Great list, are you going manifold or pumps for you reactors? id upgrade the pump if your going manifold or maybe add a second cor 15 for redundancies. Kessil is supposedly in production  of a new grow light thats tun-able more to the macro horticulture. that might be interesting. I run Triton so of course turn over and fuge is what i focus on most during build out. 

Thanks! I'm building a manifold and going with 2 separate pumps. I have them on the list, a Neptune Cor 15 for the return and a Reef Octopus Varios-6 for the manifold. I have a spare Varios-6, but I wanted to try one of the Cor pumps on this build. I may plumb it so that I have a redundant return path from the manifold as well. 

Yes, I agree on turn over rate with the fuge being extremely important and I definitely looked at the new Kessil A360X.  However, I ended up getting the Kessil H380 Grow light primarily because of the $150 difference in price. I've dumped a ton of money in this build and I'm hoping that the difference in Chaeto growth rates wont be substantial. 🙂

Lol, thanks guys, much appreciated. I’ll put together the hardware list tomorrow. It’s a long list! 😊

What do you think of the list? Ask me questions If you have any, please hit me up. 🙂