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11-29-2006, 09:25 PM
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#1
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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The boys tank!
Well I'm in!
I'm building a 75 reef for my Son. Heres the break down;
75gallon main tank
DIY acylic 38 gallon sump with PCX-30 for return
MR-2 with two injectors and a PCX-55 pushing it
1/10 hp chiller for future lighting upgrade potential
440watts of VHO
Auto top off
Total volume will be about 100 gallons
The tank came from a trade with Doug and has two 1" bulkheads up at the top of each corner. The lights are left over from my first 55 as is the stand and the canopy which were both made by my Father in Law from oak and are extremely well made! The return from the sump will be a manifold that sits on the top of the tank and the return system will be made to so it is easy to change manifolds if I want to try a new design. The very oversized skimmer, the chiller and the plumbing are designed to be ready if the tank gets chaanged to an SPS system in the future. For now it will be softies and maybe a few LPS. The fish will be a wrasse or two, clown, striped blenny and some type of algae eater or grazer!
The overflow is a design that hit me the other day when I started to build. The two 1" bulkheads will be used to handle thee water for the overflow but the two will be conected via a PVC "coast to coast" of sorts. Flow will be simple as it will provided by the return only to start but it will use some observations from the 150 to make it as efficient as possible for detritus suspension and the flow needed for softies.
Oh and the only stuff that is new so far is the PVC (well, most of it!) and eventually bulbs.
And away we go!
Robert
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__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
Last edited by motorslave; 11-29-2006 at 10:49 PM.
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11-29-2006, 10:09 PM
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#2
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Okay, some months ago I got the tank from Doug. Had T clean it and there it sat till now.
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
Last edited by motorslave; 02-15-2008 at 12:44 AM.
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11-29-2006, 10:13 PM
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#3
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Now as I said, it has two 1" bulkheads up high on the back panel, they will be used for the PVC "coast to coast" overflow set up.
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
Last edited by motorslave; 02-15-2008 at 12:44 AM.
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11-29-2006, 10:30 PM
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#4
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Heres the drain plumbing. The two 1" bulkheads run to a T then join into a 2" pipe going straight to the sump. There it hits an elbo and runs just at the water level in the first chamber and the pipe that is paralell to the water level has several holes in it to help stop splash and salt creep and also to help discipate the air.
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
Last edited by motorslave; 02-15-2008 at 12:44 AM.
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11-29-2006, 10:34 PM
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#5
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Heres a couple shots of the PVC coast to coast overflow. The center piece has a ton of holes drilled in it and it is not glued in. This will allow for water level adjustment to some degree. Also if you look at the elbo on each end you can see they are cut down. This will allow them to act as fail safes if the horizobtal piece gets clogged somehow.
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
Last edited by motorslave; 02-15-2008 at 12:44 AM.
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11-29-2006, 10:39 PM
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#6
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Heres tha tank on the stand and the lay out under the stand. Its simple but effective. The stand is vented and has a fan. Plus the area behind the chiller is vented also for the head it generates to escape.
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
Last edited by motorslave; 02-15-2008 at 12:44 AM.
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11-29-2006, 10:43 PM
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#7
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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First return manifold design. The two returns pointing down (close together) will keep the area behind the rock clean. I got this idea from the effective design on my acrylic 150. The other two are pretty easy to get. I will more than likely stick with the two "cleaner" returns on any other designs but willl change the other two return locations.
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
Last edited by motorslave; 02-15-2008 at 12:44 AM.
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11-30-2006, 12:08 PM
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#8
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Hmmm, got to looking at the return manifold design pictured above. I realized it isnt good. The pump is plumbed to 3/4" and the line going to the manifold is 1" then reduces to 1/2 before the manifold. This isnt going to get max water to each outlet so Im going to redo it so the whole manifold is 1" and each outlet is reduced to 1/2". The reson being, the return pump is a pressure pump. If I leave the manifold the way it is then there is already a reduce amount of water in the manifold before any is released into the tank. That is exactly what I dont want. I want the manifold ful of more water than needed and the pressure as equalized throughout the whole thing as much as possible THEN do the reduction at the outlets. Make sense?
Robert
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
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11-30-2006, 08:05 PM
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#9
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Okay, heres the second return manifold. Any of you familiar with any of my other builds know I may go through alot of PVC and designs before Im satisfied.
Anyway, in the first pic you can see the return line come up from the stand and then hit the return manifold. There are 6 outlets all serving a different purpose.
The first two (each side of the T in the center of the manifold) blow straight down to keep things clean behind the rock. The next two hopefully will create some surface movement and flow in the top of the column and the outer two outlets will provide movement to the middle of the tank.
Each outlet is 1/2" and has a cap that is drilled. The size of the holes will be adjusted as needed. As I said before, the return pump is a presure pump and in my first tank was a CLS plumbed with two 1" outlets and ALOT of water moved. This set up will hopefully provide movement through out the tank in an efficient manner, keep the hidden spots clean and not over power the softies and any LPS that will be in there. The flow should keep things suspended once I have the outlets adjusted the way I like so that all the poo gets to the skimmer and sump.
What do you think?
Robert
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
Last edited by motorslave; 02-15-2008 at 12:44 AM.
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11-30-2006, 08:54 PM
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#10
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Wet test in the am then if all goes well it will be moved into the house!
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
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11-30-2006, 09:44 PM
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#11
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Super Moderator
Join Date: Jan 1999
Location: Southern Oregon, Way West of Dimples ;)
Posts: 21,735
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Sweet Robert, I thought I knew stuff but dayum, but your a PVC monster, must have an Cuz in the plumbing supply field 
__________________
When considering courage in battle, one should remember that there are 2 sides to every conflict.
The heroism of the losing side rarely gets remembered
but we were all husbands and fathers, sons and bros
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11-30-2006, 09:46 PM
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#12
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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I like to look at the back as much as the front!
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
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11-30-2006, 10:44 PM
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#13
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Ya know, If I change the bulkhead size for the return pump on the sump I could use my Sequence barracuda s a return! Think about what I could do with that!
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
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12-01-2006, 12:32 AM
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#14
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Those of you with MRC skimmers are familiar with the aie intake silencers. They work on the noise but the cotton gets dirty quickly and causes a eed for almost daily cleaning or adjusting. Well, once again, I can thank Doug for a solution! He gave me some air filters for medical grade oxygen machines. I will work on that plumbing issue tomorrow or the next day. i want to be able to change/clean them easily.
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
Last edited by motorslave; 02-15-2008 at 12:44 AM.
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12-01-2006, 01:10 PM
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#15
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The Ninja MOD
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Planet P.....Why Me?
Posts: 12,327
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Wet test under way! One leak from a bulkhead but that was fixed with a twist!Return pump running and no leaks anywhere there either. I ran the skimmer for a few minutes and no apparent leaks in that system.
Im going to let it go for a day or two then drain, clean and move into the house!
Robert
__________________
After 2 years I finally have water in it! (no, really)!
Where is Planet P?
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