Hop's downgrade to 300 gallons: A simple build thread

[Hop]

It did slide all the way in,.. but I couldn't shift to anything but first and second So we had to slide it back a touch.

LOL. that is so visual. I keep picturing Mr. Bean taking a tank home in his little car

Otherwise, it's not bad, I just hate driving through Denver. The guy may wind up meeting me half way for the swap. They guy who ordered this tank for me is the same guy who owns the shop that the 370 is going into.

And my car is a F150 crew-cab that only gets about 500 miles a year on it since we sold the boat... Maybe I need another boat!

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Hop

LOL. that is so visual. I keep picturing Mr. Bean taking a tank home in his little car

Otherwise, it's not bad, I just hate driving through Denver. The guy may wind up meeting me half way for the swap. They guy who ordered this tank for me is the same guy who owns the shop that the 370 is going into.

And my car is a F150 crew-cab that only gets about 500 miles a year on it since we sold the boat... Maybe I need another boat!

It was quite the drive home I'm telling you,.. I was wedged in there like a sardeen praying the whole way that nobody rear ended me and made this tank explode in my face.

It used to be the same way with my car, I rode the motorcycle all the time so I put about 1,000 miles a year on the car, just to get groceries.

Whiskey

[Hop]

That must have been a drive! I can picture the apprehension... I'm a little nervous too, trying how to secure the acrylic tank down as not to scratch it and then the glass tank back, trying not to break it hopefully it will still be in the crate...

[Hop]

Well the plumbing has started It's going really slow as I feel like I'm getting a bug, or just enjoying the PVC glue I'll get some pics up this evening for eye candy

[reefermike1]

cant wait to see this tank!!

[Hop]

Thanks Mike

I should have taken pics, but just kept moving on... People who say vermetid snails are harmless filter feeders, should have seen some of my plumbing. I had approximately a 30' run from the tank to the wetroom of 1.5 and 2" PVC. I elected to cross cut some of it and I found that near the joints, the vermetids had built up so that it restricted approximately 30-40% of the pipe... I guess this would explain a few issues I was having a while back Live and learn!

[Hop]

Just a few pics for now...

Here is what a trip to the hardware store will get you... A box of parts:


And here are a few pics of the 40 cubeish plumbed and ready to go:


It's plumbed with a 1" OM omniflex nozzle rather than loc line. I like the omniflex nozzles much better... All 1" pvc and a ball valve for minor flow adjustments.


Next up was the skimmer. It too is plumbed with 1" for the feed. What you can't see is the drain is plumbed with 1.5"... Also you can see the 3/8 hose from the collection cup drain. I clean my skimmer frequently enough that I really don't need a waste collector... But, I will be running it to a phosban reactor to catch a little more skum if needed and then if that overflows in the event of the skimmer going crazy, it will be plumbed back to the sump. I like the Po4 reactors for this as they are half the price of a waste collector and I can't built them for as cheal as these things are Many, many uses!

[Hop]

A closer look at the OM omniflex for those that have not seen them before:


A quick over-all shot of the business end of the wetroom:


And finally the flexible conduit is now secured.


Things will go faster after dinner, but I'm not certain if pics will be up later tonight or tomorrow. I'm hoping that I may get some pics of the tank today... but we'll see

[Wiskey]

Very nice Hop! You got allot done,.. I bet you can't wait to put some water in somewhere.

Whiskey

[Hop]

So far this was all the hard parts. I measured and tripple measured as I didn't want to poke a hole in the wrong place through the aquatile on the benches

Things should speed up here shortly after I really get to plumbing. I have to pull the sink out here after dinner so that I can get the old plumbing cut and removed. Then I have to patch some holes and I'll run the new plumbing and get the sink back in. Going to figure out how to mount the sink better as a plastic sink moves a round a tad when putting heavy stuff in it

[thekid55]

looks sweet

[Hop]

Thanks kid!


OK I got the sink pulled out, the old plumbing out, the holes repaired and now it's time to give the lil' one a bath. Maybe I'll get some more done in a while. I had to clear the drain and return plumbing with the wife as it's kinda going to be in the way of the stairs But I think I've got it figured so that it can be covered. Wish I could just pick up the wetroom and move it to the other side of the garage

[Hop]

Well I got sidetracked getting the sink more stable than it was. So I really didn't get much else done. Getting some home stuff done so I'll have a few hours to work on things tomorrow.

I did get some parts ordered so that was nice. I elected to give the seachem reef salt a try, so I'll start mixing it with IO and see what happens.

So plans have changed a bit...
Pan World 200ps for the closed loop. I felt that based on the way I'm doing it, a pressure pump will work better and well, I had one laying around, so zero dollars.

Return pump will be an eheim 1262. Looking at the headloss chart, I should still be getting about 3.8 times turnover through the sump... When I upgrade sumps, I'll look to an external pump.

I'm going to use my Sedra 7000 to run the skimmer and cube... About 200 GPH to the cube and the rest to the skimmer.

There are still a few details I'm working out, but they are pretty minor IMO...

[Hop]

Whew... Everything I needed was instock and now shipped I figured it would be my luck that some little thing would be backordered and not due in for two to three weeks

[Wiskey]

Sweet Hop! Things are going smoothly for you it sounds like

Hey,.. I'm thinking about building a 4-6 foot tall skimmer to play with,.. I may not, but I'm thinking about it.

What recerc pumps are used on yours? Do you know how much air they pull?

Thanks!
Whiskey