125gal Tank Project Underway

ameno

ameno

Active Member
Thanks for the good advice Doc, I did put some pvc glue around the joints and the silicone, I'm just hoping that with the low pressure it will hold, but well see, if not I'll look for this seal stuff, I'd try anything before having to replumb all this. Still can't understand why it leaked, I've done a lot of plumbing with pvc and never had this happen.
I guess with all this weather change it's gona be hard to keep the temp as stable, I know it was warmer this weekend, It was 75 to 78 inside the house and that's when the tank went to 85. I did have the top up and two exaust fans running but still didn't bring the temp. down. Well I say two exaust fans, the wife was helping and she got one blowing in instead of out, so I'm hoping once I turn it around it will help.
I did use a two part supliment for calacium to get it up to 400 but had quite using it for about a week when I ran out so I started the kalk drip sunday hopfully to at least maintain it I wasn't sure if it would raise the levels are not, my PH has been running a little on the high side so I've been slow at starting the drip. and I wasn't sure about using kalk and another suppliment together, but I'll try and pick up the b-ionic and start using it.
I'll be glad when I get it all balanced out, this part drives me crazy

and the bad part is I'm away from home monday thru thursday so I have to work on all this the three days I'm home.
 
wattsupdoc

wattsupdoc

Active Member
I hear ya'.
Getting it balanced seems like it took forever. Test, dose retest. test dose retest....
I used seaschems two part before the b-ionic. Once you use it you wont use another.
 
grubsnaek

grubsnaek

Active Member
i cant believe how far this tank came. i remember when i was sitting on a metal stand. i know it still is, but the wood work is great that you did
 
ameno

ameno

Active Member
thanks Grub, It's been a big long project to get it to were it is, and I still have a lot to do, but at least now it's up and running, and I can enjoy it. everything else I'm adding is mostly for convinince.
 
turningtim

turningtim

Active Member
No worries you'll get the bugs out!
If you guys are going 2-part. do a search for "2-part solution". I have been considering this stuff also. Basically what you'll find on this site is bulk cal, alk and mag. Much cheaper then the name brands but the same stuff. They also carry bulk kalk and other additives......
As far as the PVC goes, make sure you do it right. I just had one of my joints go south after a couple years. Don't know why but I had a drip that saturated my carpet before I had a clue. Had to rip the plumbing down and redo.
Tim
Going to post update on my thread.....
 
ameno

ameno

Active Member
that's what I'm afraid of is a line blowing out, it would dump half the tank before I knew what was happening, so I picked up some stuff from the plant I work at that is a wrap for PVC leaks, it's some bad stuff, I plan to wrap all the joints I went back with silicone on and any others that might me questionable. hopefully tommorrow I'll get this closed loop finish, all I need now is the OM motor I had to return.
 
ameno

ameno

Active Member
well the silicone did not work to fix the leaks, It did on the suction line but not the discharge, so I ended up redoing all the 1.5" discharge piping, and finally fixed that problem, I had a temp. problem still, sat. I started with the temp. at 78 and after lights climbed to 80.5 by 5pm, which was fine, I also installed the PH controler, which stated the PH at 8.2 which is great, we left at 5pm and when I got home at 10pm the temp was 84.5 and the PH at 8.4.
sunday the PH went to 8.6 and I fought yemp all day with chilled top-off water raised hood and whatever else I could do to keep it down, with no luck, it went to 85 deg. This morning it was cool in the house and with no lights the temp was still 84. so I decided to feel of the heater and guess what, it was running. I guess the temp on the heater had stuck. so I changed out heaters, but the one I used would not turn off until I set it to 74 deg. with that the temp had dropped about 1 deg. before I left, but now nobody is home to watch it until tonight, I just hope it levels out were it needs to, and maybe once the temp drops down the PH will also, but I don't know if one relates to the other or not.
Here's some latest pics.



 
ameno

ameno

Active Member
as you can see there is a 1" valve on the pump discharge, it is used to drain the acess water when I work on plumbing and for water changes, I also have a pump in the holding container, the container is 15 gal. so when I do a water change I just turn on the pump and drain to a container, mix up the salt, drain the water from the tank thru the 1" valve, and then pump the new water in with another pump I have set up.
 
ameno

ameno

Active Member
Originally Posted by theappe3
wow that is crazy plumbing
It about drove me crazy trying to do it, especially when it had half a dozen leaks the first round

The OM has ports on opposite side that have to run to one side of the tank, so I had to swing it around to make it work out, and I did loose a lot of head having to do it that way.
 
ameno

ameno

Active Member
Originally Posted by Kevin34
What is the frame of your canopy made out of? 2X4s?
no just 1x4 and 1x3 regular pine, and the inside of the doors is a pine underlayment, lots of sanding.
 
kevin34

kevin34

Active Member
I have a bunch of 1X3s that I got to build a frame for my canopy last night. How did you assemble yours? I was planning to use screws but was worried that they might split the wood. I will be drilling into the 1 inch side so the 3 inch side will be facing out. That way I can have for surface areas to put the doors on. Will the screws need to be stainless steel?
 
ameno

ameno

Active Member
I would definetly go with stainless screws, I used a biscuit cutter to put mine together with, no nails are screws, was a lot easier that way and strong, If there's anyway you can get your hands on one that's the way to go
 
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