Bigger is better? Lets try 475 gallons...Tangs gonna be happy!
- Thread starter tangs rule
- Start date
1snapple
Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/384145/bigger-is-better-lets-try-475-gallons-tangs-gonna-be-happy/20#post_3366238
Nice tank! May wanna put a level on that bad boy.
+1, level is always better.
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/384145/bigger-is-better-lets-try-475-gallons-tangs-gonna-be-happy/20#post_3366238
Nice tank! May wanna put a level on that bad boy.
+1, level is always better.
tangs rule
Active Member
All 8 doors will have to be re-cut and beveled to look right - but I've got a master craftsman wood dude down the street - that likely has the needed equipment to do that in his 3car garage, that holds no cars. He's retired now, but started his own furniture company 40 years ago. The front bottom piece is not glued - only wood screws - in case I have to remove it to fit the sump & fuge later.
Tank is now 95% full...No leaks other than threaded fittings that need replacement. am building another shopping list for Lowes or the depot...gonna let it sit full for as long as I can, as who wants to waste 150 bucks in saltmix???? It'll probably sit full of tap for 5 days minimum.........besides, tap water is so much easier to clean up than saltwater! ! !
The slab in the dining room slopes down to the west......Have one of my 100g tanks that also sits east/west and it is not that noticable - but in an 8' long tank, it is.......the water level is .200" higher on the right (west) side... AM kinda at a loss as what to do about it, as any shimming would have to be super gradual, and basically begin from the high side. There's not a straight angle in this silly house!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tank is now 95% full...No leaks other than threaded fittings that need replacement. am building another shopping list for Lowes or the depot...gonna let it sit full for as long as I can, as who wants to waste 150 bucks in saltmix???? It'll probably sit full of tap for 5 days minimum.........besides, tap water is so much easier to clean up than saltwater! ! !
The slab in the dining room slopes down to the west......Have one of my 100g tanks that also sits east/west and it is not that noticable - but in an 8' long tank, it is.......the water level is .200" higher on the right (west) side... AM kinda at a loss as what to do about it, as any shimming would have to be super gradual, and basically begin from the high side. There's not a straight angle in this silly house!!!!!!!!!!!!
tangs rule
Active Member
That picture is kinda deceiving, as here is the same tank with a bit more water in it, and it is not terribly noticible.....I just took this from the kitchen, leaning over the bar.....the orig pic exaggerates the slope alot - but ther is a slope in the slab and the right side of the tank does sit lower by almost 1/4".
deejeff442
Active Member
my250 is off level just a bit .i keep the water on the left side 1/4 inch above the trim and it is the same height as the trim on the right.cant even notice it.its been in this spot for a year now.
aquaman
Member
I have a 250g and a very slight slope as well. Same as the poster above about 1/4". I had to make a shim to go under one side, but make it out of oak, the first one I made was out of pine and it was a little more than dust after checking the tank for leaks. Even with the shim, over a year it slowly went down on the side, but not nearly 1/4"
tangs rule
Active Member
I'm worried about the total weight : (and what a shim would do unless it was full length)
4300 pounds of water
1000 pounds for the tank
500 for the stand
400-600 in liverock
500 in substrate
350 in pumps/fuge tank/sump tank/plumbing/equipment
In total the stand/slab will be holding 7250 pounds - and there's no way i'd put a 1/4" shim under any of it, unless it was tapered over the entire legnth of 8' stand - as I'd be afraid any ridge or bump not only would just get shoved into the stand, but might cause a glass failure too......I kinda think a .200" slope over 8' is close enough, cause at least the floor is pretty flat. I dunno - I'm gonna talk to my dad - he's the engineer..
4300 pounds of water
1000 pounds for the tank
500 for the stand
400-600 in liverock
500 in substrate
350 in pumps/fuge tank/sump tank/plumbing/equipment
In total the stand/slab will be holding 7250 pounds - and there's no way i'd put a 1/4" shim under any of it, unless it was tapered over the entire legnth of 8' stand - as I'd be afraid any ridge or bump not only would just get shoved into the stand, but might cause a glass failure too......I kinda think a .200" slope over 8' is close enough, cause at least the floor is pretty flat. I dunno - I'm gonna talk to my dad - he's the engineer..
deejeff442
Active Member
i wouldnt worry about that.my 250 with the 75 sump is around 3500 with all the rock .it tilts 1/4 inch over 6 foor and its on a peir and beam.been there over a year.
2quills
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tangs rule http:///forum/thread/384145/bigger-is-better-lets-try-475-gallons-tangs-gonna-be-happy/40#post_3366417
I'm worried about the total weight : (and what a shim would do unless it was full length)
4300 pounds of water
1000 pounds for the tank
500 for the stand
400-600 in liverock
500 in substrate
350 in pumps/fuge tank/sump tank/plumbing/equipment
In total the stand/slab will be holding 7250 pounds - and there's no way i'd put a 1/4" shim under any of it, unless it was tapered over the entire legnth of 8' stand - as I'd be afraid any ridge or bump not only would just get shoved into the stand, but might cause a glass failure too......I kinda think a .200" slope over 8' is close enough, cause at least the floor is pretty flat. I dunno - I'm gonna toak to my dad - he's the engineer..
No, shimming that much weight probably wouldn't be advised. If it were that far off of level you're better off making changes in the construction of the stand, itself. Otherwise you may get some deflection or warping in the stand, which wouldn't be good either.
For what it's worth, water would be the most dense substance that you will be putting in the tank. Therefore a tank full of nothing but water will weigh more than a tank with water, rock, substrate and equipment. I think you're looking at more like 5,500lbs total, IMO. Your second picture looked alot more level for sure, the first one was decieving.
Originally Posted by tangs rule http:///forum/thread/384145/bigger-is-better-lets-try-475-gallons-tangs-gonna-be-happy/40#post_3366417
I'm worried about the total weight : (and what a shim would do unless it was full length)
4300 pounds of water
1000 pounds for the tank
500 for the stand
400-600 in liverock
500 in substrate
350 in pumps/fuge tank/sump tank/plumbing/equipment
In total the stand/slab will be holding 7250 pounds - and there's no way i'd put a 1/4" shim under any of it, unless it was tapered over the entire legnth of 8' stand - as I'd be afraid any ridge or bump not only would just get shoved into the stand, but might cause a glass failure too......I kinda think a .200" slope over 8' is close enough, cause at least the floor is pretty flat. I dunno - I'm gonna toak to my dad - he's the engineer..
No, shimming that much weight probably wouldn't be advised. If it were that far off of level you're better off making changes in the construction of the stand, itself. Otherwise you may get some deflection or warping in the stand, which wouldn't be good either.
For what it's worth, water would be the most dense substance that you will be putting in the tank. Therefore a tank full of nothing but water will weigh more than a tank with water, rock, substrate and equipment. I think you're looking at more like 5,500lbs total, IMO. Your second picture looked alot more level for sure, the first one was decieving.
tangs rule
Active Member
As requested earlier - the stocklist:
From current inventory fish:
Achilles tang
Naso tang
Purple tang
Powder Blue tang
Blue/hippo tang
Mated pair occellaris clowns hosting in LTA
Blak sailfin blenny
Longnose butterfly fish
Dozens of crabs/snails...2ea skunk cleaner shrimps, 4ea peppermint shrimps, 4ea brittle stars. 1 BTA, 1 LTA, 1 unknown gorgonian that just won't die.
From current inventory coral:
Acropora sp (Pruple acro)
Acropora gemifera (in Brown)
Acropora anthoceris (purple tip acro)
Acropora sp. (Staghorn - Scripps Green Tip Acro)
Acropora verweyl (blue acro)
Seritopora sp. (Pink birdsnest)
Seriatopora hystrix (purple polyp green birdsnest)
Seritopora guttatus (Orange guttatus birdsnest)
Pocillipora damicornis (Purple Cauliflower Coral)
Short polyp goniopora (flower pot coral)
Long polyp gonipora
Stylophora pistillata (Green stylophora)
Capnella sp. (taro tree)
Euphyllia yaeyamaensis (Frogspawn)
Galaxea sp (galaxea coral)
Turbinaria sp. (Pagoda cup plate cora)
Tubeipora sp (Pipe organ coral)
2 green mushrooms - 1" dia
Euphyllia glabrescens (Torch coral)
Protopaylthoa mutuki (Large button polyps)
I dunno what to get later on, and am open to suggesitons - but it'll be a couple months ensuring this thing is stable.
Also ordered a recirculation pump & return pump tonight - the return pump is a little Reeflo Snapper - 2400 gph, and at 6' head should put out 2000 gph. The recirc pump is bigger at 4300 gph and is a Sequence 4300 - at 3' should be about 4000+gph.....if all works well, the total turnover should be at least 6000gph, or 12 times an hour. The protein skimmer and ozone untis are on their way too.
From current inventory fish:
Achilles tang
Naso tang
Purple tang
Powder Blue tang
Blue/hippo tang
Mated pair occellaris clowns hosting in LTA
Blak sailfin blenny
Longnose butterfly fish
Dozens of crabs/snails...2ea skunk cleaner shrimps, 4ea peppermint shrimps, 4ea brittle stars. 1 BTA, 1 LTA, 1 unknown gorgonian that just won't die.
From current inventory coral:
Acropora sp (Pruple acro)
Acropora gemifera (in Brown)
Acropora anthoceris (purple tip acro)
Acropora sp. (Staghorn - Scripps Green Tip Acro)
Acropora verweyl (blue acro)
Seritopora sp. (Pink birdsnest)
Seriatopora hystrix (purple polyp green birdsnest)
Seritopora guttatus (Orange guttatus birdsnest)
Pocillipora damicornis (Purple Cauliflower Coral)
Short polyp goniopora (flower pot coral)
Long polyp gonipora
Stylophora pistillata (Green stylophora)
Capnella sp. (taro tree)
Euphyllia yaeyamaensis (Frogspawn)
Galaxea sp (galaxea coral)
Turbinaria sp. (Pagoda cup plate cora)
Tubeipora sp (Pipe organ coral)
2 green mushrooms - 1" dia
Euphyllia glabrescens (Torch coral)
Protopaylthoa mutuki (Large button polyps)
I dunno what to get later on, and am open to suggesitons - but it'll be a couple months ensuring this thing is stable.
Also ordered a recirculation pump & return pump tonight - the return pump is a little Reeflo Snapper - 2400 gph, and at 6' head should put out 2000 gph. The recirc pump is bigger at 4300 gph and is a Sequence 4300 - at 3' should be about 4000+gph.....if all works well, the total turnover should be at least 6000gph, or 12 times an hour. The protein skimmer and ozone untis are on their way too.
D
denniscoy420
Guest
First I would take those mirrors off that back wall, and when u place the rock in the tank mould it together
so its not going to be a problem in the future, hard to fix little things in a tank that size
And good luck this tank will be all worth it in about 1 year hope u own ur home
so its not going to be a problem in the future, hard to fix little things in a tank that size
And good luck this tank will be all worth it in about 1 year hope u own ur home
desertdawg
Member
This was posted on my local forum, maybe it will help...
Installing Bulkhead Tips
1. Always install bulkheads clean and dry, no silicone, teflon or thread lubricants. Silicone and lubricants cause the gasket to scoot out or not seal properly. Have you ever removed an old automobile windshield or other gasketed glass? The rubber vulcanizes to the glass with time and creates a perfect seal without any help.
2. Before installing the bulkhead take a few minutes using a jewelers file, nail file or pocket knife and clean any excess flashing off both the male and female threads and from the flat gasket mating surfaces of the flange and nut. This is a common source of leaks.
3. Always install the gasket on the flange side of the bulkhead, never on the nut side, regardless if its inside or outside the tank. Installing the gasket next to the nut will lead to leaks as water travels along the threads around the gasket. Hand tighten only with maybe 1/4 to 1/2 turn additional, no more.
4. When using threaded bulkheads, again clean the excess flashing from the threads and valleys and use a small amount of teflon tape or better yet the stick or crayon type of thread lubricant designed specifically for PVC treads. These can be found at Lowes, HD, Ace and all hardware stores under names like Laco, Permatex and others.
I use this one and have since the 1980's with great success.
LA-CO: Product Detail - PLASTO-JOINT STIK® - Plastic Thread Sealant
It stays pliable forever and does not tear or roll out of the threads like teflon tape. My swimming pool plumbing up to 2" was all installed with this in 1983, outside in Phoenix AZ and its still pliable to this day!
5. Never support any pumps or piping from a bulkhead, always use supports so weight is not on a bulkhead and gasket causing differential stresses on the mating surfaces and leaks.
6. Never screw anything to the external threads of a bulkhead, these are not standard tapered pipe threads (NPT) and will leak. They are there to screw the nut on is all and are not normally even a standard diameter like 1" etc.
Hope you get some use out of this.
Installing Bulkhead Tips
1. Always install bulkheads clean and dry, no silicone, teflon or thread lubricants. Silicone and lubricants cause the gasket to scoot out or not seal properly. Have you ever removed an old automobile windshield or other gasketed glass? The rubber vulcanizes to the glass with time and creates a perfect seal without any help.
2. Before installing the bulkhead take a few minutes using a jewelers file, nail file or pocket knife and clean any excess flashing off both the male and female threads and from the flat gasket mating surfaces of the flange and nut. This is a common source of leaks.
3. Always install the gasket on the flange side of the bulkhead, never on the nut side, regardless if its inside or outside the tank. Installing the gasket next to the nut will lead to leaks as water travels along the threads around the gasket. Hand tighten only with maybe 1/4 to 1/2 turn additional, no more.
4. When using threaded bulkheads, again clean the excess flashing from the threads and valleys and use a small amount of teflon tape or better yet the stick or crayon type of thread lubricant designed specifically for PVC treads. These can be found at Lowes, HD, Ace and all hardware stores under names like Laco, Permatex and others.
I use this one and have since the 1980's with great success.
LA-CO: Product Detail - PLASTO-JOINT STIK® - Plastic Thread Sealant
It stays pliable forever and does not tear or roll out of the threads like teflon tape. My swimming pool plumbing up to 2" was all installed with this in 1983, outside in Phoenix AZ and its still pliable to this day!
5. Never support any pumps or piping from a bulkhead, always use supports so weight is not on a bulkhead and gasket causing differential stresses on the mating surfaces and leaks.
6. Never screw anything to the external threads of a bulkhead, these are not standard tapered pipe threads (NPT) and will leak. They are there to screw the nut on is all and are not normally even a standard diameter like 1" etc.
Hope you get some use out of this.
tangs rule
Active Member
Thank You Desert! I was looking for a reef safe pliable thread joint compound.....Am gonna use teflon tape for most pipe threadded joints, but there are a couple that I'd like to use a liquid compound on.....thanks again for the data!
tangs rule
Active Member
Some major progress! Since last weekend - we have drained the tank of tap, and decided to shim slightly with full sheet cardboard to raise the west (or right) side. ( I just couldn't stand an off level tank) . . . That worked well, so we decided to enlarge the center hole to 1.5" dia so the recirculation pump can get plenty of flow thru a 1.5" bulkhead - the dual returns are 1"..... That is done too, and then everything showed up thursday morning. A long 28 hour day later - and we have a plumbing system with a sump and refugium tanks then filled it with tap water and ran everything / adjusted the flows / did power off checks to ensure more than enough volume exists below to hold everything & leak checks. All look good - tank level when full and the 1.5" suction hole gives the Reef Flo Barracuda 4300 recirc pump nice strong flow from the dual returns: 
So we dumped the tank again of tapwater, then as the sun came up Friday morning we started washing substrate and dumping in.
We now have dueling watermakers spittin out RODI as fast as possible and am filling the monster with saltwater. Have begun hanging light fixtures and hope to have it full & running by middle of this next week. (or whenever it's full! !) The other pump (return from sump) is plummed in too, and is a Reef Flo Snapper 2400gph.
p.s. "we" is me and the dog - Yogi Bear:
So we dumped the tank again of tapwater, then as the sun came up Friday morning we started washing substrate and dumping in.
We now have dueling watermakers spittin out RODI as fast as possible and am filling the monster with saltwater. Have begun hanging light fixtures and hope to have it full & running by middle of this next week. (or whenever it's full! !) The other pump (return from sump) is plummed in too, and is a Reef Flo Snapper 2400gph.
p.s. "we" is me and the dog - Yogi Bear:
tangs rule
Active Member
The small tank on the left will be the refugium. I decided on a seperate sump&fuge. The sump holds the skimmer/heaters/calcium reactor, and I wanted a dedicated refugium, so I got a little 25g tall tank. Water from the main tank overflow will dump right into the fuge and then get pumped over to the sump by a quiet one 4000, where it can be returned to the main.
For rock, i'll be using the rock I already have, 130# of huge dry base rock, and when I have an empty small (100g) main - I'll get another couple hunderd pounds in 100# increments and cure it off for 6 weeks / batch so I can put it directly into the main after curing and Qitne....
For rock, i'll be using the rock I already have, 130# of huge dry base rock, and when I have an empty small (100g) main - I'll get another couple hunderd pounds in 100# increments and cure it off for 6 weeks / batch so I can put it directly into the main after curing and Qitne....
