phliguy
Member
Hi Everybody
Been enjoying the information here that seems to be abundant and freely given.
I installed a 225 gallon tank in a wall to be flush from the living room side and all the work will take place from the back side which happens to double as a study.
I had the house plumbed for the tank with drains in the slab underneath the tank etc.,.. The plumbers used this space to bring other pipes up into this area(in the center area) to make connections that left me without the possibility of putting 1 sump big enough to handle the amount of water that comes down when the pumps are shutoff.
So I had to put 2 sumps, 1 left and 1 right of protruding piping. Without going into the previous plumbing fiascoes,. I'll just let you know where we are now(we is me and a friend that a fish store told me about who has been helping me although trial and error somewhat) all water leaves the aquarium through a 4 " black plastic pipe through the bottom of the aquarium draining into left sump through filter media and 1.5" bulkhead out to the iwaki 70 to power Aquakinetics protein skimmer downdraft type (new off ----,..Look if you get a chance and tell me what you think,.it has 4 downdraft tubes) I've mounted this skimmer wall to wall with the right sump so that the drain water from the skimmer flows into the right sump.
Water leaves right sump 1.5" bulkhead to little giant 5.5 to push water up to top of canopy where said water is distributed through 2 3/4 sea swirl rotating fixtures.
There is also a 1.5" PVC flex pipe that inter connects the 2 sumps so that when
pumps are off they will balance out and will hold all water from aquarium, this also fixes any imbalance as far as having two different type pumps while there running.
This setup as far as plumbing seems to work except a few little problems like excess bubbles from skimmer getting sucked into
delivery pump and getting into tank etc.,...Things that I can solve later.
I also have 320 lbs of live rock,live sand,calcium reactor, ozone generator,aquadyne 3000 system, 1/2 hp chiller, 3 250 watt 12000k
metal halide and 6 6 ft vho with ice cap ballast.
I'm in the process now of plumbing 2 50 gallon barrels upstairs in an air-conditioned room for ro/di water for water changes from one barrel and kalkwasser on the other with distribution draining to tank via PVC on demand from aquarium room controls as needed.
I've put in snails and red legged crabs and am having a pretty good time just watching these fellers go around the tank.
Although I'm seeing a lot of shells that the snails were in now empty and on the bottom of the tank ,that has me worried a little.
Am putting in Coral Vital daily as directions state and am getting ready for livestock soon,.....although I'm now scared after reading some of the problems posted here,.. guess I'll take it slower than anticipated!!
The last batch of rock has been in for at least a month,.... and still have not calibrated the probes for the Aquadyne equipment as yet,.....
Thought I'd fill you all in on the setup so when I start putting in coral and fish you'll be able to keep me on the right track,...
Phil
p.s. Sorry for all the rambling,... been plumbing all day.
[hr]
Been enjoying the information here that seems to be abundant and freely given.
I installed a 225 gallon tank in a wall to be flush from the living room side and all the work will take place from the back side which happens to double as a study.
I had the house plumbed for the tank with drains in the slab underneath the tank etc.,.. The plumbers used this space to bring other pipes up into this area(in the center area) to make connections that left me without the possibility of putting 1 sump big enough to handle the amount of water that comes down when the pumps are shutoff.
So I had to put 2 sumps, 1 left and 1 right of protruding piping. Without going into the previous plumbing fiascoes,. I'll just let you know where we are now(we is me and a friend that a fish store told me about who has been helping me although trial and error somewhat) all water leaves the aquarium through a 4 " black plastic pipe through the bottom of the aquarium draining into left sump through filter media and 1.5" bulkhead out to the iwaki 70 to power Aquakinetics protein skimmer downdraft type (new off ----,..Look if you get a chance and tell me what you think,.it has 4 downdraft tubes) I've mounted this skimmer wall to wall with the right sump so that the drain water from the skimmer flows into the right sump.
Water leaves right sump 1.5" bulkhead to little giant 5.5 to push water up to top of canopy where said water is distributed through 2 3/4 sea swirl rotating fixtures.
There is also a 1.5" PVC flex pipe that inter connects the 2 sumps so that when
pumps are off they will balance out and will hold all water from aquarium, this also fixes any imbalance as far as having two different type pumps while there running.
This setup as far as plumbing seems to work except a few little problems like excess bubbles from skimmer getting sucked into
delivery pump and getting into tank etc.,...Things that I can solve later.
I also have 320 lbs of live rock,live sand,calcium reactor, ozone generator,aquadyne 3000 system, 1/2 hp chiller, 3 250 watt 12000k
metal halide and 6 6 ft vho with ice cap ballast.
I'm in the process now of plumbing 2 50 gallon barrels upstairs in an air-conditioned room for ro/di water for water changes from one barrel and kalkwasser on the other with distribution draining to tank via PVC on demand from aquarium room controls as needed.
I've put in snails and red legged crabs and am having a pretty good time just watching these fellers go around the tank.
Although I'm seeing a lot of shells that the snails were in now empty and on the bottom of the tank ,that has me worried a little.
Am putting in Coral Vital daily as directions state and am getting ready for livestock soon,.....although I'm now scared after reading some of the problems posted here,.. guess I'll take it slower than anticipated!!
The last batch of rock has been in for at least a month,.... and still have not calibrated the probes for the Aquadyne equipment as yet,.....
Thought I'd fill you all in on the setup so when I start putting in coral and fish you'll be able to keep me on the right track,...
Phil
p.s. Sorry for all the rambling,... been plumbing all day.
[hr]
