My new project

nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
Figured I would post this here..
Picked up a tank from a buddy of mine a few weeks ago.. Got a decent deal on it I suppose..Tank,stand,canopy,75 gallon sump and Dart pump for the closed loop for about $300 and traded a Vortech that I wasnt going to use on the new tank.
The tank is an AGA 220 72x24x30.. After talking with Jetskiking(JohnR) we decided to just save some space in the house and put it in the wall...
Here are some pictures of the progress.. we started on Saturday..
Tank when I got it.


Doing some quick cleaning..

30" door became a 96" door



Front wall opened up

From the back

Studs removed

Still have some work to do.. Thats a dry fit.. Still have to case the rest of the opening so the tank fits snug and trim the outside..
Have 1 more outlet to run and tap the RO into the plumbing into the crawlspace and do all the plumbing..
The flow is going to be a closed loop running on a dart(upgrading to a Hammerhead later) with 2 2" drains and 4 1" returns + the overflows..
Lighting is going to be 3x250 SE Metal halides(LumenMax elite reflectors, Blue Wave ballast and running Radium bulbs,and 2 72" VHOs, Skimmer is going to be a MR-2.. Will post more later.. Really tired!
Big thanks to John for all the work!!
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Very cool. Make sure you add your plumbing, sump, refuge if you got one. Im doing a build pretty soon and this could help. Thanks and good work.
 
nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
Plumbing should be fun.. Bunch of 2" line..LOL
The sump is already built from a 75 gallon so no pics of it.. Taking a break today and get back on it tomorrow.. Might mess around and clean the inside of the tank some more.. Have to use a ladder to get to the bottom.. The bottom of the tank is at 40" up the wall and top being 70" makes for a hard time of getting in there.. LOL
 
nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
Going to tie the water into the room tomorrow and probably add a floor drain to a "field line" to dispel waste...
My plan is..
Since I have a 1" bulkhead Im not using on one end of my sump I am going to plumb it in with a ball valve where I can drain the entire sump at once.. This will give me the chance to wipe it out once and awhile.. and turn all pumps off and figure total volume within .5 gallons of the sump.. I can drain it through the valve and then get a mixing container with the same amount of water, mix saltwater up for a few days.. Drain the sump, then pump it back to the determined amount with a pump on a switch.. Easy water changes..If they are easier to do there is a better chance I will do them..
 
nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
Ok.. Didnt get the water tapped today.. Raining and nasty all day.. Not ideal for crawling under the house..
Got the opening cased in and all that good stuff..Picking up the trim tomorrow and get it up and caulk around it for a moisture barrier.
Got the last outlet wired in and hot, so thats done..
Inside of the tank got cleaned real good and rest of the silly cone cut out from around the closed loop bulkheads..
 
nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
I'll try and get a few better pics today.. THe color is waaaay off.. The wall the tank is sitting in is blue, cant tell from the picture though..
 
nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
LOL.. In the almost $200 in pipe fittings I have bought I forgot all about the plumbing to run the overflows into the sump and back up.. I dont know how I managed to overlook that but did.. Got to snag that stuff tonight.. At latest Im adding water tomorrow, about 4' of Loc-Line and picking up 2 buckets of salt to get this thing cycling thursday....
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Question. Are those return holes on the bottom? Why are you not using the return through the overflows? I have a similar tank I will be setting up soon so I was just wondering. Also if they are returns I suppose you have to add check valves so water does not drain that way correct?
 
nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
Originally Posted by CAM78
http:///forum/post/3212780
Question. Are those return holes on the bottom? Why are you not using the return through the overflows? I have a similar tank I will be setting up soon so I was just wondering. Also if they are returns I suppose you have to add check valves so water does not drain that way correct?

Good question.. I am using the overflows.. The holes on the back are..
4x1" and 2x2".. The 2" holes are drains for the closed loop and the 1" holes are for the returns on the closed loop.. The overflows are only to move water from tank to sump.. With the closed loop I wont have any powerheads at all in the tank since the flow will be coming from an external pump just for flow..
Ok.. More updates..
Got 90% of the plumbing done.. Was missing some channel locks to snug up the bulkhead nuts
Only thing left to do is to tighten 2 bulkheads, glue a handful of fittings, run the waste line to drain the sump for water changes and tap the water line and move the RO unit..
Altogether about a hour of work or so..



 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Maybe the dumbest question ever. What is preventing a fish or something from getting pulled into the closed loop?
 
nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
Most people use what they call a bulkhead strainer.. Nozzle about 4" at that size that stick out into the water column that has slits cut into it all around.. I have never liked these things since they protrude into the water.. JMO but they look like crap.. So what I did was pick up 2 2" shower drains at home depot(I'll snap a picture later so it makes more sense), cut a piece of 2" pipe that was about 1/2" long and slid it over the back of the drain(drain has a lip on it to keep it from just slipping down) and painted them black with Krylon Fusion paint, let the dry and popped them in.. So now they are mounted flush with the bulkhead and have a strainer to keep fish and things like that out..
Like I said I'll snap a picture later..
 
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