New 230 gal reef build

spiked09

spiked09

Member
I have never seen one either. I was racking my brain trying to come up with a fool proof system for dealing with overflows or leaks and this is what I came up with.
The water will drain from the back via 2 - 3" drains. I think I will have them connected to a separate 3" pipe running to my sump. The moat is PVC so it's food safe and the water won't have touched anything that could contaminate it.
My sump won't hold 230 gallons obviously, probably around 30 gallons. So should there be more than 30 gallons to come down I will have a drain pipe near the very top of my sump tank to allow water to drain out to the floor drain in my basement.
I would hate to see ANY of my saltwater going down the drain but it's still better than all over my floors.
That is the plan anyways.
 
rzande1

rzande1

Member
you can have an overflow from the sump. Have an array of vertical plastic pvc pipes that can handle it. Do the 6 inch or 1 good diameter. If you put a stack of those in you can easily handle a 230 overflow.
 
spiked09

spiked09

Member
Originally Posted by rzande1
http:///forum/post/2555883
you can have an overflow from the sump. Have an array of vertical plastic pvc pipes that can handle it. Do the 6 inch or 1 good diameter. If you put a stack of those in you can easily handle a 230 overflow.
I am not sure I follow.
I was thinking of a couple 2" or 3" bulkheads on the side of my sump near the top, so the water would drain into a pipe or pipes directed to the floor drain.
 
sk8shorty01

sk8shorty01

Active Member
I think rzande1 is talking about having a series of verticle PVC pipes that are all connected that could handle the overflow from the sump. Catching all of the water rather than sending it down the drain.
 
spiked09

spiked09

Member
Originally Posted by sk8shorty01
http:///forum/post/2555955
I think rzande1 is talking about having a series of verticle PVC pipes that are all connected that could handle the overflow from the sump. Catching all of the water rather than sending it down the drain.
Okay I think I understand now.
Quick calcs tell me that I would need about 2' x 2' floor area and a height of 8 feet. So if I went with 6" pipes it would work out to approx. 17 pipes.
That is not a bad at all. The amount of floor space required makes it very doable.
Buying 17, 8 foot sections of 6" PVC isn't going to be cheap. I would have to weigh it against just replacing the water that went down the drain. However it may have to be weighed against the loosing all my live rock as well.
The VERY attractive feature of this idea is the fact that if the cause of the flood/leak/overflow was easily fixed and the water could be replaced right away then it will be there to pump back in. Otherwise I would have to make up a undetermined amount of salt water again and as quickly as possible, this could be as much as 230 gallons.
I would be able to store my livestock in my sump, replace the tank and always have the water ready to go. On top of that what live rock wouldn't fit into the sump could be thrown into rubbermaids and the stored water could be used to fill all the tubs. Thus saving my live rock as well in the event the tank is beyond repair and must be replaced.
With temporary lighting for my livestock in the sump I would have a fair amount of time before having to get the tank up and running again.
There would have to be a system in place to keep circulating all the water in the pipes through the sump as well but that wouldn't be hard to do.
Great idea! I love it! This could easily save a person thousands of dollars.
 
spiked09

spiked09

Member
I just called the plumbing supplier out here. He has thin wall PVC in 6" for $2.75/ft. So it would be about $375.00 for the pipe alone.
For another $25.00 I could get two more plastic sump tanks like the one I have now and I do have room for them, they can be stacked as well. So it boils down to a choice between a 2' x 2.5' footing or 2.5' x 4' footing for me. I think the sump tanks would be easier to work with and much easier to plumb together so that may be a better route for me.
Great idea though. :)
 
spiked09

spiked09

Member
Well things didn't work out as I planned purchasing the used 230. LONG story short I ended up buying the used 230 with a couple scratches on it so I am using it as my sump.
My wife contributed her share to the entire reef project for life by getting me all the glass I would need to build a new 230 gal from and x-employer.
Not only was the grass all machine cut and edged (not polished, minimum edge) but they also water cut the drain holes for me and made the entire tank from a brand new sheet of starfire! On top of that they had the entire thing crated and ready for pickup within 3 hours!
Now here is the best part, it was 100% FREE!!! You can imagine the grin on my face!
At the end of the day I ended up with 2 - 230 gallon tanks for $450.00!
So needless to say this has changed a my plans a fair bit.
I am going to setup the new sump first so I can remove the old 120 gallon sump and use it for my emergency overflow storage tank/water make up tank. I want to have all of the overflow system built prior to filling the new tank.
So far I have setup the sump and I am in the process of making another 100 gallons of water to fill it. Then I will start the overflow system. Once that is done I can build the tank
Here is a pic of the new sump, still a work in progress.

Here are a couple of pics of the crated glass...



 
spiked09

spiked09

Member
She is just one of those people with a huge heart that everybody loves. I don't think I know a single person that doesn't like her.
I asked her to call her old boss to get me some pricing on all the pces I would need to build my own tank. I only wanted the front and sides made from starfire and he just said "for you?, free and we'll do it all from starfire"
She worked as his personal assistant for years and left on very good terms. She apparently had saved his ass on many occassions, so he told me as I was thanking him for the 50th time. LOL
Her boss is one of those people with a huge heart as well. He is the president of a very large custom glass manufacturing company here in Canada. They have many large accounts in Las Vegas, so you can imagine the amount of glass used in a place like Las Vegas. Needless to say my little 230 gallon tank will probably be wrote off to cut offs or damaged material.
Funny how something so small to one person can mean so much to someone else.
 
fats71

fats71

Active Member
Originally Posted by spiked09
http:///forum/post/2615272
She is just one of those people with a huge heart that everybody loves. I don't think I know a single person that doesn't like her.
I asked her to call her old boss to get me some pricing on all the pces I would need to build my own tank. I only wanted the front and sides made from starfire and he just said "for you?, free and we'll do it all from starfire"
She worked as his personal assistant for years and left on very good terms. She apparently had saved his ass on many occassions, so he told me as I was thanking him for the 50th time. LOL
Her boss is one of those people with a huge heart as well. He is the president of a very large custom glass manufacturing company here in Canada. They have many large accounts in Las Vegas, so you can imagine the amount of glass used in a place like Las Vegas. Needless to say my little 230 gallon tank will probably be wrote off to cut offs or damaged material.
Funny how something so small to one person can mean so much to someone else.
Seriously that is a blessing from GOD himself. I am happy for you and yours your wife must be a bang up gal and you sir are a lucky man. Good luck with the tank and setup hope it goes as easy as the glass deal did :)
 
spiked09

spiked09

Member
Originally Posted by Fats71
http:///forum/post/2616339
Seriously that is a blessing from GOD himself. I am happy for you and yours your wife must be a bang up gal and you sir are a lucky man. Good luck with the tank and setup hope it goes as easy as the glass deal did :)
I couldn't agree more. I do consider myself very lucky to have such a wonderful wife, she really is a bang up gal.
Thank you very much for your best wishes on my tank build
I appreciate it. I will keep posting here as I go.
 
spiked09

spiked09

Member
Thanks everyone :) I appreciate the compliments.
Time for a little update. Here is the sump room 90% complete.
I am almost finsihed the stand cover, all that is left is some trim. What a pain in the arse this was! I made it using some unfinished hardwood flooring the previous owners of my house left behind. The hardest part was making all the inside panels removable so I can access my pump and plumbing quickly and easily. The entire cover comes apart in less then 3 minutes.
I vented my DIY hood (made from a plastic tool box lid) outside to help keep the humidity down, it works great. I used two 12volt computer fans, one in the canopy pulling hot air out, the other on the opposit end of the 2" ducting I used, also pulling the air and pushing it outside. The tank is 70-80% covered and the none of the covers or glass collect condensation at all, even with the light running. The light I have over the tank now is a 250 MH pendant. If I turn the fans off condensation forms before your eyes.
Inside the tank I made a cheato chamber. It's 4 feet long x 1 foot wide and about 8 inches deep. That's a lot of cheato LOL. I wanted to keep the cheato back one foot from the front of the tank to allow the light to penetrate to the bottom of the tank where I currently have a little LR rubble bed with a couple of frags on the go. Nothing fancy, this will be my first attempt at fragging.
I will be adding more LR as time goes on, I have some in the oven now. LOL
Hopefully I can put a "complete" sticker on this project today and get back to working on the main tank. :)

Thanks for looking.
 
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