New 300 gallon In-Wall tank build

acrylic51

Active Member
Mine Reeflo pumps get warm but I can keep my hand on them all day. Are you sure the cooling fan is working? If the fan isn't running that would be your culprit. External pumps use fans to cool themselves instead of using tank water to cool themselves make heat transfer to the water slim. I would contact Chrisand see what he says. All in all externals will have less heat transfer than any submersible pumps.
 

edat

Member
So my aquascaping skill sucks .... As much as I tried to get away from a "wall" look that's exactly what I ended up with.
With the size and shape of my rock it just wouldn't stack right and since it was all live rock I didn't want to kill it by leaving it out of water while I decided on placement and then try to somehow secure it all together.
What I ended up with is a "M" shaped wall in the middle of the tank towards the back. There is 2"-4" space between the backwall and the rocks with two older 1300gph PH behind to reduce dead spots.
I will by some nice LR or BR to fill out the ends and somewhat hide the overflow boxes.
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edat

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric B 125 http:///t/394784/new-300-gallon-in-wall-tank-build/200#post_3525971
Did the temperature of the tank increase?
Yes but only by 1 degrees and holding for a day now. Its had been really hot and humid here lately so my dehumidifier was running like crazy and putting a lot of additional heat in the room.
I think that the temporary pond return pump might be adding heat to the tank as well. I ordered a DC return pump from that Fish Street guy a couple weeks ago and my ordered was cancelled. When I asked why I was told that it was not for use in the US......
So I ordered a Water Blaster 10000 that should be here by Tuesday. Once I get it I can finally finish the return plumbing and plumb the frag tank into the system.
 

edat

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric B 125 http:///t/394784/new-300-gallon-in-wall-tank-build/180#post_3525957
ooof. I don't have much experience with external pumps, so I will be of limited help here. The experience I do have, though, is that the casing of external pumps does tend to heat up because of the lack of coolant (water). I would not be entirely surprised if this was a common thing, but hopefully someone with more experience with this type of equipment will chime in soon.
edat: I see you're from Ohio- do you ever go to LEAR?
Didn't know that it existed until now....
I will have too look into it more, looks interesting have you been?
 

edat

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/394784/new-300-gallon-in-wall-tank-build/200#post_3525982
Mine Reeflo pumps get warm but I can keep my hand on them all day. Are you sure the cooling fan is working? If the fan isn't running that would be your culprit. External pumps use fans to cool themselves instead of using tank water to cool themselves make heat transfer to the water slim. I would contact Chrisand see what he says. All in all externals will have less heat transfer than any submersible pumps.
Chris says temp is normal and the fan is running.
Funny, the dehumidifier finally has the humidity under control and had shut off for a while.... When I cam downstairs it was so quiet I had to check and make sure everything was running

This system is virtually silent.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by edat http:///t/394784/new-300-gallon-in-wall-tank-build/200#post_3526295
Didn't know that it existed until now....
I will have too look into it more, looks interesting have you been?
I used to go to PMASI (Pittsburgh's reef club) but haven't made it for nearly a year because I took a break from the hobby. Now that I'm getting back into it I think I'll start going to the local meetings again. I have been to LEAR's frag swap twice in the past and plan on going again in February. I like to go on fragswapper.com a month in advance and request as many frags that I want ahead of time so that all the good stuff isn't gone by the time I get there.
 

tthemadd1

Active Member
Most external pumps have a metal heat sink. Either there are fins made into the housing or there is a way to attach a heat sink to them. A fan usually blows across these fins to pull heat away from the motor. Cheaper motors have crappy heat sinks or fins, no fan, or poor quality casing construction.
An easy way to improve on pumps is to add some aluminum heat sinks to the housing. Computer heat sinks are great. You can also mount a small counter fan to the heatsink. This will help move heat off the aluminum.
 

acrylic51

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tthemadd1 http:///t/394784/new-300-gallon-in-wall-tank-build/200#post_3526318
Most external pumps have a metal heat sink. Either there are fins made into the housing or there is a way to attach a heat sink to them. A fan usually blows across these fins to pull heat away from the motor. Cheaper motors have crappy heat sinks or fins, no fan, or poor quality casing construction.
An easy way to improve on pumps is to add some aluminum heat sinks to the housing. Computer heat sinks are great. You can also mount a small counter fan to the heatsink. This will help move heat off the aluminum.
Not worth the extra headache or money....Why not just buy a quality pump.......
 

tthemadd1

Active Member
Exactly acrylics. I agree. Point of someone bought a cheap pump already ways to reduce heat. Mainly pointing out the reason for higher price
 
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saxman

Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by edat http:///t/394784/new-300-gallon-in-wall-tank-build/200#post_3526293
So my aquascaping skill sucks .... As much as I tried to get away from a "wall" look that's exactly what I ended up with.
With the size and shape of my rock it just wouldn't stack right and since it was all live rock I didn't want to kill it by leaving it out of water while I decided on placement and then try to somehow secure it all together.
One thing you can do to improve your aquascaping would be to group your "like" rock together in your structure. Right now, you have several areas where rocks obviously would never be found together (think of a single white brick in a wall of red bricks...the white one just doesn't belong there). I'd honestly sort the rock based on type (e.g., fiji, limestone, Texas holey rock, etc.) and start over. Don't worry if it's out of the water for a little while, it will be fine.
If you simply stack rocks into a pile, that's what it will look like...a pile of rocks. Each rock will indeed have a place in your 'scape where it fits in, and will actually practically "lock" together with the adjacent rocks, with very little wiggle. Also, don't feel you have to use ALL of the rock...if you find yourself liking your structure at some point, stop. If you're not sure you like it, let it "grow" on you a day or two before you change it.
You can also connect rocks to make structures in various ways, epoxy, acrylic pins, zip ties, PVC frames, etc.
Stick with it...the more 'scapes you do, the easier it will get.
FWIW, the hardest tank I've 'scaped to date was our 210 peninsula tank...it's 3-side viewable, so it had to look good from all 3 sides...took me 3 or 4 swipes at it to get it "right".
 

edat

Member
Don't know if I will be doing any major re-scaping anytime soon. The one downfall from having an in-wall setup when placing rock or coral is having to walk out of the utility room and around to the other room to see how what I just moved around looks. Place a few rocks walk around and look, move it a little bit....walk around and look, move it back....walk around and look....gets old after awhile. I have a few ideas of a couple areas that I'm going to change but for the most part its growing on me.
I did get the new pump in the mail yesterday but I have to work the next two nights so I will get it plumbed in on my next set of days off.

 

tthemadd1

Active Member
That pump is submersible correct?
I had an external pump for a while but have used submersibles ever since. How does this do with heat transfer into the tank? I think my mag drive is a good substitute for a heater at present. It transfers a lot of heat to the tank. Not over 78 but does a good job of maintaining the temp. LOL
 

lubeck

Active Member
I have this exact same pump on my 180 gal system. It's a beast. I will say that it is the loudest piece of equipment I have but since you have a fish room there shouldn't be a problem. Same goes for heat transfer. My two heaters have not gone on once since I put water in the tank. The tank is maintaining 81 during the day. I believe that it could be the culprit but not sure. Again, I don't see the heat affecting your system since its so much larger in volume.
I love the pump and use it with a manifold for various things. It moves tons of water. My goal was to push over 2000 gal per hour thrums sump and fuge. I think you will be happy with it
 
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saxman

Guest
A good friend of ours who owns SH Source just started using Water Blasters...so far he's liking them, and he really likes the price since he runs so many pumps.
Quote:
Don't know if I will be doing any major re-scaping anytime soon. The one downfall from having an in-wall setup when placing rock or coral is having to walk out of the utility room and around to the other room to see how what I just moved around looks. Place a few rocks walk around and look, move it a little bit....walk around and look, move it back....walk around and look....gets old after awhile. I have a few ideas of a couple areas that I'm going to change but for the most part its growing on me.
Dood...I feel your pain. Every time I changed something in the 210 I had to run and look at all 3 sides. Once we're happy with the 210, we'll likely be doing a 300 gal+ large lionfish den, and we'll likely be doing an in-wall setup in the living room with the "works" in the garage (we have a "finished" garage). Have been following your build to get ideas...I've never done an in-wall setup.
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
That pump is submersible correct?
I had an external pump for a while but have used submersibles ever since. How does this do with heat transfer into the tank? I think my mag drive is a good substitute for a heater at present. It transfers a lot of heat to the tank. Not over 78 but does a good job of maintaining the temp. LOL
I'm sure the water blaster will be close to the same. I haven't ran mine yet on a live system so far its just been used a little bit while I was leak checking everything for a few days. But I didn't take temp readings yet.
On my old 50g I had two canister filters on there along with two koralias and the tank never dropped below 77-78 degrees. I have no need for a heater down here. I took it out after the first winter and never used it again.
I actually found my 5000 to be rather quiet considering it's hardly broken in yet. I even used it to help pump out the sespool of my swimming when we bought our house...sludge and all. Ive got mad respect for this little pump so far.
 

edat

Member
I finally have the sump/fuge permanently plumbed to the display

The ONLY thing left to do is finish the return and drain from the frag tank to the sump but I'm going to wait until my head clears from all the PVC glue.
Anyway here are a few pics of most of the plumbing. Plumbing around the corner to the sump under the Brute waterchange container was a pain.
Excuse the mess......


The corner







Sump


Under the tank

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4 sump returns using the bulkheads and Loc-Line I decided not to use on the CL returns

 
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