120 Lionfish Tank

[BillB83]

So my kid wanted lionfish and puffer fish......

I picked up a 120 4x2 tank to go under my stairs in my basement.

I didnt have enough room to put the sump under the tank so i put it off to the side in another cabinet. I plumbed it up with a majority of stuff i had left over from other builds.

I have a question before i finish this off, the tank will be pushed up fairly close to a wall and i will not have easy access to get behind the tank (yes i know i should have just gone with a reef ready tank at this point but were far beyond that point)

As you can see in the pic below i have the one check valve set horizontal just so i can have access to it if/when i need to clean it out. I have never mounted these horizontal does anyone know if this is ok ?

The 1" return will be the main return for the tank and the 3/4 " will be running to a UV on its on separate lower GPH return pump

 

[Jesse Sunday]

That's a great-looking build!

I can't address your specific question about the horizontal check valve, but I would guess that once the air is out of the horizontal pipes, all should flow nicely!

Just a random thought: are the pipes at perfect level, or do they angle slightly up from the sump to the tank?

Side note, what kind of flow/movement will you have for the lion!? My son wants the same but I'm afraid my tank has too much movement.

 

[BillB83]

That's a great-looking build!

I can't address your specific question about the horizontal check valve, but I would guess that once the air is out of the horizontal pipes, all should flow nicely!

Just a random thought: are the pipes at perfect level, or do they angle slightly up from the sump to the tank?

Side note, what kind of flow/movement will you have for the lion!? My son wants the same but I'm afraid my tank has too much movement.

Thanks,

All the drain pipes are SLIGHTLY pitched down to the sump. The overflow box can only handle like 900 gph max i think so im probably going to run 300 ish GPH through the UV side and 500ish through the other side. I have 2 wave makers for this tank that will be facing each other to create flow.

With lionfish its not that you cant have flow, you need flow in all tanks imo but these fish like to perch on rocks and sit and as long as there is a spot in the tank without ALOT of flow then they are fine so 4x2 tank im sure ill be able to create areas of higher flow as well as lower flow. I built the rockwork specifically for these fish so it has 2 large caves which will by default create pockets of lower flow for the fish to just relax when they want to.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This is going to be a fun built to follow!

 

[thedon986]

I had a horizontal check valve (the model you have vertical there) and it stammered at every stop of the return pump. Super annoying. It would do this until I finished and turned the return pump on. With a sump that big, you don't need a check valve. I did not use one on my new 120 build with 40B sump and the water level barely gets above half at pump stoppage.

 

[BillB83]

I had a horizontal check valve (the model you have vertical there) and it stammered at every stop of the return pump. Super annoying. It would do this until I finished and turned the return pump on. With a sump that big, you don't need a check valve. I did not use one on my new 120 build with 40B sump and the water level barely gets above half at pump stoppage.

Yeah i'm pretty sure with the position of the returns it would only drain like 15 gallons at max back into the sump and i'm pretty sure i have over 20 gallons of space left. I'm gonna pull them both off tonight and just check the back siphon to make sure it doesn't overflow.

 

[thedon986]

Use loc line like this and it will only drain about 2-3 gallons back.

 

[Rappa]

As you can see in the pic below i have the one check valve set horizontal just so i can have access to it if/when i need to clean it out. I have never mounted these horizontal does anyone know if this is ok ?

I think it will be fine. I have a vertical right near my pump, and it would slam ever time I shut it off. I installed another one, but this one horizontal and located closer to the tank. So I now have two check valves and it's super quiet. But I also have a 30'ft run from tank to return pump, and 12'-13' head height. I think that one will be fine, but if it is loud, you can always put another one right @ the pump.

 

[Rappa]

Plumbing looks awesome. Very nice work.

 

[BillB83]

Plumbing looks awesome. Very nice work.

Thanks i just finished it up tonight and got the uv system hard piped in, will post up some more pics soon.

Gonna need to figure out a light setup for this tank too because i think i may wanna keep some easy soft corals and maybe some macro algae in the tank as well to give it some color.

 

[BillB83]

This is my 3rd Eshopps overflow box and for some reason the right side bulkhead was leaking I have always installed these in this order from the inside out. Weir --> Gasket --> Glass --> External Box --> Gasket --> Nut with the idea that you always have a gasket where there is Water. WELL apparently no?

Looked it up and people say run gaskets on both sides of the glass to me logic says that thats flawed because if the water is getting past the first gasket Inside the tank there is a problem and the bandaid is just the gasket now on the outside of the glass. Either way it stopped the leak and i will now live with PTSD thinking its going to eventually leak.

Once all the minor leaks were tightened up the next kick in the balls was being unable to tune this bean animal setup to be silent. Its just flat out loud and im trying to understand the benefit of running it when i could just run 2 full siphons with gate valves 100% silent. Send HALP am i just flat out not understanding this or is there some benefit to running a bean animal that im also unaware of ?

I tried to raise the durso valve up and down a few times to find a sweet spot height wise and im pretty sure it just doesnt exist. Maybe the overflow box is too small ?

 

[BillB83]

update, i think i have tuned the siphon down enough with the gate to where im able to get this setup pretty quiet but not 100% quiet. I still hear all the water trickling down the durso pipe as well as it bringing alot of air bubbles into my sump. I have seen people set these up where they are 100% silent so im clearly doing it incorrect OR there isnt enough water flowing through the system to have it be 100% silent ?

 

[Rappa]

At least the way I did mine, I think that you have way too much water going into your second drain. My second is higher, almost the level of your waterline. First drain is full siphon, second drain just allows a trickle of water going down. When i look at my crash box in the sump, i can just barely see small amount of water and small air bubbles coming from that drain. Mine is dead silent. I also didn't use a tee. I have an elbow setup like your first drain, and drilled a breather hole at the top. Emergency drain a little bit higher... Hopefully you will never have water in there anyways.

 

[BillB83]

At least the way I did mine, I think that you have way too much water going into your second drain. My second is higher, almost the level of your waterline. First drain is full siphon, second drain just allows a trickle of water going down. When i look at my crash box in the sump, i can just barely see small amount of water and small air bubbles coming from that drain. Mine is dead silent. I also didn't use a tee. I have an elbow setup like your first drain, and drilled a breather hole at the top. Emergency drain a little bit higher... Hopefully you will never have water in there anyways.

Yeah i raised the durso drain up higher to the water level and it held better but i may try to not use a T and just drill a 90 and try that too.

 

[BillB83]

At least the way I did mine, I think that you have way too much water going into your second drain. My second is higher, almost the level of your waterline. First drain is full siphon, second drain just allows a trickle of water going down. When i look at my crash box in the sump, i can just barely see small amount of water and small air bubbles coming from that drain. Mine is dead silent. I also didn't use a tee. I have an elbow setup like your first drain, and drilled a breather hole at the top. Emergency drain a little bit higher... Hopefully you will never have water in there anyways.

How many GPH are you running through the box and are you using 1 inch drains ?

 

[Rappa]

My overflow is internal and it's large, and I am using 1-1/2" pvc. I have been fighting Green Hair Algea, so at them moment I am running around 1300gph through the sump trying to get the hair algea thats floating around into the overflow, and down into the filter socks. I had a bad GHA problem with this new tank, and I am making good progress. With that said, the only water I can hear, is the water going through the weir and splashing into overflow. It's a gentle splashing sound. I have no sound from the drains though.

 

[BillB83]

My overflow is internal and it's large, and I am using 1-1/2" pvc. I have been fighting Green Hair Algea, so at them moment I am running around 1300gph through the sump trying to get the hair algea thats floating around into the overflow, and down into the filter socks. I had a bad GHA problem with this new tank, and I am making good progress. With that said, the only water I can hear, is the water going through the weir and splashing into overflow. It's a gentle splashing sound. I have no sound from the drains though.

Yeah i am running alot less GPH i wonder if thats why i hear the noise i can always try to force more water into the durso also and choke the full siphon down more with the gate valve

 

[Rappa]

Yeah i am running alot less GPH i wonder if thats why i hear the noise i can always try to force more water into the durso also and choke the full siphon down more with the gate valve

I typically run around 800gph. I open and close my gate valve to adjust the level to the durso to the same level no matter what I'm running from the return pump. Just a trickle down drain 2. I also have my main drain open with no elbow on it, and adjust siphon with the gate valve. No elbow needed on it for me. I don't know how everyone else does it, but this was just a configuration that worked great for me. I played with it a lot, because it is in my living room. Needed it quiet. 95% of my water goes down the full siphon drain #1.

EDIT: The more water I force down the second drain, the louder it gets. Or if a snail or something gets stuck in the siphon gate valve, I can tell immediately because the second drain gets louder, and I can see more air bubbles in the sump crash box. It's only happened once or twice.

 

[BillB83]

I typically run around 800gph. I open and close my gate valve to adjust the level to the durso to the same level no matter what I'm running from the return pump. Just a trickle down drain 2. I also have my main drain open with no elbow on it, and adjust siphon with the gate valve. No elbow needed on it for me. I don't know how everyone else does it, but this was just a configuration that worked great for me. I played with it a lot, because it is in my living room. Needed it quiet. 95% of my water goes down the full siphon drain #1.

EDIT: The more water I force down the second drain, the louder it gets. Or if a snail or something gets stuck in the siphon gate valve, I can tell immediately because the second drain gets louder, and I can see more air bubbles in the sump crash box. It's only happened once or twice.

Yeah, I actually updated the setup since the last pic i pulled the double 90 on the full siphon out and just put a 1 inch suction screen in and i raised the durso. Ill send some more pics tonight and try to mess around with it more. The only two issues im having with it now is that its bringing alot of air down into the sump and the water coming into the overflow is splashing. I can take a video later too if im unable to get it quiet.

 

[Rappa]

Yeah, I actually updated the setup since the last pic i pulled the double 90 on the full siphon out and just put a 1 inch suction screen in and i raised the durso. Ill send some more pics tonight and try to mess around with it more. The only two issues im having with it now is that its bringing alot of air down into the sump and the water coming into the overflow is splashing. I can take a video later too if im unable to get it quiet.

Try raising the middle drain to the water line you have in the picture. Then raise your emergency drain up another half inch or so. Then you can adjust the actual waterline in your overflow higher with the siphon gate valve (restricting it) so just a trickle goes down middle drain, and stop the splashing coming through....