Gilroy 425g Build Thread (All Apex, all the time)

[Terence]

Well now that MACNA is behind me, and I have a slight break before flying out to the Mountain West Reef Fest hosted by the Wasatch Marine Aquarium Society, I thought I would get a little work done on the build.

Today I texted RussM to see if he was game to come over and lend a hand running the 80+ feet of flexible, thick-walled, 2" Spa-Flex pipe for the return. I chose this material because I do not have to worry about UV under the house, it allows me to have the most direct run with no connectors to fail or create additional water resistance. The output of the Red Dragon 230W is 1.5" so I will upsize from that right out of the pump. There is more rigid plumbing still to do where you now see just the Spa Flex dangling into the sump.

Trust me, wrangling 100' roll of 2" Spa-Flex is no easy task. We unrolled it completely under the house, warmed it up by blowing a blow-dryer into one end, and then just muscled through it - mostly RussM on that last part

I then glued it into place, put in hanger brackets every 4', and we built a bridge to bring it over the room and down to the sump.

Oh, and I also brought in my second 100g tank for saltwater mixing and storage.

Again, huge thanks to RussM. Next week I hope to tackle the drain (this will be rigid 2" PVC) and an emergency drain (teed from the two overflows and going all the way to the sump.). Once we get that done I have to build a bracket and mount it to the wall to hold the split canopy. Once all of these things are done I can push back the tank, connect the plumbing, and get the water flowing. Hopefully in the next six weeks I will get to this point.

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Very nice... also doing a similar build and there are some unique challenges with large tanks and also spanning long distances.

Interesting that you are taking measures to preserve heat while I have the opposite challenge living in south FL and implementing ways to dissipate heat.

How are you planning to connect all your Apex components together between your tank location and your "cave" location? You mentioned an aquabus cable to span that distance?

 

[abecker]

@Reef_Hobbyist I can't remember if it was this forum, or the Apex forums, but I remember hearing about a company that makes aquabus cables up to 200'.

Found it....http://www.usbfirewire.com/search.aspx?searchterm=apex

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

@Reef_Hobbyist I can't remember if it was this forum, or the Apex forums, but I remember hearing about a company that makes aquabus cables up to 200'.

Found it....http://www.usbfirewire.com/search.aspx?searchterm=apex

Thanks for the link.

 

[Terence]

Very nice... also doing a similar build and there are some unique challenges with large tanks and also spanning long distances.

Interesting that you are taking measures to preserve heat while I have the opposite challenge living in south FL and implementing ways to dissipate heat.

How are you planning to connect all your Apex components together between your tank location and your "cave" location? You mentioned an aquabus cable to span that distance?

Definitely some serious challenges. According to my calculations, I think that with about 200W of power at the outlet I can get about 900-1000gph up to the tank. That will be plenty as I plan to use about 20k-30k gph in water movement inside the tank and I will get a nice slow roll through my sump. I upsized to the 2" so I would not get any substantial increase in head pressure due to the horizontal portion of the run.

For the AquaBus cable, I will likely just use one from a company like the one listed above or use a bunch of 15' extender cables from Neptune Systems - I know a guy there

 

[Terence]

Look what just arrived. I picked it up at the last minute on a deal with Doug from Deltec. I won't need for a little while, but I figured whatever the Marine Aquarium Hobbyist of the Year, Brad Syphus uses on his amazing tank must be the only way I should go!

Of course the pH in this will be controlled by my Apex!

 

[Brad Syphus]

Good choice!! You wont regret it.

 

[Rob reef]

This is a great build can't wait to see water in the tank

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Definitely some serious challenges. According to my calculations, I think that with about 200W of power at the outlet I can get about 900-1000gph up to the tank. That will be plenty as I plan to use about 20k-30k gph in water movement inside the tank and I will get a nice slow roll through my sump. I upsized to the 2" so I would not get any substantial increase in head pressure due to the horizontal portion of the run.

For the AquaBus cable, I will likely just use one from a company like the one listed above or use a bunch of 15' extender cables from Neptune Systems - I know a guy there

My bills for the Neptune components are adding up quickly and going to exceed the total spending on a lot of my other gear combined!!

I put in 2 new dedicated circuits for my tank. Circuit one is wired to an outlet above the tank for the lights and a second outlet below the tank for the pumps. Circuit two is the same - one outlet above and one below. So half my lights and pumps are on one circuit and the other half are on the second circuit. I thought I was being smart by doing that so I would at least have half my lights and pumps working if I lost one of the circuits but then I realized that means 4 energy bars. And the AquaBus cables that came with them are not long enough for the top two above my tank to reach down to the bottom two... ugh.

 

[fab]

In case some of you want some of the vision (or are wondering what the protrusion was on the stand)

Terence, what is the width of the ledge that wraps around the tank, shown in gray in your rendering? I am planning on a granite ledge like that, also, and have been arguing with myself over how far out it should protrude from the face of the tank. I don't want it to make access to the front of the tank awkward or become a place for things to be deposited, such as car keys or mail or bills. At the same time, though, I want it to be enough of a ledge that it will be comfortable to lean on while sitting next to it watching critter behaviors in the tank. Right mine is sized to be a 4 inch ledge. How 'bout yours?

My tank is 96x42x36H (600gal of internal capacity with 4 sides of starfire. Mixed marine and reef. Total system is 1,000 gallons.

I am outfitting it with a full complement of Apex gear. I am going heavy on automation, remote access and failsafe redundancy with high quality components.

I would appreciate knowing this detail from your design. It should help me sort out my setup before I commit to placing the granite order.

Thanks,
Frank

 

[Terence]

The finished ledge will be about 6". There is just over 4" of steel frame underneath and then an inch more of the 3/4" plywood hanging over and then the front lip of the granite will make it about 6". The tank is about 43" off the ground so the viewer is looking into the middle of the tank. This height though means maintenance could be an issue. That is why I made the reinforced ledge that will be strong enough to stand on.

 

[fab]

Terence,
Thanks for your quick response. So with a 6" projection and some kind of an end cap or a bullnose you would have about a 5+ inch level surface compared to my 4+inch level surface. I think we have it pretty That extra inch will be useful, but I suggest it will be a risky step for maintaining the tank. Water likes to get out of containers and then go downward. If your ledge is prone to being slippery when wet, then .... will happen. Also, as a narrow ledge it will be a bit of a precarious place for serious work deep into the tank.

My tank top is at 6' above the floor. So I have the same problem for access. I find that a short foldup -3 step ladder works pretty well for routine access, but is totally inadequate for any serious reaching into the interior of the tank. I haven't solved that problem yet with anything that is convenient enough to use that it will not become a discouragement for doing whatever needs to be done as often or as quickly as it needs doing.

If you do come up with something good to solve that problem, please let me know. For now, though, it is a back burner issue for me. Fortunately, I do have a fish room that my Display tank backs up to. I have total direct access to the entire rear of the tank. So for working from the rear of the tank, my "scaffolding" doesn't have to be particularly pretty, just functional and not too space consumptive.

Thank you,
Frank

 

[fab]

Some other large tank owners may have good solutions to this problem of "ladders or scaffolding" for high tanks that is at once convenient to use, not a permanent installation and is safe. Y'all come and please chime in on this.

ATTENTION FORUM MANAGERS:
Perhaps this spinoff dicsuccion should be moved elsewhere in the forum or opened up as a new thread so I don't hijack Terence's thread for his display tank project.
fab

 

[Terence]

I am pretty stable on a 6" ledge frank. That gives me a lot of access to work on the tank almost as if it were on the floor.

I know that Marc Levenson (Melev) has a real nice slide in scaffold system on his. I just did not have an easy place to store the scaffold shelf like he does behind his tank.

 

[Terence]

More progress today. RussM came over again and helped me run 100' of 2" PVC for the main drain line back to the sump and 100' of 1" PVC for an emergency drain line. Of course these had to be secured and hung from the rafters. The run had to have a constant fall to it as well.

Now 95% of the plumbing g and electrical is done. Getting closer to putting water in the tank.

Now I just have to put a couple of jack posts and a beam under the tank and make the canopy bracket and then I can push it back and start up the pump.

 

[jl283467]

are you going to be putting any apex wavs on your system?

 

[Terence]

are you going to be putting any apex wavs on your system?

Yes. Likely at least four of them. At least two of them I hope to have attached to currently in design "Sea Sweeps" from the company that makes Sea Swirls.

 

[nick12881]

Terence what's your best advice for failover when running wavs and Dos modules. Do you recommend just keeping an extra main module for backup. If the main module was to go, no way to dos and run powerheads until it is replaced or repaired

 

[jl283467]

Yes. Likely at least four of them. At least two of them I hope to have attached to currently in design "Sea Sweeps" from the company that makes Sea Swirls.

Any more info on the sea sweeps? Sounds interesting

 

[Terence]

Nick,

Two different devices. Two different types of use. The WAV and DOS are their own independent AquaBus devices with their own independent power sources. Both can be set to have a "fallback" state. That is, the mode they run in when they lose communication from the base unit. Now, with the WAV it is easy, you may just want them to go to 50% power on loss of communication. For the DOS, since it might be putting stuff into the tank - and maybe based on other feedback (like pH or a switch), you might set that one to fallback OFF.

Definitely when you have a lot of your tank controlled by an Apex it is a good idea to have a back up Apex "brain". If you do have a backup, it will take a call to support for you to make the switchover to keep all your programming. Since it is not financially feasible for everyone to have a spare, I often recommend the local club have one or two on hand just for this purpose - so the person can have their tank running fine until they get their Apex replaced or back from the factory.

This is a good question, and I don't mind answering it here, but I would encourage you go to the http://forum.neptunesystems.com for more input and advice from others on this matter as well.