Frag Room Build

zpete3323

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Hello all! Pushing forward with my goal of a full basement take-over with reef related items :)

Next phase of the build is the low boy rack opposite the double stack:

20220717_213126.jpg


The low boy in question:

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This tank addition will bring the total water volume to ~550gal for the room.


And of course backup power was already considered after a previous tank crash... so we are prepped and prepared for the worst now!
(Generator prepped as well for extended outages)

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Next push is to blast a doorway through the cinderblock and build new walls to double the footprint of the room on preparation of the "hydroponic reservoir tray" style grow out benches. Hopefully this will bring the total volume up to ~1100gal give or take.

Follow along if you would like how this all pans out :) Thanks for visiting!
 
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zpete3323

zpete3323

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I almost forgot! The most thrilling part of this build was getting the tanks INSIDE the house.

With no basement access besides the steps directly perpendicular to the back door I was forced to do the extreme....

20211017_113432.jpg



A new access hole was created to slide the tanks in and a window was added in its place. To aid in future tank additions of course :)

We used giant industrial suction cups to help move the 350lb tanks and carefully slide them in and safely to their stands.

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A uline 24" pallet rack was used to hold the double stack with no center bracing while the lowboy was left on its side until a plan could be devised for the stand.

With a French drain surrounding the entire basement, I was forced to pull the tank away from the wall by about 12-14" to ensure proper footing of the tank. Definately unfortunate but a necessary deviation from the initial plan.


Then the top tank was set with some of the livestock from the old tank :)

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zpete3323

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What do yall think? Is a 2ft wide walkway too narrow?

20220825_204203.jpg



French drain around the house won't let me put it up against the wall so here we are.

Feels a little narrow
 
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zpete3323

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It would be a little narrow for me, mostly because I may be slightly larger then the average person... lol
I'm pretty small framed but find myself wanting to sit on the bottom rack to view. Think I may need to engineer a system over the French drain.

Here is what it would look like pushed back:

20220825_205847.jpg


Almost a full foot wider
 
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zpete3323

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Tank is in!!!

Ended up playing around with a BUNCH of different options of heights and lifting strategies and ultimately decided on on this slightly sketchy but slick process to lift the tank to its final position :)

Pulling the traditional "I'll just do it myself" card I ran to the hardware store and purchased some lifting hardware and stumbled across a ceiling mounted winch in the automotive section. Score! Now I just had to jerry rig it to safely lift the 340lb tank into position....

After building and leveling the stand I used foam blocks to slowly lift and rotate the tank to where it would sit inside the stand. Then I got to work strapping that baby in:

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The front of the stand was disassembled to allow the tank to lift straight up without having to slide the tank front to back:

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Once the tank was lifted up I quickly rebuilt the stand under the tank and gently set it back down in its final resting place! Bring in the mega suction cup lifters!

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It fits! Definately a stressful process but it now perches safely in its stand and the rest of the process can proceed. Bottom shelf gets installed, lights, etc

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zpete3323

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Playing around with flow option now

Toying with the idea of creating a closed loop system in part with a vectra M2 sitting in the weir chamber and plumbed to a spray bar/multi outlet along the back of the tank.

20220829_204131.jpg


And an end view:

20220829_204125.jpg



Here you can see if kinda mocked up with a 5ft piece of schedule 80 to match esthetically vs the white pvc. However I feel there is too much restriction with x3 3/4" elbows in quick succession. Agree or disagree?

20220829_204139.jpg


If this were your tank how would you plumb the loop?


The tank will be fed from the system across the room and return there as well (hence the 2 bulkheads)
 
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zpete3323

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Perhaps a vertical orientation could work? I just worry about cavitation around the propeller shaft being above the waterline like that...

20220829_210451.jpg
 
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zpete3323

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Settling into a design that seems promising!

Reduced the 3 elbows to 2 more spaced out elbows (hoping to find 90 sweeps to help a bit)

Then I'll add these nozzles as required down the length and leave the bottom nozzle unglued to allow for swiveling at a later date.

I'll wrap this around to the front left corner and allow the final nozzle to shoot down the length of the tank. May need a valve to slow down the flow and force it out the other nozzles but such is life.

Now back to Menards...

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zpete3323

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Return side is plumbed in!

20220831_224227.jpg


End of tank shot:

20220831_224240.jpg




Ended up going with sch 80 for the gray color pvc and added 5 sets of adjustable nozzles. Not sure if I want to add loc line or not but I'll see how the flow pattern is without.


Vectra M2 is plumbed in with only 2 elbows now (vs the original 3) as well as a bulkhead for easy cleaning:

20220831_224327.jpg


And of course a ball valve to the final nozzle in case I don't want as strong of a cross flow down the front glass:

20220831_224410.jpg
 
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zpete3323

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Next up is supply line to join the tanks via a carbon/Floss dual canister reactor as well as building frag racks. (Return line is done)

Excited to get the last 2 XR15Pros converted to mobius and ditch reeflink for good!
 
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zpete3323

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You win some you lose some I guess...

Managed to crack the corner of the tank today.... thankfully with 3/4" glass just the corner came off and could be filled with silicone. Any thinner of a tank and I would have needed a whole new front!

20220910_222541.jpg


But in good news the frag racks are built and ready to begin fragging!

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I'm excited with how this corner is turning out and hoping the rest of the basement takeover looks the same one day!

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zpete3323

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More frags! Tried my hand at fragging chalice and learned a lot... those slime balls are tricky!

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Ended up with very jagged pieces but all in all decently successful. Next time I will be using some sort of bandsaw or Dremel vs the bone cutters I used this time around!

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And of course I had to head over to Battlecorals.com and pick up some newbies as well!

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zpete3323

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Added a few more tanks to the build after purchasing the contents of a LFS that closed down during covid. Everything was listed as a bundle on facebook market place and Bob's yur uncle!

In total a few coworkers and I managed to fit 27? Tanks and sump into the trailer as well as an assortment of skimmers, uv's, lights, pumps, and a couple hundred pounds of rock. Wowsa!

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First frag flat has been buffed out and filled for testing and safe to say I am excited to finish the rest!
Before:
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After:
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20221218_235238.jpg

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Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 42 49.4%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 44 51.8%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 19 22.4%
  • None.

    Votes: 22 25.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 10.6%
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