My 900 gallon "dream" is coming to life!!

[maroun.c]

Interesting, I would like to hear more about those situations. There is the cup drain for the skimmate that drains to an external container/drain and a second cup drain higher up to handle an overflow that drains back into the bowl. What went wrong and what did you do to prevent future issues?

I do see the risk with an open drain that could significantly drain a large portion of water before it was detected (without a monitoring device in place to shut things down). And that same water ends up on the floor without some detection monitor in place as well. I was also thinking about putting the skimmer in a shallow pan with a drain in the bottom in case the overflow design fails and spills over the top of the skimmer and down the sides. I plan to use floats and leak detectors with my Apex to "water proof" my home as much as possible. I have seen a lot of creative ideas.

The cup drain is indeed to connect the cup to a drain or better and safer yet a container with a float valve to turn off the skimmer when full. the internal higher drain handles overflows and lets water drain back into the air tube which kills skimming and prevents the overflow from going on past a full cup. if your lower drain is opened water continues to drain out and level doesn't drain enough so thant the anti overflow (upper drain) receives water to kill skimming. which is what happened in my case: drain open and water continued to overflow till I saw it. what I did is a made sure to close the drain hose after each use. I only had a couple of incidents in over a year and the internal anti overflow handled those great.

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

The cup drain is indeed to connect the cup to a drain or better and safer yet a container with a float valve to turn off the skimmer when full. the internal higher drain handles overflows and lets water drain back into the air tube which kills skimming and prevents the overflow from going on past a full cup. if your lower drain is opened water continues to drain out and level doesn't drain enough so thant the anti overflow (upper drain) receives water to kill skimming. which is what happened in my case: drain open and water continued to overflow till I saw it. what I did is a made sure to close the drain hose after each use. I only had a couple of incidents in over a year and the internal anti overflow handled those great.

Gotcha, so you opted for manual intervention but in return you always know what is going on and it can't get away from you.

I also like the idea of measuring how much is draining out of the skimmer rather than running it straight into the drain with no idea.

 

[maroun.c]

I also prefer to see the skimmate collection in the cup as it gives me an idea how the skimmer is working and if I need to tune it or not... must admit that the skimmer has been very consistent and I rarely had to intervene. so basically it's just about opening the skimmer drain valve once every 3-4 days.

 

[gcrawford]

Gorgeous tank! Following along with the dream......

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Starting to layout the plumbing. Trying to get as many straight shots with the fewest amount of elbows as possible.

Downloaded the SketchUp app but I think that is going to take too many hours especially trying to whiteboard some ideas. So I tried printing out pictures and making up the printouts. Here is the idea for the drain lines.

There are 3 2" drain lines in the back between the tank and the wall. They will be handling 12,000 gph. The left and right drain will be slightly less than full siphon and the middle drain is the emergency overflow and can handle extra volume if the left or right clog up for any reason. The left and right lines will be cut just under the bottom of the tank and come straight forward towards the front of the tank. They will straddle the middle section where there are 2 closed loop systems. Then they turn left and come over to the filter socks. The middle drain is blocked by the leg of the stand so it will turn left first and come down to the filter socks. Since it is the emergency drain and won't have a large water flow it will share the same sock as the skimmer drain which will be running at 2,000 gph.

Here is the idea for the sump returns. Thinking of adding a tee between the two pumps with a shutoff valve. If one pump died and it took a couple of days to replace it, I could open the tee and the remaining pump would do both sets of return lines. The left side feeds the manifolds and then goes up the back of the tank. One of those manifolds will feed my fuge (on the "mezzanine" level) and the others are for reactors. Center pump has a long straight shot to down to the chiller (pic below shows the output). Right pump feeds the skimmer. Thinking of building a shelf for the 2 closed loop pumps so they will up high and close to the bulkheads in the center bottom of the tank.

Chiller output comes up the back of the tank to feed the return on the left side of the tank.

A little hard see this way and it really needs to be in 3D to understand it but this at least helps me lay it out so things are not bumping into each other.

 

[gcrawford]

Have you factored sound into your equation? Just seeing those pumps made me remember a previous build that incorporated a large pump under the stand. The sound was more than I could stand. With my current tanks, I would consider a sump room solely for the purpose of not having the drone of the pumps.

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Have you factored sound into your equation? Just seeing those pumps made me remember a previous build that incorporated a large pump under the stand. The sound was more than I could stand. With my current tanks, I would consider a sump room solely for the purpose of not having the drone of the pumps.

I finally get my dream tank and ironically this is the first time I won't have a sump room. Maybe some freak accident will happen in that bathroom behind the tank and I will have no choice but to gut it out..... and then..... hmmmm....

For now I have 1" plywood under the tank and the cabinet seals around that from the floor up to the plywood. I have a thick rubber mat on the floor and the pump motors sit on foam pads to reduce vibration. But I do think we will still hear the drone of the pumps. I have seen a really nice installation where they insulated the inside of the cabinet walls and doors. It was dead quiet until they opened a door. I may consider something like that if it gets annoying.

How does one secretly sabotage a bathroom??

 

[gcrawford]

Totally agree....our 120 is in the bedroom with a large closet adjoining the wall behind the tank. When our daughter went to college my thoughts were SUMP ROOM!! But the next oldest in line moved into the bedroom and he actually wants to hang his clothes and keep shoes in a perfectly good sump room. The wait continues..... : )

 

[dbl]

...How does one secretly sabotage a bathroom??

One doesn't if one wants to stay married and keep half of one's stuff!!!

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

I also prefer to see the skimmate collection in the cup as it gives me an idea how the skimmer is working and if I need to tune it or not... must admit that the skimmer has been very consistent and I rarely had to intervene. so basically it's just about opening the skimmer drain valve once every 3-4 days.

Did you also buy the automatic neck cleaner? I did and am curious to see if it will really add the performance benefit that Reef Octopus claims.

How did you plumb your Automatic Drainage System? Did you run a line to your drain?

 

[maroun.c]

I purchased it from an LFS that has a shipment coming (shipping and customs are a pain here) and have to wait a few weeks to get it.
NEck cleaners are a very good investment on any skimmer especially larger ones.
I'm draining to a bucket currenlty and dumping manually as I haven't finsihed all the fishroom plumbing yet.

 

[StikHedRon]

I like it, can't wait to see where this goes!

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

My skimmer is a real monster. SRO XP 8000ext. The shelf behind it is 43" high.

The automatic neck cleaner replaces the original cover with this white one. Too bad because the original red cover looks amazing with the octopus logo etched into it. They also added the black clamps which are designed to keep the lid centered while the blades are turning.

They recommend running the neck cleaner for 15 seconds out of every 6 hours continuously and supplied the Apex logic.

[cleaner]
Fallback OFF
OSC 000/00:15/359:45 Then ON

Then once a month take it apart and clean the cup and the blades. Wow, wouldn't that be awesome if it will really last a whole month between manual cleaning!! Will have to see it to believe it!!

 

[StikHedRon]

Maybe you could have your original lid modified to accommodate the neck cleaner??

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Since I wasn't able to head to DC this weekend, I guess I'll use the 3 day weekend to finish up the work on my tank storage closet. I gutted the closet and cut a hole to access under the tank. The refrigerant lines are stubbed out ready to connect to the heat exchanger.

The lines run up into the ceiling and through the attic to the condenser which is located outside. I also added an A/C vent in the ceiling to cool all the storage tanks and my skimmer. Cool air will also flow into the cabinets above and below the tank to help keep things cool.

1 hp Tecumseh condenser. Florida code requires it to be bolted down into the concrete slab so it won't fly away when the next hurricane comes through. They added a chase to hide the pipes (another painting job to add to my list).

.

Maybe get a round of golf in this weekend as well....

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Trial run with a temporary shelf looks like everything is going to fit nicely and I can remove the skimmer cup without needing a step stool. I will have two additional storage bins underneath the shelf. Thinking about mounting the RODI system on the back of the door so that it will be easy to reach and just leave an extra loop of line so that it won't bind when opening/closing the door.

For the two lower bins I made a couple of dollies with heavy duty casters so I can roll them in and out as needed. They work but the bins are tall and narrow so they are a little top heavy and I don't like the way the bins bow out so much when full of water. But it is the best I can with a small storage space.

 

[Kurt Copeland]

Awesome setup. Following.

Keep the momentum!

 

[chriscq]

Following. This is an awesome build so far.

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Awesome setup. Following.

Keep the momentum!

Thanks. Definitely need to keep up the momentum since it feels like it is taking forever!!

Plumber is coming today to tap into the drain line in the wall and add a trap and additional drain lines that I need. I didn't want to tackle that because it needs a rubber boot to do the hookup correctly.

Electrician is coming tomorrow to add additional circuits and wire up the compressor for the chiller.

 

[Reef_Hobbyist]

Following. This is an awesome build so far.

Thanks, used to go to virginia beach when I was a kid.