Built a "wall" for support of the floor. Not 100% sure if it was necessary but now that the tank is full I'm glad I did. I may eventually sheet rock and close off that whole area in a room but for now its doing its job
My "Free" Roadside pickup tank build
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After like 6 months of buying things and setting up My first full test fill and BOOM. Water everywhere, thought it was the bulkheads but NOPE... one of the only items I didn't make myself and the overflow leaked from a seam when over 1/4" filled. Luckily I used unions and the FIJICUBE units have unions too. Fortunately the company was excellent and replaced the piece for free zero questions asked and if I fix the original I have a spare. They even responded to an email on a Sunday which no one does.
Nice man. You're making progress! Feels good to get a job done right - no matter how long it takes.
I'm new to this and working on my sump plumbing.
You're plumb looks easy enough for me to get a better idea of what I'm doing. I'm wondering how man ball valves you used? And where? I think I see just one on your check valve on the return. Is that right?
If (when) I need to do maintenance on my plumb, how do I stop my tank from draining at the bulkheads and overflowing my sump? Are ball valves a good idea to put under my DT bulkheads to shut the clow of water off? Are gate valves an option? I heard gate valves can fail from getting sand or snails etc... caught in them. I'm very curious and would greatly appreciate any insights.
What you did looks impressive to me. Nice work man!
I'm new to this and working on my sump plumbing.
You're plumb looks easy enough for me to get a better idea of what I'm doing. I'm wondering how man ball valves you used? And where? I think I see just one on your check valve on the return. Is that right?
If (when) I need to do maintenance on my plumb, how do I stop my tank from draining at the bulkheads and overflowing my sump? Are ball valves a good idea to put under my DT bulkheads to shut the clow of water off? Are gate valves an option? I heard gate valves can fail from getting sand or snails etc... caught in them. I'm very curious and would greatly appreciate any insights.
What you did looks impressive to me. Nice work man!
El_Guapo13
Valuable Member
Why can't I ever get free stuff? That said, I was talking to my coworker yesterday and she was telling me how her family had a cube tank setup, but it is just collecting dust now. So who knows, a free (or at least affordable) new setup might be coming my way soon. Hopefully. Maybe.
First I'm no expert so I did make a mistake that I thought was going to make the overflow quieter hence the main and secondary together. Will be changing to 3 separate pipes (just gurgled through the other pipe even with the gate valve). I used 5 total valves one before the return pump one right after, two at the returns just before the 90 into the tanks. The fifth is for my other tank but its closed currently and has a cap on it also.
As far as gate valves getting clogged or stopped up yes it has happened a couple times but not fully I just open them fully and back just to clear them. I did have a snail completely block the main on my 40 that caused me to take my plumbing completely apart (always have an unrestricted emergency and cover your overflow boxes or pipes with screens). as far as check valves my brand new one leaks by for about 10 seconds or so after the return stops but I just calculated water level to break the siphon in the returns and made sure to leave the baffles low enough to accommodate. so for my tank I believe its roughly 35 gallons of free space.
Dr. Dendrostein
Marine fish monthly
You can do it!!!!
Finally Rented a Par meter.... The same day BRS launched the lighting review for my lights :mad:. However, it actually raised more questions than answered so I am still glad that I got it. I have attached my current lighting schedule and the initial par readings that I got.
All readings are from the back of the tank FWD. Due to rockwork some measurements are slightly off. Plan on testing my aquatic life T5 as well. Still working on images with rockwork numbers.
All readings are from the back of the tank FWD. Due to rockwork some measurements are slightly off. Plan on testing my aquatic life T5 as well. Still working on images with rockwork numbers.
In tank stuffs. Been getting some good things from local reefers and trying to fill the tank out without going nuts. I have more pictures but for some reason iphone doesn't like just giving the images if they are also "live"
geologeek
Community Member
Looking good, you should be proud of yourself!
Can I just ask regarding the plumbing arrangement for your return pump? Is the hole drilled for the bulkhead slightly bigger than the bulkhead or is it tight fitting?
I only ask because you have hard plumbing from the sump to the return pump and would personally be worried that as the pump ages it will transfer vibration to the glass....... obviously this is a mute point if the hole in the glass is large enough......but did you consider a slight bit of flex between the tank bulkhead and the hard plumbing?
Can I just ask regarding the plumbing arrangement for your return pump? Is the hole drilled for the bulkhead slightly bigger than the bulkhead or is it tight fitting?
I only ask because you have hard plumbing from the sump to the return pump and would personally be worried that as the pump ages it will transfer vibration to the glass....... obviously this is a mute point if the hole in the glass is large enough......but did you consider a slight bit of flex between the tank bulkhead and the hard plumbing?
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