New Swiss 1900 liter (500G) Build
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- Thread starter Laith
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Laith
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Later today or tomorrow I will water test the two reservoir tanks to make sure there are no leaks. Once they are in place I can finally start with the plumbing and equipment installation.
The builder may have me a solution for installing the Mitras in a way that they can be slid to the side if I need. It involves thick PVC strips on the ceiling which he will have turned into rails that the Mitras ceiling hangers can be slid into. More on that later.
The wood cabinet paneling is being ordered today or tomorrow: three weeks delivery time and then it needs to be installed.
I've ordered the dry rock which will take another three weeks or so to be delivered. So no aquascaping until then! That will be the last step before a water test. So at this point it looks like it will be wet around mid September...
Getting there, slowly but surely!
The builder may have me a solution for installing the Mitras in a way that they can be slid to the side if I need. It involves thick PVC strips on the ceiling which he will have turned into rails that the Mitras ceiling hangers can be slid into. More on that later.
The wood cabinet paneling is being ordered today or tomorrow: three weeks delivery time and then it needs to be installed.
I've ordered the dry rock which will take another three weeks or so to be delivered. So no aquascaping until then! That will be the last step before a water test. So at this point it looks like it will be wet around mid September...
Getting there, slowly but surely!
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Great build btw...What have you made these of? It looks like wood, if it is how are you sealing them?Now for the construction of the two water tanks, one for fresh saltwater and one for RO/DI topup water...
RO/DI tank:
And the fresh saltwater tank:
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Laith
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They are made of 19mm PVC panels. These are great because its relatively easy to make holes etc for wires and tubing.
The only pain is that the GHL float sensors that I will be using in them are magnetic and don't hold across 19mm so I have to either thin the PVC in those locations or just glue them to the PVC. I think I'll just glue them: they hold an acrylic rod that I can slide the floaters up and down on so it won't be a problem.
crusso1993
7500 Club Member
In case you didn't notice, the entire sump has been moved to the right... That's because of this:
In it's position under the tank, the intakes of the rollermat from the overflow are too high to put unions in place. With a union and a 90 degree elbow it is very tight (and I'd rather not use 90 degree bends if possible):
Oops! ;Dummy
Everything is looking very nice and coming along well!
Will there be enough room to remove and replace a rollermat comfortably?
Also, the below thread has a pretty cool solution for moving lights out of the way! Maybe you'll like it.
Motorized Light Lift
There was a bunch of interest on my build thread for my motorized light lift, so I decided to post a separate thread to show more of how it was built. I will do my best to go through the entire process but feel free to ask questions. Before we get to the nuts and bolts here are some pictures...
www.reef2reef.com
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Laith
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Thanks... I'm happy so far!
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Laith
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OP
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Laith
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...
Also, the below thread has a pretty cool solution for moving lights out of the way! Maybe you'll like it.
Motorized Light Lift
There was a bunch of interest on my build thread for my motorized light lift, so I decided to post a separate thread to show more of how it was built. I will do my best to go through the entire process but feel free to ask questions. Before we get to the nuts and bolts here are some pictures...
Thanks! I'll take a look at that!
Cool I’ll have to google them, do they not warp at all over time? they seem a great alternative to glass/ acrylic, and far easy to cut etc I would imagine..
I do love my wrasses, such variety, not only in colours but behaviours as well, and so good for pest control..@Mortie31 - just looked at your tank thread. Beautiful tank!
I might need some advice when I add wrasses... never had those but would like to have them in this new tank.
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Laith
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No, they shouldn't warp over time... at least the ones I've seen that have been installed for a while were not warped.
PVC is much easier to work with for cutting, making holes, cutouts etc. Makes planning more flexible!
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Laith
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A small caveat on my comment re the PVC panels: I've used 19mm (3/4") panels and the sumps/water tanks I've seen were all also made with the same thickness.
Perhaps with thinner panels you may have warping/bending issues?
Perhaps with thinner panels you may have warping/bending issues?
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Laith
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Bulkheads fitted. They just fit through the holes which is what I wanted... the better the fit, the better the seal!
I'll be using three for the drains and one will either be a spare (the one I forgot to buy an end cap for!
;Dummy ) or I'll use it for one of my two returns.
Two of the drains, the full siphon and open standpipe, will go into the two intakes in the rollermat. The third emergency return will go elsewhere in the sump (wherever I can keep it out of the way the best) and the end of the drain will be above the water level so that I can hear it if ever it starts being needed.
I don't plan on gluing any of the pipes that will be inside the overflow box. That way I can easily adjust heights or change them. That of course means that I planned that the sump can take all of the water in the overflow box (on top of the water in the return lines) in case of the return pumps stopping...
On top of the roller mat you can see the D-D Ultra Flow weir combs that I'll be using.
I'll be using three for the drains and one will either be a spare (the one I forgot to buy an end cap for!
Two of the drains, the full siphon and open standpipe, will go into the two intakes in the rollermat. The third emergency return will go elsewhere in the sump (wherever I can keep it out of the way the best) and the end of the drain will be above the water level so that I can hear it if ever it starts being needed.
I don't plan on gluing any of the pipes that will be inside the overflow box. That way I can easily adjust heights or change them. That of course means that I planned that the sump can take all of the water in the overflow box (on top of the water in the return lines) in case of the return pumps stopping...
On top of the roller mat you can see the D-D Ultra Flow weir combs that I'll be using.
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Laith
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Here's my attempt to get a panoramic view of what's under the tank so far. From left to right:
- 260 l fresh saltwater tank for the automatic water changes.
- Avast Skimmate locker. This will hold skimmate as well as the waste water from my GHL KH Director tests. Behind it is a 25 l bucket which will hold my Balling Carbonate mix.
- Sump.
- 145 l RO/DI water reservoir for topups.
On the wall under the tank are two 120cm LED stand lights. These are convenient because you can daisy chain them together so you only need one plug / switch to operate them. I have another two of these which will go vertically in the technical / electric space to the right of the tank.
You can see small PVC panels attached to the back wall. These are for me to use to attach equipment and cable guides; easier to screw into the PVC than drilling into the wall for each piece of equipment. The blue you see against the wall to the right of the tank is also a PVC panel that covers that whole wall, floor to ceiling (the blue is just the protective sheet, it's white underneath). This is also for the same purpose. There will be another one against the right wall and one on the wall above the tank.
On top of the RO/DI water tank is one of the plug panels that will be installed up towards the ceiling. There will be two of these, nine plugs each, each plug with an on/off switch and each set of three plugs with a circuit breaker. Total 18 plugs on a dedicated circuit connected to a separate circuit breaker in the main fuse box of the house.
- 260 l fresh saltwater tank for the automatic water changes.
- Avast Skimmate locker. This will hold skimmate as well as the waste water from my GHL KH Director tests. Behind it is a 25 l bucket which will hold my Balling Carbonate mix.
- Sump.
- 145 l RO/DI water reservoir for topups.
On the wall under the tank are two 120cm LED stand lights. These are convenient because you can daisy chain them together so you only need one plug / switch to operate them. I have another two of these which will go vertically in the technical / electric space to the right of the tank.
You can see small PVC panels attached to the back wall. These are for me to use to attach equipment and cable guides; easier to screw into the PVC than drilling into the wall for each piece of equipment. The blue you see against the wall to the right of the tank is also a PVC panel that covers that whole wall, floor to ceiling (the blue is just the protective sheet, it's white underneath). This is also for the same purpose. There will be another one against the right wall and one on the wall above the tank.
On top of the RO/DI water tank is one of the plug panels that will be installed up towards the ceiling. There will be two of these, nine plugs each, each plug with an on/off switch and each set of three plugs with a circuit breaker. Total 18 plugs on a dedicated circuit connected to a separate circuit breaker in the main fuse box of the house.
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Laith
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So, some more progress...
Yesterday I took the two storage tanks outside to water test them (hadn't been done yet):
At the same time I decided to rinse out the two Red Dragon return pumps (and make sure they work!). I had to dial them back from 100w to 20w as they were blowing water out of the tanks! Son was fascinated:
No leaks! ;Happy
Yesterday I took the two storage tanks outside to water test them (hadn't been done yet):
At the same time I decided to rinse out the two Red Dragon return pumps (and make sure they work!). I had to dial them back from 100w to 20w as they were blowing water out of the tanks! Son was fascinated:
No leaks! ;Happy
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Laith
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But the fresh saltwater tank did this:
The front panel was bowing out too much for my liking. This tank is one meter long and the majority of the front panel is a thinner transparent sheet so not as structurally strong as a full one meter 19mm panel.
Builder will put a reinforcement across the top and bottom inside the tank and that will solve the problem. Another advantage of working with PVC: easy to modify and adapt.
The front panel was bowing out too much for my liking. This tank is one meter long and the majority of the front panel is a thinner transparent sheet so not as structurally strong as a full one meter 19mm panel.
Builder will put a reinforcement across the top and bottom inside the tank and that will solve the problem. Another advantage of working with PVC: easy to modify and adapt.
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