Making My 800 Gal.... Bigger

Here's why it'll have to wait for next winter:

1.) Money for this project has been more than drained.
2.) Patience for this project has been more than drained! LOL
3.) Once work starts up again shortly I will barely have time for the water changes on tanks I've currently got set up. Only rain days and those days I'll be catching up on the honey do list from my wife and my Mother on her house! Summers are insane around here with four kids running around all the time, 12 hr days seven day work weeks mowing the lawn, and not to mention I need to finish painting my house this year... I only started it two years ago LOL And it's not a big house either! LOL
4.) After numerous attempts at filling and re-sealing I still have a leak.
Unfortunately I cannot find the source. I am not sure what my next step is
going to be but I will be taking a break from this project. You tube
consistently keeps rejecting my videos all of a sudden so there will be no
video up date this time around. I did fill the tank and sump (which does
not leak) this afternoon and I also finished the plumbing for the filter.
I temporarily put the pump in and tried to run a cycle on the tank.
Unfortunately the tank is going to need another bulkhead to feed the sump
as the pump almost overflowed the tank while simultaneously draining the
sump tank. According to my calculations each inch of the tank is 39.83
gallons and it takes two inches to fill the pipes in the filter system so
roughly 80 gallons to get the filter running. But again, the sump is not
getting fed fast enough. In theory the sump should be half full when
running normally and completely full when sitting idle or during a power
outage. If when I add another bulkhead to the tank it is still not enough
then the sump tank needs to be larger. I find this hard to believe since
this is the same pump that ran the 800 with zero issues in a sump tank
that held only 115 gallons or so. The only difference is 12 gallons of
water per inch in the addition. In my opinion 24 gallons is not enough of
a difference to warrant a larger sump tank than 163 gallons. The major
difference is one less bulkhead, one less feed to the sump.

That is where we stand.

I need to work tomorrow on a small job that should take less than 12 hrs
to complete, so nothing is going to get done tomorrow.

Here is a punch list of things that need to happen before full operation
and stocking of fish:

1.) Fix the leak.
2.) Install the under gravel jets and spray bar.
3.) Add a bulkhead and another run to the sump.
4.) Install and connect the heat coil.
5.) Make lids.
6.) Test everything for a week.
7.) Drain and decorate.
8.) Stock.

2-8 are very easy steps. It’s one that I’ve got an issue with. The only
feasible idea I have is to re-coat the entire tank by spraying it. Other
than that I’m open to ideas. I believe I’m only a few clicks away from
reaching my limit of patience. Honestly, I’m past patience and frustration
and have moved right onto the “I don’t care anymore” stage! LOL

So please. Any and all ideas are welcome.

Jonathan (aka TheFishGuy aka MonsterFishRescue)
 
Not being Ace Of Spades, Nor influenced by opinions of a so called "Ace Of Spades", I am really sorry to hear this. I have been following this thread vigurously, and am sadened that I wont see it filled anytime soon.

Goodluck!
 
sorry to hear this m8 alot of work has been done to the tank so far


and with all the jobs in need of doing around the house not good with your job as well i can see why this will not be done intill next winter


on rejecting videos by youtube could it be that you are on the limit of upload mins or something on you tube

u could use a shrinking software to shrink the video's than upload then on youtube


i would of lost my patience after the second time of pastching it

sorry mate hope it all works out in time good luck keep your chin up good work mate still alot of work to be fone looks like

great job so far i am a nightmare when i do something and it goes wrong i normaly lose it big time anyway mate
keep your chin up done a great job upto now

as you said if itd not done soon then leave it then have a think about why it leeks and as you sed reseal the whole tank

good luck for the future :good: :good: :good: :good: :good:
 
Could you see where it was leaking from (deep area)?

I wish I could give some quick and simple solution to help you jon, but as you are waaaay in front of me construction wise I can't. I have noticed that there is a spray on version of the pond armor which could give a thicker finish and should get into all the tricky areas, however that looks like it requires a special spray unit which would cost to either buy or hire (if you can hire them).

Have you though about possibly making a fibreglass tub of the deep end (make a wooden mould slightly smaller than required and set the fibreglass round that), then you could sit that in the deep and and use the pond armor to then seal it into the rest of the tank. Granted it would need to be a pretty damn good fit, but should be water tight. Or are there any companies that could do a one off injection mould for you and have it as a plastic tub in the deep end?

Sometimes having a break from things for a couple of weeks then having another look at it once your mind has been not thinking about it 24/7 can help.

I hope you can get it finished and that youtube stops being such a....... (lots of expletives)........ so that we can marvel again!

All the best mate.
 
my only thought would to use pond liner in the deep ends and seal the edge wiyh pond armer or silicone and weights or failing that do the same thing but with paddling/ swimming pool and cut it to shape or make a glass tank to shape

oh i dont want to wait ime so ipatient
 
Well, after an extensive conversation with my wife... She tells i'm not one to give up... It only took four months of asking for her to go out with me LOL... The plan it to seal all of the inside corners with 100% silicone GE I to be exact as it has not mildueicide in it. then very slowly fill untill it starts to leak (maybe this time it won't) then let it leak till it stops. If it starts to leak again I'll be putting an arsenal of fans, heat and a dehumidifier in the room to hopefully keep it somewhat dry... I won't be able to silicone until tomorrow afternoon... Which means the next fill will take placeall day Wednesday. Which is good because there's nothing on the scedual :) We're going to go one inch at a time and fill it with warm water because if it starts to leak due to small splits I'm gonna get into it to mark them...
 
Im glad youre not throwing in the towel lol...what you've got planned seems like it would work, i hope to god it works after the silicon coat so that it saves you some stress lol, Good Luck!!
 
LET THE VIDEO UPDATES RESUME!!!!







My excitement level when i read that you were going to continue this project, through the roof, i yelled to the misses half way across the house to let her know as well.

I cant wait.



-Chairman Wood
 
I'm glad you're happy! LOL I'm not a quitter... Quitters never win!

Up Date:
Since you tube is not cooperating we’re going to do this up date old school… I got the entire tanks seams siliconed this afternoon. By the time I was finished (which it only took about 20 minutes) my eyes were burning! LOL I was able to keep the door open and there’s an exhaust fan just a few feet away in the small bathroom/laundryroom in the basement that I was able to keep on and it took care of most of the fumes from the silicone… Actually I think I’m still HIGH LOL. Here’s some pictures of that:

005-1.jpg


004-1.jpg


I also decided there wasn’t any reason the heat coil couldn’t be ran so I did that too… That really only took about 30 minutes seeing as I already had the thermostat wired and the pump installed. I’ll re-cap how this is intended to work. I might even go super old school and do a drawing in paint! Yeah… Let’s do that:

Heatfor1500.jpg


So here’s some coiled in the sump around a cage made from eggcrate from an old project. When I run out to my shed I’m going to grab a bunch of zip ties to separate the coils so they’re not touching each other. Hence the eggcrate… And it got the dang thing out of the way in the fish room! LOL

001-1.jpg


002.jpg


Here’s a shot of the heat lines running into the tank room and down into the sump. As you can see I took the 55 out in order to do this:

003.jpg


Here’s the pump mounted about 5’ up in the laundry room/little bathroom (which is essentially just a toilet, my toilet according to Dominic! LOL)

007.jpg


And here’s where you can see it going into the drain cock of the water heater.

008.jpg


Now I couldn’t just hook this up and not test it… So I filled the sump with 46* water and set the thermostat to 60*… We’ll see how it does… Of all the upgrades I’m doing to this tank this is the one I’m most excited about, well that and now I’m on the hunt for a giant piece of drift wood… Maybe I’ll just go cut a tree down in the back and wedge it in the tank so it doesn’t float… OOOO… Chainsaw!
That’s it in a nutshell, hopefully tomorrow will be a good day and we’ll have no more leaks. I’m goingto get on the horn with you tube and see what’s up their rear lately… Don’t they understand the importance of this? Sheesh… the nerve…

As always, if there’s any questions feel free to ask! I will do my best to typ out an answer for you… cuz you guessed it… you tube sucks!
Ps. Sorry for the book, but it would have only been a short video to listen to if you tube didn’t suck…
 
Well YouTube can suck it! I dont really get how sumps work since my largest tank is a 55 gallon i just use HOB filters lol...but glad the siliconing didnt take too long, the brain cells should come back tho ;) lol
 
great mate nices pics
i didnt think you was a Quitter

keep it up m8 good luck in filling the tank with water fingers are cross for you m8
 
Awesome to see this back in gear.

Here on TFF. I think i can speak for everyone when i say: "Super long DIY posts with pictures, LOTS of pictures, and detail."

Never bother us. Or like i said, at least me, i relish them.


Keep up the excellent work and hope to see more pictures or even a video soon!



-Chairman Wood
 

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