Upgrade Planning

[shibby]

i thought id run through my plans for the upgrade see if anyone has any good input !


new tank will be 60"x24"x24" which is about 120 gallons (450 litres) i think, with a 40 gallon (180 litres) sump the tank will be drilled one for the wier and 2 outlets with hydor flows attached to get some circulation when it returns into the tank. the overflow will probably be using the durso method to keep it quieter.


first problem arises when the tank for the sump is stocked and full! so my plan is to get the tank and build the stand, its going to be bolted into 2 walls to sustain its weight and on metal brackets i was then thinking of a wooden facing with 2 cupboards either side of the sump for storage.


next stage im thinking it may be best to fill tank with water to below the overflow and put a heater and 2 hydor korlia 3's in there then add about 40 kilos of live rock hopefully fully cured but i will wait till all stats are zero before putting anything in.


next step put lifestock and remainder of live rock from "sump" tank into main tank and hopefully there be okay so i can start work on getting the sump sorted.


sump will be 3 foot so im thinking place for skimmer v2800, heater and return pump, a refugium of some kind. i was hoping to add live rock rubble to break the water up whilst coming into the tank. not entirely sure on the set up best for this yet though so any ideas will be grateful!

im planing then for the return pump a "y" connecter one heading straight to the tank and out of the hydor flow, and the other going to the other hydor flow via a uv steroliser.

then obviously top up the sump/ main tank get everything on and running.

whats a program that i can draw out soem ideas, since i cant help but think this would be easier to explain with diagrams!! o and if anyone has any other ways to make this set up work il be happy to take them on board!

cheers.

 

[pengy666]

ask at reef face, carlos has got a wicked plan for when he went from a trigon 180 to a 6ft custom tank

 

[SkiFletch]

Gonna be a bigun . a 5x2x2' tank is a standard 150g btw

My first suggestion would be to greatly consider your overflow and return pump. You'll have some significant extra space with the 40 breeder in there, so I'd suggest an external pump drawing directly off the sump. You'd prolly be looking for something that can push ~300-500GPH at ~5 feet of head pressure. Once that's settled I'd look into designing the stand around your space limitations . Google Sketchup can be used for that.

 

[shibby]

yeh i need to sketch it all up for a quote anyways!!!


as for the overflow what do you think will be better a durso style piping or a weir turned filter with foam and things built up so the water dosent crash down and annoy me! i was thinking filterfloss since i could easily change it every few days being it in an easy to reach place.

alot to plan it seems for this and me being awful at diy could be tricky, but hey thats what freinds can be used for, no fee and good at diy or so i hope!



i was going to get a pond pump maybe for the return pump or would it be best to get a specilised return pump?

sumps confuse me at the best of times, specially when i look at all the plumbing thats in some of them

 

[SkiFletch]

Pond pumps usually aren't the best ideas in a marine environment... They dypically don't have components durable enough to last the horrible beating that seawater puts on materials.

As for the drain, you really have 2 good quality options. First, the Durso standpipe, and second a "Calfo" overflow. Before I discuss the merits of each, let me say that if you have a tempered glass bottom to the tank, you cannot drill it yourself and install a Durso. If you're having the tank custom made though, you could specify holes be drilled in it BEFORE its tempered. This by far would be the safest mode of construction, but is by no means necessary.

Durso Pros:
Takes up minimal footprint space in the tank
Easy to hide
Easy to plumb as it usually sits directly over the sump tank

Durso Cons:
Slightly tricky to install though. Usually have to build the plumbing first and THEN glue in the acrylic/glass weir
Usually require two for large tanks
Difficult to build in redundancy without using up extra footprint space

Calfo Pros:
No footprint required as weir box "floats" near the top of the tank
Easy to create redundancy in case of blockage/failure
Simple to install
Flexible location, can be on sides, back, centered, offset, or even in the corner

Calfo Cons:
Difficult to construct the weir box (if made of acrylic)
Difficult to hide aesthetically (tends to domintate the upper view of the tank)

I'll be happy to help you with as many design details as you like shib, too bad I can't aid in construction being an ocean away

 

[shibby]

i drew up my tank today with 3 holes to be drilled, and a weir and faxed it off for a quote will i need to say can you add a durso pip to it when you build it or can i add it myself after the tank has been built?

now all i need to do is design the sump! and save up of course gonna cost a far whack i think!!


so sump needs to fit a:

v1000 skimmer.
uv steliser.
return pump
dsb live rock and cheato
heaters

i recon it could be done

first compartment: heaters

second: refugium

third: skimmer and return pump


and ski flights are cheap nowadays

 

[SkiFletch]

Lol, if you're buyin, I'm flyin

As for the weir and durso, it depends... If you wanted to use a Durso style, I personally would use a black acrylic weir wall. I like to paint my tanks black, and a black acrylic weir wall would really blend in nicely with the tank. If you use clear glass for the weir you can see the durso, and IMO that looks ugly. Then you have to bother hiding it behind rockwork and its just a PITA. Also remember if the tank designers glue in a clear-glass wier, you'll struggle to get it out if you do decide you don't like it.

Your best bet would be to ask the tank maker if they work with acrylic and if so just get a quote to have a wier box cut to size out of acrylic but not attached and you can do that yourself. Its not hard at all so fear not

The one thing you do HAVE to specify is the hole size and location to the tank manufacturer. If you're doing a Durso, one hole in the bottom, two up top. If doing a calfo, I'd go 4 up top. I'd consider at least a 2" drain line with two 1" or 1.5" return lines.

 

[shibby]

yeh il prob paint it black it was going to be see through becuase that looks nice but only with no pipe work behind it!

when you say 2 up top do you mean 2 at top of weir .... this may be a dumb question!

least i get the drain mesurements bit ! anyways i got a quote back for my tank price and everything. i gave it to the person i work with to draw it for me to scale! and fax it off, i asked wether i needed to specify hole sizes or glass sizes but he says there know what sizes to use and if not he would tell them, so really easy planning for me ... get someone else to do it the modern way


also could i just drop a piece of filter wool at bottem to cushion the water fall instead of all this pipe work, or wouldnt that work to well ?!

 

[SkiFletch]

Due to the nastities of suction and gravity it wouldn't work all that nice. The Durso standpipe really is the way to go here

I meant one hole on the bottom for the drain and two on the top of the back glass (not in/on/near the weir) for return pipes

 

[shibby]

ooo then i get you yeh i relised now that if i did put filter wool in there it wouldnt last long.


the 2 returns will be located either side of the weir drilled into the bottem, then 2 long pipes will be connected and a hydor flo at the top of each of them! then 2 hydor korlias on either side of tank to get some good flow all around.

im think im trying to make this too complicated then it actually is il look back on this in a few months and think did i really not get how to do that

 

[SkiFletch]

Lol, nah that's exactly the idea shib. Its easiest though if the bulkhead for the return pipes are actually on the back glass instead of the glass/acrylic that makes up the inner weir . Oh and btw, in a tank that big... I'd go with koralia 4's

 

[shibby]

intriging il look into the back glass idea, i was just following the one at work thats a bit bigger has all 3 holes drilled at the bottom.


and i should have 1 hydor koralia 4 and 1 hydor koralia 3

i wont have any corals so flow wont be amazingly important, i may even get some ocean rock to bulk it all out or try and get a good live rock deal its annoying ive seen good deals about but i have to go in order so cantr buy the Lr.

 

[shibby]

well the tanks come its 72" long, 18" wide and 24" high. its still wrapped up so i havent had a proper look yet! its got 2 weirs at either end with 2 holdes drilled in the weirs ... i havent located a return hole yet though somewhere near centre if its there i think!

anyways i need to sort it all out where to put it and build the stand, the stand i think i hope i can manage.... awful at diy but il rope in others to do it i hope!!!


i just need to think of a sump deisgn now still!!!

sump is 36"highx16"widex20"high so ive just got to figure out whats the best way to use the space still, ive pondered through a few designs but still havent come up with an amazingly good one yet

 

[SkiFletch]

Pics?