Changes to the 30 cube

[Sugar Magnolia]

Well, the tank is approaching 17 months now and I'm sick to death with dealing with my flow issues, so I started building a sump/closed loop/SCWD contraption.

Lifereef overflow - rated 700 gph down to the sump. Return pump will be a Quiet One 4000, throttled back if necessary with a gate valve, up to the SCWD then returns to the tank.

Here's my beginiings of the sump-o-fuge:

Baffles added. Two baffles on the overflow side, and one baffle on the fuge side. The return pump will sit in the middle.

Top down shot.

Starting the plumbing last week.

And today, I got a bit more done, but still not finished. I need a 3/4" true union so I can remove just the SCWD/return lines and not have to take out the portion of tubing that leads from the gate valve up to the SCWD. Too much maneuvering under that stand so I'll true union the SCWD for easy removal/cleaning purposes. I have a true union on the return line just after the pump so that can be pulled for maintenence as well.

I discovered after putting this return together that it would fit much better if I raise the pump up about 3 inches. That way none of the pipe will hit against each other. Guess I'll be making a stand contraption for the Quiet One. Plexi? Eggcrate? Dunno yet.

Here's the SCWD all clamped up with the hose barbs ready to be screwed into the female couplings. Just how much teflon tape do I wrap around those threads? I went around three or four times.

I made the returns to the tank but need to cut and glue the tubing leading from the SCWD to the returns. Looks like Thursday is going to be the next time I can get back to this.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Here's some updates shots of the tank. I removed some of the LR over on the right so I'll have room for that massive Lifereef overflow box. Did some reaaranging, and things are finally settling in. These shots are from a couple weeks ago.

 

[Jennie]

Everything looks great! Wish I had your patience. The zoas sure are eye catching aren't they :lol:

 

[djconn]

Great pics and DIY project. That sure is a lot of plumbing going on there!

Thanks for sharing SM.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Why thank you dj!

More progress today. I finished the return line. Hopefully I'll be able to finish off the overflow line tomorrow and do a freshwater test run this weekend to test for leaks.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Well, I had some major issues and ended up having to rebuild some stuff...

Proof that I'm not just making this up....the PVC graveyard:

Bottom portion of the overflow and return is finished. The overflow line sits crooked. I'm not sure if this will pose a problem with noise/rattling, but if it does I can always zip tie the lower side (fuge) up a bit.

SCWD and return lines have been rebuilt and dry fit, set in place to determine if it will fit, then glued.

Scwd/returns hanging on the back of the tank. You can see the lower edge of the Lifereef, which the SCWD clears nicely. I made sure I measured it long enough so it can sit below the Remora which is currently sitting on my dining room table serving no purpose other than to clutter up the table.

All that's left to do is to connect the upper and lower portions of the overflow and returns. This is where I had major problems before. I over-thunk (new word) it and made it much more complicated than it had to be. I'm going to try and use the spaflex from the overflow to the lower portion, but may not be able to make it work. We'll see. I'm trying to avoid too many elbows/45's to keep the flow up.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

More progress. I finished up the plumbing today and gave it a test run out on the deck with some fresh water.

Hopefully I'll have it running on the tank by this evening.

 

[incysor]

Are you going to add sand/maco to one of the sections? If so, what are you going to light it with?

B

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Yeah, the section on the left will house some chaeto. I'm just going to leave it BB, maybe toss some LR rubble in there. I have a clamp on desk lamp and a 13W bulb to put over that area.

 

[incysor]

I can't wait to see it hooked up to your tank. Bye-bye powerheads.

B

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I finally got this thing set up!! Woo!

Action shot of the hex-sump/fuge.

With the stand door closed. Oooo see through.

Right side as the SCWD switches over. Majorly large bubbles. These seem to pop as soon as they hit the tank.

Left side.

The noise in now virtually nonexistent. The skimmer is making more noise than the overflow and return pump combined. This is a good thing. Power failure check without the canister in place proved to be succesful. Woo!

On the down side, I ran the Fluval's intake out of the tank, since it said it was gravity fed and needed to be lower than the water level. I had initially planned on runnng it in and out of the sump, but read the aforementioned and decided to run the intake from the tank to the canister. Power failure check reveals that the back syphon from the canister's intake will overflow the sump. Bad....bad, very bad. I guess I'm drilling a syphon break on the intake line for the canister. I sure hope it doesn't hose up the canisters performance. Anyone have any input on this? Should I stick the intake in the sump? I'm not familiar with canisters so I don't know if having it just below the watrer level of the tank will affect it's performance.

Overall, it seems to be doing a great job. I may twiddle with the height of the overflow box and the gate valve on the return line to see it I can manage a bit more flow in the tank, but it seems to be fine for now. I still plan on running a microjet behind the rockwork, as always.

Oh, one last thing. When we got this thing up and running, my monti's were royally pissed off. ALL of them started sliming. The tank was full of gooey sps slime. Nasty. They've since recovered and seem to be doing well. My xenia got a bit peeved to but is now back to pulsing happily.

 

[i_spy]

I LIKE IT!! VERY NICE!!

btw would you be so kind to show us your skimmer/overflow. thanks!

 

[reefman23]

I havent seen Sugar Magnolia in over a year and a half... dont know if they still frequent this site. Whatt a sweet tank though.

Jesse

 

[aquemeni5110]

I don't how I missed this post but nice tank! Love the plumbing work :thumbup: Way to put a Hex back into use.

Just a suggestion: If it fits, why not put the heater in the sump so that it's out of sight?