Progress on 90 gallon

[IBMGeek]

Well I finally did the plumbing today and here is what it looks like. I think im going to like the idea of just having to close one valve and opening another one to do the water change from outside the house. I also included an overflow similar to the stockman which somebody suggested to me.

Tell me what you guys and girls think.

[Otty]

The only thing I see is I believe that right beside your OF you are bringing return water from the sump back at the top of the tank. You are also bringing water in at the other end of the tank at the top also. This will not give you very much circulation in the tank because these two currents are going to work against each other trying to bring debris back to the OF off the rock and sand. Don't know what size pump you are using but with flow you need good circulation or you will have dead spots in the tank.

If it was me I would bring the return by the OF in at about 1/3 the height of the tank, maybe T off to two lines and hide them with LR and shoot it towards the far glass. Then leave the one at the other end of the tank at the top shooting back towards the overflow. This will give you a counter clock wise rotation of the water and keep stuff moving towards the OF to be filtered. This way you can have water movement going across the LR so you can take advantage of the bacteria that grows there. If you get dead spot in the tank you will have algae problem that you will be adding chemicals to take care of.

Doing a little extra engineering now will save you a lot of heartache down the road. You are doing it right by trying things out first before the final fill.

I like the idea of the water dump outside, just one question...what are you mixing saltwater in outside to keep it from freezing in the winter... Might have to incorporate that in my current build.

[IBMGeek]

I live in miami so the water here doesnt freeze. And about the flow im still tinkering with it. Ill add the rock and see how i position the return tubes. I just put the return tubes like that to see how my sump was going to work. Turbo4603 came by my house yesterday and he suggested i do a closed loop, so i might just do one on top of the tank.

The way I dispose of the water in the tank is that I have the return line teed off with pipe that goes to the outside of my house. On each line there is a ball valve. The return line has a ball valve and so does the pipe that goes to the outside of the house. When i need to dispose of water i just close the ball valve on the return line and then open the other one.

[Otty]

Here is what I was talking about. Like they say "a pic is worth a thousand words".

[Otty]

Almost forgot....ask Turbo if he got his tank drilled yet...

[IBMGeek]

Thanks I see what you mean. I might do that but how do you keep the water from going back down through the low return pump when the pump is off, do you use a check valve?

Ill ask turbo but i think he still waiting for his ocean motion.

[Otty]

I use a flap check valve and I would run the pipe to the top of the water line then angle it back down in the water and drill a hole at the water line to break the syphon when power goes out.
True Union Swing Check Valve - 1 inch Slip x 1 inch Slip - Marine Depot - Marine and Reef Aquarium Super Store
This is what I use because you are able to see if it gets clogged and it acts as a union too for pump removal. Make sure you put it vertical and not horizontal....been there done that....

[IBMGeek]

im going to have to buy one of those because even now water is coming back down the return lines if the pump is off. Why is it that you cant put it vertical in the website it says it is designed for both horizontal and vertical?

Thanks for suggestions

[Otty]

It takes pressure to seat the valve and you don't want debre laying in the bottom of it causing it not to close if it was vertical. I liked it because to took care of two pieces at once with it being a union too. Very easy to keep clean on a semi annual maintenance program.. Can you tell I work in the mfg industry....

[IBMGeek]

Thought Ill update my thread with a current FTS. Its still a little bare but im waiting for the tank to mature more before I go crazy and start adding more corals.