My 150 from the ground up

Thanks for taking the time and pictures to show us your project. The stand is beautiful. Natural wood is my favorite. Love the electrical configuration.

I too will be following this build.

Good luck,
Rick

 

Thanks for the complements all.

I was hoping that my bulkheads would have come in so I could pick them up tonight. Didn't work out because the LFS closed early for Reefstock tomorrow. I will not be able to do jack squat until Sunday even if they came in today. Oh shoot it's like two in the morning so it's already tomorrow.

All I got done today is to rough up the edges of the overflow box in preparation for silicone. Thanks to Powerman for that tip about sticking acrylic to glass. I picked up a tube of GE silicone II and a stick of 2" PVC at the Depot. I understand the #GE5000 is 100% pure silicone with no mildew resistant chemicals and aquarium safe. If anyone knows different, please chime in before I seal up the overflow box with potential bead of death.

I will be in a holding pattern until I get bulkheads.

 

awesome Im loving the way this build is looking I subscribe

 

I got my bulkheads today, Hoary. I bought the GE Silicone II on Friday and was advised afterward it has a mildew additive and to use the GE Silicone I. I returned the tube and got a tube of the clear Silicone I. I saw in a few other threads and searching the Internet the consensus is Silicone I is aquarium safe, even though the tube says, "Not for use below water line or aquariums." I used it today so there is no going back now. The one thing I have going for me is it will be cured completely, because it will not see water for a couple of weeks.

After researching the overflows that are commercially made, I found they are double wall. The first wall is slotted to keep some of the critters out and the inner wall is cut straight and basically sets the tank level. The two walls are joined before they are sealed to the tank so there is no advantage gained sealing against the tank. My wife did not want to have the box slotted due to some issues we had with our previous tank with a goby escape artist. The overflow is cut straight and set at or just below the proposed water line. If I need something slotted or some sort of grate I can fabricate something after the flow test.

The bulkhead install was straight forward. Just make sure the glass and gaskets are clean and the flange and gasket is on the inside of the tank. The nuts were tightened just a smidge over hand tight but not enough to distort the gasket.

The overflow box and tank were cleaned up and a bead of silicone was laid on the edge. The box was carefully set in place so the inner bead would not be disturbed. A second bead was laid on the inside and outside of the box. The box was weighted so it will not move during the cure.

The overflow pipes were cut from 2" PVC. The main was cut three inches below the proposed water level in the overflow and the emergency was cut to approximately 1/4 inch below the top of the overflow box. Now I hope I can make all this work with the gated main pipe and have the water level just up to or a trickle over the emergency pipe. If not I will be back at square one with this. The good thing is PVC is cheap if I have to cut more parts.

 

This is really coming along great, RPM1. The stand looks awesome...love the craftsmanship of it.

Subscribed.

 

I did a quick flow test today. This all started because I wanted to see if I got the overflow box sealed up well. I used some Teflon tape to temporarily seal up the standpipes. I filled the overflow box and it is not leaking what so ever. I figured I would go ahead and fill the whole thing. I found an old pump and rigged up a short garden hose. The tank doesn’t leak either. I know I probably should have checked this before I got to this point.

 

The non-notched overflow actually works well. The water level overflows the box by about 3/16 inch and even with a lower volume pump than I am planning to run it will pull a small wood piece to the overflow completely across the tank. It will not pull the wood into the box because the wood is too far below the water line.

Using my uber high tech flow adjustment cup I was easily able to control the flow and match the pump output into the tank. Even though there will be a type II gate valve underneath the main drain, using the cup was very quiet once I extended the output below the water level in my bucket.

Overall I am very impressed so far.

 

After all this, I moved the tank inside. I am confident that this set-up will work well once I get the plumbing finished and the correct pump in place. Here are a couple of pictures after I moved it inside. Really makes my 30 look dinky. Now my wife needs to decide where she wants it.

The cabinet work light will be very nice for sump maintenance.

 

Wow just wow. This makes me want to go out and try and make my own stand

 

man, you could go bb and light it from below! i like that overflow and looking foward to seeing some life in there.looking good