My 150 from the ground up

Thanks again all, you are too kind.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is I was concerned about the amount of water that drained off in a power out condition. I have about eight gallons of room before the sump would spill over, because I made the darn thing too deep. I still may modify it, but that is another post. Anyway When I pulled the plug yesterday, with no suction back through the return, it would only drain off about three gallons. Another thing I was happy about. I will have to make sure that my siphon break holes in the returns do their job otherwise I may be in trouble. For the most part I am still looking good.

So far the total build cost tally on the monster tank is about $150.00. That includes all the lumber, electrical, acrylic sheet, plumbing that I have so far and the sand. Still need a pump, return plumbing and plumbing for the rest of the drain, rock, light parts, and a skimmer. By far the light parts are going to be the most expensive. I have been doing some surfing and I think I can do a 3 watt Cree XR-E 130ish bulb (with optics) 46 inch heat sink number for about 400.00 if I plan my purchases properly. All this before it even gets water, maybe I should ask for donations. ;D

I may do the Avast peg leg skimmer to keep in the theme of a budget DIY build but I kinda have my heart set on a SWC cone.

 

Looks great! Super Jealous. Subscribing

 

Just a quick update. Since my last post I ordered my type II gate valve and some parts from Locline. I now have those parts in hand. I will go to the Depot this week and pick up the remainder of the PVC fittings I need to complete the plumbing. I plan to work on the drains and returns this week and I will post some pictures and a little write up once I get some time.

I will get my return pumps ordered this week also and I am waiting on another box of reef rock. Hopefully, my wife will figure out where she wants it and get the tank aquascaped. Once all those pieces fall into place I can put water in it and start it cycling. Then I can concentrate on the lighting.

 

I picked up the PVC fittings for the drain and return plumbing tonight. My plan is to get everything assembled tomorrow. The picture is everything set out simulating the way it will be assembled.

 

I was able to get a minute today and get my plumbing installed. I started off with a quick dry fit of everything. The drains look enormous using two inch pipe. I will not have to worry about lack of capacity. All the pipes will terminate below the water level to minimize noise. Ideally the only noise I should hear are the pumps.

 

Everything glued up well. I used all purpose glue even though I primarily used PVC because the bulkheads are ABS. I just didn't want to use two types of glue. It should be just fine since there is only a small amount of pressure in the lines and that glue will hold something in the neighborhood of 150psi. The emergency is plumbed straight into the sump side and the main is split to take water to the refugium and deliver the bulk to to the sump. The ball valve will control the flow to the fuge where the gate allows for fine adjustment of the system to match the pump outputs. I am going to have to evaluate if I need to provide some support for these pipes. I am not happy with the pressure put on the main union let alone the bulkhead.

 

The returns are all made of 1" pipe split into two 3/4" locline outlets. I was instructed to paint the top of the returns black. I used Krylon Fusion to do this. Just make sure it sits for seven days before it sees water so it can cure completely. I did this on my PVC overflow I am running on my 30 and have had no ill effects. I plan on running two RIO 26HF pumps. one for each side. I realize that I am on the border of still running a mag drive pump but I think I can still get away with it here. I do like the redundancy of running two pumps. I will get my pumps ordered in the next day or so.

 

WOW! What an AWESOME build! I can't wait to see the final product!!!;D

 

Very impressive build so far!!! Definitely going to be following along on this one. The only things I would caution you on would be splashes to your electrical outlets and be sure that having you drain pipes terminate below the water surface doesn't cause them to backup and overflow the tank -- been there and done that lol. I'm sure you could easily fabricate a splash guard for the electrical. Working with acrylic is a skill I would love to learn... And finding out where to buy it for less than an arm and leg.

 

Thanks, I have a similar electrical set up in my smaller tank and have not had any problems, yet... Knock on wood. Granted the flow will be a lot higher in this one. I will see what is going on in there once things get started. I figure I am only a couple of weeks away from filling this thing. My pumps should be here Today or tomorrow and the heaters Saturday or Monday. I'm still waiting on another box of base rock however. When that gets here I have no idea. Once I get it going I will see how everything is running and make any modifications to the exits and put a guard up if needed. Trimming those drain exits will be no biggie if it doesn't’t flow right. When I was researching the Herbie I was told to have the drains exit under water. Time will tell I guess.

Acrylic is expensive isn’t it? I get mine from a place in town that sells their scrap (Sometimes the scrap can be close to a full sheet) for half price once a month.