EW's 75g Build Planning Thread

Hey gang,
The time has finally come! The 29g BioCube is fun, but we can no longer resist. It's time to upgrade to a 75. We have the following goals in mind for this system:

• All equipment will be in the basement (~9' pump head).
• Where possible, equipment selection and plumbing should be modular and/or suitable for a 3x - 4x larger tank in about 5 years time.
• Full BeAn Animal system w/ coast to coast overflow.
• Will be a mixed reef. Have not tried SPS yet, but system must be capable of supporting it due to the inevitable foray in that direction.
• Don't want to use any live rock or sand to ensure we start clean with no hitch hiking nasties (we had some problems w/ Pyramid and Sundial snails in the Biocube and don't want to relive that experience).
• Equipment layout and plumbing should be such that it is expandable without tearing the whole thing apart.
• Ease of equipment maintenance is a must.
• Design with fail-safes and automation in mind.
• All external pumps, with the goal of keeping all electrical plugs out of the water.

Here's where you all come in....

The first step is the system layout. I've done a ton of research and got some advice/feedback from a few members behind the scenes and have come up with this plumbing plan: file removed, updated version below in post #16

Please have a look and let me know your thoughts. Improvements and critiques are equally welcome. I have some questions on several of the details that I'd like to discuss, but would like thoughts on what I have here first. Once we get the layout nailed we can move on to spec'ing out equipment (i.e. the fun part). Thanks for taking the time to help!!!!

--EW

 

Things look pretty good. Couple of questions or concerns:

- What is your target turnover from sump to DT? I see you have 1.5" drain lines from the DT for your Bean Animal. With 9' of syphon, assuming you have 10x turnover, thats 750 gph. So, 1.5" pipe with only a few feet of syphon can pull over 2000gph, and with 9' of syphon, will probably pull quite a bit more than that. My point is this: with a 1.5" drain pipe, you will end up closing the gate valve probably 60-80%. This will make it hard to make small adjustments to maintain proper water level without water crashing down your secondary line. (I speak from experience with a 1.5" drain on my prior 90...) Go smaller with your primary syphon.

- If you plan on running a bean animal with a syphon, dont pull reactor feeds off the return pump. As reactors get clogged or need flow adjustments, they will pull flow from the return, thus requiring adjustments to the gate valve for the syphon. Get a second pump.

- I also see you're pulling the refugium off the syphon after the syphon's gate valve. I seem to remember reading in threads that this makes it almost impossible to control the syphon, and the gate valve for the syphon should be located further down the pipe from the fuge tapoff. I'm not 100% sure on this (you might have it the right way), so you might want to look around a little. Just bringing this to your attention.

- What kind of drain/overflow are you using in your fuge?

Otherwise, looks awesome! ;D

 

Good stuff, thanks for the feedback...

I'm planning on using 1" bulkheads and street elbows in the overflow, not sure if that matters or not. The logic behind using a 1.5" overflow was to avoid the need to re-plumb next time we go to a bigger tank. How much you figure a 1" pipe could handle (given 9' head)? Say in the future I needed 2000 gph+ would a 1" pipe work? Having to re-plumb at a later time is not the end of the world, but I'd prefer to avoid it if possible. You figure just using a 1" pipe for the full siphon and 1.5" for the others would solve that problem or is that just lame?

This is one of the things I was wondering about. Will add 2nd pump for this.

Well that would certainly be a pain in the... Will see what I can figure out there, thanks for the heads-up.

Another thing I wasn't quite sure about... I was thinking I'd place the fuge a bit higher than the sump. I'd drill two holes in the side - one ~3" from the top for the main drain (unstrained to allow pods to escape to the DT) and another one ~1" from the top that would act as an emergency drain if the water level started getting too high due to clog in the first one. Both pipes would bend 90*, go over the top of the sump tank and end approximately an inch or so from the bottom. Flow regulated by the valve on the input.

Another thing I was thinking about for the sump is putting a bubble trap near the output to the return pump and changing the barrier to the skimmer section to a single baffle.

I'll make changes to the diagram and re-post it in a day or so... Any other thoughts from anyone?

--EW

 

tagging along!

 

Man, this is fun... I love these types of discussions. I am totally going to try the test from the second story window. Will report back w/ the results.

The reason I have the 1" bulkheads & 1.5" pipes is I just stole it right from the original article here: BeanAnimal's Bar and Grill - Silent and Fail-Safe Overflow System I figure if it's good enough for him it's good enough for me. ;D

And, I am going to get an MP40 so will definitely have in-tank flow...

 

One just will not do. Trust me, once you get one, you'll be saving for a second in no time. You really need 2 or more to get the full product (all the different modes and such).

 

Story of my life.... LOL

 

Updated plan with inclusion of second pump for reactor loop. Also, added in the ATO pump (was implied before )

Hoping to get some 1" v. 1.5" pipe to do the volume experiment this weekend. I looked around for some calculators online to see if I could figure it out mathematically so now I have a headache. If there are any math geniuses out there that can calculate flow in gph for a 9' vertical drop and about a 6' horizontal traverse for a 1" and a 1.5" pipe under full siphon I'd love it.

Any other thoughts? Updated schematic in post 16

 

Looking really good!!

-Drain pipe dia.
I have 1" bulkheads with 1.5" drain pipes. A ball valve only on the main drain. I did how I did mine because I just followed the deign on the Bean site initially. There is no 1" sanitary tee. The smallest you can find is 1.5". I guess you can build it without sanitary tees, but they are the designed to have least restriction, water/air flow wise. Try not to use 90 deg elbows, instead use multiple 45 degs.

-Return rate
Just like Lucas mentioned, youd want the water to be filtered as much as possible through the sump. The return pump should be chosen based on the sump size, not the display tank size. I have a 20 gallon sump and its pushing 350gph after headloss. The valve on the drain is closed almost all the way.

-Fuge
You cannot tee off the main drain to feed the fuge with the Bean. This might be the only con for some people that I can point out about bean... I personally dont have a functioning fuge, just one of the sections in the sump. Youd have to use a small separate pump/power head to feed the fuge (or you can use the reactor pump in the blueprint).

-Bubble trap
Probably depends on a lot of stuff, but I have only one set of it.

-MP40w
You are gonna "need" two
I had one for a while, running cranked up all the way. Got a hold of a second one (used). A lot more efficient. A lot quieter.

 

good discussion, I'm gonna follow