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Fish Room Build for my 475 Gallon Reef


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Well I figured I would start documenting my tank build and figured I would start with where I am today and then play catch-up. Today is the day to finish FRP on the wall and hopefully get my cabinets and counter installed for my work area.   Here is the area where the sink will go. I will shoot pictures today as the project progresses so people can see the change. 

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Finished the FRP in the sink area. The plastic on my last few sheets are a different color which I didn’t notice until I had already cut the pieces to fit. Oh well I’m sure they will yellow to the same color. Here is the finished FRP. Off to get my countertop now. 

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Well got a little more work done today. I need to cut the counter down a bit and cut the hole for the sink in the left side of the counter. The green pvc pipe that is coming out of the side of the cabinet is another drain where my ro/di and auto waterchange will drain. Slow progress but it’s coming along. Sorry for all the pictures. Doing this is actually motivating me to get it done 😁

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Most recent update.  I secured the base cabinets, finished the second drain on the left with red and grey pvc, I cut the countertop to length and installed the sink.  Finally done. I will get the drain plumbed tomorrow and will be done with my sink area. Any thoughts areas that could be improved?

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Haha. Sure thing. I should warn you that any project not related to my fish tank is never completed. My wife keeps giving me projects and I finish about 85% of it and get bored. You would think she would learn to not give me projects. But nope almost every weekend...

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Ok, on to the next project. The next project is getting the stand for the sump and frag tank finished. I have a majority of the structure built for the stand but need to finish some supports for the sump that will sit on the bottom. I also have to cut and put the plywood bottom in. Then I will prime and paint and move the 125 gallon sump into place. Here is a picture of what I have done so far. 

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Here are the bulkheads where the water will leave the fuge and go to the sump. Still not sure what I’m going to do here to connect the two. One option is to build a box around the plumbing and do a bean style here as well. My other option is to just left gravity so it’s thing and let it spill to the sump with no siphon. 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Finally finished plumbing the overflow to the refugium.  The first green pipe is the main siphon on the Bean style overflow. The middle green pipe will be the trickle drain. The black pipe is the emergency overflow. Next is mixing saltwater in the fuge and then plumb a temporary return. More pictures to come. 

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might be a silly question, but why did you choose to put shutoff valves on your overflows?  I understand the gate valve, but not the others.  looking GOOD!!!  So clean, where did you get the green PVC also?

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On 4/15/2018 at 10:31 PM, PetesFolly said:

Yes, where do you get the colored PVC.  As I am planning out my plumbing I would like to use colors this time as long as that doesn't get too expensive.   Looks great!!

 

When Did my plumbing @PetesFolly, I got my colored pvc from Bulk Reef Supply. Here is a link https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/pumps-plumbing/plumbing/pipe-tubing.html

 

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I got all of the colored PVC from bulk reef supply. The grey schedule 40 fittings  came from usplastic.

The ball valves were added because I was initially running my tank independently while it cycled and I finished painting stands and getting the fuge ready for water. I didn’t want the water to overflow if the power went off so I added the valves. Additionallly, I wanted the ability to isolate my aquarium if I need to. Those valves will let me isolate the tank from the system. By throwing a pump in the overflow section of my tank it can be ran independently. My overflow section holds around 80 gallons of water so it acts as a sump whem needed. 

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10 hours ago, jlfalin said:

I got all of the colored PVC from bulk reef supply. The grey schedule 40 fittings  came from usplastic.

The ball valves were added because I was initially running my tank independently while it cycled and I finished painting stands and getting the fuge ready for water. I didn’t want the water to overflow if the power went off so I added the valves. Additionallly, I wanted the ability to isolate my aquarium if I need to. Those valves will let me isolate the tank from the system. By throwing a pump in the overflow section of my tank it can be ran independently. My overflow section holds around 80 gallons of water so it acts as a sump whem needed. 

I like the idea of running the tank on a system and being able to run it independently as well incase of an emergency.

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That was my thought as well.  If the fuge or sump ever spring a leak I can throw a pump and heater in my overflow and shut those valves and I have a stand alone system.  That would be removing 300ish gallons of water volume from the system but in the case of an emergency it could save the tank.  This is my one time build of my dream tank so I want to keep it as safe as possible and have as many safety features as I can to try to prevent catastrophe. 

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Also, I didn't mention but the PVC is color coded.  If I am out of town, a tank sitter can tell me what color pipe is leaking and I can help problem shoot the issue.  The 2 green pipes are the main drains.  Of course the one with the gate valve is the full siphon pipe and the other is the trickle pipe.  The black is the emergency pipe.  That way a person could quickly identify if there was a problem with the overflow/return system.  Additionally, my closed loop on the oceans motion is red pvc and the other closed loop will be orange or purple.  The return pump will be blue and the pump for my frag tanks and manifold will likely be yellow.  This hopefully will make it very easy to identify where the problem is and isolate it quickly to prevent major issues.   I also plan on having water sensors everywhere to alert in the case of a leak.  The apex will be on battery backup and my internet router and switch will also be on battery backup.  This way I will always know if there is an issue with my tank.

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On to flow upgrade. I have a closed loop with 2" intake and 4x 1.25" output on an oceans motion flow diverted. It gives nice random flow but I wasn't happy with how the flow was dispersed and my control of where it went. I decided to upgrade the stick pvc with 45' on the end. 

 

For the change I bought a 1.5" to 4x 1" pvc manifold, I then added a reducer to a 3/4" pvc threads and then put loc line on.  This gives me the ability to direct the flow where I want. I may block one off because even when my rd230 is on full the flow isn't what I want for sps I don't think. Overall very pleased with the upgrade. Now I need more loc line. 

 

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Since I only had enough loc line to finish one manifold in the tank I figured I would move on to another project until I got enough material to finish the flow upgrade. 

 

Attached is a picture of my next project.  I just started but zi figured I would post a teaser picture. Does anyone have any ideas?  I should get a large chunk of the project done tomorrow so stay tuned for updates. 

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