Kessil

Cruz Mc5’s family reef tank

Coral reefer said:
I think I'm more confused after the pics... lol
Are you just venting or in need of help?
Click to expand...
I think for now just venting ... but it may come to a point where I need help. Maybe these pictures will help.

After the bulkhead, I ran a 1 inch pipe up, and then reduced it down to 1/2 with a threaded reducer. Maybe not the best route to go, but space is pretty tight. It’s a bean animal set up, and that’s a lot of pipe for the overflow box.
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Here’s where the return lines are designed to go into the display tank. I think it’s a pretty standard set up from Crystal Dynamics, but I could be wrong. A 1/2 inch loc-line threaded fitting fits perfectly, it’s just getting the lines connected that’s a pain right now.

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Ok now I see. Seems like the emergency drain is below the trickle drain? Maybe just not finished yet?
That is gonna be tough to get return line connected to all 3 holes. Maybe just use one or two and plug the extra(s)
 
Coral reefer said:
Ok now I see. Seems like the emergency drain is below the trickle drain? Maybe just not finished yet?
That is gonna be tough to get return line connected to all 3 holes. Maybe just use one or two and plug the extra(s)
Click to expand...
The trickle might be a little high. I’m thinking about plugging the hole and moving it lower to help it go to a full siphon earlier to hopefully not have to redo that part, as I’ll have to redo the bulkhead and I’m not looking forward to that.
 
Made some progress over thanksgiving and the last few nights. I *might* actually get it salty this week! I still have a lot of work to do with the electronics, but I’m liking the way things are shaping up.

I’ve got the start of my mixing station done. Didn’t have a hole saw or a uniseal yet, so just made the pipe longer for now. Hope to get that sorted out later this week when my BRS order comes in. Also, I decided on doing a 2 pump set up so I didn’t have to deal with leftover saltwater in the line when I’m pumping ro/di water to use for top off. I’m not sure it was the best decision, but time will tell I guess. Right now I can mix the salt water in the storage tank and then pump it to the sump.

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Here is the mounting area for the electronics. I have an apex that will be mounted, as well as the controller for the skimmer and the pump. I’ll also be plugging my mixing station pumps up to the apex as well. The wires are going to be run behind the board, then over the top to get plugged in. I still need to get some wire management accessories to keep it from becoming too big of a mess. The heater are also going to be plugged into the apex and you can kind of see the plan for the wires in this picture. I also got the skimmer unboxed, set up, and in the sump.

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Made some more progress tonight.

Added 2 valves to the return line so I can pump water to the sink rather than the tank. Should make water changes easier.

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Started mounting some of the electronics tonight. Got the apex power bar mounted, the skimmer controller, and the return pump controller.

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And I have the AP700 mounted over the tank and some of the aquascape moved over.

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I’ll be building a table top, just waiting until all the plumbing is finished to make sure I set the height right. It’ll slide in so that I can have complete access to the sump if I need to work on anything.

I also need to run the ro/di lines better, but I’m waiting for mounting clips from BRS.
 
Looks good. I despise internal overflow box, especially when the return lines have to be routed through them. That's why I went w/the shadow overflow box for my CDA tank with the return holes on the back corners. For your 3 returns, you'll have to use flexible tubing and then a 4 way connector to split the return since there's so little space. Each of the tubing will also need barbs to connect to the bulkheads/uniseals.

I would also take a look at your secondary/trickle line. That should be lower than your emergency line, as Mike mentioned.
 
Was going to say, if you haven't mounted the electronics yet, look into using French cleats along your board, it allows you some flexibility of moving stuff around, plus it keeps electronics away from direct contact of flammable surfaces ;) and allows for air circulation behind it to keep them cool.
 
Yeah. These return lines are a pain. With this being my first tank, it wasn’t something I was able to understand when I ended up buying the tank. Those are my goal for tonight, although stuff just popped up at work that could get in the way unfortunately.

For the trickle line, it will start draining before the emergency drain starts taking water. It won’t go to a full siphon before the emergency line kicks in though. I’m hoping that with moving the hole or attaching a hose I can get it to go to full siphon earlier without having to completely redo it.

Interesting idea on the French cleats. I hadn’t even thought about the prospect of things getting too hot with where they’re mounted.
 
Suggestion:

Your full siphon does not need any plumbing in the overflow, just the bulkhead itself.
For the other two drains, use two 45-degree elbows each, at the bottom, to shift pipes over, so that the pipes end up
right next to the back wall of the tank.
That should give you more room for the returns in the front of the overflow.

Then, on the return, use the 3/4 slip to 1/2 threaded tees/elbows, to create a small manifold at the bottom.
You actually want the manifold itself to be 3/4, to improve flow.
You probably want all 3 outputs facing horizonatal, toward front-center of overflow, not up.
From there, run simple 1/2 vinyl tubing, using barbed fittings, to each return port.
It does not matter if that tubing leaks, as long as it does not pop off.

Hope that all makes sense.

It does not matter if trickle goes full siphon before emergency kicks in. That state is "emergency" anyway.
 
Cruz Mc5 said:
Interesting idea on the French cleats. I hadn’t even thought about the prospect of things getting too hot with where they’re mounted.
Click to expand...
Well looking at what you got hanging on there, I see a couple power bricks which are the ones you really want to have air circulation not so much for fire hazard but those tend to be the part that dies whether it's a pump, a light or a controller. The big issue is the Apex power box, the overheating aspect of those is not so much of an issue on the back face but inside the plugs (it's inevitable in a humid environment that is our tanks), but it typically is good practice to not mount power strips of any kind to wood, not saying it's likely to happen just good practice.

Plus I like the non-permanency of a cleat system, simply because I know from my own experience the equipment that is there the day I set up the tank is usually not the only stuff I'll have in a year or two time. Things can get moved around, cords need to be rerouted, tangled, etc. it just makes things easier (plus the cords themselves can run between the cleats. Of course it's ideas like this which are causing my build to take so fricking long :D
 
rygh said:
Suggestion:

Your full siphon does not need any plumbing in the overflow, just the bulkhead itself.
For the other two drains, use two 45-degree elbows each, at the bottom, to shift pipes over, so that the pipes end up
right next to the back wall of the tank.
That should give you more room for the returns in the front of the overflow.

Then, on the return, use the 3/4 slip to 1/2 threaded tees/elbows, to create a small manifold at the bottom.
You actually want the manifold itself to be 3/4, to improve flow.
You probably want all 3 outputs facing horizonatal, toward front-center of overflow, not up.
From there, run simple 1/2 vinyl tubing, using barbed fittings, to each return port.
It does not matter if that tubing leaks, as long as it does not pop off.

Hope that all makes sense.

It does not matter if trickle goes full siphon before emergency kicks in. That state is "emergency" anyway.
Click to expand...

These are all very good ideas. I'd have to cut everything out and redo the bulkheads at this point to change it and I'm not sure I want to open that can of worms. I will definitely use these ideas if I end up having to redo these things.

rygh said:
Oh - and for PVC drains in the overflow, do not glue the pipes!
It does not matter if it leaks, and you may need to tweak it.
Click to expand...

This also would've been a great idea! Unfortunately it's too late for that. I really wish I would've posted asking for some suggestions/tips before I plumbed it in.

sfsuphysics said:
Well looking at what you got hanging on there, I see a couple power bricks which are the ones you really want to have air circulation not so much for fire hazard but those tend to be the part that dies whether it's a pump, a light or a controller. The big issue is the Apex power box, the overheating aspect of those is not so much of an issue on the back face but inside the plugs (it's inevitable in a humid environment that is our tanks), but it typically is good practice to not mount power strips of any kind to wood, not saying it's likely to happen just good practice.

Plus I like the non-permanency of a cleat system, simply because I know from my own experience the equipment that is there the day I set up the tank is usually not the only stuff I'll have in a year or two time. Things can get moved around, cords need to be rerouted, tangled, etc. it just makes things easier (plus the cords themselves can run between the cleats. Of course it's ideas like this which are causing my build to take so fricking long :D
Click to expand...

Hopefully with these not being covered at all, it won't be a major issue with overheating. I'm gonna look into using some of the french cleats, but it may have to wait a bit. I've already blown our budget with this tank, so every little bit counts at this point. Of course, it doesn't help that I decided to go full blown crazy on our first build, lol.
 
For power bricks, run them for a couple of hours and put your hand on them.
A bit uncomfortably warm is fine, but if you have to pull your hand off, you have a problem.
 
Oh, and a cheap way to mount power supplies with a standoff:
Put a small nut or two on the screw, or several washers, between the supply and the board you are mounting it to.
 
The power supplies for my AP700’s were the hottest thing in my electronics cabinet but we’re still not hot enough to be uncomfortable. Still having it off the wall by a 1/2” or so is a great idea.
 
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