Neptune Aquatics

Finally upgrading! Input on how to do it right please?

Here are some really shitty pictures, the lighting in the garage sucks.

Bottom inside of the sump area is epoxied with that pour on stuff
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Inside of the rest of the sump area I used some of the spray paint they use on outboard marine motors. It's a super, super glossy type spray paint. Still not sure if it's anything other than just glossy spray paint but it seems to have sealed the wood up good in there.
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Two 1.5" bulkheads drilled, I was testing the Hofer GB's last night and they work pretty awesome once you get them dialed in correctly.
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A couple issue's arose last night though.

1. When I finally setup the Hofer Gurgle Busters to run silently I now have a lot of water noise coming from the 90º elbows at the bottom of the overflow and the other going under the sump. Anyway to alleviate that noise?
2. Last night I pulled out to two overflows and let the water drain to the elbow inside the tank. I then installed the overflows back in to make sure that the black ABS pieces were totally sealed off. When I checked it this morning the water had risen as much as seen in the 3 pictures above. Is this anything to worry about?
 
Looking good Jay! Did you make the overflows yourself? Great job!

Not sure what you can do about the noise at your 90deg elbow though. I know those 90deg elbows tend to cause more noise because of the turbulence. Is there room in there to attach 2x45deg elbows instead of the single 90deg?
 
badbread said:
A couple issue's arose last night though.

1. When I finally setup the Hofer Gurgle Busters to run silently I now have a lot of water noise coming from the 90º elbows at the bottom of the overflow and the other going under the sump. Anyway to alleviate that noise?
2. Last night I pulled out to two overflows and let the water drain to the elbow inside the tank. I then installed the overflows back in to make sure that the black ABS pieces were totally sealed off. When I checked it this morning the water had risen as much as seen in the 3 pictures above. Is this anything to worry about?
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1. I use sweeps instead of 90s as you noted they do create quite a bit of turbulence, you may also want to look into street elbows (ABS) as the curve isn't as severe as on conventional PVC

2. If you power goes out or your pump craps out, have your shop vac ready ;)
 
Reducing noise can be a tricky business, usually when you reduce it in one place, you hear it some place else. I have no experience with that type of noise reduction so I can't help you.

One thing though that alarms me from your pictures is how your piping coming out of the back of the tank is. Make absolutely sure that you do something to secure that piping so it can not move at all. The way it looks now is a little push of the pvc under the stand will move that whole bit connected to the bulkhead, and that translates to a lot of torque which can easily break the glass (trust me, I've done it before... one of the reasons when my soft tank is in a bit of disarray :D)
 
Thanks guys.

Durwin, I dropped the tank off at Dolphin Pet Village in Campbell, they did the drilling and made the overflows.

jeremy, that's what I feared, it's a super, super slow leak but that doesn't matter. I'm going to try and add a new bead of silicone around the whole thing tonight.
How do the ABS elbows connect to PVC? Can you glue PVC to ABS? Or, where do I find sweeps? I'm assumming they are exactly what they sound like, a more gradual sweeping 90º turn, I'm just worried about it fitting in the overflow and through the holes in the back of the stand.

Mike, that worried me as well. The plan is to use some of those pipe hanger/securing things once the tank is in it's final resting spot. Also where the 90º pipe feeds into the stand is about a 7" length of rigid PVC. I was thinking of attaching a union to the end of that and then attaching a 1" vinyl hose to finally go into the sump. Does that make sense?

Here's a little picture I made.
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The ABS slips onto PVC it's the black stuff at your local hardware store. The term "sweep" is used to describe two 45s creating a 90 instead of an elbow, I use that on most of my setups.

The way your setup now you need a lower flow in order to silence your drain, the water hits the elbow and spins, creating bubbles and making noise. I don't need to tell you that though :D
 
So I searched and searched and took about 10 trips to Lowe's, WHCI in Union City, that sprinkler place in Fremont, etc.. and I could not find a "Sweep" type elbow to use that would fit in the space I have. The smallest ABS they make is 1.5", in order for it to work with the threaded bulkheads I have I would need a 1" threaded male to 1.5" female slip adapter which I'm told by a few different plumbing stores does not exist. The 90 degree PVC is going to have to do... I siliconed the crap out of the overflows and they no longer leak, I left the tank full of water for 3 days and nothing leaked in.

I tiled the once carpeted area and it came out surprisingly well!

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I was going to get a threshold type thing but I was able to tuck the carpet in to make a nice smooth transition.
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"That sprinkler place in Fremont" is Ewing in Fremont and they didn't have what I was looking for. The noise isn't that bad, when it's confined inside that area I think it will be ok.
 
Update!

Behind the tank
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Ventilation fans in place
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Pipes going into the stand, braced thanks to Mike's suggestion.
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Temporary fan setup
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All glued plumbing in place
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Looking down
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Tonight I am going to screw the unions into the male threaded pipes going into the stand. I have had some 1" braided vinyl tubing over a couple of broom sticks for a few weeks now hoping they will stay straight to go into the sump. So, from the union I am going to go to a 1" barb fitting into the vinyl tube. I bought some pipe hanger to run the tube over and into the sump which is going to be on the left side. Hopefully I get the sump all setup and ready to rock tonight, maybe even adding water tonight!
 
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