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You can always hack in later as needed and add the Union after.
IOWL's 50g frag tank
- Thread starter IOnceWasLegend
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I was going to either try to mount wood underneath them, or try to suspend them from eye hooks from the underside of the stand. Any suggestions for how to support them?
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Oatey 3/4 in. x 25 ft. Plastic Pipe Hanger Strap 33527 - The Home Depot
Durable plastic, this Oatey Plastic Hanger Strap offers a quick and inexpensive way to hang pipe from joists or rafters.
www.homedepot.com
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i'd use this.Oatey 3/4 in. x 25 ft. Plastic Pipe Hanger Strap 33527 - The Home Depot
Durable plastic, this Oatey Plastic Hanger Strap offers a quick and inexpensive way to hang pipe from joists or rafters.www.homedepot.com
Much appreciated!
Also, apparently Amazon's definition of 'like new' ceramic biomedia means, "Broken into roughly twelve pieces with many smaller ones ground into a fine dust."
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Nice to see the stand being put to good use. In case you were wondering it's the Solana stand that was made for the Solana XL 67g tank.
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Oh, awesome; thank you! And thank you again for the stand. It looks great, my wife liked it, and it's got more than enough room to house everything I'll need and keep it looking tidy.
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Update 10/7/20:
Didn't get as much time to work on this this weekend as I'd like, but a bit of progress has been made. I managed to:
Mildly irritated that, in spite of several visits over the course of a couple weeks, Lowe's has had 1" threaded - but not slip - unions. So I improvised with 1.5" slip unions and 1.5">1" reducers.
I also did a temporary plumbing job on the chiller to clean out the interior and test it out by running it in a 5g bucket of RODI water:
Unfortunately, the chiller did not cool the water. I tinkered with it a bit last night, but I think it might be the compressor. So, back to hunting down another chiller while I tinker around with this one (and will hopefully be able to fix it and offer it back up to the club).
Now that everything's had at least 24 hours to cure, I'm going to fill up my sump with RODI, temporarily plumb the return line to run into my overflow box, and do leak testing of the return and drain lines. Assuming no leaks, I'll start mixing up salt (I have about 50 gallons of RODI sitting in a Brute container @hyacinth was kind enough to loan me) and will, hopefully, be cycling soon.
On the note of cycling: I've had a fist-sized hunk of ceramic media seeding in the sand of my display tank for the past ~5 days. I'll be plunking it into the sump (along with a full 8x8x4 block of ceramic media) to start cycling the tank. Does anybody have a best guess on how long it'll take to cycle given I'm giving it a hefty head start?
Didn't get as much time to work on this this weekend as I'd like, but a bit of progress has been made. I managed to:
- Cut and lay a sheet of 3/4" plywood on the stand for more support/easier leveling
- Cut the final piece of the frame to length (though I'll be waiting until this weekend, when I pick up a DC120 skimmer, to put everything together)
- Slightly redid all the plumbing and incorporated unions
- Cemented everything in place
- Supported everything with straps
Mildly irritated that, in spite of several visits over the course of a couple weeks, Lowe's has had 1" threaded - but not slip - unions. So I improvised with 1.5" slip unions and 1.5">1" reducers.
I also did a temporary plumbing job on the chiller to clean out the interior and test it out by running it in a 5g bucket of RODI water:
Unfortunately, the chiller did not cool the water. I tinkered with it a bit last night, but I think it might be the compressor. So, back to hunting down another chiller while I tinker around with this one (and will hopefully be able to fix it and offer it back up to the club).
Now that everything's had at least 24 hours to cure, I'm going to fill up my sump with RODI, temporarily plumb the return line to run into my overflow box, and do leak testing of the return and drain lines. Assuming no leaks, I'll start mixing up salt (I have about 50 gallons of RODI sitting in a Brute container @hyacinth was kind enough to loan me) and will, hopefully, be cycling soon.
On the note of cycling: I've had a fist-sized hunk of ceramic media seeding in the sand of my display tank for the past ~5 days. I'll be plunking it into the sump (along with a full 8x8x4 block of ceramic media) to start cycling the tank. Does anybody have a best guess on how long it'll take to cycle given I'm giving it a hefty head start?
Last edited:
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I didn't want to split the return line: partially because I didn't see the point, partially because I figured that would lead to a loss in head pressure given the number of 90° bends I needed for the main return line, but mostly because I wanted to keep the plumbing as simple as possible.
Additionally, I'll have a Tunze wavebox and MP10 in the tank, so I figured I'd have plenty of flow already and a second point of flow from the return line wasn't necessary.
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Update #2, 10/7/20
Well, had a bit of time this evening, so I decided to leak test the plumbing and the sump:
I had two small leaks; one in the lower drain at the 90° elbow, and one in the return line union. Tightened the return line union and that stopped, and I put some PVC cement around the lip of where the elbow met the pipe. Gave it about 15 minutes, tested again, and it stopped. So: leak test successful!
I've got about 50 gallons of RODI made now, and will be making another 10 or 15 gallons in the next day or two. Now I just need to clean out the tank, wipe it down, leak test it (which I'll probably do with saltwater just so I don't have to re-empty that, too), and then I can cycle!
Well, had a bit of time this evening, so I decided to leak test the plumbing and the sump:
I had two small leaks; one in the lower drain at the 90° elbow, and one in the return line union. Tightened the return line union and that stopped, and I put some PVC cement around the lip of where the elbow met the pipe. Gave it about 15 minutes, tested again, and it stopped. So: leak test successful!
I've got about 50 gallons of RODI made now, and will be making another 10 or 15 gallons in the next day or two. Now I just need to clean out the tank, wipe it down, leak test it (which I'll probably do with saltwater just so I don't have to re-empty that, too), and then I can cycle!
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And now for a night of anxiety.
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How did it go?
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No leaks overnight, so I am good to proceed! I'm just adjusting the salinity on the last batch of saltwater I'm making. Then I'll put that in, turn the return pump on, let it run for a little while to make sure everything's good, and I'll be starting the cycle later today.
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That is something that had been on my vague to do list, but thank you for the advice. I'll move that up. Did you buy a premade screen, or how did you make yours?
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Sorry, clarifying - you had two of those you were selling, or you have two you are selling?
