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MD’s 50 Gallon Low Boy

 
I got the Modular Marine overflow installed just to see how it’ll look. Loving the 22” weir box for more surface skimming. Still have to pull it off in order to paint the back (black?). Still debating whether or not to paint the bottom panel, I kind of like how the white from the stand is showing through
 

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Instead of painting you could always just use a black backing so you can removed if you ever want to.

This one is just PVC and using static cling. There are other vinyl ones with adhesive if you prefer.

XCNO Aquarium Background Static Cling Black Fish Tank Background Wallpaper Fish Tank Backdrop Vinyl Aquarium Poster Background 28 x 12 in

 
RandyC said:
Instead of painting you could always just use a black backing so you can removed if you ever want to.

This one is just PVC and using static cling. There are other vinyl ones with adhesive if you prefer.

Amazon.com

a.co
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I was just going to use PlastiDip. I’ve used it on other tanks before and it’s fairly easy to apply as it comes in a spray paint container and it’s easy to peel off if I ever need to remove it. I was almost going to go white but didn’t think about how visible algae would be. Thinking I’m going to go with black for both back and bottom
 
I have used the vinyl you can buy at craft stores (Michael's). Relatively easy to apply as long as you use a spray bottle on the glass first to aid with smoothing out bubbles. I get the one that's not permanent.
 
richiev said:
I have used the vinyl you can buy at craft stores (Michael's). Relatively easy to apply as long as you use a spray bottle on the glass first to aid with smoothing out bubbles. I get the one that's not permanent.
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Is this what you mean by vinyl?
 

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MarcosDelgado0 said:
Is this what you mean by vinyl?
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Yeah, that's exactly what I've used.

It's difficult to install, unless you Google how people install vinyl on cars or tint on windows. Spray some distilled water on the glass so the vinyl doesn't immediately stick. Place vinyl. Smooth with a squeegee or credit card or ... Razor blade to cut it to size.

I'm sure that paint works well too, but this is what I've done.
 
This is what I have so far for the drain plumbing. It’s still dry fit only. I’m going to replace the white PVC with blue, I just had extra on hand and wanted to test with white before wasting a bunch of blue. Honestly I wish I would’ve gone with only one return. I don’t really have a lot of space and now the water will have to flow a long way to get to the right return whereas the left return is directly above the return pump. I also wanted to do a manifold to future proof but I don’t have a lot of space to work with so we’ll see how that goes
 

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MarcosDelgado0 said:
This is what I have so far for the drain plumbing. It’s still dry fit only. I’m going to replace the white PVC with blue, I just had extra on hand and wanted to test with white before wasting a bunch of blue. Honestly I wish I would’ve gone with only one return. I don’t really have a lot of space and now the water will have to flow a long way to get to the right return whereas the left return is directly above the return pump. I also wanted to do a manifold to future proof but I don’t have a lot of space to work with so we’ll see how that goes
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I have 2 - 4ft foot peices of blue, 3/4 inch if you need it.
 
Ok I’m going to wait to glue anything of course but I wanted to ask for any input on this as plumbing is not my specialty. This is what I have planned for the manifold. 3 of them reduce to 1/2” for further proofing and the tee with the ball valve has a 3/4” adapter that I’m going to use for water changes. It will be capped when not in use. The 1” gate valve on the left is in case I need to close it a bit to create pressure and increase flow into one of the manifolds. My plan is to then use a 90 elbow to move the plumbing behind the tank and us a T fitting to split the dual returns. Honestly it seems like a long way to travel until the water gets back to the returns so I’m guessing I’m going to need a really strong return pump? Any advice at all is appreciated. Currently I’m just playing around with the fittings but nothing is getting glued until I make sure I take any feedback and adjust. Pardon my art lol
 

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In case it's helpful, you can get plastic compatible spray paint and then just buy normal PVC and have it whatever color you want. I wouldn't submerge the painted section underwater, and I try and tape off the main section that will be glued, but it's very easy and convenient versus keeping the expensive colored pipe on hand.

Ace has it, as do most places. Krylon fusion is the name brand, but there's other similar versions.

Regarding the plumbing, seems like a lot but seems like you're thinking it through well. I would guess the pretty short length of the run to the returns will affect things far less than using the manifolds for something. If you're future proofing being able to run a reactor or uv or... off the manifolds, size your pump on that.
 
richiev said:
In case it's helpful, you can get plastic compatible spray paint and then just buy normal PVC and have it whatever color you want. I wouldn't submerge the painted section underwater, and I try and tape off the main section that will be glued, but it's very easy and convenient versus keeping the expensive colored pipe on hand.

Ace has it, as do most places. Krylon fusion is the name brand, but there's other similar versions.

Regarding the plumbing, seems like a lot but seems like you're thinking it through well. I would guess the pretty short length of the run to the returns will affect things far less than using the manifolds for something. If you're future proofing being able to run a reactor or uv or... off the manifolds, size your pump on that.
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Thank you!! I appreciate all the tips you’ve given me on this thread. I actually already have the blue pvc, I just didn’t want to trial&error with it and decided to mock things up with the white pvc. Once everything is set I’m going to go back and cut the matching tube lengths.
 
This is what I have so far for the return plumbing. Now the back return section and the manifold would just be connected with a horizontal piece of pipe where the grey tee fitting is
 

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Any reason for the valve on the secondary and emergency drain pipes? The full siphon drain should be regulating the water level. I might be missing something though since I've only done Herbie style overflows. Those valves aren't cheap so maybe they can be repurposed to somewhere more functional. The location in the center back might also be a pain in the ass place to reach.
 
CaseyP said:
Any reason for the valve on the secondary and emergency drain pipes? The full siphon drain should be regulating the water level. I might be missing something though since I've only done Herbie style overflows. Those valves aren't cheap so maybe they can be repurposed to somewhere more functional. The location in the center back might also be a pain in the ass place to reach.
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I’m honestly not sure. When I was looking at similar builds that had an external beam animal style a lot of the setups had ball valves on all 3 drains. I figured there’s a reason but I don’t know what it is lol. I did test it against the wall and I’d be able to reach them if I ever did need to close them
 
This is how it turned out… I think it’s ok? It looks a little wonky because of the dry fitting and I also need to find something to support the pipes and fix them to the top of the stand somehow
 

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Nice plumbing work so far. I know it’s a PITA! That’s a lot of gate valves for the manifold. I assume you are planning to use them to run GFO, Carbon and UV? I made a similar manifold for a previous tank of mine but ended up not using them. I ran each of them off a separate pump dumping into the return chamber. If you plan on using a UV I would split the returns and run two pumps. One pump dedicated for the UV so you can control the flow rate better. Redundancy is always a good thing.
 
SupraSaltyReefer said:
Nice plumbing work so far. I know it’s a PITA! That’s a lot of gate valves for the manifold. I assume you are planning to use them to run GFO, Carbon and UV? I made a similar manifold for a previous tank of mine but ended up not using them. I ran each of them off a separate pump dumping into the return chamber. If you plan on using a UV I would split the returns and run two pumps. One pump dedicated for the UV so you can control the flow rate better. Redundancy is always a good thing.
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At least in the beginning I’m not planning to run any reactors or UV. The idea for the manifold was because I read it’s better to have it and not use it then need it later on and have to reconfigure all the plumbing while the tank is up and running. Is there any con to having the manifold without anything hooked up to it? Other than cost of course. The three gate valves were for UV, Carbon, GFO as you mentioned but don’t plan on hooking them up unless I need them later on. Good point about the UV, I was thinking that by using a gate valve on the manifold I would be able to control the flow better for UV. I think if I do end up running UV and I can’t get the flow dialed in through the manifold, I’ll just use a second pump and plumb the UV return over the rim of the tank
 
MarcosDelgado0 said:
At least in the beginning I’m not planning to run any reactors or UV. The idea for the manifold was because I read it’s better to have it and not use it then need it later on and have to reconfigure all the plumbing while the tank is up and running. Is there any con to having the manifold without anything hooked up to it? Other than cost of course. The three gate valves were for UV, Carbon, GFO as you mentioned but don’t plan on hooking them up unless I need them later on. Good point about the UV, I was thinking that by using a gate valve on the manifold I would be able to control the flow better for UV. I think if I do end up running UV and I can’t get the flow dialed in through the manifold, I’ll just use a second pump and plumb the UV return over the rim of the tank
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No cons in having a manifold for GFO and Carbon, besides $ and space in your sump. The issue you will have with running a UV from the manifold is water circulation. One gate valve will be used for water coming into the UV, the outflow will either go back into your sump or you will have to connect it to one of the other gate valves. The flow of water from the UV isn't getting circulated properly throughout your system.

Do you plan on keeping lots of fishes in your frag tank? If not, than a UV probably isn't needed.
 
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