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H2OPlayar

H2OPlayar

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Hey BAR,

I'm starting the construction on the wall and ordered the tank so I'm starting the journal to get more eyes on the project.

I ordered a 72" x 30" x 30" peninsula with Starfire glass from Crystal dynamics. I was really happy with my last build from them and learned a lot with my last system I hope to incorporate into this next one.



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Outside where the tank is flush with the wall.


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Inside where the tank is going.

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Framing going in.

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The hole that used to be there


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Where the tank is going to sit in the office.
 
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With this build, I'm inserting the tank into a wall so it's flush on one side with the tank accessible from my office and the plumbing on the corner of the room, away from the entrance to the office.

Here are the renderings of the strand showing the cantilever so the tank sits flush with the wall. The top steel box is 3" tall x 2" wide where the rest of the steel is 2" square.
 
Because the tank is installed in the wall, and it is very large, there is only room for one 1" output line next to the overflow, so I will plumb two pumps into one 1" pipe. On the drain, I'll have the main, the secondary, and the emergency return lines. I liked my vectra L1 pump, but always wanted redundancy, so I'll put both my current pump and my backup pump in the sump together, then buy a couple really cheap backups to those.



Sump design comes next.

I used the dosing line holders in my last setup so I'll get more of those. Other than that, I don't really think I need much more than the inlet chamber, refugium, skimmer, then return chamber. I'm thinking of having advanced acrylics make me a sump to fit my space.

Because I have so much more length, I will create a dry area under the tank for electronics on one end. I have two x 4 gang plugs going in above sink height on either side of the wall under the tank.

I'm going to have cut outs in the top euro brace for wave maker cords on both sides of the tank so I can get flow through the entire tank and keep the cords away from a lid.

For equipment, I'm going to bring all of the equipment out from my old build. I'll stick with the 2 part dosing strategy that's worked for me for the last five years. Lights will likely be one of the only other new piece of gear I need. I really liked the ap700s I've had for look and growth, but their software has been buggy, so I'm looking at starting with 3x kessil 360x lights, then maybe adding two more down the road.

Anything else I should be thinking of?
 
Cool! How are you planning to plumb dual returns into a single line without the pumps fighting each other creating weird pressure issues? Especially if one dies? I’m also using dual returns and like the redundancy but found it really difficult to actually plumb them together in a way that makes sense.
 
SepToob said:
Cool! How are you planning to plumb dual returns into a single line without the pumps fighting each other creating weird pressure issues? Especially if one dies? I’m also using dual returns and like the redundancy but found it really difficult to actually plumb them together in a way that makes sense.
Click to expand...
I am going to not worry about the pressures fighting each other because the physics says it's fine. They add together the same way putting two batteries in parallel create more amperage. And in practice, I don't care if there is mixing due to uneven pressures.

If a pump goes out, then I i lose some flow through the sump, but the apex will also let me know the power drop occurred so I'll know when it happens.

Good questions.
 
H2OPlayar said:
Hey BAR,

I'm starting the construction on the wall and ordered the tank so I'm starting the journal to get more eyes on the project.

I ordered a 72" x 30" x 30" peninsula with Starfire glass from Crystal dynamics. I was really happy with my last build from them and learned a lot with my last system I hope to incorporate into this next one.



View attachment 50979
Outside where the tank is flush with the wall.


View attachment 50980
Inside where the tank is going.

View attachment 50981
Framing going in.

View attachment 50982
The hole that used to be there


View attachment 50983
Where the tank is going to sit in the office.
Click to expand...
Awesome again! Have you considered having any holes drilled in the floor while it's open? Is it a crawlspace underneath? It'd be cool to run an empty pipe that could be used to run RODI lines or even newly made saltwater lines through. Add a drain pipe too for mega super easy water changes.
 
richiev said:
Awesome again! Have you considered having any holes drilled in the floor while it's open? Is it a crawlspace underneath? It'd be cool to run an empty pipe that could be used to run RODI lines or even newly made saltwater lines through. Add a drain pipe too for mega super easy water changes.
Click to expand...
No crawlspace here, it's on a concrete slab. But good thoughts, keep them coming!
 
TheRealMadMax said:
For the lighting are you going to create a chase in the wall to conceal the cables? Or add the electrical above the tank and go with an enclosed hood?
Click to expand...
On my last build, I ran the cables along the base of wall and the tank, down the plumbing area. Hiding in the wall would be cool, but then harder to add lights later or debug wires. I'm not going with a hood because I like the accessibility, so probably going to do what I did last time also. White gaffers tape or white conduit is likely clean enough and the wires will be at 6'6" so well above my eye level. Great question.
 
maybe put check valves on the output of each vectra pump before the tee, so if one stops, the other wont flow thru the stopped pump.
 
psidriven said:
maybe put check valves on the output of each vectra pump before the tee, so if one stops, the other wont flow thru the stopped pump.
Click to expand...
Check valves are guaranteed to foul up and fail eventually, often within 6 months. All the professional plumbers I know in the aquarium hobby (one plumber) hates them. In the situation I have one pump down, I'll notice from my power drop eventually. In five years my main vectra l1 pump has never failed, so this is a pretty unlikely situation. It's not a problem if one pump pumps some water back into the sump. Turnover in the tank through the sump isn't as important a in tank water motion.

I was going to rig up a slick ball valve and union setup so I can swap pumps on the fly if it ever is needed though, because PVC parts are relatively cheap. I also liked my in sump salt mixing station so another ball valve that flows back into the sump directly will be there.
 
All one way valves are error prone but even a failed one way is going to be beneficial.

If you fork over the $ for a one way valve with unions, at least it's easy to clean every 6 months
 
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