Our 300g + 2x 80g build

[redbelly]

As many of you are aware I have been unavailable for the past little bit to work on a little project here so I thought I would share some pics of the progress so far.

It all started with a discussion and a VERY rough sketch quite some time ago over coffee or redbull or in all probability, both

Here are the excellent drawings. Yes i know the writing looks like a 2 years old wrote it but that what happens when you try and write sideways (and I thought writing upside down was hard....). We didn't exactly stick to these plans but when there are other people helping you it certainly does help to get something down on paper to try and give them a glimps of the nice CAD drawing that you have in your head.

These are plans for a 4'x10'x1' bed and 2 36"x40"x12" beds plus one 8'x1'x1' sump and one 8'x18"x12" sump.

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[redbelly]

Once we had and idea of where the tanks would be going the next step was to get a good racking system to hold them. In the past we have built our own stands but for this project we wanted to use something a little more secure so we opted for a metal racking system. As we were purchasing used racking, it wasn't exactly in the best condition when we got it so we sanded it all down, sprayed it with an excellent grey Dupont primer than sprayed with Tremclad.

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[redbelly]

Here is a pic of part of the old system as we started to tear it down.

Note here that the black line into the right side of the tank is the return line from the display tank upstairs.

Once the system was removed we had to reroute the plumbing to the 8' system on the other side of the room. We removed the ventaltion system and Trina made me remove the powerwall of redbull We also of course repainted the entire place while the walls were free.

We then moved the racking system in and started putting the 36" x 40" x 12" tanks. Its always good to put your civil engineer to work cleaning tanks too
He didnt do as good of a job though as Sylvain.

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[redbelly]

Now for the 4'x10' tank we opted to paint the racking system black as opposed to white in order to be able to easily differentiate to people by saying "in the black system" or "in the white system". Getting this racking system in was fun. Originally the vertical beans were significantly taller than we required so we had to use a Stihl saw to cut them down to size. Then file the sharp egdes off, sand them and paint them. Once assembled we purchased 1" thick styrofoam to go under the bottom panes of glass for the middle rack, we used an ebony stain on the laminated 3/4" plywood for the bottom rack where the sumps will be going and the top rack is still currently empty.

As space was so limited with all of the construction going on, one of the 8' tanks had to be placed ontop of where the coral bed would go.

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[redbelly]

As the bottom panes for glass were too large to be brought down in one piece, two pieces had to be used and joined in the center with another piece of 12" wide 12mm glass. Silicone was liberally applied and in the joing and all over the joining piece and we even stood on the panes of glass to try and apply more force.

In order to bring in the 120"x12" side panels of glass for the 300g the window needed to be removed and a frame was constructed to support the glass and make moving the heavy panel in much easier. Luckily the white system was there and it came in qute handy to rest the frame on once we got it inside.

We started constructing this aquarium by siliconing in one of the front panels then siliconing in the side panel. As you can see in the pic there are 4 2.5" holes drilled in each end of this tank. This is to acomodate 2 overflows and 2 closed loop feed lines to the closed loop which will be a Barracuda pushing 4500gph through three returns on the other side of the tank. As you can see in the picture we also opted for triangular bracing in the centrel of the 10" section as opposed to euro bracing due to the lighting that we are planning on running for the systen.

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[redbelly]

A few hours later are almost all of the glass was in place. The only thing that is left now is to add one moe triangular brackets. In this pic all of the joints were being inspected to ensure that there were no air bubbles.

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[dan2x38]

Redbelly that is just sick!  Awesome set-up amazing construction. You stood on that glass to help it adhere? You do not wiegh enough should have called a couple of us bigger members... LOL For a Timmies I'd have sat on it... LMAO Looking forward to more pics. One day like to see it up close & in person. Again great job!

[redbelly]

LOL, Yeah I dont think I was contributing much in terms of weight for the panel. For weight overnight we filled a 55g aquarium on top of the seam as it was by far the heaviest item we could put on it overnight.

Here is a pic of Pat starting to drill one of many holes that he drilled for our new system.

For sumps we used 2 of my eight foot tanks. The water enters in the 8'x1'x1' tank which will be a giant fuge then exits through 2 1.5" holes where it flow back across a 8'x18"x12" tank. The second tank will be entirely for evaporation on the 4'x10' bed and both 3'x40" tanks.

In order to allow the water level to be able to drop as low as possible, Sniggir drilled 4 holes in the bottom the the second sump. 2 holes feed a Little Giant 3 that is the return pump for both of the 3'x40" tanks. The other 2 holes feed another Little Giant 3 that will be the return pump for the 4'x10' bed. We also possitioned the holes so that there is still a tubular steel beam running in between the holes across the bed to be sure they were properly supported.

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[redbelly]

Here I am under the tanks tightening bulkheads and installing plumbing.
We used 1.5" bulkheads and 1.5" lines almost right upto the pump inorder to try and resistance for the pumps. We also installed a length of spa flex on the input and output side of the pumps in order to try and reduce the transmission of vibration. And of course we used unions and true union ball valves to make the removal of pumps for service a possible

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[redbelly]

And here are the return and overflow lines for the 2 3'x40" tanks.

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[barabe]

Wooooohooooo!!!!
Looking goood... Way to go Redbelly 

[alexv]

I like, I like

Would you mind telling me where you get the plumbing parts? Pipes, flexihose, valves, etc? I'm going to do the plumbing for my 225 gal system so I'd appreciate this info. Thanks.

[redbelly]

Why thank you Barabe!

I supplied all of my plumbing actually Its all plumbing that I carry and sell:
http://reefcanada.com/shop/index.php?cPath=48&osCsid=f98685579b3e6a5068c7299896554bf1
And I usually have a lot more parts such as the true union ball valves and spa flex in stock although they are not listed on the site.

[xiaan]

Looking good. Any more updates?
When are you guys planning on opening up again?

[Tyler.L]

its just ok, nothing to spectacular people lol

i was talking to pat this evening and he was just filling up the coral bed with water checking for leaks...but the setup is gorgeous absolutely ridiculous actually. i'd like to see some more pics but i guess i will be seeing you tomorrow anyways...

[redbelly]

Ok here are some updates. For the 4' x 10' coral bed, on the ends we had to be VERY careful with how long the bulkheads stuck out as we need them to be very short so the white bulkheads were the only option. First we had to use a dremel to remove all of the threads so that they would be a slip fit.

Here is also a pick from before and after.

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[redbelly]

Now three of the bulkhead are used on the closed loop with a sequence Barracuda and 1 bulkhead is needed for the little giant return pump. All 4 need to be reduced to 1". To do this, a 1.5" to 1" sleeve is used but first it needed to be ground shorter for length constraints.
Here is a pic before, during grinding, an after comparison, the mess I made in grinding 1 sleeve, and the final product in comparison to the original bulkhead.

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[redbelly]

Now it is time to plumb in the closed loop tubing. For the closed loop we used a Sequence Barracuda which is 4500gph of flow through three outputs each with their own true union ball valve to control the flow.

Here is a pic of the finish product of all the bulkheads. You can see here why the bulkheads need to be so short, otherise they would extend beyond the end of the stand.

And here I am installing the input for the Barracuda. We used some spa flex here to reduce the potential noice caused by vibration of such a large pump.

And here is a straight up pic of the finished product of both the overflows and the output from the closed loop. If you were on the floor looking straight up this is what it would look like.

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[redbelly]

Now getting out from under there after plumbing yourself it isnt easy but getting out while your friend takes pic's instead of helping is even harder

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[redbelly]

With all of the plumbing done we started to add water. It took several days with the RO running 24/7 but the 4' x 10' bed was filled and we started to add salt... by the bucket full.

Also it took several days of adjusting the true union ball valves in order to optimize the flow within the tank. When we first turned on the Barracuda we had a whirlpool
Here is a pic of the flow now with only the Barracuda running. The return pump isnt even running yet nor are any of the Seio 2600's.

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