Last week I got water in the system. Only three loose fittings which once tightened became dry. I'm glad none of my PVC welds leaked. The return bulkhead is sched 80 in the sump. I wanted to shorten the distance from the sump to the pump so I reversed it. I tried using two gaskets, one flange side, one inside. It leaked, so lesson learned there, only one gasket on the flange side.
The DT bulkheads are ABS. I had wanted to use sched 80 bulkheads in the DT but when thought to ask Derek at Miracles if there would be any issues I found out the holes he cut were too close to the edges to allow for sched 80. Nota Bene: always think through every detail of your measurements. One would expect a tank manufacturer to drill holes allowing for sched 80 as an option, but that would be an incorrect assumption.
I'm very surprised at how loud the Reeflo Hammerhead Gold pump is. The fan on it is fairly loud and I see why it has one as the outside of the pump is hot to the touch. I used spaflex at the intake and outake to reduce vibration as well as vibration reduction pads underneath. I have only run DC pumps in the past and those have never gotten so loud or so hot. I made a decision to replace the Reeflo with a 230w Red Dragon 3 which will arrive today. I was considering a Vectra L1, but I don't think it would handle the flow. The L1 has a sharp drop in GPH with increased head. I have not finished plumbing the manifold yet. Once I get the RD3 I can finish that.
Once I got the leaks tightened I washed the sand. Two rinsings per bucket with RODI water. I used 200 lbs of CaribSea Aragonite Special Grade Reef sand 1.0-2.0mm. This is dry sand, not live. In the past I had used live Fiji Pink. I now believe "live" sand to be unnecessary provided you have another source to seed the bacteria. I also found the Fiji Pink to blow around too easily, requiring me to turn down my powerheads, decreasing tank flow. The water in the tank is just starting to clear up. I'm just using a pair of Tunze powerheads now, and will swap them with the MP40s from the other tank once I get to that point. The Tunzes on full blow out the sand in the middle so I'm still going to have to dial the powerheads back with this sand. Hopefully not as much.
I have things simplistically set up at this point. I shut down my frag tank and am using the Apex from it. The only thing I have setup now with the Apex is ALD. I want to be able to shut down the pump at any sign of a leak. I bought a new Genesis Renew for AWC but that's not setup yet. The tall black container is a 55g Ace roto-mold tank for SW storage.
Live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater is on order. According to Rich there's too much chop so I'll be waiting another week for the rock.
You can see the sediment buildup from the sand accumulating in the sump. I'm running the sump water level low right now as no rocks have been added yet. I've got the LifeReef skimmer in place and I'll be using the Vectra M1 with it. It's not skimming yet.
The two vertical pipes on the right are house plumbing.
This shot is of the plumbing coming in from the living area into the sump room. You can see I staggered the unions to keep the drain lines as close together as possible. I didn't have much vertical space to work with while maintaining a downward angle. You can see there's a little sag with the return spaflex. Not sure how to support that yet. Again, the two vertical pipes are house plumbing.
Here's the DT so far. I primed and painted all the white plumbing behind the tank to match the wall. The stand skirt isn't on now, but when it is you'll still be able to see some of the pipes to the left of the tank going into the wall, and when sitting on the couch you can see behind the tank. I didn't want the plumbing to stand out when looking at the tank.
Top shot of the Sea Swirls. The Tunzes will go away. I don't want cables hanging over the eurobraced top.
A shot of the return plumbing. I have 3/4" returns at both the bulkhead and Sea Swirls. I split the return loc-line with a Y and put an eductor on one output. Not sure how this is going to work as it takes more pressure for the water to get out the eductor. The result will be more water coming out the other exit. I may remove the Y. I used spaflex from the T to the Sea Swirl.
This is a shot from below the DT looking up at the return plumbing and external overflow.
