jmetz32 Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 got used standard 75 the other day pretty cheap.. i will be downsizing my 125 into this. I had no clue what tank really looked like until it got delivered to me by my uncle.. he picked it up for me. tank was very very very dirty... thick algae caked everywhere... the overflow box is setup using both holes as drains..not using stand pipes.. just nubs with strainers.. i've had a tank setup like this before and liked it.. we will see... the return is drilled into the back corner.. it had a diy return line on it.. i took that off. took tank and sump out to the front yard yesterday in the rain and ran the hose over it and scrubbed for an hour or so... everything looks way better... The seals look alil thinner than i would like... look alil frayed in places.. but i've had a similar tank with thinning seals that held just fine.. thinking about adding another layer of silicone on top of those seals.. let me know what you think. also while inspecting, i found the center brace is broken in half right down the middle... i have some acrylic strips i was going to cut and use some gorilla glue to fix the brake... i've read some mixed reviews on gorilla glue being fish safe.. i've used it once before on a filter that was cracked... worked just fine.. but im not really worried since it will not be submerged in water. still working on getting glass lids for it... has big bulky light fixture. has built in fans... 2 actinic vho's, and 2- 400 watt MH's... i was told all bulbs are less then 3 months old.. kinda an ugly fixture but hopefully i can build a canopy to hide it. also the drains had ball valves on them that were old and didnt turn well.. so i removed them and i was just going to run the drains without ball valves... the return still has good ball valve on it... is there any problem not running ball valves on drains? the only problem i would think would be if my sump couldn't handle the amount being drained... its a 20 long sump. pump is a quiet one 6000 i believe. just ordered a sca-302 skimmer for this as well so we will see how that does... i think that is about it.. pics to come.... Some questions.. the ball valves on drains* crack in trim* seen in pics crack in brace* seals ok or no? adding top layer of silicone going to do anything?* thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 Bump for some answers to my questions... Just glued strips to center brace to fix it... Still a crack in the front though.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 my only thoughts: I would put a ball valve on one of the drains, throttle it back so the one pulls a full siphon, the other will make for a better durso (and will still pull lots of water if the siphoned one gets clogged), this will help it be quieter. I don't understand the question about the sump handling the drain...you should have a ball valve on the quiet one's outlet to determine the gph going through the drains... I'm not an expert, but the crack on the frame would terrify me, I'd def do something, not sure what the best plan would be As for the silicone, if the silicone that is there is strong enough to hold the tank together but might have a pinhole leak, then your plan makes sense to me. however, if you're worried about the structural integrity of the current seams, adding new silicone on top won't do a thing... very exciting! there's at least 3 of us doing similar sized builds right now, pretty fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Ok thanks... I'm going to test run it without ball valves now in garage.. But if it's too loud or something I will run and get some.. I have not glued anything yet.. My concern was that since there was not stand pipes in my overflow box, just bulkheads, the water on top of overflow line and water in overflow box would drain and my sump has lots of baffles so water level will already be high... It's a 20 long.. I'm worried when pump is shut off, sump will overflow. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 I like to use gate valves for my drain lines as they are easier to make small adjustments with. I would also add stand pipes of some sort to those bulk heads one high then the other. Look up a herbie over flow its what I am using in my living room tank and it works really well I cant hear anything coming from my tank besides the sound of the pumps =) As far as the brace goes if it were my tank I would do something to reinforce it some people probabaly will say that it is fine but my level of comfort with 75 gal of water would be to error on the side of caution. How to go about that is another stary as I dont think most glues will bond very well with the kind of plastic that they use to make those braces. I do rember a while back that there was a similar thread on a center brace repair. Good luck with the new build and I am looking forward to see how it goes =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Thanks! I think I might have to go to the stand pipes... The stand pipes I'm running in my 125 get that sucking.. So I like idea without them lol but idk if it'll work. I cut two stripes of acrylic and put them top and bottom of center brave and glued them and clamped them with gorilla glue and it seems pretty sturdy... We'll see how it goes.. I'm water testing tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeramy Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 thats why you run two one is the emegency over flow and the other is a full syphon throttled back to match the exact flow of your return pump. It will be silent. the reason for the emergency over flow is that if the restricted pipe becomes clogged you will have a big mess. If you just have the bulk heads on the bottom I imagine it could end up sounding like a flushing toilet =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 ok plumbing done... for now... until i find problems lol nothing is glued yet. pics to follow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Fixed center brace with acrylic strips top and bottom and gorilla glue pics of inside overflow to follow... they not loading right now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbird Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Watch that center brace! I had a 55 that had the center brace cracked. I did similar to you and jerry rigged it. About three or four months later I noticed that the front pane of glass looked a bit crooked, I put a level on it as a straight edge and was horrified. The bottom was strait. At the top the level was bowed well over an inch. I replaced the tank and made the old tank a terarium. You have the extra 20 gallons or 200 pounds of water to push on that glass (scary) If the back pane had bowed I would have never seen it and had a flood. DOH! (flame) (nutty) I would not sleep to well with a broken brace. I know others have had better experiences but a 75 gallon tank are not all that expencive and if you buy new you get a life time warrenty. Just my $.02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 I didn't think enough about the standpipe issue. I'd definitely put stand pipes on both, similar heights. Throttle one with a gate or ball valve, leave the over alone. If anything, I'd make the one with the valve a little lower than the main one. That way the one is guarranteed to stay wet for a siphon while the other can be a durso/whatever The stanpipes will also mean the sump wont overflow in a power outage and probably quiet down the 'waterfall' over the overflow beqciae it wont have to fall very far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelhead77 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Watch that center brace! I had a 55 that had the center brace cracked. I did similar to you and jerry rigged it. About three or four months later I noticed that the front pane of glass looked a bit crooked, I put a level on it as a straight edge and was horrified. The bottom was strait. At the top the level was bowed well over an inch. I replaced the tank and made the old tank a terarium. You have the extra 20 gallons or 200 pounds of water to push on that glass (scary) If the back pane had bowed I would have never seen it and had a flood. DOH! (flame) (nutty) I would not sleep to well with a broken brace. I know others have had better experiences but a 75 gallon tank are not all that expencive and if you buy new you get a life time warrenty. Just my $.02 I agree with this. Glue, even epoxy, will eventually let go. This happened to me on a 55. Scared the you-know-what outta me when it happened. If you don't want to replace the tank, then at least put a couple stainless steel screws and nuts (10-32 should be fine) thru the acrylic strips and brace. You can cover the screw heads and nuts with silicone to seal them. Even tho they are stainless, some stainless still corrodes in salt water. Your best bet is to get them from a Marine Supply (Boat) Store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 center brace seems to be pretty sturdy.. that gorilla glue is some strong stuff but i will see if i can put some bolts or screws through it as well. as for the stand pipes, i would like to do them but i think the fittings above and below the bulkheads in the overflow are glued in... so they would have to be cut and get new bulkheads and plumbing around them... i didnt really wanna mess with it... im going to try running it without the valves or stand pipes... probably wont work and will overflow sump when pump shuts off... but im going to see what happens anyways in the garage haha... my other idea was adding an overflow on my sump.. so when it was about to overflow when pump is shut off, it drains to a 5 or ten gallon tank right next to it. thoughts on this? sounds pretty cool and would be very easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 why not just get a 40b from $1/g petco sale to replace the 20g sump? a couple cheapo pieces of plate glass for baffles and your in business! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Will a 40b fit? I want to do that... But that sale is not till summer... I will run it with 20g untill then then upgrade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Filling tank today... In garage With hose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 40b depends on your stand. it's the same width (F-B) as your 75, so maybe not. how about a 29g? I'm setting up my 90g (same footprint as your 75) with a 55 sump because the stand is 4'9" wide, so there's a little extra length for the long sump....just thoughts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 I was going to use 29 originally... But tank came with a 20.. And I have a crack 29 and it looks way too big... Stand is only 28" high... Tank is sitting full right now. Turned off pump to test everything in case of power outage. Overflow water filled sump with no overflowing!! Only problem was the return line s below overflow box so that water would overflow sump.... Figured this out I think. I'm going to see if I can put a one way valve on it.. So it pumps out but water will not drain our return and if that works, everything is fine. I will let tank sit with water for a week or so to check for problems. Then it's coming into the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 Regarding the center brace. I see old 75 gallon tanks with no center brace. Just trim. Why is center brace so important on my tank? I fixed it... But still hesitant about it.. I think it I fine though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbird Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Regarding the center brace. I see old 75 gallon tanks with no center brace. Just trim. Why is center brace so important on my tank? I fixed it... But still hesitant about it.. I think it I fine though... Some tanks are made without a brace. They have thicker glass so they don't need them. If your tank is a standard 75 then the glass is not very thick I think its 3/8 thick but I'm not 100% on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 Looking for a pump around 900 gph if anyone has one? The one I'm using now I thought has more gph.. It's only rated at 600 gh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmetz32 Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 Just got the sca 302 in the mail..it's alil dirty... A couple scrapes and chips here or there... Definately looks like it was hand made... Overall it came in one piece so I'm happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Lots of people (that I've seen) advise against check valves, they can (and do) get stuck open. Better off to povide a siphon break for the return plumbing...good luck with the pump, I think I saw someone selling a magazine 9.5 recently, try a search... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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