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Fishroom Remodel Has Begun!


obrien.david.j

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Long Presidents Day Weekend Summary:  Finalize planning, and order stuff weekend.

  • Mocked up Frag tank plumbing.  Although going with single (Larger than today) sump, I still have a spare sump/pump...
    • Decided to plumb frag tanks to enable isolating them from main system.  Spare sump only gets filled when wanting to run in isolation mode.
  • Printed out all glorious pictures, sat on floor of fish room with tape measure, and adjusted power point plans with a pencil for Reality.
  • Mocked up triple pump returns, plumbing went from 2D into 3D.  (see picts to follow, harder to draw cleanly)
  • Fittings ordered
  • Paint for stand, and light bars purchased.  (painting is this weeks task)
  • Sump Size determined, need to find a fabricator.   <-- any inputs

Pictures of plans

2020-02-17 FishRoomRemodel - Pg1.JPG

2020-02-17 FishRoomRemodel - Pg2.JPG

2020-02-17 FishRoomRemodel - Pg3.JPG

2020-02-17 FishRoomRemodel - Pg4.JPG

 

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Impressive layout.  I may be misreading this but it looks like your entire return flow to the main tank is routed through the chiller?  I doubt you would need/want a chiller that could support the kind of flow rate you are likely to have back to your display so perhaps there is a side loop or something in place to break out and step down that portion of the flow?  Probably just reading this wrong but now I'm curious 😁  Very cool design on the room and layout - can't wait to see this all put together and running.

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Chiller is already part of the existing main tank system, and yes, 100% of return flow goes through it.  It's an (old) 1/3hp chiller.   Setup works fine, don't need to mess with that.  The one thing I'm wondering about is the lag time (Tau) of temp control in the frag tanks.   I'll have an apex temp probe in those tanks too, and can monitor time lag, temp offsets, etc.   

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1 hour ago, obrien.david.j said:

Chiller is already part of the existing main tank system, and yes, 100% of return flow goes through it.  It's an (old) 1/3hp chiller.   Setup works fine, don't need to mess with that.  The one thing I'm wondering about is the lag time (Tau) of temp control in the frag tanks.   I'll have an apex temp probe in those tanks too, and can monitor time lag, temp offsets, etc.   

Approximately how many linear feet of pipe does the heated water flow through to reach the frag tanks?  That would be interesting to see the temperature differential.

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Frag tanks are 14' + 4' + ~6' of pipe away (that's the giant U around the fish room)...   Eg: ~24' away from Main Sump.   

Main Sump has heater in it.   For summer cooling, 100% of flow goes up to the display tank, then loops back into the main sump.  Then the loop goes out to the frag tanks.  (today's plan, uncontrolled temperature)

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Last night was Sand and Prime the two light bars.  Tonight I got two coats of Truck Bed Liner on the first bar (on table).  One whole can of primer per bar.  One whole can of bed liner on the first one.   

Brian, whoever built these for you did a nice job!  I'm hoping I've sealed them enough to withstand a few years of salt spray.

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Today was about finishing the stand and painting.   Stand needed a bottom shelf, and a few extra supports (check), then began the Coat-Everything.

Here's last coat of paint on the light bars.  Now Done.

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Stand, Upside Down, after attaching new base board - installing couple of extra supports.

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Then take the top & Shelf off, and time to paint everything.   Black epoxy.

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Stand top and shelf.   Great day to be painting in the yard.IMG_5228.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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Don't give away my secrets.  You don't think I'm doing all this work myself?!   :)  I'll PM you about getting together.

Yes, it was nice chatting at Holly's.  That was my first Holly Frag sale, and it was fun to see frags being handed out of a colony I gave her.   Here's the mother colony, behind the birds next.   It's in super high flow, thus growing denser.  (notice the sea swirl output in left of photo)   When in any lower flow, seems to grow like a stick.  

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Stand is complete, Painting of stand and rusty lightbars is complete, and vinyl back splash is up on the wall.  (same material I used as shelf liner under mixing station containers)   It's nice to see the room coming back together.

Used wall adhesive to attach Vinyl splash guard.  Yes, right across lower 8" of the window.   

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Light bars reattached to stand, floors cleaned up, and slid back into position.

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Oh the Glow.  (mixing station in the back left corner)

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Changed plans for a new sump today.  Was going to be custom sump, 26" wide by 23" tall by 32" long.   Realized a std 120g is 24x24x48, and found a good sturdy used one to cut down to size.  Thanks @markvo for hooking me up with someone who had a dry tank.

I'll be doing a bit of rework to chop off the external overflow boxes, patch bulk head and overflow holes, cutting down to size, and regluing on an end.  Luckily it is a fantastically built tank with crisp sharp corners - I think I can reuse the original end piece.   That end is going under a shelf, completely hidden and no one will ever see it again.

 

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Started dry fitting, and adjusting the powerpoint plans based on reality of fitting sizes.  Just a few adjustments of where things bump into each other and a reroute to achieve desired pipe height off the floor.

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That is ambitious.. cutting and rewelding that is. You may want to have a bunch of clamps on hand when you do that and have plenty of soak time for the solvent before you clamp.

Dont clamor the bejezuz out of it, just enough so the the seams are closed. Because the tank is used the pieces are not likely all flat.

Weld the bottom. Wait a day, weld one side, wait a day, weld the other side, then weld the top.

I would offer to cut it for you but my saw is packed away now:(


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In the front facing picture, the right 1/3 of the tank gets chopped.  Plus the overflows removed.    General plan is cut 1/3 off.   The free the original end panel by cutting it off the 1/3 scrap.   resurface the cut ends with the router.  Challenge is I got rid of all my table size equipment a while ago, so I'll have to build a form to resurface the tank edges uniformly.

Good advice on gluing.  I'll use it! 

Heads up everyone, Interruption coming...   Expect about a two week pause.   

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  • 3 weeks later...

Back to the fish room remodel.   Last update, I flagged a height issue with frag tank plumbing.  Return line is all gravity going back to the sump, and needs to be no lower than 21" (in these picts), would rather have this be 22-23", but can live with 21".

Original Plan, Straight down and simple.

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New Design, Jog to the right and support with Clic hangers off new stand support bar.

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Connection across the stand.   (Right side pipe is just a support proposal, needing an end cap)

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Side note, I love CLIC pipe hangers.  Used them for years.   (my original purpose was holding florescent light bulbs in a tank hood.)  AquaCave has a good selection across all pipe sizes.  Picture is of my 2" and 1 1/2" recent purchase.   

From my planning notes:

  • #59  2” – main return (long run & Under Stand)  -- [need some]
  • #47  1 ½” – Frag drains (hang under frag tank)    -- [need some]
  • #40  1 ¼” – don’t know of any need -- [have 12]
  • #32  1”  – feeds to frag system (long run) – [have 11]
  • #25  3/4” – don’t know of any need -- [have 1]

Picture is my recent order of 2" and 1 1/2".  Also bought #12 Pipe Hanger, 1/4" ID 1/2" OD, to see what size they really are.  They are NOT 1/4" RO tubing capable.  too big.   

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Return Lines are in.  (dry fit)   Okay, not completely.   Still need to cut and install Tee&Valve to the isolation sump.

Main goal was to get Clic Connectors mounted to establish gradual gravity slope from frag tanks back to the main sump.  Especially plumbing runs a giant U around the room.   It was easier to do this with long/straight pipe runs.

One note, waited to glue mixing station plumbing until after the return line was in place.   As expected, need to extend them (orange and blue fittings) out slightly.   

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Frag Tank Dry Fit plumbing is Done.

Holding off gluing until taken apart and touch up painting of stand and walls complete.

Followed original plans, with two main modifications.

  • Return line height change (earlier post)
  • Swapped location of isolation sump

Right frag tank is now capable of being quarantine or isolated by itself.   

Next is the triple pump complex.  Then a pause to go finish the mixing station plumbing.    Good thing I waited, will adjust slightly to accommodate frag tank return&feed lines. 

Pano of the plumbing setup, and door view of the room.

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