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Fishroom Remodel Has Begun!


obrien.david.j

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Another Milestone day competed yesterday - Sump Swap complete!

My 20yr old ~30gal sump, support shelf, under-sump pumps, chiller, and return plumbing were all removed.  New poly panel put up on left and back wall.   BTW, my original solution was cheapest thin acrylic, glued to the walls with silicon sealant.  Worked well, came off clean, but clear meant didn't look clean.   

New  ~90 gallon sump installed, on 1/2" insulation.  Bulk head and union valve installed ready for pump complex, and temporary eheim return pump put in for the night.   Will buy me time to plumb in final pumps/returns, and the glue to dry.

Before: 

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Removed: (poly walls installed)

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After:

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Another Milestone day competed yesterday - Sump Swap complete!
My 20yr old ~30gal sump, support shelf, under-sump pumps, chiller, and return plumbing were all removed.  New poly panel put up on left and back wall.   BTW, my original solution was cheapest thin acrylic, glued to the walls with silicon sealant.  Worked well, came off clean, but clear meant didn't look clean.   
New  ~90 gallon sump installed, on 1/2" insulation.  Bulk head and union valve installed ready for pump complex, and temporary eheim return pump put in for the night.   Will buy me time to plumb in final pumps/returns, and the glue to dry.
Before: 
IMG_6506.thumb.jpg.4900ac452740940131c66d6b36670e7e.jpg
 
Removed: (poly walls installed)
IMG_6510.thumb.jpg.dbf310fcf57537a7e216f3fe56162fda.jpg
 
After:
IMG_6516.thumb.jpg.65e4878c4b2215ca50e29f057d1f54b5.jpg
 
Serious progress. Good work!

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And Return plumbing and Chiller are IN!   (glue drying, turn on tonight)

  • Yes my chiller is old, yes my chiller is ugly.  yes, it works.  yes, it has been serviced since I bought it in the early 1990's.

(Right side of pump complex is unconnected, it feeds the new frag tanks - which aren't glued up yet)

IMG_6569.jpg

IMG_6571.jpg

 

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And Return plumbing and Chiller are IN!   (glue drying, turn on tonight)
  • Yes my chiller is old, yes my chiller is ugly.  yes, it works.  yes, it has been serviced since I bought it in the early 1990's.
(Right side of pump complex is unconnected, it feeds the new frag tanks - which aren't glued up yet)
IMG_6569.thumb.jpg.43640edc543fc779533e7b00493378bb.jpg
IMG_6571.thumb.jpg.bd4ab78004df056d32389ae31093df83.jpg
 
If it ain't broke... Well you know. Looks good, David. Keep up the effort!

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13 hours ago, Higher Thinking said:

If it ain't broke... Well you know. Looks good, David. Keep up the effort!

Thanks!   Although I haven't updated, I'm cranking.   I'm on to gluing the frag tank plumbing.  It's been fit for a while, so going back and gluing is relatively fast.

 

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Quick update on mixing station polishing.   Custom Toggle Box has arrived, installed, and works great.    (Actually did this a week ago)

Plans are great, until reality punches you in the nose.  Original design had the toggle switches illuminate when flipped, and long story short - didn't work.

Can't speak highly enough of Harry Singer at HarrysAquatics.   He made the box, we debugged the illumination problem together.   He took the box back (at his expense) to remove risk of illumination circuitry, and refunded the price back to original non-illuminated cost.   Super Customer Oriented.

Pictures.   Mixing Station RO unit, and Boost Buddy.  & Close up of toggle box.

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IMG_6621.jpg

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And just like that, THERE'S WATER IN THE TANKS!  

Had enough new salt water to fill first tank last night.  No leaks, all working as planned.   Used new mixing station overnight to make another batch of water, and filled the 2nd tank this morning!    Going to let it run for a day or so before doing more moves.

There's always More-to-Do, but this is a great day.  

  • Mount LED lights, mount cable track for lights, ...  

Room overall

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First Tank Full

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Second tank this morning

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And, the second tank fill up!

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Edited by obrien.david.j
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And after a Sunday of mounting equipment.  First Tank is up and running with Lights and current flow.  (MP40s)   

I faced down one of the classic problems, What to do with the Massive Power Bricks that drive the Radions.    See last picture for solution.

 

Tanks is UP!

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Overall Room

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Radion Power Supply mount 

Radion Mount Bars.jpg

 

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End of an Era yesterday...  Decommissioned the original small (~10gal) frag tank.  Now 100% Switched over to new setup.

 

Frag Tank Gone (white space on shelf)

IMG_6709.jpg

The removal, took opportunity and changed plugs on a number of frags.  Also refragged a large colony that had grown in spindly directions.  (On White squares, left side, of new frag tank photo)

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New Frag Tank  (still working on wiring cleanup)

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And Inhabitants 

IMG_6714.jpg

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1 hour ago, SuncrestReef said:

Excellent setup!  I love seeing this all come together.  Nice work. 👍

Thanks.   I'm enjoying it coming together too.   Still have cleanup and misc items to do.  But feels great to have hit this major milestone.

An example of cleanup.  See the open 4" wire track above the frag tank?   I've got four MP40 power supplies mounted In it (two per tank), and four Radion power bricks mounted below the the frag tanks, with power cords routed up through the power track.   Plug in is left end of track.

Played with multiple options to plug in the bricks, and came to a conclusion - best option is dedicated cords per brick, of appropriate length.   So I've ordered power brick cords:  2x 10', 2x 8', 2x 6', 2x 5'.    Then I can clean up the track significantly.

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Wow, this tread just keeps getting more impressive! Wish I had a spot for a fish room, but for now I do enjoy keeping things simple. Plumbing is a love/hate relationship for me lol!

 

might have missed it, but what is your display tank (or tanks)?

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Display tank is in the house, opposite the wall with the sump on it.  It's your classic 4'x2'x2' -ish glass tank, wood hood. There's size constraints what fits in the in the room.   (must fit next to fireplace).

But, My wife has suggested that after fishroom is done we move to planning a In house tank expansion.  She doesn't like the stand of the current tank.

Played with many options before, new tank would likely be something like 4' x 3' x 24" tall.  Would like 26-27" tall, but there's trade offs.    But this isn't where current energy is going.  

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West Recirc loop pump swapped and replumbed.   Turned on this morning, Dead Silent!

Those new yellow pumps just have too much vibration going through the wall and plumbing.  My old GenX pumps used to sit on shelves against the wall, but they have a much lower pitch and didn't transmit through the wall and bother us while watching TV.   Yellow ones sure did.

So, quick replacement and we're good to go... On one of them.   What Sucks, is being one ball valve short.   The unions that come with the pump are awesome and appear slightly custom.  (seem like straight thread, not tapered threads)   Had to switch to non-union ball valves.   And only had one.  Thus ONE loop got replaced.   More valves are already being shipped, so I can replace east recirc loop.   Too bad, I kind of like the Yellow look on the wall.

New Loop

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Last Valve Used, replacements on the way

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Yellow yesterday, White today!

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16 hours ago, SuncrestReef said:

I'm not sure that will hold enough frags. 🤣

I don't need that many frag holes, I'd prefer less - but spaced about 1.5x apart.   But as AlbertaReef pointed out - it's really about all the holes being Grippy.

15 hours ago, albertareef said:

I really need to get a rack with the the plug grip feature like these... really tired of rescuing pieces off the sand bed when the snails decide to get frisky.

Last month a snail pushed my Oregon Tort frag off a rack, and landed in a hammer coral.  Frag is on a smooth disk, no stem.  Killed about 1/3 of the frag.  😞   Frag now in much safer spot.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

It's been a while since the last update and it's been a busy time.

  1. Dino's broke out in the frag tank (but not much in the connected display tank).   Been fighting these.
  2. I made a mistake, spiked the Alk to 14, and all corals reacted badly.   Lost a number of colonies.  (Alk normally runs 10)
  3. I bought a new Display Tank, picked it up last night!
    • Update on my suction cup thread.  Bought two, borrowed four.  Planned to bring six people, ended up bringing eight.  Needed them ALL.

Thank you @Kshack for sharing this beautiful tank.  He and his wife are gracious hosts and helped every step of the way.  Check out Ken's thread selling the rest of his equipment.  

Tank is 68" long, 36" front to back, and 24" Tall.  ~250 gallons,  Peninsula overflow location, which is what I need.

 

Tank in original location

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Prepping for the tank move.   Have to lift the tank, rotate 90 degrees to fit through the door.  Carry down the outside stairs.   All Covid Masked-up.

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Back the trailer downhill through the back yard.  Tank was on lower level, daylight basement.

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Crate for transporting the tank, with sides removed.  Plan was carry the tank out of the house, put on crate bottom, rebuild crate.  Carry the crate to the trailer.

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The Crew!  Getting tank out of the house was stressful lifting, HEAVY.  Crated up.  (Covid masks are not comfortable when grunting, groaning, and sweating.)

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Tank unloaded into my garage.   Time to finalize measurements for stand design, and get that started. 

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