Ziggy953's 150 Build errrr....120 Build

[Ziggy953]

I have to finish drilling the holes in the tank for the closed loop. Then I have to make a trip to lowes for some more plumbing supplies to plump the overflows into my sump and fuge. I've ordered a new Retrun pump a MAG 36 that will be here next week. I'm planning on splitting the flow from the 36 to run both the new 150 and the 55g frag tank. I'll be using a 900gph pump for the closed loop but that wont go in for another week or so. I'm putting shut offs on each of the holes so they wont be a problem.

I'v got to get the new rock that came in yesterday, right before I had to leave for work, washed and ready for the tank. I'll get some pics of the rock posted in a little bit.

 

[Ziggy953]

Ok boys and girls! I have all three holes drilled made a trip to the LFS and Lowes....We are still working on things. Right now my wife is rinsing sand and getting it ready for the new tank. I'm draining the old tank. It's going to be a long night. Here are a few pics to tide you over.....

New Rock...My wife rinsed it off and it is now in SW....

Me drilling the tank. No comments...thank you very much! LOL

My little helper keeping the bit wet

My wife putting the last bulkhead in

All Three bulkheads in place

The inside view of the bulkheads with LocLine in place..

Just because he is the only one that will fit in the tank

Well we have lots to do and lots of updates....got to get back to work...oh and while I was at the LFS I picked up another ORA frag....a nice Chips acro...I'll post pics of that later...

 

[neilanh]

Real progress! Congrats!

 

[ryshark]

Things are coming along nicely, I look forward to the next updates.

 

[Ziggy953]

Well we have almost everything out of the 72 and into the pond and totes....Still a lot of work to do yet. I'm going to be up for a while......

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Just because he is the only one that will fit in the tank

I'll say it looks pretty well stocked at this point, lol

 

[Ziggy953's_Wife]

If you can't tell from my screen name thing I'm Ziggy's Wife.
So, we were up last night- scratch that THIS MORNING, until sometime after 3 am! We still haven't got the 150g up yet but we got up this morning and worked on it some more, well Allen did - it was the plumbing stuff and well that's his job.
I took a few pics of stuff last night (but he'll post them later).

Oh and you have to see the coral he got me yesterday at Blue Ribbon Koi, I'm not sure what's it's called something chip I think! I fell in love with it but the big one was about $100 and well you know how that goes. Ziggy told me I couldn't get it at "least not today." We were just getting ready to pull out of the parking lot and (Knowing my husband) I said to him "Don't you think it would be a better idea to get an extra diamond bit just in case? I mean if you don't use it you can always bring it back and I would hate for things to halt because of something like that." So he listened to me and went in and got another one... AND A FRAG OF THE CORAL I LIKED! SCORE! Oh, and he got me this REALLY COOL Ric last week, it's pink and the little bumpy things are bright green (my two fav. colors)!

 

[Ziggy953]

Well...The primary plumbing is complete. I have the closed loop plumbed to shut-off point and it will stay like that until my pump comes in for it. The overflows have been plumbed into what I'm calling my drain manifold. All 4 drain lines are flowing (1") into a 1.5" pipe that runs the length of the tank. I have 8 T's in the manifold 4 where the drains from the overflows connect and 4 that are pointing down for the drains to run to various points in my sump. I have pics off the progress to this point but for some reason I can't get the pics to upload to Imageshack.

Right now my entire reef is in a 90g pond. I have tons of flow and heaters going to keep things nice and happy. So far everything looks fine. The fish are out and about checking things out and even the RBTA is puffed up and looking good. First thing in the morning I will be putting the 150 onto the stand and finishing the final plumbing.

I'll try and get some more pics posted when I get home...

 

[Ziggy953]

Ok so I got a couple of pics to upload. Here is what the plumbing looks like.

Also the hood sitting on top of the tank and how it looks. Ignore all the crap ontop...it is serving as a work surface....LOL

The shut-offs you see are for the closed loop. Each of the drain lines will have a shut-off as well, they will be below the manifold. I will probably come of the manifold with a 45 and then another 45 to add a little extra room.

Another shot of the same thing.....

 

[neilanh]

If you're drilling the tank anyway for the CL, why not for the overflows too? Just don't want to put a dursto in the tank?

 

[Jimbo7]

lol i wanna see some pics of the pond...sounds interesting

 

[cmor1701d]

Same question. Nice progress so far. Don't let us rush your too much, but get back to work (on the tank).

 

[ccCapt]

Looks like everything is hard plumbed. I would suggest putting a union on each (4) of those overflows. Without them, it would be impossible to take it apart or move the overflows without cutting the pipe.

 

[Ziggy953]

If you're drilling the tank anyway for the CL, why not for the overflows too? Just don't want to put a dursto in the tank?

If I were to put the durso in It would really need to be drilled on the bottom and the bottom is tempered glass. Not even going to try that. The Eshopps Overflows are pretty good so I'm going to stick with them. Drilling the three holes for the closed loop gave me enough gray hair!!!

Looks like everything is hard plumbed. I would suggest putting a union on each (4) of those overflows. Without them, it would be impossible to take it apart or move the overflows without cutting the pipe.

I designed the manifold to slip over the closed loop shutoffs...each of those will have a union on them to remove the bottom portion of the plumbing. The rest of the drain lines will also have break points below the manifold so I can remove each part. I didn't want to add unions above the manifold because of the space between the tank and the wall. It is already going to be tight. I tested removing the overflows as you seem them in the pics and with very little effort they slip up and out of the tank and then below the closed loop. If ever I need to remove the overflows the close loop will have to come off first (below the shut offs that is).

 

[ryshark]

This may be a stupid question, but I will ask it anyway. What is a closed loop? How does it differ from the regular overflow down to the sump and back up type system? Thanks.

 

[Ziggy953]

This may be a stupid question, but I will ask it anyway. What is a closed loop? How does it differ from the regular overflow down to the sump and back up type system? Thanks.

A closed loop is a circular system in that water comes out of the tank goes into a pump and the is pumped right back into the tank. It does not go through and over flow or through any filtration. A closed loop is designed for flow only.

On my tank there are 3 holes, the one in the center is what the intake from the pump will be plumbed to and the other 2 are the returns. So water will come out of the center hole go into the pump and the be pumped back into the tank through the other 2 holes.

 

[Ziggy953]

Here is a pic of my reef in the 90g pond.

 

[pat8you]

Looks like you are making a lot of progress. When is the new pump supposed to get there?

 

[Ziggy953]

Well we have the tank 1/3 filled with water the basic plumbing is finished and until I get the new pump in and hooked up I will only be using two of the 4 drains off the manifold. I have one side hooked up to the skimmer and the other going into my fuge.

I'll post some pics in a few minutes....

 

[Ziggy953]

Me trying to figure out what the heck I was thinking! The tank on the stand...whew it weighs a lot!

The tank on the stand with the sand in it....

Water going into the tank.....

More water in the tank....and some of the base rocks out of one of the totes...