Plywood Tank Build. TOTW 5-7-07

[Samper]

We discussed doing a fw test but the way we sealed the inside with fiberglass and epoxy and the outside with the epoxy I don't see us having any problems but no we haven't done it yet. Thanks for looking out. The position of bulkheads on the sides and ends left it looking like swiss cheese and we still had to move it down into the basement so we decided to wait until all the plumbing is in before testing. Tomorrow we will see. There are drains in the very bottom of the main tank and if a leak does show itself it's a simple matter of draining it and patching the spot. I don't think it'll come to that though. Here's a pic of the drain underneath the tank.

[Poseidon]

ARGH!!!!!

GET THE BRASS OUT NOW!!!

Chuck, please, please, PLEASE do it now! That brass will have the copper levels in the tank off the charts within HOURS!!! Brass and freshwater are suspect, BRASS AND SALTWATER will KILL EVERYTHING!

[Samper]

That fitting never touches the tank water. What's shown is only a drain and the ball valve above it keeps water from reaching it unless we need to drain it. That is the only instance of brass in the entire system and it's isolated. Does anyone else see a problem with that?

[Samper]

It's also capped off inside the tank. I really do appreciate the concern though.

[charlie]

I have seen stranger things happen Chuck, I am with Poseidon on this one. I just get real shaky when it comes to copper anywhere near my tanks.

[Samper]

I'll give it some thought but it is closed off from the system and empty unless water is running out of it and that can only happen if we allow it to do so.

[Poseidon]

Phew... I FEEL BETTER! I would still lose the brass if there is a suitable PVC fitting to replace it. It looks like a plastic hose barb would do the trick!

[Samper]

You are right though just to not have to worry about it as a potential problem I'll redo it with a hose barb and a cap.

[Samper]

Lowes and Home Depot are out of true union ball valves so we've had a small setback...they should be in anyday so we can finish plumbing. In the mean time here is the auto top off system and holder for the ph and orp probes

[zhenya]

I like the way you set up your top off, Chuck. I have the same unit but hardly have any room at all in the sump to even attempt plumbing it in. System looks really good so far.

[Samper]

Thank you Gene. We're put a lot of money and time into the planning of it and are very excited about getting it going.

[Poseidon]

What ATO is that Chuck? Looks nice, that is for sure!

[Samper]

It's a modified reef relief. The floats that are shipped out with the unit don't hold up very long and they're light so the unit clicks on and off a lot and can short out after a while. We put heavier floats on the ones we use and they work way better and last longer than the standard ones.

ReefTek: Reef Relief Automated Aquatic Top Off Controller=

[Samper]

The water is flowing!!!

[charlie]

Now we're talikin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Poseidon]

Excellent! It looks like a very "clean" install, great job on the plumbing!

[Samper]

There are no leaks and we have done our power outage tests. When I drilled the refugium I added an extra hole and bulkhead to one side in case we needed it for upgrading or something and thank god I did because when the power goes out the refugium tends to want to overflow before the standpipe can catch up to what the pump is pushing in. We added a drain slightly above the water level that feeds directly back to the sump just in case.
It works perfectly. We also put in a window ac unit in the room and a forced air blower on the air duct that feeds into the room from the house ac. The room is very cool and temp has been holding steady at 80 instead of the 83 we were seeing. We're also running a dehumidifier in the room and plan to mount it on the wall so that it can automatically drain into the sink that we installed.

After dumping a few different skimmer cups full of skimmate in and a few cups of urine everything is moving along quite nicely. The water clouded up and cleared up within 48 hours.

When we did turn the skimmer on this is what it produced with only one of the four pumps running for only a few hours. Enjoy.

[Poseidon]

You are off and running!

In the 3rd picture, it looks like a 1/4 line added to a larger line via a "T", what is that? My guess is something from the Ca Reactor, or Kalk reactor?

[Samper]

That's the feed line for the Ca reactor. I've never seen one fed with such a small line. I think mine is 1/2" flex but this one called for 1/4" od tubing. It works though.

[charlie]

GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!