60G Cube Dream Tank!

[xtlosx]

Well I guess maybe I misunderstood that, just want to make sure when a power outage happens things don't overflow. I have seen people without sump systems have an overflow and wonder if I need the same.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Well I guess maybe I misunderstood that, just want to make sure when a power outage happens things don't overflow. I have seen people without sump systems have an overflow and wonder if I need the same.

Ahhh... I see.

When you say overflow you mean like to a floor drain.

If your sump is installed correctly and your overflows contain siphon breaks you should be fine. With the Marineland overflow system I was talking about before, the water that drains down to the sump actually drains from the top of the water column. The overflow set you need to order will have the pipe that goes to the sump all the way to the top of the water. That way, if a power outage occurs, the water only drains to the sump until it hits the top of this pipe. This in conjunction with a siphon break will prevent water from being siphoned back out of the displace and down to the sump.

Most of the people that have had overflow problems had them because of one (or more) of the following reasons:

1. The sump didn't have enough capacity to accomodate the small amount of water that will flow from the tank after the pump shuts off.

2. Something was covering the siphon break like a snail, salt creep, or coraline (or there never was a siphon installed) so the return diffusers located well below the water line continue to suck water out of the main tank and send it down to the sump.

3. They aren't using the provided overflow kit properly


If you are worried about your sump overflowing, its pretty easy to test. Get the system up and running with the amount of water that fills the return chamber of the sump. Then shut the pump off. The water will come back down into the sump for a minute or so until the siphon breaks stop the flow and the excess water above the return is done.

Your sump should be pretty full here, but not overflowing. Fill up the sump with additional water until its nearly full. Mark this level on the sump as the "Full Non-Operational". Now turn the pump back on. The water level in the sump will decrease as the water is pumped back into the display. After everything is leveled out, mark the current sump level with a marker again, and mark it as "Full Operational".

From that point forward, you know the two water levels with either the pump running or off that you CAN'T exceed or else your sump will overflow.

I hope that all made sense.

 

[xtlosx]

Ahhh... I see.

When you say overflow you mean like to a floor drain.

If your sump is installed correctly and your overflows contain siphon breaks you should be fine. With the Marineland overflow system I was talking about before, the water that drains down to the sump actually drains from the top of the water column. The overflow set you need to order will have the pipe that goes to the sump all the way to the top of the water. That way, if a power outage occurs, the water only drains to the sump until it hits the top of this pipe. This in conjunction with a siphon break will prevent water from being siphoned back out of the displace and down to the sump.

Most of the people that have had overflow problems had them because of one (or more) of the following reasons:

1. The sump didn't have enough capacity to accomodate the small amount of water that will flow from the tank after the pump shuts off.

2. Something was covering the siphon break like a snail, salt creep, or coraline (or there never was a siphon installed) so the return diffusers located well below the water line continue to suck water out of the main tank and send it down to the sump.

3. They aren't using the provided overflow kit properly


If you are worried about your sump overflowing, its pretty easy to test. Get the system up and running with the amount of water that fills the return chamber of the sump. Then shut the pump off. The water will come back down into the sump for a minute or so until the siphon breaks stop the flow and the excess water above the return is done.

Your sump should be pretty full here, but not overflowing. Fill up the sump with additional water until its nearly full. Mark this level on the sump as the "Full Non-Operational". Now turn the pump back on. The water level in the sump will decrease as the water is pumped back into the display. After everything is leveled out, mark the current sump level with a marker again, and mark it as "Full Operational".

From that point forward, you know the two water levels with either the pump running or off that you CAN'T exceed or else your sump will overflow.

I hope that all made sense.

Got it, makes sense. The tank has the bulkheads, has everything already on it, so I am just responsible for the plumbing down to the sump which will happen tomorrow hopefully. I will end up doing a check valve on that return, so that if something does happen water will not fly back down into the return at a large amount, if at all. I have a good schematic, and with ball valves to control the rio's power, and check valves, I think that I will be able to get this going properly.

On a side note, what is the best way to start all of this up once the plumbing is done. Do I want to fill the return chamber a bit, the drain chamber a bit, then start filling the tank.. The turn it all on and watch it go, then slowly add water to the tank until everything looks in balance?

I'm getting excited..... It's almost time!

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Got it, makes sense. The tank has the bulkheads, has everything already on it, so I am just responsible for the plumbing down to the sump which will happen tomorrow hopefully. I will end up doing a check valve on that return, so that if something does happen water will not fly back down into the return at a large amount, if at all. I have a good schematic, and with ball valves to control the rio's power, and check valves, I think that I will be able to get this going properly.

On a side note, what is the best way to start all of this up once the plumbing is done. Do I want to fill the return chamber a bit, the drain chamber a bit, then start filling the tank.. The turn it all on and watch it go, then slowly add water to the tank until everything looks in balance?

I'm getting excited..... It's almost time!

There really is no right or wrong way to fill everything up.

I would fill up the main display until it wants to start draining to the sump. Then fill up the sump some and turn the pumps on.

This first time, it will start to balance as the water moves around, and its possible that you will need to add more water to the sump. If the water level gets low and your pump starts to choke, just have more water ready to add to the sump.

Once you get all of that done, you can test the check valve, and mark the water levels on your sump and should be good to go.

 

[xtlosx]

OK, some more updates... I want to get my dry rock scape done before I do plumbing, and everything else..... So what better to do on a Friday..... one of the benefits of working at home.

Anyway, here is the cement I used in case anyone cares and the first 2 parts of the rock, connecting on either side, and now will connect in the middle.. Then the big guy on the right side and this scape will be done! This stuff gets into a hard slurry and when it dries is awesome. The best thing is, dries within 3-5 minutes, and even better, it's $6 for quite a bit of it. Home Depot FTW!

Everything done.. woohoo!

 

[xtlosx]

First round of plumbing done... Might not be as clean and sexy as I would like but hey, not too bad if I may say so myself.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_0L-6ldtSfZ0/TYzBc6s_5pI/AAAAAAAABZc/SJDDmCa3BPM/s800/DSCN5432.JPG[img]

[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_0L-6ldtSfZ0/TYzBdEIcbVI/AAAAAAAABZg/FFwtKECGYXw/s800/DSCN5433.JPG

Now I just need to get some plumbers tape to seal the hose barb threads and I'm on to the Flexi-PVC tubing... Hoping to get this bastard plumbed up today, and possibly get water running through it tonight\tomorrow...

Thanks everyone for all of the help.

 

[xtlosx]

Alright everyone.... great news.. Plumbing was done yesterday, filled with salt water yesterday afternoon, and run overnight.. no problems to report, all is well!!

Today, I went out and met with a local reefer who has a (I kid you not), reef store in his garage... absolutely badass... I picked up 30lbs of rock that was broken down last night, and the tank was up and running for about 2 years. I also got sand from the same time as well, looking real nice! The rocks are scaped with my base rock and everything is rolling along....

While I was picking up sand and rock from this guy, I also got a Red Sea Wavemaker Pro & 2 power heads to transform my reef... So far so good!! On the rock there were some hitchhikers, some crabs, a little starfish that is in the sump actually, and who knows what else...

I'll post pictures once the water is cleared up a bit, but first test of the water parameters are all looking, well perfect! I'll see how things are looking on Wednesday and if the parameter readings hold steady next weekend I will move my clowns over as my other tank is just slowly degrading into hell, so hoping for a quick, if not no cycle at all because these rocks were taken from the other tank last night, sat in his tanks for a couple of hrs and picked up this morning, submerged the entire trip, same with the sand.

Thanks, and appreciate the comments! I'm pretty excited as this is my first real tank with an overflow and fuge setup.... I'm hooked!

Plumbing done!

Drain chamber, with Protein Skimmer, gettin' wet

Awesome looking rock, 35lbs @ $3\lb... can't beat that!

Not a bad deal for $40! Working great so far.

Sand galore (Fiji Pink)!
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_0L-6ldtSfZ0/TY5HDP6vdbI/AAAAAAAABaI/L0iYIlVUVXY/s800/DSCN5440.JPG[img]

Rock scape complete! Love the little coves we have on the base, and the tunnels and hiding spots for fish to swim through.
[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_0L-6ldtSfZ0/TY5HEMLUdRI/AAAAAAAABaM/ETAbZu6Zr94/s800/DSCN5441.JPG

Looking good so far!

Now the waiting game begins... Tomorrow should be much better, already looking better since I took these pictures!

 

[Pufferpunk]

Sounds like an instant cycle there. I would have hard-plumbed that system though, that plumbing looks like it's an accident waiting to happen.

 

[xtlosx]

I am using the bulkheads that came with the tank itself... It's flowing beautifully actually, absolutely no issues there right now... I'll keep ya posted..

During my planning phases I saw a couple of other reefers on other boards who have been running this tank with the exact same setup for months with no problems....

Might be moving my other tank inhabitants up here tomorrow.. depending on how parameters look tomorrow, but I'm not expecting any cycle on this tank, but we'll see.

 

[xtlosx]

Parameters are perfect again.... going to test again later on today and move the guys over, the other tank is just going to hell in a handbasket... really quickly! They have a much better chance in here.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

xt, refer back to the post where I explained about the sump overflowing.

Its looks like you have that sump really full. If the power goes out, I bet it will overflow.

 

[xtlosx]

Everyone moved, and will post pictures when I have a chance... rock from my old tank went into an old 20G, with a skimmer, powerhead, and head and curing it to trade for some frags, let me know if anyone is interested!

Update... pictures below



I know that I'll get yelled at for having the RBTA in there, the tank is new, etc, etc, I get it, but like I said, the other tank had to go and had no where else to put him. I'm hoping he will pull through, so please no flaming, I had no other choice.

 

[EyeReef]

looking good..I really like the aquascaping....looks like lots of tunnels and holes for your fish

 

[xtlosx]

Thanks! Our Orangeback Fairy Wrasse is currently occupying a couple of those holes...

During the move, we dipped all of the corals that were in the nasty tank downstairs, they all look noticeably healthier and opening up much more (could be the pristine water conditions too)... I didn't want to bring ANYTHING from that tank up here, so far so good!

Life is good and the skimmer is starting to slowly... I did notice 1-2 little aptasia's in the back, and hoping my peppermint shrimp can help take those down, otherwise maybe our red hermits will make quick work.. We'll see!

 

[xtlosx]

An update! I went to visit a local reefer with one heck of a selection of, well just about everything... Some pictures of what we picked up yesterday, all totaling $40! Absolutely can't beat it.

Also, I'm getting used to working and taking pictures of my tank, so be gentle of my shitty camera skills, I'm trying

Dendro Coral

Pulsating Xenia

Eagle Eye Zoas (My Emerald knocked them over last night)

Carpet Anenome

Baby Duncans

Aussie Acans (Not sure of the kind, ID anyone?

RBTA

Our Big Boy True Perc (We call him Tubby)

 

[xtlosx]

Question... So I simulated a power outage today (finally have some time) and well my sump would certainly overflow because of the back flow... So my question is..

For a siphon break, do I simply go into the overflow box, find the return, and drill a 3\16" hole into the PVC. From what I understand, when the water drains and gets to that point, it will break the siphon and water should stop flowing into the sump?

 

[Cubzbiggestfan]

That is my dream tank too. Someday I will make my dream come true. Nice job.

 

[Stonefish13]

Yes. If you drill a hole at the elbow of your return it should be fine as long as your elbow is close to the top of the water. I think it was a 3/16 drill bit I used for mine but I drilled a hole at a slightly upward angle right in the 90 degree pvc elbow of my return.

 

[xtlosx]

Yes. If you drill a hole at the elbow of your return it should be fine as long as your elbow is close to the top of the water. I think it was a 3/16 drill bit I used for mine but I drilled a hole at a slightly upward angle right in the 90 degree pvc elbow of my return.

OK, seems like I should be able to do this, just need to pull the top cover off, etc which is fine... I'll try this when I get a chance.

Thanks!

 

[xtlosx]

Alrighty, I ended up doing this now, as go figure, I had some time.... Problem solved! Pumps are all off, and there is about 1" of clearance if not a little more in the return...

Thanks for the awesome advice.. This is much more peace of mind that relying on a check valve.