Phil's 125g

It's been a little while... patience is a blessing in this hobby.  Summer and money have slowed a few things down...

I have more pix and and a little bit further, will post those later.  But for now, this is my 'Target'.  Pretty much on track and for the most part it's all coming together nicely.


The UV, AC and GFO are on the wish list, but have put them in the plans, sadly, so is the ATO for now, but it's the first wish list to be satisfied , unless a RODI unit goes on sale.

Any thoughts, suggestions or comments?  Thanks!

Why 2 return pumps? Why not just one and use gate/ball valves and branch off the piping to your reactors? 

I designed with two pumps for several reasons:

1. I like to turn off flow to the display when feeding so everyone gets the chance to eat before the sump/fuge does, allows me to kill flow to display without shutting down the rest.
2. I could run only one pump and valve off, but I control my pumps, lights etc with x-10 controllers (eliminates the need for timers and makes me a geek because I have it controlled with home automation) and button is easier to push than a valve is to turn (ya, it's the lazy side of me ).
3. I can perform maintenance on the secondary loop without taking down the sump to display loop.
4. Along with reactors and UV, I'm toying with a 4th line off the secondary loop for inline heating... overkill ya, but it's the 'cool' factor.  I wasn't sure if asking one pump to drive 5 different things would have been little lacking for any single component... along with having to dial it in everytime one gate valve is adjusted.
5. If one pump does go out, I'm not totally up the creek, I can limp on one until second is replaced...

BUT bringing that up, maybe I'll valve it so each pump runs it's own loop and can be 'valved' to run both loops... would allow pump maintenance as well.. so glad you brought it up!

I'm still not sure on the size, I show a ~500 and ~700 GPH, not sure if I should keep them diff size or make them identical.  The smaller pumps are a lot more efficient than the ~1300 GPH pumps. 

I'm sure it varies, but from what I've seen, average numbers are:
500 GPH = 40 watts
700 GPH = 65 watts
1300 GPH= 130 watts.

So running a 500 and 700 is just over a hundred watts... 2 700's equal the 1300... but allows me redundancy.

However, I do agree one pump may save energy over two.. depending on what pumps your comparing.

All things I've lost tons of sleep over as my mind pours over the set-up.

Anyway, those are my reasonings... feedback always appreciated.

philhender wrote: For now the ATO set-up is holding tank and pump... one day, I'd like to either replace it with a RO/DI unit.. or have the holding tank topped-off with RO line.. lol.  How's that for redundant, ATO on the ATO..

That's the way mine is set up.  I have it that way so I have plenty of RO water to pump into a saltwater mixing vessel.
http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=42087&KW=mixing+towers&PID=366568#366568
It's nice to have redundancy so in case a float valve sticks it doesn't directly flood my tank with freshwater.

BTW, The frames on those tanks are just siliconed onto the glass (which is all siliconed to itself) so it shouldn't make the tank too unstable to remove them.


Edited by Deluxe247 - August 14 2010 at 3:39am

Yeah the biggest benefit is not having to worry too much about salinity swings between when your water evaporates and when you top off manually.

Got the teeth cut in a couple of the panels of acrylic for the sump. Have them all placed and siliconed into the sump, waiting for 24hr cure so I can leek test the sump compartments.  Stand skeleton is 2nd coated.  Picked up an ASM G1X with mesh mod (thanks Brad!) that is pretty amazing, I stuck it in my rock curing bucket, it foamed like a monster for about 2 hrs, now I think it's done. Just never seems to be enough time.. lol.  Need to get all my update pictures up here... soon.

OK, hoping I'm picking up where I left off in the pictures... I've commented on some of the other process sans pictures...

So to start off, re-sealed the tank.  I have to admit, this was a frastrating process for me, I'm a little on the OCD side and actually did this process 3 times, because I wasn't happy with the appearance of the silicone in the display.  only pictures of the begining and the end.  The time in between, I was about ready to push the tank off the stand and call it quits. 

Removing the silicone was long and tedious (but after the 3rd time, was getting pretty good at it.  Masked off to try and get good lines

One lesson I learned here, masking tape needs to come off IMMEDIATLY after putting down silicone and it has NOT skinned yet, even the slightest skin will pull off with the tape and leave undesired results.  I masked because I wanted the lines straight and even, and I'm not talented enought to lay a bead and have it look 'displayable.



Here is what I found to be parltly acceptable, this is the bottom and a side/corner.  The bottom is a little rough, but it's ok, it'll be covered with sand.

And for the leak test:

No leaks.  I temporarily plugged the bulkhead and tested to the top.  I was just unsure of the ability of non-glued pvc in bulkhead to remain water-tight.

Last update for today.. and this is where it sits currently... Sump!

So the UPS man brought me some Acrylic from Delvies

all the sump panels, plus two 'covers' for the top to keep lights clean.
Decided the 'fuge' area would probably house snails and hermits, I wanted to block them off from being able to move anywhere, keep em home! Teeth were in order for the main panels of the fuge.  Took my two panels and sandwiched them between sacrificial wood to make the teeth cuts on the table saw.  Worked pretty good, I don't think the acrylic would have chipped out, but didn't want to take the chance.

No pictuer of the actual cutting, was a little nerve-wracking because of the way I was using the table saw to nibble the teeth out, and tedious doing everyone, but here is the finished product

Cleaned them up a little more individually... nothing like pulling up a chair to a table saw!

Placing the panels in the tank up next! I didn't have a smaller square, so I cut the tip of my 12" one so it could stand in the tank.

Spray bottle has rubbing alcohol/water mix that I used to clean the areas before siliconing.
Putting in the bubble trap area was interesting, no pictures of the process, but where I couldn't fit my hand down to smooth silicone, I would place tape down to create the straight line of the narrow side of where the panel was going to go and laid a beed down, removed the tape and then pushed the panel into the bead.  Used a length of 1/2" pvc pipe to smooth the silicone, worked pretty good.


Allowed to cure for 24 hours and performed a quick water test, which was successful, each compartment held perfectly.
Don't mind the water lines.. tested in the driveway which apparently has a decent amount of slope to it.

Thats where it's at now... deciding what to do for sure on the top where the display will sit and how to finish (paint/stain and type of wood) for the finish work before I finish the rest of the dry-fit and some glueing of pvc.

Small update, started the finish work on the main cabinet.  Can't believe the price of 'good' lumber. 

I'll never consider myself a good woodworker, but so far, I'm happy with what I've accomplished.  I might be scary if I had more expensive tools... but I think as I'm spending money on the hobby, I won't be spending money on the tools! A $500 table saw cuts a lot squarer than a $100 one... or better way to put it is more precisely.  I will admit one thing... I HATE DOORS! 

Well.. I should change my name to slacker.  Can't believe it's gone on this long.. but there must have been a reason.  I came across a 125... for a KILLER deal.. and since the stand is 6ft long... time to change up the plans a little bit.

I'm struggling with where to place the overflow's, know I don't want a HOB overflow and WILL be going through a glass pane somewhere, the biggest decision currently is that if I go though the back panel, I have very little 'depth' to the stand and will have to go through the back of the stand and not the top.  I know you can't drill tempered glass, searched and questioned and did the laptop screen/polarized lens trick.  I couldn't tell for quite a while, because all the panes gave me the same results.. no matter what tank/piece of glass I could find.. until I tried the 75g!  Definately seen what I was looking for, and according to the test, the bottom pane of my 125 is NOT tempered... (boy I sure hope the test is right).

Next step is to order and wait for the drill bit unless someone has a 'loaner'? wanting to go around 1"-1.5" on the returns... 1.25 is a good settle point.. so looking for a 59mm diamond hole saw. 

Then on to build the overflows.. debating on doing them myself (baffles in sump turned out okay, but afraid of messing up the bends/corners) or calling up Tyler??? I'm thinking the floor to ceiling type overflow box... decisions.. decisions.

I'll get some pics of new 125 up soon...