Design for 150G Acrylic

[mockery]

Never mind I saw an above post.

As for direction I would turn it 90 degrees like you said it is going to be pretty hard to snake pluming stuff like you want.

Also I'd cut the shelf down and do the spacing similar to what is in your post before.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

GiulianoM;685170 wrote: I made the shelf 22" x 12", and put the skimmer on top.

There's about 3/4" of clearance on top of the skimmer - thankfully with
the giant 6" union in the middle, the skimmer chamber comes off easily.


The only thing I'm not entirely sure about yet is, whether to place the skimmer as shown - with the 1.5" outlet and gate valve facing the drains section of the sump.

Or to rotate the skimmer 90 degrees clockwise, with the 1.5" outlet facing the back - with an elbow feeding into the return pump inlet area of the sump. I'd have to access the gate valve from the rear, which might make the occasional adjustment a bit tricky.

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Any back pressure on the drain (which 90 turns will provide) will decrease the ability to "dial" the skimmer. Albeit nominally, but it will impede. I say plumb it so the skimmer has a direct drain line to the sump. That way youll have more control of the skimmer.

 

[giulianom]

Amici;685227 wrote: Are those dimmable drivers 1x50w or can they run more than one chip?

Those drivers listed earlier were the Excelsys drivers, and can only drive one chip. I haven't tried them yet, but I suspect the output voltage range may not be enough to drive the LED chips as I originally thought.


To drive two chips in series, you would have to double the voltage while keeping the current the same. Most drivers can't output the ~60v the two LED array chips would require.


To drive two (or more) chips in parallel, the voltage would stay the same but the current would double - 3.4A instead of 1.7A.

A 120-Watt driver like this one from Meanwell could drive two LED chips in Parallel, the HLG-120-36B model:
http://www.meanwell.com/search/HLG-120/default.htm">http://www.meanwell.com/search/HLG-120/default.htm</a>

A 185-Watt driver like this one could drive three LED chips in parallel, the HLG-185-36B model:
[IMG]http://www.meanwell.com/search/HLG-185/default.htm">http://www.meanwell.com/search/HLG-185/default.htm</a>


The risk with wiring the LED chips in parallel is that it depends on all of the LEDs to be functional for the current division to work properly - if one LED array chip blows, the extra current could overload the rest of the chips.


I have the guys at RapidLED looking into one of the MeanWell HLG-60H-36B drivers for me:
[IMG]http://www.meanwell.com/search/HLG-60H/default.htm">http://www.meanwell.com/search/HLG-60H/default.htm</a>

Prices I've seen online vary between $55 and $80 for one, so we'll see what it comes out to.

Edit: [QUOTE=][B]jmaneyapanda;685260 wrote:[/B] Any back pressure on the drain (which 90 turns will provide) will decrease the ability to "dial" the skimmer. Albeit nominally, but it will impede. I say plumb it so the skimmer has a direct drain line to the sump. That way youll have more control of the skimmer.[/QUOTE]

Thanks - that is what I was thinking...


I will probably use a threaded elbow at the recirc inlet bulkhead on the skimmer, due to clearance.

1" flexpvc says it has a 3" minimum bend radius, so I should be able to loop it around to the front of the pump inlet.

 

[giulianom]

GiulianoM;660437 wrote: I had a bona-fide structural engineer come out to inspect my home's framework in order to support the weight of the tank.

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The second option was to put the tank against the outside wall, parallel and above two joists.

This option is easier to implement, and makes the tank a center piece for the room.

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I'm going to need to get some laminated beams, some post jacks, and spend a weekend or two installing some structural support...

Anybody want to help?

Following up to this post, here is my first attempt in getting the LVL support beams up in place.

I bought four 9.5" x 1.75" laminated veneer lumber beams 12' long, and cut one to length, minus 1.75" for the header that will be installed later.

Here's one of the beams that I screwed to the existing beam - just to get it up there, it's not structurally supportive yet.

Here's the header side of the beam - you can see it's cut short, to make room for the header board that will be inserted once I've supported the joists.

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And here's the ledger side - NO, this cut end won't be permanent.

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Turns out, I didn't realize that the existing joist is 9" tall, and the new board is 9.5" tall. No wonder it wouldn't fit.

I'm going to rip 1/2" off the boards height, and replace the board.

Once I've got the boards attached to the existing joists, I'll put the support columns up to take the load off of the joists, cut the header ends, and bolt it all together.

 

[giulianom]

Stopped by MRC today, and they cut out a nice cover panel out of plexiglass to fit the refugium section of my sump.

Ordinarily, if I had thought about it, they could have routed a lip into the fuge opening and the cover would have been flush with the top.


But since I didn't, they made a cover with a routed lip instead, which sits on top of the fuge.


I got to watch the CNC router bed doing the work... pretty cool.

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[giulianom]

Got the post jacks and supports in place today.

Tomorrow I'll be cutting the ends off of the joists, adding a new header board in the gap, and then bolting it all together.


Only THEN will the floor be able to support the weight of the new tank...
<fieldset class="gc-fieldset">
<legend> Attached files </legend>

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[giulianom]

Got most of the joist ends cut - it took some saws, chisels, hammers, prybars, and lots and lots of elbow grease.

I ended up taking a 1" wood chisel and notching off a little bit at a time.

Then used a japanese pull-saw to cut some away, followed by the hammer to knock bits off the end.



Next weekend I'll have to get the header board up in place, and then the bolting together begins.

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[giulianom]

Got the header support board installed and bolted to the main support beam.

This board was a bit tricky to get in place - I had to wedge one end on top of the ledger board, and force the other end up all the way by using a post jack.

Bolting it together took seven 5/8" x 10" long bolts, along with washers, lock washers, and the nuts.


Next up, I have to drill and install 24 5/8" x 5" bolts in the joists, followed by the joist hangers.

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[giulianom]

Planning on getting a hefty UV, an Emperor Aquatics 80W HO, and planning out the plumbing layout for it:

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Pipe diameter based on 1.5" PVC.


Not shown:
<ul>
<li>True-union ball valves that will go on the vertical pipes above the UV inlets/outlets.</li>
<li>Gate valve that will go between the left T and the center T, for adjusting the flow through the UV.</li>
</ul>

 

[giulianom]

Started laying out the plumbing directions for the Oceans Motions 4-way.

The elbows are 45-degrees, to make the outputs parallel to either side.


The outputs facing towards the front of the tank have a longer standoff to clear the rear panel of the stand - they'll actually have to loop out the back to go up to the rear of the tank.

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[gmpolan]

My 150 is set up the same way almost to the T, the biggest issue i have with the uv back there is its a ABSOLUTE pain to change the bulb. I almost wish i would have put it over the sump towards the top of the stand.

 

[giulianom]

I thought about doing that, putting it inside the stand... But with it being horizontal, they recommend the inlets/outlets be vertical, and I don't think I'd have the room.

One thought I had was to mount the UV barrel on top of a narrow platform with wheels (a dolly) behind the stand.

Unscrew the unions, and slide the entire UV out for maintenance on the dolly.

 

[giulianom]

Continued laying out the plumbing concepts for the 4 x return lines that are fed from the 4-way.

The two outputs on the front side of the 4-way I turned towards the back by adding 90 degree elbows, followed by 45 degree elbows to make the output parallel to the rear outputs.


I plan to add some check-valves to the return lines to prevent any back-siphoning.

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[giulianom]

Swapped the front pair and rear pair of lines so that they wouldn't interfere with each other in placement.


I may still lower the 4-way by a few inches, to make room for the drain lines.

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[grouper therapy]

How will you assure correct flow through the uv?

 

[giulianom]

Gate valve, in between the horizontal Tee on the left, and the Tee below the 4-way.

I also plan to put a gate valve above the pump, before the first Tee to control the overall flow.


I just hadn't drawn it in the model, though I think there are some pre-made gate valve models out there.

 

[grouper therapy]

How will you determine how much flow is actually being diverted by the gate valve?

 

[giulianom]

A flow meter isn't too expensive:

http://www.aquasupercenter.com/products/Blue-White-F300-Series-Flow-Meter-Horizontal-Low-Flow---18-To-7-GPM-2%22-Pipe~65557.html">http://www.aquasupercenter.com/products/Blue-White-F300-Series-Flow-Meter-Horizontal-Low-Flow---18-To-7-GPM-2%22-Pipe~65557.html</a>

I could install it in the horizontal pipe section to the right of the center Tee feeding the 4-way.

 

[giulianom]

Actually, that flow meter type won't work - for 1.5" pipe, it needs 15" of straight pipe before the meter and 6" after... I don't think I have that much pipe length in the layout.

 

[rededge2k1]

When are you going to stop planning and start filling?

Dustin