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Alaska_Phil

Sump thing Happened

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At long last my tank has a sump!

the sump is a 20 tall tank, with 3 baffles forming a bubble trap. This gives me a 2 section sump, equipment and return. I'm not planning to use this for a refugium. My original plan was to add a refugium as a separate tank above the sump, but now I think I'll try a turf scrubber first and see if that does the trick. Now for pictures.

First I mocked up the system in the shop using an old 29 gal and stand. It ran like this for several days while I convinced myself that nothing would leak and that it would always restart reliably.
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The drain on the overflow was pretty noisy and and since I try to keep the Admin staff at the front desk (my tank is in the lobby) happy, I made this little silencer for it. I'm still getting it tuned, but it made huge difference. Now the water pouring into the overflow box in the tank is noisier than the drain.
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Since my cheap commercial stand doesn't have room for anything, and the powers that be at work seem to think exposed bucket, jugs and plumbing look unprofessional....Introducing the equipment cabinet!!! Seriously though, this has proved to be the next best thing to a dedicated equipment room. Note the top off jug on the second shelf. Next project is to reinforce that second shelf.
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Unfortunately I forgot my camera when I installed the sump, so no progress pictures. But here's the final result. I made a horizontal slotted pipe for the drain inlet to the sump. I came out just a little deeper in the water than I intended, but seems to be working just fine. Equipment includes my old backpak skimmer in front, a two little fishies reactor in back, with phosban in it, and the heater lying on the bottom. The return pump is one of the new maxi-jet 1800's connected with 3/4" tubing to the 3/4" PVC return.
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Overflow box doing it's thing
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Updated 05-20-2010 at 01:44 AM by melev

Categories
Plumbing , ‎ DIY projects

Comments

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  1. Hat39406's Avatar
    Phil, you have a plane in ya garage? You fly, wow! Why don't ya gas her up and come visit me, my wife and I would love to meet ya. ;-p. I'm only a hop-skip-and a big jump from ya.
  2. melev's Avatar
    LOL - that's a good story, BIG Al.
  3. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Al, you'd be amazed how many people got their first flight or pilot liscense in 150's. They're great little planes and a lot of fun, but certainly not spectacular in the take-off and climb departments.
    I've had mine for 8 years, but now that I'm married I'm thinking about getting something a little larger so we can take plenty of camping gear along.
  4. BigAl07's Avatar
    Phil what plane are you looking for? Do you need STOL or do you use a standard runway? The 182 can carry a lot but dang it loves GAS!! I believe it was a 182 with the STOL kit I saw a while back taking off in a local cow pasture. Was WILD because we don't get that much around here. When it left the ground his climb out looked almost rocket assisted!

    We went and looked into a Velocity XL a while back at Sun-n-Fun and I fell in LOVE! Very sleek looking plane but costly to build. Fairly economical to fly and can carry a lot of stuff (rumored if you can close the doors it'll carry it). My first love will always be the Piper J-3
  5. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    We're thinking about a Pacer or Tri-Pacer, but want to check one out for room and handling first. A Cessna 182 or even a 172XP would be great, but out of our budget right now. Maybe if I give up reefing....
    I'm not looking for a lot of speed, or STOL capability, 100mph+ cruise and a useful load of 700lbs or more that I can operate out of 1500ft runways will do the trick. And big enough to carry the two of us comfortably. The 150 is a bit cozy even for newlyweds.

    If you look at the very back of the hangar in the first photo, you'll see the ribs for a Bearhawk Patrol. Since I'm building it from scratch, it'll be 10 years or so before it's ready.
  6. melev's Avatar
    With that kind of patience, shouldn't you be aging casks of whiskey instead?
  7. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Hmmm...not a bad suggestion Marc, so after nearly 6 years is your reef tank "finished" yet?
  8. BigAl07's Avatar
    Tri-Pacer... ahhh the old reliable "Milk Stool". Never been in one myself!

    It's amazing how WELL planes hold (and in many instances GAIN) in value over long periods of time. Some people would die if they knew we were tooling around in 40 year old planes over their heads! Our society is such a disposable one that a car more than 4-5 years old is a relic. LOL!

    You hit the nail on the head with the 150 being "cozy". That's putting it mildly!


    I do love the 172XP. I took one to Sevierville, Tennessee a couple of years ago. The approach is "Fun" to say the least. I had to come in a lil heavy to carry some speed to "hop" over some power lines and then just didn't manage my energy well. "Fortunately" there was a goup of F-O-Ps (blank-ing Old Pilots) there watching as I landed "Hot" and should have counted each "hop" as a Touch n Go! When I taxied over to tie-up they all clapped and laughed! One guy said, "Captain Kangaroo has arrived!" LOL! Needless to say I was embarrassed and wanted to crawl into the cockpit and HIDE but looking back it was pretty humorous! Basically I was used to a much older, heavier, less efficient 172 and this XP wanted to do nothing but keep on flying.
  9. melev's Avatar
    Al, I think you'd be a fun guy to get on a podcast one day.

    Our club used to have a member with his own hanger, and he built small two-seat and four-seat planes. If you wanted to build one, he'd lease you a spot to work, and provided you with tools. If you needed his help, he charged an hourly rate. It was something I would have liked to do, and it wasn't priced so high I couldn't ever do it. His wife did all the interior leather/vinyl stitching. I think he said it would cost rougly $80k to build a plane (final product) and it could be done in 8 months. Of course, then I'd have to get a pilot's license. Fortunately for my wallet, he moved away.
  10. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Yeah, I hear you Al. My 150 is 1963 model, still has the straight back before they added the rear window. and of course the last year for the Pacers I'm thinking of was 1955. Someday I hope to own a plane that's younger than I am.

    Your landing story sounds like one of mine this spring. I was coming home to the air park I live at on a gusty day. Since there's trees all around the runway I came in a little hot. A little too hot... And of course on final I was looking at several of my neighbors standing out by their planes, and mowing the lawn next to the runway. So lots of spectators. We're only allowed 3 touch and goes per day as a courtesy to the non-flying neighbors, and I later told one of the old pilots down the strip that I'd just done all 3 with one approach.
  11. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Hmmm...maybe I need to start another blog titled "My other hobby". What'a ya think Marc?
  12. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    OK, I did add an album for a few shots of my other addiction.

    Updated 05-26-2010 at 05:49 PM by Alaska_Phil
  13. melev's Avatar
    Nice, but I don't believe that's Alaska. I can't see the tell-tale snow and North Pole!
  14. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    It's currenlty 80 degrees and sunny here in North Pole Alaska.
  15. Hat39406's Avatar
    Is that ya plane Phil?
  16. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    yup, that's me and my miss stress.
  17. Hat39406's Avatar
    That's cool!!!
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