Jaxom

First off, I'm sorry to hear about the recent family emergency and death. That must have been so stressful. Has your girlfriend and son arrived there yet?

That's an odd tank size. If you like, you could make the stand even larger, like 68 x 22 x 34. The extra length lets you center the tank and create a ledge or surface that wraps around the tank on the left, front and right. It'll come in handy when you want to put things down, do water testing, or even take pictures.

The lighting idea you mentioned: Be sure to consider how the wiring moves each time you pull the lights in and out. It should be somewhat flexible, and have some type of guides to keep those wires exactly where you want them to be. That kind of access is very useful. I'd put the bulbs at 7" off the water. That provides room to tinker in the tank with the lights still in place, and avoids the pastel effect T5 bulbs have on some corals due to their being too close to the water.

Plumbing: It is pretty straightforward. Using unions and PVC or Spaflex, you can run pipes to and from the sump to those two bulkheads. You'll probably want to do a separate entry on that topic when you're ready to tackle that project.

Thanks Marc, they arrived at her mom's Tuesday evening, tired after a long flight. It sounds like their pilots took lessons with the pilots you flew with recently, there was a typhoon in the area so they hit some moderate turbulence about 2 hours from Manila, lost a little altitude and the plane shook pretty hard, scared everyone on the flight but it only lasted a little bit and everyone arrived safely. They will return around the 8th of Aug.

I like the idea about the extra length so I can have a ledge around the stand, will have to modify my plans and see what it looks like. It looks like the space next to the fireplace, where I'm putting the tank, was designed for a tank, it's 75" long and 24"deep, perfect size for a larger tank. Only problem I can see is not having access to the right side of the tank.

I plan on documenting each stage as I go along, with plenty of pictures, that's what has helped understand as much as I do. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up the wood when Josie returns, so I can get started on the stand and canopy.

For a guide for the wires I was thinking something like a curtain rod, or a "track", attached the top of the canopy so the wiring can slide with the light, in or out, still thinking about that one, want to make sure it's a 1 person operation (moving the lights in and out). My concern on the height of the lights, was the depth of the tank being only 18.5", thanks I think I'll go with 7" off the water.


My biggest question on plumbing right now is on building the durso, how high or low should the top of the durso sit in the weir. I've read a few articles on how to make 1 but never saw the completed durso sitting in a tank to get an idea how tall it should be. Maybe I will go ahead and make it while I'm waiting to get the wood for the stand, give me something to do while she is gone. I looked at a plumbing kit when I picked up my tank and they wanted something like $90 for it.

A Durso standpipe will cost you less than $10 in parts. You said the bulkhead was 1" (drain), so you will want a 1.25" to 1" reducer (or better yet 1.5" to 1" reducer), then all your Durso parts are the larger size (1.5" or 1.25" in diameter). Press it all together, no glue.

The top of the Durso should be even with the top of the tank, or slightly lower. The cap should definitely be above the water line.

The Tee and Elbow should be no more than 2" lower than the teeth/weir. That keeps the water level up high in the overflow, and the water doesn't have far to fall. Take a look at this little Durso I made for a 90g propagation tank.

Hey Jaxom, it's going to be a nice setup when ya finish. I need to get more koralia pumps myself. I will be following ya progress! Hey Marc, what do you do about the durso holes? I have a peppermint shrimp in my overflow now. And have seen my snails come and go. They might cause problems if they get in there; what can ya do to prevent that?

The opening to the Durso is wide open. Livestock (snails and fish) can definitely take a ride south if they enter it. You can use Gutter Guard (mesh to keep leaves out of roof gutters) to create a screen, or eggcrate works as well. I've never put anything in the way of the drains to avoid any surprises or restrictions. I do put a strainer on the intake side of my return pump though.

Okay, thanks Marc!

Thanks Marc that picture is exactly what I have been looking for. I erred on the size of the holes in the bulkhead, the drain is 1 3/4" and the return is 1 1/2", so should I use a 2" or 2 1/4" reduser to 1 3/4"?

Hey Hat thanks for the comments, I've been following your progress also, I really enjoy the 2 clowns I have in my nano, they pretty much let me feed them when it's time to eat. I'm planning on getting them an Anemone hopefully to host in when the new tank is ready.

Originally Posted by Jaxom

Thanks Marc that picture is exactly what I have been looking for. I erred on the size of the holes in the bulkhead, the drain is 1 3/4" and the return is 1 1/2", so should I use a 2" or 2 1/4" reduser to 1 3/4"?

The hole sizes are bigger to accommodate the bulkheads. The larger hole is 1 3/4" which will hold a 1" bulkhead. If you want to use a 1.5" Durso, you need a reducer that will go from 1.5" to 1" to fit that bulkhead. If the bulkhead is slip/slip (internally smooth on both ends), you'd use a reducer that is smooth as well to slip in. If the bulkhead is threaded/slip (internally threaded on top and smooth underneath), you'd use a threaded reducer. If the bulkhead is threaded/threaded, you'll need the reducer to be threaded, and the plumbing underneath will screw into the bulkhead as well. My preference would be slip/slip.

The 1.5" hole is for the 3/4" return.

You're welcome Jaxom! Yeah I want an anemone for mine too. I'm not sure what kind I want yet though.

On thing to add on the plumbing. I have made this mistake. when plumbing the drain pipe make sure it goes directly into the sump without going below the sump wall. what I mean is I originally used flex pipe and it sagged down below the wall of the sump them back over. this caused surging as the water had to build up pressure to go over the wall. so I would recommend using pvc or pvc flex tubing but have it go as direct as possible into the sump. it will make it quieter and more efficient.
-Steven

Yes, a sloped drain with no low points is important. This prevents surging, burping, or even backflow on rare occasions.

Thanks Steve, good point, to be truthfull I probably wouldn't have thought about it up front by myself. I was thinking about using the flex pipe and probably would have been beating my head against the wall for a while trying to figure out the surge issue. Thanks again.

i have the same type of tank, its 60x18x18. its a great tank, i will try to post some pics of it soon, been working outside lately and my calcium dipped way low. I had not taken parms in the last 6 weeks and with new sps corals being added in the calcium must have been sucked up