KOgle's 180 diary

Never glue a overflow pipe if by ovrflow thats what you mean ? Just dry fit them always ..

 

I glued the standpipes together to make one piece and I already wish I hadn't of. bmsheehan was over there helping me out and the one he glued up doesn't have enough pipe on the end to keep the standpipe in the fitting going out of the tank. I'll have to get some water in the tank to see if it will work or not. If not it's back to Lowe's I guess...

I got the overflow boxes siliconed in last night as well as installed the last bulkhead and connected the fitting to those. Tonight I just need to throw some doubled up 45's on the back of the tank (to make my 90 degree bends) and it will be ready to get back on the stand. I might run some silicone on the inside of the overflow boxes as well just to make sure they're sealed. Hard to get my arm down inside those things though...

 

Get a caulking gun and a tube of the silicone from Lowe's then some vinyl tubing to make the extension over the tube of silicones pointed snout then shoot the silly-cones on down the sides then smooth it with the old trusty finger .. You have to get a good bead inside as thats hold the acrylic against the water pressure . The silicone is over in the roofing isle 2.99 or so a tube . the DAP stuff not the fanacy G.E stuff its like 6.00 a tube LOL

 

Tangster I think you're a genuis. Never would have thought of that with the extension tube...

I made some acrylic braces on the inside of the OF boxes to hold against the water pressure so the silicone should have an easier job. This thing should be back on the stand this evening. ;D

 

Seems that someone else told KOgle this just a couple of days ago...:inquisiti Better leave that hippie lettuce alone there young man...

 

For all of you SouthPark fans.... Towlie says.... Don't forget to bring a towel.

 

OK gang on a more serious note I got the beast back on the stand last night.

It seems like I've done a ton of work to this thing and nothing has happened...

Here's some pictures of how the drilling turned out as well as all the plumbing and some of the electrical work. The one thing I kept in mind while tearing this thing down and setting it back up was all of the little things I said I'd do differently next time. I think I've covered all my bases... Let me know what you all think.

 

So when is the first trial run of H2O going to be???

 

Some insight into what you are seeing in the pictures... in the left hand picture the yellow cords are quick disconnect supplies to the metal halides. My hope was that if I ever needed to get into the tank quickly I can just unplug the wires from the lights while leaving the ballasts where they sit. The VHO's and fans will also be on quick disconnects as well. One other thing I was thinking about with the canopy was to put the whole thing on a track hanging from the ceiling so I wouldn't even have to lift it to get it off the tank, only slide it out of the way. This was quickly shot down when I noticed the ceiling fan in front of the tank. Funny how you forget about these details when you are daydreaming instead of actually looking at the tank... ;D

You'll also notice all of the plumbing comes out of the back of the tank in two 45's instead of just a 90. This will help with flow restriction. I also put shut off valves on the 2 drains as well as the two extra drains out of the OF boxes. Per the advice of Otty I went ahead and planned for future expansion.

You'll also notice my wiring mess. The things directly behind the tank are DIY ballasts and the piece with the outlet on it. This is a motor contactor that will allow me to run my metal halides with my lighthouse controller. Even though I had the controller in the past the metal halides pulled too much juice for the controller so I kept them on individual timers. This was a pain becasue the lights were never in sync and the controller wasn't being used to it's full potential. The controller has the ability to shut the lights off if the water gets too hot. Nice feature when you are away from home for a few days. The motor contactor was another suggestion from Otty.

Where would I be without you buddy? Probably still running a single external overflow with a few powerheads... ;D karma to the Ottmeister.

The overflow boxes inside the tank are courtesy of Tangster (and Amcarrig for getting them off the shelf). Karma to you two as well. ;D

The durso standpipes you see are a step up from the normal ones. Otty gave me a great idea to use an adjustable union so the water level can be changed without having to recut pipe. Awesome!

I think that's about it for now guys. HOping to get the VHO's wired up this weekend as well as get base sand in the fuge and a few other knick knack things. Once my rock dries the rest of the way from the nuking process I'll get my aquascaping done and this thing will get some saltwater in it. Not before it's filled with fresh water to check for leaks though...