New SCA 120 gallon build

Billme. You will love your SCA. I have the 66 gallon one. They are built very well. That said, the bulkheads they ship with are metric slip so be sure to use extra solvent when gluing pvc into them. I trashed the hose barb ends that came with mine and just glued my plumbing into them. You will love the rimless but as I found earlier this week the edge can chip easily so no glass containers over the edge of your tank. Plastic only.

I'd love to see pics of their sumps. Did you get the 303 skimmer or the 302? I have the 302 and it does a really good job. It has settled in well and is super quiet and I get some nice brown yuck weekly. Just wish the cup was a bit larger.

Best of luck. Holler if u need anything.

 

Berfore:

During:

After: The refugium is on the far right. The skimmer chamber on the far left, retun in the middle.

First off, thanks for the offer to help. It's taken a long time to get this far. When I got it in March, I soon realized I was over my little head and had a lot to learn before I get it set up. It came with a 51 gallon sump. I still don't understand exactly what they had in mind for filtration, but I knew it was big enough for a fuge, so I read up on fuges and modified the sump. I'll upload pics of the before and after when I get home. Next came the plumbing. Ya, I figured it was metric. As I'm new to any kind of plumbing, it took me a while to get past that. I bought a new bulkhead and I'm in the process of building the standpipe. I'll be hard plumbing everything. So far, the build on the cabinet and tank look very good. The wood is very well sealed and structurally good. I got the 303 skimmer. I don't understand them well at all, so I may need some help getting it to work properly. If going slow is a good thing, then this system should work pretty well.

 

Ok. The tank is wet.


Elliottttt.


Elliot's new gig.


This is the final Dorso I went with. The little cap on top is an access for 1/4" tubing. I poked the tubing in and mounted a valve on the outside end of the tubing.

Here it is mounted in the overflow.


The big picture of the sump. ~ 25 gallon fuge on the right. Return in the middle ( should have room for a reactor or two, if needed). SCA 303 far left. The left section also has room for a filter sock if needed in the future. I chose to use 45's instead of 90's for the joints after reading about how much pressure is lost with 90's. So, I've been running fresh water for about 24 hrs just to see how things work and do any changes before salt & critters go in. As of now, the only complaint is the bubbles. If you zoom in on the right, you may be able to see a bubble coming out. It isn't just minor bubbles. They run almost continuously. And they come out of both sides. I'm wondering if this is normal? I can live with it but the tank would be so much quieter if they would calm down a bit. I imagine that it has something to do with the drain. Any ideas?

 

Nice work Bill. The bubbles are most liked coming from your drain pipe being so submerged. I keep mine just below the surface or otherwise I get the same thing.

 

Thanks Matt. Glad to know I may not have that sounds going all the time.

 

Bill. Are you getting any bubbles to your pump? I ask because technically...the pump needs to be where your skimmer is and the skimmer in a earlier chamber so that the pump is behind all the bubble traps. At least that's my opinion. The skimmer will also put micro bubbles in the water too so having a place for them to disciple quickly is a plus. I made a sock holder from a 4 " pipe and I love having it.

 

The skimmer is on the first chamber on the far left. Then a good size bubble trap. Next chamber in the middle is return. So far, no bubbles in the return chamber chamber. The problem is that both drains on far left and far right have huge bubbles. Major belching or worse. I'm going to have to reduce hieight of the top of the durso so I can try raising the intake and see if that cures it. Right now, the top of the durso bumps the bottom of the return t so I can't raise it any. Fortunately, neither are glued in.

 

No need to glue them inside the box. U always want to be able to remove them.

You will need to bring the bottoms higher to reduce burping because you are introducing air into the drain pipes to help silence them you must allow it to escape at the bottom. Having the drain 1/2 inch or so below sump water should help. So will a filter sock. So will time as the pipes slime up it will quiet them down alot.