440g System Setup

[DThompson]

I've siliconed in the the baffles and placed the ceramic blocks in the far left baffle as well as the K1 in the middle baffle. I'm thinking now that I have to much K1 for the middle baffle. Or I'll need a ton of air to get them to tumble, which may be possible with the alita air pump I have. Anybody else have a good estimate of how full you should fill a moving bed?

 

[TheWolfman]

I think you have that first baffle in the wrong spot it should be on the right after the move in bed and before the return. Maybe I’m missing something

 

[dr exum]

The aryclic pieces to build the sump came in today as well as the lids for the top. A little disappointed with the lids because I told the guy it has 4" diameter corners for the lids, but he made them 4" radius, so they're not the same and there's a slight gap. He seemed like a nice guy so I'll let it be and just work with what I got but I'll be letting him know he didn't cut them correctly.
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where did you order from?

 

[DThompson]

I think you have that first baffle in the wrong spot it should be on the right after the move in bed and before the return. Maybe I’m missing something

I had to make the 1st baffle (far right in the images) bigger than I'd like because there was already a hole cut in the tank at that spot. I could just close this hole with some silicone and a piece of glass and drill a new hole over to the right more to make the center baffle bigger, but I was lazy and thought this would work. Here's a picture of where that inlet hole is for the 1st chamber.

 

[DThompson]

where did you order from?

Fluidized media sump K1/K2 (Clear cast acrylic) | Jax Racks

Aquarium not included laser cut from 1/4 inch cast acrylic - for 30"x12"x12" 20 GAL Long aquarium (water height: 10")- for 36" x 18" x 17" 40 GAL BreederKit (water height: 10")- for 24.25" x 12.5" x 12.75" 29/30 Gal (water height: 11")- for 48.75" x 14" x 21.25" 55 Gal (water height: 13")- for...

www.jaxracks.com

He was easy to work with. Can make anything custom. I said I wanted this K1 sump design he had but I didn't need the filter holders and told him my dimensions and he cut it to size. I told him I wanted some lids also so he put those in the order as well.

 

[TheWolfman]

I had to make the 1st baffle (far right in the images) bigger than I'd like because there was already a hole cut in the tank at that spot. I could just close this hole with some silicone and a piece of glass and drill a new hole over to the right more to make the center baffle bigger, but I was lazy and thought this would work. Here's a picture of where that inlet hole is for the 1st chamber.
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Disregard my previous post I was misunderstanding your layout. Your last baffle and you’re bulkhead placement was throwing me off. To be honest the last baffle isn’t really needed. The K1 baffle is acting as your return baffle. Whats your plans for mechanical filtration for the sump? It looks tight down there. The build looks great so far. Clean plumbing doesn’t need paint to cover it up.

 

[DThompson]

Disregard my previous post I was misunderstanding your layout. Your last baffle and you’re bulkhead placement was throwing me off. To be honest the last baffle isn’t really needed. The K1 baffle is acting as your return baffle. Whats your plans for mechanical filtration for the sump? It looks tight down there. The build looks great so far. Clean plumbing doesn’t need paint to cover it up.

Not quite sure how I'll get mechanical filtration in the sump. It is pretty tight but I can still reach my arm in when it's under the stand. I might just got a long filter sock and stick it on the inlet pipe in the sump. Not sure if there's a good way to get filter floss in the right baffle since the inlet pipe is below the water level of the sump. But the Ultima filter will do some mechanical filtering as well so I'm not to worried.

As for painting, Since there is some plumbing visible from the front of the tank (right side return plumbing). I wanted it to look good. I'm almost done painting now. Here's a few pictures of how it's going .

 

[nzafi]

Very exciting. One piece of advice I would have for you so to consider some sort of leak detection system. One of the things I regretted about my 535g tank was placing some sort of trays to capture water underneath the tank. For example, my tank was sitting on a bamboo wood floor. Unfortunately, there was a tiny leak on my piping from the reeflo pump to the ultima. The water pooled without me noticing for a bit and now I can see the floor damaged all over there. My solution was very simple. I went an bought some large black dog crate trays on Chewy.com and just placed them under my stand. I then was able to place water sensors inside the tray.

Be careful around those closed bulkheads low on the tank. I hit a bottom drain 1/4 bulkhead that I had in my tank, and it started leaking. I was forced to take the tank down until I could seal all bottom holes. I have had too many water damage issues in my house the past couples years that has made me much more conservative about extra protection.

 

[DThompson]

N nzafi Thanks for the helpful tips. I bought some replacement O-ring gaskets to put on all the bulkheads in the tank. And I like the dog tray idea for under the pumps. I'm going to look into those. I already plan on buying some leak detection kits to hook up to my Apex system, so putting a tray under the pumps would help isolate where the water goes and I can put the leak detector in that tray.

The bulk heads that aren't being used are sealed with silicone and and endcap. They were used like this when BD had the tank set up so I assume they are water tight still. But I am replacing the gaskets inside the tank just incase.

 

[nzafi]

D DThompson im literally using Ring water sensors as I also have a Ring alarm system. I saw you went with an Apex. I was planning to use the new Hydros Controller 2 system instead. Their leak sensors seem to be better and I felt like there wasn’t so much wasted stuff for a freshwater tank.

If those holes are siliconed then you should be fine.