David R's 2000L tank build

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
David R said:
So tonight I topped off the tank, filled the sump and fired it up for the first time. DAMN!!! Laguna MaxFlo 11000 (aka 2900 for the US) is a beast!!!!! 40mm plumbing and about 3' head, it pushes a massive volume of water, I'm going to have to get thinking about how to diffuse the flow around the tank without restricting it or blasting the fish. Sump seems to handle the flow well, though it will be interesting to see how it looks with the Poret foam in place.



Interestingly, the two 50mm drains were way overkill for the flow. With the ball valve wide open (which is about 40mm ID) the lower drain handles the entire flow from the pump running at a full siphon, despite the short drop the drain has (after about 30cm horizontal pipe).



Lousy picture I know, phone didn't have enough power left for the flash.

The drain from the sump works well, well worth the hassle of digging a trench across the lawn!


That shows where it comes out of the house, I had to move half our firewood to dig the damn trench. Shortly after that it started raining, so no more pics unfortunately. Will try take a couple tomorrow.

Only drama is a very slight leak from one of the bulkheads in the back of the tank, so I'm going to have to remove it and silicone it in place. Even still, the big hold up is going to be my large stump that still hasn't quite sunk. Once that is waterlogged I'll add the substrate, then heat it and transfer the fish over. Fingers crossed it shouldn't be too long now, I'm starting to get excited!
Click to expand...


Hey David. Everything looks great!!! Your absolutely correct about the Laguna pump and your drain system. I just got one of my 125g tanks up and running did the Beananimal using the Laguna 2000. Not only is the laguna a Beast its also very quiet. Has to be one of my favorite pumps at this moment. Im running about the same head you are along with 40mm/1.5 inch outlet hose. Your sump looks fantastic. Its amazing how much flow the drain can handle Yours is basically the same as mine 40mm inside roughly 1.5". The only way I was able to engage the secondary drain was by closing the primary drain via the gate valve then I was able to get both to flow.

Your set up looks fantastic!! Cant wait to see it finished and with your wet pets swimming around.
 
Cheers. I'm completely sold on the Laguna pumps, have had nothing but good experiences with them.

Had a fairly productive day, starting with 150kg 'washed builders sand'.

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"washed". yeah, right...

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A couple of hours and a 100% water change later ...

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Big thanks to my wife for rinsing the sand while I carried the buckets inside and emptied them into the tank!

I also siliconed some plastic mesh onto the overflow so it will be another day or two until I start running the sump again. I've got four night shifts starting tomorrow so I'll get the lights wired up this week and get the spraybar done. It is starting to look like an aquarium now, starting to get excited about adding fish!
 
Funny the little problems you come across with a project like this. I just found that the two big LED flodlights I was planning on using cast big straight front-to-back shadows from the black silicone on the bracing. Either need to add another in the centre or look at using something more like the Beamsworks LEDs....
 
There´s also something that doesn´t go as planned... That´s natural in any big project.
But the tank is looking reaaly good, David !
 
Spraybar done, everything running as it should be! I'm pretty happy with how quiet it is for the amount of water that is being moved, will be even quieter once the pump is sitting up on a sponge.

[YT]<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Gal9R8epz8w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/YT]

*edit* not sure if that embedded video is showing up, I never could get the hang of that ! :irked:
Here's the direct link; http://youtu.be/Gal9R8epz8w

I'm about to head into town to get some C-channel to mount the lights, and I'm going to start heating it tonight. Only problem I've found with the Poret is it isn't rigid enough to support itself against the flow of water, I'm going to try track down some egg crate to put behing the last sheet to keep it from sagging too much.

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The aim is to have fish in it by the end of the month, fingers crossed!

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