Fish Tank Rack Project

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I like how the 4 10's are on the side...
 
Looks good so far.
I am sure you are planing to do this but I have to ask anyway, Do you plan on anchoring the stand to the wall due to it being top heavy?

I was almost complete with a project very similar to this when I got a hold of my 560gal but my wife made me choose between the two and I chose the 560gal.
 
Here is a link to some examples & explanations of various DIY overflows. The animated one is a very good explanation.

The style that needs the least amount of PVC plumbing in the tank would require you to drill a hole in the rear or side pane and install a bulkhead fitting. Whether you can drill your particular brand of aquarium depends of the size of the tank, check the mfg. website for additional info on if the side or end panes are tempered or not.
 
Thanks for the support everybody! And Thank You deeda for the link. I think that may be the same thread that I read before I made my first overflows for our 120 gallon inside ;).

We've actually gotten quite a bit done this last weekend. We got the racks painted, and my SO got all of the electrical run to the outlets and switches in the stand, all that's left there is to connect it to the lines coming from the new breakers and put on some face plates. I've been hard at work with the plumbing. The return lines are mostly put together, the 3 inch down pipes to the sump are also together and bracketed to the stand. I spent most of the day yesterday testing different overflow ideas and ended up completely changing the original design. As it turns out, the way I wanted to do them which put less pipe in the stand and allowed to use the same overflow for a WC system, only yielded about 60 gallons per hour max flow :(, so the new design is a little more like a traditional PVC overflow, with an additional siphon to connect to the drain pipes for the WC system.

The change in the design gives me closer to 240gph, and I'm going to be running a few more tests on it today after I tweak a few other parts of it. The design of the plumbing has also been tweaked a bit more, mostly to bring the cost down as much as possible. With any luck, I'll get all of the PVC I need for the overflows cut, as well as mostly assembled, then I can do a little more dry fitting and all that will be left is the WC drains. Once I know that everything fits together the way it's supposed to, I can go back and glue everything (totally not looking forward to) and we'll be able to get the racks attached and the tanks in! I'll try and post some pics later, but it's getting a little more difficult to get a decent angle on anything with it tucked in the corner of the garage, so we'll see!
 
Like I said, not the best pics, but here they are.

uploadfromtaptalk1328485376689.jpg
SO doing the electrical

uploadfromtaptalk1328485405128.jpg
Yeah switches!

uploadfromtaptalk1328485425394.jpg
Back view kinda.

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Down pipes to sump.

uploadfromtaptalk1328485535698.jpg
Overflow pieces.


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Ok, we were going to get a pump from harbor freight, but now we're nervous if it will be able to handle the head pressure and it doesn't actually say? Anyone have suggestions and a low cost pump that would still give at least 1800 gph at about 8' head?

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You may want to do a little research on the pump. I almost made the mistake of getting a HF pump. I was actually going to get a sump pump, but pacu mom gave me some good advice with respect to comsumption. One big MAG 24 pump may cost you about 192.00 but it may power your whole system if plumbed properly (maybe I would have to do some number crunching first) and it will pay for itself in the saving compared to a HF sump. I know you didn't mention sump, but their big pumps aren't very efficient. Their best pond pump give 2150 gph at 0 head. At 8ft it may give 1/3 to 1/5 of that output.

You may get by with two smaller (less expesive pums) If you sacrifice one of your larger mid-level tanks as a basin. That way two tanks (one at floor level and another at mid-level. Come to think of it...you may just be better off buying the mag 24 or Mag 36 (I just say it online for 199.00). A Mag 36 will definitely power the entire set-up if you use ball-valves to choke off the lower levels. It may cost you 200.00 up front but you will save a fortune in electricity costs in the long run.

Thanks for posting. Your doing a great job!
 
iDRINKbLEACH said:
You may want to do a little research on the pump. I almost made the mistake of getting a HF pump. I was actually going to get a sump pump, but pacu mom gave me some good advice with respect to comsumption. One big MAG 24 pump may cost you about 192.00 but it may power your whole system if plumbed properly (maybe I would have to do some number crunching first) and it will pay for itself in the saving compared to a HF sump. I know you didn't mention sump, but their big pumps aren't very efficient. Their best pond pump give 2150 gph at 0 head. At 8ft it may give 1/3 to 1/5 of that output.

You may get by with two smaller (less expesive pums) If you sacrifice one of your larger mid-level tanks as a basin. That way two tanks (one at floor level and another at mid-level. Come to think of it...you may just be better off buying the mag 24 or Mag 36 (I just say it online for 199.00). A Mag 36 will definitely power the entire set-up if you use ball-valves to choke off the lower levels. It may cost you 200.00 up front but you will save a fortune in electricity costs in the long run.

Thanks for posting. Your doing a great job!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input! We were looking at a pond pump, not a sump pump. I've read a lot about sump pumps just not lasting due to the fact that they aren't designed for 24/7 operation. In any event, the pond pump you mention is probably the same one we were originally looking at, and the head pressure being so diminished is exactly why we're looking for other options. If you look at my first post on the thread, it should have pics of the plumbing design. The overflows have changed a bit, but the return piping is the same. I have it plumbed to the top of the stand with 1" pvc first, then it reducing to 1/2" pvc for drops to all of the tanks. The bottom middle tank will be a sump, and the other two bottom tanks will probably have to be QT/HT tanks. What brand pumps are you talking about? I'm a little new to pump shopping, but from what I gather, a 'mag 24' is just a magnetic drive right? Could you share any more information on the best place to find these pumps? I'm fine with using two smaller pumps for the whole thing, but can they be plumbed together? Unfortunately, I already have the return plumbing in place and there's not a lot of room to change it now.

Thanks again for the input!!
 
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