Sexy Plumbing - Island Tank
- Thread starter JK47
- Start date
Admittedly it looks scetchy but isn’t. I ran a tank on this stand for 6 years that was taller/more gallons. It will have two sheets of ply and a supported floor for the sump
Thank ya. It will go in the middle ish of the garage. This tank has no Ultima so plumbing should be a bit easier to follow.
Looking forward to another build!!!
Bent PVC vs. fittings, huh!! I think that will look sooooo sexy!Are you using a store bought/borrowed PVC bender or will you be using a DIY method?
My own variation of DIY. I've done the torched sand technique as well as a few others. This is the only time I've done it for one of my own tanks though. Eventually I will man up and buy a commercial unit
Same here! I cashed in a bunch of BRS credits from reef builds for others and decided to make one for myself.
N nzafi is leading the campaign on this plumbing approach for his Ultima setup which i've yet to see done by anyone in FW. I really hope he puts my schedule 40 to shame, we need more sexy tanks on the FW side!
Well tank moves into the house this weekend and plumbing starts on Monday so you’ll see what I do. Doubt it will be anywhere close to how well you do your stuff. You have an eye for straight lines and making everything balanced. Wish me luck. There are three non-black items I’m trying to figure out how to make black if you have things:
- reeflo pump (was thinking of covering with a black box but worrried about heat)
- ranco controller
- white site glass for the bacflush
- potentially my jemhco airpump (haven’t decide if I’ll do airstones and this pump is overkill considering it does 26lpm)
Btw, based on some of your comments it sounds like you setup tanks for other people. Are you like a professional installer.
I'm excited to see what you do! Your plumbing will turn out awesome. You've put way too much planning into it for it to go bad. In order:
- (reeflo pump) = IMO you would avoid painting it unless you take the housing off of the motor. Over spraying the internals is asking for problems. Powder coating or high heat paint applications (engine block paint at a local auto parts would work). You could build a box and put a $5 PC cooling fan on it. I have one on the server cabinet on a 600. Cheap and do wonders for temp.
-(ranco controller) = no clue, would need a pick. Vinyl wrap may be an option.
-(White site glass) = Black plastidip.
-Good idea to include air management if using a closed loop tank. Its much more important closed loop systems since O2 can crash during power outage pretty quick. UPS battery backup would run that pump for days.
My profession is in a very different field. I have plumbed a lot of tanks for people over the years and get referrals. I'm a behind the scenes guy at most everything (except build threads apparently)
It keeps skills fresh and is good for my boy to see/be involved in (he's our buffing guy). We have two massive tanks coming up in Jul/Aug. I'll see if the onwner will let me post pics.
^ this is the baseline we’re working with. Can’t see a damn thing. Novus wouldn’t touch this
For an "Island" configuration I assume you are going to use a centered tank overflow? If so what are you going to do with the hole (old overflow I assume) on the side of the tank?
The tank does look a bit beat up. I recently purchased a 180g (72" x 24" x 24") acrylic off of CraigsList that looked about the same as yours. In a couple spots I had to start with 400 grit sand paper for some deep gouges. Most of the tank I started at 800 grit. I went 400, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 then 3000 grit before going to Novus. It has been a heck of a lot of sanding... but I am almost done with it.
My tank has holes in the bottom but no holes in the sides. I have been debating what to do for overflows and returns. I had settled on an end return for a peninsula configuration like your tank is currently drilled for. I will be watching this thread as I strongly considered a center overflow/returns and wiring up through the center overflow. I am just having a hard time picturing how I would hide the center overflow. My tank is going to be a heavily planted tank with a dirt bottom and smaller fish.
For an "Island" configuration I assume you are going to use a centered tank overflow? If so what are you going to do with the hole (old overflow I assume) on the side of the tank?
The tank does look a bit beat up. I recently purchased a 180g (72" x 24" x 24") acrylic off of CraigsList that looked about the same as yours. In a couple spots I had to start with 400 grit sand paper for some deep gouges. Most of the tank I started at 800 grit. I went 400, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 then 3000 grit before going to Novus. It has been a heck of a lot of sanding... but I am almost done with it.
My tank has holes in the bottom but no holes in the sides. I have been debating what to do for overflows and returns. I had settled on an end return for a peninsula configuration like your tank is currently drilled for. I will be watching this thread as I strongly considered a center overflow/returns and wiring up through the center overflow. I am just having a hard time picturing how I would hide the center overflow. My tank is going to be a heavily planted tank with a dirt bottom and smaller fish.
Sweet setup Michael! Nice job on the sanding as well. I took this one down to 600, 1200, 2000, 3000, Novus 3, 2 ,1. I'll get the buffing pics up tonight. I have the outer front and back panel left to finish once it's on the stand.
The center of the tank will be hardscape so no tower. There are three 1.5" holes on the back wall, upper right hand corner. I am building my own acrylic overflow so it's clean. Side wall is the return from the pump. Four OCD approved vertical black lines total.
