HM's 40b build (will work on title)

Hey all,

My build is going much slower then I had hoped but I'm planning to drill my 40b this week!! I wanted to get some input from everyone on placing the return lines and also a siphon stop.

My overflow is going to be in the center of the back wall. I'm not really sure if there are any advantages to placing the return lines near the overflow or more out to the corners. If it's just a preference thing that's cool but I wanted to ask.

Secondly, I am thinking about using a Y fitting for my loc lines and having 4, 3" return lines. One line on each connector would be close to the water surface to agitate it and the other would be pointed further down in the tank. I was thinking the return line near the surface (in my mind I imagine it being roughly an inch below the surface) would break the siphon in the event of a power outage. What do you all think?
 
If you want to have 4 returns (2 coming out of each side using a Y) you will need to use locline valves on the two up near the surface to slightly restrict the flow coming out of them. Otherwise, the water being pushed by the return pump will take the path of least resistance, and the majority of the water will exit through the upper two, and very little will exit through the ones pointed downward into the DT. I just went through this very scenario on my tank when I went from 2 to 4 return lines.
As for the siphon break, you can just drill a small hole in the bottom of each Y to provide the break you need. Doing it this way will break the siphon no matter how you have your returns pointed. Hope this didn't confuse you too bad...lol
 
@Mike R wrote:
If you want to have 4 returns (2 coming out of each side using a Y) you will need to use locline valves on the two up near the surface to slightly restrict the flow coming out of them. Otherwise said:
Nope that is helpful, some other folks had suggested the same thing but there were a lot of vocal people saying drilling a hole was a recipe for disaster. I may do it though if its working well for you.
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@HM3105 wrote:
[I]@Mike R wrote:[/I][quote="If you want to have 4 returns (2 coming out of each side using a Y) you will need to use locline valves on the two up near the surface to slightly restrict the flow coming out of them. Otherwise said:
Nope that is helpful, some other folks had suggested the same thing but there were a lot of vocal people saying drilling a hole was a recipe for disaster. I may do it though if its working well for you."]

There is always the possibility of a snail or something else blocking the drilled hole, which would result in the siphon continuing until the water level reaches the next lowest point in the locline. The absolute best way to avoid disaster is to ensure that there is sufficient available volume in your sump to handle the maximum amount of water that could potentially drain back into it, even in a worse case scenario.
Remember that returns are just that... Returns...and although they can assist with providing flow, that is not their main purpose. The safe bet would be to leave the returns near the top and let power heads handle the flow. Another plus to leaving the returns up high is increased surface agitation, which aides in gas exchange.
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We have a drilled tank! First time ever doing this, super exciting and super easy. Now I can take this extra 40b back to Petco...

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I spent most of Saturday working so Sunday I worked on the tank plumbing.

Before I glue everything together, I would appreciate some feed back from those who have done this once or twice...

I've got unions at each bulkhead so I can remove that entire section. I ordered the wrong hose barb for the drain line but it will basically be dumping into the sump right next to the skimmer intake. All picks are taken from the backside of the tank.

I also have the glass for my bubble trap on order, it'll be 8.5" high, 1" spacing and the center piece will be 1"-1.5" inches off the bottom of the sump. The water should flow over-under-over into the pump chamber.

First, the overall
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Second, the actual connections. i will probably direct the return line for the reactor behind the skimmer to keep junk from getting back there.
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Finally got the plumbing done, filled it with tap water and turned it on!

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I had to turn my pump down all the way otherwise the return chamber is only half full and I get a bunch of micro bubbles from the water falling over the last baffle and creating bubbles.

Interestingly, if I turn the pump up at all, the return line comes to the surface in the sump and starts "flushing". Any thoughts on how to fix this?

Now begins the waiting, I read on my local forum to let it run for 24 hours to check for leaks and if there is nothing go ahead and fill it up. Anyone have a better method?
 
So time for an update, the tank is finally in its final place in the house and everything is running smoothly now.

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One of the issues I ran into was with my Glass-Holes 700 gph overflow, any time I ran the pump on anything other than the lowest setting it would cause the return line to start flushing because of the air. I emailed the GH tech support team and they were very helpful. They recommended I use a reverse Durso if I wanted to push more flow through the display tank. So after some Googling I found a design, went to Home Depot to get the parts and installed it.

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No more flushing sound but it is still fairly noisy. It doesn't sound like it is coming from the sump though, its mostly from the water falling from the bulkhead to the sump. My understanding is that it will "slime up" in a few weeks and quiet down significantly. If that doesn't work then I'll just turn the pump back down.

I also got my dry rock from Reef Cleaners this week, the rock pieces were very nice and included some cool shapes and sizes. I decided to go with only 30lbs though as I felt the 50lbs I originally planned would clutter up the tank too much. I also started working on the scape, so this is my first final one which I like. I have 10 pounds of live rock due either this week or next so once I see what those pieces look like it'll be time to start gluing it together with the Waterweld you see in the picture.

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So there you have it, that's where my build is at the moment. I'm hoping to start working on the LED Cluster this week or maybe next.
 
The tank is officially cycling, I received my live rock earlier this week so now I've been working on the scape some..So far I like this one the most. I'm kind of building one and letting it sit for a few days and then looking at it again to see if I want to change anything. I figure once I don't want to change it anymore I am probably done..

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So while I am waiting for this tank to cycle, I thought I would share some pictures of the corals I picked up this weekend. These are in my Fluval Spec V which is approaching its one year birthday!

Picked this up at Frank's Tanks.

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Picked this up at Neptune's.

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Both corals were a little annoyed from the coral dip but they've both opened nicely and started feeding.

And this is the center bridge of my tank with all my other Zoa's I've collected. Oh yeah and my clown decided to photo bomb it..

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now I have a light! That was the last part, other then hanging it. According to my test kits its done cycling too, seems like it only took 3 weeks.I guess that's the benefit of using some live rock to seed it?

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Here is my stock list, suggestions are welcome.

1. Six line wrasse
2. 4-5 Springer's Damsels Or Green Chromis (I'm hoping these will all stick together)
3. A pair of Maroon clowns (kind of forced into this, I already have one and he was named by the wife so getting rid of him is unlikely)
4. Something that likes the bottom? I'm thinking either a Lawnmower blenny or maybe a couple of clown gobies?
 
First FTS, lights are hung now we just hope it holds.

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I've got an aluminum c channel (I think its 3/4" made of 1/10" aluminum) running down the spine of the light to which the hanging bolts are attached with large washers to distribute the load. I wish I was an engineer. Anyway the light looks great so I'm very pleased, can't wait to start stocking it.
 
Added four Green Chromis yesterday, they're eating and swimming about the tank but they still freak out whenever I walk into the room but then they come to the front of the glass to investigate so that's a good sign. One of them has taken up residence in the center of the right rock work.

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I'm holding off on stocking corals until the frag swap this month, very excited..
 
So it has been awhile since I updated so here we go!

Nothing new on the equipment side, I've added a an ATO just this week which is great! I also switched from Kent Marine 2 part to B-ionic. I've got nice coralline growth on my HDPE sheet and starting on the glass. All the corals seem happy too! Anyway, pictures are worth a thousand words.

FTS 11/24/14
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Acans and an A. Echinata
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And my chalices!
The first two are from Coral Gardens Aquaculture, the rest are from some of our LFS and other reefers.
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and my zoa collection...staring with my most recent some Gatorades!
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Red goni I picked up at Next Wave, still doing well I'm pretty excited by this one.
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And this is my new nem I just picked up from PatrickMC
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Took some new pictures as the blues were coming on....sorry they are a little over saturated I can't get my point and shoot camera to take pictures very well and capture the colors. Its either blah or over saturated, so you get over saturated.

So for the record clownfish are f'ing hard to get a good picture.

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This is the main "coral alley" in my tank...
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Rainbow stylo (I think?). This thing has tripled in size since I got it..
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Pink boobies chalice
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This is that Echinata I picked up a while back. Its coloring up nicely and readily eats now.
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I got this Chalice from Coral Gardens Aquaculture, it started out mostly green but has colored up and now has a significant amount of pink. Pretty much all those raised bumps and the feeding tentacles are pink.
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and finally, the rainbow bubble tip which has colored up amazingly, this is probably my second favorite animal in the whole thank.
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So here are the goodies I got at Coral Fest today.
 
I apologize in advance I am having a small algae issue.
 
Unnamed chalice...with all the right colors in all the right places...out of everything I got today I think this was my favorite.
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Fierce Melon
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Unnamed chalice...or maybe an echinata? they said it attacked a Duncan pretty bad...sorry everything is so blue the AWB didn't work.
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Whiplash Chalice
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From left to right...Captain America, Rasta, Sunny D..
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Goddess of War zoas
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Fireworks zoas
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