JenkinsCrew 110 Gallon Oceanic Mixed Reef Build

Thanks Mike!I also found this little cabinet and will use it as my power/control center. Should work nicely to hold the electronics :)
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I got my canopy back and it turned out great! The cut was made clean and re-stained, the hinges were installed and recessed into the top so they are flush and he routered out some grooves on the inside sides for my light brackets to slide back and forth. Thanks Johnie!
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alt="" />If you need any woodwork done get a hold of Johnie "johnie_west". He does great work. :)
 
Thanks Ricky!

This setup is working perfectly! I can slide the light back and forth with ease and all looks and works great.

It is a little heavy, so I am contemplating on adding shocks on the inside of both sides (like a car trunk lid) to help with opening and closing but would have to find some short ones. I just have to worry about corrosion and no fluid filled shocks. Anyone have any suggestions or experience with that? Like maybe I shouldn't even do it, or something that would be better?

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Hey Chris, you should contact Billy. He has an electric actuator for raising/lowering canopies/light fixtures. I think he'd sell it and it might just work for your build.
 
I was thinking about actuators but it would end up be a little over-kill for this I think. Thank you very much for the info Mike!
 
OK so working on the sump plumbing now. Here is a shot of the original plumbing setup, just kinda in there not really put together all the way because I couldn't screw on the left drain pipe because no union and I would have to lift the tank up and over to have room.View attachment 1043Here is a shot with the sump and equipment in. You can see I modified the sump from the original design and moved the center baffle up and to the left and added some eggcrate so I can lay different filter media in.View attachment 1044So...I am going to completely redo all the sump plumbing, for a few reasons. There are not unions everywhere I need them, all the ball valves are shot and equipment is in a different location in the sum than originally. I am going to keep pretty much the same design with the manifold and all but will be replacing all the ball valves and unions with union cepex valves. Then adjust some of the locations on the manifold. I will probably put two valves on the left, then the manifold hookup, then the return pump connection and then one valve on the right. I will put my top off container on the right side and maybe an external reactor. Does it look like I am on the right track? Any suggestions or don't do's?View attachment 1045So both drains will connect together and will use a flexible drain hose to connect to the filter sock holder with a 4" 200 micron mesh sock in the left chamber where the skimmer will be. Then will overflow through the eggcrate with filter and into the refugium area. Thinking of using sump mud with cheato and maybe some dragons breath and will have the probe holders and heaters in there as well. Then it will flow to the right chamber to the return pump to feed the manifold and return lines....sound like a good plan so far?
 
At least you're redoing it now and not a year after it's all setup and running like I am. A year after starting the tank I finally hit the point where there were enough things I wished I had done differently that I've just started building a whole new sump and manifold. [smilie=smile.gif]
 
Yes exactly! I want to do it right the first time. I just hope my plan is right and I am not doing something wrong...

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@jenkinscrew wrote:
Yes exactly! I want to do it right the first time. I just hope my plan is right and I am not doing something wrong... said:
It looks good to me so far. My biggest mistake was not adding a manifold. Now I have a return pump, a second pump feeding two reactors (carbon and GFO) and I'm wanting to add an external display refugium that would require a third pump. Instead of all that I'm going to simplify things by buying a much better return pump (probably a Vectra M1) and building a manifold.
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Looks good Chris!! Love the way you've been patient enough to do everything the right way. Keep up the good work.
 
Thanks for the input guys! I will start with my plumbing plan next week then and maybe even get some rock and sand next weekend. Getting closer to adding water!

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I was wondering if this is possible or if anyone has done this or has other better options. I haven’t been able to find anything so throwing it out there for suggestions.

While I was working on the plumbing for my new tank I wondered if it was possible to hookup a siphon system (like the python) to one of the ports on my return manifold, like you would to a kitchen sink, to have a built in sand vacuum. Thinking I could use it both for sump/refugium sand vacuuming and even display tank vacuuming, sand or no sand. It would be able to connect and disconnect easily, be able to stop flow to let sand settle and have it drain right back into the sump into a filter sock or external container to catch and remove everything.

Let me know your thoughts because I don’t even know if this will work, but hoping to come up with a sump/sand vacuum solution.
 
Looks great. I recently jumped back into the hobby after being hooked on reefer for a long time.

So I'm envious of your planning, and also what you can do with an older setup.

Just a couple observations.

1.) Might want to consider taking a piece of 3/4" plywood and cutting holes in it, and using it as a stability plate, to run those manifold outputs into. You could screw it into the side of the stand now, and it will greatly reduce the chance of cracking a bulkhead or worse, the bottom of your tank if someone gets overly ambitious turning a valve.

-I had a buddy who broke a bulkhead literally OFF the bottom of the tank, when his 4 year old threw the dogs toy into the cabinet while he was doing maintenance, and their 65lb. boxer slid into the sump.

Otherwise you could use some heavy duty strapping to staple it to the top of the stand, to add rigidity.


2.) Just another observation, but you can make your drains a little more snug and compact to the roof of the sump area, by using 2 x 45-degree unions, spliced together with a 1" section of pipe to give you more of a "sweep" than those 45's do. I have always done mine that way and it also seems to be a little more compact left-to-right. It's always a matter of opinion, but it just seemed it always allowed things to be a little more snug.


Lastly, before you button up the bottom, think about elevating your power controller / DC-8, or whatever AC power source you'll have so you can avoid splashing. Looks like you have room if you wanted, to actually mount a shelf in there now, and reserve space for wall-warts, power cords, etc.

I like using these little 1U rack-mount wire management panels, which have a removable cover, to hide all your wiring. (it's also really nice for containing 1/8" hose from dosers, etc. 1u rack mount wire manager

And on that topic, if you're going to house your ATO in that lil cabinet, you might drill a few 1/4" holes in the back panel of the stand to run in your dosing, kalk hoses, etc.


Looks awesome and fantastic job on that stand !
 
Thanks for the input!

I will definitely be mounting the manifold to the top with some surface mounting clamps (already ordered!) and using all schedule 80, I want this to be sturdy for sure!

Hmmm...didn't even know there was such a thing as a 45 degree union, where can you get those? I already placed my plumbing order but might be able to get them and redo if my plan doesn't work.

On the electrical, I will be running everything to the small cabinet next to the stand so all Controllers and EB8 will be separate from water all together, so I don't have to worry about splashes or corrosion. I also already, have and mounted, some of the white wire management panels/trays so everything should stay neat and tidy. Just might have to extend some of the power cords with some extension cords :p

My plan on the ATO is to put a container to the right of the sump, probably will get Marc to make me a container, and use the Micro ATO to keep it topped off. Anyone know if you can run the Micro ATO through a Kalk reactor or if pump too small?

Anymore input is greatly appreciated! Thank you for the props and suggestions everyone!
 
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