Finally my sump/fuge project...

[afboundguy]

After what seems like forever I finally started the sump/fuge project. I hope to be done in 2 weeks (stupid work) Today I just did a lot of the structural modifications to fit what I'm doing. I'm putting a 10 gallon sump/skimmer section and a fuge in a rubbermaid container and having the rubbermaid container gravity flow into the 10 gallon tank. I'm still up in the air about plumbing it tank-fuge-skimmer-return (which would be the easiest) or tank- split to fuge and skimmer then both to return which would be the best.

Anyways here are some before pics...

No clue where I'm gonna fit all this stuff...

I had to remove this center back brace because I 10 gallon tank doesn't fit the AGA stand by about 1/8"

 

[afboundguy]

Added two supports on each side with some shims...

Then screwed them in place for extra support...

 

[afboundguy]

I then added a 2x4 across the inside for extra "just-in-case" support... Only problem is that it prevents me from putting in the 10 gallon tank, but seeing how I haven't even put baffles on I left it in for now. Just a few screws and it comes off...

And don't mind the not so straight cutting... I had to cut by hand... I don't know how they built houses without powertools... I made 5 cuts and was exhausted...

 

[afboundguy]

I also took the time to properly mount the T5 ballasts since water will be around I figured having electrical parts that won't fall in it would be a good thing...

And I took the time to secure the powerstrips much better for the same reasons as the ballasts... Was a pain in the you know what but it looks much better...

 

[afboundguy]

Well that's all for today... I was going to try to do some dry-fitting of the plumbing but I have to leave for work in a few hours so not worth the time. I'll do that next Tues alone with hopefully putting in the baffles and then the following week adding water!!! I'll be sure to post more pics next week...

 

[jbishop]

Looking good Dave. Cant wait to see this progress.

 

[afboundguy]

Ok I've been slacking with pics and work but yesterday Kim who def earned her wife of the year award put up with me working on it a lot. I managed to get it up an running minus the skimmer (didn't have the correct size flex hose) but I hope to stop by HD/Lowes tonight or tomorrow and finish it up on Wed.

I have some pics that I'll try to load up tonight. All I can say is I love it! It's actually quieter than my bak-pak skimmer was and it looks like the water is a million times cleaner because there are no micro-bubbles at all (knock on wood hopefully it stays that way when I put in the skimmer) but some of it could be due to the 13-14 gallons of extra water I added to fill her up.

But I def love the look of no bak-pak and kalk dripper on top of the canopy (and so does Kim)

I'm def glad I put a ball vavle on the return because the pump (quiet one 4000) pumps it in too fast for the overflow. Maybe down the road I'll pick up a dual HOB overflow but for now it's nice to be "done" with this project. Look for pics hopefully tonight...

 

[afboundguy]

Ok so haven't updated this thread in a while but a lot has changed... I swapped out the Quiet One 4000 for an Ocean Runner 2500 to quiet the noise down... I did temp put the bak-pak in sump until I got my new Octo Extreme 160...

Here's a few pics of the skimmer in action with about 2-3 days skimmate (feed the tank 4-5 cubes of food 2 days in a row )

I did make a modification of the plumbing because after researching the Sicce pump on the skimmer it is not a fan of backpressure and the orig plumbing put the outlet piece about 4-5 inches under water and without the piece it was about 1" above water and made too much noise so I got a rounded 1.5" (IIRC) 90 elbow and drilled about 10 holes all around it to help with back pressure and it works perfect because it's not totally under water...

 

[afboundguy]

I did end up moving the ballasts from under the tank to the outside because salt creep was causing one of the ballast to trip the circuit and it was causing under the tank to heat the water up a lot...

So on the outside of the stand they went!

I'll have to mount the powerstrip a little better but it was a long day moving the ballasts and re-wiring them with a kidney stone and on percocets

P.S. The masking tape was just a way to remember where the wires went into the ballast don't worry I didn't use it to connect wiring lol...

 

[afboundguy]

I was having a problem with overflowing once the return pump would come off and I made a simple solution... I added a 90 elbow on the gravity feed from the refugium to the sump that brought up the level of the refugium about 1-2 inches and since during a power outage the refugium just empties into the sump I didn't care if it was a little higher...

 

[afboundguy]

And did the reverse durso based on the help of everyone who chimed in on my threads to help make it quieter for Kim

 

[afboundguy]

Also did the stockman mod to the overflow box and once I got it adjusted correctly nice and quiet!!!

 

[afboundguy]

And here's the "finished" product at least for the moment

Nice and tight fit with the kalk dripper and skimmer but thank goodness for the small footprint of the Octo Extreme 160!

 

[afboundguy]

Future plans for now include attempting to make a custom tank to fit behind the stand (about 4 1/2" wide) to hold about 5 gallons of water and install an ATO in the return pump section of the sump and either have the custom tank just be kalk water or make a DIY kalk reactor...

Hope everyone enjoys my shotty DIY style but it works and that's all I can ask for!!! Besides with the stand closed you can't even see it

 

[KJB]

Great use of space!!! Nicely done!

 

[afboundguy]

Great use of space!!! Nicely done!

Thanks... It was def a pain getting it all to fit but def worth it now that it's all in there...

 

[afboundguy]

I'm also thinking of putting some sand and CUC in the fuge section because there is a lot of sediment but I have been using the turkey baster almost daily to stir it up and keep it kind of clean...

 

[Paro6k]

nice job!

 

[KJB]

That's really cool. I just added a stockman to my overflow last night. It is really quiet compared to not having it. I had my tank COMPLETELY silent by closing the ball valve on the overflow pipe. I balanced out the return side to make it flow correctly and it was noise free (pretty much 100%). The only reason I opened it back up all the way and went with the stockman was my gut at the LFS said it was a major accident waiting to happen. I had it that way for two weeks with no issue at all, but, paranoia prevailed and I changed it. Now I am going to be building a DIY bubble tower/stack filter thing to give me a micro filter pad, then carbon bag, then some rubble to break up ( hopefully eliminate) more of the micro bubbles. I'll post some pics in my 47 column set up thread when I do it.

I also feel for you on the limited space thing...I have the same issue. Tight, tight, tight.

Again, Nice work!!

 

[afboundguy]

nice job!

Gracias!!!

That's really cool. I just added a stockman to my overflow last night. It is really quiet compared to not having it.

Def took me a few days to get it as quiet as it is now...

I also feel for you on the limited space thing...I have the same issue. Tight, tight, tight.

Again, Nice work!!

Gotta make due with what you given

And thanks!