750 gallon new tank

[ken31cay]

I ordered a new 750gal setup last month around mid- November. I'm looking forward to having it in hand around late February 2024.



Purchase details:

TANK: 120"x48"x30" with acrylic 1" sides, 3/4" top and bottom. Fishtanksdirect calls it their 670gal. Rear corner overflows. Tank will have a 1" schedule 80 bulkhead and heavy duty ball valve on left side of tank to accommodate auto water changes.

SUMP: Tsunami RS9624 (96"x24"x18"). Fishtanksdirect is customizing it for me to include three additional baffle chambers.

RETURN PUMPS: two Ecotech Vectra L2 pumps for the overflows + a third (spare), all customized to have quick-connect/disconnect unions.

STAND (36”): Cast-iron stand with solid maple wood cabinet that attaches.

CANOPY (15”): Solid wood maple

3D BACKGROUND (not purchased yet): from Universalrocks.com. Pretty sure I’ll go with the Texas Wall background in castle rock color. The background will cover the entire rear wall and also left side wall, which is next to a wall and where the bulkhead & auto water change will be setup. Also getting an assortment of rocks (same design & color) to complete the tank décor.

 

[FJB]

Super sweet!
Lucky you. Good luck with everything and keep us informed of your progress.

 

[jjohnwm]

Nice! Looking forward to seeing this come to life.

I'm not really a fan of partitions in sumps, but you certainly have enough room to do them without worrying about wasting space. I don't really understand the chambers created at the bottom of the last pic, but the top of that pic worries me. Partitions 1 and 2, the pair that creates the sock chamber, both go right down to the bottom of the tank, and Partition 3 has a gap at the bottom where it doesn't extend right to the bottom. Set up that way, it appears that the water can't exit the sock compartment at all unless it overflows out the top of the sump. I'm pretty sure that partitions 2 and 3 should be reversed, i.e. partition 2 should end above the bottom and partition 3 should force the water to flow up and over it into the big chamber.

My apologies if I am reading this wrongly; but if this is just a simple transposed drawing error...and if the sump is actually assembled the way it is shown...I think you will have a problem?

Also, isn't the final chamber where the pump goes very small? You'll have to watch evaporation very carefully; even removing a couple big rocks could drop the pump chamber level to dangerous levels.

 

[M1A1]

Looks amazing!

Agreeing with jjohnwm's concerns on the sump. I don't see a way for water to exit the filter socks except through that slot where the sock plate goes or by overflowing. There should be a gap at the bottom of baffle so water can exit after going through the socks. Likewise, not a huge fan of all the baffles and very small sump sections for a large system like this but hopefully you have it all planned out.

The return section though is just too small as based on the dimensions it holds only 5 gallons. With two Vectra L2's at 3000 gph each, that return section is getting turned over 1200 times per hour. An eighth inch (1/8", 0.125") change in the water level in your display tank is 3 gallons so any amount of displacement from the display will empty the return section in a fraction of a second.

 

[puffers4puffers]

Oh man!!
Do you happen to be in the SFBay Area?
My mbu would fit in there!

 

[ken31cay]

Nice! Looking forward to seeing this come to life.

I'm not really a fan of partitions in sumps, but you certainly have enough room to do them without worrying about wasting space. I don't really understand the chambers created at the bottom of the last pic, but the top of that pic worries me. Partitions 1 and 2, the pair that creates the sock chamber, both go right down to the bottom of the tank, and Partition 3 has a gap at the bottom where it doesn't extend right to the bottom. Set up that way, it appears that the water can't exit the sock compartment at all unless it overflows out the top of the sump. I'm pretty sure that partitions 2 and 3 should be reversed, i.e. partition 2 should end above the bottom and partition 3 should force the water to flow up and over it into the big chamber.

My apologies if I am reading this wrongly; but if this is just a simple transposed drawing error...and if the sump is actually assembled the way it is shown...I think you will have a problem?

Also, isn't the final chamber where the pump goes very small? You'll have to watch evaporation very carefully; even removing a couple big rocks could drop the pump chamber level to dangerous levels.

That drawing is misleading. See below a photo of the unmodified RS9624 where the outer partition of the sock chamber doesn't extend to bottom. I noticed the flaw in the drawing right away but I still gave an immediate approval to fishtanksdirect and we moved on to the next customization; based on the past two complete setups I purchased from them in the past, I believe it'll all work just fine. My thought is that the value for the dollar you receive there is unmatched anywhere else. Especially for large setups.

 

[ken31cay]

Looks amazing!

Agreeing with jjohnwm's concerns on the sump. I don't see a way for water to exit the filter socks except through that slot where the sock plate goes or by overflowing. There should be a gap at the bottom of baffle so water can exit after going through the socks. Likewise, not a huge fan of all the baffles and very small sump sections for a large system like this but hopefully you have it all planned out.

The return section though is just too small as based on the dimensions it holds only 5 gallons. With two Vectra L2's at 3000 gph each, that return section is getting turned over 1200 times per hour. An eighth inch (1/8", 0.125") change in the water level in your display tank is 3 gallons so any amount of displacement from the display will empty the return section in a fraction of a second.

I have considered these things. The return chamber is smallish but should contain both of the Vectra L2 pumps, which are deceptively small in size. Of course I'm assuming the overflows and plumbing can handle the water throughput for a tank this size (which I have no doubt it will). Besides this the Vecta L2's speed is adjustable by 1% increments. So even if something is off then I can still make an adjustment somewhere to accomodate it -ex/ increase size of overflow weirs opening if more flow is needed, or decrease pump speed if less is needed.

 

[jjohnwm]

The front end of that one makes a lot more sense. Still a weird set-up, IMHO; a giant sump that is mostly empty air, with only a few inches of water throughout most of it and still a tiny pump chamber. I'm curious to see how your additional partitions will change the function; it looks (?) like your added partitions will increase the depth of the water in the main compartment, but that pump chamber...wow...

Need to see it in the acrylic flesh, so to speak.

 

[ken31cay]

The front end of that one makes a lot more sense. Still a weird set-up, IMHO; a giant sump that is mostly empty air, with only a few inches of water throughout most of it and still a tiny pump chamber. I'm curious to see how your additional partitions will change the function; it looks (?) like your added partitions will increase the depth of the water in the main compartment, but that pump chamber...wow...

Need to see it in the acrylic flesh, so to speak.

The sump is supposed to be rated for 600gal to 800gal tanks so I guess I'll see.

In my 450gal I use one Vectra L1 pump with speed turned down to 78%. In my planning I figured I would need two of these pumps but have them turned down to around 68% to 70%. We'll see how it goes.

 

[puffers4puffers]

If it’s not too late,I would make the return pump portion on the sump twice as large
Especially since you sump is so large and the space is available
Just a thought...from here...in my chair