OK, so unlike this 300 gallon project that never materialized, I'm gearing up to finally upgrade.
Unlike last time, I own my house now. And unlike the last tank, this one's acrylic. So instead of it weighing 800lbs empty and causing all kinds of problems then never getting set up because I spent all my time at my girlfriend's, I have a tank I was able to drag into our house 100% by myself, using only a dolly to descend the stairs. Also, we're married now. So she can't break up with me, even when she comes home to find the 2nd tank I've brought home in the past week.
The other big part of this is that I have a stand frame to put it on, so there's no prerequisite to filling it... other than putting the carpet back down (Tuesday).
Anyway, I picked up a 220 today. It's 86.6" x 24 x 24, bought from Dom, an MFKer in WI. And boy am I glad that despite all the planning and shopping that I did for 8 foot tanks, I got a ~7 footer. An 8 would be butting up against the door in the room. 7 is perfect. I'd prefer taller, I guess, but it's the footprint that's most important. 30" wouldn't fit the room or even through the door either.
Here's where my inexperience and the flaws in our educational system come up. For all that I accomplished up through and including college, I was never once required to take physics or learn anything about water. It's a simple concept (gravity!) but I am completely retarded when it comes to this stuff. I overthink it and have fears that are unfounded and probably hilarious to those of you who know what you're doing. I have never successfully set up a sump, and I have about a billion questions that I hope someone will be kind enough to answer. Think of it like holding a kindergarten kid's hand... (on the plus side, I do learn quickly).
Actually, a "plumbing for idiots" website would be super useful. Anyone know of a good one?
Here is some relevant information:
1) This tank is on the basement level, which means that it is about 4 feet below grade. I can't run a hose out a window or under a door to drain anything.
2) The room is also serving as a home theater, so I will not be using a sump. (though I will still have dumb questions about about those too since I have a tank upstairs that will use one.) I have two FX5s and an Eheim 2260 (among other canisters) that I plan to use to keep things nice and quiet.
3) I would still like to have some sort of water change automation even though I don't know how I'm going to drain it.
4) If possible, I would like to share the RO unit that the upstairs tank will be using
5) The tank has two holes drilled in the bottom of it. Visible here, I think. One is in the back right corner, the other about 1/3 from the left side and in the front third (random spot).
Now, because I'm not using a sump and have no overflows, I know some heaters/pipes/etc will need to be visible in the tank, but I want to keep that to a minimum. The stealthier the better, especially with 3 filters and returns.
Here's where my plumbing stupidity comes into play: I would very much like to copy this FX5 plumbing scheme (x3) but I can't shake this linger fear that a power failure or pump failure would end up flooding the entire house (which I nearly experienced a month ago, which is why the carpet needs to be replaced tuesday. Yes, that's the tack board visible in the photos. Yes, I poured about 50 gallons of water directly onto my floor via two pythons because I went outside and forgot about them. Yes, I already told you I'm an idiot.). While I'm perfectly well aware of the facts that an intake drilled in the side of the wall is no different from the submerged intake of my current FX5 and that water finds a level, I can't shake the feeling that the pressure of 220 gallons of water pressing down on that little hole in the bottom would create a giant geyser and eventually force its way out of the canister filters. (Again: stupid.)
Can somebody reassure me that there's no way that can happen? That I can use those bottom holes as intakes, and even returns, if I want, without running the risk of blowing out the filter and flooding my house?
Anyway... assuming that's all not that big a deal, I'm still thinking I'll patch those ones up, if only because this tank will have eartheaters and the intakes would be likely to inhale giant amounts of sand and clog the filters in a day or two.
So without getting into optimal placement of intakes/returns just yet, I'm wondering what my best option is for plumbing up three filters underneath and also potentially having a nice easy way to drain the tank using one or two of those pumps.
Fancy diagram 1 below shows one simple way to just use each filter with one in and one out, all drilled. D2 is me wondering if there's a way I can put in a valve of sorts that can redirect my FX5 returns to a drain pipe (which leads to.... TBA.)... and whether that drain pipe can be shared by BOTH FX5s. I guess in that case I don't care if it makes splashing noises inside a wider diameter pipe. There'll be noise during a WC anyway. D3 is me wondering if there's some way I could combine the returns of the two FX5s, though I'm not sure why I'd want that. And it seems like a bad idea. Unless there was some way to have some sort of reservoir in between the two, which also held the heaters... but then I'd assume that'd screw up the pumps.
It'd be nice to have a UV sterilizer built in somewhere too. Perhaps on the Eheim return or something.
OK, that's enough for now. I have a feeling my threads never get responses because people open them and see ten pages of typing and roll their eyes at me.
But I would LOVE to get some input from the pros on here about the best way to hook this all up. And whether I can still somehow incorporate a drip and drain system without a sump and gravity on my side. And all that fun stuff.
Meanwhile, I'm going to see about getting this thing buffed, try to plan for holes and PVC and bulkheads, and eventually skin the 2x4 stand with cherry ply and some doors and trim and build a super tall canopy above it that also doubles as a shelf for my projector. And I will document my [mis]adventures through photos the whole way.
(Thanks for reading this far.)
Unlike last time, I own my house now. And unlike the last tank, this one's acrylic. So instead of it weighing 800lbs empty and causing all kinds of problems then never getting set up because I spent all my time at my girlfriend's, I have a tank I was able to drag into our house 100% by myself, using only a dolly to descend the stairs. Also, we're married now. So she can't break up with me, even when she comes home to find the 2nd tank I've brought home in the past week.
The other big part of this is that I have a stand frame to put it on, so there's no prerequisite to filling it... other than putting the carpet back down (Tuesday).
Anyway, I picked up a 220 today. It's 86.6" x 24 x 24, bought from Dom, an MFKer in WI. And boy am I glad that despite all the planning and shopping that I did for 8 foot tanks, I got a ~7 footer. An 8 would be butting up against the door in the room. 7 is perfect. I'd prefer taller, I guess, but it's the footprint that's most important. 30" wouldn't fit the room or even through the door either.
Here's where my inexperience and the flaws in our educational system come up. For all that I accomplished up through and including college, I was never once required to take physics or learn anything about water. It's a simple concept (gravity!) but I am completely retarded when it comes to this stuff. I overthink it and have fears that are unfounded and probably hilarious to those of you who know what you're doing. I have never successfully set up a sump, and I have about a billion questions that I hope someone will be kind enough to answer. Think of it like holding a kindergarten kid's hand... (on the plus side, I do learn quickly).
Actually, a "plumbing for idiots" website would be super useful. Anyone know of a good one?
Here is some relevant information:
1) This tank is on the basement level, which means that it is about 4 feet below grade. I can't run a hose out a window or under a door to drain anything.
2) The room is also serving as a home theater, so I will not be using a sump. (though I will still have dumb questions about about those too since I have a tank upstairs that will use one.) I have two FX5s and an Eheim 2260 (among other canisters) that I plan to use to keep things nice and quiet.
3) I would still like to have some sort of water change automation even though I don't know how I'm going to drain it.
4) If possible, I would like to share the RO unit that the upstairs tank will be using
5) The tank has two holes drilled in the bottom of it. Visible here, I think. One is in the back right corner, the other about 1/3 from the left side and in the front third (random spot).
Now, because I'm not using a sump and have no overflows, I know some heaters/pipes/etc will need to be visible in the tank, but I want to keep that to a minimum. The stealthier the better, especially with 3 filters and returns.
Here's where my plumbing stupidity comes into play: I would very much like to copy this FX5 plumbing scheme (x3) but I can't shake this linger fear that a power failure or pump failure would end up flooding the entire house (which I nearly experienced a month ago, which is why the carpet needs to be replaced tuesday. Yes, that's the tack board visible in the photos. Yes, I poured about 50 gallons of water directly onto my floor via two pythons because I went outside and forgot about them. Yes, I already told you I'm an idiot.). While I'm perfectly well aware of the facts that an intake drilled in the side of the wall is no different from the submerged intake of my current FX5 and that water finds a level, I can't shake the feeling that the pressure of 220 gallons of water pressing down on that little hole in the bottom would create a giant geyser and eventually force its way out of the canister filters. (Again: stupid.)
Can somebody reassure me that there's no way that can happen? That I can use those bottom holes as intakes, and even returns, if I want, without running the risk of blowing out the filter and flooding my house?
Anyway... assuming that's all not that big a deal, I'm still thinking I'll patch those ones up, if only because this tank will have eartheaters and the intakes would be likely to inhale giant amounts of sand and clog the filters in a day or two.
So without getting into optimal placement of intakes/returns just yet, I'm wondering what my best option is for plumbing up three filters underneath and also potentially having a nice easy way to drain the tank using one or two of those pumps.
Fancy diagram 1 below shows one simple way to just use each filter with one in and one out, all drilled. D2 is me wondering if there's a way I can put in a valve of sorts that can redirect my FX5 returns to a drain pipe (which leads to.... TBA.)... and whether that drain pipe can be shared by BOTH FX5s. I guess in that case I don't care if it makes splashing noises inside a wider diameter pipe. There'll be noise during a WC anyway. D3 is me wondering if there's some way I could combine the returns of the two FX5s, though I'm not sure why I'd want that. And it seems like a bad idea. Unless there was some way to have some sort of reservoir in between the two, which also held the heaters... but then I'd assume that'd screw up the pumps.
It'd be nice to have a UV sterilizer built in somewhere too. Perhaps on the Eheim return or something.
OK, that's enough for now. I have a feeling my threads never get responses because people open them and see ten pages of typing and roll their eyes at me.
But I would LOVE to get some input from the pros on here about the best way to hook this all up. And whether I can still somehow incorporate a drip and drain system without a sump and gravity on my side. And all that fun stuff.
Meanwhile, I'm going to see about getting this thing buffed, try to plan for holes and PVC and bulkheads, and eventually skin the 2x4 stand with cherry ply and some doors and trim and build a super tall canopy above it that also doubles as a shelf for my projector. And I will document my [mis]adventures through photos the whole way.
(Thanks for reading this far.)
