My 315G Plywood Tank Build

[BadOleRoss]

In the 2nd to the last picture, that's not exposed plywood in the box....it's sawdust!

 

[BadOleRoss]

Overflows up and running and working great. No leaks, doubled my flow and no more pesky underwater screens to unscrew and clean off.

 

[Burko]

Do i see that right?

You cut a section out of a non-leaking tank fitted (fat...) a pre-built overflow and just rubbered over the seam...

You're a brave man...

 

[David K. Bradley]

Do i see that right?

You cut a section out of a non-leaking tank fitted (fat...) a pre-built overflow and just rubbered over the seam...

You're a brave man...

Great job, Ross. Your tank seems to be coming along really good. Was it difficult to figure out how big to make your overflow boxes or you just used the SWAG method?

When you applied the PC to the seams of where the overflow box attached to the tank did you apply PC to the top edges of the tank and into the overflow box, so water would not leak between the tank and the overflow boxes?

After seeing your recent photo's, I think you made a good decission to change your set up from the screens to overflow boxes to enable greater water flow back to your sump.

What was the determining factor to use 2 - 2.5" return pipes from the overflow box to the sump, instead of just 1 - 3" pipe?

If your sump unit was to shut down, for any reason, will this cause any situations with water draining out of the tank via the sump unit and cause water to be expelled onto the floor?

Did you install a check valve in your water lines somewhere that does not allow this to happen?

Is a check valve really necessary to have in any sump filtration system? If not, why is it not necessary? I'm not understanding why this concept. If you can, please explain. Thank you.

 

[BadOleRoss]

Do i see that right?

You cut a section out of a non-leaking tank fitted (fat...) a pre-built overflow and just rubbered over the seam...

You're a brave man...

Yes, that is just what I did. And let me say that it is working great. My water looks better after 1 day with these boxes then it did with weeks of the other bulkheads. However, I have noticed a leak in my sump so that will be a rebuild very soon. I think I am going to replace the 1 giant sump with 2 smaller sumps.

 

[BadOleRoss]

Great job, Ross. Your tank seems to be coming along really good. Was it difficult to figure out how big to make your overflow boxes or you just used the SWAG method?

On my original design I used 2-1.5" bulkhead fitting and they were just able to keep up with the 1 pump. I made the boxes so they would each have 2-1.5" bulkheads in the bottom and fit in the cutout space I had in the tank.

When you applied the PC to the seams of where the overflow box attached to the tank did you apply PC to the top edges of the tank and into the overflow box, so water would not leak between the tank and the overflow boxes?

The tank water does not reach the top of the overflow box but there in PC there just in case. I made the boxes and the face of the box has a 1.5" edge that goes all the way around. When I cut out the openning, I applied PC to the edges of the tank cutout and on the 1.5" extra edge and screwed the overflow in place. I then added several more layer of PC just to be sure I got a good seal.

After seeing your recent photo's, I think you made a good decission to change your set up from the screens to overflow boxes to enable greater water flow back to your sump.

What was the determining factor to use 2 - 2.5" return pipes from the overflow box to the sump, instead of just 1 - 3" pipe?

I went with 2-1.5" pipes into a 3".....doubled what I alrady had to allow for the 2nd pump.

If your sump unit was to shut down, for any reason, will this cause any situations with water draining out of the tank via the sump unit and cause water to be expelled onto the floor?

The sump will easily hold the water from the tank.

Did you install a check valve in your water lines somewhere that does not allow this to happen?

The pump actually feed the sump. The water from the sump is pumped into the tank where it overflows into the boxes and drains back into the sump. When power fails, the pumps fail as well. The tank will only drain whatever water has not already overflowed into the sump. In my case, its about 3/4" of water. My current sump will hold about another 70G give or take.

Is a check valve really necessary to have in any sump filtration system? If not, why is it not necessary? I'm not understanding why this concept. If you can, please explain. Thank you.

Hope that makes sense!

 

[BadOleRoss]

Poret foam arrived to day so I cut that to size and put in place in the boxes. They slowed the water too much to be effective at keeping fish out of the boxes, good thing I found some gutter guard that worked nocely. I did lay the foam flat over the drains in the boxes and it works great at quieting the pipes.

 

[BadOleRoss]

I noticed that my sump developed a leak after I installed the 2 overflow boxes. Not sure what caused it or where it really was but I decided it would be easier to replace the sump instead of a hit/miss repair job. Beacause the sump was 84" long, I knew had to cut it in half to get it out. The first step was to remove the water, pumps and filter mdeia from the old sump. I stored the media in a 29G with a power head to keep it fishy fresh

After removing the media, I went to work with the recip saw and cut the old sump in half. I had a little water spillage as you can see!

Once I got the old sump out it was time for the new one. I used 2-50G containers with a smaller container to hold the filter media. The water enters the small container, flows through the filter media and into the larger container. The larger container will hold about 6" of water, heaters, and the return pumps.

All installed and running. You can see the 2-50G containers are joined by a 1.5" pipe to equalize the water levels. This keeps one from running dry and the other from overflowing. I had to make a small wooden gasket of sorts to give the bulkheads something firm to bite into to get a good seal.

 

[john73738]

We need some full tank pics.

 

[David K. Bradley]

Sorry to hear that your initial sump got a leak in it Ross, but I am glad to see you got it up and running again.

Now let me get this straight. You have your filter media in the left side and your pumps, heater & etc. in the right side, correct? Just really not clear on that step.

Did you have to put a wood gasket on each side the tub wall for the bulkheads to bite into something or was it just on the outside of each tub?

How did the sheet rock hold up to the water spillage? Will you have to replace it where the water made contact?

And yes, I must agree with john 73738. A few full tank shots would be nice to view.
Thanks!