for a bean animal I would order gate valves I got mine from brs
you can get them cheaper if you shop around though.
I guess I would only need one gate valve for the full siphon line. The others don’t even need a valve minus isolation…
Maybe I’ll just get 1 gate valve and the others normal ball valves.
Just leak tested the sump. The skimmer baffles are solid but the fuge area has a very small slow leak. Can I just put more caulk on?
Yes you can, but do you think you really need to? it’s not like it leaking out of the sump correct? it leaking back into the the other side of the baffles.
Yah I’m just wondering if a slow leak will turn into a bigger leak and then not keep water in the fuge area.
If it is a really slow leak, you can leave it like A said. It will get stopped up by gunk after awhile.
If you go with hardware store units use a true union ball valve. WAY WAY smoother. The handle won’t break off like the cheap ones either. (learned the hard way) Or if you are using barbed ends the LFS carries two little fishies which are decent, not top grade, better than hardware store cheapies.
I was able to find a gate valve for ~$13 so I went with that. True union ball valves are so expensive.
Great job with the staining on the stand. Sump looks good too. As others have said, I wouldn’t worry about a slow leak, but if you need to drain the sump to put it in its final location you might as well toss a bead of caulk in that area. I wish I went gate valves. I have to ball valves for in/out of the sump. It sucks when something changes and I have to re-adjust.
Thanks Faralon. The sump is empty already, caulk and valves come in today so I should be able to touch up the caulking and start plumbing the drains.
Does anyone see an issue with running 1-1/4" for the return line? I will be running a quietone 4000 for now unless I buy one of those Jebao dc pumps.
How much of that return flow do I want going into the fuge? 10%?
I’m running a QuiteOne 3000 with 3/4" ID hose. Sounds about right for your 4000. Do you have to adapt 1.25" or will that direct fit onto the barbed fittings that they supply? I just jammed on the biggest hose dictated by the adapter pieces that came with the pump.
I have not thought that far ahead! I will probably do 3/4" barb to a 1.25" pvc adapter (unless it’s already included with the pump) right at the pump and then run 1.25" PVC all the way back to the tank.
Ok, brainstorm time:
So i put the sump in and may have made a slight miscalculation. There is no where to put an ato reservoir.
My ideas are:
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Make an acrylic tank to fit in this space
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Make an acrylic tank to fit in this space
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Sell the 40 breeder sump and put in a 29 gallon which would free up ~11" (it will fit in the crevice on the other side) I really don’t want to have to do this though
Do you guys have any other ideas?
Starting plumbing, here’s a pic. Don’t worry about crookedness of the standpipes, i didn’t glue those in yet.
Instead of getting the 29gal tank to get your extra 11", why not just build the ato resovior into the sump? Looks like you have a decent ammount of room on the right of the sump. Maybe even move that large baffle closer to the bubble trap?
Can you add/build another cabinet next to it? Where will you put your electrical components?
There are a few tall, narrow trash cans that might work. I’d check walmart. You could also do something like this:
Faralon: That is an option, i’d rather not do that because I lose fuge space.
Downbeach: Also another option, maybe make a cabinet for all of my fish supplies + ato? I was planning on mounting my surge protector(s) either on the back of the stand, or on top of the stand behind the tank (picture 2).
Bnelson: I think I will have to research more on these trashcans. If i push the sump all the way touching the left side, i have ~7" of space to fit a trashcan.
When i originally designed the stand, the 40b fit between the pillars. Then i changed the design to beef up the pillars and it no longer fits!
with the trash cans you can just sit it along side of the stand with a top of some sort with a tablecloth skirt it would just look like an accent table.
What are the dimensions that are available currently for a water container?
How many gallons were you planning on having available for ATO?
Also, in the pictures, the sump is centered in the cabinet. Depending on your plans for plumbing, are you able to slide it all the way to one side or another to make more room?
Found these 2.5gal containers that are only 5" wide for $12.xx. Then again 2.5gal would only last me about 3days, if that.
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=90786&catid=816
Faralon, it doesn’t side any further. It originally would have sat on one side or the other, but unfortunately i redesigned it while i was building it and it doesn’t fit between the vertical supports.
The space i have is: 16"x7"
I found a 4 gallon trashcan I could use.