Installed the first power board of many, I’m sure I’m going to need more in the future, but this will get me started for now. I intend to install a second power board in the hood so that I don’t have power cords running down the back of the tank. Still need to source an electrician to install some power points for me.

So here is how I have layed out my plumbing for the sump. It is a little crowded in there now. I was hoping to have alot more room to work with. I’ve tried to make the plumbing easy to get to, easy to remove and maintain, as well as being modular for future expansion.

First up is the skimmer output. These are 32mm pipes so it should alow plenty of flow from the skimmer (since the input is ~ 19mm). The bottom of the pipe (not in picture) is a 45 degree elbow so it isn’t just dumping the water straight in.

Next up – put in the return plumbing and the union connectors to the bottom of the weir pipes. I’ve seen some tanks with these unions connectors and they are great for removing bits of your plumbing to do work on things. If I ever need to remove a section of plumbing because of a fault or to extend it later this makes it easier.  You can see my awesome PVC gluing skills (gee that stuff stinks!) at work here. The return pipe (20mm) comes from the left hand side of the sump, more on that later.

Next, the emergency overflow pipe (25mm). This is the pipe where I don’t want water to flow down . There are no taps to restrict any flow because this pipe is used if (and it will) the durso overflow pipe is clogged up, and it saves the family room (and my marriage).

Finally the most complicated piece of plumbing – the overflow (25mm). I’m kinda proud of this bit as I worked this out myself, being the awesome plumber that I am. There are 2 taps here, and a t-piece to the skimmer. The intention is that the top tap shuts off the entire overflow pipe (if I remove the skimmer) and the bottom tap controls how much water goes into the skimmer. If I ever remove the skimmer I made a cap that screws over the t-piece (see below for details).

Here is a close up of skimmer attachment. This clearly proves I’m a plumber now. Basically it is 2x25mm to 19mm barb hose connectors and a 90 degree 19mm barb connecter with some very tight hose between them all. I haven’t got any kind of clips on the hose, but I don’t think I’m going to need it. I had to soak the hose in very hot water to fit the hose, and I don’t think it is going anywhere in a hurry.

Finally, here is all the plumbing work nearly done. I haven’t completed the return pump section yet as I’m waiting on a return pump. The bit with the tap on is so that I can throttle the return pump if needed to regulate the flow. I’m also going to get another union join for this so that I can easily remove the return pump and replace the fitting with something else (like my water change idea).

My idea is this for doing a water change: I connect a full container of water with a pump to the return pipe union joint. I also connect an empty container to the output of the overflow (where the skimmer was). Turn on the pump with the new water as it flows up into the display tank, old water flows down the overflow into the empty container. When the new water container pump is switched off, so does the old water container. Sounds simple in theory – we’ll see how well it works in practice.

Still lots to do. I’m setting a date around February to get this baby wet.

Stay tuned….

Ordered the new skimmer for the marine tank a few weeks ago, and finally got around to putting up some pictures. It is a MS-A-150-6530 Marine Sources protein skimmer.

It arrived neatly in its box, packaged well with no broken bits. Probably the worst part was getting it out of the box. You’d be suprised how much static electricity builds up on acrylic and the little pieces of foam sticking to everything.

Finally got all the bits and pieces out, and getting ready to assemble.

Fast Forward a bit here.. this is the completed skimmer. Wasn’t really that hard to put together actually.

Did a water test outside in the yard. A few leaks, but nothing a bit of teflon tape and tightening the connections couldn’t fix.

Finally the skimmer is positioned under the tank next to the sump. I want to make sure I can remove this without moving the sump (as it will have water in it and be awkward to move when full).

Opps.. it isn’t quite high enough.. looks like I will have to raise the skimmer by about 5cm so that the return pipe is downhill.

To get around this, I’m using my extensive woodworking skills and am building a simple stand. Nothing fancy mind you.

Glue them all together. You can see the hours of thought and planning have gone into making this stand. Never get between me and my metal glue-stick-thingy of Liquid nails.

Finally painting it to seal it. Why is it black? Because I’m artistic. Ok, its the left over paint from the back of the tank. It is currently sitting on a broken office chair base – handy tip: these things make great stands when you are painting something because you can swivel them around while you paint. (patent pending).

Ok, that was a big update.

Still to do: Finish painting the skimmer stand (needs another coat), and work out the plumbing the skimmer from the overflow and into the sump.

Now that I have the skimmer sorted, I have a much better idea what I want to have in the sump. I’ll need to get some glass for the sump now.

Until next time…

Looks like I will have to get my hands dirty and create a custom tank design.

Finally spent some time this week modelling what I wanted in a tank using blender, which not only helps me learn blender, but it also allowed me to visualise what I wanted and imagine it sitting in our main room:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3C3pBeTtP8

Tank will be 48″x24″30″ high, tank is 48″x24″x36″ high, and the hood is 48″x24″x18″. The whole think will be 7″ tall.

Right hand weir, with a durso/siphon setup, and the return pipe on the left. The only thing missing is the sump design, which I will do later on (after the tank arrives).

Can’t wait!