120 gallon prop tank Graphic Intense!

Laura and Jim will be hosting the May meeting this Saturday the 12th and it will be the usual of food, drinks, raffle and fun.
 
Doors will be open at 6:00 pm for social talk and the meeting will start at 7:00.  Parking gets a little tight and the city says you can't park on 4th but there is a parking lot a block away.   Meeting is usually held in the backyard so feel free to bring your favorite lawn chair, weather permitting of course.

If you need address/directions, contact a club member.

Best if you park at Mini Mall (where the spaghetti establishment use to be)
 
You will get to see his new frag tank set up in the making.
 
Hope to see you there!

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[i1justin]

since you all met me now i guess i cant hide out anymore and sneak around so i will show you the 120 gallon propagation system i have been working on. The dimensions are 48X48X12 which means lots of room for corals on the substrate and little height so lighting can be more effective. I wanted this to be somewhat close to show quality but I had the company i got the acrylic from cut the sheets for me and they did a poor job leaving a major height difference in one of the side panes, but oh well....
so here we go

[i1justin]

the main tank is made from 3/8 inch acrylic, then i put these 1/4 inch corner bracing, and later i will run 2 inches of 1/4 bracing around the entire edge of the tank

[i1justin]

time to water test, notice the napkins placed around the tank to pick up the slighest leak :?

[i1justin]

IT HOLDS!!! No leaks after 24 hours of being filled, we ran rio 1700 in there overnight and i like the way the cube design creates flow.

[i1justin]

stand shots

[i1justin]

and then paint it with latex water proof paints
primer


black
I will eventually cover the outside with finish wood and paint black but not till i figure plumbing further and build the sump.

[i1justin]

on to the stage 1 plumbing, a small closed loop that will be run by a sequence stingray 3600gph pump

The taped out idea of the loop


Changed up the inlet of the closed loop so got rid of the 2 inner drill marks, heres the lower loop returns


here is both the upper and the lower loop returns drilled, these are 1" bulkheads

[i1justin]

heres a couple of shots of what the loop looks like from the inside, you might be asking why i am running the bulkheads backwards to what most do, well they are threaded and this way i can have the threading on the outside and since i move around so often i can easily break down the system without slicing up pvc..



here is the loop return dry fit, i will later add ball valves and unions between the 1.5"T, it is a 1.5" T from the pump then split to 2 1" lines which each split to 2 1" lines, i know that gravity is working against this design but when  3600gph is going through 1" pipe it will make its way out the top especially after all loc line is in place

[i1justin]

so now comes the interesting part, at least i think so , the bottom returns of the loop will be on the pvc circle in the middle of the tank, this loop will have 5 openings via T's. each T is 1X1X 3/4 fpt, out of each T i will thread 3/4 inch loc line Y's which i can extend and bend to adjust and point the flow in whatever direction i need, also the upper returns will be threaded with 3/4 loc line Y

[i1justin]

so here it is sittin on the stand waiting for me to make some money so i can finish it    









But i couldnt wait so i had to add some livestock, check out my rare colored light fish!!!!!! :shock:

[angelscrx]

I know those fish!

Looking good Justin.  The closed loop running inside the tank is an interesting concept.  Are you going to cover the pipes with sand?

[i1justin]

yes, as much as i can, i have to realize that it is not a true display tank as its function will be to grow, and propagate corals for trade and sale so i am trying not to worry about seeing the plumbing in the tank, but i still am a hobbyist at heart  :cry: . If it was a display i could hide the loop with rockwork and create great flow behind the rocks and what not, take a look at steve west 850 gallon reef this is the method he has used. the link is www.oregonreef.com. But if I use rockwork to hide it i have just limited frag real estate.
Justin