Adventures in Aquaria - The KevinVA Story

[steeler58]

Looking good, my friend

[RiversGirl]

What a fun and fabulous project!

and dang, it must be so delightful to have a basement. It'd almost be like having entire extra rooms, or something. Oh wait, that's exactly what it is. hahaha Seriously though, I am very happy for you.

[SueD]

Such a nice, clean look from the finished side - love it. But seeing those studs cut is scary. Certainly not for the feint of heart, especially that first cut. Looks like you knew what you were doing, though, and can't wait to see the finished tank.

[Boundava]

Wow, looking great! For those of you w/out basements, I am truly sorry. It is like an extra level of the house, but usually is not added to the actual square footage of the house...i.e my house is 1600 sq ft, and the basement is another 1600 sq ft. However listing the house its only 1600 sq feet of living space, even with a partially finished basement.

I can't wait to see that tank peeking through!

[SueD]

I agree with Natalia about basements, although I never did finish mine and it doesn't make sense at this time to spend the money as I don't need the extra rooms. But where do people store "stuff" without a basement? Or maybe do I just have stuff I shouldn't have? My laundry is down there and Christmas decor, large planters I use in the summer are stored there in the winter, tons and tons of books (OK, these I have to re-home someday), water heater, furnace, and many other things I haven't seen in years.

[Slaphppy7]

Down here, if it can take the heat, we store stuff in the attic.

[Boundava]

I agree with Natalia about basements, although I never did finish mine and it doesn't make sense at this time to spend the money as I don't need the extra rooms. But where do people store "stuff" without a basement? Or maybe do I just have stuff I shouldn't have? My laundry is down there and Christmas decor, large planters I use in the summer are stored there in the winter, tons and tons of books (OK, these I have to re-home someday), water heater, furnace, and many other things I haven't seen in years.

Re the water heater and furnace, my cousin is in Florida and her water heater is in the garage...I assume the heater too-not sure how oftern she turns that on, lol.

Also her laundry was in the garage for the last house she lived in years ago. When she built her newer home (also years ago) she included a laundry rom off the garage. I am unsure if she has an attic to store items in.

We also have an attic but I wouldn't store anything in there as it is very difficult to get in/out and it is basically just beams and insulation. In my first house we had an attic that was more easily accessible and had some stable foundation to kneel around on for storage. We lived in a quad level house and the "basement" is where my grandparents lived/had a kitchenette, so the only little bit of storage was a 3'x4' crawl space under the stairs where my Mom stored homemade jellies, pickled peppers, picked beets, ajvar and pickles.

[KevinVA]

Thanks everyone!

Sorry for the delay in updates. I had a vacation and then lots of catching up to do at home/work. Been a crazy Summer (year, really).

After the electrical was done, I decided to plumb the tank. I had already built the sump about 4-5 years back, so that was already complete. I just needed to test that it still held water in all the right spots. It held and there's something satisfying about filling a sump. I love watching the water fill and then enter a different chamber, fill again, etc. Love seeing it work. lol



I used 6 different panes of acrylic to create 7 different chambers. The 1st serves as the water entry, 2nd is mechanical/bio filter, 3rd is a bubble trap, 4th is a refugium for live plants, 5th is another bubble trap, 6th is mechanical filter (again), and 7th is the return pump. I used silicone to glue the panes to the aquarium, which is a little messy (especially in tight areas), but it does the job.



Plumbing the tank/sump was actually pretty satisfying. I found out that I love working with PVC. It's like working with lego for water. lol Pieces fit together and you can pretty much make whatever the heck you want out of this stuff, so long as you have the right pump for the job.

I used two ball valves on the intakes (one for each), so that I can stop the flow at any time into the sump. I also added two check valves on the return pipes, so I don't have any backflow into the sump from the output pipes, should anything go wrong (like a power outage). As I alluded to, I had two intakes and two outflows - one on the left and right side. I used durso stand pipes. I have caps on the tops of each one, which was vexing at first - I couldn't understand the need for a hole in the top, at first. With the cap on, the suction is a mess. With the cap very loose, the suction is ok, but there's a ton of noise. I decided to listen to the experts and drilled an 1/8" hole in the top of each and that was the magical cure. Minimal noise, perfect suction.


*Right side


*Left side

Cutting and cementing the pipes were so simple, it was stupid... Anyone can do this - just be sure you dry fit everything to make sure it fits. I did have to take a few trips to Lowes, because I had forgotten to purchase certain elbows and caps, but the dry fit went swimmingly and cementing was simple. The thing to remember, though, is that once you cement, it's done. You can't "unglue" this stuff - it's literally permanent, since the pvc fuses together. So if you need to make any changes, you'll have to cut the PVC and fix with new PVC connections. I did measure wrong on a dry fit for one of the drains and had to adjust with a longer pipe and new connector. Other than that, it went swimmingly.

Anyway, I filled the tank and let it run for 48hrs to look for any leaks. Everything seemed fine until the 2nd day. I found a leak under one of the bulk head flanges. It must have come loose, when I was tightening the other one, because I noticed that when I was turning one with a wrench, the outside of the wrench was hitting the other flange, slightly moving it in the opposite direction... It took me about a day to figure it out, but I finally stopped the small leak and was able to tighten everything without affecting everything else. I let it go for another 48hrs and we had a winner. No leaks, the sump worked perfectly and the only adjustment I needed to make was on the drain pipes with the ball valves. The intake was taking in too much water for the pump to handle, and the water was bypassing the different chambers of the sump, which was defeating the purpose of the sump. So, I adjusted the flow rate of the intakes and things sorted out. I thought I had a strong enough pump for the inflow, but clearly I was wrong. That's ok, because the flow is good, but not too strong for the types of fish I want to get. =]

So, at this point I was sitting pretty. For the time being, I was good on the aquarium, but I had another project to complete before moving forward. I intended to make a live edge table/counter to sit inside the window and right next to the tank, where friends/family could sit at and enjoy the fish. That was going to be my next step, which I'll continue later. =]

[Boundava]

Great job with the sump and love your breakdown. It always seems intimidating, but I am one of those who thinks an idea through to the end then worries over my process to the point I just start over again-

Love the idea of a ledge for viewing the tank on the "show" side. Looking forward to seeing that progress.

[KevinVA]

Great job with the sump and love your breakdown. It always seems intimidating, but I am one of those who thinks an idea through to the end then worries over my process to the point I just start over again-

Love the idea of a ledge for viewing the tank on the "show" side. Looking forward to seeing that progress.

Thanks! It's actually already done. I'm just trying to document this stuff up until I'm caught up with everything new. I need to provide this thread with content, content, content to make up for my long hiatus. lol

I agree... everything, so far, has been intimidating. I was scared as hell to cut those studs, even though I knew it wasn't a load bearing wall. lol I hesitated for probably 2-3 days before I said "screw it" and just did it. I've never done any of this, before (except for the live edge slab). I've made several tables and shelves from live edge rounds and a slab, before, but this was my largest project, so far. It's been a pretty big undertaking for me, but I've always enjoyed being a DIYer. Once you start doing it, you start believing in your abilities and even though you've planned things out, before, things really start coming together as you progress.