SC Aquariums Owners Thread

[Underwoo]

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[Underwoo]

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[wirewiggler]

It is going to be tight, they did not offset the bulkhead holes to compensate the provided 1" durso is below the return line where it tees to go to the lock lines. It looks like if I want to upsize it and raise it closer to the top of the weir I will need to put in a couple of 45 or try to heat the pipe and form it. Also Durso recommends using sc26 1-1/4" pipe, wonder who sells it.

Bill

[postie1686]

The height of the drain is just fine. 1 1/4 would work just fine. it will do the same concept. if you are using sc26 it has a thinner wall to the tubing so the inner diamiter is about the same as a 1 1/2 schdule 40

[wirewiggler]

OceanWolf forgive me if I am thread jacking, but I was thinking if we keep our SC builds in one thread it may be more helpful to others if you disagree let me know and I will start a new thread. Postie forgive my ignorance, by dropping the durso down lower does that determine the water level in the weir? Does this effect the amount of water that returns to the sump in the event of powerless? Lastly do you run a check valve on your return lines.

Thanks
Bill

[OceanWolf]

Bill, I agree. My intention was not creating a personal build thread. I lime the way the thread is going, we are sharing our experiences.

Onur

[booyaa138]

How do you like that 80 gal setup Underwoo?
I can't decide between the 80 and the 66 gal.

[Timberwerks]

How is the quality of the glass edges & silicone on the tanks?

[postie1686]

Originally Posted by wirewiggler

OceanWolf forgive me if I am thread jacking, but I was thinking if we keep our SC builds in one thread it may be more helpful to others if you disagree let me know and I will start a new thread. Postie forgive my ignorance, by dropping the durso down lower does that determine the water level in the weir? Does this effect the amount of water that returns to the sump in the event of powerless? Lastly do you run a check valve on your return lines.

Thanks
Bill

actually if you want less water to return to the sumpif the power shuts off you would want the drain higher! also remember that the return line will also syphon water back if the power shut off. to fix this drill a small hole below the water line so it will suck air and break the syphon. and no ignorance everybody had these questions at one point. I miself do not run check valves they add unnessisary head pressure restricting flow

[postie1686]

Originally Posted by Timberwerks

How is the quality of the glass edges & silicone on the tanks?

amazing i have never seen edges that match up so nice and with nice crisp silicone lines!

[wirewiggler]

Hmm I wonder if I drill a small hole pointing down on the return tee if it will stir the water in the weir so detrious will not accumulate at the bottom. I was going to put a tee in the return line and divert part of the return flow through a carbon/gfo chamber so a little more back presure may be of some benefit. That was part of the reason for a DC pump so I could fine tune the return flow rate. The Jebao DC3000 puts out 800 gpm but that rating probably with no head, I wonder if I should step up to DC6000 its max is 1585 fpm.

booyaa, I deliberated between the 2 as well not a huge jump in price. The 80 has the same footprint as the 66 just 4" more height that means your lights will have to penetrate 4 more inches to make the bottom, it also makes the tank higher to clean and service, that was my reason for going with the 66 gal tank.

Bill

[greaps]

Sounds good, but the 80 does have more volume, and that means more stability. ; p

[booyaa138]

Originally Posted by greaps

Sounds good, but the 80 does have more volume, and that means more stability. ; p

This is the reason why I'm think this way. The only thing that I don't like is the 24 deep. I'm going to stick my whole arm in when putting in new corals!
But on the other hand it's only 4 inches more

[OceanWolf]

My sand, rocks and plumbing pieces arrived. I am ready to this thing together this weekend. I will go with Herbie if my 1/2 pipe would provide enough siphon.

[GoGo98102]

I got the 150g set. Steve accepted my $1600 shipped offer. However, if I had to do everything all over again, I probably wouldn't buy this again.

The good-

1. Tank is really nicely built with thick glass and nice silicon work.

2. Stand is solid wood and very sturdy.

3. Sump is big and roomy (57g).


The bad-

1. The whole thing came assembled in 2 pallets that weight 695#. It took a few people to move them.

2. The sump was BUILT into the stand. It was also a tight fit. You can't take it out without disassemble the stand. You can't fit UV sterilizer or media reactor into the stand.

3. The only thing not assembled was the canopy and it had no instructions whatsoever. I managed to put the biggest pieces together by matching their holes. There were 4 strips of wood left that I assumed was used to "sit" on the tank. I put them on so only 1" and the top was covered but I had no idea if I did it right or not. I ended up not using the canopy anyway. Too old fashioned looking.

4. The overflow is old school 1" durso stand with a 1/2" return. Well, not really- now this is the BIGGEST problem I have. This tank was made in China. I have no problem with that except they used a metric system. 1" is really 25mm, not 25.4mm. 1/2" is 12mm, not 12.7mm. When I went to a hardware store trying to make this a herbie system, I realized that none of their pipes or bulkheads fit. I ended up just use their durso stand.

Now, if I had to do everything all over again, I would take the seller's offer to seal the holes and take the overflow out. I would've drilled for BeanAnimal myself and use standard pipes and bulkheads. The tank is pretty noisy as it stands. It sounds like I am living next to a small stream. I can get used to it but it's not quiet. I wish I knew to make the durso pipe bigger before it reached the bulkhead to reduce the noise. As of right now, I can't see myself draining 160g (about 140g in the tank and 20g in sump when running) to redo the plumbing.

PS: I replaced the return pump because the vibration was pretty loud. I can see myself replacing the skimmer too because it had quite a big of vibration too.

[booyaa138]

Originally Posted by OceanWolf

My sand, rocks and plumbing pieces arrived. I am ready to this thing together this weekend. I will go with Herbie if my 1/2 pipe would provide enough siphon.

Post some pics of your plumbing. I want to see how the Herbie setup works with the 1/2 pipe.

[OceanWolf]

It will take sometime to get it working😀

Instead of using a 1/2 pipe, I glued a 1" pipe to the bulkhead. That gave me access to the full size of the opening. I also used 3/4 adaptor on the sump side, again leaving the bulkhead opening as large as possible. It is not going to be a 3/4" opening but it will be pretty close. I also have 3/4" true union ball valve on it.

Emergency is still 1" with 1 1/4" on the sump side. No valves on that. I need to find a low profile strainer for that one. Return is from outside with a 3/4" pipe to split into 1/2 loclines. I am planning to use a eheim 1260.

Of course this is all in theory. I don't have any water in there yet.

Onur

[imustbenuts]

I have the 66g tank. If I could do it over I would NOT buy this system. All the equipment is crappy. The glass is thick but I worry about the seams separating every day. The overflow has already started separating. All plumbing and return is metric. The locline that came with the system is metric and cheap. I had to replace it. The Skimmer and return pumps suck.i had to replace the skimmer impeller within a year. Seriously do yourself a favor and buy quality not this cheap Chinese crappy system!!!!

[greaps]

Looking forward to trying this system out, going with the 80- or possible 90 gallon system. Going to use my own return pump and skimmer most likely.

[OceanWolf]

Tank is filled with water. I didn't fill the sump yet, it will get the water from the other tank.

[postie1686]

Originally Posted by GoGo98102

I got the 150g set. Steve accepted my $1600 shipped offer. However, if I had to do everything all over again, I probably wouldn't buy this again.

The good-

1. Tank is really nicely built with thick glass and nice silicon work.

2. Stand is solid wood and very sturdy.

3. Sump is big and roomy (57g).


The bad-

1. The whole thing came assembled in 2 pallets that weight 695#. It took a few people to move them.

2. The sump was BUILT into the stand. It was also a tight fit. You can't take it out without disassemble the stand. You can't fit UV sterilizer or media reactor into the stand.

3. The only thing not assembled was the canopy and it had no instructions whatsoever. I managed to put the biggest pieces together by matching their holes. There were 4 strips of wood left that I assumed was used to "sit" on the tank. I put them on so only 1" and the top was covered but I had no idea if I did it right or not. I ended up not using the canopy anyway. Too old fashioned looking.

4. The overflow is old school 1" durso stand with a 1/2" return. Well, not really- now this is the BIGGEST problem I have. This tank was made in China. I have no problem with that except they used a metric system. 1" is really 25mm, not 25.4mm. 1/2" is 12mm, not 12.7mm. When I went to a hardware store trying to make this a herbie system, I realized that none of their pipes or bulkheads fit. I ended up just use their durso stand.

Now, if I had to do everything all over again, I would take the seller's offer to seal the holes and take the overflow out. I would've drilled for BeanAnimal myself and use standard pipes and bulkheads. The tank is pretty noisy as it stands. It sounds like I am living next to a small stream. I can get used to it but it's not quiet. I wish I knew to make the durso pipe bigger before it reached the bulkhead to reduce the noise. As of right now, I can't see myself draining 160g (about 140g in the tank and 20g in sump when running) to redo the plumbing.

PS: I replaced the return pump because the vibration was pretty loud. I can see myself replacing the skimmer too because it had quite a big of vibration too.

you would not need to drain the hole tank just whats in the overflow the standard size bulk heads fit right in the holes that were drilled in mine.

[GoGo98102]

Originally Posted by postie1686

you would not need to drain the hole tank just whats in the overflow the standard size bulk heads fit right in the holes that were drilled in mine.

It's true only the water in the overflow need to be drained. However, I can't move the tank off the wall to do any plumbing without draining the whole tank. With water, rocks, stand, sand, and sump, this thing weights around 2500#.

[postie1686]

i guess in not sure how there stands are made but i was able to all my plumbing with it in place. i would highly recomend trying it.

[wetWolger]

Originally Posted by postie1686

...standard size bulk heads fit right in the holes that were drilled in mine.

Did others try this as well? Are standard sizes fiting for other people as well? If so that would be fantastic.

[Underwoo]

I have the 80g SC tank. I had to add some adapters to the lock line return nozzles, because I couldn't get the ends to screw into the return pipe,that came with the system.I'm replacing the skimmer that came with the unit, with a vertex 150. I keep hearing about how noisy the return pump is. So i'm thinking about replacing it with the Eheim 1262 model. I appreciate the input!