My 90 gallon Octo Tank (Work in progress)

[Cody]

Well I guess that makes sense, haha. But I know that generally there's chemicals/toxins that animals are more prone to / vulnerable to than we are, so I wasn't sure. (Don't know if I used the word prone correctly in that sentence.)

 

[Cody]

So here's a few more pictures for you guys who are anxious to see!

I put in (installed) my standpipe and return pipe and broke the knockout for the return pipe..

I don't know if these pieces are of any significance but they fell out of my PVC pipes at some point in time.

The remaining parts of my plumbing kit that came with my tank (Deep Blue Professional 24" Plumbing Kit)

I found out that the piece all the way to the left is actually used to tighten the nuts on the bulkheads.. kinda just figured that out. Not sure where the elbow is used, or what the strainer type pieces are used for; and then I have two of the extra rubber rings (gaskets if I'm not mistaken), and those two plastic pieces I mentioned earlier.

 

[DWhatley]

The "vacuum cleaner" looking piece is for the pump side of your sump water flow to allow direction and dispersion of the water returning to the tank. Are either of the two piece that fell out of your PVC threaded on the inside? If so see if the threads match the male thread of this piece. If all that matches up, the female threaded piece goes inside the black 90 degree piece and then the "vacuum cleaner" thing screws into that. You will probably need to glue the female piece inside the 90 with PVC or CPVC cement (silicone might hold it fine or it might be tight enough on its own but slip fittings have a tendency to be a little too easy to remove where you have pressure.

I am not sure what the 90 degree elbow is but if the other pieces don't fit the current 90, it may be an alternate that is is reduced by the inserts (again assuming one is threaded on the inside).

I have never seen (but I don't shop a lot of premade sump parts) an overflow stand pipe top like that but I would guess that the strainer fits in the opening to prevent snails and large pieces that might block the exit hole from getting into the pipe (this is the same piece I was wondering how you planned to use that was a left over in your DrFoster's cart). You will want to clean it from time to time to be sure IT is not clogged.

You used a gasket on each of the bulkheads, right? Other than that I can't think of what the gaskets would be used for. Edit: I did find that some bulkheads for plastics use two gaskets (one on either side of the wall but this is not common for installation on an aquarium.

I have no clue on the two smaller black pieces.

 

[Cody]

The smaller black pieces are the ones that fell out... and okay I'll put the strainer on the standpipe in the morning sometime.. I didn't really understand your first paragraph because I'm not the best when it comes to different PVC fittings, but I think we had a misunderstanding of what fell out of the pipes, haha. And yeah I have a gasket on both bulkheads...

 

[DWhatley]

Is the 90 degree elbow on the pump side of the sump loop threaded? The thing I call a "vacuum cleaner" looking piece should somehow fit on that side of the setup (obviously the two tiny pieces are not what I thought they might be) and then reach the knockout to so that the water is fed to the tank and not the overflow.

 

[Cody]

OHHH, I apologize. I didn't realize what you meant by that at first...Yeah that probably fits there.. Once again, I'll try tomorrow with updates on what I come out with, haha. And I'll add the strainer type piece..implying that it'll fit, of course. Not making any promises.

 

[Cody]

Okay so I got the "vacuum cleaner" type piece set-up on the return pipe, but the strainer doesn't fit on the standpipe.. I tried using the elbow and it still doesn't fit.. although the 90 degree elbow does fit on the standpipe, I don't know that it's meant to be used with it.

 

[DWhatley]

You may have been given two options for the stand pipe (I have not seen the one you initially put on, the 90 or nothing at all would be more what I am used to. For grins, does the strainer fit in the tube without anything attached? I would have expected it to fit the Tee part of the original contraption. You might look on the box and see if you can find the kit on-line either from the manufacturer or on a forum where someone was puzzling it together.

 

[Cody]

I also broke off the "vacuum" part on accident trying to bend it, but part of it is still attached to the PVC pipe to where the return water will make it to the tank. And no, I don't think it does. (The strainer is pretty small, haha.)

 

[Cody]

How much live rock would you guys say is sufficient? I'm kinda looking at ordering it online because it's $10/pound for Aquacultured at my store (has a red algae on it) and I don't know that I wanna pay that. Or it's around $5-$6 without the algae and looks pretty bare. (They have the "non-aquacultured" ones in tubs similar to storage bins)

 

[octomatic]

try craigslist. i bought 45 lbs of LR for $3 a pound. almost all of my rock has coralline algae on it and some of the pieces came with mushrooms and star polyps. where i live its on CL all the time for $3-$4 a pound

 

[Cody]

Well I'm in maryland :/ But I don't know how much I should get... 40ish lbs?

 

[octomatic]

i depends on your other forms of filtration. if you have a good skimmer rated at double your tank and were growing chaetomorpha or some other form of macro algae in your sump (if you even plan on having more than just the wet/dry) a good rule of thumb is 1 pound per gallon (some people like 2-3 per gallon) BUT if you were to house only a ceph and did have some form nitrate removal (macro algae) i would say 60lbs. that would leave lots of room for your ceph to explore and your tank wont be overcrowded. what are you thinking about as far as your setup for your sump? might i ask, why are you using a wet/dry with live rock? EDIT: liverock is a MUCH better filtration system because it has alot more surface area than bioballs. if your tank was stocked with liverock say about 60-90 lbs you wouldnt need any other kind of filtration (except a skimmer) IMO using live rock and a wet/dry system doesn't make sense any more. ITS OLD SCHOOL. i like to use liverock with a double rated skimmer with some form of refugium with macro algae in it. not only does macro algae consume phosphates (that cause nuisance algae) and nitrates it also removes excess Co2 from your tank and adds more oxygen. it is also a breeding ground for copepods. the benefits are HUGE!

 

[Cody]

A filter sock with a carbon media bag, and a Coralife skimmer rated for 125gal. I didn't really understand how to setup a refugium and I'm not exactly using a fish tank to where it'd be even.

 

[Joe-Ceph]

+1 about buying "used" liverock on craigslist. In San Diego it's often between $1 and $2 /lb.