Well, today I started the process of adding water...YIKES! Talk about stressful. I won't be pushing too much up to the display today as I've found a couple small drips that need to be taken care of first at the sump area.

Here are some much awaited pictures.

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...psdeef852f.jpg

http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps12cd2a53.jpg

So exciting! Nice shirt lol.

I recognize that shirt! YAY H2O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, after testing my plumbing at the sump, we realized that although brand new, the volute on my Reeflo pump had a huge crack and water was coming out. I also was having a few issues solving the odd drip that was at the bulkhead.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps2dc40ec9.jpg

So out came the pump and associated plumbing and in when the other new Reeflo that I had as a backup. No cracks, but we haven't got it wet yet as I had to call it a night for my son's 2nd birthday party. Tomorrow, I will give it another try.

Bummer! Is it still on warranty or are you like me where you buy things too far ahead that by the time you use them they aren't on warranty anymore? :lol:

I've found even out of warranty, at least for the most part, these pumps have great support.

Yeah...I pull the same thing as you Mindy...the first pump I bought was in 2009 and its been boxed since...the backup was bought in late 2010. Both came directly from Reeflo and are the Blackfin3600 I hope they help me out but I will understand if they need me to kick in after so much time.

Since I had to solve some leaks and a cracked pump volute, I decided to completely rework the plumbing on my return pump so that it was simpler and hopefully would prevent noise and vibration from traveling out of the Fish room. I hadn't turned the pump on yet, but I figure that if I plan to kill noise, it is a good thing.

Here is the new setup. I didn't want to have to do the quick 90's after the pump, but with the space and angles I was left with coming out of the wall, I couldn't come up with anything else.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps482591d1.jpg

Here is how I am dealing with pump vibration. I have it on a thick foam pad (about 1" thick) then onto a solid board which then sits on another 5/8" of open cell foam. It's all bolted to my bench from there.
http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps8ade715a.jpg

After all that, I still got a very very very slow drip out of the threaded fitting going into the bulkhead. I should have used silicone rather than just teflon tape when putting that together. About 1 drip every 5 minutes.

Can you in thread it a bit add more Teflon to it more on the heavy side near the end and re seal it quick? I had that happen to me as well

Well my sump is currently full of water...so no, not right yet. The leak is even slower than I thought, after the entire night, there was a little more than a thimble full of water in the cup underneath.
If you wondering why my sump is full, its because I'm prepping to push water up to the display. I'm currently making another 100g of fresh water and I'm mixing 100g of salt water and sump holds about 60G of saltwater (not including fuge). My plan is to fire up my water change station at the same time as my return and try to push about 140g upstairs to the display. I need some more hands as my return nozzles will destroy my aquascape unless someone is deflecting the flow. I also haven't checked my plumbing from the pump up to the display (most of it was done by plumber in wall) so I will want an extra pair of eyes to look that over at the same time too.

Can't believe that this is finally getting close. I have so much more work to do on this...my APEX isn't setup, my dosing isn't set up, my skimmer isn't set up...but water is a major step. :biggrin: