Scott's 135 gallon display tank build
 

So this is how it started. I used to have a 250 gallon fresh water tank and when we moved onto our acreage the wife said the tank was not moving into the new house because it takes up too much room. So I said that's fine I will get a smaller saltwater tank instead and she was fine with that. Well that was 5 years ago just been busy with life. So I finally decided I wanted my tank built into a wall right beside the couch were I sit and that's the closet at our front door.
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And the wife was ok with it so I started calling around to get estimates on tank and sump with almost complete start up package. I ended up talking to Denny at concept aquariums in Calgary and he was giving me prices right over the phone on different packages. I was in Calgary so I stopped in to see Denny and purchase the tank and of course upgrades

So after some research I needed a ro-di unit and during this my wife found out that the aquarium was getting a ro unit and she said not before her. So I had to find one to do both so I ordered the vertex 100 gpd from j&l aquatics not even certain if it could do both.
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So during the install I had to figure out how to run the water line from the basement to the kitchen tap in a completely finished basement. So I run the line thru my furnace duct work to mech room to a big 9 gallon pressure tank and to the vertex
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For the vertex to do both all I had to do is put in some check valves and valves to reroute the lines a bit. I also put on a tds meter to see what was coming in which is over 1000 ppm and the ro drops it to 9 ppm for drinking water.

So before I cut open my wall I wanted the tank to be here. I had it shipped from Calgary to grande prairie. And this is the stuff I purchased 1 tank 45"-23"-30" sump was made to go under tank in the closet if I wanted it there but I chose to put it in my basement in mech room. The sump is 39"-19"-15" made to have two filter socks and ato compartment. I also had them do some of the pluming.
1 pale h2o ocean
1 tunze 3155 auto top off
1 apex Neptune with lab grade
1 bubble magus curve 7
2 eheim fully submersible 200w heaters
1 mag 2400 pump
2 wp 40 jebao wave makers
2 ecotech radion xr30w led lights
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So I cut the hole in the wall and of course I had to reroute some wiring.
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I had my kids prep the rest from there.
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Any comments or questions just ask I'm farther into the build so I'm trying to remember back to all the things I've done. I'm normally not a forum guy I like to read them just not post. But with this being my first build I might need some help.

Looks great. Denny and I are going to start talking about my build tomorrow. Looks similar, but I'm going with a cube (I think). Where are you going to put the sump? Doesn't look like there is enough room below for the skimmer? unless your kid is a giant :)

So when I wanted my tank in the wall I wanted it to be flush with the drywall and no trim so the only gap I left was enough to get a trowel thru on the top.
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Set up is looking good!
Looking forward to see it full of water!

Before I finished with mud ,tape , paint I wanted to fill with water so I had to start pluming. I cut a hole in my floor below the tank to run the pluming thru the floor to mech room. I purchased flex PVC to do the job.
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I did the pluming on it enough to test the tank and sump with tap water.
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So I filled the tank and sump and ran the system. Every thing ran fine but the mag 24 was noisy even for being down stairs so I temporarily rapped it in bubble rap to see if I could make it quieter and it did. Also my herbie was making noise and air locking so Matt at concept told me to make a dorso. It worked but I can still hear water running down the drain but I will deal with that later.

I put my sump in the basement because I had everything there I needed water,sewer drains,power I added 3 gfi in mech room for it. When I cut my floor I made it the same size as a floor register so if we decide to move I could pull the tank and drywall and put in register in

Nice looking build! If I may make an observation, I don't see a valve on your Herbie.

:pop2:

Not sure what you mean about a valve on the herbie ? But this is what I put on the main drain it's a dorso water flows thru 90 into T with a cap and hole in it so I always have air after water I could also put a valve on top too to regulate the air. The other pipe is emergency. I would never put a valve on a drain.
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To be able to have a quite herbie overflow you need a valve to be able to cut down the flow so it is quite.it has to be installed on the main drain just under your union.

Yeah, what mihaivapler said! Personally I would recommend the valve just above the sump, this enables you to run full siphon the entire length of the pipe. Only the short section of pipe after the valve will have any air in it (which makes all the noise). Also this increases your overall water volume. A properly tuned Herbie is silent.

------> http://gmacreef.com/herbie-overflow-...method-basics/

i have it the same,just before flows in the sump,but in his case having the sump in the basement it will be very hard to adjust it..and must be a gate valve,the regular valve it is very hard to adjust..you can see in the picture,the left pipe is the emergence and the right one is the main drain whit a 1" gate valveAttachment 13077

I'm sorry I'm still not understanding Y I would put a valve there when I could adjust the flow going in and out by the valves going into the tank from pump and the dorso makes the water flow smoothly by putting air behind water like the pluming in your house. My line doesn't free fall into sump so the only air it gets is from the dorso it was air locking before I put it on. I may be wrong but in my theory putting a valve there is asking for trouble plugging easy because your restricting the flow.
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The line on the left is emergency

by adjusting the valve from to pump is not the best idea.it just put extra pressure on the pump which will cause premature wear f the pump..
the herbie style is absolute quite,dead silent, and if is done correctly it is 100% safe.you need to have the emergence drain which you have.i have this system on all my systems and never had an issue,in case you have a snail trapped in the valve the emergence drain will carry the water..i have this system for 2 years and never had it clogged.and the other advantage over the dorso pipe is that you have 0 air going in the drain ,whit the dorso you have some noise from the air being sucked in the pipe..and because you have the sump in the basement it will be no noise from the pumps and skimmer..this is just my opinion.

I just noticed the link you posted that clears it all up for me I think I will try the valve when I get water back into the tank. But I think I should try and put it in the basement at sump just so my kids don't mess with it. It might be tough to tune in because my pump is T of to refuge and any extras.
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Herbie's can run just fine with tee's on the return line. It will just require a little extra tuning on your drain valve as you turn your 'extras' on.

Keep the pics coming!

This is a pic of the tank during water test. I left water in it for almost a week to see if there was any settling that would cause my drywall and mud to crack. And it never moved one bit so I finished with the mud and paint. I also put up my lights.
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If your interested in seeing better close up pics let me know. Just after I finished painting the wife said she wants to reprint the hole room. I still have more pics of the sump and water mixing /water change system that I'm currently working on but had to order parts for it from j&l.

I purchased too tanks from marmit plastics 30 gallon each tank for ro-di water and saltwater storage
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I started some of the plumbing for my water storage and mixing. The plan is too put a mag 18 external on the floor to transfer di water to saltwater tank. To mix the salt water tank. Also to drain water from sump into floor drain and to refill with salt water. This pump could also be used to back up my mag 24 in the sump if it ever quit. I also have parts coming for overflows on holding tanks
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Love this build, looks great! The only time you run in to serious issues with a herbie (as far as I know) is when you start adding T's to the drain line. As mentioned, the pipes attached to your return pump don't affect it beyond the fact that any add-ons and doodads connected to the manifold will affect your flow rate, so if you get it all tuned up then disconnect a GFO reactor to change the media out you might see the water level in your overflow rise a bit until you put the reactor back online.

Another problem I have is a noisy mag 24 it's brand new but it seems a bit to noisy for me so when I did the test run I raped it in bubble rap and it was quieter so now I have peaces of foam sponges around it I have yet to try it. I might try some wet suit material but I'm open for suggestions.
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So the past few days I've been working on my tank plumbing. With the system I built I can do ato , mixing, water changes , water transfers. http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/...pswz76whfv.jpg

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I am currently filling with ro- di water. I ordered my sand yesterday and talked with Eli with fijirock and he's working on some aquascapes for me. I still have a bit of work mounting and hooking up my Neptune controller and figuring that thing all out and mounting my refugium light that I purchased today as well

I'm going to try the full syphon on my herbie not sure if it will work yet because my line runs horizontal in my floor for about 10 fthttp://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/...psufhoq6mq.jpg

This is the light for my sump it's a Philips led par38 with 5000 k daylight with a out side flood light that is suitable for wet locations in just going to hang it. http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/...psbn3gq2gw.jpghttp://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/...psjvmm2f1w.jpg

Herbie should be just fine. It will take a bunch of tuning as it will change every time you change something in the system.

Pic of my mag 24 surrounded in sponges hope it makes it quiet. On first test run with tap water I thought the pump was to loud might have to rap it back up in bubble rap. http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/...psrc3eh8wg.jpg

I like your setup and cannot wait what aquas-cape you are coming up with..lol.
I am sure those sponges will disintegrate in saltwater as I seen it happen in the past.I recommend using styro only on the bottom of the pump and the sides if you like but make sure the pump when turned on is not hitting the glass and you should have a quieter sound.

I hope your right I haven't tested it yet but I hope I can get all the air out of it. Or I have to go back to the durso that I had on there and insulate the line so I don't hear water running down the line.

Thanks for the info I will change the sponges out the wife was looking for them anyway lol. I have some pink rigid styrofoam in my garage that I will try. Looking forward to the aquascape.

I put a ball valve on the output side of my mag24. I dialed it back just a bit and it made it run dead silent. I recently did the same thing with my mag12, and it worked wonders. Something you could try. However you still need to dampen the vibration with foam/styro on the bottom of the pump.

I'm trying everything I put styrofoam in and notched it out so it sits down in it. I run it for a bit but still seams noisy like the impeller hitting something and lots of vibration. I have to wait to pump more water rodi making more. I have the mag 18 under sump and it's quiet I could swap pumps around but I'm not sure if I will have enough flow. http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/...psa9ntedmt.jpg7C825FBBA03A_zpsw5sye0eg.jpg[/IMG]
I even insulated line out of pump and under header system connected to pump so nothing vibrates on glass