Finished the sump yesterday and got the new Reeflo Dart for the CL. Today was the big swap over of the sump. Got the old mess of plumbing hacked out and the sump and refugium drained, emptied and out of there. Ended up with a box full of scrap PVC parts and other junk. The whole system sort of evolved over time as equipment was added, subtracted, replaced etc. and it had grown into a real abomination of plumbing and clutter.
The new sump slipped in with just the minimum of room to spare as planned. I made it as big as I could physically get in through the cabinet opening and into position. Then came the work of replumbing everything. Part of my goal with this sump was to make maintenance easier through better access and by streamlining water changes. With the old sump, I had to drain some water from the tank to get the desired 25 gallons that I do. The new sump s a bit larger, so I can get the full volume just from the sump. Additionally, I made a bypass through the bubble trap so both the return section and the skimmer section will drain with the return pump. For that I added a spigot that I can connect a hose to and by opening one valve and closing another, pump it out with no hassle. I'm almost looking forward to the next water change.
The new sump has the refugium integral in it rather than the stacked mess I had before. The refugium is the full width of the sump on the front side, (you can see it better in the construction photos). This gives me much easier access to the fuge for maintenance and cleaning, something that was woefully neglegted in the past due to it being a PIA to get to. I still need to get a better light for that and then fabricate some holders for it.
I got the new CL pump partly plumbed in today. I reconnected the return pipes from the OM 4-way vavle, but need to source the 2" piping and fittings for the intake yet, so water movement is still by a crappy cheap powerhead for now. At this stage, I was pretty much out of time and motivation for today. This took me nearly 8 hours work with hardly a break.
Enjoying a cool barley based beverage now. I'll get the rest of the fittings and continue later on this.
