Rcpilot - 29g Frag Tank

looks like you are almost ready. Who did you get the hole saw from?

awesome stuff, looks like you're well on your way...

where did you order the glass hole saw from? or did i miss that above?

i'm also currious, cause it looks like from what i have read that you ordered your pvc parts, and didnt get them at HD, whats up with that? is it cheaper?

Almost there!

FRAGS! FRAGS! FRAGS! FRAGS! FRAGS!

I bought the hole saw from Richontools.com - Hong Kong, but CHEAP.

I bought some of my plumbing parts from Bulk Reef - mostly wanted the overflow box.

I bought the majority of my PVC at FlexPVC.com - cost is 1/2 that of a big box like Home Depot or Lowes. A 1.5" ball valve is $13 at Home Depot. I think they were like $6 at FlexPVC.

I like the shopping at FlexPVC a lot better than Bulk Reef Supply. But FlexPVC didn't have the overflow box I wanted to run. I'd have preferred to order all my parts from FlexPVC since their shipping is cheaper and I like the way they have the catalog organized. I don't like the gray schedule 80 fittings that Bulk Reef supply sells and I don't like the way their catalog is organized. Bulk Reef puts some common items in really obscure places in the catalog so you end up frustrated and digging through pages of crap to find a particular item that seams like it belongs in the plumbing fittings section, but instead they have it hidden under the glue section - or some weird crap like that.

oh dude, i gotta start ordering from them for my pvc stuff!!!

i'm making a list now, bulkheads, fittings, and valves OH MY!!

This is really the only reason why I ordered anything from Bulk Reef:
Aquarium Overflow Boxes Bulk Reef Supply - Bulk Reef Supply

I bought the medium one because it goes over a 1.5" bulkhead with room to screw my strainer on and off without hitting the overflow box.

I bought the 1.5" vertical strainer at FlexPVC
http://www.flexpvc.com/cart/agora.cgi?product=BulkheadFittingScreens


Also Bulk Reef has pretty good prices on Loc-Line products. I never realized they were so expensive until I started looking. Bulk Reef has pretty good prices. You can find it cheaper, but if you're going to pay for shipping from Bulk Reef, might as well get the Loc-Line there too. Other places like Ebay are cheaper, but the shipping is too high to make it any kind of savings.

But FlexPVC has way better pricing on ball valves, unions, bulkheads and 90's. And it's all white instead of elephant sh*t gray like Bulk Reefs sch. 80 stuff.

I don't understand why they even sell sch. 80. :shock: Jayzuz Krist - thats for super high pressure stuff in commercial buildings!! Sch. 40 is more than adequate for a reef tank IMO.

I gotta go to work. I got a part time job working on airplane prototypes for an aerospace company:
http://www.frontlineaerospace.com/

I'm building and test flying the V-STAR airplane prototype. It's about 65" wingspan and powered with an electric ducted fan right now. When it's finally built at full size, it'll be 35 foot wingspan and powered with 2 gas turbine engines.

Cool part time job, even tho you're making me obsolete RC!!!!

Damn UAVs!

For a guy who is addicted to RC airplanes - this is my dream job!! Got my first paycheck today. Haven't earned a paycheck since April 28th. Felt so good I stopped at the LFS and bought a $15 ricordea frag with 3 heads.

This is me at the controls doing the first ever flight on the new V-STAR design. It's a diamond box wing platform with an electric ducted fan power unit. Weighs about 25lbs +/-
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAjYt3pdzSg[/ame]

Not too bad for a maiden flight on something I've never seen before. If you look at the left side of the screen around 3 or 4 seconds you can see me there at the end of the runway. I'm in the middle.

hehehe i kept screaming PULL UP PULL UP!!! hehehe

ducted fans are way cool, but i'm just in awe of the little actual working jet engines...

oh, and i thought sch 80 was the thinner walled stuff...

project5k said:

hehehe i kept screaming PULL UP PULL UP!!! hehehe

ducted fans are way cool, but i'm just in awe of the little actual working jet engines...

Click to expand...

I was doing everything I could to fly that thing. I've been flying 12yrs. I'm not an expert, but I do have fairly advanced pilot skills when compared to most others in this crazy hobby. That was the first time this thing EVER flew. It was only my second time ever laying eyes on it. The first time I saw it was 10 minutes and I didn't really get to look it over or touch it and inspect it. He brought it out that day and we did a few checks to make sure it was dialed in. All you can do is guess how much deflection it needs on the ailerons and elevators. So I dialed in about what I thought it would take to fly it on low rates and I dialed in all I could get with elevator and aileron deflection on high rates.

You don't really know where the center of gravity (CG) is. The computer simulations tell you it should be HERE (X) , but you really don't know until you go fly it. It's going to be close, but it won't be perfect. CG adjustments are just part of the testing process.

The batteries in this thing are AMAZING

I had people standing off to the side, right in the mid-point of the runway. You'll see a guy in a white shirt and a hat. It was his job to wave me OFF if the plane hadn't lifted off the ground by then. As you can see, it was getting light and starting to dance right around that point, so I went for it and pulled back a little. It lifted, but it could have had a little more airspeed before I pulled back. If it hadn't felt light, I would have shut it down when he waved his hat. That way I had 375' to roll out and slow it down.

Next time I fly it, I'll know that by 1/2 way down the runway she's light and ready to lift - but I'll keep it on the runway for as long as I can (another 250-300 feet) and get as much speed as possible before I pull back on the stick. That way when it takes off, it's got good speed and penetration.

oh, and i thought sch 80 was the thinner walled stuff...

Click to expand...

:shock: I thought sch. 40 was lighter and sch. 20 would be lighter than that? :shock:

I guess it don't matter. FlexPVC was so cheap on the fittings. I'm just buying 10' lengths of pipe locally because you can't ship it like that via UPS or US Mail. Home Depot is only a couple blocks away.

Holy hawg leg!! The man in the little brown truck just showed up and dropped these off!! :bounce:

Congrats on the job RC:Cheers:

sch80 is thicker than sch40 higher working preasure on sch 80

Glad to hear your gettin paid to play Rc:D Cant beat a job like that.Congratulations

ahh ok, i had my schedules backwards...

i wish i could fly... put me in a real plane and i can, lil cecsnas and pipers, no problem... something where i cant "feel" not so much...

but i'm really awesome at rc cars and boats..

theres just somethng about adding that 3rd dimention of control that messes up my head on RC.

so... now that you have your ballasts, let there be light!

I'm working tomorrow until about 3pm. Then gonna run to the big box and get the PVC I need to start plumbing.

No sign of the hole saw yet. :grumble:

I want to set the tank up first and get it all plumbed. I probably won't be running any lights on it for a few weeks. I was originally going to run a dark sump with no refugium. Just dump in the right side, over a few baffles and into a big huge 10g sump or something. But I am thinking about the splitting sump with the skimmer on the right - refugium on the left - and return in the center. I just like refugiums and what they do for the tank. Last thing I want is a frag tank full of nitrates and no way to get rid of them.

Here we go!!

Got the hole saw today. Drilled the hole and set the bulk head in there for giggles. Ya gotta do it!!

Questions:
I got one gasket on the bulk head. Does the gasket go inside the tank or outside? Do I need a second gasket?

Look at the teeth on the overflow box. They are approx 1 3/8 below the top of the box. If I put the box all the way up under the top rim of the tank, you can see the height. Is that going to be okay?

God, I feel like a newb all over again. I guess I still am a newb. because 2yrs in the hobby ain't squat, and here I am doing my first sump. :oops:

looks good. I thought you where still gonna use your hob fuge. Just have it on the sump.

Yup. Thats the plan. I might buy an in-sump skimmer later, but I'll need to sell a whole lotta frags to justify that.

Here's the last picture of the overflow if I stuff it all the way to the top rim. Those teeth are 1 3/8 deep - is there any reason why that won't work?

BTW the centerline of the hole ended up 4.5" down from the top rim and 7" from the right side.

Need a can of black krylon.

I see no reason that it wouldnt. Your last post said there was another picture but I couldnt see it.

Ted said:

I see no reason that it wouldnt. Your last post said there was another picture but I couldnt see it.

Click to expand...

Fixed it. Forgot to upload the pic. :mrgreen:

Seams like my water level will be pretty low. Maybe 1" or 1.25" below the top rim of the tank?

Edit:
The plastic tank rim, is 3/4" down. So with the teeth at 1 3/8 deep, that means the water level will be no more than 5/8 below the outside bottom edge of the rim. I'm guessing it will run a quarter inch over the teeth when it's all on and pumping. If thats the case, the water level should be about 1/2" below the rim when viewed from outside the tank. It should drain down to 5/8" below the rim and then stop if the pumps go off.

It's late and I'm tired. All this math and the stress of drilling the tank has fried my brain. Time for bed.