journal It begins. My shrimp rack journey.

[DG17]

Thanks mix. Yeah BB i'm pumped, ive helped my mate lose a sack of weight being a personal trainer and all so i guess it was my thank you gift.

I hope to have most of the outlet plumbing done tanks in and lights set up. the valves i ordered have been shipped and should be here this week so ill go pick up my eheim pump this weekend and also start cutting up all the inlet pipes and before putting it all together permanently ill post it just fitted together to get your opinion guys.

[BlueBolts]

That's different then....he owes you ! You saved his life, and in return he made skins for your rack ! Time you build more racks, so that he can return the favour. Bhahahahhahahah

[Gbang]

That rack is wicked!!!! Can't wait to see the finished product :)

[JPN07]

Looking good DG17 :encouragement:

[Squiggle]

That is going to be a b!tchin setup dude, so jealous :encouragement:

[alvinchan80]

Nice rack... keep up the great work!!!

you can actually add the ball valve at the beginning of the tier/portion before it reaches the outflow.. I did a similar set up previously using EHEIM 1262 (2400LPH).. what happens is that the flow will be the maximum at the lowest tier and the top will be the least... so if you have a valve to control the lower tier's outflow... the top will have a better flow rate...

[DG17]

First id like to say sorry for the quality of the pic, good old iphone.

So the tanks and led lights are now in the cabinet and the cabinet is now together, all i'm waiting on now is 2 new doors as these are 10 mm shorter ** than needed due to the decision of making the front skin 20 mm wider to accommodate the outlet pvc piping running down the side and not having the extra 20mm added to the doors. Im also waiting for the black perspex door covers above each tank to hide the pvc pipes and light.

Tomorrow ill get started on the inlets and outlets of aach tank as i've received my 10 pvc ball valves.

ill fit my pvc pipes together and post it for some ideas and to see if im on the right track before glueing them permanently.

then dean ill be bugging you for all the benibachi goodies :)

[BlueBolts]

That's looking awesome....can't wait to see the black substrate etc.... Great work, and thanks for the progress

[Neo-shrimp]

The shrimp rack is looking great DG17...Hope all goes well for you...Thanks for journal...Gives others idea on building one (complicated):congratulatory:

[Squiggle]

Very cool build dude, looks so clean & tidy, can't wait to see the sweet shrimp in there :encouragement:

[jrc693]

Wow that looks so good!

what led lights did you use?

[DG17]

hey jrc693 mate i have no idea what led lights i used as i threw away the box but they have separate switches for blue and white lights. ill check and get back to you.

spent this weekend pretending i'm a plumber...

This is how i have set up the outlets ive got them both running off separate down pipes into the sump. the fact that i can clip the sides of my cabinet with ease makes it easier to rig up all the outlets down the sides. ive painted the outside of the pvc pipes matt black so that i dont see them throught the inside of the cabinet.

so this is my inlet set up at the moment, none of it has been glued as yet other then the fitting to the ball valves as i'm open to any suggestions, the gap you see on the bottom row is the area ill be putting my chiller and UV sterilizer before the water heads up the left side into the tanks, the valve on the bottom to the right is the valve ill be using to run back to the K1 section of the sump as dean suggested. those bits of pipes coming forward will eventually be drilled and capped off to be spray bars but at the moment ill keep it as is to see how much water flow i'm getting into each section.

after the piping is all done ill be putting a top on the cabinet and a back.

[Squiggle]

Very cool setup DG, it's looking awesome. What bulkheads are you using? Can you post a pic? :encouragement:

[BlueBolts]

Detail +++++, great to see so much effort and quality put into the setup. Great thread, and looking fwd to it's progress....

[DG17]

Thanks BB,

Squiggle I bought them from bunnings but you can get em from dural irrigation www.duralirrigation.com.au way cheaper , I purchased 25mm PVC valve take offs with thread and 25mm PVC faucet sockets and all I did was used a tad of silicone around the threads and screw it in to the holes I drilled.. I posted pics of the tanks with the bulkheads at the beginning of this thread.

[Squiggle]

Thanks, I went to Bunnings & none of the ones they had there would fit the 25mm pipe, I have used these in the past but the ones they had in stock just didn't fit. I think I'll check out irrigation places, I've used Dural Irrigation before when I lived in Sydney & they are brilliant, great service & very knowledgable :encouragement:

[DG17]

Hey squigs, haha I actually went to bunnings last night and took pics of what I used as bulk heads for you, in front of the tag.. Are you using 25mm PVC white? Not electrical orange or grey they have thesame inside diameter but the plastic is thinner so the bulk heads I use won't fit then they are a little lose. Ill post pics tonight or tomorrow for you I work 14hr days mon-thurs so I don't get much time to play with my rack.

[Squiggle]

That's awesome dude, thanks heaps :encouragement:

Yeah I checked them with the grey electrical conduit & they fit

[DG17]

ok so the cabinet is done!!! ive put mirrors on the back of the cabinet stuck to the back in case I have to clean the glass..

One major drama i ran into to tho, the plumbing i used was to big so i had no pressure. i had to make all the pvc piping out of 15mm again

all thats left to do now is to run itfro a few days get the doors that go above the tanks to ide the lioghts and plumbing and get everything off dean so i can get these tanks full of shrimp.!!

(have no idea why this attached thumbnail has appeared and have no idea why i cant post any pics)

[DG17]

Ok guys i did a test run on the tanks with the water and all and fixed up a minor leak due to pvc pipes not fitted properly.

emptiesd the whole thing and dried it then started with mineral powder 1/2 a pack in each 1x1.5ft section

[ATTACH]2663[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]2662[/ATTACH]

Next up the benibachi substrate.

[ATTACH]2664[/ATTACH] each section has 2 bags.

almost there just making some mods on the sump then its off to get wood and plants!

[DG17]

Just off the topic, does anyone know why the pics don't just come up in the thread when i attach them anymore. its just the file name to click on and open a file. i really suck with computers..

Dave

[CNgo2006]

Just off the topic' date=' does anyone know why the pics don't just come up in the thread when i attach them anymore. its just the file name to click on and open a file. i really suck with computers..

Dave[/quote']

Are you uploading through a host site like photobucket or as attachments?

[DG17]

Just as attachment straight off my computer. its weird. im doing it exactly how i use to do it haha.

[CNgo2006]

Yeah I think they changed it just get a photobucket account, upload it to there and use the IMG share link (copy and paste) it is much easier.

[DG17]

thanks bro ill figure it out tomorrow