Finally have all the parts in and beginning this new turtle setup build. Kinda broke my credit card balance and delayed paying off a big chunk of student loans for this! This build was inspired by Greg Jone's setup. My finish setup will be a poor man's simplified version of his earlier build.
Day 1.
- Made a short wooden rack with some heavy duty casters so I can make fine adjustments to placement when everything is finished
- Replaced stock bulkhead with sch80 1" bulkhead from bulkreefsupply. The 1" head fits perfectly into the stock hole. I've read other people using 1.25" bulkheads which required enlarging the hole. Didn't want to go through the hassle of cutting into the tank and this 1" head I was able to just leave the 2 vertical protrusions alone.
- Inside the bulkhead goes into a 1" MPT to street spigot adapter which slips into 2 x 90 degree 1" slip elbows arranged into an 's'. This will raise my filter intake approximately 4-5" off the bottom of the tank.
- I originally planned to have 2x 10" jehmco perforated 1" pipes into a 1" slip tee which would connect to the S via a union joint but when I assembled it it looked very garish with too many fittings. The union joint was planned so I would be able to easily swap out the old sponge with a second set when doing maintenance. Unions are no longer needed as the perforated pipes slide in and out of the elbows or tee adapters so easily that unions were unnecessary. I may not even use the tee and just stick w/ having a single intake. The tee may make it harder on the filter motor. I will see how quickly the pre filter sponges clog up once the turtles are in the tank and switch to the tee setup if needed.
- Outside I have a 1" MPT nipple that connects to a 1" CPEX ball valve. The valve connects to a 1" 90 degree MPT to barb elbow. The 1" vinyl hose i picked up from lowes was way too stiff and kinked too easily I ended up slipping the stock fx6 hose over the barb and secured the connection with hose clamps.
- Spent around 90 minutes rinsing about 125lbs of pool filter sand and likely shaved a couple years off my spine's life. even with the rinse the water was stil quite cloudy.
- Set up the fx6 with all trays containing filter floss to get rid of the dust from the water.