Been going pretty hard the last few nights on getting this tank going. The check valves arrived Friday and I got to work on the return plumbing. I had a last minute change of design and didn't go with a CO2 reactor out of PVC. Instead I decided to use a 1300 L/h powerhead hooked up to a 36W UV tube. The UV/powerhead setup will move water from the return pump chamber in the sump to the first chamber after the drainage chamber. The CO2 will be bubbled into the inlet of the powerhead. I modified the impeller based on a design I found by Tom Barr. Should be similar to a needle wheel impeller, hopefully.
Here's a few photos of the finished plumbing setup. Right now I'm two crimp rings short of being able to fire the tank up. The water supply from the house system is piped in with pex and there is a termination end with an irrigation manifold for adding drippers. The drippers aren't installed yet. Here's the tap and drip supply:
There is also a tap at the top of the tank for directly filling there.
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The return plumbing, UV tube and sump pump plumbing is pictured here. The sump pump is hooked up to the house drain with a float switch for hopefully automatic water changes. Also pictured is the Milwaukee CO2 controller.
I also got the first of 3 T5HO light fixtures installed. Each fixture has two 80W bulbs installed. The bulbs are Giesmann 4x Midday and 2x Aquaflora. Total of 480W might be a bit much so I think I will start with mounting them as far from the tank as possible. Each light will be run independently on timers with I think only about an hour per day will all 3 fixtures on. The majority of the time I think I will run only 2 fixtures. I will try and run something similar to a daylight cycle where only 1 light will be on to start and end a day and two on for a few hours. All 3 on to simulate high noon.
The lights are held on with PVC coated aircraft cable hanging from brass hooks. I'm going to add some hooks to be able to lower light easily but for now high up is all I need.
Tomorrow I'll finish of the pex water supply and we'll hopefully be able to have our first test run. Crossing my fingers there are no leaks.