17gal Kitchen Counter Reef

I get what you're saying - it's not the most effective way to make sure you're getting surface scum and stuff, but it's a pretty good set-up. as the water overflows into that pipe, it will take the surface scum with it, then instead of it going right into a sump / skimmer set-up it will mix in that tube while the HOB pulls it out.

Better than nothing IMO - I've been killing myself trying to figure out a way to do something like this on my cube because I don't want to drill it or have a sump, and i don't want all kinds of powerheads pointing at the surface either.

I think this is a good set-up - I just want to know if it's quiet or not. I would assume it would be since the water height in that pipe can be adjusted and the flow rate of the HOB is consistent and not really gravity fed.



I'm totally in tandem with getting answers in this mod, thank you for taking the time to explore. I for sure would mod my set up for this if it adds up to be top notch.

Thanks for clarifying the specifics, just need to op to chime in ;)

A.
 
Thanks all!

Sneeyatch is correct. The surface scum gets pulled into the overflow and just mixes as its gets sucked up by the filter intake tube.

The overflow also contains and hides the heater and ATO sensor.

The setup is dead silent. If you listen really closely, you might hear the hum of the pump for the HOB, otherwise, no falling water sounds.
 
Thanks all!

Sneeyatch is correct. The surface scum gets pulled into the overflow and just mixes as its gets sucked up by the filter intake tube.

The overflow also contains and hides the heater and ATO sensor.

The setup is dead silent. If you listen really closely, you might hear the hum of the pump for the HOB, otherwise, no falling water sounds.

Glad to hear it's quiet - had a feeling it would be - never thought of putting an ATO sensor in there either - I'm liking this more and more.
 
The overflow is the only area that fluctuates with evaporation, the ATO sensor has to go in there to be effective. I have the mirco ATO and it is a perfect fit.
 
In other news, I'm a grandpa now! We have eggs, although I have no idea what to do with them.

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In other news, I'm a grandpa now! We have eggs, although I have no idea what to do with them.

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Nothing you can really do with them unless you're set-up to breed clowns... multiple tanks for different stages, phyto, rotifers, plus a market for them. They make great / free coral food.

I thought about breeding my maroons a long time ago, the spawned every couple of weeks - large clutches. I was even growing my own phyto and rots but didn't have the space or time to rear the larvae. I ended up breaking that tank down when I moved out of state and sold the pair to a good friend who owned his own LFS. He was breeding a few different types of clowns at the time and had hundreds and hundreds of clowns. At first they sold fast, but then he just got stuck with all of them and had to put breeding on hold - indefinitely I think.
 
Thanks all!

I'm nowhere near ready to raise baby fish unfortunately. I guess I'll just let them go.

The overflow is a simple piece of 4" PVC pipe cut lengthwise to form a chamber that the surface scum overflows into. There it gets sucked up by the filter and run through chaeto before heading back to the display. The overflow hides the heater and ATO sensor as well.
 
It's been a while, and a roller coaster ride with the tank, so here are some updates.

I did end up swappping the pink LED for the white JBJ nano glo on the fuge.* Unfortunately, no change in chaeto growth, and I am still battling cyano algae in there.* Not sure what to do in there anymore.

I felt like the Kessil just wasn't cutting it.* The nems were stretching, and losing color.* I've always had AI lights in the past, so I snagged a new Hydra 26HD and am in the acclimation process.* This got rid of extra controller cords from the Kessil, and has so much more adjustibility.* Glad I made the move.* Still relatively low on the settings and ramping up, but the nems have responded well so far.

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After a few months with the rainbow nems, and everything was going well, I decided it was time to add a different color to the mix and I wanted red.* I found a guy in WI selling a large aquacultured Black Widow bta and he shipped it to me.* Acclimation went great and it was beautiful.* The clowns had found their new favorite nem as well -*

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Unfortunately, adding the Black Widow turned out to be a mistake.* Almost a week after introduction, the BW started shrinking and staying closed a lot of the time,* The clowns refused to leave it and were very aggressive with their "loving".* It looked like some of the tentacles were damages, and actually had the white, squiggly "guts" coming out of a few.* I made a nem box out of juice bottle to keep the clowns away so it could rest and heal.

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I was convinced the clowns just beat it up too much, but guys on the forums insisted that it was actually chemical warfare between the BW and the existing rainbows.* Apparently, some higher end nems cannot be mixed with other nems - despite both varieties being aquacultured.* *I thought I was safe since neither were wild, but the only option was too remove the BW and quarantine it.**

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So now, I have had to move away from the simple, single*nem tank and*add an additional QT tank (temporarily, of course).* I didn't want to let the expensive BW just die, so I'll let it heal itself, and then I'll be able*to sell it to another member locally, hopefully.* Thankfully, I still have the Kessil for the QT tank.

So, that's where we are today.**
 
No real updates on the Black Widow yet, just chillin in the QT tank.

However, I did get a chance to clean the nem tank and snap some new pics -*

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Curious to see what you did with the AC70 to make it into a fuge. I am looking to add one to my rimless 30 AIO. Could you show a few top open pics?
 
Quick update -*



Tank is running fine.* Still ramping up the lights, but am getting some great colors out of the nems.* I did have a bout with bubble algae, but tossed a few emerald crabs in and manually removed most of it, so it's under control.* Currently working on a flatworm outbreak, but I added a yellow wrasse and he seems to be keeping them in check now.



The clowns got too big and aggressive for the tank.* They were laying eggs like clockwork and had to find a new home for them.****



I now have 22 nems in the 17 gal.* Thankfully, they all stay pretty small.* I keep having weird issues where one or two nems will lose all their tentacles and shrink, but once they do, they come right back and grow new tentacles.**



Otherwise, on auto pilot and doing well.

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