29 gallon sps project

[Cody Ray]

Decided to start a new thread for my sps coral adventure. Here is a list of equipment, please post any thoughts or comments

Aquarium:
29 gallon RR AGA

Sump:
10 gallon AGA

Skimmer:
Either the ASM Mini or G1, which do you think would be better?

Return pump:
Mag 9.5

Water movement:
SQWD connected to return
Maxijet 1200 w/Hydor FLO attachment
Seio 620

Lighting:
Undecided. I would like to either do a 250W pendant or buy a canopy and install a 250W DE retrofit system. Right now I am leaning toward the canopy, it would help conceal some of the plumbing that is visible.

Right now I am working on the baffles for the sump. Here is a teaser shot

 

[dweakl01]

Acrylic baffles siliconed to glass aren't a long term solution. You should use glass baffles.

 

[jsweir]

The SCWD will seriously decrease your flow and may eventually clog up.

 

[dweakl01]

If the SCWD should happen to clog, there's a great mod for it on nano-reef. Link below...

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=76847

 

[doody]

Thats an awsome mod. Now that I tossed mine, some comes out with something like this.

 

[Cody Ray]

I might just try using a dremel and boaring the imput and outputs on my SQWD. I will have to say one thing, after taking a good look at the imput and outputs there is deffinatly enough plastic there!

 

[secrest]

Good luck with it! I just set up a 29 sps system not too long ago

 

[Cody Ray]

Do you have any pictures?

 

[secrest]

Not at the moment, ill try to get some up

 

[duec22]

A 250W MH in the middle of AZ...hope you run the AC a lot.. I had to go with T-5's on mine.

 

[ctreefer]

I've got a 29 with a 10 sump as well. I also went the t5 route out of concern for heat, but there are plenty of others that do use MHs over their 29s.

My only concern would be your flow through the sump. I'm not sure how many Micro Bubbles those skimmers send out, but even if you figure your flow through the sqwd will be reduced to about 600gph(guestimate) that's too much flow to allow for the bubbles to rise in a 10 gallon. I've got a mag 3 and I'm afraid to go any higher. I have a closed loop to accomodate the flow I need in the tank.

 

[Cody Ray]

I've also thought about sticking with a single 150W and using T-5 bulbs for supplementing/actinics.

 

[impur]

I have almost the same setup. The flow was ok thru the sump with the mag9 and scwd, i still got some MB in the display though. It cut the flow by about half IMO. After about 8 months the scwd stopped switching. I'm in the process of that scwd mod.

I run a 250w MH pendant over my tank and love it.

 

[kabal2]

ditch the scwd, and get two maxijets 600 with the mod done, and for light the 250mh will be nice, for the return you can use a mag5 and maybe you have to slowdown the flow, good luck with your set up

 

[Cody Ray]

I don't understand why everybody dislikes the scwd, mine has worked fine for the past 5 months. Today I finish boaring the inlet and outlets, tommorow I am going to leak test the setup. This should give me a good idea on whether or not the mod worked. For now I am going to use a Via Aqua 1800 I have on hand, rated for 480gph. Honestly it is foolish to believe that any piece of equipment doesn't need cleaning

 

[impur]

Even after cleaning my scwd won't switch.

 

[Cody Ray]

Then I would guess that something is lodged inside the gears, probably sand. Have you tryed soaking it in viniger? If whatever is stopping the gears is calcium based than it will dissolve.

 

[impur]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7060650#post7060650 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ChinChek787
Then I would guess that something is lodged inside the gears, probably sand. Have you tryed soaking it in viniger? If whatever is stopping the gears is calcium based than it will dissolve.

I soaked it for 8 days in vinegar. The doors are broke. Its pretty common with the scwd.

 

[Cody Ray]

I've seen people that had doors become jammed or brocken in your case. If that ever happens I don't have any issue with replacing it with a T-fitting.

Some updates! All of the plumbing is done and I did a FW test, no leaks!

Here is the first fts! (macro algae is from old system, it hasn't found a home yet)

I am still on the fence with a couple things. I am trying to decide between either buying another 150W HQI to add to my existing one or replacing with a 250W system. Having two 150W would be cheaper up front and give better coverage however it would be more expensive to replace 2 bulbs than just one. As long as I put a little extra money away each month I don't have a problem with this. I was thinking about a pair of 15K XDE (XM) bulbs, any thoughts?

 

[Cody Ray]

BTW, there is a check valve on the return, just not in that picture.