A Living Room Reef: 90 Gallon Mixed Reef Build

[Bello]

Did I read your post correctly??? Its gonna have water??? Yaaaaayyyyyyyy

Salt Mix:
Take this with a pinch of, um salt . I've only ever used one salt brand, so saying this is better than that is basically silly. I use and have always used Red Sea REGULAR. The salt mixes at close to natural sea water values which is what I keep my tanks at.

Ideally, have a rough idea of what you want basic parameters, i.e. Alk, Cal & Mg, to be. And pick a salt, that when freshly mixed, matches those parameters...sounds good?

Refractometers:
I used one, basic, it works , so no real opinion there.

Congrats on the contracts.... :lol: that just reads funny ...So now we'll see some real tank action, eh?

 

[troubadour11]

Did I read your post correctly??? Its gonna have water??? Yaaaaayyyyyyyy

Salt Mix:
Take this with a pinch of, um salt. I've only ever used one salt brand, so saying this is better than that is basically silly. I use and have always used Red Sea REGULAR. The salt mixes at close to natural sea water values which is what I keep my tanks at.

Ideally, have a rough idea of what you want basic parameters, i.e. Alk, Cal & Mg, to be. And pick a salt, that when freshly mixed, matches those parameters...sounds good?

Refractometers:
I used one, basic, it works, so no real opinion there.

Congrats on the contracts.... :lol: that just reads funny ...So now we'll see some real tank action, eh?

HA! ... yes Bello, water is the ultimate goal here right now! If I grab the salt and refractometer, I think I should have everything I need to get the cycle going very soon! :bounce1: Minus the couple plumbing parts I can grab local next chance I get to get that together.

I think I'm with you on the Refractometers. I'm going to just order or pick one up where I can find a decent deal on it. I don't see a current need to top $100+ on one. I was just asking opinions to see if I could avoid buying a junk less expensive one that has a history of quickly breaking on people.

And definitely thanks for your opinion on salt. I am finding the best deals on the Red Sea salts. So that is actually what I'm considering starting off using. It seems like it's the best target levels for my hard earned bucks. I was interested to hear you use the regular. I can get both the regular and coral pro for the same price. As I was comparing them I couldn't figure out what the REAL difference was between them. From what I see, the main difference is the regular yields just slightly less CA-400 and slightly higher Alk-8 with the same Mg-1300. Coral Pro = CA-490, Alk-7. Do you have a quick explanation of the +'s and -'s with primarily the Alk levels. As I'm studying up for running this, I'm still getting my head around how Alk relates to the mixed reef.

From what I've seen, both of those are close to the typical "target" levels for Alk. Is high or low Alk more dangerous/problematic to the system? Is it easier to raise Alk or lower to fix any issues? etc, etc.

I understand CA as the basic building block. Speed of growth currently isn't as big of a concern for me. I'm looking to build the entire thing out from frags and enjoy the slow-mo reef growing experience . If you haven't figure that out from the slow-mo build :debi: Hopefully filling out the reef won't be quite so slow. LOL And I'm not up to speed entirely on dosing... I get the reason and premises behind it. But I will cross that bridge once I get enough reef in there that it becomes and issue.

My thought yesterday before your feedback was along the lines of... "Well shoot. If I can get the regular and the coral pro for the exact same price. Why wouldn't I want the coral pro since I'm building a reef with corals?" But that has no experience or scientific thought behind it. (which leads me to feel like I'm getting tricked by marketing somehow :headwallblue LOL. So I'm just looking to make an informed decision on it :thumbsup:

And I'll have some tank action as soon as I'm at home to get it done now! I just agreed to help out with some animation work on a different project for this company over this weekend... OVER TIME $$$$ = Fish tank building $$$$ :spin1: When it rains it pours, right? :lmao:

 

[Bello]

I think I'm with you on the Refractometers. I'm going to just order or pick one up where I can find a decent deal on it. I don't see a current need to top $100+ on one. I was just asking opinions to see if I could avoid buying a junk less expensive one that has a history of quickly breaking on people.

Troub, I hope you appreciate the efforts I'm taking with silly HTML to make this legible :lol:

I just picked up a $40 Refracto, god knows what brand, and have been using it for the last 4 years. Haven't had the need to recalibrate it, yet. But I recommend you also purchase a standard solution for calibration should the need arise. (Will also help when you decide to run conductivity on your reef angel )

And definitely thanks for your opinion on salt. I am finding the best deals on the Red Sea salts. So that is actually what I'm considering starting off using. It seems like it's the best target levels for my hard earned bucks. I was interested to hear you use the regular. I can get both the regular and coral pro for the same price. As I was comparing them I couldn't figure out what the REAL difference was between them. From what I see, the main difference is the regular yields just slightly less CA-400 and slightly higher Alk-8 with the same Mg-1300. Coral Pro = CA-490, Alk-7. Do you have a quick explanation of the +'s and -'s with primarily the Alk levels. As I'm studying up for running this, I'm still getting my head around how Alk relates to the mixed reef.

My thought yesterday before your feedback was along the lines of... "Well shoot. If I can get the regular and the coral pro for the exact same price. Why wouldn't I want the coral pro since I'm building a reef with corals?" But that has no experience or scientific thought behind it. (which leads me to feel like I'm getting tricked by marketing somehow ) LOL. So I'm just looking to make an informed decision on it

It's funny but I did the same thing. "Oh its Pro, so must be better!", and I started with Pro. This was about 3 years ago, and I used it for a couple months, and then switched to regular not because it was cheaper, but more inline with the levels I wanted to achieve.

Anyways, your readings for regular and pro, seem to readings taken by hobbyists, rather than those declared by the company.

DISCLAIMER: I can't remember the readings I took of freshly mixed saltwater.

So onward, as per Red Sea, regular is for sps color, and attains an alk of 7.0dkh or so. I can attest to this, since this is what I keep my alk at and I haven't noticed any jumps/reductions in alk despite having done a couple of large water changes in the past

Pro, is supposed to have elevated levels of Alk, Ca & Mg, i.e. an alk of 10 dkh or something....really too lazy to google and confirm :lol:. Their statement is that these levels are to encourage growth.

So that's basically the difference according to them and its what I've seen so far, although admittedly I haven't used pro in a long long time.

From what I've seen, both of those are close to the typical "target" levels for Alk. Is high or low Alk more dangerous/problematic to the system? Is it easier to raise Alk or lower to fix any issues? etc, etc.

Honestly, over the last 8 months, I typically test alk twice or thrice a week. Tested Ca and Mg, ONCE till date. I believe low alk can be detrimental to the system, as opposed to high alk. However, more than anything, its stability that matters i.e. pick a level and maintain it . Frequent testing is highly recommended, especially of alk.

Now, I'm feeling lazy , so I'll just give my opinion :lol:, buy regular and be done with it, and if not happy, do a biggles, and blame me . Nah, you should be fine, but I recommend you test the levels of alk, ca and mg when you first mix up the salt.

Damn you're working hard!! My work isn't as stressful as all the unnecessary extra crap that's thrown at me from time to time :lol:. Hope you get busy this weekend!!! Have that BBQ and bribe that friend :thumbsup:

One more thing, and this is in my opinion only, until you start with sps, don't bother too much with dosing, 10% weekly water changes will suffice.

 

[NanoJosh]

I for my refracto from foster and smith for like 45 or 50 bucs and works great and holds its calibration pretty darn well.


55 gal mixed reef 10 gal SPS Dom.
10 gal nem tank 2 maxi minis 2 rock flower and one sunburst RBTA

Sent from some device using some app

 

[troubadour11]

Bello: Of course I appreciate you taking the time and making the effort to give me your LEGIBLE advice. :bounce3:

That is, until I follow it and it doesn't work. :strooper: Then I'll be :uzi: in my "BLAME BELLO" PM. LOL

Well, I went ahead and took the plunge and placed an order for a few more things... :bounce3:

I ended up grabbing 2 (175 gal buckets) of the Red Sea Regular. I won't have corals in there for awhile. Remember I'll be letting it cycle for a fairly long time since I'll be seeding my dry rockscape with a few pieces of live rock. So I figured I might as well start the system out with something that mixes closely to NSW. So for now, that should do the trick.

I obviously haven't filled the system and measured the total amount of h2o in the whole set up yet. But I did a rough ballpark estimate and came out with probably somewhere in the range of 140-160 gallons. So that should give me enough salt to get the dang thing filled, and an extra bucket to handle any immediate need for water changes as I get going.

NanoJosh: Thanks for the feedback on the Dr. Foster/Smith Refracto. I was debating picking that one up.

In the end, I grabbed the BRS refracto (which comes with the calibration solution as Bello mentioned for down the line) It was even 5 or 10 bucks less expensive. Hopefully that doesn't mean cheaper and quicker to break.

When I decided to pick up 2 buckets 'o salt, I could get free shipping for the 2 of them, the refracto, and a 6 segment piece of 3/4" Loc-Line. I'm going to be running my 3/4" return line up through the overflow and Y-ing it off with 2 lengths of Loc-Line. This was just an extra $6 to round out my free shipping on the order. And I'm pretty sure I'll need it to set up my return flow the way I'm expecting and hoping will work best.

Now it's time to get back to work. I'm in animating away all weekend and through next week. I just wanted to pop in and celebrate getting another order placed and another step closer to getting my tank wet! :bounce2: If I'm not working next weekend, I'm going to bang my head against the rest of the plumbing hopefully :thumbsup:

 

[biggles]

Soooooooooooooo Troub me old mate..........


WHERE'S THE WATER !!!!!!

:blown::deadhorse1:

I wanna hear progress Troub, ya hear me - PROGRESS !!!!!

 

[troubadour11]

All right... no water yet :mad2:

BUT

I did make a little progress. I've been stalled a little lately. We ended up deciding to replace the Jeep. It had another breakdown AGAIN, right after being in the shop. I'm not paying to fix it anymore (the engine is going out). So... we had to bite the bullet and figure out a new ride for the wife. But it's all done and taken care of now. So back to the fun stuff!

I didn't get NEARLY as much accomplished this weekend. But, forward progress is forward progress, I guess. I spent a fair amount of time at the hardware store trying to decide how I was going to run the plumbing and stuff NEATLY through the wall to the closet. In the end, I think I made the wrong choice and will be returning what I bought in order to take a different approach. But I did bring home some useful things.

I turned a couple 8 foot (2x8's) into a nice sturdy frame. Then trimmed down some 1 inch thick (4 foot x 10 inch) boards to make a top deck for the frame.

You can see my boxer, Wrigley, is extremely interested in this new contraption I'm building... She likes to help by trying to steal my wood for new chew toys! The little theif, I'm keeping my eye on you! :strooper:

A couple coats of paint to help protect the wood from any moisture and to make it look "nice."

- I left it on the table to dry fully. So it didn't get put in place. But that will happen here this week.

I also used some of the 1 inch thick boards (the same I used as the table top for the fuge platform) that I cut down to the same size as my sump (36x12 inches). This is getting painted white along with the box for the refugium. That way I will be able to have both the 75 gallon glass tank fuge and the sump on solid wood. So I should be able to shim any of that level in place in the closet if needed and it also insulates the bottom of the tanks from the cement floor a little bit.

So these two "foundation" pieces can be put in place under the sump/fuge this week. Which will allow me to finalize a few of the plumbing connections in the closet maybe. Next weekend I'll return the wrong stuff I bought and work on my new "through the wall" plan.

I'd REALLY love to have a wet test going with some fresh hose water by the end of next weekend! I'd consider it a huge win if I get the full plumbing connected and can cycle fresh water for a few days to test out all the connections.

Even though it wasn't as much as I wanted to get done. I took some time to make sure I had some good meals after ALL my hard tank work.

Saturday = Tri-Tip (bottom sirloin) cooked for about 3 and 3/4's hours over Pecan/Cherry wood mix.

Sunday = 9 pound - Spiral Sliced Ham cooked over Hickory/Cherry mix for 4.5 hours. Stuffed / coated with peach & tart cherry pie filling and then my dry rub. I kept it moist by mopping it throughout the cook with some white wine / brandy sauce I made.

They were both DELICIOUS and now I have yummy leftovers for lunch all week! :dance:

 

[Bello]

Drool!!!! Damn you!!! I'm now hungry despite just having dinner!!!

I can see a shiny ride in the background? Is that the new car? Too bad about the Jeep, sucks to lose money...but seems like the right decision in the long run . Speaking of which, I need to sell off my 10 year old dumpy sedan...problem is everything is crap...electronics, gearbox etc at the moment...but the damn engine is golden!! Tough choice.

Looks like you got a lot done....now, where's the water ?...just kidding

 

[troubadour11]

Drool!!!! Damn you!!! I'm now hungry despite just having dinner!!!

I can see a shiny ride in the background? Is that the new car? Too bad about the Jeep, sucks to lose money...but seems like the right decision in the long run . Speaking of which, I need to sell off my 10 year old dumpy sedan...problem is everything is crap...electronics, gearbox etc at the moment...but the damn engine is golden!! Tough choice.

Looks like you got a lot done....now, where's the water ?...just kidding

Oh Bello, if you could have tasted the bbq last week. It was definitely the best steak I've ever cooked on the smoker so far. It might have been the absolute best steak I've ever eaten as well! Man, it was so good I can still taste it :celeb3:

The shiny new car you saw in the background was my '08 Ford Focus. It's my little gas friendly commuter car for going 42 miles each way in Los Angeles traffic. It has got just over 85,000 miles on it. I'm hoping I can drive it till I pay off the wifes new ride. We ended up getting her a Mazada CX-5. Jeep quit making the Liberty line, and there was no comparable size (or price) option from them. We did look at the 2014 Grand Cherokees. But she thought it was a little big right now and a little more expensive then we needed. We got a great deal on the 2014 CX-5 though. I've been driving it the last couple days to work and am impressed with it. Used it to go to the hardware store today too :bounce3: It's the most SUV of any crossover style we looked at. It should do us well for camping and things. I just won't be able to do the same level trails in it we could in the Jeep. But that's ok... I can live with level 1-3 and miss out on the 4 and 5's. Or we can always rent a heavier duty ride for a weekend camping trip. And new was the way to go. No way I was paying 7-8,0000 for a new engine in an '02 Jeep with 147,000 miles. Time to upgrade, so we did...

I'm getting LOTS closer to water! I got a lot of work done today. With more planned for tomorrow. I'll have a giant photo bomb to set off on myself after these 2 days. :blown: Some of them are uploading now. And I'm about to get some dinner. But I'll have some photo updates on here between now and Monday sometime.

Here's a teaser until then:

 

[biggles]

So i always scroll down and check out pics before reading stuff and i scrolled just enough to see the first pic......

I thought - cool bit of ledge rock but what's up with the slime.... then noticed the fork and looked at the next pics Troub, you got me there mate :lol:
Glad to hear you're getting some stuff done buddy, i like the pic of the hose as it does tend to indicate a willingness on your part to possibly introduce a liquid element to the system.......

 

[troubadour11]

I thought - cool bit of ledge rock but what's up with the slime.... then noticed the fork and looked at the next pics Troub, you got me there mate :lol:
Glad to hear you're getting some stuff done buddy, i like the pic of the hose as it does tend to indicate a willingness on your part to possibly introduce a liquid element to the system.......

HA... fooled you! :fun2: Any snails or CUC would have LOVED that piece of ledge rock I bet!

I'm getting towards the wet elements here slowly but surely. Time to post up a couple pics of the progress over the weekend. I didn't accomplish quite as much as I'd hoped I would. But that's my neighbors fault. He brought beer and his dog over to play with mine for a bit to wear them out. That killed some of my momentum Sunday afternoon :cheers: LOL I still made some good progress though.

My puppy wondering where her bed went and why this big thing is out in the middle of the room where her bed is supposed to be.?.?.

New hole cut out in the back of the stand to run the plumbing through.

Installed the drain line bulkhead and tested the fit through the cut out:
Inside the stand:

Outside the stand:

- Question -
The hose is still squished a bit (the tubing came from the end / center of a big roll), but do you think that bend is going to put to much pressure on my bulkhead leading to problems down the road? It will basically be running straight through the wall from the time it makes that bend. I'm thinking of ordering a couple braided 90 degree fittings to install just underneath the bulkheads to make that turn easier.
- -

Before destroying the wall:

"Destruction complete" ... and my wife was worried I'd make a mess. Low-voltage wall mount installed to protect/reinforce the drywall. And I can even mount face plates to it if I want to make a little more finished looking and seal the house a little better:

Refugium stand built, painted, and in place... and another hole in the wall!

Picture limit....

 

[troubadour11]

Weekend work continued...

Testing out the return line fit after installing the bulkhead:

I tried actually running the return through the wall and checking to make sure I'd have enough house... reaches with no problem. I'm still thinking I'll put a 90 on both the drain and return just below the bulkheads though.

There is plenty of space to run both the drain & return through the installed 2-gang boxes. And even some room to spare, which is good. I'm guessing I'll be passing some wires through there as well once I get to setting up the Reef Angel and LEDs.

I was hoping to have a wet test going after the weekend. But I ended up having to pick up an extra piece of wood to make a small platform for the sump. So that is getting a little paint right now. And I think I'm going to have to order a few barbed fittings to finish up the plumbing and make the sweeps on the drain/return a little tighter.

Let me know if anyone is seeing bad planning or has recommendations so far. But I'm getting lots closer to water... :bounce2::bounce3::bounce1:

 

[biggles]

Right, we're getting close now Troub. Even the dog looks like he's had a gutful of looking at that empty tank lol .......:debi:
I've used those clear braided hoses before and i'll give you a couple of tips to save dramas down the track. Once your warm tank water flows through them and heats them up any kinks will close up even more leading to bad things so installing the elbows is a good move. The return being a smaller dia looks ok to me as it can get through that cutout easier than the larger dia overflow tube with no kinking - up to you but i'd definitely elbow the larger hose.
If you are going to have any form of lighting in the sump that hose will slowly fill with algae causing continual changes to the flow down and up the hoses - headaches. Very easy fix is to get a few rolls of black electricians tape and wind it around the hoses covering the entire outside - problem fixed. :thumbsup: You only need to do it where the hose is going to receive too much light.
All in all i think you're going well Troub, won't be long and you'll be freaking out at all the GHA everywhere lol :thumbsup:

 

[Bello]

Wow Troub, so we're actually gonna see water? The weekend is upon you, so you owe it to us to get some water in there...

Honesty, I've been avoiding your thread...because I get hungry each time I look at that steak ... No, seriously, I've had a whole bunch of tank crap to deal with, and its been kinda frustrating....

My return plumbing is very similar to yours Troub, with the braided hose etc, but I can't source elbows and other fittings for it locally, so it's pretty much pray and hope everything's fine. So far, its been ok. But yeah if possible, get the fittings and have it done right, its not like you're in a hurry are you? .

Biggles's tips are spot on, the value of experience.

And given my recent headaches with SPS....get Flubber!!!! Much easier and no bloody freakin' pests either!!!

 

[troubadour11]

Right, we're getting close now Troub. Even the dog looks like he's had a gutful of looking at that empty tank lol .......:debi:

- HA! Yeah, the dog and I both are sick of the empty tank! She was a little ****ed. Usually her bed is snug up against the front of the stand. That day, the stand was pulled out to cut through the walls. She was not happy her bed was moved! :lmao: She got over it once I put it all back together at the end of the day.

And definitely good tips on the plumbing. Much appreciated input, thanks! :thumbsup:

Wow Troub, so we're actually gonna see water? The weekend is upon you, so you owe it to us to get some water in there...

Honesty, I've been avoiding your thread...because I get hungry each time I look at that steak ... No, seriously, I've had a whole bunch of tank crap to deal with, and its been kinda frustrating....

My return plumbing is very similar to yours Troub, with the braided hose etc, but I can't source elbows and other fittings for it locally, so it's pretty much pray and hope everything's fine. So far, its been ok. But yeah if possible, get the fittings and have it done right, its not like you're in a hurry are you? .

Biggles's tips are spot on, the value of experience.

And given my recent headaches with SPS....get Flubber!!!! Much easier and no bloody freakin' pests either!!!

Well we are definitely getting closer to water, that's for sure! I had some errands (maybe we should say, parties :beer to attend this weekend around L.A. So I made sure to leave some time to swing by about 8 different LFS to see if I could find the plumbing parts I needed.

No luck though... I struck out at every store. They all had the 3/4 inch I.D. fittings, but not one had the 1 and 1/4 inch fittings for the drain. So... lots of driving around and looking at pretty fish and corals I can't have yet. Then back to the house at the end of the night to order the fittings off the magic internet. A whole bunch of barbed fittings and a couple barbed ball valves are now in-route :bounce3:

I can't wait to get them delivered. Once they get here, an hour or so of playing around and I should be able to at least fill it up with tap water and give it a test for a few days!

Granted the electrical isn't finished, but I can test it and probably even get it cycling without that done :mad2:

Thanks for the input and feed back on the plumbing ideas. I'm taking the advice and opting to try and do it closer to right from the start.

And yes Bello, I'm in a HUGE hurry to get this done! :facepalm: You just wouldn't know it by the snails pace I'm accomplishing it. It's driving me nuts! But, with the car and everything else... the hobby build goes slow in order to pay bills. Stupid adult responsibilities getting in the way! I'll just have to win the tank war being a turtle rather then the hare I guess. :blown:

 

[Bello]

Alright Troub, status update?? You'd better not be BBQ'ing or drinking wine :furious:

It's always a pain to get plumbing parts that fit, and I've gone to the extent of being super lazy, see online, order online....wait....problem solved

Life sometimes gets us in the nuts, but keeping plugging away Troub, we'll have water soon :thumbsup:

 

[troubadour11]

Alright Troub, status update?? You'd better not be BBQ'ing or drinking wine :furious:

It's always a pain to get plumbing parts that fit, and I've gone to the extent of being super lazy, see online, order online....wait....problem solved

Life sometimes gets us in the nuts, but keeping plugging away Troub, we'll have water soon :thumbsup:

IT'S WET!!!!!! :bounce3::bounce2::bounce1:

.... with fresh water for now ...

I got the barbed fittings and valves delivered on Thursday. Spent some time this afternoon assembling the plumbing pieces. Then we filled it up with some tap water and let the return pump rip.

I had one little drippy leak at the start from one of my bulkheads. A quick snugging up of the bolt under the tank solved that! So far it's been running for a few hours with no major issues.

Right now I only have the return pump plumbed to the UV unit, then a ball valve, through the wall to the return bulkhead. I don't have the refugium hooked into the system yet. I'm letting the pvc bonds sit over night and will try adding that into the system tomorrow. I just need to fill up the 75 gallon tank and then drop in my overflow pipes, hook it to the braided tube I have in place ready to connect, then set up my canister filter to lift water from the sump up to the refugium. Shouldn't take me longer the 15 minutes to see if the whole plumbed system will run smoothly tomorrow!

So far it's a fairly quiet system with the fresh water. A light "raining outside" sound from the drain. I can't even hear it with the tv or music on. No powerheads running in the DT yet though if that will add noise. We can't hear the return pump at all in the closet through the wall.

Tomorrow I want the fuge tied into the leak test. I was going to let it run till Monday and then drain it and let it dry. I'm also hoping I might get to hook up the new RO/DI unit tomorrow.

One question I could use some advice on.... Leveling the DT ... The sump and refugium tank are dead on level. But my DT isn't quite perfectly level in it's final plumbed position. Does anyone have any tips for me on leveling a DT. It's sitting in a carpeted room on an oak stand. Glass tank with a plastic bottom frame sitting inside the decorative oak lip of the stand. I'll do some searching for solutions, but thought I'd mention it here since I was updating that IT'S WET!!!! :dance:

Hahaha ha.... IT'S WET :deadhorse1:

 

[troubadour11]

Oh, and I'll be sure to get some pictures of it up once I finish tinkering with it for the weekend

 

[troubadour11]

Looking good. No leaking this morning from over night!

I noticed in the sump, I have a lot of water beneath the drain entrance where the air inside the drain line bubbles back up to the surface. I'm curious if that might lead to a bad salt creep problem. I'll be doing some :reading: on ideas to improve that. Let me know if there are good methods I may not know about yet.

Currently the drain line ends beneath the surface of the sump water level. This makes the drain quieter over all, but doesn't create as many bubbles as when it's suspended above the water level. When it's above the water line, the additional bubbles from the water falling into the surface made even more spray. So I'm feeling the best current option is to keep the drain line end just below the surface of the sump level. But if there is a simple way to improve the bubbling spray effect, I'd be willing to implement it.

This first chamber of my sump is also expected to start off empty. But over time as I cycle and continue set up, I was considering making this kind of a dark refugium beneath the drain. Possibly creating a rock rubble tower that I could keep beneath the drain (when not using a filter sock). I'm thinking I may only run the filter sock when I deliberately want to stir up junk to be removed. And then using some egg crate to make tables and suspend a few pieces of live up off the bottom in the chamber.

Possibly a good place to add a probe or two, ato drip line, one of my heaters, or something of that sorts as well.

Anyway, that's the news and ideas/questions from this morning :spin3:

Now I'm off to filling the 75 gallon refugium with some hose water and starting the canister filter up to see if all that will tie into the main circulation.

- oh, and I may prep the steaks a bit for the grill tonight :beer:

 

[Bello]

If I understand correctly, the filter sock is typically placed where the drain enters the sump, thereby eliminating those air bubbles. I don't usually run filter socks or pads, and I employ a sort of a drip tray to eliminate that problem.

I'll be adding some live rock to my sump too, but will be placing them atop a frag tray in the hope that detritus collects below the tray and will be easier to siphon.

I'm stuffed today, all you can eat Sushi