a Whacked 40B adventure

Well, Friday nite I filled 'er up!
it took 46g of H20.
Still playing with the herbie overflow to quiet it down. I got the drain quiet but I still get the trickle waterfall in the overflow. On Sat I drained some water and made the notches bigger, that really helped. (getting the chunks of acrylic out of the tank was a pain. paper towels for the win!) I'm guessing once it slimes up a bit that should quiet it down. Never had a overflow before so this is all new to me. Its maybe a little louder than the waterfall I get from the Aquaclear 70 thats on my FW 29g when the waters low. Not really annoying, kinda soothing really.
My skimmer is noisier than I remember. I had it HOB on my 20H but took it down this last spring as I couldnt seem to keep up with the evap (school and everything) and it was a bit touchy with water level. I'll probably get a better/bigger skimmer next year when I start getting some sort of bioload in the system.

The Quietone 3000 isnt very quiet, at least not like Jacobs but it isnt too bad. Right now its quieter than the skimmer and definitely mor quiet that the waterfall in the overflow.

I'm not too happy with how I did the return. I may redo it completely later but for now it works.
But at least the tank is cycling :)

I got the lights wired up today, havent tested them yet hopefully none of the wires are crossed. test fit the canopy and I'll have to shave it down in some spots.

Tomorrow I'll finish shaving down and sanding, then get a coat of primer/paint. Its looking like Tues or Weds I'll have the lights in and canopy in place. Then i'll take more pics and post what I got :)
 
Awesome work Ken! Glad to see progress....getting it wet is such a great feeling, I remember that well!
 
Ken, good to hear that it's wet finally!

With regard to the overflows, they should be pretty quiet without needing any tinkering what so ever. Here are a couple of things you can check....

- The non-siphon pipe inlet is above the siphon overflow
- The non-siphon pipe is a Durso or Stockman design
- The non-siphon pipe is set pretty high in your overflow box so the water doesn't make a waterfall coming through the overflow teeth
- The siphon overflow is set far enough below the water line in the overflow box so it doesn't create a vortex
- In the sump, both overflow pipes are submerged an inch or so below the water surface


When you think about upgrading your skimmer consider the Tunze skimmers, a 9010 would be about right and they are near silent. One of the new smaller Master DOC skimmers would also fit the bill and they quiet too. There is also the cone skimmer that Lak has which you can put a Tunze pump on.

If you're looking for a quiet return pump check out the Eheims or the Poseidon series pumps, which are completely silent but run hot = heat into your tank.


Congrats again! Looking forward to seeing pics as you stock it up.
 
Picture time.
OK going back to drilling. Very nerve wracking, took several beers to calm me down :)
I didnt get them exactly inline top-bottom. By the time I realized my error it was too late. Ah well, cant see 'em and they work.
DSCN1473.jpg

the backside plumbing. kind of a hack job but it works :)
DSCN1511.jpg

The overflow box and spraybar return.
DSCN1537.jpg

setup shot. canopy isnt attached. I was fitting it after shaving a bit down. the lights can be seen in the back
DSCN1517.jpg

front view
DSCN1518.jpg

Sump. yea my drain and 'fuge line needs to be shortened. I wanted to make sure they weren't too short. once I finish fiddling with everything I'll shorten them up and get the 2nd drain back to the media rack.
DSCN1519.jpg

Tank shot with my jawfish house
DSCN1536.jpg


Jacob: I got things much quieter. right now the water level in the overflow is just at the bottom of the upper drain. So if I was to close the main drain gate valve a hair, drops will come out the top drain. I also adjusted to return feeding the 'fuge to a trickle. That put more gph to the display and kept things even. For some reason that helps. Right now the only water noise I get is from the overflow box, and even that is much quieter.
I'll probably keep the quietone. once I get doors on the stand I doubt i'll hear it too much.
The Tunze 9010 might be a bit much, I was thinking more like the 9005. I was also looking at the PM Redline 100 or maybe the 150 (might be a tight fit), and the octopus line, heard good things about those skimmers. But thats a ways down the line, I have other more important things first.
 
Nice!! I made that same jawfish house, from the pics I had seen on another forum if I remember right.

What type of jawfish are you looking to get?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15429709#post15429709 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JoshuaG
Nice!! I made that same jawfish house, from the pics I had seen on another forum if I remember right.

What type of jawfish are you looking to get?
Click to expand...
yep, the thread over at nano reef :) was a great idea especially if you have finer sand or a mixed sand depth.

I'd love to get a bluespot but I am rather hesitant on pulling the trigger for a $100-150 fish. I'm kinda cheap that way :) well see tho. So will probably lean to the yellowhead. The black cap is kinda cool too, dont see many tanks with one of those but think I like the yellowhead more.
 
Sooo,...

Lights installed and canopy attached to the uprights.
Plug in lights
Ooops! tripped the GFCI
So i'll need to run a extension cord from somewhere (probably my bedroom) so I wont trip the GFCI or breaker.

Then the ****er happened.

I had one bank of bulbs on. went to close the canopy and POOF! SPARK! tripped the GFCI. I just know a bulb blew.

So take a wild guess, 3 $20 bulbs and 1 $40 bulb, which one blew?

The Fiji Purple was the reason why I chose that particular bulb configuration. Sucker is also more expensive.
Well, at least reef geeks ships their stuff pretty fast.

Time to look and see if theres some sort of discount code somewhere.
 
ARRRG! My condolences my man!

Did you ever figure out why it blew in the first place? Is the light wired correctly? too much load on the GFCI?
 
yea I did figure out why it blew. I dont know why the other bulb didnt blow. maybe it would have if the now-dead bulb carried current thru it.

What happened is that the leads supplying power to the ballast pulled out just enough that lowering the canopy caused them to touch. Theres a little scorch mark on the ballast and I was afraid the ballast was a goner too. Thankfully its OK.

So I clipped and stripped the leads, dug out the scorched copper from the inlet then zip-tied the power cord to a hook so any cord pressure will go against the hook, not the ballast leads.

I dont know what I didnt think of that in the first place. 98 cents of hooks plus a couple zip ties is a lot better than replacing the bulbs and possibly a ballast.
 
GFCI is a life saver, I know first hand.
Last year I added a powerhead to my tank that had been in the shed and the next time I stuck my hand in the tank I felt a strange feeling on my arm, then the GFCI tripped.
When I check out the wire it was bare on a small section (1/64") ethier it was pinched or an animal got to it. Either way I probably would not be here with out that GFCI.

BTW your tank is looking good and you did a great job on the stand.
 
Helder, so glad you had that in place! Living in an old duplex built around 1940 or 50, we don't have the three wire electrical ran and since I'm renting it sucks. I did install one by the tank and have tripped it a few times especially if I knock a cord loose or if I pull out the plug too quick, so its good to know it's something.
 
I bought extra hooks. Going to make sure there is NO way nothing gets near the water and the connection wires wont get pulled or stressed in any way.
I just got a email from reefgeeks, expected delivery of new bulb 7/31
Gotta love those guys, good prices, fast delivery.

Yea, a GFCI is a MUST for any outlet that can smell water.
which makes things odd, here in my apartment the bathroom sink is GFCI yet the kitchen counter is not?
 
I think if the outlet in his bathroom is on the same circuit as the bathroom CFCI it is also protected.

I bought a circuit tester at OSH after my experience.
 
Aside from the obvious short, sometimes after tripping numerous times GFI's will wearout and become trigger happy. If it keeps happening....consider replacing the GFI outlet.
 
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