Addiction wins, 450 gallon system begins
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Lunchbucket
Premium Member
glad they are all in there ans started nipping! congrats!
Lunchbucket
Lunchbucket
Yes it is... Nice to see someone that looks at the whole picture and not just the overall shot
OK I tried to get some good pics, but after nearly 100 pics, none turned out very well... I need photo-911.
But anways, here are a few shots:
First: A very active tang trying to find a way out of the new tank with the CB in the background:
Just a shot of the right side. As you can see, my cleanup crew came just in time and has some serious work to do!
Just a couple shots from last night with the lights out and flash on:
So that's it, now there are a few pics to break up the past few pages of chit-chat:rollface:
OK I tried to get some good pics, but after nearly 100 pics, none turned out very well... I need photo-911.
But anways, here are a few shots:
First: A very active tang trying to find a way out of the new tank with the CB in the background:
Just a shot of the right side. As you can see, my cleanup crew came just in time and has some serious work to do!
Just a couple shots from last night with the lights out and flash on:
So that's it, now there are a few pics to break up the past few pages of chit-chat:rollface:
jnarowe
New member
nice to see some shots. I just pulled a standard bucket of plants out of my 70g Tall. I have been so busy screwing around with the reef tank room that the FW Planted got a bit overgrown. I hate to throw it away!
Actually, I feed it to our nightcrawlers and they turn it back into fertilizer. Yippee...and the cycle continues. It is really tough to get the hang of tank photography so don't feel bad.--J
Actually, I feed it to our nightcrawlers and they turn it back into fertilizer. Yippee...and the cycle continues. It is really tough to get the hang of tank photography so don't feel bad.--J
OK, I posted this on the MRC forum as well, but thought I would put it on the main thread also. It's got pictures for Nexdog and hopefully it might help someone down the road...
OK so for the MRC veterans, maybe this is common knowledge and maybe I'm a stupid newbie
But I knew that my MR3 was not performing up to what all the hype has been. Tuning this thing has been an absolute nightmare. I've cruised this thread and even asked for help. Some tried to help, but nothing worked. Lets just say that I have been thinking about going to another brand of skimmer. This thing would not stay tuned and needed adjustment every day, sometimes several times a day. It was driving me nuts. I could either get good dark skimmate or get a good wet skim going only to find that a few hours later, I either skimmed good salt water, or was back to cranking the stupid air valve more.
I thought and thought and decided that I was going to re-vamp the intake and try that. I did notice that the cotton filter was needing replacement every few days to get a good air supply.
Tonight I tore the skimmer apart as I had to e-mail Andy about the most horrendous clicking noise coming from inside the beckett housing. He told me what to fix, so I tore is apart to fix what I belive is officially called the "watchamagizmo"
So while I had this thing tore apart, I thought I would quickly make some type of prototype for a new intake and see what happened. And you know what... I found my problem... It was called AIR. Turns out I wasn't getting too much.
Here is what I started with:
I came home to this about 50% of the time. I would set it to be wet, but then it would back itself off and look like this
So tonight I roughed this together:
I just adapted a 1" 90 and a piece of 1.5" with holes drilled in it. Then I filled it with carbon and covered it with pantyhose, just to keep the carbon in and aid in keeping dirt out. I still have the cotton filter at the mouth of the injector.
It's not pretty as this is just a prototype... But wow what a difference in performance. Before to skim wet, I had to have the water level up and into the second riser before I opened the air valve to get it to skim wet. Now I have the water level a tad above the half-way point of the first riser... All I can say is what a difference. It sounds funny, but after running this thing for seven weeks the way it was, you can feel the power of the upgrade. it's like going from a family car to a hemi
I'm going to make something a little better looking and permanent soon, but I hope that someone else having problems finds this post helpful.
Now I can start getting thing put away in the wetroom. I have had to do so much tweaking with this thing and thought I was going to replace it, I was apprehensive about permanently mounting anything and cleaning up
and hopefully it might help someone down the road...OK so for the MRC veterans, maybe this is common knowledge and maybe I'm a stupid newbie
But I knew that my MR3 was not performing up to what all the hype has been. Tuning this thing has been an absolute nightmare. I've cruised this thread and even asked for help. Some tried to help, but nothing worked. Lets just say that I have been thinking about going to another brand of skimmer. This thing would not stay tuned and needed adjustment every day, sometimes several times a day. It was driving me nuts. I could either get good dark skimmate or get a good wet skim going only to find that a few hours later, I either skimmed good salt water, or was back to cranking the stupid air valve more.
I thought and thought and decided that I was going to re-vamp the intake and try that. I did notice that the cotton filter was needing replacement every few days to get a good air supply.
Tonight I tore the skimmer apart as I had to e-mail Andy about the most horrendous clicking noise coming from inside the beckett housing. He told me what to fix, so I tore is apart to fix what I belive is officially called the "watchamagizmo"
So while I had this thing tore apart, I thought I would quickly make some type of prototype for a new intake and see what happened. And you know what... I found my problem... It was called AIR. Turns out I wasn't getting too much.
Here is what I started with:
I came home to this about 50% of the time. I would set it to be wet, but then it would back itself off and look like this
So tonight I roughed this together:
I just adapted a 1" 90 and a piece of 1.5" with holes drilled in it. Then I filled it with carbon and covered it with pantyhose, just to keep the carbon in and aid in keeping dirt out. I still have the cotton filter at the mouth of the injector.
It's not pretty as this is just a prototype... But wow what a difference in performance. Before to skim wet, I had to have the water level up and into the second riser before I opened the air valve to get it to skim wet. Now I have the water level a tad above the half-way point of the first riser... All I can say is what a difference. It sounds funny, but after running this thing for seven weeks the way it was, you can feel the power of the upgrade. it's like going from a family car to a hemi
I'm going to make something a little better looking and permanent soon, but I hope that someone else having problems finds this post helpful.
Now I can start getting thing put away in the wetroom. I have had to do so much tweaking with this thing and thought I was going to replace it, I was apprehensive about permanently mounting anything and cleaning up
steve68
New member
Hop when u upgrade to a second beckett (if u ever do) dont use the barb to hose conection, use 1 inch flex pvc so u get more flow through the pipe, the hose u are using for the beckett has a smaller inside diameter so u are loosing head right off the bat, the second best thing to do is to run an air intake tube to the outside of u'r house so it sucks in fresh air & make a carbon filter in line so it cleans the air coming in, & for the waste collector do the same thing but u dont need carbon cuz the smell will just be going outside, once u run the air out of ur waste collector outside u will not believe how much less moisture u have in ur fish room.
hope this help.
hope this help.
NexDog: LOL. All that it was, or what I perceive was, that the air was being restricted going into the skimmer and on top of that, it was clogging the prefilter really fast. This little mod just took that problem away... Makes me feel like I have a new skimmer!
Also yes the two white pieces that James sent are scrapers I actually used them for the first time last week. Did a fine job and I took my time... Zero scratches!
My critters list now is the following:
3 green chromis
1 Coral Beauty
1 Naso Tang
1 FoxFace
3 Peppermint Shrimp
3 Emerald Crabs
3 Brittle Stars
300 asst. snails
I'm not sure what my goal is... Pretty sad huh? When I built this thing I wanted a healthy place for critters, become more informed with the hobby and go from there. So right now, my only goal is to make the tank stable, healthy and learn all I can. That's the main reason I don't post a whole lot on other threads, I'm still doing so much learning that really all I can do is ask questions. So instead I subscribe to a ton of threads and do a lot of reading I guess I should be sitting back and dreaming about more fish and corals and upgrades, but right now I just want to see the system balance, get rid of the little hair algae I have and see all that base rock get some color! I'll think about more fish and corals down the road. I hope that makes sense
steve68: Thanks! I wish there was a how to properly install a beckett skimmer on a large tank book :lolspin:. I cruised this site forever and could never find information or at least quality information on this topic... I know no one else that has SW stuff around here. It's a small town in a moderate county, but still the closest LFS is a couple hours away. Never even saw a SW set up in a house before doing this, only been to public aquariums and fish stores... Oh and of course hotels in Las Vegas
Makes sense, but on the intake, what about the 100+ degree days and the -50 degree days we get here? Should I have some type of system when if the temp hits extremes, I can redirect the air intake? And thanks about the info on the head... I am planning on redoing it, but Spa-Flex is not available here, I have to drive a couple hours to where they sell it. But it's on my long to do list.
... Makes me feel like I have a new skimmer!Also yes the two white pieces that James sent are scrapers
I actually used them for the first time last week. Did a fine job and I took my time... Zero scratches!My critters list now is the following:
3 green chromis
1 Coral Beauty
1 Naso Tang
1 FoxFace
3 Peppermint Shrimp
3 Emerald Crabs
3 Brittle Stars
300 asst. snails
I'm not sure what my goal is... Pretty sad huh? When I built this thing I wanted a healthy place for critters, become more informed with the hobby and go from there. So right now, my only goal is to make the tank stable, healthy and learn all I can. That's the main reason I don't post a whole lot on other threads, I'm still doing so much learning that really all I can do is ask questions. So instead I subscribe to a ton of threads and do a lot of reading
I guess I should be sitting back and dreaming about more fish and corals and upgrades, but right now I just want to see the system balance, get rid of the little hair algae I have and see all that base rock get some color! I'll think about more fish and corals down the road. I hope that makes sensesteve68: Thanks! I wish there was a how to properly install a beckett skimmer on a large tank book :lolspin:. I cruised this site forever and could never find information or at least quality information on this topic... I know no one else that has SW stuff around here. It's a small town in a moderate county, but still the closest LFS is a couple hours away. Never even saw a SW set up in a house before doing this, only been to public aquariums and fish stores... Oh and of course hotels in Las Vegas
Makes sense, but on the intake, what about the 100+ degree days and the -50 degree days we get here? Should I have some type of system when if the temp hits extremes, I can redirect the air intake? And thanks about the info on the head... I am planning on redoing it, but Spa-Flex is not available here, I have to drive a couple hours to where they sell it. But it's on my long to do list.
new tank construction - suggestions
new tank construction - suggestions
Okay - first off - congradulations on joining in on throwing $ away!!!!!!! I want to let you know I have a 210 gallon system with 45 gallon somp (diy) that is 52 days up and running today.
If you are using submersible pumps and power heads in the systems! And with your lighting in the main display and refugium area you too may not need heaters! I actually had to get a chiller. After the first week of operation I was thinking I needed a bigger heater system, then when all lights were turned on for their full 12 hour per day cycle - WOW heat sink city! temps were contantly going up into the 80's. I see you are in Colorado - myself here in Wyoming with set up in basement - we are expecting system to heat downstairs! Any way wanted to inform you on that notion. As for lights - with VHO and 3 MH's. Your sessile inverts that utilize zooanthelle for photsynthesis will be fine on your rock wall, at sand level it might be okay for some and not others. Another chance to throw $ away! Laugh if you want but you will find out. Please keep the post's up - we are talking about getting a digital comera for family this holiday season - I really wish it were here now to share pic's. Also the whole family is involved here with system hopefully you will find the same!
Cook Family
new tank construction - suggestions
Okay - first off - congradulations on joining in on throwing $ away!!!!!!! I want to let you know I have a 210 gallon system with 45 gallon somp (diy) that is 52 days up and running today.
If you are using submersible pumps and power heads in the systems! And with your lighting in the main display and refugium area you too may not need heaters! I actually had to get a chiller. After the first week of operation I was thinking I needed a bigger heater system, then when all lights were turned on for their full 12 hour per day cycle - WOW heat sink city! temps were contantly going up into the 80's. I see you are in Colorado - myself here in Wyoming with set up in basement - we are expecting system to heat downstairs! Any way wanted to inform you on that notion. As for lights - with VHO and 3 MH's. Your sessile inverts that utilize zooanthelle for photsynthesis will be fine on your rock wall, at sand level it might be okay for some and not others. Another chance to throw $ away! Laugh if you want but you will find out. Please keep the post's up - we are talking about getting a digital comera for family this holiday season - I really wish it were here now to share pic's. Also the whole family is involved here with system hopefully you will find the same!
Cook Family
GregM779
Premium Member
Nice mod Hop, I have a MRC MR3 that I haven't hooked up yet. Mine has the dual injector upgrade so hopefully I can get enough air through 2 holes, I'll have to try the Hop Mod.
I'm actually going to let a new LFS owner borrow the skimmer for a couple of months to use on his coral sale tank as I don't have room for it right now.
I'm actually going to let a new LFS owner borrow the skimmer for a couple of months to use on his coral sale tank as I don't have room for it right now.
DeJaCo: Welcome aboard!
melev: Sorry I'll try harder tonight Hope the frag swap went well, was quiet around here with everyone gone.
GregM779: Thanks. I hope it helps someone out there. This is now officially day three and aside from one fine adjustment I have not had to touch the skimmer other than to empty the skimmate Made my weekend! (maybe I need a better life:hmm6: ) Nice to see you have a LFS that wants to take care of it's stock...
Anyways, I got to get going. I have a presentation in front of 500 middle school kids in two hours and I have no idea what I'm going to talk about yet
melev: Sorry I'll try harder tonight
Hope the frag swap went well, was quiet around here with everyone gone.GregM779: Thanks. I hope it helps someone out there. This is now officially day three and aside from one fine adjustment I have not had to touch the skimmer other than to empty the skimmate
Made my weekend! (maybe I need a better life:hmm6: ) Nice to see you have a LFS that wants to take care of it's stock... Anyways, I got to get going. I have a presentation in front of 500 middle school kids in two hours and I have no idea what I'm going to talk about yet
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GregM779 said:
Good to hear! I love my MRC now that I got the little details worked out... Rumor is that if you go to the pressure rated pump the difference is night and day, so if your impressed now, wait till you get a different pump
I'm running a Pan World Blue Line 55. Originally I had a Gen X and lets just say customer service was horrible, so on Andy's recommendation I went with the Blue Line and never looked back. Man this thing is quiet and moves some serious water! I had thought about the dual becketts, but right now the thing is easy to tune and pulling out some good stuff. I'm a little afraid to mess with what's working
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