Benson's Upgrade to a 180 Gallon Tank

Zoas...

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Joined the forum

Joined the forum

This my first time joining the forum. I'm excited to post pictures of me and Benson's new tank. The floors are completed and tank up and running. I am excited to add to our new display. We added 2 new rock structures to the existing rock, coral and fish from the 100.
 
Well, the refugium is not draining as well as I expected. Which is causing the water level in my sump to go up and down. Not good. I'm going to have to change the way I have it plumbed I think so that it drains faster. It my last setup I had the return pump feeding the refugium and media reactors. Now I have a second pump in the sump feeding those items...
 
Well, the refugium is not draining as well as I expected. Which is causing the water level in my sump to go up and down. Not good. I'm going to have to change the way I have it plumbed I think so that it drains faster. It my last setup I had the return pump feeding the refugium and media reactors. Now I have a second pump in the sump feeding those items...

Does the second pump have too much flow going to the fuge or is it because the way the drain is set up? Before you had a single return pump for your return, fuge , and reactors and now that there is a pump for the fuge and reactors the drain in the fuge might not be able to keep up with it. Looks like air could be getting trapped in the drain which could be causing the water level to bounce around. You could try lowering the flow rate through the fuge or possibly adding a 90 degree fitting on the bulkhead inside the fuge with the open end facing up which might help keep air from getting caught in the drain line. That or maybe running flex pipe or tubing instead of hard plumbing it.
 
I have the refugium higher than the sump but the drain did not have enough downward slant to allow the flow to be fast enough for the pump. I changed the drain and now the flow is way faster than the pump can deliver. Works great now.
 
I also hooked up my Apex Jr Controller - Neptune Systems. I have it hooked up to my WiFi as well. Need that added control and peace of mind.
 
I'm still trying to get my Skimz Kone SK204 Skimmer dialed in... seem to be having trouble with that. I'm just letting it run for now.
 
The skimmer seems to be running better now. I closed down the air screw a bit. The Skimz Octa SC205I skimmer is a beast for sure.
 
So, I set up the UV sterilizer last night. It helped to make the water crystal clear this morning. The protein skimmer seems to be settled down when I checked on it this morning. Pulling nice skim.
 
I still need to setup the dosing pumps. Perhaps I will do that this weekend. I may use the third dosing pump to do carbon dosing with vinegar. I checked the parameters to see if there was a "mini" cycle. None was detected as ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are at zero.
 
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