CADlights 39g Pro build thread
- Thread starter ArtC
- Start date
reeftivo
Skim junkie
Hi timdanger!
I think you're right about the pump. Its pulling well right now but the air numbers are not where they should be so I'm taking your cue and getting in touch with Eddie to see if I can get a new pump. This suckers is BIG! and while I'm sure I will eventually settle in with this skimmer later, I still have the Octo 110 and the Vertex IN80 to try out. Too many skimmers sitting in my garage right now-LOL! My sump is perfect for my application and I'm happy with the options I have now. I am going to hard plumb the drain and returns in the next couple of weeks and put a gate valve on both just beneath the bulkheads. Getting more frags & I've also added 3 inches of geo marine substrate to my existing bed and would like to get a blue spot jawfish like yours. I'm just not sure about the Damsels in there right now because while they are happy with the others in there, they are territorial little suckers. They bite the cr#p out of me when my hands are in the tank.
Hope that water leak issue you had is handled!
Shipping Tunze today!
Tivo
I think you're right about the pump. Its pulling well right now but the air numbers are not where they should be so I'm taking your cue and getting in touch with Eddie to see if I can get a new pump. This suckers is BIG! and while I'm sure I will eventually settle in with this skimmer later, I still have the Octo 110 and the Vertex IN80 to try out. Too many skimmers sitting in my garage right now-LOL! My sump is perfect for my application and I'm happy with the options I have now. I am going to hard plumb the drain and returns in the next couple of weeks and put a gate valve on both just beneath the bulkheads. Getting more frags & I've also added 3 inches of geo marine substrate to my existing bed and would like to get a blue spot jawfish like yours. I'm just not sure about the Damsels in there right now because while they are happy with the others in there, they are territorial little suckers. They bite the cr#p out of me when my hands are in the tank.
Hope that water leak issue you had is handled!
Shipping Tunze today!
Tivo
while you're on the phone with eddie, ask him where he gets those little plastic clips for holding up the lid over the tank! i can't find anything i can use for that anywhere (not that i've had time to construct my new top yet anyway...!). or, does anyone else have suggestions of what to use? after deciding against going with the glass lid, i've gone through all this effort to make the perfect lid -- but i can't figure out a good way to mount it!
out of curiosity, why hard plumbing? i do like the gate valves, though. ha, and on a related note, the tunze return pump can handle back pressure! i forgot to open the gate valve on my return line after i finished my water change last night, and it was running for about 8-10 seconds with the valve fully closed. i quickly opened the valve, and it was fine afterward. whew.
my water leak issue is sadly not very handled at this point. waiting for the industrial cleaner's air sampling (for lack of a better term) to come back from the lab so they can tell me what mold is there (and in what concentrations). the guy said it looks like i proooobably won't have to replace joists or subflooring, but i may need to replace some of my kitchen cabinets. :fun5: so, i'm just sort of trying to ignore it until i hear something.
I'll be looking for the tunze! thanks again!
reeftivo
Skim junkie
out of curiosity, why hard plumbing? i do like the gate valves, though. ha, and on a related note, the tunze return pump can handle back pressure! i forgot to open the gate valve on my return line after i finished my water change last night, and it was running for about 8-10 seconds with the valve fully closed. i quickly opened the valve, and it was fine afterward. whew.
The flex is still very rigid and the angle in the pics show pretty much the only angle for easy filter sock access. I plan to put a threaded union right below the gate valve on the drain and run a 45 off the gate down to another 45 out to the sock. I prefer to have the sock in front for access so the threaded unions will allow me some manueverability. I believe it will give me a cleaner overall look and will be easier to remove quickly for maintenance.
Hang in there on the water issue!
Tivo
The flex is still very rigid and the angle in the pics show pretty much the only angle for easy filter sock access. I plan to put a threaded union right below the gate valve on the drain and run a 45 off the gate down to another 45 out to the sock. I prefer to have the sock in front for access so the threaded unions will allow me some manueverability. I believe it will give me a cleaner overall look and will be easier to remove quickly for maintenance.
Hang in there on the water issue!
Tivo
mkregs
New member
Hey guys....couple things...
1. Some of you may know (if you've seen my posts on other boards) that I have had issues with the stock skimmer pump that came with my 39Pro. I have the skimmer that pre-dates the BM skimmers. As an economical replacement skimmer pump, I was considering a Maxijet 1200 with the venturi kit...also, possibly with a meshwheel mod. Please provide your thoughts.
2. (insert drama here)...after going through several bottles of Excedrin due to living with the constant hum of the stock return pump, I am going to break down and order one of the Tunze silence pumps this week. Thanks to Tim for being the guinea pig for us!
1. Some of you may know (if you've seen my posts on other boards) that I have had issues with the stock skimmer pump that came with my 39Pro. I have the skimmer that pre-dates the BM skimmers. As an economical replacement skimmer pump, I was considering a Maxijet 1200 with the venturi kit...also, possibly with a meshwheel mod. Please provide your thoughts.
2. (insert drama here)...after going through several bottles of Excedrin due to living with the constant hum of the stock return pump, I am going to break down and order one of the Tunze silence pumps this week. Thanks to Tim for being the guinea pig for us!
bought my first two SPS frags last night! a 4" "stick" of green slimer and a small frag of orange digitata.
couldn't find superglue, so mounting could've gone better (but it could've gone worse, too, i guess!). hoping i didn't do too much damage to the slimer while trying to get it to stick in the Coral Fix putty. both were looking pretty good this morning, though.
decided to wait on the pearlberry until i "get my feet wet" (so to speak) with these less expensive guys, but i'm still excited! :dance: and, my LFS has a ton of pearlberry available (though be it $80/1" frag), so i'm in no hurry.
are you going .020 or .040?
couldn't find superglue, so mounting could've gone better (but it could've gone worse, too, i guess!). hoping i didn't do too much damage to the slimer while trying to get it to stick in the Coral Fix putty. both were looking pretty good this morning, though.
decided to wait on the pearlberry until i "get my feet wet" (so to speak) with these less expensive guys, but i'm still excited! :dance: and, my LFS has a ton of pearlberry available (though be it $80/1" frag), so i'm in no hurry.
are you going .020 or .040?
mkregs
New member
Prob .020 - should be sufficient.
Also, congrats on the new frags!
reeftivo
Skim junkie
You'll like the Tunze!
The MJ1200 has a considerably smaller output diameter than the Gen X or the mini G pumps so it may not work. You may be able to snug it with teflon tape or some other form of shim, but with the smaller output diameter it may cause unwanted turbulence at the output of the 45 degree elbow into the skimmer body. I may still work but thats just my 2 cents. Give it a try and if it doesn't work, you'll only have spent <$20 bucks for a pump you could use in other applications later. MJ pumps are great little pumps! The pumps that may be a better fit would be the ASM mini G and the adjustable Gen X 1500 needle wheel. Their outputs are similar in diameter and the gph is in the range. If you mesh the impeller on the MJ I think the body of the skimmer would not be able to handle the air because there is no diffuser of any type in the body of the skimmer. The air would be awsome but it would most likely be blowing way too many micros back into the sump. The skimmer would either have to be taller or have a diversion at the output.
Gillundr
New member
Wow, it's been a while since I have been on here I have been busy busy. Looks like everyone has been busy upgrading lol. All this stuff looks great guys. ON an off topic I "acquired" a 120g tank. It's standard dims 48x24x24. Want to do an SPS dominated mixed reef and have been thinking about lights. Original plan was to go with a 48" fixture with 2x250w MH and some T5 actinic supplements. Now that I have been thinking about it a little more I have been sort of wondering about going with straight T5s and wanted to get some second opinions. Do you guys think an 8x54w T5 fixture will do it? I highly doubt a 6 bulb would do very well unless sps were up top. I don't think I want to go over 8 bulbs though because then it's more expensive to run than the MH combo I think. I know I have seen some 14 bulb units out there and all that but wanted to try to stay away from that. I wanted to try to keep the power bill down a bit and also heat my be an issue where the tank is going so wanted to think about the T5s. Adding another tank is gonna pump the power bill up so was thinking about T5s lol. I guess I could do MHs like the original plan but wanted to get some other people opinions and see what you all think. LEDs would be out of the question on the 120 might think about putting them on the CAD though. Thats a nice setup!
reeftivo
Skim junkie
Hi Gillundr! Welcome back!
Check out the lighting/filtration threads on the forums index here at RC. I think you're on the right track and I've read of many successes with the T5's but the maniacs over there would have a much better handle on T5 lighting.
I think he bought from Salty Critter-not sure though!
Check out the lighting/filtration threads on the forums index here at RC. I think you're on the right track and I've read of many successes with the T5's but the maniacs over there would have a much better handle on T5 lighting.
I think he bought from Salty Critter-not sure though!
CalmSeasQuest
Active member
CalmSeasQuest
Active member
Eureka!
I think I found a skimmer that will satisfy RT's eternal quest... :bounce1:
You might have to mod your cabinet a bit though
http://www.reefpost.com/threads/12-Bashsea-8500-Skimmer-Mesh-Needle-Prototyping
Bashea is a local (Michigan) company doing some incredible things.
I think I found a skimmer that will satisfy RT's eternal quest... :bounce1:
You might have to mod your cabinet a bit though
http://www.reefpost.com/threads/12-Bashsea-8500-Skimmer-Mesh-Needle-Prototyping
Bashea is a local (Michigan) company doing some incredible things.
reeftivo
Skim junkie
Eureka!
I think I found a skimmer that will satisfy RT's eternal quest... :bounce1:
You might have to mod your cabinet a bit though
http://www.reefpost.com/threads/12-Bashsea-8500-Skimmer-Mesh-Needle-Prototyping
Bashea is a local (Michigan) company doing some incredible things.
You are too funny!!!
Looks impressive. I think I could get that to work on the NAC6. Do you think both the skimmer and that huge pump would fit in my sump? LOL! I know, I'm out of control:worried: I'm still trying to finish drywall in the house and have been planning a wall build inside our guest closet. The closet is never used except for my junk and there is about 72 inches of wall space just dying for me to rip a hole in it. At least I wont have to worry about getting a skimmer when I decide to do the wall build-LOL!!
.new pics!:
Jaws vs. Clownfish. i never get tired of this.
Grommet in actinics.
and, my first SPS frags! all looks well so far.
green slimer. pretty good color, though it's a little taupe-y in the flesh, and i'm not getting great polyp extension yet. polyps are very nice and green, though. it's longer than i originally thought -- 6" or so. it's stick-like, but i think it'll figure itself out.
orange digitata montipora. not much polyp extension here, yet, either. its mother colony was under t5s, so it needs to adjust to the halide, probably. i'm running the halide 6 hours a day to start with, and i'll probably work it up to 7 or 8 (any thoughts here from more experienced SPS keepers?).
FTS, now with SPS!
Jaws vs. Clownfish. i never get tired of this.
Grommet in actinics.
and, my first SPS frags! all looks well so far.
green slimer. pretty good color, though it's a little taupe-y in the flesh, and i'm not getting great polyp extension yet. polyps are very nice and green, though. it's longer than i originally thought -- 6" or so. it's stick-like, but i think it'll figure itself out.
orange digitata montipora. not much polyp extension here, yet, either. its mother colony was under t5s, so it needs to adjust to the halide, probably. i'm running the halide 6 hours a day to start with, and i'll probably work it up to 7 or 8 (any thoughts here from more experienced SPS keepers?).
FTS, now with SPS!
thanks! i'm hoping for good things out of the digitata.
my stick of slimer is troubling me a little bit in that i'm not really sure what its long-term growth plan is! i wonder if i could just lop it in half, glue the top half to the rock next to the bottom half, and see what happens. thoughts?
as far as algae goes, it is much better since i added the vortech! i have had to do a fair amount of manual removal, though -- my CUC just doesn't want to eat it. i'm running some rowaphos in my filter sock, so i'm hoping that will help out, too.
i think the tunze will be a huge help as well -- can't wait to get it in there to see what happens (hopefully not a sand storm). i was thinking of putting it on the left, but that's about all i've figured out so far. my initial thought was, to avoid a sandstorm, put it on the left further toward the bottom and point it at a 45 degree angle up into the glass. but, i am very open to others' ideas if anyone wants to throw them out there!
reeftivo
Skim junkie
The slimer will probably start to grow out at the base which will sprout new branches. my slimer needs alot of current for the polys to extend so you may want to make sure it's in a good flow area. When mine was in lower flow the polyps wouldn't extend at all. The digitata should grow fine where it's at as long as the polys are moving.
If you want to help with sand storms you could always put a 1/2 inch layer of coarse aragonite on top of your bed and it will hold it nicely. I was getting too much movement in several areas of my bed and added a couple inches of geo marine substrate and it works great. That layer is also easier for me to vacuum occassionally. I would vacuum the first 1/2 inch or so of my Oolitic every couple of weeks and it would always pull quite a bit of sand into the drain. With the added layer I dont have that problem anymore.
i put the slimer juuust to the left of the direct flow from the vortech. i don't love the placement, aesthetically, but i thought it made sense from the perspective of both (a) light (it's right under the halide) and (b) flow (decent current around it without getting it's polyps blown off). we'll see how it goes.
the digitata is getting some flow, but the polyps are still a bit retracted so i can't tell if they're moving or not. they don't appear to be moving much. but, i'm gonna give it a day to see what happens.
do you guys feed your SPS?
Similar threads
