CADlights 39g Pro build thread

Does this seem right?

I turned off the stock skimmer for 4 hours (trying MB7 dosing) and tank temps dropped a full degree F! No other changes, can it be the stock skimmer pump puts out that much heat?

If so, I'm glad I've got the BM skimmer coming - hopefully it's more efficient.
 
ClamSeasQuest,

That's a good idea for the frags! Never thought of that! It should work fine. The only thing is you will definately have to get some good ventilation in there because of the heat build up from the viper fixture (70watt or 75watt?). Let us know how it progresses.

Your temp swing is most likely from the resun pump on the stock skimmer. I have had it back out of my sump for about five days now and noticed about the same drop as you.

Regarding the algae; I get a bit myself and I'm just thinking of going over to Lowes or HD and getting one of those small "FOR RENT" signs they sell and blacking it out then use it as a little shield from the skimmer. Who knows-Cheap and just might look okay!
 
Tivo could you take a picture and show me what you are talking about on your reactor and running the chem-pure? I bought a couple bags of chem pure about a month ago and didn't put them in. Wasn't sure where to put them and I have been a lot busy to mess with much extra stuff. I have been using two small reactors in the sump. Not sure if you remember the pictures I posted of my sump. I use one reactor for GFO and one for AC. Thinking about getting rid of one of the reactors or maybe both. I haven't replaced the media in them for a long time. Been meaning to though lol but wanted to think about doing it a little bit different. Was thinking about just sticking a bag of the chem pure between the baffles if it will fit or maybe one by the overflow hose, and was thinking of seeing if one bag would fit in that sweet skimmer you hooked me up with. The Deltec MCE600 has that spot on the side to run carbon or GFO. I have two of the bigger chempure bags. (1 unit size). I was curious to see if it made a difference, even though I already normally run GFO, and AC separately in reactors. Always looking for a better way to do things lol. Interested in seeing what you did, sounds pretty neat though.
Also thinking more about replacing the stock bulb. 14k Pheonix? 10k? 12? sort of stuck between those numbers and choosing between Pheonix, and Ushio bulbs. Any good ideas? I read the 14k was blue but had the par of a 10 or 12k hmm. Not that the stock bulb is horrible just wanting to see if I can tweak things a bit and get some nicer colors, and maybe a bit more growth. Not even thought about the T5s yet that's an entire different issue I have been thinking about. I don't really like some of the really violet actinics too much so not too sure what to do about those either.
 
Gillundr said:
Tivo could you take a picture and show me what you are talking about on your reactor and running the chem-pure? I bought a couple bags of chem pure about a month ago and didn't put them in. Wasn't sure where to put them and I have been a lot busy to mess with much extra stuff. I have been using two small reactors in the sump. Not sure if you remember the pictures I posted of my sump. I use one reactor for GFO and one for AC. Thinking about getting rid of one of the reactors or maybe both. I haven't replaced the media in them for a long time. Been meaning to though lol but wanted to think about doing it a little bit different. Was thinking about just sticking a bag of the chem pure between the baffles if it will fit or maybe one by the overflow hose, and was thinking of seeing if one bag would fit in that sweet skimmer you hooked me up with. The Deltec MCE600 has that spot on the side to run carbon or GFO. I have two of the bigger chempure bags. (1 unit size). I was curious to see if it made a difference, even though I already normally run GFO, and AC separately in reactors. Always looking for a better way to do things lol. Interested in seeing what you did, sounds pretty neat though.
Also thinking more about replacing the stock bulb. 14k Pheonix? 10k? 12? sort of stuck between those numbers and choosing between Pheonix, and Ushio bulbs. Any good ideas? I read the 14k was blue but had the par of a 10 or 12k hmm. Not that the stock bulb is horrible just wanting to see if I can tweak things a bit and get some nicer colors, and maybe a bit more growth. Not even thought about the T5s yet that's an entire different issue I have been thinking about. I don't really like some of the really violet actinics too much so not too sure what to do about those either.
Click to expand...

I hear ya about the bulbs! Ushio or phoenix are both high end bulbs and both would work great. I don't think that we will ever get the full intensity from the bulbs until we upgrade to a different ballast though. I suspect that is an issue because I ran a two month old 20K on my old 28 gallon jbj fixture and the intensity was very good but when I tried the same bulb in the CAD fixture it seemed to be a little better than half the intensity of the jbj.

I will try to get a pic of the reactor tonight but my little cannon camera is history so it may have to be a phone shot. I run the Two Little fishes reactor that is shown in a couple of my sump pics.
picture.php
It has a tube that is removable in the center that I take out and use through the bag. I open the chemipure elite bag and slide the rod through it to the other end of the bag. I then poke a hole through the mesh bag and slide the tube out the other end then zip tie both ends of the mesh bag against the tube. I then shake the bag so the bag totally covers the tube with about an inch of free tube at both ends. You're right, a picture would be good. Anyways, once the bag is around the tube, I slide it down into the reactor and give it a good shake downwards to get it to settle in the reactor. When I plug the reactor pump in the bag expands in the chamber and the media rolls extremely well inside the bag. The bag prevents the media from clogging and when I change it out, I just slide the tube out off the zip ties and toss the bag. Once I did it the first time it was a breeze from then on. The benefit of the TLF reactor is that it hangs perfectly for me in the pump chamber since I use the Hyperflow pump. It still leaves me room for my chiller pump and all my sensors and probes with room to spare.

OR-you could just put the bag in your Deltec-LOL!!!!
 
remember that AC loads up super fast. In many cases, it will saturate in a matter of a couple days-some say hours. I'm not sure about the hours statement that I've read but I like to run resins for long term removal as opposed to GAC. GAC "is" great but is probably most beneficial to use as a clarifier or passively in the sump so there is not alot of flow throught it. That way it doesn't saturate too quickly and stays effective for longer durations.
 
shoot! I forgot to mention that I went to see Eddie last night at the new Ontario, CA facility. It's right next to the airport over here so it's in a primo location for shipping. I walked in and there wasn't anyone in the front but to my surprise, there was a Artisan tank in the lobby! WOW! I'm ****ed that I missed out on that sucker. I may have to accidentally bump my pro with a hammer so I have an excuse to get this tank. It looks like a big ELOS but with even better seams. I say that about the seams because they are much thinner and tighter than the elos. Eddie says they use some form of air injection to get the black adhesive in there (over my head for sure!). The starfire glass is amazingly crystal clear with absolutely no greenish hue. The stand is nice as well and is a very dark walnut finish. I see that they advertise the 12 gal sump for the artisan but the sump Eddie showed my underneath was a completely different kind of animal. Diamond mitered glass, big (at least 15 gallons) and had media "tray" compartments inside. The design was overall similar to the 12 gallon but it looked very nice. I think this will be an option sump in the future for the Artisan system.

Anyways, I want one bad!
 
Got my Bubble Magnus today...looks much nicer than the old stock skimmer. I wonder how it's going to do in regards to turbulence...hope it doesn't kick out too many bubbles.
 
I received my Bubble Magnus today as well, but one of the legs was snapped off. I used cyanoacrylate to re-attach, not sure if it will hold or not. Cleaned and installed it - it will be a couple days before it starts producing but first impressions...

I like the fact the exhaust port is at the base of the skimmer and doesn't dump into the front section of the sump and it's very easy to adjust.

It seems to push much more air than the stock skimmer, I placed it so the exhaust port in the back left corner to minimize bubbles escaping through the weir.

It seems to draw more power (.1 amps) than stock, but appears to run a bit cooler (need a few days to chart it.)

Overall it *looks* like a nice step up from the stock skimmer, especially at the intro price.
 
Does anyone have the instructions to build the stand. The 22g cabinet. My stand only came with a picture of the stand, no more. Thanks Guys.
 
Guys, my life is miserable right now. My drain has been giving me a bunch of crap, making all kinds of noise and gurgling. I constantly have to mess with the airline tube in the durso cap to just make it a little quieter. I've tried cleaning out the durso. Nothing works.

Here are the two main plumbing noises I'm getting:
1) sucking/slurping from the stand pipe -- this is sometimes temporarily fixable by messing with the airline coming out of the durso cap, but that's almost always just a temporary fix.

2) "bursts" of water out of the drain hose into the sump. The filter sock helps to muffle the sound a little bit, but it seems like some backpressure builds up and then water just bursts through all at once (depending on the flow rate, this might happen once every 8-15 seconds), causing a substantially loud water crash/gurgle.

I'm also getting a waterfall noise, but I think that's easily fixable with Tivo's CD case mod -- i just haven't had the time to add it, and it's not the primary issue anyway.

Last night, I installed an Eheim 1262 to replace the return pump (along with a ball valve to control flow). To get this to work, i had to go from 5/8" (the eheim outlet) to 3/4" for the ball valve/rest of the return. the eheim has only made everything louder (that certainly wasn't the plan when I bought the eheim!) and made the crashing water down the drain hose more frequent. i've tried adjusting the flow with the ball valve, but it doesn't stop the terrible noise.

After installing the eheim, the water level in the overflow is about 2" below the display water level. the endcap is not submerged, but the entire

I've thought about widening the hole in the endcap to see if that helps, but my understanding is that higher flow rates would usually want a smaller hole, so I'm not sure. Maybe I should try partially covering the hole? What about using flexible hose for the standpipe portion of the durso?

Or, is it time to let go of the durso and install a herbie (with an external pipe running the return) or a hofer gurgle buster?

What can I do to get some sleep?
 
lemec said:
Got my Bubble Magnus today...looks much nicer than the old stock skimmer. I wonder how it's going to do in regards to turbulence...hope it doesn't kick out too many bubbles.
Click to expand...

I've found that, when I've had turbulence issues, a lot of times it has helped to turn everything off, then physically lift the skimmer higher in the water (not a lot higher -- just maybe 2-3" up from how it sits in the sump), and then turn everything back on and gently lower the skimmer back into the sump, it seems to, for some unknown reason, help with turbulence during operation.

I can't give you any explanation other than it seems to have helped maybe 3/4 of the time.
 
CalmSeasQuest said:
Does this seem right?

I turned off the stock skimmer for 4 hours (trying MB7 dosing) and tank temps dropped a full degree F! No other changes, can it be the stock skimmer pump puts out that much heat?

If so, I'm glad I've got the BM skimmer coming - hopefully it's more efficient.
Click to expand...

That has definitely been my experience.

Also, replacing the stock return pump has lowered my temperatures about 1.5 degrees.
 
timdanger said:
Guys, my life is miserable right now. My drain has been giving me a bunch of crap, making all kinds of noise and gurgling. I constantly have to mess with the airline tube in the durso cap to just make it a little quieter. I've tried cleaning out the durso. Nothing works.

Here are the two main plumbing noises I'm getting:
1) sucking/slurping from the stand pipe -- this is sometimes temporarily fixable by messing with the airline coming out of the durso cap, but that's almost always just a temporary fix.

2) "bursts" of water out of the drain hose into the sump. The filter sock helps to muffle the sound a little bit, but it seems like some backpressure builds up and then water just bursts through all at once (depending on the flow rate, this might happen once every 8-15 seconds), causing a substantially loud water crash/gurgle.

I'm also getting a waterfall noise, but I think that's easily fixable with Tivo's CD case mod -- i just haven't had the time to add it, and it's not the primary issue anyway.

Last night, I installed an Eheim 1262 to replace the return pump (along with a ball valve to control flow). To get this to work, i had to go from 5/8" (the eheim outlet) to 3/4" for the ball valve/rest of the return. the eheim has only made everything louder (that certainly wasn't the plan when I bought the eheim!) and made the crashing water down the drain hose more frequent. i've tried adjusting the flow with the ball valve, but it doesn't stop the terrible noise.

After installing the eheim, the water level in the overflow is about 2" below the display water level. the endcap is not submerged, but the entire

I've thought about widening the hole in the endcap to see if that helps, but my understanding is that higher flow rates would usually want a smaller hole, so I'm not sure. Maybe I should try partially covering the hole? What about using flexible hose for the standpipe portion of the durso?

Or, is it time to let go of the durso and install a herbie (with an external pipe running the return) or a hofer gurgle buster?

What can I do to get some sleep?
Click to expand...

That sucks! Are you using silicone air tubing in the hole in the durso? If so then use rigid RO tubing because the i.d. is bigger. You may have to double wrap a rubber band around the tubing to keep it from slipping down. Use a decent length of RO tubing and slip it in several inches into the pipe. The lowest end should be down enough to where it's submerged. Also, do you still have that "T" at the end of your drain? If so try removing it and try a filter sock. It may be a combination of the vent being too restricted with the silicone tubing (if using that) and the T slowing the fall of water creating suction in the pipe. What is the gph rating on the eheim?
 
1) using regular silicone airline tubing. will look into RO tubing instead. the length of the tube is long, though -- it's long enough to extend the full length of the pipe (or shorter as i draw the tube out).

2) I have removed the T and am just using a filter sock.

3) eheim 1262 is rated at 900gph, but I can tune that pretty well with the valve, I think. I'd rather have a gate valve than the ball valve I'm using, but I don't know where to find a gate valve locally.
 
timdanger said:
1) using regular silicone airline tubing. will look into RO tubing instead. the length of the tube is long, though -- it's long enough to extend the full length of the pipe (or shorter as i draw the tube out).

2) I have removed the T and am just using a filter sock.

3) eheim 1262 is rated at 900gph, but I can tune that pretty well with the valve, I think. I'd rather have a gate valve than the ball valve I'm using, but I don't know where to find a gate valve locally.
Click to expand...
Is you drain tube under water in the sump?
 
You may have to order the gate valve online because I believe Lowes and HD only sell brass gate valves. US Plastics has them and I believe Grainger as well. I think they are around 11 bucks or so.
 
timdanger said:
No, it's about at the surface level
Click to expand...

Man this sucks timdanger! There are so many different experiences with durso noise. I've heard of people getting results from putting small little drip valves on the air tubing, lowering or raising the standpipe or just going Hoffer and saying screw the Durso. The Hoffer kits can be home made or purchased so that may be an option. You mention the eheim is noisier than you expected? Maybe the reason is the restricted flow with the ball valve. Some pumps really dont like to be restricted and it puts unneccessary stress on the assembly. MAybe thats why the eheim is a little loud right now. What you can do is run the valve after a tee where you have the tee off portion going back into the sump (submerged). This would let the pump run at full throttle with no restriction and still allow you to fine tune the flow into the display.

For me, my stand pipe for the Durso was a bit short which concerned me at first. The cap on my Durso is about four inches below the overflow teeth. I have plenty of PVC in my garage so if need be I could have lengthened it but it's working fine for me. I have the stock vinyl tubing CAD sent and have my drain just above the water level in the sump (like you). Mine is "not" silent, but it is no more loud than my 90 or my old 28 gal jbj. The CD cover is quick and easy. just snap off the clear cover and get a couple zip ties, stick in in and run the ties through the little holes in the CD cover and cinch them to the 90s on the returns. Takes about 5 minutes and only costs a CD case!
I have some thick mesh very similar to enkamat that I cut the length of the CD case and slid that in between the wall and the case. This cut the water fall noise even more. The matting is super porous so I don't get areas that will accumulate nitrates like the sponges or batting does. Most places that sell pond supplies will have this mesh.
 
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