Custom In-Wall 150 Project

[melev]

goodblasson, once you replied with "Awesome Progress," you just subscribed to the thread. If you prefer, right at the base of any thread you read, there is an option labled "Subscribe to this Thread" that you can click on.

No need to "tag" along with a post. Just FYI, as you seem to be relatively new to the board.

 

[conda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6741612#post6741612 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Your new system has been running with saltwater for a couple of weeks now, easily. When are you adding LR? (Sorry, I just follow too many build threads.)

If you are using LR in your system, a cycle isn't necessary as the bacteria is transferred in on the cured live rock. The four fish you have will be fine in the new tank. I wouldn't add any more livestock for at least 30 days after they have been in the new tank, to let the bacteria levels ramp up to meet that demand.

I have 80 lbs of LR in there now, not premium, just plain old LR. I want to add another 50 lbs or so from my other existing tank. So I don't need the shrimp?

 

[melev]

No, there is no reason to start a cycle if you are putting in LR. 'Plain old' vs premium doesn't mean anything to me. Do you mean base rock that was dry, or live rock? Did you put any live sand in your tank yet?

The more <u>live</u> rock you add, the better established your tank will be bacteria-wise.

A long time ago, we would cycle our new tanks with saltwater and substrate, so a cycle was necessary. If you buy LR at the LFS and bring it home to get it in the tank within the hour, a cycle is unlikely.

Now before I cause an uproar, I'm not against cycling a tank at all. If a person can't afford LR or if they want the tank to be ready for the LR to avoid any die-off in the rock, then you cycle the tank in advance. If that is your goal, then yes you can cycle it with some raw shrimp.

I've not had to cycle a tank in 9 years, maybe because I tend to transfer livestock to the next tank each time. Casper's tank was up and running the same day, because I used reef water and some live stock. The frag tank was set up the same way. As was my quarantine tank, and the 280g reef.

 

[conda]

When I say plain old live rock, I just mean live rock without much growing on it. When I see LR pics, I see coraline, crabs, corals, color, etc. These rocks just have some algae, a few corals, worms, lots of pods, and are orangeish. No coraline, crabs, or any of the goodies you get when you spend big bucks on LR.

It did cycled for two days then stopped. My skimmer went nuts, filled the cup, then went back to normal. I've only been testing amonia, nothing else has been tested yet.

Once I get the microbubbles stopped, I'll add my good LR from my 55--which isn't much.

And no, I have no live sand yet. I put the argonite stuff I mentioned earlier and I still have two bags of Aragalive to put in. But I'm waiting to after I aquascape because my CL moves the sand all over the place.

 

[melev]

So it is indeed live rock, with all the bacteria that comes on it. You should be fine, but you do need to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

 

[conda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6747333#post6747333 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
So it is indeed live rock, with all the bacteria that comes on it. You should be fine, but you do need to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Actually, I just looked at it last night with a flashlight and found mushrooms, sponges, small red patches of stubby stuff (I saw these in my other tank before), and some hard looking stuff (that is all different colors) starting to grow. So I guess that is good. (gotta love my descriptions huh?, lol.)

Skimmer Tuning Update

Well, I emailed AquaC because I cannot seem to get the skimmer consistant. It either overflows or runs too low. I'm not sure if this is because I've been adjusting the flow in an attempt to eliminate the microbubbles or I'm just tuning it wrong. I'm waiting for their reply. :hmm2:

Microbubble Update

Still tons of them. I'm hoping it is still due to the break in period, but is has been 14 days already, so I'm kind of losing hope here.

Dorso Update

I thought they were working well, but last night I noticed one was taking 90 percent of the flow again and the second drain hardly any.

So, I drilled a bigger hole and it helped a little, then I realized that one Durso was higher than the other and since my tank is off level 1/16" I figured I'd try to reverse them. Wishfull thinking right? Well, it seemed to have worked. I'm not sure if it is coincidence or what, but the second drain is getting about 35 to 40% of the flow now.

I did try to put a 90 on the slow drain like I did in the fuge, but then it took all the flow.

So I put it back and now I'm not sure what to do. It seems whichever drain has more air on the outtake gets the most flow.

 

[Airman]

Conda,

This is concerning delivering water to your sump without mico bubbles and without noise. I would love to post pics but I don't know how to past pics on RC. All of my pics have too many kilobites to post. My suggestion is to try different set ups to what works for you. If you are pushing more water than my set up, than a 45 degree elbow might not work for you. Every system is different and requires a different approach. It took me two weeks to make a durso that was good for my system. I went through a lot of PVC pipe.

I have not read your thread but I will subscribe and read it when my time management allows me to.

 

[conda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6754716#post6754716 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Airman
Conda,

This is concerning delivering water to your sump without mico bubbles and without noise. I would love to post pics but I don't know how to past pics on RC. All of my pics have too many kilobites to post. My suggestion is to try different set ups to what works for you. If you are pushing more water than my set up, than a 45 degree elbow might not work for you. Every system is different and requires a different approach. It took me two weeks to make a durso that was good for my system. I went through a lot of PVC pipe.

I have not read your thread but I will subscribe and read it when my time management allows me to.

You could email me a pic and I can host it on my web space--I have all the space anyone could ever need.

If you want to read the thread, the last post on page 8, I believe, would be a good place to start. That is when I finsished the plumbing and started adding the water.

I'm not sure how to acurately determine what my flow rate is, but I'm using a Mag18 and one 1.5" drain can handle it. In fact, that is basically what is going on since my second drain does not like to work all the time. I did cut the flow down as slow as I could to see if that helped the bubbles.

 

[APorter]

Conda,

Nice job on getting the tank set-up. Did you drywall the ceiling?

 

[conda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6755797#post6755797 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by APorter
Nice job on getting the tank set-up. Did you drywall the ceiling?

Lol, no way! I only drywall what I need to.

If you saw the pics of my drywall job, I only did the wall where the tank is and the wall holding the electric panels. I didn't even mud and paint the wall with the electric panel on it.

I'm guessing your wondering how I'll avoid all the moisture in that room and insulation dropping into the tank. Well, I use a dehumidifier now until I get some sort of ventilation and I have thin plastic drop cloths I will staple to the ceiling once I get my lights.

There are two tanks in that room, my 55 and 150, so I lose alot of water each day, but the dehumidifier keeps it dry--and hot! When it gets too hot, I open the door, which cools it down fast.

I'm trying to score some more LR this weekend, so I may have my fish moved over soon. I'm going to move two clowns and a YT. My algae blenny, we call Scooter, and the shrimp I will keep in the 55 until I'm sure they can survive in the new tank. The clowns live through anything and I hate the tang, so I don't care about him.

I'm in no rush, so it may be longer. Depends on how much time my wife gives me to work on the tank. She and the kids require lots of attention. :love2:

 

[APorter]

Thanks. My storage room ceiling isn't drywalled as well so I was seeing what ideas you may have had. I'm thinking about installing a Panasonic whisper cailing fan (super quiet, installed one in basement bathroom). I already ran the electric and need to find some type of controller to turn it on when humidity reaches a set level.

 

[conda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6756352#post6756352 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by APorter
Thanks. My storage room ceiling isn't drywalled as well so I was seeing what ideas you may have had. I'm thinking about installing a Panasonic whisper cailing fan (super quiet, installed one in basement bathroom). I already ran the electric and need to find some type of controller to turn it on when humidity reaches a set level.

Now I remember you. Why haven't you updated your thread for eight months!?!? Where are you on your project?

 

[melev]

Conda, both of your dursos must be identical in height where the water enters, so that 50% goes down each drain.

Keep in mind that one drainline will be longer (more back pressure) than the other, based on how you plumbed it.

In my 280g, one overflow is 1" higher than the Durso because the drainline is 6' long, while the other one is midway across the Tee because that drainline is 1.5' long.

How bad are the microbubbles you're seeing? Is this a nightmare, or just some?

 

[conda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6756906#post6756906 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Conda, both of your dursos must be identical in height where the water enters, so that 50% goes down each drain.

Keep in mind that one drainline will be longer (more back pressure) than the other, based on how you plumbed it.

In my 280g, one overflow is 1" higher than the Durso because the drainline is 6' long, while the other one is midway across the Tee because that drainline is 1.5' long.

How bad are the microbubbles you're seeing? Is this a nightmare, or just some?

I think having the two Dursos in one overflow is a problem. As long as one works and the other will kick in for a backup, I think I'm ok with it. But if both worked in unison, the flow would give alot less turbulance in the sump.

As of last night, the microbubbles were a nightmare. The other day I thought it was junk from the rock because my skimmer is not yet working. Tonight it does not look so bad but they are still there.

Once I get this skimmer working correctly, I want to see how the bubbles are. Someone from AquaC told me to put a ball valve on the mag to dial back the flow. Not sure if I really want to replumb, but I may have to.

 

[conda]

It seems like the skimmer must be broke in now, it was overflowing again when I got home tonight and I had to completely open the gate valve, and it is still foaming like mad. So I guess I do need to dial back the pump after all.

And I was just looking at the rock again, it's been in there a week and maybe it is not all that bad after all. Now I see coraline all over many of them and some stony looking corals. Not sure what they are yet, but it seems as if the rock is clean now and starting to grow.

 

[melev]

If you have that kind of life all over your rock, you definitely don't need to worry about starting a cycle.

Having two durso's in one overflow makes no difference at all. It is the distance the water has to travel, and one pipe with more elbows and distance will get less flow than the other shorter one.

Your skimmer situation is fixable, as are the microbubble problem and the durso situation. You are trying to seek the perfect balance, and while frustrating it isn't hopeless. I would be ideal if you had someone in your area that could look at it and make the tweaks you need. Can you contact any hobbyists or the LFS owner perhaps?

Regarding the Aqua C: That skimmer uses spray injection rather than venturi. You need to set the water level in the black box, not the riser tube. It will boil in the box all the time, and when proteins have been built up, it will rise up the riser. Constantly adjusting the gate valve wide open and then later closed down will make it impossible to find the right spot. Close the ballvalve to the point that you see the water level 1" beneath the top of the black box. Use a flashlight if you have to, shining it down the riser tube. If the water level is higher, it stops air from entering the injection area.

You'll see your skimmer operating normally, then later nothing at all, and again a few hours later full of bubbles. That is how this skimmer works.

Can you make a video of the microbubble issue? If you record it, it will be an .avi file. Just import that into Microsoft Movie Maker, then cut out what you don't want to show, if necessary. Save the movie to your computer, which will be a .wmv file. If you can keep the saved file under 25 megs, you can email it to me. If it is even larger, you might be able to send it to my gmail account because I don't think it has a limit.

 

[conda]

Ok, I think I understand the skimmer thing now, but I have no water line--that is my problem. It's just all bubbles. AquaC told me the same thing and I told them I cannot find a water line. Unless I don't understand what the water line is. I just left the gate valve open all the way since it will spit up foam like mad, then go back down to nothing.

Regarding the microbubbles, they seem to have cut in half, at least. I have no clue why. I dialed back the flow as slow as I could for 24 hours, then put it back to full when I got home. Withing 4 hours the microbubbles are about half of what they were last night. I have no clue what is going on with that. Maybe it is because the durso pipes are share better now, I don't know.

I'm going to fiddle around a bit more then I'll let you know. I want to get the skimmer right first since it seems to be working now.

 

[melev]

Take a flash light and shine it down in the skimmer, down into the body via the riser tube. Take the collection cup off and get it out of the way. Now look at the water level through the black box. If you can't see it, turn off the lights in the room so that you can, as the black is not so dense - you can infact see through it. You should be able to make out the water line through the wall of the black box. Once you identify it, adjust the gate valve until it is 1" from the top.

 

[conda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6759985#post6759985 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Take a flash light and shine it down in the skimmer, down into the body via the riser tube. Take the collection cup off and get it out of the way. Now look at the water level through the black box. If you can't see it, turn off the lights in the room so that you can, as the black is not so dense - you can infact see through it. You should be able to make out the water line through the wall of the black box. Once you identify it, adjust the gate valve until it is 1" from the top.

Thanks for the tip, I will work on this tonight. I just got back from That Fish Place in Lancaster with another 85 lbs of fiji live rock. This stuff is nice, they just got it in. I was the first one to pick through it.

There are corals and algae all over it, stuff I've never even seen before. It is all fully cured too, so now I just need to skim off the junk then aquascape.

It may take me a while to aquascape since I stink at it, but I know what I want to do.

Anyway, I think I got a better score of rock tonight than last time, so I'm happy. The total poundage is now 170 lbs. I hope that is enough because it sure fills up the tank.

 

[conda]

Does anyone have any links to tips/pics on aquascaping?

This is driving me nuts.