drummereef's 180g in-wall build
- Thread starter drummereef
- Start date
naprestsleep
blank
The cheato will be fine, be careful if you shake it as you trim or tear a piece off. I get a lot of "stuff" in the cheato, some pods and junk, doubt you want that all in your display.
henrystyle
Member
75w bulb? Wrong bulb bro...(that bulb is adding heat and wasting electricity)
home depot has a 13w compact floro spot light bulb. 2 pack. Thats what I use. Cheato growing like weeds. I believe it is a 5500k bulb.
home depot has a 13w compact floro spot light bulb. 2 pack. Thats what I use. Cheato growing like weeds. I believe it is a 5500k bulb.
drummereef
Team RC
Great, I have some updated pics coming....
Thanks for the heads up naprestsleep.
:lol: I think you read too fast...
As stated earlier I'm using a 5000k compact fluorescent bulb, it's only 14 watts but is a 60 watt comparable bulb. The reflector is a 75 watt max fixture. The HD by me was out of the reflector bulbs for some reason so I got this one to start with.
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drummereef
Team RC
Here's some pics of the updated Chaeto garden. 
I added a ~6.5" eggcrate wall around the return pump bulkhead. Hopefully this will be enough to keep the Chaeto from drifting into the bulkhead strainer.
I added a ~6.5" eggcrate wall around the return pump bulkhead. Hopefully this will be enough to keep the Chaeto from drifting into the bulkhead strainer.
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fishmonkey
Member
So you decided against that little basket thing? It looks like a great idea to me. I think my LFS uses a peice of fishing string, that they tie around it to keep it together, and then they anchor it against something to keep it from floating to their return. It looks like you could anchor it to one of the manifold valves, or something. See if it would work for you. When you buy a ball of chaeto all they have to do is unhook it and hand it to you, pretied into a ball.
Oh, and that Hammer is AWESOME! Very nice pickup.
Oh, and that Hammer is AWESOME! Very nice pickup.
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drummereef
Team RC
I haven't ruled it out. The ones they had at HD were extremely dirty and were on the same shelf as some fertilizer so I decided to pass. I'm going to hit the Lowe's down the street tomorrow and see what I find. I do like the idea of keeping it compartmentalized at least a little bit. Seems like it would save me some time with maintenance down the road.
reeftanknewbie
New member
Brett,
Great work as always...very clean and professional looking. I use the same light and bulb and get great growth from my Chaeto. I don't tumble mine though as I found when I did I was getting it to grow to dense in the center and then get die off. I now just let it grow freely in my refugium and on occasion stretch it out a bit to allow the center to get light.
Great work as always...very clean and professional looking. I use the same light and bulb and get great growth from my Chaeto. I don't tumble mine though as I found when I did I was getting it to grow to dense in the center and then get die off. I now just let it grow freely in my refugium and on occasion stretch it out a bit to allow the center to get light.
psteeleb
Team RC
I like it :thumbsup:
Another consideration until you get your refugium on line is to make a basket out of eggcrate then line it with gutter guard and fill it with rock rubble, broken coral pieces old snail shells etc. Or, use a couple of those perferated plant baskets you refereneced above. They would make for a great pod / macro life factory. You could set them on the bottom in that space in front of the heaters.
Another consideration until you get your refugium on line is to make a basket out of eggcrate then line it with gutter guard and fill it with rock rubble, broken coral pieces old snail shells etc. Or, use a couple of those perferated plant baskets you refereneced above. They would make for a great pod / macro life factory. You could set them on the bottom in that space in front of the heaters.
drummereef
Team RC
Good to know! Thanks for the info.
Great idea Pete. Thanks again!
I've just tried to stay away from any sponges in the sump just because of the maintenance required, although it would probably work the best at keeping small particles out of the return pump. They can become NO3 magnets if left unchecked which is why I'm hesitant. Seems like the current setup is working OK for now but I'll keep it in mind if the Chaeto starts to shed quite a bit. Thanks sponger.
Taqpol
New member
That egg crate looks like it would work perfectly! In one of the Melev designed sumps he used eggcrate to separate his refugium from the return. I've used the exact setup before and never had chaeto get sucked through.
One reason I've never wanted to light my sump area is that you can get corraline growing in your skimmer, but I don't know how much that actually effects its efficiency. Speaking of skimmers, I noticed that you unplugged the air intake from the silencing baffle? Any reason why?
One reason I've never wanted to light my sump area is that you can get corraline growing in your skimmer, but I don't know how much that actually effects its efficiency. Speaking of skimmers, I noticed that you unplugged the air intake from the silencing baffle? Any reason why?
drummereef
Team RC
Great info, thanks Alex!
That's exactly the reason I've put off doing anything like this in my sump... Coralline. :hammer: I really want to keep my sump as clean and coralline free as possible and up to this point that plan has worked pretty well. If I start seeing some coralline start to grow in there it will probably motivate me to set up the external refugium sooner. I'll keep an eye on it thought. The coralline is slow to grow on the display glass so I hope the sump fares the same... Good eye on the skimmer intake. I disconnected it because it draws a little more air to the skimmer. The skimmer was running pretty wet with it hooked up, presumably because my bio load is still low. This allows a little more flexibility to get a drier foam, albeit slightly more noisy. But it's not really an issue in the sump room.
fishmonkey
Member
I don't know if I missed it, but have you started plans for your refugium?
drummereef
Team RC
None other than what was in the original plan...
My plumbing is already setup to accommodate a remote fuge. All I would need to do would be to set up the tank and run the plumbing around the wall to the sump. Not a huge project but one that I've been putting off for a while simply because I didn't know if I wanted to keep a fuge when I first set the system up. I just wanted the flexibility which is why I plumbed an extra valve on the return to accept a fuge or even a frag tank if it got to that point. I looked at tanks to put there but couldn't decide on a size for the space so I put the project on hold. That and other stuff always seemed to take my time away. :lol: I need to start looking into it again...
fishmonkey
Member
It doesn't look like you even have space in your sump for another tank! This should be interesting...
drummereef
Team RC
Sorry, my explanation probably wasn't clear. The remote fuge would be on the wall adjacent to the display and sump. As you are looking at the sump, it would be the wall to the right. That is where the return pump is located. The return pump would then feed the display, sump, fuge, and manifold.
I like the way you think!! :beer:
fishmonkey
Member
Ahh, I see. As usual, when it is finished, it will be exceptional, as with everything else that has been done to this tank.
