H2O is back!

i would also look at the vortechs i have 2 on mine and they work great and you get unbelievable flow.
 
Im going to be trying to sound proof the sump, but the main noise always comes from the drain. This time I will be going with uber slow flow through the sump, and I think Im going to use the gate valve mod to try and control exactly the speed of flow. Sound shouldnt be much of an issue unless the skimmer or darts are noisy, but it says they run at like 52db. Thats less than a normal conversation and it will be behind sound insulated doors. Im hoping insulating the stand wont hold in too much heat. Ill be having fans down there just like the canopy, so it may work, or it may not.

I dont think Ill go with the vortecs. One of my main goals is going to be lack of visible equipment. I dont see any way to hide them on the inside or outside of the tank, and that kind of rules them out. I could probably come up with something if I could mount them to the back, but I dont want all the flow directed at the front glass. Ill have trouble keeping the sand where I want it if I go that route, and itll be harder to get flow everywhere. If I had closed in sides they would be an option, but the ends of my tank will be viewable. I dont want to clutter it with two magnets and powercords hangin off of the sides :p

Steve, Im coming by the store this morning. By the time youve read this, we will have talked about pricing :D
 
Most of the new tanks have the durso type stand pipe built into them already and that really cuts down on noise. Did you rebrace the tank? If we have a flood on top of a fire I am afraid we will lose you for good.
 
I love my dart Landon and it makes zero noise. It controls my closed loop and I cant hear it at all, I hear my mag 5 which does my return (talk about low flow in the sump) and its waaaay louder than the dart. I currently have no doors on my sump and the loudest sound in my whole tank is the skimmer sucking air and you cant hear that when the tv is on. Oh added bonus about the dart and other equipment is i dont really have any heat caused by equipment. I cant turn my lights on for their full photoperiod and my tanks temp at its highest is 81.2 degrees and thats with no fans or anything.
 
^^ Dave, Ill be bracing it some how. The most practical and best way Ive come up with so far is just replace the whole top piece of plastic. This way it will be AGA engineered, and not the other type :D Stephen says he can get me the piece for <$50, so if I can remove the one thats one there, this is the way to go. a little time and the dremel should remove the current one no problem :p

My problem with the drain is that it will have to be on the back wall. Im not comfortable drilling the bottom. I may be able to elbow it and still put on the durso muffler, but I may just do the gate mod with an emergency drain. In the long run it may be easier and smaller in the tank.


^ Derek, thanks for the info. Ill have the skimmer behind doors, as well as the pumps. It will all be in a differnt room from the TV, so that wont help. Hopefully I can get it all dampened though, but perfect silence is not a neccesity either. If things are as quiet as you say, silence may not be out of reach :D

Ill probably end up running something like a 300gph powerhead for the return, which should net me around 100gph or so through the sump. This should be easy to keep quiet no matter the drain style.


Also, I think Ive come up with a way for Sarah and I both to happy and get access from the garage. She is concerned about having to patch a hole in the sheetrock and repaint, as am I. Im thinking I could go with some elbows and 1" PVC and get everything at floor level. This way I would only have to replace one piece of base molding which is even in my carpentry range :D

Im trying to think of everything Id want/need to put out there so I can make sure I plan/put enough pipes through. Help me out on this one guys.

The things Id possibly want are:
1) future chiller if neccesary, but Im trying to avoid that at all costs and dont think it will be neccesary.
2) a place to add water to the tank for top off (could be 1/4" though).
3) place to add water for water changes.
4) If it works out, possibly the 5' skimmer I had before :p
5) at least two extras for unforseen applications.

The chiller and skimmer would each need two places, so they could have in and out flow, so Im at 8 pipes by my count.

Is ther anything else I could store out there? How big are the dosing reserviors? Do y'all think 1" would be big enough for all these applications? Would there be any problems running the flow (on any of these applications) down to the floor then back up again?
 
A chiller needs really fast flow to work effectively, which is counterintuitive, but make sure your pipe can handle that amount of flow in the future. What I meant about the durso is that the silent flow overflows are dursos already.
 
why in the world would you be worried about the sheetrock. cut the holes and be done with it. its not that hard to patch sheetrock and its only a couple small holes. hell i cut a 6 foot by 3 foot hole in my bedroom wall going into my garage just to put the whole tank out there.
 
Im more worried about getting the paint to match when I move. Its the same color as all the hallways and the bathrooms. Its kind of ishty paint (can already tell its faded), and Id hate to have to repaint half my house just to match this one wall :p Besides I think the through pipes will net me everything I need. Id mainly want to use it for waterchanges only, and a large hole isnt neccesary for that. Id also have to worry about insulating it, and keeping bugs/heat/cold out of my house. I dont want to have to buy a chiller!! :p

BTW, you think you might come by tommorrow? You guys should really make it a point to come out.
 
tagging along for this thread...

maybe i need to get the 411 from you on what you said to your wife...I'm still trying to get my wife to go for the 125/120...;)
 
Phil, I guess my wife started feeling sorry for me after ayear and ahalf without a tank. Ive been pressuring her to let me set something up for the last few months. Since Ive got the tank, and dont have any set up, it was a fairly easy task, well as far as getting consent for an over 200 gallon system. :)

Derek, do you have any pics of your CL intakes? Id really like to see how you screened them off.
 
I think I found an idea for the overflows of this tank. One of my main concerns is losing space to the overflow box, or having a piece of pipe showing in the tank.

This may be my answer. Do you guys for see any problems with something like this without the box on the back? I would just run bulkheads straight down to the sump from here.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=5783384#post5783384 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by brackishdude

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It only projects 1" into the tank plus glass thickness (3/8") plus slate thickness (.25"). It's nice to not have to limit the flow in the tank-holes by needing a bulkhead there. 'Course, coulda just made a bigger hole if needed. . .

I did end up putting braces within the internal overflows (to left of hole in tank in the second pic), but they are nested about 1/2" below the lip to rest eggcrate upon.



Also keep in mind I would have two drain lines (maybe more?) with this type of set up, so flow is going to be majorly slow. Ill probably only have something like 100 gph coming through the sump. My initial idea (just saw this today) would be two different boxes with a single drain each. One of the boxes would be set a little higher as to act as an emergency drain. I could them run the gate valve mod on the lower one to control flow and sound coming from the drain.

Problems with that idea? Form some reason I feel there is an obvious problem, but those are the ones I have trouble putting my finger on :D
 
I would plan for a lot flow and then only using a small amount of that capacity rather than planing on only using low flow and than deciding you need more in the future. I also worry about snails getting down in there with it just flowing over without a screen and I wonder how effect that design would be as a surface skimmer.

BTW, why do you want low flow in the sump?
 
I dont think this is really a low capacity thing. Its limiting factors are the size of the bulkhead and the surface area. I could easily make it the same as the "mega flow" overflows wihtout a problem. I would add some eggcrate wrapped in a finer mesh to keep snails and such from getting down in it. It would fit tight in there and be easily removable. It would be pretty easy to make a couple of them, so I can cycle them out for cleaning. The mesh would just be attached to the egg crate and all come out together. I would have the option to use different sized meshes as well. Ive found from mosquito sized net (probably a cleaning nightmare) up to 1/4" opening which shouldnt restrict flow, and be very effective at keeping out what I want to keep out. Its all nylon so should be plenty safe for reef tank use.

I like low flow in the sump for multiple reasons.
1) It cuts down on sound because the falling water and draining water are lessened.
2) It maximizes skimmer performance by leaving the water in contact with the skimmer pump for longer.
3) This same concept applies to the refugium as far as contact with macro algae for nutrient extraction.
4) Most of the beneficial critters I like to have plentiful in the fuge (pods, possibly breeding mysid, etc..) prefer the lower flow areas to feed and breed.

The only thing that Ive ever thought was beneficial about having high flow through the sump was adding to the over all flow of the tank. Im not going to need to add any supplemental flow to two darts.

I guess you could look at the other end of the "contact with skimmer" theory and say that you want all the water in the system exposed to the skimmer at XXX intervals, but what theory is correct, or what number is optimal? I plan to have the option to run a little more return volume if I need to, I just dont expect the ideal number is any more than equal to the total system volume per hour, and I would guess it is less, but I have no proof of this theory.

What benefits do you see with a higher volume sump?
 
Landon, if water noise may be a problem coming from the drain you may want to look at this.

Look at the last two pics:
http://www.asmskimmer.com/mod2.htm

It looks like all of the water coming from the drain goes directly into the skimmer. This way you know all of your water is getting skimmed. Just a thought.



Rick
 
Ive thought about that Rick, and thought we talked about it.

Its an awesome concept, but how would you ever tune your return pump volume to have the maximum productivity to your skimmer?

And yes, the fuge is probably the main reason to have low flow through the sump, sicnce I wont have the two seperate.


EDIT: I think I dont understand or dont see something in those pics Rick. Is the pump still attached to the skimmer and the drain going to it? Or is the drain the only skimmer feed? If its the latter my original question applies. If its the former, do you have to downsize the skimmer pump to accomadate the extra flow, or can this be controlled by the water level with the gate valve mod?
 
The pump is modded to be a recirculating pump (pulls water from the skimmer and then back in) The drain is how you get all of your water into the skimmer.

I don't know the right answer, I just wanted to give you something else to think about. :)

Rick
 
That totaly makes a ton more sense than what I was picturing :D I guess I should read the text in the links, not just look at the pictures :p

That should increase performance of the skimmer exponetially! I like it and will likely incorporate it.
 
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