H2O is back!

[Reefn00b]

Landon I will see if I can get some pics for you, and will have to do it soon because I plan on moving everything over in the nexr 2-3 weeks.

As for your sump I did the same thing. As you can imagine with a mag 5 and tons of pvc theres not a lot of pressure and thus not a lot of flow in my sump and I love it.

My skimmer goes nuts and pulls the nastiest mess you have ever seen. And the pods and other critters in my sump seem to be very plentiful. As for noise there is none.... no water falling sounds, like I said before the most noise u hear is the actual operation of the mag 5 and the sucking noise from the skimmer and even that is super low.

My other setup has a ton of flow going through the sump, in fact i have so much that if i bumped it up just a hair it would probably over flow the tank itself. I notice by doing that the skimmer never produces an extremely thick skimmate and the number of pods in my sump is not even close to that in my new setup. Seeing is believing and Im loving the low flow sump.

 

[Rpierce]

I was thinking about doing it but am too chicken sh!t to drill two more holes in the skimmer body.

 

[H2OLUVSME]

^ :lol: Ive got to tell Sarah its neccesary. Shell prbably isht when I tell her "Yeah, I have to drill this new $400 piece of equipment I just talked you into buying"

She is actually getting a lot better at excepting the idea, and the cost that goes along with setting up something proper. I think the visit to Ricks house and the talk with a consenting wife really helped

Derek, thanks. Dont forget to take those pics before converting everything over! Those were my same observations when I slowed my return pump flow (due to lack of cleaning :eek1: ).

 

[chad508]

normaly the feed pump to the skimmer is a smaller pump not the drain from main tank. i would think if you used the drain as a feed you may have problems with consistance.

 

[Rpierce]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10928289#post10928289 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chad508
normaly the feed pump to the skimmer is a smaller pump not the drain from main tank. i would think if you used the drain as a feed you may have problems with consistance.

Chad- Normally I would agree but look at that link I posted earlier in this thread. It shows the drain coming directly into the skimmer.

???

Rick

 

[chad508]

your right i didn't notice that. landon i can get you that skimmer a whole lot less than 400 bucks if you want to try it out

 

[H2OLUVSME]

Oh, I want to try it out. Im definatly going to be getting you to price some things when the time comes. Im hoping we can get to be good friends racing cars between now and then, so you want to hook me up real good j/k You and Jimmy do need to come race again. Both of you were better than most of the guys around here when they started. Im willing to bet you guys would be racing competetive within a few trips out. Ill PM you the stores in the next few minutes/days

 

[dvmsn]

I read an article by Anthoy Calfo that said that more flow was better for cheato.

I like that skimmer mod. One thing I will definitely do in my next tank is use that flexible return line.

I know I am way in the minority on this one, but I don't like a macro refugium. I didn't use it ever until about nine months ago. Ran it for about three months and then took it out completely. Again, I know I am the only person who feels this way, but I could see a real difference between the color of my corals and the amount of polyp extension I got without macro. They seem to leech a ton of organic compounds into the water. Iread a really good article in Coral magazine about this that explained it much better and was supported by an actual peer reviewed published study.

I can't get a tank to quiet down for siht. I don't know why I was even trying to give you advice about that.

 

[H2OLUVSME]

:lol: All advice is good advice depending on how you take it I just like getting as many opinions as I can. There are always things I over look and just outright dont know.

I would like to find those articles. Ive read that skimmers and refugiums are counter productive, no matter what the general consensus says. So, I dont doubt you saw those results based on an old article I red before the lost tank.

I do think slower flow is easier to keep quiet, but I also thought it was better for chaeto. Ill be searching for Calfo's comments on that, but I still will probably keep the return low flow. Ill add a small ph to the fuge area if I have to.

 

[melev]

 

[H2OLUVSME]

^ Too funny When I saw the topic reply notification with your name I knew I was in for it

Here is how the tank stands now. The shop vac is there for size reference.

Sorry for the poor quality. Its in the back of our storage without much light.

Hopefully in the next week or so Ill have some pics up of the stand progress. Ive got an idea of how to make it heavy as hell Actually, I want to be able to take off all the front doors to be able to remove/replace the sump if I need to. I dont have clearance on the ends where the tank will be. Its going to have to be a pretty hefty piece of lumber to span the 6' and hold up the weight. Ive got the material here though. Ill try and get some sketches up of my simple sump design and stand plans soon.

 

[dvmsn]

If you need help, lmk

 

[chad508]

i have my 180 supported by doubled up 2x4s just make sure to use 2x6s for the legs and you'll be fine. i would run a full sheet of ply on the back wall to keep it from twisting. alot of people over build stands for no reason.

 

[H2OLUVSME]

Thanks Dave, I wil let you know. I probably wont need much help except for moving day.

Chad, I planned on using double 2x4s for the back, but do you think it would be strong enough on the front without a center support? Dont you have a center support front and back?

 

[chad508]

no all the stand me and jimmy have built for 180s have no center braces. your corners carry most all the weight. as long as you make your corners sturdy you'll be fine. worst case use doubled up 2x6s you'll only lose 2".

 

[melev]

If it was me, I'd use 3 x 250w bulbs. My tank is 30" tall, and I have two 250w bulbs with good growth beneath them all the way down to the sandbed. I don't see the reason for 400w bulbs unless you are determined to use 20,000K bulbs permanently.

If you want more like out of the 250w bulbs, use Luminarc III reflectors as they have greater intensity. I've read they produce 300% more light than a standard one.

 

[H2OLUVSME]

^^ Chad, thanks. I can believe you guys dont put any center supprts on tanks this big, but hey if its working

^ I very well may be going with 20ks Marc. I really like the blue look, and the more tanks I check out, I fall in love with zoas more and more. My wife is a huge LPS fan, and I had great luck with my 250w 20ks on my 75. 250 was a bit of overkill on it, but with the 20k PAR drop it worked out pretty well. I had a good balance of corals. The main thing here, is Id like to keep some sort of anemone (beside BTA agin), and am wanting to get it good light at the bottom of the tank.

 

[chad508]

i agree about 250's being just fine but to me they make a tank look to dim. i had my 180 lit with 250s for a while and had good results but i felt the tank was to dark looking thus i went with 400s and love it

 

[H2OLUVSME]

^ How about a new pic of your tank. Id like to see what variety of corals you are keeping. I see Dave has some mixture, as well as Rick, but both of their tanks are more SPS concentrated than mine will be. Id like to see what you kep under 400s

 

[chad508]

i've been trying to get my wife to bring my camerahome from her work so i can post some pics. i keep some of everything. i did move all my torchs and frogspawns to my nano b/c they were getting to big and wanting to cause problems. but i have maybe 7 brains, 4 acans plenty of zoos and probly 20-25 acro colonys. you need to come by one evening and take a look.