Hi MTRC.. Restarting Reefing :)

[Mnemic]

Ok, ordered the next batch of stuff...

Octopus Extreme 160
EHEIM 1262 as my return
2x 65watt DualActinic for my PC setup
175w Electronic Halide Ballast (i have 1 already)
New vat of 160g IO

Things I need to address soon, lighting timers. I think i have one, but if anyone has a few to spare leme know.

This should be all the major equipment i have left to get the tank going. Going to build some acrylic rock lifts next. If I have everything by this weekend, I will plumb it all together and start a freshwater run.

 

[NeveSSL]

Very cool, man!

Did you get your Octopus Extreme through Emerald Bay? My DNW-110 should be coming in today... I hope.

Brandon

 

[Mnemic]

No, I ordered via PremiumAquatics.com.
I've been using them for a long time when I started with a Nano back in 03.

gear should be here today.

Pre-cleaned my garage work area to work on everything this weekend. Hoping to have a productive weekend with getting things done!

 

[Mnemic]

Big updates today!

Big updates today!

So I've got a LOT of stuff done today!

Pics and Videos of my adventure will go here.
http://www.paulcoleman.net/zenphoto/index.php?album=75-gallon-setup

Lowes trip for a multitude of plumbing supplies so I can get the plumbing done for the tank. I set the tank and sump up in the garrage on the floor, and have been working on it for the past few hours.

The overflow from Glass-holes.com installed in the 75 Tank.

Tested the bulkheads with a tapwater run, and no leaks.

Setup the Skimmer in the Sump, cycling water from the return chamber to the Skimmer chamber. Has 2 Gallons of Vinegar dumped in the sump with the rest filled with tapwater.

I think I'm going to not go with a CLS right now because I don't have a very good place I can put the pump under the tank that would allow me to easily get to it if needed. That, and I don't trust the Mag18 I have that I was planning on using for the CLS.
So I am changing my plan up some, and prob going to get some sort of powerheads, prob Korilas (sp) in the main tank. That or maybe some Tunze's that I can do some alternating currents with.

I didn't get any acrylic yet to work on rock lifts, but I'm hoping to start on that project in the next week.

So check the link out above for a few pics, and a video of the OctoEx160 in action

 

[Mnemic]

so the Skimmer when from this:

to this:

in about 2 hours.

Turning it off for the night, and then i'll fire it up again in the AM and let it run while I am working on everything tomorrow.

 

[NeveSSL]

Aren't break-in periods fun.

The first pic looked crazy! I can't wait to get mine in.

Something I've thought about quite a bit recently, though... you may want to put a valve on the drain coming from your skimmer cup. My reasoning being should your skimmer overflow, it wouldn't drain all of the water out of your tank!

At the same time, unless you mesh mod your CSS65 *ahem*, it probably won't be an issue.

Keep us updated!

Brandon

 

[Mnemic]

updates

Progress, slow but steady. Working on the tank can be a chore dealing with the baby, so often times, it doesn't get worked on except in very small chunks at a time.

I ordered a 3/4" x 12" x 48" HDPE sheet, and 6' 3/4" Acrylic rod.
Just to Recap, I'm not putting a sandbed in the tank, running it barebottom. Trimmed the HDPE down a touch, drilled a bunch of holes in it, cut the acrylic rod into various "legs" grinded teeth on the top, and setup the rockwork on this rock lift.

I am pleased with the way it looks as well. I think once the algae starts growing it will look pretty good. The wife is happy with it, because she said with the rock, floating, it makes it look more like "art" and less like rocks in a tank. The Pictures accent the lifts with the flash.

Managed to take the doors off the front (the hinges were SEVERELY rusted, but luckily I didn't strip them.). The Doors project may be combined with another project of making a side cabinet for Water changes, and I'm thinking electrical. While the stand has outlets built in, I'm liking the idea of putting the electrical a) higher up (I'm tall!) and b) away from the sump.

Had to just plug one of the left bulkheads. Was originaly going to make a DIY overflow box, but figured it would be less work and time to just get a glass-holes kit, so using one of those as the return from the Sump.

Stuff to do:
1) Buy some misc lighting parts to mount the CF bulbs in the canopy.
2) Buy some timers, a DJ Strip for power mgmt, misc electrical items.
3) Wire the other 175W Ballast up. (only did 1 so far)
4) Find/Build a plastic box of some sort to Raise the Skimmer up in the skimmer chamber 5" (can see how low it is in the sump in the picture)
5) Finish the plumbing of the Overflow to Sump
6) Do the Mesh Wheel mod (Premium aquatics included a complete kit to do this, but I didn't know what that stuff was until I looked it up )

Stuff I'd like to get still in the next few months.
1) Get the Hydor Wavemaker for PowerHeads, but may sidetrack that for now, or get in a few months, after the tank starts to cycle.
2) RKE Controller.

now for the pictures

 

[NeveSSL]

Nice, man... it looks really neat! Levitating rocks... the next big thing.

FWIW, the RKE has a wavemaker you can program in. And if you're worried about noise, check this post out: http://www.forum.digitalaquatics.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=952

I'm investigating myself.

Brandon

 

[NeveSSL]

And BTW, how's your skimmer doing?

And how quiet is the pump on it? I'm thinking about getting the pump that's on yours for mine (Sicce PSK-2500).

Brandon

 

[Mnemic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14768004#post14768004 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NeveSSL
And BTW, how's your skimmer doing?

Brandon

Skimmer is sitting in the sump doing nothing ATM
It stopped producing anything 12 or so hrs after I turned it on. I let it run for almost 48 hrs, and it didn't change, so I'm just waiting to start cycling the tank before I have to deal with it much.

I will prob Test it out in my 20 Long in the garage when I do the meshwheel mod to it.

 

[Mnemic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14768004#post14768004 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NeveSSL
And BTW, how's your skimmer doing?

And how quiet is the pump on it? I'm thinking about getting the pump that's on yours for mine (Sicce PSK-2500).

Brandon

missed the pump question..

The pump is very quiet so far in operation. I don't have much to compare it too, but I can tell you that its significantly quieter then a Maxi1200 if it helps any.

 

[NeveSSL]

Sweet man... and you missed it because I added it after the fact, needless to say.

Thanks for the reply!

Brandon

 

[skirossi]

Try these guys for your wooden doors:

http://www.cabinetdoorsandhardware.com/

They're in Jackson TN. I bought my unfinished oak doors for my stand from them and was very happy with the doors. IIRC they were only about $25 total with shipping for 2 doors. One was damaged in shipping and they sent a new one out and it got to me in just a few days, no questions asked. If you can't find what you're looking for just call and they should be able to help you out. Good luck!

 

[Mnemic]

Ok, some updates.

Lights Installed
Two 175W MH Setups with Electronic Ballasts, Running Ushio 10ks
Two 65W CF lights (Dual Actnics)

Plumbing Done
The 1500GPH Glassholes overflow is installed, and plumbed using Two 1.5" PVC pipes to the sump.
Ehime return pump is Plumbed from Sump to Main Tank.

Tank Status
Have Filled the Tank with RODI Water. About 80% full right now. Turned the RODI off for now, will continue to do that later on. Lovely Nasty looking Film of gunk on the surface that came out of the rock. I regret not configuring the plumbing to allow for some way to catch this stuff from the overflow into the sump via a sock or something. I may have to rig something up over the 1.5" pipes in the skimmer chamber.

I'll start mixing salt via the sump this weekend until I get to the right SG. Then it will start cycling away!


On Order...
ReefKeeper Elite Ordered with the Net Module. I've got a spare router I'm going to rig up to bridge (using DD-WRT) to my main house router running DD-WRT, so I'll have the unit online wirelessly.

Also Ordered a KORALIA-3 and KORALIA-4 that Will be the main form of circulation in the Display tank. Since I don't have a Substrate, I'm going to try to push most of my flow in One direction, and try to create an undertoe on the bottom of the tank to keep stuff from settling.

Things to do
1) Get a side cabinet of some sort to put all the electrical and Housing for RODI Topoff water, and waterchange water.
2) Get new Doors, fixtures and hinges for the Stand & Canopy.
3) Begin the Cycling Process

Question....
I have No Pods or anything in the tank right now. All my rock was more/less Dead. Whats going to be the best way to get some pod growth started? I can Safely say I have no hitch-hikers right now, and want to keep it that way.

I'm thinking about using the middle chamber of my sump for Pod growth, so I'm looking for opinions on the best way to do that. I have the ability to put a light in the sump over this chamber with no effort. Thoughts and suggestions?

-Paul

 

[NeveSSL]

Nice, man! Gotta love DD-WRT... I run it at home, too. If Chuck hadn't had an extra bridge lying around that he let me borrow, I was going to get another Linksys WRT router and put DD-WRT on it as well to use for my bridge, just like you did.

Let me know how the side-cabinet thing goes.

As far as the pods go, I guess this almost goes without saying, but a dedicated refugium would be best for them. Something with rock rubble and/or macro algae (particularly chaeto) might be best. At least that has worked out great for pods and mysis shrimp in my 45.

Brandon

 

[Mnemic]

I read something awhile ago how someone put chaeto in his sump chamber, but had it with some curved plexi or something, and put a powerhead at it and basicly spun it in the chamber, which supposedly helps growth or something.

I'll have to look that up, but I think thats a solid place to start. that stuff grows pretty fast right? If so maybe some peeps have some they can give me to start my collection off.

 

[NeveSSL]

It does grow fairly fast and is supposed to be a pretty good nutrient exporter.

I've also heard that if you can tumble it, it will do better.

Brandon

 

[Mnemic]

So my first very disheartening moment.

Finally got enough water in the system to turn the main return pump on and see how the tank is going to be.

Had my first "oh crap why am I doing this moment", which right now the feeling is still lingering, and I have a feeling will be interupting my sleep tonite

So waters in the tank, and I fired it up.

Problem #1
Sump can't move water through the baffles faster then return pump can send it to the display. Originaly it was two 3/4" LocLine Tee'd from a single 1" bulkhead. in order to keep enough water in the return chamber, I had to reduce it to one 3/4" locLine, which is a waste, since head pressure is going to mean wasted energy in the form of heat.

Problem #2
The Overflow itself appears to be very quiet, however the plumbing in the sump chamber for the overflow is making a LOOOOT of racket. I don't know if I did something wrong or what, but its making a LOT of noise, and plenty of bubbles are in there, I'm sure is from the tubes in the elbow's in the bulkheads to stop the "draining" sound.

There are two 1.5" pipes comming from the Elbow's in the Overflow bulkheads. I've got the air tubes installed in the elbows, and so the overflow seems quiet. Each overflow tube from the 90 Elbow in the Bulkhead has: 2' pipe to sump. 45 Degree elbow. 6" pipe to get over the sump, 45 Degree elbow, and 16" pipe with drilled holes into the sump. 16" pipe is open ended, and holes are all submerged.

so it kinda looks like this:

Airtube
 _|__ -----Tank----
|  __|            |
| |  |            |
| |  |            |
| |  |            |
| |  |____________|
\ \
 \ \
  \ \
   \ \
|--| |---Sump--
|  | |        |   <-- Bubbles and noise coming from here.
|  | |        |
|  | |        |
|_____________|

So Any advice to tame this beast will be appreciated. Its noisy enough right now that I have that horrible feeling in my gut about it.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be downsizing the Return pump, which is something like 800gph (Estimating 720ish with the 5' return) down to prob something in the 300-400 range.

That should hopefully make things a little more quiet since less water will be gushing down the overflow, but I'd still like suggestions on making the chamber where the overflow goes quiet.

Guess I went too big this time round. *sigh*

 

[NeveSSL]

If you want to stop the noise at the bottom (I have pretty much the same setup), you will want to make your drains have a Durso, too.

Or, what I did, is just started using filter socks and that took care of the problem.

You're right, what's going on is the air that comes in through the Durso (an air tube, in your case... same thing functionally) gets forced out of the drains at the bottom under water which causes a ton of noise. If you have them going into a durso at the bottom, all of the air can escape through the raised pipe and doesn't make as much noise as when it is forced under water.

Does that make sense?

Brandon

 

[Mnemic]

So I installed some PVC Parts in the sump which helped quiet things down some.

Basically I cut the pipe with holes off, and put a PVC Tee in place at the water level. The Tee has an elbow on it which I put a cap with a hole drilled in it on it.

I need to get another section of 1.5" PVC to put into the Tees going below the water level. I've still got a good amount of bubbles causing noise, but its DRASTICALLY less then it was.

To get the Skimmer in/out of there, I have to take the Right Elbow & Cap off to make it fit. Tight fit, but It works.