In-wall 380gal tank - cut out options

[Michael Hoaster]

Karim, I click the link to photobucket, but no video, just stills.

 

[karimwassef]

Let it load and click the play button in the middle. Should work.

 

[Lavoisier]

I got the video...looking good.

 

[karimwassef]

I have specks of coralline... And my blue LEDs are offline so everything looks green/brown. But at least the waves of flowing hair algae and deserts of cyano are gone.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Congrats, Karim. Your tank looks great! And well put, the way you describe the flowing waves and deserts! Hilarious!

I look forward to being algae free myself. Getting there!

 

[guserto4]

The surge head with a slot wasn't doing much better than a round pipe in the same location, so I reverted back until I have a chance to rethink it. The basic problem is that water comes from one 2" pipe and wants to flow in the shape of that pipe unless I create baffles/separators. I even looked at getting a flared wet dry vaccum nozzle but I expect the result would be the same unless the slit is so thin to create enough back pressure so water flows out equally across the opening area.

I have a new idea but it's more complex and needs some proving... The water wants to continue to flow in the direction of the 2" pipe it came from and any attempt to redirect it only steals a small amount of flow. So instead of fighting this, I need to work with it. So...

Imagine if the 2" surge pipe come down to a horizontal pipe without openings. The pipe then goes back up in a 90 degree turn towards the surge container. It's connected to flexible tubing that goes up above the surge container. Since it's all primed, the water level in this hose would be the same as the surge container. Opening the surge valve would do nothing in this configuration.

Now, if I replace the horizontal pipe with Ts that have reduced outlets down, maybe 1". I think 4 of them would fit. Now, the surge force would be directed through the 2" pipe and up the hose until it reaches above the surge tank level. That's the main force I am trying to avoid coming out of one opening. Now, the horizontal Ts can flow more evenly down into the tank. That's the theory... But I'm still thinking aloud - no calcs yet.

I don't understand what you mean by primed... Is the flex tube capped or open air? Still 2" or necked down? Regardless-

I like this. I think you'll have to go down smaller than 1" nozzles off the 2" T's (2" is 3.14 sq in & 4x 1" is 0.79 sq in X 4= 3.16 sq in or more than capacity of surge and hence no need for the elbow or flex tube back up to surge tank level), but I like your theory!! I think with some tweaking this will work perfectly for you.

 

[karimwassef]

Primed = no air in the 2" pipes.

The idea is to go from a capped end that forces all/most of the water to exit from the capped end... To an open pipe that goes back to the surge level so it looks like an infinite pipe to the surge flow.

I think this will only work with two actuators, but I'll experiment.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Woooosh! The sound of this, going right over my head!

Sounds cool, Karim. How about a quick and dirty sketch? I'm trying to understand, but I can't quite picture it.

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

 

[Lavoisier]

I'm looking forward to the sketch as well, Michael, but I believe Karim is thinking of something like a loop for his surge. Given his current configuration he has more water in his surges than he needs. By "looping" (infinite pipe is a nice image) his surge, he can engineer a limited amount into his tank and not disturb his sand but maintain random flow. Anyway, I'm curious to see exactly what he's planning.

 

[karimwassef]

The sketch

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/618F0DB1-CA42-4458-B17E-44FD238CEE7C_zpskuew8xnr.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/618F0DB1-CA42-4458-B17E-44FD238CEE7C_zpskuew8xnr.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 618F0DB1-CA42-4458-B17E-44FD238CEE7C_zpskuew8xnr.jpg"/></a>

Top left is what I started with (and have now).

Attempt 1 was the slit attempt I shared earlier.
Attempt 2 is the idea I had to replace the closed cap with a pipe that goes above surge level.
I'm pretty surge that'll fail because all the water in the 'rise pipe' will fall to the tank level and/or the surge will be so forceful that it'll fountain out of the top of the pipe (pointed back into the surge).

Attempt 3 is my new idea of a split flow to create two paths to the slit

 

[Michael Hoaster]

OK, now I see it! So, how do you think #3 will differ from #1?

 

[karimwassef]

In 1, the water rushed into the cap, then exited the far edge of the slit.
In 3, the water flows in from both ends so there is no "cap" to force the exit. This means the flow should be distributed across the slit.

 

[karimwassef]

The difficulty in 3 is the limited space above the water...

 

[karimwassef]

Wow.. 4 months and my DI is fully consumed??? Really?

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/0B8E8D75-5AF2-40BE-BE11-D0F2DCA1DBE9_zpsoofzux0v.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/0B8E8D75-5AF2-40BE-BE11-D0F2DCA1DBE9_zpsoofzux0v.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 0B8E8D75-5AF2-40BE-BE11-D0F2DCA1DBE9_zpsoofzux0v.jpg"/></a>

It's been a while since I had a reef but that can't be right?

 

[karimwassef]

Here's the space between the surge and DT on the left side (looking from the front)

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/Mobile%20Uploads/414E87B3-1656-4284-AB37-0A109F4C5BFF_zpsydr8izqw.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/Mobile%20Uploads/414E87B3-1656-4284-AB37-0A109F4C5BFF_zpsydr8izqw.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 414E87B3-1656-4284-AB37-0A109F4C5BFF_zpsydr8izqw.jpg"/></a>

 

[Michael Hoaster]

That does seem awfully fast, on the DI. You do have a big tank…

That makes sense, about #3 giving you more even flow. And you could make a long slot. But the space issue…

Have you considered just putting a Y on each surge pipe, so you have four rather than two? You'd double the surge sources and halve the velocity. It might give you more flexibility dealing with the space issue. You probably already thought of that.

Although you and I are at opposite ends of the 'tech scale', I really enjoy following your progress! I especially like that most of your gizmos are DIY. You're not just throwing money at problems, you're solving them with your brain and your hands. Kudos!

I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

 

[karimwassef]

http://youtu.be/UDS1lxLRWyA

Finally figured out how to make my tangs live in a community.

 

[Lavoisier]

They're clearly getting along. What are your doing? Giving them 8 feet and 300+ gallons of space?

 

[karimwassef]

LOL. So here's what I did...

First, I got the largest most docile tang I could find, my Naso. He basically patrols the grounds and his size keeps everyone else's aggression in check. The other thing I did was introduce a number of different size fish at once- creating confusion so no one new fish could be picked on. I moved the rock work around to create new territories requiring the incumbents to review their space. Then, I overfed so they were busy eating vs. fighting. Finally, it coincided with my 3 days of darkness for dinos - that made all the fish equally apprehensive of a shared threat to all of them and they actually huddled together in the dark.

When the lights came back on, they were a "collective" instead of individuals vying for dominance.

So lots of stuff. All of it contributed.

But, in my opinion, my Naso was the key. He's alpha so the rest don't feel the need to compete as much. He's also very docile making him the benevolent king.

 

[karimwassef]

Started dosing LaCl into my monster skimmer (diluted into RODI). No filter on the output but the skimmer is a double Beckett recirculating 12ft and running wet.

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/0ED2E633-8211-4A5A-A083-F65E694AA6B8_zpsmz6faxa4.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/0ED2E633-8211-4A5A-A083-F65E694AA6B8_zpsmz6faxa4.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 0ED2E633-8211-4A5A-A083-F65E694AA6B8_zpsmz6faxa4.jpg"/></a>

I'm using the ATM version (the tv guys) and dosing 60ml for my 600gal over 24 hrs.

You can see the dower under the clear bucket of solution and the injection into the skimmer intake feed line (no chance of getting to the tank).

I'm watching my purple tang but it looks healthy after 2 days.