JaysLittleOcean
Active member
Glad to have you along for the build.
JaysLittleOcean Piece of the Reef.
- Thread starter JaysLittleOcean
- Start date
Glad to have you along for the build.
JaysLittleOcean
Active member
I actually am already running at almost maximum flow. I'm limited by the drain capacity and the tubing return. But its very quiet and my wife hasn't said anything about the sound during Game of Thrones so all is well.
Amoo
Member
Thinks are looking on the up, and I'm sad to say I wish I had found this thread sooner. 9 times out of 10 trying to use ball valves to control flow down your drains drives people nuts and they have to replace them at some point.
There are two basic types of valves we use in aquariums:
Ball Valves (like you have): are good for on and off, they are not meant for fine tuning.
Gate valves (think faucets): good for precise tuning, not great for on off because who wants to turn a valve 12 times to shut something on and off. The typical arrangement would look something like this:
Tank>-----Ball Valve-----Union----gate valve---->Sump
This is really only necessary on your shorter pipe as the longer one is there as an emergency in case your shorter one clogs. The reason for the ball valve before the union is because it allows you to isolate the union so you can keep stable water level inside the tank, remove the union and make any plumbing fixes necessary.
It may seem like a pain to redo the plumbing again after you have already had to do it once, but it's something you will may want to look into before it comes back to bite you later on down the line. The gurgling sound of that drain as you try to dial it in fruitlessly with a valve that won't allow it is going to drive you nuts, especially considering once a month or so even the gate valves may need a small tweak one direction or another.
There are two basic types of valves we use in aquariums:
Ball Valves (like you have): are good for on and off, they are not meant for fine tuning.
Gate valves (think faucets): good for precise tuning, not great for on off because who wants to turn a valve 12 times to shut something on and off. The typical arrangement would look something like this:
Tank>-----Ball Valve-----Union----gate valve---->Sump
This is really only necessary on your shorter pipe as the longer one is there as an emergency in case your shorter one clogs. The reason for the ball valve before the union is because it allows you to isolate the union so you can keep stable water level inside the tank, remove the union and make any plumbing fixes necessary.
It may seem like a pain to redo the plumbing again after you have already had to do it once, but it's something you will may want to look into before it comes back to bite you later on down the line. The gurgling sound of that drain as you try to dial it in fruitlessly with a valve that won't allow it is going to drive you nuts, especially considering once a month or so even the gate valves may need a small tweak one direction or another.
platypusklr
New member
Nice tank. Tagging along.
I fully agree concerning the Ball/Gate valve especially if you are overpowered on the pump side. I HATE filter socks! Good for clearing the water after the initial fill, forever a pain in the butt later! Like the pics so far! Once you get your ATO running can you plst a few pics. I am still in the planning design phase and good pics of a working ATO are hard to come by. I have a couple 160we from my last tank and am looking to use them as spotlights on my 190 build to fill shady areas the dual 360WE. With the apex are you still going to use the spectral controller?
I fully agree concerning the Ball/Gate valve especially if you are overpowered on the pump side. I HATE filter socks! Good for clearing the water after the initial fill, forever a pain in the butt later! Like the pics so far! Once you get your ATO running can you plst a few pics. I am still in the planning design phase and good pics of a working ATO are hard to come by. I have a couple 160we from my last tank and am looking to use them as spotlights on my 190 build to fill shady areas the dual 360WE. With the apex are you still going to use the spectral controller?
JaysLittleOcean
Active member
Thank you. Its good to have you tagging along. I am hear to share both the good and the bad in hopes that other can both learn and enjoy from my personal experiences.
JaysLittleOcean
Active member
Thank you Amoo. I might be that 1 out of 10 person because as of now the the drain and return have not fluctuated and have been working as expected. I will however continue to keep monitoring just in case i slip intonthat 9 out of 10 category.
JaysLittleOcean
Active member
I will get to the photographs of the top off unit. I went with a Tunze Osmolator and love it. Had to make some design changes on the fly but will update everyone later this evening.
JaysLittleOcean
Active member
Thank you! The Tunze Auto Topoff unit is honestly well worth the money.
JaysLittleOcean
Active member
The Fishless Cycle Continued.
The Fishless Cycle Continued.
So I received my order of both the Frytz Zyme Pro Pure Aquatics Ammonium and the 32 Ounce bottle of Frytz Zyme 9. The instructions state that you are not to dose more Ammonium Chloride than what is necessary to create 4 ppm or you will actually increase the cycle time of the aquarium. So I added dose in 1 teaspoon measurements once every 1 hour and while testing the ammonia level in between doses. I took approximately 2.5 teaspoons to bring my aquarium (180 gallons of total water volume, 3 teaspoons in total) to the recommended 4ppm Ammonia measurement. It is also important to remember that their be no livestock whatsoever within the aquarium.
I gave a very vigorous shake to the bottles of Frytz Zyme 9 Live Nitrifying Bacteria just prior to adding the entire contents into the display tank near one of the Tunze Nano Stream Pumps in order to ensure that everything is mixed well. However, I will warn you. The bottle indicates that an earthy tone will be present upon mixture that will quickly dissipate after addition into the aquarium. I own a 3 story 4,500 square foot home and this smell managed to make it into every room on the 1st and 2nd floors. So needless to say my wife was not happy with I lit every Wood Wick Candle we have on those floors to cover up the small. It took most of the day for the smell to dissipate. You will also have to turn off your protein skimmer and UV sterilizer if present for the next 4 days.
I have been testing the Ammonia levels within the water column since the start of this Fishless Cycle process. It's blatantly apparent that the products do actually work as advertised. These photographs gradually show the increase of Ammonia within a few hours of the addition of the Frytz Zyme Ammonium Chloride.
Then approximately 1 day after the addition of the Frytz Zyme 9 Live Nitrifying Bacteria the level of Ammonia begin to drop by half!
The Fishless Cycle Continued.
So I received my order of both the Frytz Zyme Pro Pure Aquatics Ammonium and the 32 Ounce bottle of Frytz Zyme 9. The instructions state that you are not to dose more Ammonium Chloride than what is necessary to create 4 ppm or you will actually increase the cycle time of the aquarium. So I added dose in 1 teaspoon measurements once every 1 hour and while testing the ammonia level in between doses. I took approximately 2.5 teaspoons to bring my aquarium (180 gallons of total water volume, 3 teaspoons in total) to the recommended 4ppm Ammonia measurement. It is also important to remember that their be no livestock whatsoever within the aquarium.
I gave a very vigorous shake to the bottles of Frytz Zyme 9 Live Nitrifying Bacteria just prior to adding the entire contents into the display tank near one of the Tunze Nano Stream Pumps in order to ensure that everything is mixed well. However, I will warn you. The bottle indicates that an earthy tone will be present upon mixture that will quickly dissipate after addition into the aquarium. I own a 3 story 4,500 square foot home and this smell managed to make it into every room on the 1st and 2nd floors. So needless to say my wife was not happy with I lit every Wood Wick Candle we have on those floors to cover up the small. It took most of the day for the smell to dissipate. You will also have to turn off your protein skimmer and UV sterilizer if present for the next 4 days.
I have been testing the Ammonia levels within the water column since the start of this Fishless Cycle process. It's blatantly apparent that the products do actually work as advertised. These photographs gradually show the increase of Ammonia within a few hours of the addition of the Frytz Zyme Ammonium Chloride.
Then approximately 1 day after the addition of the Frytz Zyme 9 Live Nitrifying Bacteria the level of Ammonia begin to drop by half!
JaysLittleOcean
Active member
However, the cycle is far from complete as I am still monitoring Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels. My Nitrate levels were off the chart as I didn't even have to wait the 5 minutes instructed by the test kit to get the color result. So I'm hopefully that by next week the cycle will be complete and I can maybe start considering to add fish.
JaysLittleOcean
Active member
Thats Walter White from Breaking Bad.
JaysLittleOcean
Active member
Needed to Make Some Adjustments to My ATO.
Needed to Make Some Adjustments to My ATO.
So I work extremely long hours. Sometime up to 20 hours a day. So I don't have too much time to sacrifice to things such as filling up the freshwater reservoir that I thought would be sufficient to make provide freshwater to compensate for evaporation at least for one week. Unfortunately I greatly under calculated how much freshwater I would actually need so I needed to make an on the fly design change.
So I went from a 1 gallon reservoir to a 16.5 gallon tub to store my freshwater. Now I'm able to make it with through the week with more than enough freshwater to top of my aquariums evaporation. I'm considering relocating the reservoir to another room adjacent to the aquarium but I will have to address some additional issues such as wiring and tubing to extend the standard Tunze pump connections to reach the other room.
Needed to Make Some Adjustments to My ATO.
So I work extremely long hours. Sometime up to 20 hours a day. So I don't have too much time to sacrifice to things such as filling up the freshwater reservoir that I thought would be sufficient to make provide freshwater to compensate for evaporation at least for one week. Unfortunately I greatly under calculated how much freshwater I would actually need so I needed to make an on the fly design change.
So I went from a 1 gallon reservoir to a 16.5 gallon tub to store my freshwater. Now I'm able to make it with through the week with more than enough freshwater to top of my aquariums evaporation. I'm considering relocating the reservoir to another room adjacent to the aquarium but I will have to address some additional issues such as wiring and tubing to extend the standard Tunze pump connections to reach the other room.
JaysLittleOcean
Active member
Looks Like I Need Some New Equipment.
Looks Like I Need Some New Equipment.
I just received my replacement Temperature Probe for my Neptune Systems Apex Aqua Controller yesterday and had a few minutes to install it. The temperature reading came back and well I can't say I was surprised. Above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. So I decided to just things be for a little to get a baseline. Well, I have been getting these alerts from my Apex Aqua Controller all morning. So it looks like I will have to start looking into cooling options before I can add my first fish.
Looks Like I Need Some New Equipment.
I just received my replacement Temperature Probe for my Neptune Systems Apex Aqua Controller yesterday and had a few minutes to install it. The temperature reading came back and well I can't say I was surprised. Above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. So I decided to just things be for a little to get a baseline. Well, I have been getting these alerts from my Apex Aqua Controller all morning. So it looks like I will have to start looking into cooling options before I can add my first fish.
friedwilly
New member
I would look at your setup first before running out and buying a chiller. There are alot of variables that can be affecting the temp. (i.e., probe placement, heater placement, light placement, hood or no hood, fans, house temp, etc.)
I am running a similar setup and my tank never runs over 79.
Hit me up anytime, I live close to you. I follow your build on Manhattan Reefs.
I am running a similar setup and my tank never runs over 79.
Hit me up anytime, I live close to you. I follow your build on Manhattan Reefs.
