List of questions I've always wondered but never asked

[paulamrein]

Ok, first off, 1.is a standard hood light strong enough for chaeto to grow?
2.When dealing with water in a sump, say it turns over 10X the water volume an hour does ALL the water go into the sump and back in 10 times an hour or does half the water go through twice and a third goes through once and some goes through once every two hours? 3.Also with the skimmer, if it's at 500gph meaning all water that is in the tank go through the skimmer 5 times in a 100g system? 4.In feedings, is the rule of thumb what the fish will eat in 5 minutes as what a reputable source tells me or is there something else to it? I don't imagine I'll get a straight answer for many of the questions just wondering. Just give the number of the question than answer please. I am sure there will be more questions to come. I always have questions and the more I learn, it stems more questions ALWAYS/

 

[frenchie]

i'm not even sure about the flow myself, i run 600 gph through my sump on 75 gallon and 1200 gph on my 125, i know some shoot alot more through there tanks and sump but wonder what is the correct amount of flow through sump according to tank size. i kinda stick to five minutes as far as feeding goes but i only feed my fish twice a week.

i use the swirly looking pc bulbs from walmart in my sump light, the ones in blue packages that says 6500k for color.

 

[scbadiver]

I'll field the first one anyway, yes, I'm growing mine profusely with 4 13 watt spiral bulbs, 6500k. The rest I'll leave to somebody who may know.

 

[fazgood]

I am so bored today I can't resist but start in...

1.is a standard hood light strong enough for chaeto to grow?

Easy one. Probably. Many folks use a fluorescent 100 W light in a cheapo reflector to grow chaeto. I use 2 and the stuff is a weed.



2.When dealing with water in a sump, say it turns over 10X the water volume an hour does ALL the water go into the sump and back in 10 times an hour or does half the water go through twice and a third goes through once and some goes through once every two hours?

This should start some debate but; I believe (no science to back it up, just life) that in a sump or fuge that dwell is as important as flow. The flow should be enough to keep detritus from settling but should be slow enough for the plants, bacteria and critters to work their magic on it. I believe that the flow should be higher in the tank and not so much in the sump/fuge.


3.Also with the skimmer, if it's at 500gph meaning all water that is in the tank go through the skimmer 5 times in a 100g system?

Not true, as you stated above if you put food coloring in the water that can be removed by skimming you will find that not all of the water will go through at any one time and even the stuff that does fgo through will not have 100% of the color removed. As above I believe that dwell is important here too. If the water goes through the skimmer too fast, it does not have time for the goo to bubble up and be removed.


4.In feedings, is the rule of thumb what the fish will eat in 5 minutes as what a reputable source tells me or is there something else to it?

Yes and no. If your system is loaded with pods, spaghetti worms and other critters they can clean things up really well far after that 5 minute period. I have followed a thread where several “big name” dudes feed what most people would think would wipe a system out in a day but have great success. The trick is that they don’t just start feeding a lot right off, they work up to it over months and months and years… As the food increases the natural population of critters will grow and consume the excess food. While swimming in the reef and watching the life there, we are way way way UNDER feeding our tanks. There is so much plankton and other stuff flowing around in a reef that it is not practical to try to duplicate this but if you could, you would have the most spectacular reef next to the ocean.



The last point is that what works for me may not work for you. Observation is the key to figuring this stuff out. Keep notes and as time goes on most folks develop a hybrid of all of the things they learned and it won’t be the same as anyone else, if it was, someone would be selling an off the shelf reef and they would be rich.



This is just my opinion and please note my occupation before believing anything tha you read above.

Faz

 

[paulamrein]

What's the going rate for fools these days? The pay must be amazing for the amount of people in your industry these days Seriously though, it's all good information guys. Thanks, keep it coming, I'm sure that I may get a hang of this hobby yet. Oh, the day when things stop dieing and the good things start growing. If only our goals were keeping cyano-bacteria and snails in the tank. I'd be tank of the month's raining champion.

 

[breutus]

2.When dealing with water in a sump, say it turns over 10X the water volume an hour does ALL the water go into the sump and back in 10 times an hour or does half the water go through twice and a third goes through once and some goes through once every two hours?

Highly unlikely here but not impossible if you have good flow in your tank other the sumps return and as long as there are no dead spots I know in my tank down behind the main rock wall there is probably water that doesn't make it down to the sump but once every couple of days... okay maybe an exaggeration but certainly possible.

same with question 3 I think to it depends on where you put your skimmer and how much of the flow directs all your water to it.

 

[frenchie]

it wouldn't matter in my tanks if there was dead spots cause like faz mentioned critters and worms, i have so many different kinds of pods and spaghetti worms and the other yellow and black worms nothing could get left behind. Matter of fact i was watching last night and my 75 gallon is infested seriously with mysis shrimp breading like crazy, my sixline wrasse can't even dent the population of pods and mysis I also have a springer pseudocromis.

 

[ncox38]

But it is a "water column" so if you remove the nasties from whatever water that goes through the skimmer, it reduces the amount of total nasties throughout, as long as you have decent flow.

 

[StupidsReef]

Opps I double posted.

 

[StupidsReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12209104#post12209104 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by StupidsReef
I'll tackle question # 3.

I feed my skimmer straight from one of the overflows from the main tank. IME, I've found that running a larger than needed skimmer but with a slower flow rate, I obtain an over all better skimming. The water moving through any skimmer needs to hit a certain GPH, what that number is will be unique with each set up. If it rushing through to fast, the skimmer will perform poorly. If it's not moving through enough, same thing.

I've had them pull from the sump, then from the main tank via maxi jet I've tried different way's non stop. After researching skimmer's and different types and styles I approach this Idea. I bought a skimmer way too big for my system, but slowed the GPH rate down by ball vavling it to the skimmer. It does take a bit of tweaking to adjust it and set it just right. Now this is totally JMHO, but I think every skimmer manufacture WAY over rate's there products.

In short here's an example:

If you have a 100g RR tank and a 30g Sump with a 20 Refuge you have a total volume of 150g. IMO, you would need to buy a skimmer that "claims" it will skimm around or more than 300-350 gph. Then if at all possible feed it straight from the main tank, to which where you can ball valve it for optimal tuning. Or feed it with a pump for example a MAG7 or MAG9 to which again you ball valve. I vote for it to be for the main tank as you are "skimming" in a sense from the surface of the water colum rather than the middle or bottom, thus pulling more of the "nasty" stuff. It's not how much water your "turning"(flow wise) but the volume of water the skimmer is receiving at any one time. Longer contact time better skimmate is produced.


Again these are all JMO's, as I'm not pro nor expert. I'm just the guy who's flooded his house too many time's to admit it.

Here is a post to my biult thread showing how I hooked up my skimmer, if you look in I think is the 3rd pic you'll seen how I placed a ball valve on the skimmer to slow the flow.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10071880#post10071880 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by StupidsReef
Ok and now on to the BA-DONKEY-DONK Kicking A's and taken names SKIMMER.

That's what it looks like from outside. Not to shabby............Here's the pics of it's guts...................

 

[teetimefun]

It's impossible for every drop of water to get skimmed, pushed, filtered, polished etc X times per hour. But with enough times the likely hood that most of the water is treated increases. The ideal flow through the sump differs for everybody as every sump and tank is different. The technical answer usually is you want the flow through the sump to match the flow through your skimmer to maximize its effectiveness. Too much flow and all the water is not skimmed too little then the same water will get skimmed over and over. For every tank its what works for you.