Lunchbucket's New 58gal RR inprogress - LOTS OF PICS

[Lunchbucket]

i thought i remember a long time ago that it was 300something...but i don't remember where and why i heard that

Lunchbucket

 

[Lunchbucket]

UPDATE:

just ordered my RC80 Euro-Reef skimmer. not sure when it will be done...but go figure Thanskgiving week will slow it down

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Patience Grasshopper.



Question for both you and Travis re: the OM units...

Have you guys taken them apart for any maintenance?

Fortunately I was there when it stopped moving, but....

I had such small tolerances on mione, between the rotating drum and the housing, that a very thin buildup of minerals that caused friction between the drum and the housing. The friction got to be such that the drum wouldnt rotate. The motor is strong enough, but the weakest part of the motor/driveshaft/drum connection broke. The nylon drivehsaft wasnt strong enough to handle the force of the motor and was "cored out" by the rotating tab of the motor that turns the driveshaft. This was exactly how it was designed to work, since hte nylon driveshaft is a $4.00 part. I have new parts coming (today if UPS is to be believed)....and I havent lost anything...but I wass curious if you guys had observed any issues? My OM 4 way HD hasnt been in operation for a year yet.....

Paul said he suspects magnesium as the mineral build up for some reason. He's fielded a couple of calls for this and when he recieved the non rotating drums they were covered in something that didnt dissolve in vineager....

Nick

 

[Chrisrush]

Lunch,
Do you have a model # for that air meter that you are using. I think that I looked at them previously and they weren't that expensive, so I might have to pick one up.

Chris

 

[Lunchbucket]

maxxII - BUT I DONT' WANT TO BE PATIENT i want ti NOW NOW NOW. hope it it done soon. oh did i mention that i had it 3day shipped to me UPS is super slow to me so 3day would be my best bet..otherwise it will be a week

nope NEVER had a single issue w/ my OM unit. i think travis did though..or maybe that was just changing drum configurations. i have had mine running for 1.5yrs plus w/ no problems. i love it!!!

i love how Paul designed it so the 4.00 part busts and not the expensive parts. VERY customer friendly IMO

chrisrush - i dont' have an air meter. that is the metere for my effluent out of my ca rx. i measures how much i am dumping out of my reactor

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Yeah, I like how he's designed this too. Evidently he made my OM unit with some pretty tight tolerances, cause this build up is pretty thin. He's sending me a new drum and I upgraded to the magnetic drive motor...so no more drive shaft for mine.
I'm going from a version 1 drum to a version 3 drum.
Which one are you running?

Nick

 

[Travis]

Hi maxxII. I have had problems with 1 of my OM 4-way HD's. The problems went on for months and Paul was very patient with me. I finally found out what the problem was and it wasn't even the OM unit. One of the ball valves on the outlet had broken and I couldn't tell because it was still difficult to turn the valve handle. But the ball had "frozen" in the 3/4 closed position. With a version 1 drum, this was causing the OM to lock up at times and leak at other times. But once I fixed the ball valve, the problems went away. I'm now running a mag drive on that unit as Paul had sent it to me during the problems to see if it would help. I'm still running a direct drive on the other unit and have never ever once had a single issue with that unit. I do agree that there is very little room between the drum and the housing. I have never even taken the non-problematic unit down so don't know if there is any build-up in it. I last took the unit I was having problems with down a few months ago and there was no build-up at all. I did notice some fine scratches where sand must have gotten trapped between the drum and the housing but nothing major. I am still running a version 1 drum on the unit that has never been taken down. On the other unit, I am now running the drum that goes 1&2, 2&3, 3&4, etc. too lazy to look on the site and see which version

 

[Travis]

I almost forgot... When I was talking to Paul back in June or so I remember him telling me about the magnesium thing. I guess some guy kept having problems with his drum seizing and they just couldn't figure out what it was and finally found the white buildup that they chalked up as being magnesium. Not sure if it really is magnesium or not though.

 

[Lunchbucket]

i have the 1&2, 2&3, 3&4, 4&1 drum. not sure what version that is.

i'm not sure if i have the direct drive unit or the HD unit...guess i should check. but if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Paul sent me the new mag drive unit to replace my old direct drive (nylon driveshaft) unit yesterday. He also sent a new drum that has opposing ports open, (What he called Version 3 drum). My previous drum, (Version 1 drum) only had one port open at a time, (1-2-3-4 repeat). It sounds like you guys had the version 2 drum if you have two ports open simultaneously. Whats interesting is that with my Iwaki 55 RLT, I didnt get nearly enough flow through the version 3 drum as I liked....so I removed the white plastic ring on the version 1 drum, and sanded off the mineral buildup with a hand held corner sander, (mouse sander) and then placed it back in the OM unit with the new mag drive...
Back in action baby!

Eric are you still running the Pan World version of the Iwaki 55 RLT?

Thanks for posting up your experiances guys...

Nick

BTW, I hafta agree...Paul's customer service is top notch. I wish more businesses operated like he does.

 

[Lunchbucket]

maxx - nope i have an iwaki 55rlt. never ran that panworld pump...always had the iwaki. i was planning the panworld but i didn't use it

yeah his CS ROCKS!!

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Hmm......now I'm wondering if I should go from the Iwaki 55 RLT to a non pressure rated pump that moves about 2K GPH, and go with the version 3 drum?

Thats a possiblility.....


Nick

 

[Lunchbucket]

i think my 55rlt is PLENTY of flow w/ the drum i have set up. all my corals blow all over the palce. i was gonna use the higher flow rated panworld pump but it was a circulation model so after the plumbing and 90's it would have less flow. i can't remember how much flow i calculated that i was getting

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Is your loc line Y'd off into two ports or is it just one?
Mine is Y'd off, so I actually have two 3/4 outlets coming from each port...for 8 total in the tank.

Nick

 

[Lunchbucket]

lockline is my return line. it isn't even on a OM line. the OM is on my closed loop and the return is the mag 950.

Lunchbucket

 

[Lunchbucket]

oh BTW my skimmer should ship out next week...so if all goes well i should have it by late next week!! YIPPIE!!

Lunchbucket

 

[maxxII]

Ahh...okay, just looked at your webpage and saw what you're doing for returns. For some reason I thought you were using Loc Line like I an for my closed loop returns....okay.

Nick

 

[Lunchbucket]

maxxII - nope just using three way pvc fittings on the rear outlets of the OM unit though

Lunchbucket

 

[zmalexander]

Well, I just spent the past THREE DAYS reading this thread. You have a beautiful tank, sounds like its put you through the ropes a few times. I'm in the midst of setting up a Oceanic 58RR. Just waiting on the stand I ordered from BRI Aquatics. Hopefully mine will turn out as nice as yours!! My past experience is from a 30g I had about 10 years ago, softies and leathers only. Wow has this hobby come a long ways in 10 years!!! I hope to have the LR going in January. Wish me luck!!

P.S. Marc.....I emailed you a while back, as your 30 inspired me to reenter the hobby..well I decided to up to a 58

 

[melev]

zmalexander, welcome back to the obsession.