Matt's 5000ltr Display
- Thread starter d3hree
- Start date
d3hree
New member
Another miserable update.
I noticed the other night that my oceans motions wasnt firing as it should. I took it apart to find a cracked drum.
One side has completely split, the other side has two small cracks in it.
In the few weeks I have had the tank running I havent been skimming it. When I went to install the skimmer it was severely leaking from one of the recirc pumps. I finally got around to taking it apart the other day to find a sheared impeller.
I cant catch a break lately.
I noticed the other night that my oceans motions wasnt firing as it should. I took it apart to find a cracked drum.
One side has completely split, the other side has two small cracks in it.
In the few weeks I have had the tank running I havent been skimming it. When I went to install the skimmer it was severely leaking from one of the recirc pumps. I finally got around to taking it apart the other day to find a sheared impeller.
I cant catch a break lately.
dave.m
Active member
On the bright side, you haven't put a significant amount of expensive fish or inverts in the tank yet and haven't experienced any tragic losses. I guess it's good to get all these little problems worked out of your system now than to encounter them after a year or two of growth and development.
Pip! Pip! Chin up! Whatever.
Dave.M
Pip! Pip! Chin up! Whatever.
Dave.M
reef_of_flames
Member
Sorry, new to this thread, but I just saw your surge! Can you give me some more information on it please? That thing is awesome!
prop-frags
SPS Slave
Love the big cucumbers - they're an essential part of our reef. Our "big daddy" has grown into quite the huge fellow and he really does a marvelous job with plowing through the sand, keeping things clean and well-stirred.
About the OM drum and the impeller, that's curious that you'd have both of those big pieces fractured like that. Any idea of cause? Perhaps did you have them running when adding sand or stirring sand up?
About the OM drum and the impeller, that's curious that you'd have both of those big pieces fractured like that. Any idea of cause? Perhaps did you have them running when adding sand or stirring sand up?
d3hree
New member
Thanks Dragknee
very true...if anything is going to go wrong, nows the time for it to happen.
Hi Reef of flames.
Thanks for stopping by. The surge is pretty simple. It has a 2" actuated ball valve that controls the water flow. When the surge tank is full a float switch activates the ball valve and it opens. As the surge tank empties and the water level lowers another float switch closes the ball valve.
This means no air gets into the system and thus no bubbles or toilet flush noise.
Thanks for following agcneves
Cheers Neil
Hi sbreefer. Thanks for the compliments. Yes I did model everything but it didnt take long as there is a lot of duplication.
Hi Mike
The OM, no idea. I sent the pics to Paul and he doesnt know either. I was very careful to use those tights while the water was a little cloudy from the sand so as to avoid any debris getting into the drum. The OMs start to make a loud clicking noise as well when they are jammed to warn you that there is an issue. I had no such noises, unless it occurred when I was on holiday. When I dismantled the drive there were no signs of any debris that could have caused it.
Paul is well known for his customer service and I have recently found out for myself that it is 2nd to none. He is sending me a replacement drum.
The skimmer I bought some years ago in preparation for this tank. I bought it 2nd hand off a mate who'd only run it for a couple of months. I have had it in storage for an age. It could have been anything, I only had it going for a few seconds when I noticed that one of the recirc pumps was leaking heavily. The seized impeller, I guess, is the cause of the leak but I have no idea how the impeller became seized. I need to give D-D a call and see where I can go from here.
prop-frags
SPS Slave
indeed...another reason why we went with OM. Paul was extremely helpful during the design phase for our system. I highly recommend them.
reef_of_flames
Member
That's awesome how you figured out
To avoid bubbles!
To avoid bubbles!
unbelieve how much work you put into this project and how perfectly you documented it. The result looks very nice.
if you plan to keep acropora's watch out for the red/blue eyed crab.
they pick on your polyps and can do a lot of damage.
if you plan to keep acropora's watch out for the red/blue eyed crab.
they pick on your polyps and can do a lot of damage.
A couple of pics..just because I have stuff to take pics of
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d3hree
New member
Thanks but I really can't take the credit. It's a surge system that I came across on a Michigan reefing forum. The guy was called cmpenney iirc (maybe he is a member on here too?) he has some YouTube videos that I watched and he deserves all the credit.
The mithrax crabs? Yeah I have seen a few posts over the years reporting these guys not playing nicely with sps. On the whole though I think they are ok? Thank you for the compliments
izzy123
New member
Sorry to hear about your troubles Matt, I hope it's smooth sailing for you from this point.
I have a quick question or two if you don't mind.
Did you make the return section in your sump big enough to compensate for the changing water level due to the surge valve, or did you fix this problem another way? (can't seem to get my head around that.... sorry:uhoh3
Humble greetings from a huge fan
I have a quick question or two if you don't mind.
Did you make the return section in your sump big enough to compensate for the changing water level due to the surge valve, or did you fix this problem another way? (can't seem to get my head around that.... sorry:uhoh3
Humble greetings from a huge fan
d3hree
New member
Hi izzy
Yes I made sure I had enough expansion room in the return section to accommodate the surge. Tbh I didn't know for sure when I was building the return section how much room I needed so I made sure that I installed the return pumps as low as I could and I also added a standpipe that leads directly to a drain.
In normal operation the water is 6" from the top of the tank even after the surge has fired. The worst case scenario is a powercut immediately after the surge has fired as the return section would have to handle the drain back from the return pumps plus the addition of the surge water. This is what I couldn't work out when building the system and the reason I installed the stand pipe.
As it turns out I am able to fine tune the amount of water that is surged and the return section can handle all of the water in the event of a powercut with about 1mm to spare!
Thanks for following the thread and for the compliments
Yes I made sure I had enough expansion room in the return section to accommodate the surge. Tbh I didn't know for sure when I was building the return section how much room I needed so I made sure that I installed the return pumps as low as I could and I also added a standpipe that leads directly to a drain.
In normal operation the water is 6" from the top of the tank even after the surge has fired. The worst case scenario is a powercut immediately after the surge has fired as the return section would have to handle the drain back from the return pumps plus the addition of the surge water. This is what I couldn't work out when building the system and the reason I installed the stand pipe.
As it turns out I am able to fine tune the amount of water that is surged and the return section can handle all of the water in the event of a powercut with about 1mm to spare!
Thanks for following the thread and for the compliments
izzy123
New member
1mm.....:fun5:
That's pretty close....:lol2:
I ran into the same trouble trying to calculate the exess water from the surge and the backflow from the DT through the return pump.(I came up with a pretty large return section:hmm2
Thank you for taking the time for easing my worries, and keep those updates coming. :thumbsup:
That's pretty close....:lol2:
I ran into the same trouble trying to calculate the exess water from the surge and the backflow from the DT through the return pump.(I came up with a pretty large return section:hmm2
Thank you for taking the time for easing my worries, and keep those updates coming. :thumbsup:
