My 150 Reef Photo Journal
- Thread starter GoldStripe
- Start date
GoldStripe
New member
Thanks slant77, wish it was going faster but the only thing left now is the canopy. I think I'm going to set it up before the canopy is done.
Mike in CA
New member
Sorry to bring this old thread up but I enjoyed reading it and have learned a lot. I'm going to set-up a 120g and your thread has given me a lot of ideas.
Do you mind posting an update?
Do you mind posting an update?
GoldStripe
New member
No problem Mike. I actually forgot I had a thread on RC it's been so long! I need to take some updated pics in the next few days but here's the jist of it. I still don't have a canopy made for it, tons of excuses but still no canopy. The tank is up and running in the house and has been for at least 5 months. There is nothing in it except a couple snails.
The last issue in this thread looked like my return pump problems. Well, I ended up selling the Iwaki and putting in a Dolphin Ampmaster 3000. This pump is super quiet albeit a bit strong for this tank. I have it T'd off to feed my fuge, skimmer, and cannister filters and still get PLENTY of flow in the tank. The pump is sooo quiet though, quieter than the Dart I have for the closed loop. After 4 months up this pump starting leaking at the seal. I ended up shipping the pump to Dolphin and they determined that the seal was defective. I had them upgrade the seal to the abrasive supa dupa marine seal for the price difference between the regular and marine seal. I've just gotten motivated in these last couple weeks to work on the tank again. I kinda lost interest and contemplated taking it down but I'm over that. The next issue I had was that one of my lower CL returns had a slow drip at the bulkhead/ballvalve connection. That involved plugging the bulkhead from the inside of the tank, tanking the ballvalve off the back and re-connecting tighter.
The issue I'm dealing with now is sandstorms caused by the OM 4 way / Dart. With only 2 outlets "on" at a time, it was too much for my shallow sand bed to handle. To combat this, I'm testing putting 1" T's with 90's or 45's on the ends so I can disperse the flow better. I used a dremel to cut slits in the T and a drill bit to put holes in the sides of the 90's to disperse the flow. Put one of these on last night on the outlet at the bottom of the tank that blows straight forward. I angled the 90's upward slightly and this has worked excellent in the 10 minutes I tested it last night.
So I need to make another just like it for the other lower outlet, plus two for the upper outlets that blow straight down behind the rock (the upper outlets were causing just as much trouble with sand blowing around)
One other thing, I'm using a 50 micron filter sock on my drains. There are no bubbles in my sump whatsoever. I highly recommend them as long as you clean / swap out the socks regularly. Sorry for the long winded response, that's my update. I'll try to take some pics this week. Like I said, tank is up and has some rock sitting in it to establish/cycle.
The last issue in this thread looked like my return pump problems. Well, I ended up selling the Iwaki and putting in a Dolphin Ampmaster 3000. This pump is super quiet albeit a bit strong for this tank. I have it T'd off to feed my fuge, skimmer, and cannister filters and still get PLENTY of flow in the tank. The pump is sooo quiet though, quieter than the Dart I have for the closed loop. After 4 months up this pump starting leaking at the seal. I ended up shipping the pump to Dolphin and they determined that the seal was defective. I had them upgrade the seal to the abrasive supa dupa marine seal for the price difference between the regular and marine seal. I've just gotten motivated in these last couple weeks to work on the tank again. I kinda lost interest and contemplated taking it down but I'm over that. The next issue I had was that one of my lower CL returns had a slow drip at the bulkhead/ballvalve connection. That involved plugging the bulkhead from the inside of the tank, tanking the ballvalve off the back and re-connecting tighter.
The issue I'm dealing with now is sandstorms caused by the OM 4 way / Dart. With only 2 outlets "on" at a time, it was too much for my shallow sand bed to handle. To combat this, I'm testing putting 1" T's with 90's or 45's on the ends so I can disperse the flow better. I used a dremel to cut slits in the T and a drill bit to put holes in the sides of the 90's to disperse the flow. Put one of these on last night on the outlet at the bottom of the tank that blows straight forward. I angled the 90's upward slightly and this has worked excellent in the 10 minutes I tested it last night.
So I need to make another just like it for the other lower outlet, plus two for the upper outlets that blow straight down behind the rock (the upper outlets were causing just as much trouble with sand blowing around)
One other thing, I'm using a 50 micron filter sock on my drains. There are no bubbles in my sump whatsoever. I highly recommend them as long as you clean / swap out the socks regularly. Sorry for the long winded response, that's my update. I'll try to take some pics this week. Like I said, tank is up and has some rock sitting in it to establish/cycle.
GoldStripe
New member
This is another reason I haven't finished my tank. This takes both money and time! Sounds like my reef tank?
