daveM100
What?
Same, but I may save for one when I get my 240 wet, will probably save me money in the long run.
My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics
- Thread starter slief
- Start date
Same, but I may save for one when I get my 240 wet, will probably save me money in the long run.
slief
RC Sponsor
No power analysis yet. This one replaced an RD3 80 watt pump so if anything, I am consuming a bit more power right now. I do however have this one set to 120 watts which is less than the Dart Gold that was originally running my closed loop. The real power saving should come when I switch out my Superdart Gold return pump. While I don't expect a huge savings there, I do expect more flow from the RD 3 with less power compared to the Superdart which is rated at 4200GPH and draws about 165 watts. I think the RD3 230 will yield the same flow at about 130-140 watts. The biggest difference will come from noise reduction and heat transfer. These RD3's run cold to the touch where as the Darts run much hotter and have a higher heat transfer. I have a 1/3HP chiller plumbed in that is essentially new and haven't even turned it on in a few years. Once the new pump arrives, I will probably sell that chiller as I don't need it as my tank stays below 82 even in the summer. I would expect it to run cooler once I swap that Dart out. Having said that, the 2nd RD3 230 should arrive Thursday and with a bit of luck I will install it this weekend. Once it's in, I will be able to put up a graph from my Apex showing the Amp draw change from the Dart to the RD3 230 so keep an eye on this thead. I should have some updates and a game plan by weeks end.
That said, you will love those pumps and the rest of the goodies you having coming. You are doing it right and I love the fact that you aren't cutting any corners. I know you will be very happy with the end results and will have a spectacular fish room that would make anybody proud. Moreover, you will be amazed at the flow those pumps put out and the fact that they are dead silent.
pmrossetti
Active member
Be a good LA Fish Guys episode. 
pmrossetti
Active member
How are your SPS doing under those Kessils?
slief
RC Sponsor
I only have one SPS and it's a green slimer frag. I've had it for about 6 months now and it seems to be doing well.It's grown a bit but it's not in the best of places. I would move it but its now grown onto the rocks.
slief
RC Sponsor
Last night was a bit stressful. I noticed a bit of water around the base of my first sump.. After some very close inspection of all the seams, I found the culprit. One of the veritcal seams along the back corner began separating and I could see the salt creep in there. I lowered the sump level last night to reduce stress on it which prevented any more leakage. The effected area is about dead center in the vertical span and is limited to about 4" of the seam. It could have been much worse.
First thing this morning I shut the return down, drained the sump, removed the four filter socks and their trays, removed the skimmer, removed the live rock, shop vac'd the sump and cleaned it all up. I then cleaned the effected area thoroughly with rubbing alcohol. Fortunately for me, I designed my sump and refugium so that each of those two sumps can be isolated from one another. I shut the drain valves from the display. Shut the valves between the sump and refugium and was able to drain the main sump while keeping the refugium full.
Also, very fortunately, the company that built my current display tank 20+ years ago is still in business and is only a few blocks from my house. I'm also good friends with the owner. They are also the one that built this sump for me about 5 years ago.. I called them at 8AM and they cut me a 17" tall 1"x1" piece of acylic and sent their production manager over here to help with the fix.. The 1x1 piece was glued in using some thicker Weld On 16 that will fill any gaps as a result of deflection. Now it's just a matter of letting it cure for several hours.
On the bright side, it's been a few years since the sump was fully cleaned and I have never cleaned the inside of my Supermarin Skimmer since installing it over a year ago. As such, the sump and skimmer will be nice and clean once again.
Draining the sump after removing the socks and skimmer.
All drained, shop vac'd out and wiped down inside.
The effected area.
The fixed seam with some wood to apply constant pressure while it cures. I am also going to put a small space heater to help accelerate the curing process.
First thing this morning I shut the return down, drained the sump, removed the four filter socks and their trays, removed the skimmer, removed the live rock, shop vac'd the sump and cleaned it all up. I then cleaned the effected area thoroughly with rubbing alcohol. Fortunately for me, I designed my sump and refugium so that each of those two sumps can be isolated from one another. I shut the drain valves from the display. Shut the valves between the sump and refugium and was able to drain the main sump while keeping the refugium full.
Also, very fortunately, the company that built my current display tank 20+ years ago is still in business and is only a few blocks from my house. I'm also good friends with the owner. They are also the one that built this sump for me about 5 years ago.. I called them at 8AM and they cut me a 17" tall 1"x1" piece of acylic and sent their production manager over here to help with the fix.. The 1x1 piece was glued in using some thicker Weld On 16 that will fill any gaps as a result of deflection. Now it's just a matter of letting it cure for several hours.
On the bright side, it's been a few years since the sump was fully cleaned and I have never cleaned the inside of my Supermarin Skimmer since installing it over a year ago. As such, the sump and skimmer will be nice and clean once again.
Draining the sump after removing the socks and skimmer.
All drained, shop vac'd out and wiped down inside.
The effected area.
The fixed seam with some wood to apply constant pressure while it cures. I am also going to put a small space heater to help accelerate the curing process.
dave.m
Active member
Acrylic is always stronger with a top brace. I can understand not doing it on the display tank for aesthetics, but why not add top bracing on the sump? It's not like anyone will see it. For this corner, I would have at least added a triangular piece on the top. It would be like the Irish woman who took two pills, "To be sure. To be sure."
Dave.M
Dave.M
slief
RC Sponsor
I should have included that in my original design but unfortunately, adding that at this point is impossible with the sump under the display. Especially with the way the filter sock overflows are situated and the fact that the sump is up against walls on two sides. If we put on in now, it would likely fail due to pressure from the water and to do it properly would require the sump to be clamped along the top edges to remove any deflection. With the way things sit now, that would be nearly impossible with it under the tank unless I moved the sump away from the wall. To do so would require removing the recirculation pump and return pump from the refugium side along with the associated plumbing. All of which is doable since I have union ball valves on both pumps and the plumbing. The bigger issue would be moving the refugium to make space to move the sump away from the wall. That would require removing all the macro algae along with close to 1000 pounds of sand, mud and live rock rubble that is part of my DSB in the the refugium.. This is not something I want to do if it's avoidable.
I've inspected all other seams and everything looks fine. Not sure why this particular seam failed as the perimeter of both wall associated with that seam are up against the walls below the tank. As such, any deflection there is minimal. Also, the sump is only filled about 2/3 the way up so it's not like it's completely full. I think this was just an anomoly caused by an air bubble in the seam or something and then perhaps salt creep made it into the seam and expanded a bit causing it to fail. I don't expect future issues but rest assured I will be keeping an eye on those seams with vigilance. I may also keep the water level a tad bit lower to further reduce stress.
pmrossetti
Active member
Ugh, what a stressful night.
Glad it wasn't worse.
Great job Scott.
Glad it wasn't worse.
Great job Scott.
ERivera65
Member
Wow, bet you are patting yourself on the back with the thought and design behind those two sumps! I remember watching the LA Fish guys video when you started early that morning changing out the wet dry you had to these sumps. thank goodness you caught it on time. Looks like that acrylic repair will do the trick. Best wishes and hopefully no more issues after this.
slief
RC Sponsor
Yes it was a bit stressful but once I lowered the sump level, I felt better and actually slept OK until about 5 this morning.. No doubt it could have been worse.
Yep. It's all good. I may just wait until tomorrow to turn the return pump back on just so I know it's fully cured although I do have a heater in there right now to speed things up.
Yea, the design as far as the two sump and the valves between them certainly paid dividends in this case although it would have been nice to not even have to shut the return of and just be able to bypass the first sump. Oh well, at least the tank has a lot of flow right now. Between the RD3 230 watt recirc pump running at full speed, 3 Tunze's and a Koralia, I have ton of flow in the tank. I also put air stones in the display, the fuge and the display fuge so there is plenty of O2 to hold the fish over. I shut the tank lights off so the fish are less active while the system is down. Now I just need to be patient which is a skill I lack. :hmm3:
Thanks again for the well wishes guys! Will keep the updates coming.
ERivera65
Member
I wonder if that can be a future project for you, maybe you can cut into the plumbing of the drains from your tank and use a "t" with union ball valves on both sides and plumb both lines, one to the first sump and the other side to the other refugium sump. so in this case you could have shut the flow down to the first sump but you could have still ran the drain into your refugium section and the system would have remained running and somewhat undisturbed. of course you would have to drill into the refugium and I'm sure you wouldn't want to disturb that sump with all that mud,sand,rocks,mangroves, and algae in it..... it can be done.... just need to be smart on where you drill into it and where the water will fall into the sump since you would not want to disturb the sand, mud, and other things in there.
slief
RC Sponsor
It is certainly do-able. I do have a box on the entrance side of the refugium that the drains could be plumbed into if need be in which case, the sand and stuff wouldn't be distrubed because the flow of water would follow the same path through my false wall in that sump. All I would have to do is modify the lids to accomodate the pair of 2" drain lines and add an acrylic piece to mount the bulkheads to. No need for drill should I go that route. It's always something worth considering.. :thumbsup:
slief
RC Sponsor
It's been about 23 hours since shutting the return pump down & draining the main sump.. The fish are all fine. I will likely wait another 2-3 more hours before I put everything back in the sump and fire the system back up. I really don't need to wait since I used heater in the sump for almost 10 hours yesterday to speed the cure process up but since I've already waited this long, a few more hours won't kill me (or the fish) and that will give the repairs a full 24 hours of cure time.
The good news is that the repaired corner looks great and won't be an issue again. Still not sure what could have caused it. The only thing I can think is that maybe I bumped it hard with some of my liverock. I've got around 75 pounds or so of live rock that was stacked in that corner of the sump. When I needed some extra rock for my display fuge, I moved rocks around in the sump to cherry pick some pieces. That was several months ago and I don't recall doing anything that would have concerned me but I'm not sure what else to think. We certainly didn't have any earthquakes of concern and all other seams look perfect. Oh well, the issue has been fixed, my sump and skimmer have been thoroughly cleaned and the tank will be back up and running shortly.
The good news is that the repaired corner looks great and won't be an issue again. Still not sure what could have caused it. The only thing I can think is that maybe I bumped it hard with some of my liverock. I've got around 75 pounds or so of live rock that was stacked in that corner of the sump. When I needed some extra rock for my display fuge, I moved rocks around in the sump to cherry pick some pieces. That was several months ago and I don't recall doing anything that would have concerned me but I'm not sure what else to think. We certainly didn't have any earthquakes of concern and all other seams look perfect. Oh well, the issue has been fixed, my sump and skimmer have been thoroughly cleaned and the tank will be back up and running shortly.
slief
RC Sponsor
I decided not to wait until 10AM.. I just got through getting the put back together and adding the needed water to restart the system. All is well (again)!
Live rock back in the sump.
Skimmer and socks back in.
Water flow!! I will leave the water level lower and see how the skimmer does. I can always raise it if needed.
Live rock back in the sump.
Skimmer and socks back in.
Water flow!! I will leave the water level lower and see how the skimmer does. I can always raise it if needed.
slief
RC Sponsor
w00t
Nice skimmer
Thanks!! w00t is right! The fish, corals and I are very happy once again. I just cleaned the viewing panes and everything is back to normal. Albeit, a little cleaner down below. Best of all, no more leak!
The skimmer will have to go through a break in period again as I broke it down completely, scrubbed and cleaned it inside and out. That said, it's already producing dirty skimmate after less than 2 hours since being turned on. I did have to adjust the wedge pipe a bit for the 2" lower sump level but the original RD3 pump settings seem to be working well for now.. I'll do some fine tuning in a week or so once it's broken in. Funny thing is that up until now, I have never cleaned, let alone removed this skimmer from my sump since I got it over a year ago. All I do is drain the collection cup, run the wash down every few months to rinse the cup, let the wiper do it's thing for 15 seconds once a day and clean the pump every few months. In fact, I've only removed the collection cup and lid a couple times for cleaning since this skimmer was first setup. This skimmer runs like a well tuned machine and nevers skips a beat.
Not too bad for only 2 hours or being on after a thorough cleaning and compete drying and not even being broken in again. It's just now starting to hit it's stride again while it settles back in. It only gets better from here.
nuxx
.Registered Member
No leak 
Doing the exact same thing with a Reef Octopus Regal 300SSS.
Dropped our DCS300 a few days ago and bought the 300SSS instead of waiting to fix it and wait for a new pump to show up.
Did a vinegar bath and let in run in 10:1 water:vinegar and put it in the tank.
Made a lighter colored skim the first day. Turned it up a bit and it's making a slightly darker skim today.
Fixed the DCS300 and put the new pump on. Doing a vinegar run tonight and will then use it in our 150 gallon frag tank. Just wondering if a skimmer made for 400-600 gallons will function in 150-200 gallons...
Doing the exact same thing with a Reef Octopus Regal 300SSS.
Dropped our DCS300 a few days ago and bought the 300SSS instead of waiting to fix it and wait for a new pump to show up.
Did a vinegar bath and let in run in 10:1 water:vinegar and put it in the tank.
Made a lighter colored skim the first day. Turned it up a bit and it's making a slightly darker skim today.
Fixed the DCS300 and put the new pump on. Doing a vinegar run tonight and will then use it in our 150 gallon frag tank. Just wondering if a skimmer made for 400-600 gallons will function in 150-200 gallons...
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