Progress on the 125 project

I am having a small diatom outbreak at the moment. It is not on the sand, just a light brown film on the glass. It cleans easily with the mag float. I really need to get my ATO setup.. 10 minutes before I walked out the door to go to work the other night, I turned on my RO/DI, with full intentions of just letting it empty the pressure tank (4 gallons), and forgot about it.. I didn't remember about it until I was half way through my shift at work.. It was like 4:00 am, so calling the wife to shut it off was not an option. When I got home in the morning, I had to pull out about 20g from my sump, and add salt to bring my SG back up. It only got down to 1.022, so thank goodness for a large volume of water. I usually keep it 1.025.. So, I have made it through my first near disaster with the new system, But I need to set up the ATO. As far as fish, I moved my clowns, diamond watchman, orchid dottyback, and blonde naso from the other setup. I did however manage to kill the naso in the move.. (I think I crushed it with rocks moving stuff around). Since, I have added 2 Pajama cardinals, and plan to add these:
1 male, and 2 female royal grammas
yellow clown goby pair
a new naso
chevron tang
orange shoulder tang

I think thats about all I will add to it, and I will do so slowly.

I am also thinking about re-doing my overflow.. I hate the way it turned out.. Its just too big.. and makes it hard to get the rock "just the way I want it". I am also going to start getting rid of my "less desireable" corals, to make room for more LPS, and SPS...

Jason
 
I have an IV pump I got from John Kelly, and a couple 55g plastic drums. I just need to hook it all up. I have thought about getting a solonoid and float switch from autotopoff.com to put on one of the drums from my RO/DI, this way I have 55g available for topoff, then use the IV pump to put it into the system.. Not entirely sure yet though, as I would really like to dose kalk for topoff, and I heard it is too abrasive for the IV pump.

Jason
 
Ok, so..... I HATE my overflow. Its just too big and bulky. I think I will build a new one, and drain the tank below the existing one, and cut it out, and glue a smaller one in its place. I figure I should be ok doing this, as long as I drop a couple powerheads in to keep stuff moving. I figure it will take about 24 hours for the silicone to fully cure.. The more I mess with the tank, the more I wish I had gone with corner overflows. The way it currently is, I cannot aquascape it the way I want. I didn't want to end up with the typical "wall-o-rocks", and thats how it looks. Hindsight is 20/20!

Jason
 
return

return

You are loosing quite a bit of room to that overflow. If the tank was wider it wouldn't matter as much. Just don't even replace it at all. No worry about waiting for anything to cure.

After removing the existing overflow, put a streetside elbow pointed up, another elbow to point outward with a strainer on it. You can then swing them up or down a little to adjust your water height. You would probably have to change your plumbing in the back to put a gate valve or ball valve on each return pipe if you want any control on flow and noise. I use this system on my 100 and it works perfectly. In fact, I only have two 1" returns on it and neither one has any kind of valve on them, with no noise problems. You could probably do without four on that system and gain a lot of aquascaping room. Take a look at each corner in the picture. If you only use two, just plug the other two.

I recommend the streetside because it doesn't protrude out as far before it elbows and saves you more room.




70450100g.jpg
 
BTW

BTW

You know Jay, I was thinking after that post. You could actually install those return pipes I mentioned with the current overflow in place. Then just remove the overflow when your done, and never have to drain any water. Just a thought!
 
You can come out and see my internal overflow if you want. I drilled my holes quite a bit higher than yours are I think about 1" from the top of the glass, centered) and my box isn't nearly as deep because of it. However, it runs 5 feet across the back of my tank and I have 5 X 1" bulkhead drains(which are spaced out the 5' length), 2 of which are emergency overflows, and it's only about 3" wide or so total. I really like mine, and it's skinny enough that I don't really have a problem.

The reason I went across the tank is to get better surface skimming off the top. I agree w/Tim about putting a gate valve on it to control the noise and water level in the box itself. It really helps out w/that. Also, my tank is 24" wide, which I also agree helps as well.

You could always just cap them and redrill for corner overflows if you want to. You could even use the holes you already have drilled for a closed loop too. I think you'll be able to get it the way you want and be happy with it. Mine's almost totally covered coraline algae anyway, so I don't even notice it. It's a nice place to put frags, and I have 2 huge softball size snails that live up there full time and take care of any algae that thinks about growing there.

Good luck!
 
If you do what I'm suggesting, there will be no box. Just the pipes that will not only adjust your water level but skim the top as well.

The thought of using the other two for a closed loop is a great Idea.
 
I love the look of just the pipes as in your pic,... but would be slightly concerned with reducing my surface skimming ability... The dimensions on my current overflow are 30" long, 6" wide, and 8" deep. I was thinking of changing the 6" wide to 1-1/2" wide, and keep the other dimensions the same. I think that would help my situation greatly... as long as I dont have to chase a fish inside the narrow overflow.. lol..

Jason
 
I put eggcrate along the top, then zip tied some mesh along it to keep fish and hermits out. I replace the mesh screen every once in a while if it gets algae build up on it, but it's really no big deal. Infact, right now I'm just running the eggcrate on top of it. I'm not sure how yours in put together, but my front panel on the overflow is cut 1/4" shorter than the sides, which is why I used eggcrate and the eggcrate is 1/2" tall so it just barely sticks above the water line.
 
I know exactly what you mean. On my current overflow, I had a chromis go for a ride, and made it to my return pump.. I found peices of it in the main display.. So I put egg crate on it. No problems since. Thanks for the tip!

Jason
 
That 125 gal tank is the same length and width, just taller than my 100. So it will have the same surface area to be skimmed off the top. I've never had any problem with anything on the top and no worries about fish going in an overflow.

I use the same system on my 75 as well.

Anyway, just an idea to completely get rid of the overflow.

The 300 gal I just set up has the same type o/f as you are dealing with. I wish it wasn't as big, but with the tank having a 36" width it won't hurt my aquascaping as bad as your situation. But one neat thing it has, is a piece of acrylic that hangs off the top that has all the ridges cut into it. It is black, the same color I painted the back, so you can't even notice the o/f itself. The ridges are also cut to a height that will keep any critters from going in it.

I posted a picture of it in my thread on that tank yesterday. Take a look. You can see the bottom edge of the o/f, the cover wasn't pushed all the way down into position.

Matt F designed that for me, If I had it to do over I would have went with it on the outside of the tank, or corners.
 
Some updated pics:
125g044.jpg

125g042.jpg

125g045.jpg

125g046.jpg

125g047.jpg

125g048.jpg


125g003.jpg


I have a bunch of close ups too, but I would have to break them into like 5 posts or so..

Jason
 
Good-looking tank Jason - the goniopora looks really healthy. The pom-pom xenia I got from you is doing really well - I've got a couple frags off of it already. It's so much better behaved than the anthelia I had. Looking forward to seeing some of the closeups...

David
 
Finally...I was beginning to think I was never going to get it done. I really dislike the center bulb,.. so I will get one on order. It did not come out as nice as the stand, but it will work.Ignore all the stuff around it.. I have not had time to clean up yet...:
125g055.jpg

125g056.jpg

125g057.jpg

125g059.jpg


Jason
 
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