Serpentman's 300g upgrade

[serpentman]

Agreed, unfortunately my concern is for something a little more sinister than redbugs

 

[maroun.c]

How are things going now? are you still having affected corals?

 

[beex215]

i would love to have a fish room. great work on all the projects

 

[s.erel]

nice work dude!!!

 

[serpentman]

The tank is doing much better. Tony (AD87) came over and helped clear out some of the pest corals and dead colonies. Anything that was STN'ing was aggressively fragged and mounted. So far they are holding on. Also began siphoning out some sand. There was definitely a lot of detritus held in there so it will take some time to get enough out to make me happy. Still suspect some pest issues so will doing some dipping in the upcoming weeks.

New sump coming tomorrow! Will post pics later....

 

[serpentman]

So today's the day to swap out sumps.

My existing sump is a huge liability since it no where near contains enough overflow in the event of a power outage. I miscalculated one of the dimensions and had to cut a small piece off the bottom support of the stand.

However, the challenge is to get a new sump under the tank. Since it has to be big, I came up with the idea of using a 2-piece design. A friend made it from Polypropylene (thanks dude) and it can out great.

The original concept:

The actual sump:

The 4" bulkhead I'll be using to connect them. This thing is HUGE!!!

Finding a 6" wrench is always a challenge. So I made up with some ugly looking plywood ones. Believe it or not though, they work great.

More to follow. Once this is done, I am grounding myself until after Christmas, LOL no more money on the tank....

 

[murfman]

My 1st sumps were set up like that and I had issues keeping the water levels constant. With the 4" bulkhead, lets hope that isn't and issue fror you.

 

[jflick345]

Hey Jeff,
Any ideas what was causing the STN? Do you think it was just parameters being out of whack? I'm experiencing it for the first time so I'm going to do a big water change today and do some fragging. Thus far it's limited to one birdsnest but it spread about an inch in the last week so it's time to cut it up. Good to see you finally got that new sump. Hopefully it'll be a little more peace of mind.

 

[serpentman]

After 5-6 hours of work, the sump is in place. Special thanks to Cleveyank and AD87 for their help. There a few dicey moments when I wasn't sure it was going to work. However, everything came out really well.

My 1st sumps were set up like that and I had issues keeping the water levels constant. With the 4" bulkhead, lets hope that isn't and issue fror you.

So far, no issues at all. I am running about 2500-3000 gph though it and the 4" bulkhead doesn't appear to slow things at all.

Hey Jeff,
Any ideas what was causing the STN? Do you think it was just parameters being out of whack? I'm experiencing it for the first time so I'm going to do a big water change today and do some fragging. Thus far it's limited to one birdsnest but it spread about an inch in the last week so it's time to cut it up. Good to see you finally got that new sump. Hopefully it'll be a little more peace of mind.

I really think my parameters slipped. First I had a fluctuation in alk. Second, I think detritus built up to critical mass that finally through my NO3 out of whack. Finally, I had a large fish die undetected which put things over the top. Diligent water changes and siphoning detritus religiously has seemed to work. However it took 2 months to bring it around.

 

[Taqpol]

With that many baffles I think it will be impossible to have a micro bubble problem! Cool sump!

 

[GhostCon1]

Agree on the cool sump, but I dislike the fact you cannot look into it from the side. (I like to see everything!)

 

[AD87]

My head still hurts! I hate that ledge. But thank goodness for sandpaper and some elbow grease. And your mag pump took way too long to fill those brutes.

 

[serpentman]

With that many baffles I think it will be impossible to have a micro bubble problem! Cool sump!

Let's hope you're right. I've toyed with using a higher volume return pump so wanted to make sure the sump could handle the additional flow without turning the display into a jacuzzi.

Agree on the cool sump, but I dislike the fact you cannot look into it from the side. (I like to see everything!)

Actually, this was my goal. I'm not using any rock or macro in the sump so the only thing worth seeing will be detritus that will need be vacuumed. Plus the opaque sides slow down coralline growth.

My head still hurts! I hate that ledge. But thank goodness for sandpaper and some elbow grease. And your mag pump took way too long to fill those brutes.

Sorry dude. I'll have to buy you a couple of drinks to ease the pain, lol. Yeah it was a bit dicey there getting the seal. Thank God the sandpaper did the trick. Next time I need to move a bunch of volume, I'll definitely borrow a bigger transfer pump....

 

[murfman]

So if you are not using rock or macro in the sump, why illuminate it? No light, no coralline!

 

[serpentman]

So if you are not using rock or macro in the sump, why illuminate it? No light, no coralline!

There is no light on it. However, I am growing coralline everywhere. My skimmers are loaded with it just from the ambient light in the room.

 

[serpentman]

It's been a while since I shared some pics so here goes. The tank is coming along nicely. I'm working on removing most of my sand which has done a lot towards lowering nutrients. Every week, I siphon off about a 5g bucket worth. When I'm done, I'll be rocking a shallow sand bed.

The display:

The Frag Tank:

The Fish Room:

My Office Cube Tank (during algae bloom)

My Office Cube Tank (after algae bloom)

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

Your tank looks amazing! Talk about replicating the ocean. Looks like from when I went diving in hawaii!! I'm glad you didn't take this beauty down. That would've been a shame..nice work keep it up Serpentdude!

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

Would you mind if I stop by and check out this tank in person? I've always seen it on the net, but never in real life. Everyone I talk to says you got to go over there sometime and see it. They must not be kidding! I was surprised at TOTM this month and think this one should've been nominated. Did you ever win a totm on this or another forum?

 

[serpentman]

Would you mind if I stop by and check out this tank in person? I've always seen it on the net, but never in real life. Everyone I talk to says you got to go over there sometime and see it. They must not be kidding! I was surprised at TOTM this month and think this one should've been nominated. Did you ever win a totm on this or another forum?

Thanks for the compliment. Not sure its TOTM material yet though. Still battling some issues but its progressing nicely. Also, very remiss as I need to get the front doors put on and trimmed out once and for all.

You're welcome to stop by. Feel free to PM me and we can set up a time. I travel a lot for work so sometimes my schedule is pretty hectic.

 

[adddo]

Sweet! Its looking awsome mr.superhero! I loved the scape when u set it up and now that stuffs growing in its looking even better!