uncleof6.... nice response... I read it a few times.... please grade my response and make sure I am understanding...
1) More flow, higher turn over of the DT water into the filtration area is goodness.... thus my 2000gph goal is a "good thing".... and my Beananimal with 1.5" bulkheads and 2" pipes ought handle that nicely.
2) Thus, I am creating a multipass system using your lingo... If I also add good 'vertical' mixing with power heads, I should get the water in the tank into the sump 10x per hour.
3) Question, why does it particularly matter where the skimmer is??? The "bad stuff" is in the water column regardless of what tank it is. Doesn't it really just need to be "somewhere". As long as the water column is well circulated, all the water eventually goes by the skimmer. Want to understand why it needs to be in the sump other than "convention".
4) RDSB vs refugiums... read a bunch a few years back when I was setting up my 120g and was steered away from the RDSB's. I've got the 120g servicing my 210g DT... it can be a RDSB or a fuge... it there a thread you recommend on learning about RDSB? I'll start searching and reading in the meantime.
More later, thanks
M
1) yep
2) Aquariums are already multipass systems. It is not necessary to create it. Some sub-systems used are single pass systems (skimmer; black box denitrators) things in which "contact time" actually has relevance; and this is limited to "within the method" not around it. Just for perspective: with a fuge, contact time or dwell time has no relevance: it is a multipass method. Simply understanding the concept of "multipass" frees one from many hobby myths, and back pocket rules of thumb. 10x is an arbitrary number the concept being there is no such thing as too much flow. The more the better.
3) Well... I will tell you two things straight up: First, this is not the "current" convention, the rage is all-in-one, does it all... Second, this principle very definately has roots in the Holiday Inn Express, black plastic glasses with white tape, and white plastic pocket protectors...
We have all these methods, and the convenient thing is to put them all in one spot (form vs function.) With this system we have basically two components. (getting away from sub-systems) import (production) and export. Production is the DT, export is below (or wherever) the tank. They are disperate components. An all-in-one aquarium for instance--just doesn't work well at all.) So what happens if we add production in our export component? (Anyway you slice it, if there is anything more than sand and bacteria in a "fuge" it is producing way more than it is exporting; it is adding to the burden on the system.) What will happen if the "fuge" goes south in a bad way, needs to be taken offline, out of the system (what have you) but your skimmer is there too? OOPsss... scramble time... Ok so the sump could go south too, and OOPss scramble ok, accepted....
***critter based DSB goes a bit against the concept of disperate methods***
Since a "fuge" and the DT are production areas, and a skimmer is entirely export, it makes a great deal more sense to to centrally locate the skimmer, to service both areas, consistantly... does not seem to be much different, but we are keeping disperate systems separate, and performance should improve. The point is not exactly where the skimmer is, rather we want to desgin/build purpose specific components, not mixing production and export as they are mutually exclusive. Shame to have a 120 servicing a tank... 120 is a great tank.. make it a fuge with all manner of critters from minute to seahorses.. put it on display. Use a common sump, with a skimmer does not need to be a huge sump; a ten gallon bucket almost full of fine sand, for an RDSB, and get on with life. I have written a bit about all of this, it is a can of worms, but eventually it makes sense.
4) A lot of folks are steered away from DSBs in general. They have been steered away primarily by folks that have never run a DSB, never knew how to do it right, did not have the patience to do it right, or a combination of all of the above...
The DSB has been (since the early days) and still remains the single most effective means of aquarium management. The DSB was responsible for the successful movement of an entire segment of natural reef to the
Musee de Oceanographigue in Monaco, by Dr. Jean Jaubert. (DSB in combination with a plenum system.) This type of system is still in use today by most of the large public aquariums around the world. There must be something right with the system, and something wrong with what the detractors are saying about it...
Full critter based DSBs should be in the main display tank (to maintain the food chain) and is where most folks get in trouble: it takes time, patience, and husbandry, before adding anything else to the tank. However, there are alternatives, particularly the non-critter based system. The critter based DSB deals with a great many aquarium issues including dissolved organics to an extent, whereas the non-critter does one thing: nitrate control.
Many of the links I have are dead... but I gave you a big hint above... this is here on RC....
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=595109
