Triple-S Fish Ranch - 1700gal 164” x 48” x 56” SPS peninsula build

[dave.m]

The teeth or crenelations as Dave.M.likes to call them repel the oily layer your trying to get to flow cleanly over the weir, if there are no teeth the oily layer flows over as there's nothing stopping them, for sure the thinner the water flow the cleaner it will flow with maximum amount of proteins headed to the skimmer.

Oh dear. This is an age-old argument. Are we going to rehash the whole thing again here? Yes, the teeth can inhibit drainage of the oily layer that forms on the water surface, especially if the gaps between teeth are too small (e.g. 1/8", 1/4"). Agreed, a flat overflow drains more of the oily surface layer than a toothed overflow.

BUT

A flat overflow is useless at draining floating particulate matter. The toothed overflow is much better at pulling this stuff out and sending it to the filter socks instead of having it settle as detritus all over your corals. Plus a wide enough gap in the teeth is almost as good at pulling off the oily layer as the flat Calfo-type overflow is.

Altogether, the toothed-type overflow outperforms the flat-type overflow when all the different types of junk you want to pull out of your aquarium are taken into consideration.

Dave.M

 

[biecacka]

I also bleach/acid dipped my rock to ensure it killed everything. I think that is the safest way to go. I then put the I'm trash cans to cycle.
The logic on it was to kill anything the bleach might have missed and to eat off that first layer that often leeches phosphates.
I think you did the right thing in doing both

Dave, how far do you recommend the teeth for the weir?

Corey

 

[vair]

Oh dear. This is an age-old argument. Are we going to rehash the whole thing again here?
Dave.M

Nope.

 

[dave.m]

Dave, how far do you recommend the teeth for the weir?

I think the gaps should be a minimum of 1/2" to 1" or more wide depending on the size of the tank. Other factors must be considered, like how close to maximum rate you intend to return water from the sump, how close to the top of the tank you want your overflow section to be, etc. The total area of the gaps must be at least equal to the area of a cross-section of the standpipe, e.g. a 2" ID standpipe has an area of 3.14" square so your gaps must total an area greater than 3.14" square which is pretty easy to achieve.

Dave.M

 

[someotherguy]

Oh dear. This is an age-old argument. Are we going to rehash the whole thing again here? Yes, the teeth can inhibit drainage of the oily layer that forms on the water surface, especially if the gaps between teeth are too small (e.g. 1/8", 1/4"). Agreed, a flat overflow drains more of the oily surface layer than a toothed overflow.

BUT

A flat overflow is useless at draining floating particulate matter. The toothed overflow is much better at pulling this stuff out and sending it to the filter socks instead of having it settle as detritus all over your corals. Plus a wide enough gap in the teeth is almost as good at pulling off the oily layer as the flat Calfo-type overflow is.

Altogether, the toothed-type overflow outperforms the flat-type overflow when all the different types of junk you want to pull out of your aquarium are taken into consideration.

Dave.M

Why is a toothed overflow better at pulling out floating particulate matter?

Pmrogers - looking forward to following this build, and I hope you don't mind these occasional diversions from your build.

 

[rbarn]

Why is a toothed overflow better at pulling out floating particulate matter?

The restriction causes the water to accelerate through the openings which does a better job of sucking surrounding material in with it, than if it is just uniformly spilling over a flat edge.

 

[vair]

The restriction causes the water to accelerate through the openings which does a better job of sucking surrounding material in with it, than if it is just uniformly spilling over a flat edge.

Interesting.

 

[Bilk]

Good questions. Mounting corals in the lower reaches will be a pain, no doubt, and require bending in at the waist and immersing most of the upper body. Not looking forward to this part.

You may need a spotter to hold you by the feet LOL

Well looking forward to watching this ocean being built. Should be fun :beer:

 

[vel123]

first let me say nice tank. and now i feel like i have a nano tank, mine is 500 DT. this going to be epic!!

 

[bluewateruk]

not only a superb size tank but what beautiful views,I love your house I am packing my case just in the hope you may need a butler,gardener,decorator, driver. I live in the wrong country you guys seem to all have it sussed
all the best from the UK

 

[kegogut]

This is quite amazing. You might want to think about invest in some snorkeling gear!

 

[gofor100]

Always loved Peninsula-style tanks... interested to see what your ideas are going to be for flow on this monster.

Looking forward to the updates!

-Chad

 

[Timfish]

. . . Mounting corals in the lower reaches will be a pain, no doubt, and require bending in at the waist and immersing most of the upper body. Not looking forward to this part. . .

Maybe you have your own scuba equipment but I've got a scuba tank with a hookah setup I'll loan you if you feel like going diving in your house.

 

[Timfish]

Why is a toothed overflow better at pulling out floating particulate matter? . . .

A toothless or combless weir across one end of a tank is similar in design to a settling basin that might be used on aquaculture to remove solids from water. I'm inclined to see it as a moot arguement as most aquariums are using much higher flow rates than is suitable for removing solids in a settling basin.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/1531/Sediment-Basin

 

[someotherguy]

The restriction causes the water to accelerate through the openings which does a better job of sucking surrounding material in with it, than if it is just uniformly spilling over a flat edge.

Wouldn't your overall flow rate be more important? Having said that I can I see that for otherwise equivalent systems, a toothed weir would generate higher flow rates, but I wonder wether it makes any practical difference.

 

[dahenley]

Thanks so much, worm5406! I was trying to work out something along these lines, but hadn't gotten to the drawing phase yet.

Do you think I might need more like a 20gal mixer in order to be able to dump an entire bucket in one go?

One concern I have about this approach is whether the flow pump would actually pull from the concentrate reservoir given that there is no flow-through, it's just sort of off to the side. Have you implemented or seen an install like this?

if you will look here
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1196137&page=2
at post 49. it will give you an idea on what would be very easy and make your back very happy!

(P.S., the build is amazing to look at if you cant sleep one day, it has a few cool things and its very inspirational. )

 

[cartouche]

Good Grief !!

Subscribed .... Looking forward to seeing this beauty unfold.

 

[Ken10364]

Tagging along for the joy ride

 

[biodegraded]

Your three 'S's are qualities of this avocation of very high priority for me as well. Subscribed to what promises to be an epic build thread.

 

[pmrogers]

Wow, vel123, bluewateruk, kegogut, gofor100, cartouche, ken10364, biodegraded, Thank you for joining in and for the kind words!

This is quite amazing. You might want to think about invest in some snorkeling gear!

Maybe you have your own scuba equipment but I've got a scuba tank with a hookah setup I'll loan you if you feel like going diving in your house.

I think I'll have to go straight to scuba. I imagine it will be very awkward to raise back up to get a breath once I get into a coral placement position even if I do have a spotter holding my feet. It occurs to me that perhaps this tank is a bit crazy.

Always loved Peninsula-style tanks... interested to see what your ideas are going to be for flow on this monster.

Looking forward to the updates!

-Chad

I'll start a separate thread for flow. That may turn into a long side discussion since I'm considering a few options and don't have a firm decision yet.

if you will look here
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1196137&page=2
at post 49. it will give you an idea on what would be very easy and make your back very happy!

(P.S., the build is amazing to look at if you cant sleep one day, it has a few cool things and its very inspirational. )

Thank you, dahenley! This looks very much like what I had in mind prior to worm5406's proposal in post 34. I'm leaning towards the elegance (and simpler plumbing) of worm5406's design at the moment.