What do you think of my BB tank?

[ReeferMonkey]

Very nice! Good job on the aquascaping!

I would recommend a few Streams (6100s in your case) over a strong return. A powerful return pump will push everything through your sump too fast, possibly giving you the lovely perpetual flush and/or microbubbles. On top of that, power consumption is typically much higher the larger return pumps than it is on the Streams.

You deserve a commendation for planning properly. If only all new reefers did the research you did! Kudos to you!

 

[NoSchwag]

Thanks reefer monkey, I am going to take depth pictures of the auqascaping later tonight .

The thing about my flow thru the sump right now is that there is a ton of flow in the tank, (penductors on a pcx-55, nothing settles ) none thru the sump (200ish gph) Adding streams will only give me more flow in the tank, they wont help me get stuff to the sump any quicker.

I hate the look of particles floating around in the tank and it takes entirely too long for them to be at the right place at the right time to make it over the overflow. A large return pump will get everything over the overflow, into the sump. My skimmer (mr-2 with 2 Beckett's on a pcx-55) will process it all, or at least most of it = crystal clear water.

If I set up some durso pipes in the overflows do you think I'll still get the flushing. I've never heard of this issue, can you please elaborate?

 

[ReeferMonkey]

The flushing noise occurs (someone correct me here if I'm wrong) when you have a high volume of water passing through your overflows. A lot of times this will decrease as the standpipes get slimed up, but not always. Typically reducing the flow through the standpipes reduces the sound.

Please note this is all hearsay I'm still working on setting up a system with a sump

Hrm, so you're saying that the 1250 isn't pushing enough water through your overflow right? Is it 200gph after head loss or before? I'm thinking of putting an Eheim 1262 (800gph before head loss) as my return on the 75/95 I'm scraping together and I'm not a big fan of particulate matter in the tank.

 

[NoSchwag]

On top of that, power consumption is typically much higher the larger return pumps than it is on the Streams.

You know I was just thinking about that. But If you factor in the (2) streams, eheim 1250, and skimmer pump (sedra 9000) they just about equal what a pcx-55 would.

You figure"

500watts for the lights on 6 hr's a day
170watts for the return pump
170watts for the skimmer pump

@ .11

='s about $37 and some change.

You add in a few watts for the heater's and i'm at like $40 a month.

 

[NoSchwag]

so you're saying that the 1250 isn't pushing enough water through your overflow right? Is it 200gph after head loss or before? I'm thinking of putting an Eheim 1262 (800gph before head loss) as my return on the 75/95 I'm scraping together and I'm not a big fan of particulate matter in the tank.

200 gph is after 4 ft of head loss.

I swear to you with no rocks in the tank and water, it took ALL night to clear the particles in the tank. I waited for a few hours then went to bed. WHen I got up, it was just about clear.

I have a ton of loc-line and penductors and when I tell you that I had them pointed every which way, I kid you not. I spent a few DAYS playing with it.

I figure if I went with a 1262 it would clear it out quicker, but not that much quicker.

The particles have to be in the right spot at the right time for the overflow to work with low flow thru the sump.

 

[PUGroyale]

looks good :thumbsup:

seems to be missing something though... can't quite put my finger on it hmmmm....

SAND, that's it ...sand :lol:

actually the rock work is near perfect IMO. If I ever try BB again I was thinking of building liitle plumbers putty "legs" for under all the base rock so each piece is almost on a little tripod... looks like yers sits off pretty well though.

 

[NoSchwag]

PUGroyale thank you.. I will take lots of pictures tonight.

I lost the charger to my digicam so I had to borrow my friends who's eats up AA batteries. Blah

 

[smoknreefrs]

looks like you are off to a good start

 

[fishdoc11]

Looks great......you DID do your homework

 

[Weatherman]

Here the specs:

120 AGA
closed loop powered by pcx-55 and penductors. (soon to be used as a return)
ASM G3 skimmer (soon to be mr-2 with pcx-55)
Lumenarc mini reflectors
CoralView Reeflux 250w 10k bulbs
Eheim 1250 return (soon to be replaced by pcx-55 and penductors)

Just out of curiosity, what are you going to use to maintain stable salinity, calcium and alkalinity, temperature and photoperiod?

 

[NoSchwag]

-salinity I have a refractometer and I'll be using IO in ro/di for top off in Brute trashcans. I have yet to set this up, but I'll be rigging up an auto feeder somehow.

-for calcium and alk I'm not really sure to be honest, I haven't gotten that far yet. I am thinking I'll just drip lime for now until I have a demand. Maybe figure 6 or 7 months or so, who knows? (depends how I stock it.) My ph is at 8.3 and my alk is at 5.49 right now. I've read that it will come down on it's own, but I'll know for sure what zone I'm in when I get my calcium test kit.

Does this sound like a normal alk value, for a freshly set up tank?

I have all salifert test kits (PO4, NO3, pH, Cu, KH) and will be getting a Mg and calcium test kit tomorrow or the next day.

I will post values for them when they get here.

-Temperature will be controlled with a controller that I will order Wed. I still have to research those more.

-Photo period will be controlled using timers from home depot.

 

[Weatherman]

My ph is at 8.3 and my alk is at 5.49 right now. I've read that it will come down on it's own, but I'll know for sure what zone I'm in when I get my calcium test kit.

Does this sound like a normal alk value, for a freshly set up tank?

What are the units?

Normal seawater has an alkalinity of around 8.5 dKH (or around 3.0 meq/l).


For the temperature controller, I highly recommend one of these:

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=AL1713

 

[NoSchwag]

It's 8.5 meg/l ?

 

[NoSchwag]

no wait

 

[NoSchwag]

alk is 15.4 dKH. Is that normal for a new tank?

 

[Weatherman]

It's 8.5 meg/l ?

If you used a Salifert dKH test kit, and were able to use a little more than half a syringe of the reagent to get the dye to change color, your alk is around 8-9 dKH, which is perfect.

Anything above 11 and the alk is really too high.

 

[kozmo02]

looks good, you may consider a bit more rock, i can see you running out of room

also, i hope you have anti-siphon holes on that loc-line, otherwise if power goes out you are going to drain a lot of water into that sump, they are sitting pretty low in the tank.

other then that, looks really good, looks like you definitely did your homework as others have said. :thumbsup:

 

[Ben]

Tank looks good, nice aquascaping.

O

I have a refractometer and I'll be using IO in ro/di for top off in Brute trashcans

You should just use RO/DI for top off, no salt. Just to make sure you realize this.

 

[mnreefgeek]

I agree with the anti siphon holes if you do goto the penductors for the return, otherwise looks great!

 

[NoSchwag]

Apparently I didn't do enough homework.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=669741

I wonder if the values change from bag to bag within the 200 g. box?

I will update when it's resolved.