zoo tank updates

Ice cap is offering us a reduced price for the second Vortech Pump of $265. This is over $100 less than retail so given all they have done I don't see how we can turn this down. Unless there are objections, i will order this tomorrow. They also offered us a battery back up for $90 but I'm thinking the zoo should definitely purchase a small generator to protect their investment. thjey should have one anyway.

I will also order bulheads and Melevs RO/DI unit tonight or tomorrow. I will also write to premium Aquatics to request the PanWorld 200PS-MD70R external pump (1750 gph). Premium Aquatics feels this is a better pump than the Iwaki plus its cheaper. Anyway they are out of the equivalent Iwaki. I will also request the medusa Dual stage digital controller and three Eheim Jagger heaters. we'll see what (if anything) they can supply.
 
I am running a Pan World PS200 on my skimmer it is an a$$ kickin pump. Though I think it is a little too much for a return.... I think a 1200 GPH pump would be better as a return.
 
I'll be available next saturday... I think we need a list of who's bringing what in terms of major tools....etc. I have two corldess drills (one is a hammer drill) and a circular saw. I can also bring a shop vac if I can fit it in my car....
 
John: We will have 5-6ft head with a lott of lateral distance to travel since the sump will be about 7-8 ft away from the display. Does trhat6 change your opinion or still feel 1200GPH is the way to go. Glad to hear more good things about PanWorld pumps.

Adam: Good idea on the tools. I have a cordless as well.

RyanM.: Are you going to pick up a core borer to drill through the brick?

BTW, the zoo said we can use their wood pile to make the faux floor.

What time is good for folks next Saturday??? I'm good all day. Well, at least I'm available.
 
BTW John: How's the DIY rock coming along?

Does anyone have a spare skimmer lying around I can borrow for the zoo live rock. It is starting to get some diatom algae. even with no nutrients going into the tank. Go figure. Even a sea clone would be fine. If worst comes to worst I could kill the lights again for a few days and knock it back but it would be good to have some nutrient export.
 
I'm available all day and wouldn't mind getting an early start.

I do have a seaclone w/ an mj1200 we could use if noone has anything better.

I'll also bring a shop light and box fan (for people cooling). Do we have, or can someone pick up the screws we need, and wood glue? I have some PVC primer/cement... although I havent used it in a long time. We can also always run to the store.

Ryan, or whoever picks up the core bore, we'll need a water pump (hand insecticide sprayers work well). If we rent it, I'm sure they'll give it to us, but if borrowed, who knows. Also what size holes/bit will we need? 2"? bigger is always better i guess...
 
i've got wood glue and PVC primer&cement...still not sure i can be there or not but i can atleast drop them off.
 
I should be available until about 1pm or so, not sure if I can help much or not. I have a whole bunch of different size wood screws from building my deck, if you let me know what size we need I can bring them with me. I also have some saw horses I can bring and leave for the duration of the build.
 
Jerry.. The Rock is sitting in the water. It should sit at least another month then I wil talke a few pieces and put in a bucket with water for a few days and then test the ph of the water. As far as the Pump is comcerned I have considered the "head" I am using a Genx Mak 4 ( http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...en=PROD&Product_Code=GEN-X&Category_Code=MAK4 ) for my return. We dont want a ton of water going through our sump.
We can always go with the PW 200 and throttle it back it needed.....
 
well we kinda need alot goin through the sump i thought?? isnt that where all of our nutrient export is goin to come from...skimmer...RSB...phosor...foam filter...oxigination...i could be wrong but, the more water through the sump, the better filtered water we have in the tank...i know at some point there is a balance that water will come in and not get filtered...just wondering with all of the head hight we have how much about will the GPH be getting to the tank with these pumps?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10096163#post10096163 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zanclus
Push too much water through the sump and your skimmer will not skim efficiently
Click to expand...

How do you figure? The skimmer is running on its own pump. I don’t see how having more water going through the sump is going to affect the skimmers performance at all. It just doesn’t make sense. If anything it would make the skimmer more efficient since it wouldn’t be reprocessing water it just skimmed. That’s just my opinion. Also I think that pump jerry mentioned earlier should be fine. We are going to use it to feed the RDSB and if it has too much power we can always dial it back since it is a pressure rated pump.
 
My two cents.......

If the sump is going to be just a sump with no fuge, then the rate of tank turn over IMO should be be tween 10-15 times volume of the tank....180g + 100g sump...1900 to 2850 gph respectively. The Vortech will take care of intank flow. As far as the skimmer.....flow thru the sump will have a direct effect on its productivity...to fast and it will underskim and to slow and it will overskim, due to the amount of time water is in the sump. Personally my skimmer and return both drain into the same area in my fuge/sump so about 50% of my water gets "re-skimmed" for lack of a better term.

For arguments sake...if there was a fuge then a slower turnover is best, to give the "Macro"time to absorb some of the nutrients from the water as it flows thru.

I know there are many methods and schools of thought on rates of flow....I think everyone here has there ideas....lets ues what works...Intank flow is becoming a very hot topic and some are saying it is at least as or more important than lighting....Return flow is also in debate, but I do know my setup is working fine.

About 11 times tank turn over(sump with fuge-Chaeto) and all the intank flow I can manage.

Geo
 
I dont want to get into this too much, but I've never understood this argument. I understand how too slow of flow can be inefficient, but not too fast. I'd have to agree with Nate, the logic just isn't there.
 
Intersting debate. I guess better too much than too little. Like John and Nate says, we can always dial back if needed. I'll go ahead and request that pan world. We'll see what they say.

Ice cap is sending out the Vor-techs tomorrow. One is free and one is discounted to $265.

Nate - any changes to the plumbing list. I'll need that asap so i can get it to the zoo so hopefully they can get parts by next weekend. I sent them the Rubbermaid sump specs from Tractor Supply.

Since we have the lighting, we should start considering how to mount it. Perhaps a verry simple ceiling suspended canopy so we can vary the height for tank access etc. Do we need fans (ie., radio shack computer fans?) to cool the lights. Anyone want toi take a stab at a simple design so we can see what we'll need from Lowes?
 
i think the easyest and simples would be a piece of plywood suspended from the cieling on little pullies so the lights can go up and down very easy. since we have indavidual parabolic reflectors we can just mount them not nessasarily in 2 rows of 4 but off set each one...just a thought...the only thing that would even need a fan would be the ballist and mine personly on my t-5's doesnt even get hot to the touch but if you would like to put one on top of each ballist i guess that would be ok. i have a little inverter i made my self in high scholl that convers 110acv to 6 or 9 switchable dcv wich would run 2 computer fans. just my thoughts on the easyest way to get at the top of the tank, pullies and nylon cord.
 
i like the pully idea so we can adjust the height. For the design I would go with an open design. we do not need a a top as the reflectors will direct the light back in. Example: Desigh

********************** ***********************
** ** ** **
** -----SLR-------------- ** ** ----------SLR---------- **
** ** ** **
** -----SLR-------------- ** ** ------SLR------------- **
** ** ** **
** -----SLR-------------- ** ** ---------SLR------ **
** ** ** **
** -----SLR-------------- ** ** --------SLR----- **
** ** ** **
********************** ***********************

The"*****" are strips of 3/4 inch plywood
The "-----" are the SLRs.
So basically its 2 window frames so to speak with the SLRs as slat betweent the frames. I can build this if no one else want to do it.

Paul
 
im not sure why you have the window frames, but i do think it should be open, we do not need a hood on the lights to hide them, because no one would see them any ways. if you were really inclined to have fans cooling the ends of the lights all we would have to do is put a clip on fan blowing across the lights to cool the ends and the fans over the ballists. oh and if we really wanted to get into it with pulling heat off the ballist i could get some pretty big heat sinks that could go on the with the fans...just a thought if you think they will get hott. but in my opinion i dont think we want a hood that would more or less trap heat and then have to cool the fixture. IMO. not trying to bash your idea adam.
 
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