New Custom 120g - Pix Begnning Day 1

[wonderballz]

How is the flow going to the right in the last pic? It looks like it is going into the refugium. I ask because I would think the water would flow more with gravity straight down rather than at the angle. I did mine with the ball valve on the vertical piping.

 

[cybermeez]

How is the flow going to the right in the last pic? It looks like it is going into the refugium. I ask because I would think the water would flow more with gravity straight down rather than at the angle. I did mine with the ball valve on the vertical piping.

The smaller pipe is sending flow to the fuge via gravity. There is a ball valve to slow it, but it isn't needed now that the larger pipe is going almost straight down. Not much is getting diverted into the fuge making the flow just right. However the new faster flow into the filter sock is actually overwhelming the sock. In 24 hours it catches a very small amount of detritus, but even the slightest amount provides just enough resistance in the sock that the water can't get through fast enough and it overflows. This creates micro-bubbles that get into the main tank. This plumbing thing is a real drag.

 

[cybermeez]

Crankily preparing for another weekend attempt at quiet tank plumbing. To be continued...

 

[House of Laughter]

Robin,

1) Are the 2 bulkheads on the left of the sump the actual return pumps? if so, put an elbow onto the end of them facing them and drill holes on the lower portion of the elbow bending it down to the bottom of the sump.

2) I would wrap the fuge drain around the front of he fuge to have it drop into the sump behind the filter sock (not into it)

3) I would increase the volume of water in the sump by 2-4" this will give you more leway when it comes to bubbles disbursing and rising.

4) I would put some rubble between the filer sock and the return pump inlets.

Hope that helps,

House

 

[cybermeez]

Robin,

1) Are the 2 bulkheads on the left of the sump the actual return pumps? if so, put an elbow onto the end of them facing them and drill holes on the lower portion of the elbow bending it down to the bottom of the sump.

2) I would wrap the fuge drain around the front of he fuge to have it drop into the sump behind the filter sock (not into it)

3) I would increase the volume of water in the sump by 2-4" this will give you more leway when it comes to bubbles disbursing and rising.

4) I would put some rubble between the filer sock and the return pump inlets.

Hope that helps,

House

Thanks Jim. One of the bulkheads goes the return pump the other to the bio pellet reactor pump. The surging and an overwhelmed filter sock remain the biggest issues.

 

[cybermeez]

Day 77


The SPS continue to slowly die off so I set up the calcium reactor only to discover it now leaks (a new o-ring is on the way) and seems to be making the water cloudy. I also re-did the tank's plumbing over the weekend. I put in:

1. A new drain bulkhead
2. Went back to having a 45 degree elbow right after the bulkhead and a tee right after that (a sanitary tee this time to reduce turbulence caused by going from a vertical to a diagonal drop)
3. Increased the pipe to the fuge from 3/4" to 1"
4. Put the 90 degree elbow back on the part of the tee that connects to the pipe descending to the filter sock
5. Added a ball valve to that pipe to permit fine tuning of the water dropping into the filter sock

I think I'm getting closer to a working solution. The only problem is I misjudged the angle the tee needed to be rotated toward the back of the tank so the rest of the piping lines up correctly with the filter sock. I've re ordered some PVC fittings and will try again once they are here.

I also ordered an E-Z Lock Mini Cutting kit and new keyless chuck for my Dremel. Trying to get 1.5" PVC plumbing out from under the tank with nothing more than a hack saw, a pair of pipe cutters and a small crowbar is not something I want to do again.

I've also confirmed with Pacific Sun that they will swap my malfunctioning pair of Python LED lamps for their brand new Metis Hyperion R2 LED fixture. We tried everything to fix the Pythons but never quite could. They are making it to order so it should be here in a few weeks. Then saltwaterinbrooklyn can make a new bracket for the Metis.

 

[cybermeez]

It took 4 tries, but I think I finally got the noisy plumbing problem solved. The addition of a ball valve on the drain line and increasing the diameter of the pipe to the fuge from 3/4" to 1" were what did the trick. No more surging, no more overwhelmed filter sock and no more Niagra falls in my living room.

Here is the final result:

 

[thirty5]

I was never a fan of a valve on the return. All u need is a fish or snail to get into your overflow and stuck in the valve. You will have a flooded tank

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[cybermeez]

Yeah, that was my first thought too. I'm not using an ATO and the tank has a GEO Durso that has a guard to keep critters from getting into the drain line. In the off chance something did get in there, the drain to the fuge should still let enough water through to keep the tank from overflowing.

 

[NewfiDog]

Or just put a cover on the overflow simple, then nothing can go down. Glad you got it worked out.

 

[SPotter]

do you have any fts of your system with the new lights on it?

 

[cybermeez]

do you have any fts of your system with the new lights on it?

fts?

 

[SPotter]

Full tank shot