350 pic, work in progress
- Thread starter t gallo
- Start date
Beautiful.. Every time I see a thread like this it makes me want to both hurry up and set up my tank and then slow down and make sure I do it right. Fish or cut bait, fish or cut bait??? LOL. It's making me nuts. Originally when I bought my tank, I never realized what I was getting into. Bought it 4 months ago and I'm not even close to setting it up! Seeing a clean tank like this make me realize I'm doing the right thing by going slow, reading forever, researching like I'm doing a Phd project, and making sure I've got all the right stuff first time, but, damn, I'm getting itchy!!! Again, very nice clean looking tank!
i had to do it, i was driving my old reactor to hard just to keep up with alk and ca demand, wich lead to co2 overdose and fueled a algae bloom.
This reactor will handle a sytem twice the size of mine and will do it with 1/4 of the co2 that i had to pump thru the old reactor to keep alk and ca level's ideal.
This reactor will handle a sytem twice the size of mine and will do it with 1/4 of the co2 that i had to pump thru the old reactor to keep alk and ca level's ideal.
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Just a quick question about your drain. I read near the beginning of the topic that you've got a ball valve on your drain line that you're using to raise the water level in the overflow box.
What happens if something (usually a snail) gets stuck in the ball valve? I only ask because this exact thing happened to a friend of mine twice before he broke down and installed a standpipe. A snail got lodged in the ball valve of his drain, his sump pumps kept pumping, eventually his sump was empty and his floor had 1/2" of salt water on it.
After observing the damage from his accidents (and helping him repair his floor after each one), I have designed my tank with two drains running at half capacity. If one drain line is closed off for any reason, the other can safely handle the full load. Also, there are no constrictions after the standpipe intake. There is a ball valve on each drain, but that's only used as an on/off switch for maintenance/repair. I consider trying to throttle a drain to be a very risky idea: things can/will happen that will change the water flowing through your drain and if the change is "less water flows" than the excess from your sump return pump will flow onto the floor.
You've got an absolutely beautiful tank, and I'd hate for your "I've never had a problem with my drain!" to change to "A snail caused my sump to empty onto the floor!" Especially with a sump that size...
Regards,
Ross
What happens if something (usually a snail) gets stuck in the ball valve? I only ask because this exact thing happened to a friend of mine twice before he broke down and installed a standpipe. A snail got lodged in the ball valve of his drain, his sump pumps kept pumping, eventually his sump was empty and his floor had 1/2" of salt water on it.
After observing the damage from his accidents (and helping him repair his floor after each one), I have designed my tank with two drains running at half capacity. If one drain line is closed off for any reason, the other can safely handle the full load. Also, there are no constrictions after the standpipe intake. There is a ball valve on each drain, but that's only used as an on/off switch for maintenance/repair. I consider trying to throttle a drain to be a very risky idea: things can/will happen that will change the water flowing through your drain and if the change is "less water flows" than the excess from your sump return pump will flow onto the floor.
You've got an absolutely beautiful tank, and I'd hate for your "I've never had a problem with my drain!" to change to "A snail caused my sump to empty onto the floor!" Especially with a sump that size...
Regards,
Ross
thanks guys for the feedback.
Rabagley, i see your point and when i designed the tank, i made shure that the overflow teeth went all the way up to the top of the tank bracing, so not even a small snail could get thru.
Dont forget i have a 2'' drain wich is rather large and it's hard to tell from the pics but the ball valve is only closed so much to achieve the water hieght in my overflow, and a 1'' snail could pass rite thru, wich i tried already, without causing any problems.
I agree, a durso would be a better option.In my case, no need due to design .
Rabagley, i see your point and when i designed the tank, i made shure that the overflow teeth went all the way up to the top of the tank bracing, so not even a small snail could get thru.
Dont forget i have a 2'' drain wich is rather large and it's hard to tell from the pics but the ball valve is only closed so much to achieve the water hieght in my overflow, and a 1'' snail could pass rite thru, wich i tried already, without causing any problems.
I agree, a durso would be a better option.In my case, no need due to design .
Great thread. I have one quick question, and I apologize in advance because I'm sure you've answered this before. You had a series of holes in the back of the tank for your closed loop. It looked like to intakes, and probably 4 returns. They are located low, basically behind the rockwork. How are those working out? The rest of the returns are near the top of the tank, from what I can see.
That picture that you posted in March is gorgeous. I hope you post a new one soon, because the growth and color must be even better by now.
That picture that you posted in March is gorgeous. I hope you post a new one soon, because the growth and color must be even better by now.
thanks marc,well when it comes to intakes and returns, they are low and behind the rockwork, and are working fine.I left room for me to get to them and clean them out every other month or so.
Bad news, i added a large reactor to the system about a month ago, a fluidized reactor to run ROWAphos thru wich removes excess po4/phosphates, some of my sps did not like the drastic change in water chemistry and started to rtn on me.
So far i have had to frag some nice piece's just to keep them alive, what a bummer.
Well my friends, you live and learn.
This was my first time running a iron based PO4 remover, i ran the reactor to hard, to much flow thru it ,wich in turn sent the tank water conditions haywire.
This stuff is amazing, ROWAphos that is. If run in a careless manor, like i did, will drop your PO4 levels vary quickly and upset the balance inwich my corals were acustomed to.
On a side note, my hair algae problem is gone,lol.
Bad news, i added a large reactor to the system about a month ago, a fluidized reactor to run ROWAphos thru wich removes excess po4/phosphates, some of my sps did not like the drastic change in water chemistry and started to rtn on me.
So far i have had to frag some nice piece's just to keep them alive, what a bummer.
Well my friends, you live and learn.
This was my first time running a iron based PO4 remover, i ran the reactor to hard, to much flow thru it ,wich in turn sent the tank water conditions haywire.
This stuff is amazing, ROWAphos that is. If run in a careless manor, like i did, will drop your PO4 levels vary quickly and upset the balance inwich my corals were acustomed to.
On a side note, my hair algae problem is gone,lol.
thanks marc,well when it comes to intakes and returns, they are low and behind the rockwork, and are working fine.I left room for me to get to them and clean them out every other month or so.
Bad news, i added a large reactor to the system about a month ago, a fluidized reactor to run ROWAphos thru wich removes excess po4/phosphates, some of my sps did not like the drastic change in water chemistry and started to rtn on me.
So far i have had to frag some nice piece's just to keep them alive, what a bummer.
Well my friends, you live and learn.
This was my first time running a iron based PO4 remover, i ran the reactor to hard, to much flow thru it ,wich in turn sent the tank water conditions haywire.
This stuff is amazing, ROWAphos that is. If run in a careless manor, like i did, will drop your PO4 levels vary quickly and upset the balance inwich my corals were acustomed to.
On a side note, my hair algae problem is gone,lol.
Bad news, i added a large reactor to the system about a month ago, a fluidized reactor to run ROWAphos thru wich removes excess po4/phosphates, some of my sps did not like the drastic change in water chemistry and started to rtn on me.
So far i have had to frag some nice piece's just to keep them alive, what a bummer.
Well my friends, you live and learn.
This was my first time running a iron based PO4 remover, i ran the reactor to hard, to much flow thru it ,wich in turn sent the tank water conditions haywire.
This stuff is amazing, ROWAphos that is. If run in a careless manor, like i did, will drop your PO4 levels vary quickly and upset the balance inwich my corals were acustomed to.
On a side note, my hair algae problem is gone,lol.
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