Project5k and the new 75Gal salt tank

[Ted]

hmm a tease post.

 

[project5k]

oh yea, i'm such a tease, you saw me and the wife yelling at each other, we're real subtle people, tease, HA!(and we were trying to keep it down so as to not scare you too much)

yea, i'll post pics sometime after i get home... its still not right, but every day, i get just a little closer.

buying this skimmer was a big step towards my ultimate goal of zoos and nem's.

 

[project5k]

ok, so i keep seeing all these uber awesome pics that everyone else is posting, and i'm thinking to my self, i've got a better camera than i'm making use of, so i started playing with some of the settings, and things, and taking a boat load of pictures of all kinds of stuff, some are kinda repetitive, but were shot with different settings and whatnot.. so, hope you enjoy.

 

[project5k]

heres some more...

 

[Rcpilot]

Great build Project!! :bounce:

 

[yote]

Those are some pretty dang good pics Project.
I can see you some of that purple plague growing too.

 

[project5k]

YUP i love it!!!!!

 

[project5k]

alrighty, today was a day of plumbing. I started out the day with a flex hose running down from my hob overflow to my sump/fuge, and that thing just scared me, it was just press fit into the overflow... so, today, i hard plumbed my system, and incorperated the new sump. the new seperate fuge is gonna come in a day or so..., but at least how i can use my new good skimmer, i just gotta keep playing with it to get it set just right... oh, and you'll also see pics of the sump with the power all off, simulating a power outage, just to make sure all my suphon breaks work... the new hard plumbing includes a side port, and what that is for, is i can use the dreaded flex hose and plug in and go to a trashchan for easy water changes, just divert the flow from going to the sump, and pump the new water into the dt, and just exchange it in the tank. oh yea, i should also mention that i upgraded from a 3/4 u bend to a 1 inch u bend for my overflow, so that thing is moving much better now... oh, and you'll see i've got to return pumps, one is a rio 2500 and the other is a rio 2100. they are pushing uphill about 6 feet to the top of the tank, so they are doing something like 375gph and 200gph, so 575 theoretical gallons per hour through the sump, on a 75DT... sounds like soooo much to me, but its really not too much....

 

[dcantucson]

Looks good project5k. The side port valve is a great idea.

 

[project5k]

thanks, i figured that if i could make doing water changes easier, then i might be more likely to do them...

the top end of the overflow makes a little noise when the water is rusing through there, but the bottom is really pretty quiet.. so i may have to play with something resembeling a durso or something to try and quiet it down some...

now i gotta get the skimmer adjusted so that its where it should be, and not either putting nothing out or filling the cup up with clear water every 30 min, but it may also have some break-in left to do so.. i guess i'll just keep playing with it..

now i'm having thoughts of going to a larger overflow and bigger single return pump.. hmm never happy...

 

[daugherty]

does the water level stay the same in the skimmer side? and how much water is it sitting in? by the way you have done a great job with your ank and sump keep it up

 

[project5k]

yea, the water level is constant in the sump in the skimmer section, its the water level in the return pump section that changes due to evap and what not...

i havent actually measured it yet, but i know that the water in that section is just a hair over 12 inches deep, and the skimmer is setting on a tupperware thing thats about 4 inches deep, so i recon the skimmer sees roughly 8 inches of water...

oh, one other thing that i forgot to mention, in the second to last photo, you can see where i got creative with a screw and some zipties.. i figured it would be better to have the screw holding up some of the weight of the new plumbing, rather than just having it hanging from the bulkhead in the overflow....

 

[daugherty]

well i am stumped. i guess adjust it just a smig than leave it for awhile go back adjust it a smig more and son on until it is right. my father-in-laws skimmer you would adjust it and it would look fine a 5 min later it was way over were you wanted it at.

 

[project5k]

yea, this one takes a little while to catch up after an adjustment, and it hasn't even been running a week, and from what everyone has said, they take a week or 2 to really get broken in, so i'm gonna just be patient with it, and tweak it just a tad each day till i get what i want...

 

[daugherty]

i ran mine in a bucket of vinager for a couple days and that helped alot.

 

[project5k]

well, now i could definately do that.. i have the vinegar bucket allready set up... you think i should take it out of the sump and do that, or just leave well enough alone and just see what it does?

 

[daugherty]

well since you already have it going i would leave it. the vinager helps to cut all the oils off the plastic from when it was made. but that is up to you on what you want to do. but it does help IME

 

[project5k]

hmm decisions decisions... i guess i'll have to soak on it a bit and see what bubbles up to the surface when i get home..

 

[project5k]

oh, something else that i'm sure you'll be glad to hear, the canister filter came off the tank yesterday, perm.

it just so happens i also noticed that my 5 year old zebra danio in my fresh tank has gone MIA. so, it may be time to think about moving it, or just tearing it down completely. maybe make it into a quarentine tank or something...

something to think about.

 

[dcantucson]

Might make a great frag tank?