Project5k and the new 75Gal salt tank

[project5k]

well, after much math, consideration, and pro-con tables, i've setteled on flow before light... i think that the red stuff growing on my sand and the algae thats starting to show up will just explode if i up the lights and dont increase the flow, so,

I'm gonna order the $54 1500gph pump from harbor freight... several reasons..
one, i'm not happy with the flow i'm getting from the 2 pumps i have in my sump return now, they are a RIO 2100 and a RIO2500. Combined and with head losses, i calculate that i'm getting just under 600 gph to the DT. With this pump, and that same head, i could get a max of about 900 gph, well thats more than my overflow can handle, but, i also have a sepperated fuge that i'd like to run off this same pump, so, i'll "T" off, and feed the fuge whatever is too much for the overflow, i'm guessing that is something in the neighborhood of like 200gph...

this all does a couple things for me...
1 it fits inside my allowance
2 it frees up the RIO's to be used elsewhere, like one of them will be for my mixing tank, and the other could be used with pvc parts i already have to make a closed loop system. This can take the place of the koralias that i was gonna buy, but this way i'm getting more done with less
3 it leaves the cash in my pocket, so that i can go to the LFS and get 1 bulb and then go to the local light bulb speciality shop and get my new t5 bulb connectors...

then i can fix my plumbing issues, increase my flow, and once i get the canopy built, i can transfer the older bulbs over and start adding t5 bulbs as i can, and replacing the PCFl's that i have now one by one as they start to age out....

yup, thats my new plan...

 

[project5k]

so... a while back i started to work on a new fuge for my tank system... well, today i finished it... this is the first glass hole i ever drilled in action... i cobbeled together the pvc parts to make the drain standpipe, and whatnot, emptied the old fuge into a bucket, put in the new one, and filled it up..

also, i did end up going to the LFS today... i got 5new nassarious snails... or however you spell it... so i put 4 in the DT and one in the fuge... i think i need more sand in the new fuge, so, i may think about a small bag of aragonite sand at some point in the near future..

also, take a look at how much purple is growing on my home made rocks!! i'm so happy how well its doing...

oh, and a picture of the crab in the fuge as well....

if i like how the new fuge and all works out, i'm thinking i may slip that "shelf" its sitting on out.. and whittle away some of it with a jigsaw to make some access to the main sump below... but i wanted to test it like this to start....

 

[Ted]

looking good. :D

 

[dcantucson]

Looks real good pk5. I have toyed with the idea of having a fuge above the sump like you have. Please keep us informed as to the pros and cons. Seems like a very good idea to me. Congratulations on getting her done!

 

[project5k]

ty ty, i'm really happy with it, it let me get rid of the HOB overflow i had on the old fuge, and its a nice wide open space so i can have whatever plants i wanna have.. right now i just have my calurpa in there.. but i'm thinking of dumping that in favor of some cheto and a couple red mangroves... but that'll be a couple paychecks down the road...

as for now, i just ordered my new return pump, i went with the biggest harbor freight pump, if my math is right, it should have enough output to drive the DT returns harder than they are going right now, AND should have enough flow to divert some to the fuge, as it is right now i only have a trickle going into the fuge, and the calurpa is really showing it...

the only drawback that i have come across with this new fuge design is that i didnt have all the plumbing parts that i needed, so when i installed it and filled it up, i had to kinda get creative with the drain line... but that'll get fixed in the next couple weekends... if i get around to fixing that plumbing, maybe i can also do some trimming on the shelf at the same time..

 

[yote]

That looks good Project.

 

[Smitty]

I agree...lookin' real good.

 

[project5k]

i did discover one thing i REALLY dont like last night.... well actually 2 things i dont like, 1 with the make shift plumbing that i did on the fuge, it has a tendancy every 30 seconds or so to suck air.. meaning that it makes that draining sucking sound for a few seconds... i'll have to get the right parts soon...

the other thing that i noticed this morning is that there is a huge air bubble in the u-tube in my main overflow.... so i guess i have too much flow diverted to the fuge, cause its not keeping that u-tube blown clear... well, hopefully it wont break the syphon while i'm at work... and the new pump is ordered, so hopefully it wont take too long for it to get here...

 

[daugherty]

hey i still have not forgotton to take a pic of my lights for you. i just have not had very much time to get it done with taking care of all the sick kids. but i will get it done for you.

 

[project5k]

dont sweat it, when you get a chance is cool, its not like i have any money right now to be buying parts anyway, and even if i did, i should probably save it with being unemployeed at the end of the year and all....

 

[project5k]

so i was stairing into my new fuge last night(yea i know i'm weird) but i was looking for that nassarius snail i put in there, anyway, so i was lookn, and i have one of thoes el-cheapo SG things with the temp disk in the middle, you've seen them, well anyway, i was looking and there were all these little white things swimming around in there, and i mean that they were tiny, the biggest one was smaller than the ball in a ball point pin, and they went from there to too small to see... but they looked like from what little i could see, like they were shapped just like what i grew up calling pill bugs, they scurried around, pretty quickly for something that size... i was so happy...

I THINK I HAVE PODS! hehehehehehe i know that they have to be in there, or else my mandrin woulda been a gonner, but hes fat, so i never really worried about it, but i had just never actually seen them.. well, now i have... i think...

 

[project5k]

so i come home and theres this HUGE box on the front porch... hey i bet i know what that is, drag it in the house, whup out the pocket knife(yea i have one of thoes clip on the pocket kind, in my slacks, and yes its a colt police model... anyway, open up the box and taaadaaa my new big monster return pump from harbor freight... 1500 + gallons per hour, its a big-un(yea i know you big tank people have bigger, but i'm a small-ish tank guy so let me have this one, ok? hehee anyway man i'm not sure that this thing is even gonna fit in the return section, i measure and oh, just barely.. ok, well, i dont have the new tubing that i'm gonna need, cause the new pump takes 1 inch inside diameter tubing... UPGRADE!!! so i guess for tonight i'll put the pump in a trash can and run it overnight, just to make sure its good, and clean and stuff, and then tomorrow i'll go to home depot and get some new tube and some pvc parts for the closed loop, and the new sized returns...

 

[Bifferwine]

Wow that pump makes your sump look teeny! Good luck with the plumbing venture.

 

[project5k]

well actually biff that tank that the pump is in front of is just the fuge, its just a 10 gal, the sump is below there and is a 29L see the skimmer sticking up on the left?

one concern that i have with this new pump is that i opened it up just to make sure of what was inside there, and when i got the impellor out, i found that it was wrapped in metal, it looks to me to be stainless, but i have it in some hot salt water right now hoping that if its gonna rust, it'll do it quick before i go to home depot and get all the new tubing...

oh, and the other thing, i ran the pump overnight in about a third of a trashcan full of water, and the outside temp last night was in the 50's and the water temp this morning was probably 85 or 90, so this pump, when submerged, definately adds a bunch of heat to the water, so i'm gonna plumb it into my tank as an external pump, so its not adding that much heat...

 

[daugherty]

ok here is a couple pice of my lights the left side that has the three blues is at the back side of the tank

.

 

[project5k]

ahh now i see, ok cool, thanks for the pics...

so i got my new pump, and then this weekend i decided its time to put it in.. well, it turned out to be a real big PITA... but after it was all said and done, i took the 2 old pumps out.. found out that i had accidentially forgotten and left one of the sponges in it, so that may have been contributing to some of the algal growth i've been seeing lately, so thats gone, and took the 2 return tubes, T'd them together, and plumbed in the new pump, as an external.. well got it all hooked up, and after spilling a couple gallons of water into the bottom of my stand, and cleaning it all up, i fired up the pump,

water started moving, (after i fought with it for a bit to get the air bubbles out) and VIOLA! its in...

yea, well, not so fast...

the wife walks by and sais, man, thats really loud.. what did you do?!

awwww :pooh:

i hadn't noticed, but this new pump is really loud, when run as an external...
so, after much head scratching, i ended up moving some of the tubing around, and i dropped the pump into the ATO resivior, not the greatest fix, but it sure did cut the noise down.. so, now i gotta find me some better hose clamps, before the ones i have on there now start rusting... cause when it was external i could get away with using the ones i had... now.. not so much, but its really quiet now... and 1 pump is way more than i needed.. i can push more up to the DT than the overflow can handle, while dumping copious gallons into the fuge, so, i'm glad that i have a "bypass" valve, so that whatever is more than i need can just be dumped back into the return section of the sump...

I've also been a little lax on my water changes recently, so i did a 15 gallon as well... i also noticed that some of my zoas look like thier going away, like they closed up and i havent seen them open in a while, it just kinda looks like there are less of them now then i remember there being on the rock.. hmmm have to keep an eye on them...

 

[project5k]

so i got home last night and i was lookn around the tank, just lookn for wet spots, ya know, when you do a major plumbing rearrangement, your allways a little nervous of leaks for the first few days, well anyway, i noticed it was a little warm in the house, so i got to thinking, hmmmm so i checked the tank temp and it was 82! oh crap, so i opened the lids, and the front door, and turned on a fan in the window in the back of the house to help draw the cooler outside air through the house, by the tank and that'll help it cool down... well, by this morning it was back down to 78-79 like normal... i really think that all it was that caused it was that the house was all closed up tight, no ac, no real air movement at all... thats not gonna be a problem today, just before i left the house i kicked on the ac, so... it should be fine again, just had a bit of a temp scare there at first.

actually what i really first thought was that the new pump was adding all that heat to the tank, and that might be part of it, but i'm sure that the house being warm didnt help any....

 

[project5k]

well i just got an update on the tank temp and its holding nicely at 78, right where it should be.. so, i guess thats all it was...

 

[Bifferwine]

You can imagine my panic when I came home last week to my tanks at 86 degrees! And that night, they dropped down to 69!

 

[project5k]

yea, thats a way bigger swing than i had... i totally forgot to check it this morning... crap.. oh well, i'll be home round 3ish, so i'll check it then...