Tank Vent thread!

...odd fish but hearty .....

Until they end up in the sump and say hello to mr return pump impeller. :shock:

So mr snowflake is now exploring other areas of the tank. It's been 24 hrs since I've had to fish him out of the overflow. Woot. :Cheers:
 
i have a nice yellow watchman goby that insists on taking a ride down my overflow and living in my sumps 1st chamber. ill take him out and put him back in the display tank but he always makes his way back days later. hes done this like 4 or 5 times. now i just leave him be. :p
 
ok... scratching my head... it seems to me several of you need to make a change to the over flow strainer hardware. ... maybe a larger square box with lots of slots??? ??
... I dauh know.. something..LOL

Mine has about 10 inches of grid slots about an inch tall and 3/16th" wide & about 1/4" apart.... nothing but PODs and garbage has ever gone down or gotten hung as far as I know... it seems to me you need to spread out the hydraulics suction over more
area..??? shrugg..

...but.. my overflow is in a built in box in the corner of the tank.. wait..... just checked and there are no fish or other life forms in my overflow box...LOL ..I had to use a flash light... lights are out... and sure enough both clowns are hosting the overflow... as safe as a bug in a rug... but they only host it at night.
 
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No slots. Hate'em. Too much surface area for algae to grow.
My coast-to-coast is smooth all the way across and surface skims like mad! :claphands
 
Good news on my end. After throwing in the towel last night I came to my senses this morning and called my LFS. They were able to fix my skimmer pump, I bought a new impeller for my 750, and they gave me a couple of good ideas for keeping rubble out of my sump pump and getting more flow in my rocks if I decide to remove the two koralias that have been giving me trouble. Now if only they could make my stupid sump bigger lol
 
Do you have room to add a refuge? That is what I did to add sump volume and get the refuge I need all in one swoop. I watched garage sales for a acrylic tanks the size I wanted for a refuge... then out of no where a customer gave me the exact size I wanted. Being it was acrylic drilling an overflow to drain back into my other sump was a snap.
 
Do you have room to add a refuge? That is what I did to add sump volume and get the refuge I need all in one swoop. I watched garage sales for a acrylic tanks the size I wanted for a refuge... then out of no where a customer gave me the exact size I wanted. Being it was acrylic drilling an overflow to drain back into my other sump was a snap.

Wish it was that easy - I was a total noob and didn't do enough planning to put a sump inside my stand before I filled, cycled, and stocked my tank. Once it was up and running I discovered the acrylic sump I bought wasn't wide enough for my skimmer (nope, I didn't measure first :frustrat:). So then I got a 20g high tank to use as a sump which was the largest I could find that was under 18" wide, but over 12" wide to both fit inside my 16.5" wide stand and house my 12" diameter skimmer. Then I discovered I couldn't get the 20g high into my stand without removing the back brace. Hired a company to come in and drain my tank and remove the back brace to put the 20g high tank inside my stand. We tried to fit a second 10g tank inside the stand at the same time to serve as a fuge but couldn't get both of them to fit. Anything longer than the 20g high wouldn't have fit either even with the back brace removed (we would have had to remove the front brace too which would have caused the stand to collapse). So $200 later I had a 20g high tank inside my stand to serve as my sump. The thing is barely big enough to hold the skimmer, return pump, rubble, and a large rock that didn't fit in my DT. I also have a ball of chaeto that I just keep loose in the sump and for the most part hasn't caused too many problems. Aside from being on the tiny side, the 20g high is also just high enough to prevent me from being able to remove my skimmer cup - its too tall to fit through the space between the tank and top of the stand door. I've dealt with it by draining it into a bucket with a hose and then wiping it out with rags, but its a pain that I can't remove it. Anyhow, long story short, my sump has always been the part of my tank that I hate the most and can't find a good solution to.

My medium-term plan is to move the filing cabinets to the other side of my office (currently they're next to the tank) and then buy a large tall cabinet where I could store all of my buckets and fish stuff, and take out a few shelves on the bottom to put in a large rubbermade tub. Then I'd re-plumb my HOB overflow box with a T fitting to drain half into the existing sump and half into the large rubbermade tub which would serve as a large fuge. I'd have 2 return lines and pumps. It would be more risky in terms of a flood, and if I get really ambitious (or find a good deal on CL), then I'd switch to a 2-line HOB overflow. For now I'm just riding it out. Of course, if I find a good deal on a 180g and can convince my employer that its only 2ft longer and all of my same alreayd approved equipment would be used, then I might just upgrade instead. If I could just get the sediment out of my skimmer and sump I'd be much happier :)
 
Fishy:
My skimmer sits in a "annex" of my sump. This is an acrylic box I built and super glued to the sump (actually three sides and a bottom). I then burned holes in the wall of the sump for water to feed the "skimmer annex" with a soldering iron. You could use a stand alone skimmer?

You are right... it wasn't as simple as "that". .. LOL.. Such is the advantage to a tall stand. My tank bottom is 36" off the floor. I was able to add my fuge by turning it sideways and "stuffing" it in at one end against my sump.

...hee hee.. maybe you could have a second tank (small) that has lots of LR, cleaners, algae and some really cool creature.. as a refuge.... on the corner of your desk... your special pet... wink.
 
Well, once again, not as easy as it sounds LOL

The sump tank is glass so I'd have to drill it - and inside the stand at that since there is no getting it out of the stand now! And I'd have to do it with the skimmer inside since I can't remove the darn thing (too big to get out of the tank once its in the stand). And I paid $400 for the skimmer so I'm not getting rid of it or buying another one lol. But, if you want to take a trip up here to the good ole northeast and find a solution, I'm all for it :D

I've thought about doing a planted mantis tank as a fuge so maybe will look into that some more. I dunno. At this point I'd like to do it the cheapest way possible since I think this tank will be upgraded to a 180 within the next year or so. I'd rather save money to fund the upgrade and improve my existing tank (next up on the list is adding a third AI Sol).
 
.. I vote for waiting for the upgrade too... and I'm ..... way too expensive for the skills I have ... LOL... looking at my schedule.. huuuumm...darn... LOL.. all my up east appointments have been some how put on hold for about a year.... darn..LOL
...but... the mantis tank sounds like a show stopper.
 
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I agree Fishy on holding off and banking the money. My biggest regret is dumping so much $$ into the 55 knowing that I wanted to do the 90. Then finally pulled the trigger on the 90 and have been extra broke ever since since I couldn't reuse the nice MH T5 light, the powerheads were too small, overflow, skimmer... you get the idea. If you ever need help setting something up let me know I'm pretty close to Boston
 
All the scratches on the front pane of my tank. No clue what caused then, but every time I look at something and get close to the tank it's all I see. I change the pads on my algae free scraper fairly often, somehow it still got scratched

Looked into ways to fix the scathes, and the only real solution I see is to buy a new tank. Does this bother anyone else?
 
Oh yeah, they're all over mine too! I think its my black sand that is getting caught under my mag-float and causing them.... but is it really such a bad thing to have to get a new tank? (*cough* upgrade) :D

Oddly enough, this is why I am now thinking of going with an acrylic whenever I have a home and get a really big tank - at least you can buff out the scratches in acrylic with a simple sheet of sand paper under your mag-float.
 
Tank woes! I has them......

Bryopsis in my tiny tank. Grrrr.... Raising the mag is turning it brown and inhibiting growth, but not getting rid of it.

Zoa Armageddon in my big tank. It has been eating zoas for the last couple months. All the zoas in there just melt away, except for one colony of radioactive dragon eyes. That's it. And now I have a whole group of beautiful zoas that I got from Matty that have had to go into the tiny, bryopsis infested tank because I'm not risking them in my zoa eating tank! And they were supposed to replenish my zoa population in the big tank, but NOOOOOO. That stupid tank has to keep eating the zoas, so I can't put them in there! :frustrat:

Hopefully I can get a pico tank on my desk at my new job, and they can be the basis for a zoa garden there. I'm just going to have to keep the mag in that tank at like 2000 for the first year or two to keep any bryopsis riders from gaining a foothold....

This hobby is such a frickin' addiction. I have woes in the two tanks I have. So what am I thinking about doing? Not the logical step of getting rid of the tanks, or converting to freshwater. Oh no. I'm planning on getting a third tank. I'm pretty sure this hobby appeals only to those with a strong masochistic streak. :grumble:
 
I got a free 30gal sump to use for my 75...But there's no way to get the tank in there unless I empty out half the water, get 4 people to lift the tank up, then drop the sump straight down, and put the 75gal back on the stand.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I already know I'm gunna have a big weekend ahead of me
 
I got a free 30gal sump to use for my 75...But there's no way to get the tank in there unless I empty out half the water, get 4 people to lift the tank up, then drop the sump straight down, and put the 75gal back on the stand.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I already know I'm gunna have a big weekend ahead of me

IMO, doing that could cause the tank to shatter. It will still weigh at least 250 pounds, then add in all the LR and sand you have, it could get close to or even exceed 500 pounds. Glass is also a funny material. It is strong under static weight, but if that weigh starts shifting, such as if the water sloshes or a rock falls, it can easily break. IMO, you should empty the tank completely before trying to move it.
 
I got a free 30gal sump to use for my 75...But there's no way to get the tank in there unless I empty out half the water, get 4 people to lift the tank up, then drop the sump straight down, and put the 75gal back on the stand.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I already know I'm gunna have a big weekend ahead of me

Does your stand have some wooden dividers or something blocking you from sliding it in? Those can usually be removed temporarily. Just put them back real quick when you're done moving the sump in!
 
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