[Ninong]

They have been building this "tank" since late May and it's still not finished. It rained almost every day in June and then we had Tropical Storm Bill in July. They still haven't put up the lights around the pool or spread out the mud yet. The temporary fencing is to keep the dogs away from the workers so that they can finish the job.





I was going to dump all that Instant Ocean salt mix that I decided not to use into the jacuzzi spa to cure my live rock but my sister wouldn't go for it. (P.S. -- The jacuzzi is that white round thing to the left of the pool in the top picture. It's hidden behind Spanish moss in the lower picture.)

[zhenya]

Ninong,

I wouldn't dare laugh as I would be laughing at myself as well(if you saw inside of my stand-you'd swell with pride of organized yours look )
As far as scientific noise reducing pad,well... give my foam sheet a try,you might like it

I was going to dump all that Instant Ocean salt mix that I decided not to use into the jacuzzi spa to cure my live rock but my sister wouldn't go for it.

Now,that is something I have to laugh about
Stop worrying so much about all those spaggeties in your cabinet-I'm sure it'll be well organized when you get everything situated and get rid of those LG pumps BtW, I love pickled( or wharever its called) hardwood floors,makes everything look neat and bright.My wife completely dissagrees on this however and I have "natural" oak floors You loose some and win some I suppose
Any decsigion on the LR yet?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Any decsigion on the LR yet?

Nope, not yet.

Will Bush find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before Ninong makes up his mind on his live rock? Will Bush find Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein first? Will Ashcroft find any more half naked statues in need of draping in the DOJ? Will O.J. find the real killers?

Stay tuned.





P.S. -- At the rate it's taking this water to clear up, I'm glad I didn't order the live rock yet. I still can't see more than about 6" into the tank yet.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by Ninong

Nope, not yet.

Will Bush find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before Ninong makes up his mind on his live rock? Will Bush find Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein first? Will Ashcroft find any more half naked statues in need of draping in the DOJ? Will O.J. find the real killers?

Stay tuned.

Oh, the suspense of it,Ninong

[Poseidon]

well I don't know if this is still relevent but here is what I meant about the 2 90 degree elbows on the inlet from the overflow.

I can't tell if u have room for this or not in the pix posted above, but it might be worth a try. It did reduce the volume of my sump considerably!!

Otherwise all seems to be progressing well.... other then the choice of Rock!!

Mike

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Poseidon

well I don't know if this is still relevent but here is what I meant about the 2 90 degree elbows on the inlet from the overflow.

I can't tell if u have room for this or not in the pix posted above, but it might be worth a try. It did reduce the volume of my sump considerably!!

Otherwise all seems to be progressing well.... other then the choice of Rock!!

Mike

Mike,

Look at the picture of the left side of the cabinet and you will see two 1.5" black inlets (one of them is capped). These black PVC tubes go down to about 2" above the bottom of the sump where they are cut at an angle directing the flow into the sump and away from the back wall of the sump. There is no room for any sort of extension to these tubes. The only thing I could do would be to shorten them or possibly try to use both of them instead of just one, but right now I'm having no problems at all now that I partially closed the ball valve under the tank's drain.

There is virtually no water noise from the tank at all at the present time. The only noise is the constant hum of the two Little Giant pumps and they are definitely noisier than other external pumps I have heard on other people's setups.

[Joaco]

Originally Posted by Ninong

If you promise not to laugh at the electrical cords all over the place, I'll post a picture of the inside of the cabinet.???

You should see mine...it looks as if R2-D2 threw up under my tanks

Originally Posted by Ninong

There is exactly 8" of space between the front of the sump and the cabinet doors. I might try to squeeze a calcium reactor in that spot but it will mess up access to the left side of the sump???

Andy could make you a mini-Ca-reactor to your liking:

http://www.myreefcreations.com/reactors.html

Footprint is square (12 x 12) in most, but you could have the circulation pump on one side:



instead of in front of the tubes:




that would give you a rectangle instead of a square base and therefore the extra space so you can get it to fit in 8 inches.

The other problem would be the location of the CO2 tank, but you could put in in the far left of the cabinet, and secure it against the wooden side (you don't want the CO2 tank to fall on it's side or on your foot while you tinker in the sump behind it)

Joaco

[Ninong]

Joaco,

I know that I can fit a calcium reactor and CO2 bottle inside the cabinet on the left side, I just don't know if that's such a bright idea. It would seriously block access to the sump. Lifereef's calcium reactors have a footprint that is 8" x 10" and would fit perfectly.




The 5-lb CO2 bottle is 5" in diameter and the 10-lb CO2 bottle is 6.75" in diameter. I could even stick the CO2 bottle outside the cabinet on the left side where you see that magazine rack in the first cabinet picture. Actually I would stick it further back against the wall and then hide it with something.

An even smaller footprint is the 6.25" footprint of the Korallin calcium reactor and it can be installed inside or outside the sump.



I'm seriously thinking of installing my Neptune Systems monitor on the outside of the cabinet on the left side so that I can clearly see it from my desk. I would just have to drill a hole or two for the wires to run through. And that left side of the cabinet is the only possible spot for a fan or two. I'll worry about all of those things only when I have to.

Another thing that I haven't completely ruled out is the possibility of sticking a small refugium inside the cabinet in front of the sump on the left side. If I did that, then I would probably put the complete calcium reactor and CO2 bottle outside the cabinet and just drill some more holes. A good sized plastic plant might hide everything so that nobody would be the wiser. But all of those options involve compromises that I would rather not have to think about at the moment. Right now I'm thinking about how I can cut down on the noise from the pumps and the thought of drilling holes for a fan in the cabinet make me worry that I will just be increasing the noise level in the room. I know that some sort of insulation inside the cabinet doors that closes the gaps there would help some but drilling more holes seems counterproductive as far as noise is concerned.

[Joaco]

Originally Posted by Ninong

Right now I'm thinking about how I can cut down on the noise from the pumps and the thought of drilling holes for a fan in the cabinet make me worry that I will just be increasing the noise level in the room. I know that some sort of insulation inside the cabinet doors that closes the gaps there would help some but drilling more holes seems counterproductive as far as noise is concerned.

As I would say with cyanobacteria: fight the cause, not the result.
Get rid of those noisy pumps if they bother you so much.
If you want me to push you towards it, Little Giant pumps are said to transfer more heat to the water than Dolphin pumps.

Did you check on the temp, having all lights and pumps on, just as if the tank would be running when ready?

That will give you another thing to worry about. All the heat accumulated in the cabinet will transfer to the water in the sump.

Oops, I was trying to help you, not to add some more things to worry about

Joaco

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Joaco

Little Giant pumps are said to transfer more heat to the water than Dolphin pumps.

You are probably correct about that because every time I open the cabinet door it's like opening a warming oven.

Originally Posted by Joaco

Did you check on the temp, having all lights and pumps on, just as if the tank would be running when ready?

No, I haven't checked the temperature of the water yet because I haven't hooked up my temperature probe yet but I can tell by the feel of the water that it is fairly warm even without the metal halides turned on. I haven't bothered to hook up the heater yet either because this is July in Louisiana.

Originally Posted by Joaco

That will give you another thing to worry about. All the heat accumulated in the cabinet will transfer to the water in the sump.

Yes, it's doing that now.

[Joaco]

Originally Posted by Ninong

You are probably correct about that because every time I open the cabinet door it's like opening a warming oven.

Put the marshmellows aside for a sec, and check on increased evaporation as a side effect.
You might want to leave space for an auto top-off reservoir (I know, I know, it will get tighter inside the cabinet)

Joaco

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Joaco

Put the marshmellows aside for a sec, and check on increased evaporation as a side effect.
You might want to leave space for an auto top-off reservoir (I know, I know, it will get tighter inside the cabinet)

Joaco

I think I will put the auto top-off reservoir in the other cabinet, the one on the other side of my desk, and run tubing behind the desk from the reservoir to the sump. The next question is whether to trust any sort of auto top-off mechanism or to simply use a dosing pump that is turned on and off by the Aquacontroller. The length of time that it is on each day (or night) can be easily adjusted in the Aquacontroller's program and it can dose either plain RO/DI water or Kalkwasser.

Lifereef offers a nice electronic auto top-off float mechanism and they claim that their skimmers will not overflow because of the continuous cleaning tubing that runs from the top of the skimmer cup back down to the venturi. They claim that the excess skimmate will flow out through that tubing and be recycled over and over again. But accidents can happen, or at least accidents happen to a lot of people who didn't anticipate all of the possibilities and I'm sure there are new possibilities that are just waiting to sneak up on someone. I know that I have read several horror stories involving problems attributed to the Aquacontroller but they all involved failures that could have been prevented if certain precautions had been taken. One particular failure that I have read about more than once involves disconnection of the temperature probe which causes the Aquacontroller to default to 55 degrees Fahrenheit causing the controller to turn on the heater and keep it on. This happened to a guy with a beautiful 240-gal tank who lives only 36 miles from me. He said his two year-old kid pulled some of the wires inside the stand's cabinet while he was at work and when he got home the water temperature was 96 degrees.

I hope to put the two 20-gal white Rubbermaid Brute containers that I just purchased inside the cabinet on the other side of my desk and use one for RO/DI water storage and the other one for saltwater storage. Then I still have the 32-gal gray Rubbermaid Brute container. I could get one of those Rubbermaid wheeled dollies for that one and push it from the garage around the driveway and over the paved walkway that runs to the front of the house. I would not attempt to get it up onto the front porch, all I would need to do is get it close enough to the front porch for me to run a tube through the window next to the right side of the aquarium out to the Rubbermaid container -- a distance of about 16 feet.

All of these stupid little compromises reinforce the beauty of just building an equipment room behind your aquarium so that you don't have to deal with all this petty stuff.

[Poseidon]

I see what u mean now that I know what I was looking at, and u'r right it is a Great Luxury to have a room behind my tank to keep the sump and all the other crap.... Salt additives and all the lights don't have to look pretty but it looks like the planning is really paying off rather then rushing to add livestock, I'm sure the tank is going to be VERY user freindly once it is done....

Mike

[Ninong]

Observations: The water in the tank is much clearer now than it was just 24 hours ago. I wiped the inside glass of the aquarium with just a soft cloth and that made a big difference. It looks like the Southdown had deposited a film -- almost like a calcium deposit or something -- on the glass that was making things appear worse than they actually were. However, even after wiping the glass, it's still pretty cloudy but I can see about 14" into the aquarium now, which is a big improvement over the first two days when I could only see about 2 or 3 inches beyond the glass.

This morning I dropped a small piece of speckled trout in there to get some ammonia going.

Sorry but I don't have an pictures to post because my nephew borrowed my sister's digital camera and took it to Florida with him for a week's vacation.

I'm still waiting for the Tunze Stream that's supposed to be delivered sometime today. It was shipped Wednesday from Indiana via UPS 2nd. Day Air but sometimes they arrive at our house after 6 p.m. because they claim that we're "rural." I called the nearest FedEx office the other day just to check in advance to see what their policy was on Express Overnight Deliveries to our house, the ones that they promise will be delivered to your door "before 10:30 a.m." They told me, "Oh, no, you're 'rural.' We would deliver to your house sometime after 1 p.m." So whenever I order livestock, I will have to drive 40 miles to the FedEx pick-up location anytime after 9 a.m. and pick it up myself rather than have it bouncing around in a hot truck all day.

I hope the Stream gets here today so that I can figure out where to put it and whether or not I have to remove one of the Sea-Swirls or not. I would like to get that settled before I shut down the tank for 24 hours to re-glue the piece of black acrylic inside the corner overflow compartment. I got some Marine Goop at Lowes, as per Scubadude's recommendation, and will try to make the black acrylic stick to the graylite glass. The Weld-On #16 that I tried the first time didn't hold up more than a few hours at the most.

I'll probably mount the power strips inside the cabinet tomorrow so that I can hook up the Neptune Systems Aquacontroller II and get the electrical cords off the top of the sump. Also have to put the heater and the grounding probe in the sump. Haven't bought any fans yet but that will probably have to happen soon, too.

I decided to call the source in Maryland that I was thinking about using for fully cured Kaelini live rock. I wanted to see what days he shipped air freight so that I could coordinate it with the shipment from the source in Indiana in the event that I decided to go with a mixture of fully cured live rock from those two sources. I'm glad I called. The good news is that the guy in Maryland can ship any day of the week, the bad news is that he is completely out of live rock right now, cured or otherwise. He will be getting a shipment of 1,000 lbs of Kaelini Monday that he will be putting into his curing tanks. He said it will be partially cured in about 4 days and fully cured in three weeks. So I guess that eliminates him from consideration. The guy in Indiana does have a pretty good supply of fully cured Marshall, Fiji and Fiji Buna Branch in the event that I decide to go with him.

I can't see any reason why I would want to get Kaelini that has been partially cured for three or four days and pay to have it shipped all the way across the country and then halfway back again. I might as well just get the uncured Kaelini shipped directly to me from L.A. and save the money.

So the live rock situation is still up in the air except for the fact that the fully cured Kaelini from Maryland is not available at this time. I feel a headache coming on so I'll wait on the live rock decision a little longer.

[jsaltzgi]

It's nice to see it's finally happening. It looks to be quite a system!!!

I'm just in the process of setting things back up after a move (upgraded the sump to a 150 gallon rubbermaid stock tank...) and designing the new plumbing system has been fun, so I can sympathize with your planning!!! I've gone without my corals and fish for a couple of weeks and I'm already suffering withdrawal!!!

James

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by jsaltzgi

It's nice to see it's finally happening. It looks to be quite a system!!!
James

THANKS!

[Ninong]

The Tunze Stream 6060 was delivered just before 6 p.m., which is typical for UPS deliveries to our house.

I installed it in the left rear corner formed by the overflow compartment and the back wall of the tank. In other words, it is suspended on the side wall of the overflow compartment and aimed at an angle towards the front of the tank. It is just to the rear of the plugged tank return outlet -- the one my LG pump didn't have enough power to handle.

That means I now have both 3/4" Sea-Swirls and the Tunze Stream 6060 running in the tank. The Sea-Swirl nozzles are just barely below the surface of the water and the Tunze Stream outlet is about 5" below the surface.

Observations: The Tunze Stream does put out a high volume gentle but forceful flow of water. The power cord is only 6' long, which means that I will have to connect it on the left side where I already have too many electrical cords going down to the cabinet. At this point it has a noticeable hum even though it is well below the surface of the water. According to page 21 of the operating manual: "Initial running noices will become distinctly softer after a running-in period of approximately one week."

The only noise from the Sea-Swirls is the noise of the water turbulence if you aim the nozzles too high. I can detect no motor noise whatsoever from my two Sea-Swirls.

[Ninong]

The Tunze Stream is rearranging the sand bed in the tank!

This should be interesting. It has kicked up a lot of sand back into the water column and it has changed the profile of the sand bed against the front glass.

[zhenya]

Ninong,

I think untill you put some of the rock in the tank any flow will rearange your sand bed I believe that the rock helps distribute and brake up the current into different patterns and also softens the impact on the sand substrate. Just thinking out loud since I know how much you want to think about LR right now

PS.And, when the cycle starts and bacteria coats the particles it will help as well,but...GET SOME ROCK IN THERE

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Ninong,

I think untill you put some of the rock in the tank any flow will rearange your sand bed I believe that the rock helps distribute and brake up the surrent into different patterns and also softens the impact on the sand substrate. Just thinking out loud since I know how much you want to think about LR right now

PS.And, when the cycle starts and bacteria coats the particles it will help as well,but...GET SOME ROCK IN THERE

I can't get some rock in there until I can SEE what I'm doing!

And the reason I wanted the Tunze Stream up and running first was so that I could see if it will work in that location or if I will have to change it to the spot where the left side Sea-Swirl is right now. If I have to do that, then I will run with just the right side Sea-Swirl plus the 3/4" tank return line that I will reopen and the Tunze at the far left side of the tank in front of the corner overflow. That would give it a longer path before it hits the far right side of the tank. Right now it is aimed at a 45-degree angle from the back glass towards the front glass.

The other reason I can't put the rock in the tank until the circulation devices are in their final positions is because it will affect the placement of the live rock.

So far the Tunze has lowered the sand bed on the right side of the tank by at least 2" and raised the sand bed on the left side of the tank by an equal amount. And it is still moving it. I might have a bare bottom tank on the right side by morning.

P.S. -- The cycle has already started. I couldn't find any shrimp in the freezer but there was a lot of fish, so the tank now has a small piece of speckled trout bouncing around the sand bed. I did that earlier today.