i went and did it guys *giggle*

[TimH07]

ok so as far as the kalkwasser top off, im now thinking about using one of my 5 gallon watercooler jugs that i store top off water in now anyway, setting it on a table higher than the sump behind the tank, and taking a small tube and tying a knot in it with a siphon into the sump and let it drip.

if my evaporation is greater than the drip, which i figure it will be, i could just add the DI water (no ro yet) to top it off and let the 5 gallon keep dripping.

does this sound feasable? or should i look into a better auto drip system? like a float switch or something.

[charlie]

Wow, you are around, I was hoping we didn't BS you away.

That will will work just fine, it is simple and not much can go wrong, unless someone unties the knot. I seem to have an inherent distrust in float switches, but lots, and I mean lots, of folks have had no problems. My auto top off is a 5 year old IO bucket lugged between my storage unit and the sump!!!!

[TimH07]

Wow, you are around, I was hoping we didn't BS you away.

lol i wake up, make my 6 year old daughter breakfast, read this forum, go to work, come home read this forum. its better than TV!




i wanted to ask about sump lighting as well, my center chamber will grow macro. the question is, how much is really needed for macro algae?
i have one of those chinese mall motion waterfall hang up pictures that happen to have a complete circle 18w t5 bulb if you take the picture face off , i was going to acrylic it and hang it above the sump. otherwise i'll use my 4x24w t5 current nova exteme lighting but i feel thats overkill and i could do well to sell that for 100 bucks.

[charlie]

I really don't know how much light it takes Tim, On the 75 gallon fuge that is with the 300, I am using 2 3ft. VHO bulbs, and if I don't harvest evry week and a half, it grows out of the tank. On my 80 gallon, I have some kind of curly Q CF bulb that I bought at Wally World, and it grows chaeto like crazy. Give that one a try, you never know!!!!

[TimH07]

maybe i'll just run the nova with 2 bulbs on, it has 2 seperate switches for each pair.

speaking of work heh

heres work



here's play

[charlie]

Cool, and there is a Ford in the pic to!!

[TimH07]

i think you missed the chevy in the background

[charlie]

I am so sorry............................................. .

[TimH07]

ok back to topic, im gutting my 55g probably tomorrow and letting it dry out, then im buying some white plastic cutting boards from walmart and cutting them into baffles and siliconing them into the tank, hope to get the magdrive soon, think im going with a 7, the 9.5 looks good but if the 7 will do the job i'll go with that.

should i pvc the flow? or soft tube it? pvc would be fine because even if it leaked all will be contained over the sump but im trying to wrap my head around the 2" bulk heads threaded end vs a soft tube...

ideas are still swirling...

tips?

[charlie]

ok back to topic,

What topic?????



I like the PVC theory, to me , I think it just looks cleaner. Where is the 2" bulkhead at?????? If you look around, they do make connectors for tubing or spa flex. I actually think Kevin is right about the 9.5, mag drive pumps are notorious for losing flow at ant head. They are great pumps, don't get me wrong!!!!

[charlie]

You don't want any type of leaks, they create micro bubbles!!!!

[TimH07]

the tank i have is pre drilled, the stand pipe is 2" out and the second is the 1 1/2" return pipe. i was going to just clamp some hose on that out flow but i think i'll go pvc

[charlie]

Is that the size of the hole, or the size of the bulkhead??? That is awh=ful large for the size tank you have???

[TimH07]

the outflow standpipes OD is 2"

the threaded end below the tank

[charlie]

I think you want the ID.;)

[TimH07]

its outside threads

[charlie]

My bad..................... I still can't believe that you have a 2" drain on a 75!!!!!!

[metalhead]

Let me try to explain things for you so that you don't have to search all day.

Scubadude (Rocky) actually did buy 2 tons!!! of Southdown aragonite sand for less than $50 but that was several years ago and it took a lot of trickery on his part to do it.

Also, he had to shovel it himself into the back of his pickup truck. I'm amazed he didn't mess up his suspension. Anyway, that's a long story. I tried to find the thread here on Reefland but I gave up. It's on here somewhere. It used to include pics of the loaded down white pickup truck with the shovel still stuck in the sand in the back of the truck. All of those pice were lost during one of our "upgrades."

Southdown is the brand name that used to be used by a company called -- wait for it -- Southdown! They also sold the same aragonite sand under the brand name Yardright. Then they sold out to the giant Mexican company CEMEX, headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico.

You always had to be careful that the sand you were buying was actually aragonite sand and not regular quartz sand. Both were sold as "play sand." If the bag said "Tropical Play Sand From The Caribbean," then you had it made. That was the good stuff.

Then CEMEX sold their Southdown operation to a gigantic EU company called OldCastle. For some time after that you could still buy cheapy aragonite sand but the bags now said "OldCastle." Same nice aragonite sand just a new brand name.

Back when we used to be able to buy it in bags like that, it was usually $3.95/50-lb bag. It was sold in the Garden Department at Home Depot. At the end of the summer, they used to cut the price in half and sell it for $1.99/50-lb bag.

ALL of the aragonite sand comes from the same location in the Bahamas and all of it is mined by Marcona Ocean Industries. Scubadude got his in bulk from Southdown's location in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Southdown sand used to move up the East Coast in barges and get unloaded in Easton, Pennsylvania. From there it was distributed to Home Depot stores along the East Coast from Boston down to Virginia and inland as far as Cleveland, OH. It was rare that you could find it in Cleveland but you sometimes could.

Whenever Southdown showed up in Home Depot stores outside that area, it was a mistake on somebody's part. Usually because some hobbyist convinced some unknowing Home Depot manager to transfer it to their local store. That never lasted long. The cost of transportation (in bags) exceeded the value of the product when it's sold for that cheap. That's why Home Depot didn't carry it all over the country.

Anyway, it wasn't long after OldCastle acquired the brand from CEMEX that this cheap aragonite sand stopped being sold in Home Depot stores. At first they tried putting so-called "warning" notices on the bags that it wasn't for use in aquariums but that didn't work because we all knew better. So finally they just stopped selling it cheap in bags. It's a long store but it involves certain agreements between the guys who sell it for much, much higher prices and the people who buy it in bulk for other purposes. I forgot the legal term but you can find it in one of my threads from years ago.

Carib-Sea's products are graded by size, etc., and supposedly cleaner than the bulk product. Dr. Rob Toonen did a particle size distribution analysis on the cheapy Southdown sand nine years ago and found that it was ideal for use in a Reef Aquarium. That was back in the good old days. Those days are long gone.

As far as I know, there are no sources of cheapy aragonite sand anymore.

I have a business contact with Oldecastle (the owner)... Let me see what he tells me about availability to us little peons and I'll let you guys know.

[metalhead]

My bad..................... I still can't believe that you have a 2" drain on a 75!!!!!!

Don't feel bad, I have a 2'' drain on my 50g frag tank!!!