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January 30th, 2008
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Moderator
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Nice ... Now I want a bigger tank !  |
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January 31st, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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You'll never believe this lol
I've been all talk for a long time now but I finally did it. I built the sump today. I still need the pump and overflow but the sump is ready. After a day of mucho calculations and silicone I have a sump. I'll be leak testing soon and get some photos up. I went with a very simple design and 3/16" plexi. It has a center return with a skimmer filter compartment on the left and a refugium on the right. The overflow box I'm getting has two drain lines so one will go into the refugium and the other to the skimmer filter. With a Magdrive 9.5 I should be getting around 700 GPH spilt between the two sides. Two weeks from Friday I hope to order the 2 items. Been a long time coming and I'm so very ready to get it going. Oh yeah i'll also need a few things for the fuge. Some rock, a light and anything alse I come up with. lol
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January 31st, 2008
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Master Of Fish Poo!
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 Congrats on getting the sump built!  |
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January 31st, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Cool, can't wait for the pics!
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February 2nd, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Well it doesn't leak at all.
I did some messing around with water pitchers and have realized I didn't take the bubbles created by the overlows in the sump in to account. The water makes way too many bubbles in the return section. I have thought long and hard all day about fitting a solution in to my design. A few baffles on one side of the return should do the trick. I took some pics but need to get them out of the camera and resized. Will post tomorrow.
PS. I had enough left over from todays payday to order the pump. YAY Geting a MagDrive 9.5. Gonna play with it and some tubing to get a better idea of flow through the sump before I do any modifications. |
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February 2nd, 2008
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Fish Helper
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Wow I love your tank! If only I had the means(money) to start a saltwater tank, I totally would! Gotta save up for quite a long time 
Congrats on getting your sump set up Can't wait for new pictures. |
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February 2nd, 2008
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Moderator
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Gozer, post the photos so I can help with the micro bubbles. Micro bubbles will be the least of your worries, behind gurgling and spills. 
Last edited by agsansoo; February 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 AM.
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February 2nd, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Gurgling is my problem. I didn't think about the spillways creating so many bubbles. DUH. I drew a couple things on to the pictures I posted showing where I'm at with it. I think I'm going to kind of stair step the spillway water in to the pump area so it slows down before hitting the water in the return. I think I may be able to just throw in a couple baffles between the pump section and the spillway inlet section.
The lengthwise view is the back view. The two side compartments are where the water comes in at. The left (right when viewed from the front) is the refugium. It will fill and spill in to the return. The other side is divided in two sections. The water will come in through some easy access foam filters, go through Matrix, under the divider and up through DeNitrate in the second chamber. Kind of a built in canister. The skimmer pump will pump from the second chamber and discharge on top of the first chamber. Both outside sections spill in to the front half of the return section. That's where I left out some thought. I need to prevent the bubbles from the spill getting to the return pump.
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February 2nd, 2008
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Moderator
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Gozer, You need to make a bubble trap using two dividers. So the water fall goes down and than back up again, releasing all the bubbles in the water before the water falls over the next (last) divider. The dividers can be taller than I drew (giving you more water volume in the return section).
Another thing is to use a filter sock on the water inlets from the overflow. If they are making extra bubbles too.
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February 3rd, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Gozer how much has your 75 gallon cost you so far? I started crunching numbers in planning for mine and im getting 2 grand for a price tag. here is my list
$400 for the tank and stand
$54 for the overflow box
$159 for the sump
$173 for the protein skimmer
$419 for the chiller
$679 for the lights
$200 for powerheads plumbing water and rock
______________________________________
i think a divorce would be cheeper
$2084
Its really looking farther off that i was planning
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February 3rd, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfgang8810
Gozer how much has your 75 gallon cost you so far? I started crunching numbers in planning for mine and im getting 2 grand for a price tag. here is my list
$400 for the tank and stand
$54 for the overflow box
$159 for the sump
$173 for the protein skimmer
$419 for the chiller
$679 for the lights
$200 for powerheads plumbing water and rock
______________________________________
i think a divorce would be cheeper
$2084
Its really looking farther off that i was planning
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All together closer to $3,000. Taking live rock in to consideration. I have 80Lbs that I got for $70 per 20 Lbs. Almost $300 worth of live rock and that is kinda cheap rock. $3.50 a Lb. Most goes for more than $5 a Lb. |
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February 3rd, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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im tight with my LFS so i can get live rock for 2.50 a pound. well i guess its gonna be setting in my room for a while before i have everything to get it running. Oh well itll be worth it |
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February 4th, 2008
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Fish Mentor
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Thats really pretty, I have been wanting to do a saltwater tank... maybe after I push my husband a little further... hes starting to complain about the house looking like a fish store.... oh well.... I like it... the water sounds are so relaxing and thats how a home is supose to be! Im sure if I give in to his giant tv hes wanting right now.. I can get the saltwater tank...
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February 4th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Sounds like the best of both worlds to me. A giant TV AND a new tank lol. My house definitely looks like a fish store, but I'm ok with that. Actually I wish it was a fish store lol. I have a "work center" where I keep all my stuff and it looks just like the "service" cubby hole at a fish store. Nets and buckets and bottles of various additives. Most of which is for the Saltwater.
Anyway, thanks for the compliment and good luck talking your hubby into the tank. I'm always up for supporting a new tank lol. I am an agent of MTS after all. |
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February 5th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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I picked up 2 Blue Leg Hermies and a Lawnmower Blenny yesterday. I really wanted a Green Mandarin but I really needed somebody to munch on some algae. Fish like Blennies that "perch" around the tank on rocks and such have always been a favorite for me. It's just plain cute and that's all there is to it. (Unless it's a CAE perched ready to attack  ) The Hermits are REAL small and have pretty well vanished into the rocks. I've been tossing around the idea of hermits for awhile. I'm on a mission to get the hair under control. It's not out of control but I have some good sized patches. I have some pics of the Blenny on my camera but too lazy to take care of them right now. lol |
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February 6th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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good luck witht he hermits. I have 5 in my 24 gallon and they eradicate all algae that comes in on coral frags in the same day. I would still skip out on emerald crabs or other larger hermits.
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March 2nd, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Wow, so yeah a lot has changed here in the last weeks. The tank runs completely on a DIY sump system. I've moved some rocks around and swapped out a ton of the white sand for black Tahitian Moon Sand. It looks awesome and I will be adding more later. The balck sand is too awesome. The colors really explode with this dark bottom. It also helps with glare in the photos. I absolutely love it. I've also added a Green Mandarin and a Yellow Tang. The Tang may be a little overboard but I love them so very much and watching him munch that evil green hair and the caulerpa he was eating today makes me so very happy. He's about an ich and a half long. He already gets called "Bubbles". I guess it was unavoidable. The Mandarin was captive bred and tank raised. I have watched it eat a wide variety of foods already in just a couple days, including flatworms He's about 2 and a half inches and looks fantastic. The sump project has occupied an enormous amount of my time but now that it's done I'll try to get some pictures together. I absolutley love my new sump. The tank is so much quieter now. I am a little leary of the overflow. I don't yet have a float switch for the return pump. My only potential flood problem.  Anyway, this tank is looking great. Glad to have so much finished. |
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March 20th, 2008
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Fish Keeper
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Well everyone is fat and happy. The Mandarin seems to be fine with good old frozen foods and is keeping a nice plump belly. He's become the spectator favorite. The fish everyone talks about. They are an amazing and remarkable creature after all. It's the fish I wanted a reef tank for so you can imagine my excitement to have a nice healthy "specimen". I've started calling the Tang Nibbles. If you know tangs you know why. lol The one issue I have with the Tang was somewhat expected. No they are not cuddling with your clown fish. There is currently a small war for a small cave between the Clown and the Tang. Unfortunately for the Clown as the Tang has a rather nasty barb on it's tail. The Clown has taken a couple minor scrapes but seems to be bending to the Tangs will so I hope things will calm down. The Tang is a sneaky little passive aggressive guy. Just swims up next to the Clown like nothings going on. Just wagging his little tail, little BARBED tail. The tank is now clear of all major Green Hair Algae patches. Adding a Lawnmower Blenny and a Yellow Tang will do that. I am more than happy to supplement with plenty of alternatives if it means having the nice clean tank I have now. Both gobble down Nori like no tomorrow. The coraline algae is really starting to go nutzo. All over the back glass and even starting to come in on the fairly newly added sump return and overflow boxes. Cutting back on it's competition really made a difference. For that I will always thank my Tang, no matter his attitude. lol
A note to those that wonder. Summer is quickly approaching and my work schedule becomes so very full. I find less and less time to do the things I enjoy. That would be why I've been so absent lately. I've been putting together a little DIY thing about the new sump design I'm working on. I learned a great deal with the first design but I can make it so much better. I'll be putting together a thred for it soon. Anyway, just wanted anyone reading to know I was alive and still addicted to FishLore.
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