droyal1110

Hello. DT - 90g Sump - 30g Mag 7 return Skimmer - Octopus DNW 150 recirc. Questions: Is it worth doing a DSB and a fuge in the sump? I have heard mixed feelings on this but I'm still not convinced. I also wondered if the copepods really survive the trip (I'll be using a mag drive 7 for the return). How tall should my baffles be? Do these regulate the overall height of the water during normal operation? How do I control the height of the water in the sump? I want to have 10 gallons of free space to help contain water if the pumps are off and what not. Is it ok to use clear plastic tubing on the return and drain? The previous tank owner did for several years, I planned on doing pvc but if I can avoid it that's fine with me. I know it worked for him but I'd just like to hear the general consensus. How big should the areas of the sump be? Meaning how much water at any given time should be in the return area and so on. I have searched high and low for answers to only get brief incomplete ones. I have read melvesreef but still have these questions. Any help is greatly appreciated.

extreme_tooth_decay - awesome pictures! I personally have something like 20 snails and about 7 or 8 hermits left. Originally started with 15 hermits and they fought amongst themselves. Now I have a wide variety of snails and pretty much only scarlet hermits and everyone is happy, I do have plenty of shells in my tank though.

Hey buddy and welcome to wamas. I am only a week old myself and I can tell you I love this group already. If you haven't joined and paid dues I recommend you do, it's 20 bucks and I can tell you in one week I have already saved a ton of money because of it.

Oh yea sugar? Sweet you can help me set things up =D Yea I actually just picked up my protein skimmer not 20 minutes ago, jamesbuf gave me a great deal and met me at work, awesome dude +100 for him. The good news is, he soaked it in vinegar for me already. The bad news it I still have to clean my tank out. There is still a bunch of dead critters in the tank and a bunch of old sand I need to remove. With the frigid temperatures I'm really putting it off. Yesterday I sanded and repainted the stand... soooooo cold. I'm not really worried about the coraline because supposedly it works as a foundation for new coraline to grow, thats fine. Like I said I'm just worried about removing and bad stuff left over, I think its just so when I go to fill the tank up for good there isn't any question of whether or not it is clean enough. One more thing, is there any potential problems for dumping the vinegar water after its overnight soak into the drain? As always thanks for the replies.

Ok I see. So basically the overflow from the DT flows into the drain pipe, the drain pipe has a gated valve on it to control the amount flowing to the protein skimmer, water goes in the skimmer, gets cleaned, comes out and flows into the sump. Does this mean that the height of the skimmer doesn't matter? As in there isn't a pump in the drain portion of the sump sucking in water? Sorry I'm still new to these.

Thanks for the replies. Coral Hind - Could you please explain the overflow mod?

Ok sounds good, this may not be the right topic in here but how tall should I make them?

OK I have narrowed my choice down to a few skimmers. I hate to bring this up but I just don't know, I've been trying to read the reviews and find any info on these skimmers but I would rather here testimonials of people I trust. Here is what I am thinking: Precision Marine RL125 Octopus Needle wheel 200 ASM G-1 This would be going on a 90g DT with a 30g Sump, probably a total of 7-10 fish one day, mixed LPS and softies. These are based on price range and reputation, however I want to hear anyone speak up or make suggestions. I am looking for a used one but if I can't find one in time I'll just go with new. Thanks!

Just out of curiosity how much did that run you? I'm going more for cost effective and I doubt acrylic vs glass is going to make much a difference with my setup

Any suggestions where I should get them from?

Hello. Good news, I picked up my 90 last night and I am well on my way =D This is for your standard glass 30 gallon long aquarium that is going to be used for a sump. My question today is, where can I get glass baffles and what size should I get them made to? I was thinking of just going to Home Depot and getting plexiglass and just gluing them in the sump. Problem is, I don't know how they would hold up against 600 gph. So can you guys recommend somewhere that will have these made? I'm sure I could look in the yellowpages for a glass place but I didn't know if some LFS around here will carry them or if they can order them or even if someone has ordered them online. My second question as states above, what size do I get them to cut it to? As in, should it be a tight fit or should it have 1/8" of space on each size? How exact does it need to be? Also is there a special silicone I must use? As always, thanks!

If I set my new tank up, plumbing and all, everything is running and it is glued, has the pumps, the whole shebang, can I run a 1 part vinegar to 10 parts tap water mixture overnight to clean out the pipes, protein skimmer, pumps, tubes, etc? Will this harm any seals or glue? Is it worth doing or does it not really have the desired affect? I was thinking of 1:1 but that would be expensive for 120 gallon system.

Cool thanks! I got some white vinegar from costco, now to get the tank tonight =D

Awesome thanks for the reply and I will definitely roll to Costco now =D

That's what I was afraid of. I'm still trying to decide on what grain size, what type, etc. I was hoping I could save some money by buying cheap play sand but I am worried about high silicates, don't want to go through that bloom again. I love my black sand but A - I'm not going to clean it and reuse it, B - Has iron flakes that well... attaches to mag floats and other things I don't want it to. I might have to bite the bullet and just go with the decent stuff again. Is it better to use Caribsea sand for the DSB or just any sand (minus the silicates) will do?

Oh yea I never thought of that. Yea I do like the look of drilled tanks, looks cleaner IMO. As far as the fail safe goes, do you think its worth making that one into a durso as well? I was just going to do a regular PVC pipe with an screened opening, hopefully it will increase the sound of water flowing in there so I will know my main durso failed. I'm hoping one backup will be sufficient, I am also banking on the idea of my main durso not failing =D Oh and my bad I was thinking of safety glass, although I think they might use tempered glass in safety glass to reduce the risk of shards? Either way good call again.

I am preparing to do a deep clean on the incoming tank and I was wondering how to go about cleaning it. Knowing what I know now its not as simple as a rinse as use. Well it kind of is, but for true cleaning and breaking down calcium etc I need vinegar. So.... which vinegar? There are a million out there, which one is right for me? How important is it to make sure all of it is out? For example, gotta make sure all metals are out of the tank before filling and what not, is vinegar the same way? I'm sure its not as potent or harmful even though its good practice to rinse completely. Any suggestions where to pick it up from (if its special)? Also what ratio to water should I use? Can I use tap water to clean with? When I clean the tank can I just wipe it down with an RO water soaked rag? Hard to come by 90 gallons of RO to just toss =/ As always, thanks!

Wow I didn't know you could temper it after drilling. I thought it was the type of glass and two laminates, not arguing I just didn't know. Yea I realize it has an input and output in the overflow. The system I am going to do though is going to have a fail safe which needs to be in the overflow. I figure use one existing hole in the overflow for the main durso, and use the second (normally the return hole) for the fail safe. That's why I was contemplating how I wanted to run the return line because it is going to be the most flexible in terms of placement. I think I might just run a U tube over the tank into the DT to avoid having to drill and all that. This also will allow me to go straight up with the return line rather than running to across the bottom to the overflow side. This all also depends on what the setup is like. I talked to the guy last night and we are trying to decide on a pickup day, I haven't seen the tank in person but it comes with a canopy and what not (easily cut) so I don't know exactly what I'm working with but I have a pretty good idea.

Ok I edited my profile, good call. The drilling is going to be done on the 90g that I am actually picking up this weekend. It is reef ready so I know the bottom isn't tempered, depending on how much room I'm working with I might do 1 of 3 things. 1 - Just run a pipe up the back and use a U tube as the return into the DT 2 - Drill the bottom and run the return like that 3- Drill the back (maybe in the overflow maybe somewhere else, maybe more than one spot)

Yea I'm actually picking up the tank this weekend so I will probably start a build thread Sunday evening. The only problem is the build is going to be over a month long just from working on it on the weekends and trying to find the used stuff I want (trying to keep this cheapish), plus at some point if I have to physically move there and then transfer live stock. I think I'll start the build thread with cleaning the tank. Will anyone have anything against taking pictures and MS painting what I want to do to the tank? I know the build thread says you must be building in order to post in there, not just coming up with ideas. I think I'll have enough flow, I don't think I'm ready for SPS, maybe further down the road. Definitely going to do some softies and LPS, love softies but hate fighting. Oh and yea I want to Melevs, awesome stuff. Everyone makes it sound so simple but I just don't understand it 100% yet. I think I'm good on flow in the DT, I think I'm good on the plumbing aspect as far as sizes go, I think I'm OK on what return pump and accounting for head loss (well kinda..), I still don't understand how to control the depth of the water in the sump. Is it something that just happens or is there a way to regulate it? Ahh the frustration, I'll just design it and see if someone approves and just kind of wing it =D I'm actually going to head to the marine scene today and ask a million questions, I feel its easier in person to ask questions.

So this sand would not be good in a display? =(

Haha my bad, you looked all professional and it looked like you had an assistant. Either way these meets look awesome, I'm mad I can't make the one this weekend though =/

I am by no means professional but I would think you would get less flow with the 90 degree due to friction loss, just my .02, probably not noticeable though. If your avatar is what you do then you should know =D

Well I actually watched 2 videos on youtube. It was by the member WAMAS (who would have thought) and it appears there is some vendor rep who first shows what its like if you try to drill tempered glass, then he shows the proper techniques to drill non-tempered glass and lets other members try it. I appreciate it and I will definitely keep you guys in mind if I need help drilling. I guess it really depends on what tank I pick up (hopefully this weekend), I'm trying to find a used reef ready tank to at least most of the work is already done. I'll definitely be starting a build thread and I'll definitely check out reef central for the calculator. Thanks!

Wait I'm sorry, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. Did you say that the activated carbon from aqua clear was contributing to your hair algae? If so, this explains a lot because I too am battling hair algae in my tank and I use the activated carbon from aqua clear.