ronl

In #3 is it possible to take the center rock and set it on top of the two rocks on either side of it to create a tunnel/bridge through the middle? I think that would look good. I agree with howaboutme regarding coral placement.

Just sent you a PM about the heaters. I have two of the 100W Eheim Jagers that I used on a 58 gal for a couple of months.

Neto, I have a pink birdsnest that I have had for almost a year and it has kept its pink color. I bought it as a 2" frag and it has grown pretty quickly for me (see current pic attached). If you are interested, I could trade a frag of it to you for a frag of your ORA green birdsnest. If not, I am planning to buy a frag of your green one eventually when you are selling them. I am just up the road from you in New Market, so only about a 10 minute drive. Ron

Awesome! Congratulations!

Interesting and good to know. I was testing mine on an empty tank and didn't have to put much pressure at all on the pump before it came off the glass. I was envisioning it falling off and sand and water blowing everywhere. Maybe water in the tank makes a difference. The pump will be lighter and the rubber cover on the magnet may create a suction.

I assume the magnets on the WP40 are bigger and stronger than the magnets on the WP25. Can anyone that has one of each confirm whether the external magnet on the WP40 can be used with a WP25 internal magnet and whether it holds it stronger than the WP25 external magnet? My tank is 1/2" glass and the WP25 magnets don't seem to provide a strong enough hold that I would trust it not to fall off. A slight bump dislodges it. Thanks, Ron

After reading the two links with the bottom drain designs, if I had the space to raise the ATO containers completely above the rim of the sump, I would have probably tried the bottom drain design. Looks like it saves you from having to blow into the air tube to prime the system to start the siphon. As both of those links also pointed out, having an airtight system is of utmost importance.

I never tried one with a bottom mounted drain, so I don't know. I was trying to replicate the function of the Aqualan NURCE, so I followed that design as close as I could. I don't know for sure, but I would think the bottom mounted drain might self prime. I didn't read the link of the person that used that design. Although I imagine the entire ATO container would need to sit above the top rim of the sump rather that just above the sump water level with the design that I used.

Taller or wider will both work. These two were built to fit exactly in the space I had inside my stands. So I had a limited footprint and the only other way to go was up. My original ATO was a standard 5 1/2 gal glass tank, so that one was wider and shorter. Only reason I built the bigger acrylic one was because the 5 1/2 gal tank was a half an inch too wide to fit where I needed it in the stand. Rigid tubing should be used for the tube inside the container. The two external tubes are flexible so you can position them in the sump and so you can pull the air line out to blow in it to create the vacuum. It also allows you to clamp the tube when refilling. Ultimately, the most important thing is that the system is airtight. Otherwise the entire container will drain into the sump.

One other thing, these have to sit on platforms because the water level in the ATO container has to be higher than the water level in the sump for gravity to do its thing. So I made the platforms high enough so that the bottom of the ATO was slightly higher than the desired water level in the sump.

Ok, let's see if I can remember how to post pics. The first two pics are of the 6 gal ATO. In the second pic from the side you can see the rigid tube inside the container that goes down to about 1/4" from the bottom. You can also see the melted rigid tubing that serves as the J tube. The second two pics are of the 1.5 gal ATO. The rigid tube inside is dirty, so it is easier to see than the one in the larger ATO. You can also see the tube clamps and the bracket that I made to hold the tubes to the side of the sump. The height of the tube opening on the air line (tube without the J) determines the level of the water in the sump. I used a PVC fitting with a rubber cap to be able to open the top for refilling. The rubber cap helps to keep everything airtight, which is required for this device to work. The screw on cap with rubber seal that is used on the Aqualan NURCE is nicer because it would be easier to get on and off and it provides a bigger opening. The plumbing part that I used did not come in a larger size, so that was the largest opening I could do.

No problem on the mid-spelling. ronl and roni are hard to tell apart on the screen, especially on a phone. I know there is someone on the board with username roni, so I just wanted to try to avoid any confusion. I know when I see a post from roni I have to look twice to make sure it is not my username.

Matt, my acrylic work leaves a lot to be desired. Think Weld-On 16 with ugly seams with bubbles and a thick bead on the inside like caulk to ensure it is sealed. But hey, neither of them ever leaked. They aren't pretty, but they were in the stand where they weren't seen, so I didn't care what they looked like. :-) Those that frown upon this type of ATO argue that every time the top off is activated, some of the sump water goes up the air tube into the container; thereby reducing the salinity in the tank as it is replaced with fresh water. In my experience, the amount of saltwater that gets sucked into the container is very minimal, so I didn't see it as a big problem. I figured the salinity was more stable than when manually topping off.

I can post some pics tonight when i get home of the two acrylic ones that I built. I still have them, but I scrapped the 5 1/2 gal glass tank version a few years ago. The vacuum is started by blowing into the tube that sets the water level until water flows through the feed tube and there is no air in the feed tube. As long as the rigid tube that goes to the bottom of the inside of the container remains submerged, the system will retain the vacuum. When the water level in the sump drops, the bottom of the tube that sets the water level will become exposed to air, which then causes the ATO to fill the sump with water from the container. Once it fills the sump enough to cover the bottom of the tube, the water will stop filling the sump. There is a clamp on the feed line to keep the water from flowing when you remove the cap to refill the container. This makes it so you don't have to re-prime it each time you refill the container. This works as long as you refill before the bottom of the inside rigid tube is exposed. If you let it run dry then you need to re-prime after refilling. The J-tube on the end of the fill line is to prevent micro bubbles from getting into that tube. As I mentioned, that tube must be purged of air for the ATO to work. If enough air bubbles are allowed to accumulate in that tube, it will eventually break the siphon and won't fill the sump. A larger diameter air tube will keep a narrower range of water level in the sump because the top of the water won't cling to the tube as long as it will with a smaller diameter tube. That is also the reason that the end of the air tube is angled in the Aqualan product. As I mentioned, my only mishaps were overfilling the container because I wasn't paying attention. Also, trying to prime it by blowing into the air tube before I put the cap back on after refilling. That sprayed water inside the stand on my ballasts and other electrical items. But those are my fault, not the system's fault. I think that answered all of the questions so far. Thanks, Ron (ronl), not to be confused with roni

I've built three different gravity fed ATOs over the years. All modeled after the Aqualan NURCE ATO. One used a 5 1/2 gallon glass tank that I sealed with an acrylic top. The other two were acrylic boxes that I built. One held about 1 1/2 gal and the other about 6 gal. All were used with sumps. In about 5-6 years of combined use between the three, I never really had a problem with any of them other than leaving my RO/DI running too long while refilling them.

That's hysterical if that's an old Aquaclear. I use one to mix my saltwater then pump the water into the tank for water changes. I was just looking at mine yesterday after a water change and realized that I've had it for 21 years. I bought it to run the under gravel filter on my first saltwater tank. I thought to myself dang this thing is old, but still runs like a champ. The label on it says Askoll made in Italy.

I have run them submerged as well. I believe that line is the minimum water level so that the glass part is not exposed to air when hot.

Where is the best place to pick up the 5% window tint? Is this something they sell at Home Depot or Lowes? Thanks

We were in the northern part of Corolla, on the last street before the 4-wheel area. The pipefish were right in the surf, so we couldn't observe them for too long because we had to keep one eye on the waves. They were just floating with stray blades of sea grass and being carried by the tide. I've been to OBX about ten times and this was the first time I ever saw them. I was even in Corolla last year and didn't see them. I'm not sure if they are able to change colors or not, but we caught some that were brown, some striped, and some green. Not too different from the grasses they were floating with. The green ones were my favorite.

That thought certainly crossed my mind.

Are you putting one of the clips on the bottom half of the heater? If so, you need to keep them both in the top half where it is black and doesn't get hot. The clear part is where the heating element is.

Well it's not hillbilly handfishing, but while at the Outer Banks last week, my oldest daughter came out of the water to show me a fish that she caught by hand. It turned out to be a pipefish that was floating in the water with some grass. Of course I was the most excited and put it in a bucket to observe for a while before we returned it to the ocean. While in the ocean the next day, I noticed another pipefish and caught it. Turns out there were a lot of them and we caught a few dozen of them by hand over the next two days before our week ended. All we had to do was look for the grass floating in the water and see if any of them were moving. All in all, it was a pretty cool experience that all of my kids enjoyed.

In reading the voluminous discussion about these lights on RC, it seems that there are a number of people that got the lower kelvin whites (3500-4500k) that wish they had gone with a 3:1 blue to white ratio. As you increase the kelvin of the whites, the blue to white ratio can be lower since the cooler whites have more blue spectrum in them than the warmer/neutral whites. For what its worth, the Reef Breeders default layout has 33 blue (including moonlights and excluding violet) and 14 whites (all 4500k), which is a 2.36:1 ratio. They indicate that this gives an approx 14000k appearance at 100% all channels. I am going with a similar layout except replacing two of the whites for blues to get to 35 blues and 12 whites, which is a 2.92:1 ratio. I am getting a couple of extra whites and a couple of extra blues to swap out if needed. Howaboutme, what color whites are you going with on your 2:1 layout?

Funny, I was thinking just the opposite. 31 blues and 20 whites is only a 3:2 ratio. With the lower kelvin white (3500k and 4500k), many on Reef Central have indicated that they wish they went with a 3:1 ratio of blue to white.

Found my newly molted scarlet hermit hiding in my pink birds nest coral. I thought it was funny with the molt at the base of the coral and the crab hiding out in his treehouse shell. Sorry for the cell phone pic.