22bfan

I just received an email that Petco will be having their $1 per gallon sale starting this Sunday September 27th

I had some similar issues earlier on with my bio cube. I threw a bunch of changes at it and something seemed to work. I added a magnesium supplement at the same time that I installed In Tank's filter rack into the back of my biocube with Chemi-Pure and Purigen. The only problem Ive had with the InTank racks are that they are tough to get my hand into for replacing filter floss pads on the top level. When I don't change the floss, flow through the rear chambers backs up which raises water level in the front display and reduces the effectiveness of the rear filtration chambers exponentially. I think my mag was around 1600 and the algae evaporated. I added a turbo and it seemed to help but beware, they are like a bulldozer for coral frags. If you have loose coral frag plugs they will jar, dislodge, and topple them. Another thing to look at is what you are feeding the tank. If you have food with Phosphates in them, you are feeding the algae. As well, comprehensive flow in the tank is huge. Don't give algae a foothold by allowing dead spots in your tank with no/low flow. Add a ball of chaeto with a small light that illuminates opposite of when your display lights are on. That stuff loves to eat the same nutrients and waste that is feeding the algae in your display. Good luck!! It goes downhill pretty quickly. Wish it bounced back equally as fast.

I was blown away by your 150 setup. From the looks of it your 180 is even better!! I can't wait to have my 300 setup finished. The tank and stand are finally at home, sump room downstairs designed, lumber purchased . . . . still need to build it though I really need to come visit and talk with you about what you are doing to set up such successful tanks!!

My mistake, I was looking at the Snapper chart. I'm no plumbing superstar, so I might be thinking about this incorrectly, but . . . . . If my goal is to pump around 1000-1200 gph to the display which is 15' up, as well as pumping 400-600gph through my refugium, as well as running a manifold to feed 3 or more reactors, the Swordtail doesn't seem big enough to make it happen. Thanks for all the tips though!! What do you guys typically target as flow gph through a refugium growing chaeto and caulerpa? I have a 100 gallon stock tub that will have a sand bed and algae. As well I was thinking of building an egg crate stand to function as a frag rack.

Interesting. Reeflo's chart makes it seem like the Swordtail isn't rated for 15'. I will be running a manifold in the basement along with feeding a few hundred GPH to my 100 fuge/frag tank in the basement as well. The Hammerhead Barracuda seems like the safest bet.

I'm in Winchester frequently and would be more then glad to meet you somewhere to pick up a frag. I'm in the process of setting up a 300 deep dimension and will need all the freebies I can get. Ive seen the LFS coral setup you are talking about and, although its huge, they have problems keeping anything that isn't on the "easy" scale. I'm not going to speculate on the reasons why because I'm no marine biologist/expert reef keeper but some things are a bit obvious. . . .

Thanks but it look like the snapper isn't rated to pump 15' to my display tank from the sump in the basement. Otherwise I'd take you up on that.

Thanks for the tip!! I'm looking for new with warranty. Someone on Amazon has the Gold Hammerhead/Barracuda Hybrid for $396.15 + $18.75 shipping. That seems outrageously low. Anyone have experience with Capitol Lighting and Supply? I messaged them and they stated this is a new in box fully warrantied unit. Not sure what to think . . .

Cool, thanks for the recommendations. I ended up just making some rough stencils in visio to determine scale and equipment placement in my sump closet. Now to find a good price on a Reeflo Gold Hammerhead/Barracuda. Seems like everyone is right around the $480 mark.

Already received a reply from Chris directly I'm trying to explain my planned plumbing config but i think visio drawing would work a lot better. Do you any of you guys know where I can find plumbing stencils to download for Visio? Tried Watts but they only have stencils for copper applications such as radiant heat. . . .

Thanks all!! I just emailed them to ask questions. Note their website lists Sales@reeflopumps.co. I assumed this needed to be ".com" so hopefully they receive it.

I confess, I didn't reach out to Reeflo directly. *Disclaimer* I'm in no way bashing Reeflo products. I plan to buy one of their pumps. My comment was out of frustration for not being able to quickly obtain info from their website. I will get in touch with them directly to obtain specific info. Thanks!!

First of all Reeflo's website must have been designed by a 5th grader. I'm interested in the Reefo Barracuda/Hammerhead pump but can't seem to find an explanation of what is different between the "Gold" motor and the regular model. There is an excel-like flow table for the gold and regular motor here: http://www.reeflopumps.com/250-500-gallon-systems.html Only the table for the Gold motor shows avg watts consumed. As well the numbers in the flow table's seem to differ from the flow chart plot found here: http://www.reeflopumps.com/flow-chart-all-pumps.html What is the difference between these pumps? Thanks in advance!!

What did you guys use to build the screen's frame?

Thanks for the Reeflo recommendation. More specifically, which model do you think would work best for my application? I'm hesitant to drill the tank. Would it be smart to send a single vertical pipe to a manifold behind the tank which would split off into 6 over the back return feeds, each with ball valves to adjust individual flow?

2nd for King of Corals. The Marine Scene has a pretty sweet setup if your ever in Northern Virginia.

Also I'm still very confused about how much water I should be pushing through the returns which will dictate my return pump sizing. Is there any reason I would want to run as much return flow as dual corner herbie method overflows could handle? Seems like it would be tuff to have a true refugium (unless it was massive) with that much water flow. As well it seems like it would be tough to give enough contact time in the skimmer with water flowing through that fast. Thoughts?

Cool. Just so I understand this correctly the herbie overflow method consists of two drain pipes. The first, called and Emergency drain, would have its stand pipe about 1/2" below the top of the overflow baffle. The second, or main drain pipe, should be 6" below the Emergency drain and have a ball valve somewhere to regulate/adjust flow. I picked up the tank this past weekend and see that there are 2 corner overflows, each with 2 holes for bulk head plumbing (4 - total). Assuming 2 of the holes are used to feed return water back to the tank, the would leave 2 holes for overflow plumbing. For the herbie method, would both overflow pipes need to be on the same side? Or could/should I put the emergency drain on one corner and the main drain on the other?

The herbie oveflow setup seems like it would drain about half of your tank water into the sump if power goes out or pump failure. Otherwise it looks like it would be really quiet and easy to regulate flow

Barry-Can you confirm overflow pipe diameter? I talked to someone at bulk reef supply who mentioned the 300 should have 1" pipes able to handle 800 gph each (1600) total. He recommended external pumps just like khh27 said. A pair of 150PS-Pan World pumps were what he specced. I like to buy from BRS but the guy i chatted with was trying to recommend products before i even finished explaining my set up. Not sure what to think.

I will be using HW Marinemix Reefer as i set up the 300 over the next month. I've got about 100 gallons of IO Reef Crystals water in what will eventually be the sump. Will keep you posted on the results once everything is stable.

For flow in the display i will have a Gyre 150. The overflow from the display will gravity flow down to a 40 gallon skim chamber which will house the Reef Octopus SRO6000SSS which has a 480GPH pump. From the skim chamber, water will gravity flow into a 100 gallon stock tank acting as a refugium with sand, rock, and macro algae. From the refugium water will gravity flow into either a 100 gallon or a 50 gallon tank which will serve as the return pump chamber. This chamber will only have 6-8" of water in it unless the pumps fail and excess water from the display makes its way downstairs. Im more then open to any comments or advice on the setup listed above. I'm not the smartest man in the room when it comes to large tank setup. This is my first.

I recently agreed to purchase a Marineland Deep Dimension 300 tank with stand and am really looking forward to getting it set up. I'm in need of some advice when it comes to flow and return pumps. The display tank will be on the first floor with a sump room in the basement underneath. My basement has 9ft ceilings, floor trusses are 12", Monteray stand height 29", Tank height 27" = Roughly 15' of rise. Any idea how much flow the DD 300 needs out of its return pumps? Any recommendations for return pumps that fit that criteria? Thanks in advance!

Just hoping its not some type of aggressive algae that will eventually grow over my coral and choke it out . . . A few months ago I tried scraping a piece of it off one of my rocks and it just kind of laughed at me, no really, it laughed!!!

Hopefully!! Ill let them grow out a bit more rather trying to scrape them off.