bbyatv

Bruce

I modified my Euro Reef RS 80 to me a recirculating skimmer. It works so much better it is hard to believe. It cranks baby. Here are some pics. Bruce

Dan, Thanks a bunch. The RBTA is from Chip's tank via Johns Hess's tank. Bruce

Some Fish Pics: 3 Tang Clan Picked this guy up for $25 at Pacific East Bruce

Here are the overflows made from a trash can. I have 1/4 of the can in each of the two rear corners. I have also posted some pics of the access hole I climb through to get to the back of the tank. Good for me I am not a large person. Bruce

Here are some up the back shots: Bruce

There is about 120 lbs. or so. I took some pics from ths side so you could kind of see. The anemone moved once but has not moved since. Bruce

Larry, It is hard to see the PVC from any angle. I have hidden it very well. The only way you can see it clearly is from the side of the tank. The tank is in a corner and you can not look down the sides any way. The racks work great. They have saved a ton of money in LR, allow for great water circulation, give the fish lots of room to swim and allowed me to create caves for all the live stock to move in and out of. All this and it still looks like tha tank is full of rock. I really like it and can not take my eyes off my tank. Bruce

Just a couple of recent pics. Bruce

John, No. I have been busy getting the 30g down into the 90g. I will likely do it in a few eeks. I did get the uniseals in the mail. I have 2 x 3/4" and 2 x 1" seals. I bought extra in case I damage one during the mod. Bruce

Dave, Good idea. Here is the story. I wanted to add some additional T5 lights for some additional watts and color in my tank. I do not have a lighting box over the tank. It is open and so has to look presentable. So the plan was to buy some T5 strip lights that were nice enough looking that they could be attached right to the outside of the MH fixture I have. I found these light fixtures called Helios for $31 here: http://www.commodityaxis.com/ProductData.aspx?id=68 I knew I would not like the bulb and planned on replacing it with an ATI bulb. When I got the light I took it up to BRK and worked with John to check out the PAR. The light was only putting out 150 on the PAR meter. Oh No! Was the balast crap? John let me try a Giesman bulb in the fixture and the PAR reading went to 850. Good News! The problem was that the Giesman bulb was about 20mm shorter than the bulb that it came with. On the Helio box it claims that the bulb is not replaceable. No problem, just use a pair of plyers to pull out the plastic fitting from the end of the aluminum extrusion. OK. Now I had to cut the aluminum extrusion down in length by 20mm and then insert a new bulb. It took very little work to get what I wanted. If you are not worried about appearance or are hiding the fixture in a box, this could be done easier by buying a T5 strip light from BRK and adding a reflector for about the same price. Any way here are the pics of the lights. I added one on either side of the MH fixture and they are bright as heck: Bruce

Thanks for all of the nice compliments. Bruce

Well, I finally broke down my 30g found here: http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?show...5&hl=bbyatv And started my new 90. Here are some pictures to date. I have a ton of DIY on this new tank. It has been very fun building it. When I moved the 30g down, it was so full of stuff, I had a hard time finding room for it all in the bigger tank. The new refugium/frag tank. Aclimating lots of coral at one time. Everything seems to be adjusting well. (Knock on wood!) Bruce

Thanks. I found some at a good price here as well: http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseac...detail/iid/8600 Bruce

Yauger, Where did you find the uniseals? I looked at Ace and they were clueless. Bruce

Did the mod change the performance of the skimmer? Did you see an increase in the amount of skimmate? Was there an impact on the tank water quality? Thanks, Bruce

Thanks for the link. It helps alot. Does the mod change performance? Bruce

Has anyone modified an RS-80 to be a recirculating stye skimmer? I am considering drilling 2 additional holes in the side of the skimmer body. I would then have the intake from the existing pump draw water from inside the skimmer. A second pump would then be added that would pump new water into the skimmer. If this has been done, what were the results? Did you get better performance? If you have not done this but are familiar with skimmers, would you expect that I would get better performance? Thanks for any feedback. Bruce

I had a very similar situation at a 1.5" Bulkead. I had about 1 inch of pipe sticking out of the bulkhead. I was nervous about just cementing on an elbow to the 1 inch of pipe. I went to Lowes and found that a 1" coupling will fit very tightly into the inside of a 1.5" pipe and the inside of a 1.5" elbow. So what I did was cement the 1" coupling inside the 1.5" pipe and then cemented on my 1.5" elbow. When I did this, the 1" coupling slid inside the elbow while at the same time the flange on the elbow slid outside of the 1.5" pipe. In this way it was cemented on the inside and out of both the pipe and the elbow. The only issue with this fix is that it does change the inside diameter of the plumbing to that of the ID of the 1" coupling. In my case the 1.5" plumbing is way over kill and so I could afford to decrease the diameter of my overflow blumbing at that point. By the way buy the type of elbow that is more of a sweeping elbow. I found it in the area where all of the sink drain fittings are not with all of the normal PVC fittings. This type of elbow will allow you to remove the nut from the bulkhead and slide it over the elbow. Allowing you to remove the bulkhead from the tank if need be. Here is a sketch of the fix. (If you can figure it out?) Bruce

In my opinion I would use an elbow off of the bulkhead and then a union down stream of that so that hack saw cuts are not required in the future. Same goes for the other cut but maybe use a coupling then a union depending on how you plan to route the plumbing.. Bruce

JP, 30 Gallon glass tank 10 Gallon DIY sump Current 36" NOVA Extreme High Output T5 156 Watt light Giesmann 15,000K AB+, 2 ATI AB Special 12,000K, 1 ATI AB + 11,000K Penguin Biowheel 350 Mechanical Flter 350 gph Current Prime Mini In-Line Chiller 1/10 HP SCWD Mag 12 driven closed loop HF 17 Return pump Via Aqua 305 315 gph (for water flow) RS 80 Skimmer 2 x ROSS FLEXIFLO COMPANION DOSING PUMPS DIY gravity fed auto top-off system As much as I think my equipment is important, I also feel my water parameters and water flow are vital to a healthy tank. I have spent alot of time focusing on these two issues. I have determined my alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium consumption very precisely and use dosing pumps to keep them very stable with RHF recipe #1. I use two large air pumps to pump fresh air in from outside the house to the skimmer and air stone in the refugium. This keeps my pH very stable. For water flow I try to get the entire volume of water to move in one direction and then reverse itself and flow the other way. I am trying to simulate wave action rather than random water flow. I estimate I turn the tank over 59 times an hour (Maybe?) it might be more. Again, thanks for the nice words. Bruce

Thanks everyone for the comments. This club has been a great resource and I appreciate hearing such nice things from such knowledgeable and experienced aquarist. Thanks again for taking the time to post a comment. Bruce

Ya, there are 2 of them hosting in the GBTA. Bruce

gmubeach, Thanks for the compliment. Bruce

Here is my 30g at 1.5 yrs old. I am about to upsize to a 90g in a month or so. Things are getting tight in there. Bruce