Alan's 180 Reef Tank (feedback welcome)

[Beefcake]

Playing with the rockwork as I collect peices to get this running. Have pretty much every thing but some sand and plumbing and maybe a bit more rock. I'm really digging the scape so far and might just want to add a few little islands for fast growing corals to be secluded to



 

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Beefcake

[Beefcake]

Any thoughts on how to improve in the rockwork?

[YHSublime]

Are you set in using these pieces? They seem unnatural, and won’t be much good for coral placement, imo.

[Beefcake]

I was thinking I could put an entrusting coral on the left on and it would also be a good hiding place for small fish. The one on the right I don't care about I just had it laying around

[howaboutme]

5 hours ago, Beefcake said:

I was thinking I could put an entrusting coral on the left on and it would also be a good hiding place for small fish. The one on the right I don't care about I just had it laying around

 

The issue w/ the encrusting corals is that the main surface area will be vertical so it won't get the bulk of your light. Otherwise, nothing wrong w/ the scape. Once it's covered w/ coral, the rocks won't matter.

[Beefcake]

Planning my plumbing. Durso overflow with back up drain. This look good so far?

[Origami]

Where is the tank located? Fifteen or twenty years ago, the Durso and Stockman standpipes were among the quieter drains. However, they still made a bit of noise that could be distracting in some home locations. A quieter option is what's now known as the BeanAnimal overflow configuration that requires three drain lines: One in constant siphon (silent), another that's a trickle drain, and an emergency/backup drain.

[AlanM]

Instead of those two Durso's with skinny emergency pipes I'd do two "Herbie" style drain boxes.  The skinny one in that scheme is the main drain which you run as a full siphon that ends underwater say halfway down the overflow box.  You put a gate valve on it just before it enters the sump and use that valve to tune how fast the water leaves.  Even if the skinny one is only 3/4" you'd be surprised how much water will go through it when it's in a siphon mode, and it's quiet because there is no air.

The wider one is an "open channel" which is kind of your Durso, but it gets very little water through it during routine operations.  It gets set to the normal height of water in the overflow box and you want water to just barely trickle down the side of it.  So little that it's silent (once it slimes up).  

 

It's safe because if the skinny one ever clogs the wider one will absolutely handle the water flow because it's bigger and has no valve.  Once the level rises it will convert to a siphon as well and will flush the box.

[Beefcake]

Thanks for the replies. I just talked to someone at Reef Escape and he told be pretty much the same thing. Going to cut the 3/4 in pipe shorter and put a valve on it. 

[Beefcake]

Finally finished the plumbing and got some new awesome rock work. Water is mixing to fill it up. 

 

[AlanM]

I really like those pedestals and places for fish to swim around.  It's going to look great. 

[YHSublime]

The rework on the rockscape looks better, good job! 

[Beefcake]

Its up and running. The bean animal (minus the backup) is working great. The full syphon 3/4in is full open and the 1" durso is trickling the rest. Now beings the cycle

 

 

[AlanM]

The durso trickle should quiet down as it slimes up over the next couple of weeks.

[Beefcake]

On 8/26/2022 at 8:45 AM, AlanM said:

The durso trickle should quiet down as it slimes up over the next couple of weeks.

I think the loudest part is the waterfall coming over the corner overflows. Thankfully my wife likes the white noise and thinks it nice

[AlanM]

That should get quieter too with time, but you could always make the durso one higher in order to make the overflow not fall so far.  The distance your valve is open determines how much flow you get, the height of the durso determines the water level in the overflow box.

 

Also, if you terminated the drain pipe slightly under the water line, even 1/4" or so, in the sump that would make it quieter too.  You can just slide on a coupler with no glue to the pipes facing down to get it to exactly the right length and either adjust the coupler up and down or cut a little off it.  Friction will hold it on basically forever and you don't have to worry about it leaking.