Starting over... somewhat. My 135 revamp thread

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:00 am

So this past weekend I drilled the skimmer for the recirc mod and direct feed mods. Doing this allowed me to get the tank up and running. I had a few powerheads in for the last week. For some reason the return pump is louder than I remember it. Its not really the pump but it sounds like somehow I'm getting some reverb from the glass sump. I'm not sure what the deal is. I'll have to look into it more. I think it might be because I had to cut back the flow to keep the flow into the skimme down. I have the drains T'd off so not all the water goes into the skimmer but I might have to replumb things. I didn't glue any of that pvs together.

My other problem is the large air bubbles from the drain are disrupting the foam column in the skimmer. I need to figure out a way to bleed the air off.

Anyone have any ideas.

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:41 pm

How do you have it configured? If the T is too close to the inlet of the skimmer, you will get that problem. You want the T as far away as possible and any reductions as close as possible.

sb1227 · Post by **sb1227** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:43 pm

Yep. I have a pipe go from the T to a valve and then it's reduced right before the inlet. In alot of cases it isn't recommended to reduce the output flow of a pump (depending on what kind). You'd be better off reducing the flow to the skimmer and letting the return pump run unrestricted. I have the feeling it might help with both of your problems.

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:21 pm

I've run the pump restricted ever since I've owned it. It pushes too much and I originally had it to run a seperate fuge and calcium reactor, which are no longer on the tank. I also have the return T'd off so it can just flow back into the sump. I might have to open that up more than I wanted to.

The T is as far a way as I can get it from the skimmer and I don't reduce down for the input. I've gone right into the skimmer with a 1in piece of pvc. I might take one of the drains off of the direct feed line and have it go into the sump, and then reduce the feed down and then open it back up to 1".

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:14 pm

So yesterday I get home from work and see that my gate valve is leaking from the knob. What a pain in the but. I have that entire side glued together. Its going to be a little bit of work but hopefully I can fix things tonight. I'm going to replace the gate valve with a ball valve. I don't think I need very fine control with this side anymore since I put a T on to return the water to the sump to divert some of the flow.

I also changed the plumbing into the skimmer but I'm still getting some bubbles. I just took the 1" pipe and when down to 1/2" and then back up to 1" and also put a ball valve on there just in case. I think that has helped eliminate some of the larger bubbles.

I hope I can get things up and running properly by this weekend. I want the tank to cycle by the end of the month.

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:21 am

Looks like I'm back on track. I finished all the plumbing for the main system and all I have left to do is the closed loop. The tank is up and cycling with just sand. I added about 90 lbs of dry stuff and 10 lbs of live sand.

The skimmer mods have made a difference. I reduced the input down to 1/2 inch and then back up to 1 inch as it enters the skimmer, and I had to reduce the Tee'd section down to 1/2 inch as well. This eliminated the large bubble problem. I'm getting more and finner bubbles in the skimmer than I did with the stock setup. Now I'm debating on doing the mesh mod to the needle wheel. I've read that it can double the productivity of an ASM skimmer.

I have switched out the water in the live rock holding tanks in 3 weeks due to the lack of time and I think its going to be a problem. Just last night I took a look at the rock and a good 5 weeks or more since I put it in the tubs I still have that short green astroturf type algae on some of the rocks... and someone said oh just put it in there for 3 weeks and it will be fine. I want everything off of these rocks before they go back into the tank. The coraline is just starting to die off also.

Does anyone know off the top of their head what gauge wire the Icecap 430 harnesses are using? I need to splice some wire in there so I can mount the ballast where I want it and not just have it hanging out of the back of my canopy.

Nevermind about the icecap.. I took care of that with a quick google search --- All wires are 18 gauge solid copper

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 8:26 am

At what point in the cycle period do you suggest I put in carbon, poly filter and hook up my Phosban Reactor? The tank is going to sit here with just sand and a few pieces of LR in the sump for another 2-3 weeks unless the LR I'm cooking cleans up faster.

sb1227 · Post by **sb1227** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 7:30 pm

I would think anytime for the Phosban reactor, but I probably wait to add the carbon and polyfilter till after the cycle is finished. You shouldn't really need them, till you have the critters back in there. Everyone is just fine, btw.

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 10:50 am

I hope to get my stuff off your hands by the end of the month. I'm frustrated that the macro algae hasn't all died off in this cooking process, but I also don't want to have to wait 3-4 months. I mean the stuff isn't getting any light at all but is still alive on all the rock it was on when I started the process. Maybe I'll get the rock back in the tank by the end of this month, let things settle for a week and pick up the fish/coral the first week of april.

DrHank · Post by **DrHank** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:11 am

I know what you mean about that #$%^ algae. I thought that I'd never beat it. It's finally dying off and I'll tell you what finally worked for me. I set up a 10 gallon tank with a DSB fed directly from the sump. I planted it with C. Prolifera, C. Floridans, Ulva, and red graciallia. I ran the return to the fuge using an old overflow box. It took several weeks but I'm seeing a slow but steady decline.

I wanted something to pull nutrients and compete with the HA, but something I could pull offline quickly should the Caulerpa show any signs of going sexual. You might want to give it a thought. Good luck with your re-set.

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:45 am

The hair algae isn't a problem for me anymore. That stuff was dead in a week or two in the cooking process. This stuff is some type of macro algea that will just not die. When I had the bad hair algea in my tank I had a fuge set up and the maco algea I had in the fuge would not grow. It was odd.

DrHank · Post by **DrHank** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:54 am

That is a bummer. If it's a macro, I don't know what you could do to get rid of it. The only thing that comes to mind is possibly a rabbitfish. The problem is that they get so big.

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:06 pm

I had an orange spot rabbitfish that did an ok job on things. The problem is he ended up eating all of my zoanthids. I'm just surprised that the stuff is still alive in the rubbermaid tubs with no light and its been about 6 weeks now I guess.

Fishfood · Post by **Fishfood** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:24 am

Well I got the extra RO unit tubing in I needed to run the water through the attic. Now I have two tubs that fill up. One to hold water for water changes and one that is connected to a float switch in the sump. No more carrying the water from the water change tub to the topoff tub.

The last step is re-wiring the lighting and hooking up the closed loop. Then its just a waiting game on the LR. I had wanted to wait until all the macro algea died off of the live rock during the cooking process but I don't know how much long I really want to wait. I had thought 2 months would have been long enough but I'm 3/4 of the way there and I still have macro algae growing in the dark tubs? I'll probably put the rock in the tank the last week of the month and see what the phosphate reactor can do to the stuff.

I'm sure Sue isn't having much fun worrying about my fish all the time.

sb1227 · Post by **sb1227** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:35 pm

Huh.....as if I wouldn't find something else to worry about.