180 Gallon Family Project...

DrHank · Post by **DrHank** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:27 pm

Works for me. I'll bring it to the meeting on May 4th. If you want it sooner, you are welcome to come and get it.

tswtrskier56 · Post by **tswtrskier56** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:01 pm

Hey still planning to attend the meet, bringing my pump with me, but cant come up with 125, bills due at that time....can come up with about 100 if you can take that let me know

tswtrskier56 · Post by **tswtrskier56** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 9:36 pm

Well, its been a while since Ive been on here, work is busy. but here are some pics of whats been going on...
Here are the lights, finally came in..

Here is the tank in the house

The plumbing

The sump plumbing

The setup minus the side tank

The setup with the side tank

The fascia almost complete, water and rocks in, lights mounted

crsswift70 · Post by **crsswift70** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:37 pm

Wow that's a lot of PVC

Looks great.

tswtrskier56 · Post by **tswtrskier56** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:16 am

Thanks, my wife and I spent a lot of time on it, she can design pretty well.

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:23 am

Looks like you sprung for a nice closed loop pump. What did you finally end up getting?

tswtrskier56 · Post by **tswtrskier56** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:49 pm

I traded my Mak 4 pump for a Sequence Hammerhead...and I think its a bit strong for my system. I wish there was a way to tone it down a bit, otherwise my fish will need rocket packs to swim!

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:59 pm

You can use a simple ball valve to tone it down a bit, if desired without any issues. You really did go a step up, lol. That's what, like 5800 gph of concentrated flow, right? Depending upon the corals you want, that may be just fine.

tswtrskier56 · Post by **tswtrskier56** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:39 pm

yeah, we are planning for sps and some lps, few softies, a variety really. But 5800 gph is a lot, it is keeping the sand stirred up so bad that the wter clarity is crap. And when we aim it up a little bit, it stirrs the top of the water so bad we get bubbles...its a lose lose situation!

tswtrskier56 · Post by **tswtrskier56** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:42 pm

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:15 pm

Well, here is what I ended up doing. Granted, I don't have a closed-loop, but I have a buttload of flow in my 75 (~10000gph or ~150x turnover). I noticed that, while things stirred up at first, they eventually settled out after a few weeks as the contours of the sand matched the flow as best as possible. If it continues for longer than that, you may want to consider throttling it back slightly.

tswtrskier56 · Post by **tswtrskier56** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:50 pm

Yeah, it has settled down a lot, but it has kicked holes all the way down to my glass in a few spots, i may try to throttle it back some or switch to a smaller pump, like a dart or something, something with a little less kick.

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:32 pm

I wouldn't go as far as a dart. Maybe try the Barracuda, which is a direct step down from a Hammerhead.

*Though, I think you should shoot for the Tiger Shark

*

tswtrskier56 · Post by **tswtrskier56** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:35 pm

Well, once we got the second tank plumbed in and setup, the flow rate in both tanks seems to be sufficient without being over powering, so we are going to leave our pumps alone for now. We had a major "oh shit" moment this weekend, July 4th we went to spend the day with family and friends down in Gulf Shores. Well, we turned on the MH for our daily cycle, and left the house with the intentions of being home a few hours later.....well, one thing lead to another and by the time we left it was 11pm. We came home to the biggest out break of hair algae I had ever seen!! It was like someone planted sod in our tank, up the walls, over the rocks, on the pvc, everywhere!!! The water temp was a scorching 94 degrees!!! The chiller never got plugged in! So, needless to say, we spent the next few hours doing damage control

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 8:06 pm

94 degrees, eh? Those pumps are really heating up the water. I know halides alone can't do that unless they are completely unventilated and in a compact space. Still, pumps add far more heat to the water. I have trouble keeping my tank warm enough with my Tunzes and T5s. When I checked it this morning, it was running at room temperature, which was ~76 degrees since my heater isn't plugged in. Even during the day, I have to use a heater to get it above 78 (I prefer to keep it ~79-82 degrees).