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ftsfilledwithwater.jpg

 

Ok today I refilled the tank. I completely removed both screens and let the water stabilize. I again had to have the pump dialed down to around 60%

 

I put the screens back on and the water level remained the same. There was no fluctuation after a few hours of leaving them on.

 

This is really irritating me as the Oceanlife Overflow can handle 500gph, and the XAqua says it can handle 550. Each of my drains are doing less than 250. Tthe Eheim is rated at 635 coming straight from the pump, so with 2-3 feet of travel distance I should be right at 550 or 600gph. The XAqua has no breathing hole. And most standpipes that use them are for quieting the sound. My system is actually very quiet except for some constant white noise from the pump.

 

Im so confused. A bigger hole and bigger drain would pull more water but both of the systems I'm mimicking say to use 42mm diamond hole saws (which is the same size used for 1" bulkheads)

 

15768010.jpg

 

Why not just go with less flow? Not like you need to be running 600 GPH through your sump...

 

My design was going to be based around as little equipment and cords as possible, especially inside the tank. Having high flow from my sump pump is a high priority to eliminate powerheads.

Edited by Scorched_Ice7
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awesome to see you got it to work. i had the same issue with my new build. diled the down a bit and it works like a charm.

 

Yes the system does work, but I want the pump to run at full power. The systems I'm practically replicating can handle way more flow. I may have to live with it, but I am not happy with it.

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It's looking great!

 

I almost had the same issue with my drill dying too soon on me. Luckily I was only doing three holes lol.

 

Now how do you do that acid wash? Is this something you should do with used sand? I got sand from a friend who was cleaning out a tank. I've heard I can just seed the sand with some active sand.... Any thoughts?

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Yes the system does work, but I want the pump to run at full power. The systems I'm practically replicating can handle way more flow. I may have to live with it, but I am not happy with it.

 

 

Wish I could help but I am unsure myself. I know did not want to use powerheads in the display.

I would setup the tank as is and test out how livestock respond to the dialed down flow.

If everything thrives then its just that little nagging thought in your head that you designed for more flow, not getting it but in the end all is OK. Is it worth all the turmoil now? Probably not.

 

And in the end I know you dont want powerheads in the display but looks like you can add an MP10 at 1/2 depth and hide it between your drain/return on one side and you would not see it that much if and only if your livestock need the additional flow. The MP10 cord can just zip tie to the back side of one of your pipes with a black zip tie and you wont even see it.

 

I think this is the only rational approach to take right now.

Edited by twan
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And in the end I know you dont want powerheads in the display but looks like you can add an MP10 at 1/2 depth and hide it between your drain/return on one side and you would not see it that much if and only if your livestock need the additional flow. The MP10 cord can just zip tie to the back side of one of your pipes with a black zip tie and you wont even see it.

 

I think this is the only rational approach to take right now.

 

+1

 

Keep in mind, if you are running at the full capacity of your bulkheads and a snail climbs up and blocks any of it, your tank will overflow. Just something to think about...

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Am I correct in understanding both of your drains are reduced into a single outlet into the sump? This could be causing your issues. Try separate outlets for higher drain flow.

 

Also, the setup you're comparing to might have more lift from the sump to the display.

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Wish I could help but I am unsure myself. I know did not want to use powerheads in the display.

I would setup the tank as is and test out how livestock respond to the dialed down flow.

If everything thrives then its just that little nagging thought in your head that you designed for more flow, not getting it but in the end all is OK. Is it worth all the turmoil now? Probably not.

 

And in the end I know you dont want powerheads in the display but looks like you can add an MP10 at 1/2 depth and hide it between your drain/return on one side and you would not see it that much if and only if your livestock need the additional flow. The MP10 cord can just zip tie to the back side of one of your pipes with a black zip tie and you wont even see it.

 

I think this is the only rational approach to take right now.

 

Ya I was going to add the rocks and sand today. The more I look at it with the lights on I do like it. It still is a cool setup.

 

As long as an MP10 has around a 2" width it should fit snuggly between the tubes on the side. And would be nicely hidden.

 

Thanks twan!

 

 

+1

 

Keep in mind, if you are running at the full capacity of your bulkheads and a snail climbs up and blocks any of it, your tank will overflow. Just something to think about...

 

Ya, I've dialed down the pump about another 5% to be safe and have even covered my entire hand over one of the screens. It would take a 4 inch anemone that moved and spanned the whole screen to back everything up. I actually was worrying about it last night while I was home that somehow in the morning I would come to work with water on the floor but everything was normal. This is my first sump so having water stacked in two containers without tops still scares me. AIO definitely has its positives in that regard.

 

 

Am I correct in understanding both of your drains are reduced into a single outlet into the sump? This could be causing your issues. Try separate outlets for higher drain flow.

 

Also, the setup you're comparing to might have more lift from the sump to the display.

 

At some point I may have posted about combining the two drains from a 1" to a 1 1/2" or something that would go into a single sock, but as they are set up right now each drain has its own hose all the way to the sump. And the only thing restricting them is the first elbow. Everything else is a single run of hose with smooth bends.

Edited by Scorched_Ice7
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It's looking great!

 

I almost had the same issue with my drill dying too soon on me. Luckily I was only doing three holes lol.

 

Now how do you do that acid wash? Is this something you should do with used sand? I got sand from a friend who was cleaning out a tank. I've heard I can just seed the sand with some active sand.... Any thoughts?

 

LOL ya the dead drill was a huge pain. And after I returned on Sunday I finished the glass holes with ease. And then I went on to drill a bunch of large holes in my stand to feed the piping through. I needed to use hole saws due to their size and my drill for some reason just can not handle these types of large holes with the drill going nonstop for such a long time. Around my last hole for my stand my drill again ran out of power. I was ready to lose it. I called a few co-workers hoping one of them nearby had a drill to borrow. Then I remembered we have this crappy storage room on a floor below and I dug around through boxes and ended up finding a table saw, crowbar, hacksaw, and eventually a spare drill. YEAH!

 

As for acid washing I would only really do it to rocks. For sand you can give it a few rinses through saltwater with a lot of shifting and swirling to try and dislodge a lot of the debris and garbage. If you use any type of chemical you will just kill anything inside of it. At that point you might as well buy dry sand and get the exact size and color grain you want. If you are getting the sand from someone cleaning out their tank it shouldnt have to be seeded unless it has been out of the water and dried out for awhile.

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LOL ya the dead drill was a huge pain. And after I returned on Sunday I finished the glass holes with ease. And then I went on to drill a bunch of large holes in my stand to feed the piping through. I needed to use hole saws due to their size and my drill for some reason just can not handle these types of large holes with the drill going nonstop for such a long time. Around my last hole for my stand my drill again ran out of power. I was ready to lose it. I called a few co-workers hoping one of them nearby had a drill to borrow. Then I remembered we have this crappy storage room on a floor below and I dug around through boxes and ended up finding a table saw, crowbar, hacksaw, and eventually a spare drill. YEAH!

 

As for acid washing I would only really do it to rocks. For sand you can give it a few rinses through saltwater with a lot of shifting and swirling to try and dislodge a lot of the debris and garbage. If you use any type of chemical you will just kill anything inside of it. At that point you might as well buy dry sand and get the exact size and color grain you want. If you are getting the sand from someone cleaning out their tank it shouldnt have to be seeded unless it has been out of the water and dried out for awhile.

 

They need energizer drill batteries lol.

 

As for the sand.... Won't it 'go bad' though? The sand was from a tank, I then put it into two buckets and covered up. The sand is wet with water from the aquarium it came from. I guess my understanding is limited... My thought is if it's still wet, it should be 'ok'. I suppose I could just get the tank set up and just let the sand 'cycle'?

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Where did you get your bulkhead screens? I hope you can figure the flow out. I would like to do the same thing in some 7.5 gallon cubes.

 

I never really figured out a way to improve flow into the sump. So MAX drain speed at a level equal to the water level is around 200gph per bulkhead is my estimation. I have 2 of them and with my 635gph pump dialed down to around 60% that is my estimate.

 

I bought the screens off of Amazon, but it was from a seller called MarineandReef. They have their own website but through Amazon was cheaper.

http://www.amazon.com/JT-Manufacturing-Bul...2526&sr=8-3

 

 

great build, your sig photo is so cool it makes me jealous... - hate you. lol

 

Thanks Jonny. Im updating it today to include water this time :P

 

They need energizer drill batteries lol.

 

As for the sand.... Won't it 'go bad' though? The sand was from a tank, I then put it into two buckets and covered up. The sand is wet with water from the aquarium it came from. I guess my understanding is limited... My thought is if it's still wet, it should be 'ok'. I suppose I could just get the tank set up and just let the sand 'cycle'?

 

True there may be tiny organisms, or possible parasites inside the sand that could become a problem in your system. But it might be completely fine and you will have a good headstart on cycling your tank with live sand. You can do two things. Keep it in saltwater with a small heater, or atleast at room temp so it says alive. Or soak it with a diluted bleach solution, then rinse it multiple times with tap water and a final rinse with RODI, or only RODI if you have plenty available. After that let it completely dry out which will remove any remaining bleach and kill off a few of the things that might have survived.

Edited by Scorched_Ice7
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I haven't posted any updates cause there really wasn't much to talk about. I really wanted to figure out my flow issue before I added everything in. But in the end I just started the tank. I found out once I mixed the salt in the tank and watched the floating particles inside the water there was a lot more flow than I thought.

 

One of the things that I used to like were my nano spinners. However they were only effective at a flow rate of about 400gph. With my flow being around 200-250 per return the spinners were actually slowing my flow way down. So much so that the water wouldnt even move in the middle of the tank. Once I removed them I was getting current from one side of the tank to the other. There is a small area in the middle where the two flows crash together but for the most part they move right past each other and flow into their opposite bulkhead.

 

Some pictures from Thursday I believe.

 

Mixing the salt.

77451578.jpg

 

Full Tank Shot with rocks and sand added. The spinners removed also opened up more space in the tank.

62749178.jpg

Edited by Scorched_Ice7
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Hi, I love your build. I was wondering I you still have the drain problem? I have the same problem in my Edge2. I finally thought about drilling a small hole in the drain elbow and since there was air going through, it helped with the draining. I went from 24g/hour to 64g/hour Given the proper venting and some gurgling lol. I need a fluid dynamic engineer to help me understand what's going on.

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Gas trapped in the elbow?

 

I actually keep my water level so that a tiny amount of air can naturally get out at the top of the bulkhead hole. I could add a airline hole to the top of both elbows and that would allow me to keep my water level much higher but I thought that would be too risky. If there was any fluctuation in the draining or return amount the display would overflow. Keeping it right at the bulkhead hole gives me a little room for one of the screens to become blocked and let the other pick up the slack.

 

Hi, I love your build. I was wondering I you still have the drain problem? I have the same problem in my Edge2. I finally thought about drilling a small hole in the drain elbow and since there was air going through, it helped with the draining. I went from 24g/hour to 64g/hour Given the proper venting and some gurgling lol. I need a fluid dynamic engineer to help me understand what's going on.

 

The draining speed still irritates me a little. I thought both drains would be able to move more water with pure gravity, but since there is no water pressure at the surface it moves fairly slowly. I don't have a venting or gurgling issue so I never added a hole. I wish I had a fluids person as well so I could put more water faster through my system. But I've learned to accept it and I am enjoying it rather than letting it bug me.

Edited by Scorched_Ice7
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Haven't posted in awhile.

 

Well things were going well and then left me sad and a little depressed, I kinda didn't feel like sharing about it but things are starting to look up again.

 

I had my tanked cycling and everything was going well with the biospira. I transferred my clownfish of 6 years over to the 12gallon and he was loving it. Swimming back and forth cruising the tank at top speed. He was previously in a 5.5 so his swimming length was quite small. Now with 36" to cruise he was having a great time. A few days pass and I come into work and he is no where to be found. I look all over the sides of the tank, the floor, the sump. Sometime in the middle of the night he jumped out flopped around behind the tank and then slipped behind the stand. Everyone at work was very sympathetic. A few suggestions were brought up to cover the tank from now on, and I probably will in the future. I plan to do a mesh or eurobrace type top that I will place on the top whenever I leave and take it off in the morning for feeding.

 

This sunday I went to the LFS with the wife and we picked out a new clownfish as well as the first coral. This clown was sorta unique I guess amongst his tankmates as he was misbared on one side and no bared on the other. The coral is a tiny torch. If these guys do well the stocking will accelerate.

 

Pictures tomorrow when I go back to work.

Edited by Scorched_Ice7
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Sorry to hear that.

 

Even though I like the open top on a rimless I went ahead and bought the BRS screen top kit.

When I am around and viewing the tank or doing maintenance I can take it off.

While I am away I want that thing on!

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sorry to hear that man. :(

 

 

Sorry to hear that.

 

Even though I like the open top on a rimless I went ahead and bought the BRS screen top kit.

When I am around and viewing the tank or doing maintenance I can take it off.

While I am away I want that thing on!

 

Thanks guys

 

Diatoms are in full effect so a cleanup crew was ordered. Hoping for some freebies from reefcleaners :D

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