Mr. Fosi Posted April 8, 2008 Author Share Posted April 8, 2008 That sounds ominous. I like the standpipe idea better anyhow. I picked up a threaded tee and a female slip/thread adapter but I forgot the male slip/thread. :slaps forehead: Leaving soon to go pick up the wife, child and my grandmother-in-law! Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 ***Pictorial Update*** This is the display + stand + overhead plumbing. Here is a view of the back with arrows indicating water movement. Red = sump flow Orange = closed loop Two closer views of the display. You may note that one of the bulkheads has a plug in it. That is b/c I plan to only use one with this setup. I wanted to have it so my future options were open. A closeup view of the modded SCWD. Screw top lid (2" ABS cleanout adapter and plug) and ported-out in/outlets (3/4" female thread/slip adapter). Closeup of the sump baffles. Closeups of remaining hard plumbing. These are the 15W NO fixtures that I will be using for over the sump. I have recent pics of the 20L as well but I know I am running close to my pic limit for this post. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 ***Pictorial Update Continued*** The toadie. The kenya. Halimeda loves the kalk topoff. Madracis top colony has been pissed for a few days. Not sure if it likes the new lamps. Neomeris algae popping up in a couple places. Red Gulf of Mexico macro that takes off any time the snails and hermit leave it alone. The rock was covered in this stuff before I originally cured it and it started popping back out of the rock when I put the 130W over it. FTS My new topoff resivoir and a closeup of the modded cap. I run the topoff with a deep water airpump. Link to comment
c est ma Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 You have been SO busy! I believe you enjoy this engineering/building stage as much as the populating to come. Nice work! Your pics and helpful flow indicators really aid my understanding. The back of the stand of the new set-up is looking nice and clean. Meanwhile, everything in the 20 is looking great! I love that little toadie--looks like a soft urchin. Is your Kenya really that pink? And I LOVE that macro (watch out--Weetie'll want some--). Looks almost like a mini gorg. Great to finally have some pics! --Diane Link to comment
yardboy Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Great work Fosi, should work just like you expect it to. I'll bet Diane's right about the construction phase. I know it's true for me. I tell everyone my hobby is plumbing! I love that Sarco. I'm trying to locate one for myself. I've got all the variations but no green long-tentacled. I can't believe that red macro even survives in the wild. It seems a similar species I keep trying to establish gets eaten as quickly as I put it in the tank. Looking forward to biological establishement of your ten gallon! Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 Diane: It's true; I do like the planning/construction phase. I like playing with the ideas on paper then making something grow from a pile of unassembled parts. Plus, the planning and construction is clean and simple whereas the stocking choice and maintainance of the biology is dirty and complicated. Both have their attractions but the initial phases are always full of hope and optimism, at least for me. The kenya tree is mostly pink with a touch of purple. A color reminiscent of a combination of the two more common xenia colors. The toadie is a trooper and adds a nice flourish with the long green tentacles. yardboy: Keep in touch b/c I may come into a new frag of sarco in the next couple days. If it's big enough, I'd be happy to frag you a piece. Not sure if it'll be green and long, but you'll be welcome to bit of it if it's big enough. That macro really does get grazed down by almost anything. I bought that bit of rock back in March of '06 for my 5.5g. It was knarly and awesome looking until I added some hermits and snails to the curing tank. My intent was to have them clean up any dead stuff they could and thereby help speed the curing process. Instead, the first thing they stripped off was this macro. They grazed it all the way down to rock surface but there was still red-colored hard spots where it had been attached. The red spots stuck around for 1.75 years while the rock was in my 5.5g (under 26W of PC) and then when I moved the rock from the 5.5 to the 20L and put the 130W PC over it, it started to sprout. Of course the snails and hermits jumped on it before it went anywhere. Gradually, the CUC dwindled (perhaps the hypothesized predator was eating them?) and I didn't replace them. Now I only have 2-3 astreas and a scarlet leg and they are so busy with the rest of the tank that they graze this stuff slower than it grows. Here is a pic of that rock from back in '06 when I bought it. You can see the tiny Madracis colony lower right of center. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 While we are doing pics, here are some pics of the lab tank. I just scored a massive colt frag, much more than I can comfortably fit in my 20L much less my 10g. The caretakers of the mother colony were a bit zealous in their fragging because they wanted to prune it away from a gorgonian that it has been irritating. If any readers of this thread would like to trade (or have a free frag!) let me know. First come first serve and I don't know how many frags it'll make. I also got a few new toadie leather frags. There is a possible trade pending on one already and one is reserved for yardboy if he wants it. They aren't too happy at the moment because they have been kicking around in a surge tank since before Christmas. A couple of them were upside-down and the smallest was in the shade. Knowing how tough the mother colony is, I have no fears regarding their future health once they are given enough light. It's exciting to have some new livestock and it is even more fun because it didn't cost me anything! Now if I could just talk them into giving me a frag of the hammer or frogspawns they have. Maybe now I'll have something to trade with Weetie so her offer isn't 100% charity. EDIT: Almost forgot the FTS! Link to comment
yardboy Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Okay, I see the deal I can make with you right away. I have frogspawn and hammer frags I'd be glad to trade for the sarco and a bit of the colt. I'll PM you. Link to comment
c est ma Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Hey, nice to see the lab tank again--it looks fantastic! And I remember when you got that cool piece of LR--that was about when we "met" on here. --Diane Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 True enough! You were the only person who cared about the taxonomy of my little brown coral. Link to comment
Bobalouy Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 If memory serves me correctly that air line is going to fill with water up to the water level in the tank (overflow). You may want to extend the PCV up to the water level and then add the airline. That or make sure the air line is sealed really tight or you are going to have a leak. But I think if the airline has water in it, it defeats the purpose anyway. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 This is an issue that I plan to test more thoroughly when I do my extended FW test. I experienced the issue that you describe during my initial FW test but only when I left the airline valve all the way open. If I closed it down all the way, I got flushing behind the overflow and if I closed it a little, say to 3/4 open, the airline would clear out and stay that way. Anything between "barely open" and 3/4 open would give me plenty of flow with no flushing, no airline flooding and no air sucking sound. It therefore seems that if I tweak the valve to "barely open" when I start it running, it shouldn't be an issue. If anything, flow will decrease over time as biofilms develop in the piping and the overflow will start to flush. Once it starts flushing, I can tweak it open a bit more. Link to comment
Bobalouy Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Thats cool, is the water level pretty low inside your overflow? I remember the first time testing my durso with no air line, and below the water level. I had a nice stream of water spraying up behind my tank, lol. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 The water level was ~1"-2" above the intake; just enough to keep it quiet. Do you think a herbie-style would be better for the drain? One additional thing: I am thinking about upgrading my light fixture from PC to MH. We should have enough $$ in our tax refund this year such that my wife and I can each get something for ourselves. Since I can't think of anything better to spend my $$ on, it seems to me that a MH pendant might be a good buy. I don't know much about MH fixtures and which are worth buying and I'm also unsure of what wattage I should choose. 70W is much less electricity per month than I am using with my 130W PC fixture but I am not sure if it will put out a light intensity that is comparable. 150W seems like a no-brainer but I am not sure if I want to increase our monthly electricity consumption. I would like to hear some warnings, suggestions, recommendations or other general advice regarding MH pendants. This fixture would be run over the 10g but may, in the future, be used on a larger (deeper) tank. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Go with a 150. You could use it later on a deeper tank, I light a 37gal with one 150, and I grow lots of sps. Go with a 14k pheonix for the bulb. I use all retrofit stuff so I can reccomend one brand pendant to another, but the retro kits from illuming.com are great. I warn you though if you have never had one before, once you go halide, you will never want to light a tank again with PC, it just looks so much better! Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 illuming.com a dead site? Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 You have been SO busy! I believe you enjoy this engineering/building stage as much as the populating to come. Nice work! Your pics and helpful flow indicators really aid my understanding. The back of the stand of the new set-up is looking nice and clean. Meanwhile, everything in the 20 is looking great! I love that little toadie--looks like a soft urchin. Is your Kenya really that pink? And I LOVE that macro (watch out--Weetie'll want some--). Looks almost like a mini gorg. Great to finally have some pics! --Diane Ah, she knows me too well! So when can I get some from you? Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 Virtually anytime. There is plenty there and it grows relatively quickly (so long as it doesn't get grazed). Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Ahh shucks that sucks!!!! I was planning on ordering another halide later this week!!!! Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 Hmmm.... http://illuming.com/catalog/ is still up, but the cart system does not seem to function. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 Good call. It looks like they might have been hacked or someone deleted the wrong file. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 I sent him an e-mail, I really liked his kits. This will do if I can get one from him....MH kit Link to comment
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