NogaroBlueS4 Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Well Finally here are my long over due pictures. Sorry the underside is a mess. It also shows the power strip underneath. Link to comment
ttolliver Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Beautiful tank NogaroBlueS4. Seeing your star polyps makes me want to pass a little situation I've had with them along just in case you do too. Over the first 6 months or so my tank was up I stocked with several of the hardier inverts from the LFS. Off the top of my head, I had something like 4 or 5 frags of zoas, 1 mushroom, 1 star polyp, and a few other goodies. All of them flourished nicely. I was especially happy that my mushrooms were growing and splitting like gangbusters. After maybe 9 months of blissfully steady growth, everything but the star polyps stopped growing. Then, after a few more months, all of the colonies except one zoa started shrinking. And the star polyps just kept growing. So I'm frantically checking water parameters, replacing bulbs, playing with flow, etc. and finding nothing. I mention the situation to my LFS guy and WHAM, he nailed the situation in one guess. It seems that star polyps are known for being extra efficient for pulling nutrients/food out of the water. So once the star polyp colony got to a certain size, they were able to literally starve the mushrooms and zoas. Aside from occasionally dropping some meaty bits on the mushrooms, I hadn't normally been feeding these filter feeders. I have started to add a supplelent to pull everything back from the brink. My plan is to frag off a couple small pieces of star polyp and trade off the huge colony to the LFS once I see they're healthy. Anyway, just thought I'd pass along something that might become an issue in the future. Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 22, 2009 Author Share Posted January 22, 2009 Great looking tank, Nogaro! Last night i finally got off my lazy butt and replumbed my Finnex. since I'm using the Rio 14HF pump which I have been using for many many months now, I decided to toss the main straight-pipe of the T-pipe and replaced it with a similar length piece of "1 O.D. / "¾ I.D. black vinyl tubing and then modified the actual 'T" part boring out the tank return side so that it'll handle a little larger volume of water and not be so narrow. I widened the inside by about "¼ I would guess using a wedge shaped sander with my Dremal. The part of the "T" section that fit over the straight pipe now fits into the end of the vinyl tubing so that more flow volume can be achieved. And then over the widened I.D. part of the "T" for the main return through the falsewall, I slipped the largest Hydor-Flo adaptor I had over the end of the "T" which the opposite end of is attached to my short "Y" locline nozzles as I had previously. Overall I think it should be a nice setup. I did also manage to fit the baseplate with the suction feet under it, onto the bottom of the pump for hopefully increased vibration and noise control. Hopefully I'll remember to take pics of the setup and get them posted up for all on here to see. Of note, I'm still retaining the stock valve controlled fuge flow pipe, so that end of the plumbing is reminaing in stock factory form. Link to comment
NogaroBlueS4 Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Well I'd be interested in seeing that Phixion. I am torn right now whether to put more money into my pico or more into the Finnex. The pico I threw together for less than $25 so far, and I plan on moving it into my studio next to my computer but it's way colder in that part of the house even with the heat, maybe room temps of 55, so I'd have to buy a heater. I have the pico right now in my kitchen on an island type thing next to the heat so I don't really need to heat it, it stays about 78 with lights off and 80 with them on. I am kind of torn. Eh I don't know what to do. Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 25, 2009 Author Share Posted January 25, 2009 Well I'd be interested in seeing that Phixion. I am torn right now whether to put more money into my pico or more into the Finnex. The pico I threw together for less than $25 so far, and I plan on moving it into my studio next to my computer but it's way colder in that part of the house even with the heat, maybe room temps of 55, so I'd have to buy a heater. I have the pico right now in my kitchen on an island type thing next to the heat so I don't really need to heat it, it stays about 78 with lights off and 80 with them on. I am kind of torn. Eh I don't know what to do. Definitely a touch choice, so I feel your pain there. I'd say mod up the Finnex, but then again doing so to the pico will be cheaper in most cases. =/ So I got the plumbing all hooked up and snapped some crappy pics of it all, lol! The first one is the bad pic, but you can see the Rio pump and then the vinyl tube I'm using with it, and in the 2nd pic you can see a top down of my modified "T"-pipe setup with the wider straight (not so stright anymore) main tube, and the bored out (which you won't see in the pic) elbow that connects to the locline through the false wall. With the Hydor Flo rubber adaptor piece I'm using to slip over the Finnex T-pipe elbow, it was larger than the "½ diameter size of the hole through the false wall, so using my Dremal I had to slightly bore out the hole using a sanding barrel fitting to widen it. It's still a snug fit for the connection to fit through which was the goal, but it's now closer to "¾ diameter than the original "½ diameter which is OK. Link to comment
KJoFan Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Well I finally got tired of my CPR Bak-Pak skimmer that wasn't skimming and bought a Tunze 9002. Much better and smaller and just way easy! I'm glad I made the switch. My current issue is with the return pump. When I bought the tank it was realized that the impeller cover/piece the plumbing fits on had a broken tab, so it's loose/falls off. The guy I bought it from kindly ordered a replacement piece for me, which I finally tried to swap out the other day. Turns out the piece doesn't work. The part where the straight pipe goes is much longer on the replacement piece than the original. Therefore, I'm unable to put the pump in because that longer piece doesn't clear the fuge. So I'm back to my rubberbanded original part. I know Phixion has switched to a Rio, but says it's kind of loud. I really would not want to get much louder since the tank sits in my living room right next to the couch. So, Phixion since you've replumbed and gotten the plate on has the noise decreased at all? I'm just not sure what to do to fix this little issue. And lastly, which would you all buy? A ReefKeeper 2 or Tunze Osmolator? I'm considering purchasing one or the other, unfortunately I can't do both right now. Link to comment
Phixion Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 Reefkeeper2. The Osmo is over-rated IMO. I have the JBJ ATO and it works perfectly fine as long as you keep it maintained. I run mine on a timer for extra measure. Also I feel a controller is far more worthwhile and important that ATO anyways as you can do ATO functions with one... I haven't filled the tank yet since the replumb, but I will definitely let you know as soon as I do. I'm hoping maybe this weekend I can get it set-up. I just want to get the stand cross-braced first for added structural integrity. Link to comment
madimod Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 is anyone running media (chemi pure or others)in the first chamber ? and does it get enough flow through it to make a difference Link to comment
Phixion Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 1st being the skimmer chamber? Yes I've run it in there in mine and it dos get enough flow. Probably better to run it in the pump chamber though as that's the best flow area. Link to comment
limitup Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Hey all, The surface of my water is not looking great, and I want to improve the surface skimming of my Finnex. It just seems that the slots are so small that the surface tension of the water pretty much causes all the water to be sucked in from under the surface, and there is little to no real surface water/skimming. I was thinking of cutting out every other slat like a few people have done, then I had another idea which might work even better. Basically the idea is to turn it into something like the JBJ surface skimmer by using a dremel or something to cut a "gap" all along the top like this: Do you guys think this would work well? Or maybe just cut off all the plastic along the top so it's "open" just like the JBJ surface skimmer? The main tank and skimmer chamber should completely level out, and I can't see any downsides to doing it. Anyone have any other ideas? Link to comment
Phixion Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 It does indeed sound like a good alternative idea. I'd still cut out every other slat anyways ALONG with cutting the top off... Only because the fine teeth of the stock grate can quickly get clogged up with crap. =/ I dunno, that happened to me when I had a dirty tank for a while, lol! Then after I modded, my tank cleaned up miraculously, go figure. Link to comment
limitup Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 It does indeed sound like a good alternative idea. I'd still cut out every other slat anyways ALONG with cutting the top off... Only because the fine teeth of the stock grate can quickly get clogged up with crap. =/ I dunno, that happened to me when I had a dirty tank for a while, lol! Then after I modded, my tank cleaned up miraculously, go figure. I decided to first cut out every other slat just because it's easy and only took 3 minutes. What a huge difference! I don't think I need to do anything else. Highly recommend this mod to everyone! Link to comment
Phixion Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 I decided to first cut out every other slat just because it's easy and only took 3 minutes. What a huge difference! I don't think I need to do anything else. Highly recommend this mod to everyone! Link to comment
limitup Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Phixion - your replumbing post has inspired me to redo my tank as well. I'm still using the stock return pump (for now) and while it's relatively quite, I'm getting a bunch of vibration/humming noise from all of the hard piping (I assume). I've tried tweaking everything for the past few days but I can't get it to go away. (The tank is about 5 feet from my desk so I'm trying to make it as quite as possible) I think I'm going to re-plumb everything with flex hose and get rid of ALL the hard plastic, including the stock valve that controls flow to the fuge. What I'd really like to do is run 2 separate pumps. Maybe keep the 475gph main return pump and have all that flow directed to the tank, and then setup a separate tiny little pump that feeds the fuge area. Anyone try doing this?? If I go this route I should be able to get rid of all the vibration/humming AND I'll have more flow. Link to comment
dailydriven911 Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Okay so what do you guys think of this light? I'm looking to go 40b and thought I'd chime in here for some feedback. http://www.premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-sup...FI-DL-3639.html Thanks, Jayson Link to comment
limitup Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Here's a question for you guys. For various reasons I'm going to try to run my system skimmerless. Once I removed it though, I'm starting to notice a buildup of film on the surface. It overflows into the chamber where the skimmer used to be, but once the surface of that chamber is completely "filled" with film on the surface, the surface film in the main tank has nowhere to go. Aside from manually skimming the surface of the skimmerless chamber every day with a small cup or something, does anyone have any ideas on how to get rid of the surface film? The Tunze skimmer was pulling water from below the surface so I don't even understand why it seemed to make such a big difference in terms of the surface film... Link to comment
Phixion Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 Here's a question for you guys. For various reasons I'm going to try to run my system skimmerless. Once I removed it though, I'm starting to notice a buildup of film on the surface. It overflows into the chamber where the skimmer used to be, but once the surface of that chamber is completely "filled" with film on the surface, the surface film in the main tank has nowhere to go. Aside from manually skimming the surface of the skimmerless chamber every day with a small cup or something, does anyone have any ideas on how to get rid of the surface film? The Tunze skimmer was pulling water from below the surface so I don't even understand why it seemed to make such a big difference in terms of the surface film... Well surface film is basically accumulated organic waste. It's what you find in the cup of a skimmer. The skimmer makes a differance even when pulling from under, because it's sucking out all that waste. As for the vibration, my tank never had any with the stock pump. it ran as quiet as a MaxiJet pump for me. The flex or vinyl tubing should do the trick though, but I'd first make sure all connections are secure and the pump is firmly planted to the tank bottom on all 4 rubber feet. Link to comment
limitup Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 If I had a sump I could just let all the surface junk collect down there and suck it all out at water change time or something. But without an out of sight sump, anyone have any idea what other people do? I know there are plenty of people that run skimmerless sumpless tanks ... guess I need to search around. Most likely I'll have to use something like the Hagen surface skimmer I guess with another small pump ... Link to comment
ttolliver Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 Phixion - your replumbing post has inspired me to redo my tank as well. I'm still using the stock return pump (for now) and while it's relatively quite, I'm getting a bunch of vibration/humming noise from all of the hard piping (I assume). I've tried tweaking everything for the past few days but I can't get it to go away. (The tank is about 5 feet from my desk so I'm trying to make it as quite as possible) I think I'm going to re-plumb everything with flex hose and get rid of ALL the hard plastic, including the stock valve that controls flow to the fuge. What I'd really like to do is run 2 separate pumps. Maybe keep the 475gph main return pump and have all that flow directed to the tank, and then setup a separate tiny little pump that feeds the fuge area. Anyone try doing this?? If I go this route I should be able to get rid of all the vibration/humming AND I'll have more flow. Limitup, I've been kicking around the idea of doing some of these mods too. I'd love to switch to some sort of flexible tubing like you suggest (and Phixion has shown) if only to make it easier to dig the darned pump out of the bottom of the center area for occasional cleaning. Just curious, do you guys normally turn all your pumps off to feed? I don't, and I'm wondering if the "take out every other tooth in the grill" mod will allow food to flow into the back and become an issue. I have an aptasia forest in the skimmer and middle areas, so I'm guessing enough of the food would get captured to keep it from becoming an issue. Thoughts? Also, did you also take out every other tooth on the return grill? Thanks, Tom Link to comment
Phixion Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share Posted February 27, 2009 Tom, my return grill I didn't touch. No real need to really since it's to the fuge. As for feeding, I have all my equipment and the tank hooked up to an ACjr, and in the feeding mode I have it shut off BOTH the main return and the skimmer. The K2 in the display I leave running as it doesn't affect water maving from the display back in to the filtering area. Link to comment
NogaroBlueS4 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Hey anyone ever build a ATO for their 30 M, I was thinking maybe a 10 gallon tank with RODI water. What all would I need? Link to comment
limitup Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Like Phixion I just turn off my return pump when I feed. I leave on the Koralia. It blows the food around and the fish like to chase after it lol. I also didn't touch the return from the fuge area. No need to. I'm running skimmerless now and in order to combat surface grime I'm in the middle of setting up a surface skimmer. Basically just bought a Hagen surface skimmer for $15 and I'm gonna figure out how to rig it up to a Maxi-Jet 900 all in the 1st chamber where the skimmer used to be. As far as ATO, I'm using a Tunze osmolator with a 5.5 AGA tank in my stand and it works great. Link to comment
Phixion Posted February 28, 2009 Author Share Posted February 28, 2009 I'm using a JBJ ATO with my tank, pumping water from a standard Home Depot 5g bucket hidden under the stand my chiller sits on that's right next to the tank. I'm using an MJ606 pump with my ATO and it works out really well. Link to comment
limitup Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Where do you put the sensor for your ATO? I have mine in the return pump chamber, but I just realized that the level of the water in that chamber also depends on how clogged the filter in the little black box is. (I have removed the black sponge below it). In fact, now that I think about it ... it seems like the water level in both the return pump chamber and the skimmer chamber are affected by how clogged the filter is. And the water level in the middle fuge chamber is always constant so the ATO sensor would be useless there. My tank is brand new and the filter floss stuff in the little black box is just starting to get clogged up, and I just noticed this tonight when I took it out to rinse it out. Am I missing something here? It almost seems like I need to either leave it out and have no filter at all, or I have to clean it every day to make sure the flow through the filter stays the same. I'd love to just leave it out but it does a good job of removing the bigger particles in the water ... Link to comment
NogaroBlueS4 Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 Well looks like I will be doing what Phixion did, oh btw, Phixion, what did you change your stock pump out to? I am looking for something that is quieter and uses less power..... Link to comment
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