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Kat's Ol' Max


metrokat

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The sumps looks great- and I'm sorry but you will probably not sleep the first night, it is a bit agonizing

 

Anyhoo the last time I ran a fuge, I wanted the the live stuff to get through so kept the flow through the fuge relatively slow. This allowed detritus to fall to the bottom but living things were free to leave such as zoo and phytoplankton. I imagine this is one reason you want to run a fuge. So I wouldn't sponge off the area nor would I put a sponge filter on the intake of the Magnum. BTW this is IMO FWIW :D

Thank you for visiting my thread and welcome to Nano Reef! I've checked on it every 10-15 minutes so far. The water levels are where they were all the other times, wonder how evaporation affects this tank now since there is more surface area. The mag5 is dialed to about 1/2 and the suggested pump for the overflow was a mag7. So I need to get more flow through, or not. I have no bubbles in the siphon tube so flow is correct IMO.

 

A few pages back we were debating having a slower flow in the sump to take advantage of the filtration capabilities of the macros I have. Can anybody think of a reason why I should turn up the pump?

 

(I am scared to do this ATM, I'm already freaked out by how high the water level is, I usually keep it visibly 1 inch or more below the rim. )

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Hey, that looks familiar (now where have I seen that before...hmmm...) :)

 

Curious to see how it works out.

 

Hey you. The valve is sporadic. This is a 2 fishies product so not sure why it is not giving me a constant drip. I misplaced the "hanger" that comes with the hamster bottle so it is possible that the alignment of the bottle is preventing a proper drip. I guess I'll go get another bottle to try.

 

Badaboom B)

;)

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Forgot to say, I retired my Pico! :tears:

Moved over all the livestock to the refugium.

 

and Ruby the clownfish escaped her time-out net when the water level in the tank rose to flood like proportions. :angry: She was in time out for precisely a week. As of the time of her escape she was behaving herself and not attacking Geowge.

 

Hey. Calm down.

:huh: I'm trying.

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Nano sapiens
Hey you. The valve is sporadic. This is a 2 fishies product so not sure why it is not giving me a constant drip. I misplaced the "hanger" that comes with the hamster bottle so it is possible that the alignment of the bottle is preventing a proper drip. I guess I'll go get another bottle to try.

 

 

;)

 

Hmmm, I don't think the bottle angle should affect the way the valve functions. You could try flushing the valve under a strong stream of water to see if any debris is stuck in there.

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Hmmm, I don't think the bottle angle should affect the way the valve functions. You could try flushing the valve under a strong stream of water to see if any debris is stuck in there.

It is clean, I'm testing it with plain water first.

 

Oo the sump looks nice and clean! :)

Thank you! The flow rate is very mild so the water barely stirs. The whole 'system' is very quiet, but that could be because I have a silencer on the overflow. I need more sand I think. The plan is to move all my macros from the still running macro fuge to here and add some more sand from the DT. I also want to move all of John Maloneys dwarf ceriths in here but that might be tough.

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Congrats on gettin sumped Kat.

Try not to worrie much about the sump.

Just remember (After you sleep) to test run fake power outs, to ensure sump has enough space for backflow.

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Congrats on gettin sumped Kat.

Try not to worrie much about the sump.

Just remember (After you sleep) to test run fake power outs, to ensure sump has enough space for backflow.

Thank you J. Yeah it does, it's only half the way full ATM. I've shut off and re-started a few times today. Siphon holds, and the backflow is not too much.

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albertthiel
Thank you J. Yeah it does, it's only half the way full ATM. I've shut off and re-started a few times today. Siphon holds, and the backflow is not too much.

 

I have a question Kat, and yes setting up that kind of a sump must have been close to a nightmare, especially adjusting the flows.

 

The question is since you are using this if I understand you correctly on a non-drilled existing tank, how do to you bring the water flow down to the sump and how do you make sure the flows up and down are in equilibrium so the sump does to run dry or overflow or so the aquarium does not empty itself ... depending what type of down flow device you are using ...

 

From all the posts it was not clear to me how you set this up but maybe I missed something so if you could post a pic with explanations of how the water flows to the sump and how you prevent that too much of it flows down to the sump, and conversely how you prevent too much water being pushed into the aquarium from the sump and possibly making the tank overflow and the sump running dry ...

 

Also I am sure there are fail safes built into all of this and wonder what they are ... thanks for posting more info with possibly some good detailed pictures of all the parts. Thanks

 

Albert

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(I am scared to do this ATM, I'm already freaked out by how high the water level is, I usually keep it visibly 1 inch or more below the rim. )

The higher water level is no worries kat this is where I keep mine. If my water level stops touching the side tabs I've lost about a litre of water so it is pretty high

IMG_5103.jpg

 

Hey you. The valve is sporadic. This is a 2 fishies product so not sure why it is not giving me a constant drip. I misplaced the "hanger" that comes with the hamster bottle so it is possible that the alignment of the bottle is preventing a proper drip. I guess I'll go get another bottle to try.

Have you got a vent in the top so air can replace the water that is escaping at an equal rate??

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chrssprngs

Let's see some equipment/plumbing pics please.

 

This isn't a fashion show, so things don't have to be pretty.

Edited by chrssprngs
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Sump

IMG_20120706_223829.jpg

 

LifeReef Overflow made for the RSM tank, with optional silencer

IMG_20120705_220513.jpg

 

Overflow installed (and running!)

IMG_20120708_115307.jpg

 

Overflow and return J tube top down view. The siphon tube is visible. The sump is running in this pic.

IMG_20120708_115112.jpg

 

PVC thingamajigger that goes from the Mag5 back to the tank, with a ball valve.

IMG_20120706_212811.jpg

 

Thingamajigger installed, the angle was driving me insane

IMG_20120707_123823.jpg

Edited by metrokat
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The question is since you are using this if I understand you correctly on a non-drilled existing tank, how do to you bring the water flow down to the sump and how do you make sure the flows up and down are in equilibrium so the sump does to run dry or overflow or so the aquarium does not empty itself ... depending what type of down flow device you are using ...

 

From all the posts it was not clear to me how you set this up but maybe I missed something so if you could post a pic with explanations of how the water flows to the sump and how you prevent that too much of it flows down to the sump, and conversely how you prevent too much water being pushed into the aquarium from the sump and possibly making the tank overflow and the sump running dry ...

 

Also I am sure there are fail safes built into all of this and wonder what they are ... thanks for posting more info with possibly some good detailed pictures of all the parts. Thanks

 

Albert

Hi Albert, I am using a lifereef overflow to get water into the sump. The model I am using is made specifically for my tank. The overflow is rated 750GPH and it will adjust to a flow rate up to the # it is rated at. My flow rate is much lower than the max this overflow allows.

 

Equilibrium was a matter of tweaking the ball valve to control the output of the return pump till there were no bubbles in the siphon tube. Bubbles mean too little flow is going into the overflow. Water level in the back chamber of the aquarium had to be lower than the display and even lower in the surface skimmer box that the overflow uses. Any change in this water level meant there was too much output from the pump. It took me over an hour to get my pumps output exactly right.

 

Fail safes: That is a very good question.

First the overflow is guaranteed never to loose siphon. It will start automatically if the pump stops and starts.

So if the pump fails, the water will drain into the sump: yes. But only as much as the surface skimmer on the overflow allows. My estimation is that this is about 2 gallons conservatively, or 5 gallons at the very most. My sump is half empty and can easily accomodate upto 10 gallons if needed.

 

Let's say the siphon fails for some reason. I keep the sump at 50% or less capacity. Should the volume of water in my sump continue into the tank, it can handle a good 3 gallons, perhaps more before overflowing. If it overflows, I am looking at about a gallon of water on the floor as a worse case scenario before the pump runs dry.

 

Hopefully this scenario will not happen. As I get more familiar with the system, I might tweak the height of the return pump inlet to run out of water sooner in case of a disaster. But I will need to research a lot before doing that.

 

The higher water level is no worries kat this is where I keep mine. If my water level stops touching the side tabs I've lost about a litre of water so it is pretty high

Have you got a vent in the top so air can replace the water that is escaping at an equal rate??

Jessy-Ray, that is a little higher than where mine is at!!! I guess I'm just going to have to get used to it. Funny because I specifically did a modification to the RSM pumps to allow for a lower water level and even removed the stock surface skimmer because of it.

 

As for the doser, yes I was thinking of making a small puncture for air flow, I believe that might be the problem.

 

Let's see some equipment/plumbing pics please.

This isn't a fashion show, so things don't have to be pretty.

PFFT! Just because it's a sump does not mean it has to be ugly.

Edited by metrokat
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I forgot to mention. I now have TWO MP10's.

 

omgomgomg

Nice! I really am considering adding a 2nd mp10 to my custom tank. 30" long and the one at 100% might not be cutting it!

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albertthiel
Hi Albert, I am using a lifereef overflow to get water into the sump. The model I am using is made specifically for my tank. The overflow is rated 750GPH and it will adjust to a flow rate up to the # it is rated at. My flow rate is much lower than the max this overflow allows.

 

Equilibrium was a matter of tweaking the ball valve to control the output of the return pump till there were no bubbles in the siphon tube. Bubbles mean too little flow is going into the overflow. Water level in the back chamber of the aquarium had to be lower than the display and even lower in the surface skimmer box that the overflow uses. Any change in this water level meant there was too much output from the pump. It took me over an hour to get my pumps output exactly right.

 

Fail safes: That is a very good question.

First the overflow is guaranteed never to loose siphon. It will start automatically if the pump stops and starts.

So if the pump fails, the water will drain into the sump: yes. But only as much as the surface skimmer on the overflow allows. My estimation is that this is about 2 gallons conservatively, or 5 gallons at the very most. My sump is half empty and can easily accomodate upto 10 gallons if needed.

 

Let's say the siphon fails for some reason. I keep the sump at 50% or less capacity. Should the volume of water in my sump continue into the tank, it can handle a good 3 gallons, perhaps more before overflowing. If it overflows, I am looking at about a gallon of water on the floor as a worse case scenario before the pump runs dry.

 

Hopefully this scenario will not happen. As I get more familiar with the system, I might tweak the height of the return pump inlet to run out of water sooner in case of a disaster. But I will need to research a lot before doing that.

 

Thanks for the detailed explanation Kat, I have seen many hang-on types in my years in the hobby and all had some kind of issue with the equilibrium between the tank and the sump, since the tank was not drilled and could therefore not overflow unless the outflow got totally blocked, which would be most unusual but could happen e.g. if a fish got into the overflow corner box or where ever the overflow was positioned and a hole drilled at the bottom or in the back of the tank.

 

This one seems to have a lot of fail safes built in although you do point out that regulating the pumps does take quite some time ... and yes I guess available space in the tank and in the sump for excess water should anything fail is most important as you explain.

 

Thanks

 

Albert

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Dueling Vortechs. P

Yeah, my tank was very dirty for a while after I turned both on.

 

Your gonna create a rip current! Anything nearby will be sucked in! :lol:

They're working great so far! I hope fish don't get sucked in. Does anyone use the foal cover that comes with them?

 

Nice! I really am considering adding a 2nd mp10 to my custom tank. 30" long and the one at 100% might not be cutting it!

do it do it do it

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jedimasterben
They're working great so far! I hope fish don't get sucked in. Does anyone use the foal cover that comes with them?

Like this?

DSC_0247-Foal-13x18.jpg

 

 

:lol:

 

 

 

 

 

I only used when I had a roaming anemone. (a bubble tip, it just disappeared. :( ) otherwise they just trap crap and it's one more thing you need to clean out.

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