RollaJase Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 Yeah besides the spoiler I like the kit but the spoiler is too WRXish for me. We don't have the 18" option here yet but I am looking to buy some 18x8's when I get back from the states next February. Definitely a very fun car, a little small inside and trunk is useless but I love it all the same . Link to comment
markalot Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Is this a car thread? How is the tank doing? I really like my school of 6 cardinals and hopefully can add one more (I hate even numbers) and be done with it. I stole the idea of cardinals from this tank. What a great little fish and they school all the time in my big tank. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 Is this a car thread? How is the tank doing? I really like my school of 6 cardinals and hopefully can add one more (I hate even numbers) and be done with it. I stole the idea of cardinals from this tank. What a great little fish and they school all the time in my big tank. Little to report on the tank front as the car has been taking up most of my thoughts (and money) lately. But, the sump is complete, the plumbing is done and it should go online this weekend as long as I don't run into any issues with anything. I lost a lot of corals due to a big Alk swing caused by the doser, lost most of my SPS, a few heads off my torch, an elegance, trachy and frogspawn. I am hoping the sump will help me keep my levels a bit more stable while also increasing the water flow substantially and the filtration capability. I currently get a lot of settling detritus, even with regular turky basting. I love the cardinals and I think they are often overlooked as a stocking choice. I would love to have a big school in an SPS dominated reef with a few choice wrasses, I think the movement would be awesome. I would like to add two more to my trio but the tank would definitely be overstocked then. I would like to try adding a second clown towards the end of the year though as sometimes the largest cardinal can be a bit of a meanie. Link to comment
Zia Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 ran out of time on Sunday due to recovering from Saturday . My kind of weekend! Link to comment
RollaJase Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 My kind of weekend! Got a long weekend this weekend also, more of the same I think haha . Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 I spent the last hour and a half kicking myself as I couldn't figure out why the control box I made for for the stand fans and light wouldn't work. I tried different switches and mixed a lot of bits and pieces but still nothing. Turns out I ended up wiring the DC connector back to front , I guess it's times like this that multimeters come in handy. Now that that is fixed the lights work at least, well the first strip does anyway, must have wired the next one incorrectly. The fans still refuse to spin up, I'm guessing they are not getting enough voltage to kick the motors into life which is a real pain. I'll look into this a little more, I'm hoping it is a wiring issue on the fan side. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 2, 2014 Author Share Posted October 2, 2014 Just updated the firmware on my AI Gen2 Controller for the first time since I got it (flashed the latest when it was delivered). Mucho improvement on the stepping when dimming down to night lights. Tomorrow night after work I will be pulling out my skimmer, backup heater, reactors and pump and putting them in a vinegar bath overnight in preparation for the sump going online. I'll also try to completely re-do the wiring in the stand to make it as clean as possible. Currently I still have no lighting or fans in the stand but that's not going to stop me and that stuff is easy to fix when the sump is online. Saturday will be a long day. On top of doing a water change I need to mount the overflow box (needs some slight modification), double check all of the plumbing, move my additional rock into the sump, install the heaters, skimmer, ATO, reactors and finally tune the drain to what I am hoping will be utter silence. Once this is all done the only things left for me to do is make a new screen top, a small shelf for the inside of the door to hold liquid foods, a small 'shield' to hide the rear plumbing from view and some minor rescaping to get everything just right. I have to admit, I'm pretty nervous about everything falling into a pile of crap but am excited to finally get this project out of the way. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 Skimmer and pumps soaking, most of the wiring done...I'm ready for the morning . Link to comment
markalot Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 Skimmer and pumps soaking, most of the wiring done...I'm ready for the morning . Right, you are a half day ahead of us. Good luck, hope all goes well! Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 3, 2014 Author Share Posted October 3, 2014 Right, you are a half day ahead of us. Good luck, hope all goes well! Yep, 10.20pm here right now on Friday . Thanks Mark, I think I may have hit my first road bump though. Just plugged my return pump in and flicked the power on for half a second just to see if it would run and...nothing! I seem to recall that this pump has dry run protect so I am hoping that once I get it submerged it will be ok. I will fill the return chamber up with water in the morning and hopefully it will run. Otherwise I will have to run out and buy a new return . Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 4, 2014 Author Share Posted October 4, 2014 Sump install 70% complete. First roadblock = Return pump. My return has built in dry run protect, must need some form of head pressure to allow the impeller to spin. Filled the return chamber, primed the pump and all is good . Second Hurdle = Overflow box. The bloody thing just didn't want to stick to the glass! Ended up draining the tank of most of its water so I could clean the area of adhesion with a very very diluted mix of mineral terps and water. Dried the glass with some paper towel, scuffed up the acrylic on the overflow box and everything appears to be going alright this time around. Third Hurdle = Skimmer. The damn magnet mounts on my skimmer broke, well one did anyway. Managed to botch job hold it all together but next time I take it apart for cleaning I will have to use some epoxy to hold at least one of the magnets onto the body of the skimmer. Here is a quick teaser, I haven't shown any pics of the sump in a very long time. https://imageshack.com/i/pdlUy2tzj'> Link to comment
Chris! Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 Lookin good man, having an operational sump is soooo nice Whats up with the filter sock on the right side in front w/ no drain running through it, is it designed for just passive sock filtering? I've never run a filter sock but I always thought people ran their drains directly into them... Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Lookin good man, having an operational sump is soooo nice Whats up with the filter sock on the right side in front w/ no drain running through it, is it designed for just passive sock filtering? I've never run a filter sock but I always thought people ran their drains directly into them... Thanks Chris . I'm so happy it went together well, just some fine tuning of the drain left and the majority of the work is done. I kinda did a bit of a modified design for the filtersock. I wanted to have one for when I stir up the sand bed but I wanted it easily accessible. As you can see, things are a little cramped in the sump and with the skimmer needing to be where it is I decided to use a modified filter sock tray method over the conventional drain entering directly into the sock. Filter sock tray: https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/p480x480/1381761_662226023790142_1204167564_n.jpg The idea is that the water drains into a small chamber which overflows into a fixed tray where you can place your filter sock. This makes cleaning/removing the socks easier and the constant flow in that small chamber keeps all particles in motion to get caught by the socks. My sump utilises a similar design where as the water drains into a small chamber, overflows into a larger one housing my heaters and skimmer before overflowing onto the filter sock tray. This allows easy access to the sock and allows me to remove the sock entirely when I don't need it there. Link to comment
Chris! Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Thats a pretty good idea, part of why I've never ran filter socks is they look like they would be annoying to change. Thanks for telling me more about the design and how you did that I am going to need to build me a sump here fairly soon and trying to decide how all I want to set it up as well. I've always liked the fancy premades but I would have to custom order one because my skimmer is HUGE. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Thats a pretty good idea, part of why I've never ran filter socks is they look like they would be annoying to change. Thanks for telling me more about the design and how you did that I am going to need to build me a sump here fairly soon and trying to decide how all I want to set it up as well. I've always liked the fancy premades but I would have to custom order one because my skimmer is HUGE. No worries mate. I have never been a big fan of the socks either purely due to how hard it would have been for me to mount and service them. This design really is the best of both worlds and if you take it into account during planning it is pretty easy to fit in. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for your sump . Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 Sump has been running for a few days now (I know, I know, I owe you all pictures) and the first observation I have (besides having a sump being awesome ) is that I have forgotten how much larger the tank seems with all the equipment out of the tank! I am loving this look! Still have some tweaking to finish off, the primary drain is making a trickling sound which I personally find annoying. I can kill this sound by reducing the flow down to next to nothing but that really isn't an option. I believe this is due to me having the tuning valve right up near the bulkhead and union. I am going to experiment with perhaps trying to fit a smaller valve closer to the water level of the sump. I can leave the existing valve where it is and simply use it for maintenance. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 7, 2014 Author Share Posted October 7, 2014 I managed to silence my drain with a bit of tweaking. Flow rate through the sump is a little lower then I would have wanted (between 150-200GPH) but it should be fine, just as long as my heaters continue to work efficiently. I also started dosing the big 3 seperately as of Monday night, Alk, Cal and Mag are all dosed individually. I changed my combined Cal/Mag buffer for some self mixed solutions from powder and pretty much got it all spot on immediately. Still a bit of tweaking to go but I finally managed to get Mag into the mid 1300's which decreased my daily Alk usage slightly. Changed the scape slightly to have a dedicated part of the tank for Chalice corals, I am wanting to get a few more nice pieces. I also have some more sand real estate now for another fungia plate if I can find something I like the look of. Still tweaking a few other bits and pieces of the sump but besides that all is going well. I have a free night tonight (no gym or study commitments) so I am going to try and take a ton of photos and give you all a big update Link to comment
jack1978 Posted October 7, 2014 Share Posted October 7, 2014 I managed to silence my drain with a bit of tweaking. Flow rate through the sump is a little lower then I would have wanted (between 150-200GPH) but it should be fine, just as long as my heaters continue to work efficiently. I also started dosing the big 3 seperately as of Monday night, Alk, Cal and Mag are all dosed individually. I changed my combined Cal/Mag buffer for some self mixed solutions from powder and pretty much got it all spot on immediately. Still a bit of tweaking to go but I finally managed to get Mag into the mid 1300's which decreased my daily Alk usage slightly. Changed the scape slightly to have a dedicated part of the tank for Chalice corals, I am wanting to get a few more nice pieces. I also have some more sand real estate now for another fungia plate if I can find something I like the look of. Still tweaking a few other bits and pieces of the sump but besides that all is going well. I have a free night tonight (no gym or study commitments) so I am going to try and take a ton of photos and give you all a big update Awesome! Standing by.... Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Tank pics! where's that foot stomping icon?? Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Awesome! Standing by.... Tank pics! where's that foot stomping icon?? Yes I know, well overdue . Time for a pic dump. Finished shots of the sump followed by some shots of the final plumbing and the installed sump. I will be changing a few things that I am not happy with, mainly the return which I have a new design for and will be sorting out over the weekend. Currently I can only get the sump silent by really throttling back the pump, I feel this is impacting the efficiency of the sump and also the consistency of my water temperature. I had to turn the fans off in the stand when I got home from work, over 12 hours the knocked 3c off my water temp, they will be great in summer. Reactors haven't gone back online yet either, this will be a weekend job as well. https://imageshack.com/i/pbhai8hSj'> https://imageshack.com/i/iqPNw1HQj'> https://imageshack.com/i/pccBhWQNj'> https://imageshack.com/i/eyp8w7RLj'> https://imageshack.com/i/idIOAJm9j'> https://imageshack.com/i/idAVBf6hj'> https://imageshack.com/i/kmZpo0Jhj'> https://imageshack.com/i/ipP8AgZ5j'> https://imageshack.com/i/eyPNsVvTj'> https://imageshack.com/i/exkYpjpzj'> https://imageshack.com/i/hljqTivyj'> https://imageshack.com/i/eyjw388jj'> https://imageshack.com/i/ipIfDKPtj'> https://imageshack.com/i/ip5KfFxIj'> https://imageshack.com/i/p9oYj1zzj'> https://imageshack.com/i/pcbWcsXYj'> https://imageshack.com/i/iqll1vgXj'> https://imageshack.com/i/hlRhI72Ij'> https://imageshack.com/i/p8TBBKKwj'> https://imageshack.com/i/iqm3NW9ej'> Finally: https://imageshack.com/i/exWnnkWfj'> Pics of the tank for another night . Link to comment
jack1978 Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Nicely done, man. Looking forward to a crystal clear tank FTS. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Nicely done, man. Looking forward to a crystal clear tank FTS. Cheers man . Like I said above, there is still some tweaking to go but I am happy with how it all turned out so far. The biggest issue I am having at the moment is keeping the temperature stable. With the reduced flow through the sump to combat noise I am obviously not getting enough turnover and water flow past the heaters. With the heaters in my tank my water was stable at 25-26c, now stable at around 22-23c even after cranking up the set temperature on both heaters. For the time being I have resorted to increasing hte flow when I'm not home and then decrease it when I am trying to sleep, not a perfect solution but the temperatureis staying around the 24c mark. I will attempt to install another valve at the bottom of the main drain tonight to see if I can't coax the drain into more flow with less noise by raising the water level in the drain pipe. Pics of the tank should follow this weekend, I stirred up the sandbed last night hense the cloudy picture. The DT really needs a good clean, this will happen this weekend when I get my reactors online. Link to comment
got2envy Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 Your tank is so organized! I need to do that...I am a lazy reefer. How's the car? I was sad to see a classic bit the dust, were you able to get it fixed? Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 9, 2014 Author Share Posted October 9, 2014 Your tank is so organized! I need to do that...I am a lazy reefer. How's the car? I was sad to see a classic bit the dust, were you able to get it fixed? Believe me, I'm a pretty lazy reefer also haha, took me close to 12 months to get the sump designed, built and installed from when I first started the whole process in roughly November last year. Something that needed to be done though. I want to have as much stability as I can when I leave the tank for a month in January. As of Thursday last week they had only started pulling pannels off the car so still at the repairers for now. I doubt I will have it back by the end of October. So I tried a few things last night to try and get some additional water flow through the sump. I added a valve to the base of the main drain to try and help it will with water, didn't help. I fiddled around with both the pump and drain valves, didn't work. I am pretty sure that the 20mm (3/4") piping I used is too large and my return pump doesn't have enough GPH to fill it. Looking down the drain pipe you can see the water swirling down as it would a drain in your sink, even with the pump nearly at max. Considering I have the union value in place I am thinking of reducing the pipe down to 15mm after the union to see what it does. In reality it should be a simple swap over but I still have to go to the hardware store to buy more PVC bits . I still haven't decided if this is the way I want to go yet. Temp has been stable at 23.5c in the display and 25.5c in the sump with a little more waterflow. I just need to raise it a little more and I will be happy. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 Coaxed some more flow out of the sump, tweaked a few other things, now the temp is sitting pretty and the whole thing is quieter then before. Also re-made my return line as I didn't like it originally. https://imageshack.com/i/pcSD2Q30j'>https://imageshack.com/i/f0Q8T5eyj'> Time for a NEW FTS! Gave the tank a good clean over the weekend, put the filter sock through its paces...twice, even cleaned the glass a tad. https://imageshack.com/i/kp03sJ2Mj'> https://imageshack.com/i/iqJUsnF0j'> https://imageshack.com/i/f08qKB7Xj'> Zoas going strong: https://imageshack.com/i/hlGbg076j'> https://imageshack.com/i/hjGyCha8j'> What will be my new LPS island: https://imageshack.com/i/ipzHaSwxj'> Blurry Chalice island: https://imageshack.com/i/pc3x7bB0j'> https://imageshack.com/i/f0tLGlruj'> Went into town with my mother also to pick up some fish food amongst other things. Had to go to the hardware store to pick something up and while there I saw the owner of the local LFS, he said I had to come past and see what he had just gotten in. The LFS was our last stop so on the way home anyway so we stopped by to see what he was so excited to show me. We walk in and I head over to his coral tank to see what they had, as usual my mother gets drawn over to the fish so after taking a quick look at the corals i meet her at the 200G tank they use to house softies and fish (they are in the process of building another huge rack system for fish and SPS). The first thing I notice (after seeing the 20 or so Anthias, numerous fairy wrasses and the huge purple tang) was roughly half a dozen baby blue mandarins. The owner comes over and has a chat as usual and exclaims that he has a surprise for me. He knows that I have been fond of the mandarins for a while now and have always been fascinated by the large one he has in his display tank. After my mother immediately falling in love with 'pretty fishy' I was in the process of explaining to her how specialised their diets are etc. etc. when the owner dumps in a while cup of frozen food he had been thawing in the canopy of the tank. As usual, all the fish go into a frenzy, including the mandarins. I thought they were trying to stay out of the way of the larger fish but as everything started to calm down I could see that they were taking brine shrimp out of the water collumn. I was immediately excited and when I asked the owner how much he wanted for one he came back at $50 and my heart sank. $50 is a fair price for one eating frozen foods, they usually cost around $40 for an untrained fish but with me needing to pay the insurance on my car on top of saving to go away it is too much money for me to spare. I was getting ready to buy the frozen foods I needed when mum pipes up and says we aren't leaving the store without the 'pretty fishy'. Now knowing fully well that it would eat frozen foods and suit my tank she insisted she buy one for me. So here is the newest addition to my little reef . https://imageshack.com/i/f0dCHd55j'>https://imageshack.com/i/eyiZf4Yvj'>https://imageshack.com/i/eybOfYckj'> Don't mind the spots, just some slime with some sand stuck to it. Link to comment
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