12 Gallon Long - "Suspension" - decommissioned.

[Halo_003]

And just talked to GLA, said they will have CAL pipes back in stock within a week or two. I have money set aside for a second set burning a hole in my pocket.

 

I'm slowly winding down the amount of coral I have, sold all of my SPS but my Green Birdsnest today. Once I get my acans sold I'm going to move the zoas up to my frag tank to grow out over the summer so hopefully at the end of summer I can offload all of them for some $$$. Hoping to get my first few BTAs in maybe 3 weeks once the second set of pipes are in and the powerhead is out.

[Halo_003]

Nothing new to report, just a semi decent picture, I was surprised the iPhone 6 could do this well.

 

[land shark]

I got a really amazing video the day I added them all at the same time when they were establishing their hierarchy, it is super cool and I need to put it on YouTube. Really a display I have never seen before.

Must see dis vid

 

I got one of these little dudes myself. I hope to get a second of the opposite sex to have a pair to breed. Can you tell the differences between a male and a female? Have two of them paired up? I have been seaching like crazy trying to find out how to sex them. Best info I could get was on this forum. I go by Spikefin there.

[Halo_003]

Must see dis vid

 

I got one of these little dudes myself. I hope to get a second of the opposite sex to have a pair to breed. Can you tell the differences between a male and a female? Have two of them paired up? I have been seaching like crazy trying to find out how to sex them. Best info I could get was on this forum. I go by Spikefin there.

I forgot about this, I will try to upload it this weekend. I'm not sure if they've paired up, I had one vanish in QT without a trace, I see the three in my tank every now and then. They hide under the big rock structure though, so it's hard to tell if they have paired. I do think it's by dorsal fine though similar to scooter dragonets. My thought is the larger fins are the males. Though I'm not 100% sure of this of course.

 

There's hardly anything published about them, so I'm not surprised you've had a hard time finding info on them.

[land shark]

Cant wait to see the video. Post a link when you get the vids up.

[nanoreeFan]

Curious if this closed loop system made it or has been taken offline, thanks in advance.

[Halo_003]

Curious if this closed loop system made it or has been taken offline, thanks in advance.

Still going strong! Readings are zeros across the board on NO3/PO4, so I would say it is working well. To be honest I never followed my own thread and lost it.

 

So a couple of notes...

 

I am considering switching this to have a sump as well. I picked up a MAME overflow from Dave to allow this. If I did what would happen is the MAME would go on one end, and an RW-4 or MP10QD on the other end. The MAME would then drain to the sump, and the canisters would still be connected via a pump situated in the sump. If I did this I would have to pick up a new lid as well.

 

Still working on getting the LED light built, next time I am just buying one from Dave.. This is way too much work lol.

 

I am working to thin out my livestock and offload my corals except for acans and zoas. My macro is in severe need of clipping as well. Oh and I am having a couple spots of bubble algae showing up, looks like it came in on the back of a Trochus snail..

 

Otherwise... All is still going well! Here is a real quick (sorry for terrible quality) iPhone pic from a week ago:

 

[smiz]

I do love the utility of a sump, hopefully it will work out for you!

 

I was so confused I just had to check my customer list your top looks just like the ones I make lol. Is it a DIY? Had me double taking ha

[Halo_003]

I do love the utility of a sump, hopefully it will work out for you!

 

I was so confused I just had to check my customer list your top looks just like the ones I make lol. Is it a DIY? Had me double taking ha

 

Nope, I got it from PicO Aquariums before your thread was started actually. Though if I do set up the MAME with a sump... I will be ordering one of your tops to replace it.

[smiz]

Ah ok I didn't know they ever made any! I was really scratching my head lol.

 

Now to make you go sumpless...do it.

[Halo_003]

Managed to beat my iPhone into submission and it gave me a halfway decent acan picture. This is just a few of them.

 

[holy carp]

Can you adjust to more to full spectrum and less blue? Might help those photos turn out better.

Or you might need a yellow filter lens.

[Halo_003]

Can you adjust to more to full spectrum and less blue? Might help those photos turn out better.

Or you might need a yellow filter lens.

Right now I'm using T5's or I'd just change the light color for pics. iPhone's take decent pictures under normal lighting, but it isn't liking the reef shots lol. I hear ya on the filter lens thing.

[nanoreeFan]

No need to adjust anything here, great photo, thanks for the update.

[Halo_003]

No need to adjust anything here, great photo, thanks for the update.

Thanks! I appreciate that, I will see if I can get a FTS soon as well.

[rickztahone]

Very nice thread. TFS. A quick question, one that I see you kind of ran in to. I am currently doing a 22g build (same as 12g just 12"Hx12"D) and I am for sure going with sump. In fact, i've already drilled my tank. However, it will be a side mount overflow. I didn't drill for a return because my thought was to run a lily pipe for the return. However, my reservations were 1)would the tank drain too much when I cut the power, and 2) since I will be running a pump that has a lot of gph, will the outflow lily simply spray water everywhere.

 

I have an eheim 1250 I'm planning on running with it since I have it lying around, but wouldn't mind going even higher if need be. The sump would be 30g so my first concern isn't as big as my second one. Also, from your lily pipe shopping, is 17mm the largest you have found? I couldn't find any wider ones to possibly alleviate the problem I am thinking of in the second problem.

 

I also found this outflow:

http://www.amazon.com/VIV-Glass-Spiral-Outflow-Mini/dp/B00I8O48DA/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1456453814&sr=8-8&keywords=glass+outflow

I figured this would allow me to run the lily pipe from behind the tank, but still push the water across the tank. however, I think these are double opened outflows which would be pointless IMHO.

 

anyways, thanks for the thread, really inspirational. I really love your rock work. My thought process was similar to yours, how do I keep everything out of the DT? So far, I think I can manage it, the only thing that would be unavoidable is the MP10. There is no hiding that, lol.

[Halo_003]

Very nice thread. TFS. A quick question, one that I see you kind of ran in to. I am currently doing a 22g build (same as 12g just 12"Hx12"D) and I am for sure going with sump. In fact, i've already drilled my tank. However, it will be a side mount overflow. I didn't drill for a return because my thought was to run a lily pipe for the return. However, my reservations were 1)would the tank drain too much when I cut the power, and 2) since I will be running a pump that has a lot of gph, will the outflow lily simply spray water everywhere.

 

I have an eheim 1250 I'm planning on running with it since I have it lying around, but wouldn't mind going even higher if need be. The sump would be 30g so my first concern isn't as big as my second one. Also, from your lily pipe shopping, is 17mm the largest you have found? I couldn't find any wider ones to possibly alleviate the problem I am thinking of in the second problem.

 

I also found this outflow:

http://www.amazon.com/VIV-Glass-Spiral-Outflow-Mini/dp/B00I8O48DA/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1456453814&sr=8-8&keywords=glass+outflow

I figured this would allow me to run the lily pipe from behind the tank, but still push the water across the tank. however, I think these are double opened outflows which would be pointless IMHO.

 

anyways, thanks for the thread, really inspirational. I really love your rock work. My thought process was similar to yours, how do I keep everything out of the DT? So far, I think I can manage it, the only thing that would be unavoidable is the MP10. There is no hiding that, lol.

Thank you! I really appreciate it.

 

1. It shouldn't drain much, the Lily return pipes I'm using are the 13mm ones, so they would lose siphon about an inch and a half from the top of your glass. It depends what pipes you get, some of the big ones might allow more water to drain.

2. They don't spray everywhere, they actually do a very nice job of spreading the flow in a surprisingly wide arc, but it is going to be more intense than you would get with for example one of the flat LocLine return heads.

3. I've seen those spin ones, I think they would cause some interesting flow dynamics for sure, I haven't tried one yet, so if you get it let me know how it is. They look very cool, here's a good video on the ADA one.

4. I think 17mm is gonna be the largest that will be easy to find, that's 5/8" ID tubing, but if you want to go with ADA they make a 20mm set, which would fit 3/4" tubing. The ADA site isn't working right now or I'd link it. They are very pricey though if I remember correctly.

 

The 22 should be very nice, I'd like to get one of those at some point.

 

 

Quick updates: I'm currently dealing with Bryopsis, I'm dosing with Kent Tech M and hoping it's effective on finally getting rid of this stuff. I had been trying to nuke it with peroxide but it just wasn't getting it done for me. I started the other day with 1400ppm Mg, currently at 1800 and climbing, I'm going up to 2000-2100 and holding it there for 3 weeks to be certain every last bit of the bryopsis is completely dead.

 

I'm in the midst of building a new stand, hoping to get it done sometime in March, it should be pretty cool, but no pics until it's done. When it is, I'm going to set up my MAME overflow and use a sump, I'll still be using my reactor line with it though.

 

I'm also just waiting on one thing to arrive and then my LED will finally be built, I ended up having to buy a new Meanwell PSU because the first time I was dumb and bought a 24v one..... which couldn't drive half of my light. Originally I was going to use a 100W PSU, I decided to just go big and bought the 240W one instead, so that if I ever upgrade I will be able to.

 

I also decided to redo my QT tank, it was a 10G with an AC 30, I'm changing it out for a 5G AIO that I'm making. Picture below of a quick mockup, I'm finishing that today I think. It's going to be my anemone QT tank, and I'll also be using it whenever I finally get another clownfish.

 

[rickztahone]

thanks for the reply

[Halo_003]

thanks for the reply

Sure thing, sorry for the delay, I had a very busy weekend.

[Halo_003]

Forgot to come update this thread. I finally got the LED finished and hung, took a long time and a lot of effort but I love how it came out. I redid all of the wiring, went ahead and sleeved everything that would be visible which was SUCH A PITA, but I think it looks sleek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big thanks to Evilc, JMB, CNC Reef, and Dave Fason for all their help. The NB arrays are absolutely stunning, can't recommend a NB fixture enough. If I hadn't wanted to learn some of the LED stuff I would have just bought a NB Quad. The NB arrays are also so much easier to shoot pics with because I can just put it on photo mode (can't do that with T5s) which made all my previous pics look terrible. Granted these aren't amazingly better because they're from my iPhone, but a decent improvement I think.

 

At the moment I'm trying to beat back my bryopsis issue, BTAs are all very unhappy. I didn't get a pic of my ZP frags, but I did get one of my happy acan garden despite the elevated (2000PPM) magnesium levels.

 

 

 

 

This is mid day lighting, around 3PM I believe. Don't judge the angry BTAs too much.

 

 

And this is later in the evening when the color temp is less blue, taken at about 7PM.

 

 

 

Currently working to try to get where I'm ready for the MAME overflow to go on the tank, haven't figured it all out yet like the flow rate for instance.

[smiz]

Awesome. Really love the over hand and light looks pro

[Halo_003]

Awesome. Really love the over hand and light looks pro

Thanks! I hope it looks good because it took a long time to get it finished and a lot of tinkering to get exact (or semi exact) lengths on wires and sleeving.

 

Currently I'm now struggling with sump design, flow rates, and such. I'm not sure if I would be going way overkill or not with a Jebao DCT4000 return pump. I want a decent amount of flow through my MAME overflow, saltwater conversion recommends 528GPH for the venturi to work. If possible I want to also run a biopellet and a carbon/GFO reactor off the return as well, so I don't think the 1000GPH would be too crazy.

 

Another thing I've considered is popping a gate valve on the drain line from the MAME and setting it to run in a full siphon, but that might be an awful idea.

 

One of the biggest question marks at the moment is do I want one 4" filter sock, or 2 of them? The disadvantage of going with 2 is it reduces the size of my skimmer chamber by 2", and leaves me with a max skimmer footprint of about 8"x9.75". Not a huge issue though, I'm thinking of adding an Icecap K2-50 skimmer which needs 3.5"x5", so the rest of the space I would possibly use as a macroalgae refugium and get it out of my display. The sump will be a standard 10G, the inside of the (new) stand is only 11" deep.

 

Edit: added sump design choices. I'm leaning toward the one with 2 socks.

Design A, one sock.

Design B, two socks, slightly less skimmer/refugium section space.

[Halo_003]

Here's my new plumbing setup plan, I just hope Scorched with his fancy 3D plumbing mockup doesn't see this.

 

 

The manifold would basically be 3 T fittings, with a 1/2" push connect fitting on each, a 1/2" push connect ball valve before the reactor, and then two more 1/2" push connect fittings on each (for in/out on reactors), then the output from each reactor would drain back into the first drain chamber.

 

I figure this gives me the simplicity and space savings of only needing one pump, but the push connect fittings will let me easily remove reactors for maintenance and refilling. It also lets me tune flow to each one without costing a fortune with a gate valve on each.

 

I'm not sure if I would need a DCT 6000(1500GPH) to run all of that though, or if the 4000(1000GPH) would be enough.

[Benny314]

My understanding is a valve on the mame will be a no no.

As for pump, bigger is better. The beauty of these DC pumps is you can just throttle them back with the controller and not use as much electric at the same time.

[rickztahone]

 

Thanks! I hope it looks good because it took a long time to get it finished and a lot of tinkering to get exact (or semi exact) lengths on wires and sleeving.

 

Currently I'm now struggling with sump design, flow rates, and such. I'm not sure if I would be going way overkill or not with a Jebao DCT4000 return pump. I want a decent amount of flow through my MAME overflow, saltwater conversion recommends 528GPH for the venturi to work. If possible I want to also run a biopellet and a carbon/GFO reactor off the return as well, so I don't think the 1000GPH would be too crazy.

 

Another thing I've considered is popping a gate valve on the drain line from the MAME and setting it to run in a full siphon, but that might be an awful idea.

 

One of the biggest question marks at the moment is do I want one 4" filter sock, or 2 of them? The disadvantage of going with 2 is it reduces the size of my skimmer chamber by 2", and leaves me with a max skimmer footprint of about 8"x9.75". Not a huge issue though, I'm thinking of adding an Icecap K2-50 skimmer which needs 3.5"x5", so the rest of the space I would possibly use as a macroalgae refugium and get it out of my display. The sump will be a standard 10G, the inside of the (new) stand is only 11" deep.

 

Edit: added sump design choices. I'm leaning toward the one with 2 socks.

Design A, one sock.

Design B, two socks, slightly less skimmer/refugium section space.

 

 

In all honesty, I'm not sure why the large baffle in the middle (holding the filter socks section) is even needed. You can simply just add a ledge style baffle where it allows the filter sock to "land on" and you have an open middle section which may be better?

 

I did something similar to this with my sump. Notice only the L-shaped (small) strip of acrylic I used as a "floating ledge":

DSC04390 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr

Here it is ready to go, just missing the media and the top area is for the filter floss only:

DSC04392 by Rick Vasquez, on Flickr