P Sherman's ADA 60P

[P Sherman]

Hi!

After recently moving from 42 Wallaby Way to our new home I had to pack up all the parts from my 'first' aquarium build and start over. I hope to use this thread as a tank journal both to record how things progress and to help others. Please keep in mind I have never kept an aquarium in my life so please feel free to share ideas and help me along my journey.

Before I start I want to give quick shout out to NanoTopia and the ADA 30c which served as the inspiration to build my own system. Thank You!

 

 

Specs:

- Tank: ADA 60P. (60cm x 30cm x 36cm; 60L or 15.9 Gal) drilled for Ghost Overflow. On ADA Garden Mat.

- Sump: Synergy Reef CL-22 Sump (22" x 15" x 15"; 15 Gal) in Red/White cross laminate. Working with Vanessa at Synergy was great, very helpful.

- Display Light: Nano Box Duo with Blue Fish controller. 4-chanal (Blue, White, Moonlight, UV). Gooseneck mount. Dave at Nano Box is awesome, Thanks!

- Refugium Light: Tunze 8850.000 LED Full Spectrum 26W light that is fully waterproof and submerged in my refugium to minimize light loss.

- Recuculation System: Bean Animal silent overflow, Synergy Reef Ghost overflow, Tunze 1073.050 DC variable return pump with 17mm lily pipe

- Display Powerhead: Tunze 6150 hidden behind rock, a unique DC pump which uses magnetic-bearing to be nearly silent. Roger Vitko at Tunze is awesome! 

- Water Exchange System: Water exchange using Spectra-pure LiterMeter 3 pump and WXM module

- Auto-Topoff System: -Auto Top-Off System using the SpectraPure Liter Meter pump and Tunze 3155 Auto Top Off Osmolator

- Aquascape: Two islands made from Pukani rock from Bulk Reef Supply, stuck together with E-Marco 400 cement. Japanese Iwagumi style.

- Skimmer: Tunze DOC Skimmer 9004 DC, very nice compact skimmer with DC variable speed motor.

- Biological Filtration: CerMedia MarinePure Bio-Filter Media 8"x8" by 4", Pukani Rock from BRS, and Special Grade Arag-Alive Reef Sand, Dr. Tim's Bacteria

- Zeovit Reactor:  -Avast Marine 2L Vibe Zeovit reactor

- Heating: One 100w and one 50w Aqueon Pro heaters, controlled by a Johnson Controls A421 Digital temperature controller.

Thanks for checking it out!

[JR!]

Well I like what I see here

[DCUEVAS74]

I can't wait to see this going! Great start. That overflow is pretty sweet!

[niQo]

Love the ADA tanks!

 

How is Darla?

[P Sherman]

Darla is Good but luckily for my new aquarium, far far away

 

When I first wanted to set up my aquarium we were renting a home so I used an IKEA stand as a basic base and started building it around it and the ADA 60P. Then before I got very far we ended up buying a house and moving so I needed to figure out a new stand and settled existing on built in bookshelves. Here is the thread I started for my first tank (never finished):

//www.nano-reef.com/topic/342245-ryoan-ji-ada-60-p

 

 

This is what my tank loaded like when I started before drilling in its new home. Also shown is the mockup of how the overflow and light will connect on the back wall. I was trying to figure out spacing requirements for the light bracket.

 

 

 

 

So time to drill! I bought a 60mm drill bit on Amazon. What a piece of #@*&!!!! Worst drill bit ever. But with a little hand bracing and patience I drilled my first two holes in glass. I used a dremel with a diamond grinder to clean it up. And voilà!

 

Now I started putting things together. The Synergy reef overflow came with 4 rubber gaskets but since I need to create a little more space behind the inlet box to fit the lamp bracket I might need to stack three gaskets on each side. I ordered 4 extra gaskets from Bulk Reef Supply last week but they aren't here yet so this is a dry mock up until they arrive.

 

[P Sherman]

So this is how it looks tonight. I cut a 1/4" piece of black acrylic to act as a base and on-top I put an ADA Garden Mat cut to size. Then the aquarium, light, and overflow:

I have to work the rest of the week so that may be it for a week. The next project is figuring out and building the Bean Animal overflow.

 

So I am starting to think about the return and if anyone has used either the Sea Swirl or the Oceans Motions please let me know how it worked. I a leery of the Sea Swirl because of the noise of the motor running the oscillating return, and it looks kinda clunky. Any other return options to create random ocean-like current? I have an MP-10 but I want to look at a more low profile option. Also do you think I should paint the back wall of the tank to hide the plumbing or keep it clear? Thanks for checking it out.

[HarryPotter]

Woah thats an amazing setup! Wow!

 

Where will you drill for the returns?

 

Ecotech came out with a really cool DC pump, but that might be overkill for this sized tank.

[JR!]

Looks really awesome! Well done

[P Sherman]

Woah thats an amazing setup! Wow!

 

Where will you drill for the returns?

 

Ecotech came out with a really cool DC pump, but that might be overkill for this sized tank.

Thank you Mr. Potter. I am definitely considering Ecotech Vectra but I have a Tunze already. Thinking about two pumps from a redundancy point of view. I am not sure if I will drill the returns or not. Either way in the beginning I will just run the over the top until I am happy with the setup.

Looks really awesome! Well done

Thanks! I like your set-up also! All I did was drill two holes in the aquarium and cut a base out of acrylic. The real work and credit goes to Dave at Nano Box and the guys at Synergy. Credit where credit is due

[P Sherman]

Update:

 

So I have been busy, Happy Thanksgiving! But I started running the plumbing to the basement. I wanted to help support the weight of the water in the overflow box so I tried to kill two birds with one stone by using a union and schedule 80 as support columns. Since I want to be able to remove the aquarium during construction the schedule 80 unions were a necessity. Here is half of the union with pipe running into the cabinet below. I drilled through the cabinet and the black acrylic sheet I am using as a base:

Then I measured and cut some PVC to size and connected to the bulkheads under the overflow. Nothing is glued yet I think I need to re-cut some pieces and get the fit just right first.

 

Here is where things are right now:

Also I am on the hunt for deals over Black Friday. I am thinking about the new MP10 quiet... Anyone have it and wish to comment? And I am working on the overflow pipes inside the overflow box. I am thinking about making them out of clear PVC. Here is my first mock up (not clear PVC):

 

Have a happy holidays!

[Mikeymikemike]

for this tank, save your money and stick a jebao rw4 in the corner.

[P Sherman]

for this tank, save your money and stick a jebao rw4 in the corner.

Thanks... I do need to save money on this but there are so many cool things out there I can't help myself.

 

I am thinking about the return and I love the idea of lily pipe. Anyone used one and have any suggestions?

 

I plan cutting a piece of super thin acrylic the same width as the overflow and placing it below the overflow to hide the plumbing. This will create a very zen-like simple black square up the middle of the tank with open glass on both sides like NanoTopia's ADA 30c which is the inspiration for my tank. I love the way the return was incoporated into the rock. Perhaps I may take that approach for the return.

 

Here is a couple photos of my original tank before we moved. I used the IKEA besta furniture and the ADA 60p which match perfectly:

 

I think a lily pipe over one side would be a simple return mechanism but I am worried about two issues:

 

1. Leaks: Lily pipes look kinda flimsy with that tube just attached to the bottom

2. Ease of Cleaning it: Lily pipes look like they would be a pain in the @#$ to keep clean

 

For flow I am not relying on the lily pipes/sump return. Instead I want to create flow inside the tank without disturbing the aesthetics and clean lines of the design. So I am thinking about 2 mp-10's. I have 1 already I picked up a year ago and the reason for the second one is more flow while at lower speeds. Though testing I have found that the noise my mp-10 makes goes up a lot based on speed so at 10-30% power it is relatively quiet. So it stands to reason that with two pumps at the lower power settings I can achieve good flow with little noise. I was thinking about creating an enclosure around the back of the overflow/plumbing area to further reduce to noise to near zero. I know this is all overkill but I enjoy the design of my little overbuilt aquarium. To me it is a creative exercise not confined by the limits of reason or frugality.

 

Here is my tank with the MP-10 (old version). I am worried it is too low in the water column but I am toying with idea of having one MP-10 low and another on the side and higher up to create a cross current:

 

[Mikeymikemike]

I use lily pipes, they are a chore to clean but you will enjoy the unobtrusive look they give

[P Sherman]

I just finished bleaching, etching, cutting, drilling, sanding, cementing and envisioning my little aquascape and I wanted to post an update to my tank page on my very slow but steady progress. Things are accelerating as I await my sump from Synergy Reef. I will post and update when I get it all plumbed it. For my aquascape I used Pukani from BRS after a multi-step cleaning. This is a very open rock but man is it dirty and hard to clean.

 

I searched for inspiration for my aquascape and read a lot about Iwagumi. I incorporated some of the rules. I went with a primarily three stone configuration known as Sanzon Iwagumi.

- The main rock (Oyaishi) should be ⅔ of the height of the aquarium and the largest rock

- The secondary rock (Fukuishi) should be the second largest it is on right hand side of the Oyaishi and it should be a similar texture and the same type of stone (Pukani) as the Oyaishi.

- This third stone (Soeishi) is placed next to the Oyaishi in this case it is a smaller coral. The Soeshi plays an important role in the flow of the Iwagumi by bolstering the strength of the Oyaishi or accentuating its presence. In this case it is actually cemented to the main rock to keep it from tipping over how bout that for "bolstering the strength of the Oyaishi".

I like the canyon/trench effect it has right now we may play with it and rearrange things as things find thier happy place. I used E-Marco-400 aquascape mortar and it worked very well, great stuff! More when I get the sump installed.

[William]

Very cool, following

[P Sherman]

We have a sump!

 

Just got my CL-22 sump from Synergy Reef and it really a work of art. Working with Vanessa was great and I received my sump about 10 days after ordering it. It was very well packaged and arrived in pristine condition. Really all aspects of working with Synergy Reef far exceeded my expectations, from the customer service, to the delivery time and packaging, to the sump, and even the free T-shirt (gotta love the free swag).

 

 

(My daughter liked the Synergy box so much she decided to watch an entire movie from her new home!)

 

So I went ahead and dry fit some of the plumbing to get some ideas on sump placement and pluming design. I really love the red PVC tubing with white schedule 40 fittings look. I also went ahead and painted the sump area with a waterproof/mold resistant primer to clean it up. I have been toying with the idea of buying a half sheet of white acrylic to veneer the inside of the old wooden built-in cabinet but I am not sure if it is worth it. Here is what it looks like right now:

 

 

I plan on using red, white, and black RODI tubing to keep in the same style. While I don't have a skimmer yet I kinda like the Reef Octopus Elite 150SSS because it is variable speed DC, has a small footprint, and most importantly silent (according to the reviews I have read) If you have any experience with the DC Reef Octopus pump as far as noise please let me know.

 

For now I am waiting on a white gate valve (I was going to use the gray one for my lawn sprinkler system) and I also ordered a cheep Lily Pipe to use for the return and test it out. I am hoping I can then test run the whole pluming system in the next few weeks and see how/if it all works.

[niQo]

Looking forward to what you are going to do with the scape!

[Rory282]

Dude... This is just way to cool!

[P Sherman]

Pukani Curing Update(s):

 

So I just wanted to post a quick update on building my reef. I am curing some BRS Pukani rock and this is what I have done to get it ready for cycling and adding it to the tank.

 

I received two large pieces of Pukani.

 

1. I began with a wire brush and dental stainless pick tool to clean off all the dead stuff I could.

2. Then I soaked them in salt water to rehydrate them.

3. I then soaked them in bleach to kill everything. Then let the air dry for several days to let the chlorine dissipate. Then I rinsed them until all the chlorine smell was gone.

4. Next I placed them each in a 5-gal paint bucket outside on the driveway in water. I put on safety gear including a respirator, gloves, and googles and added Muriatic acid to clean them, and then used baking soda to neutralize the acid.

5. Then I pressure washed them to remove all remaining detritus.

6. After that I aquascaped the rocks and used E-Marco cement to hold my arrangement together.

7. I soaked them in RODI with de-chlorinator to remove any last traces of chlorine and tested to make sure.

8. Finally I am currently using Lanthanum Chloride (agent green) to remove as much of the leaching phosphates from the rock as possible. I am also doing multiple water changes to try and get my Hanna Phosphorus ULR to read near zero (5ppb or less), it is currently at 32 ppb (32 * 3.066 / 1000) 0.098 ppm

 

I think that Pukani is a really beautiful rock but it is very, very dirty and will leach phosphates into my aquarium unless I treat it now. The fact that it is such a porous rock makes it so appealing and so incredibly hard to get clean. Here are some pics of the tools of the trade:

 

I hope once I can get all leaching phosphates under control I can start to cycle to rock using one or more of the following, I am going to go ahead and order it now because the weather is still warm enough in October to prevent it from freezing during transport.

- Dr. Tim's One and Only Living Bacteria

- Dr. Tims Ammonium Chloride

- ATM Colony

 

If you have any suggestions for living bacteria to begin cycling please let me know, Thanks!

 

UPDATE 10/3/16:

After using Lanthanum Chloride for a few days my Phosphorus levels are 24 ppb or 0.0735 ppm. While I am not zero yet I am on the way down. I may test the RODI water I am adding to see what the level is before I add it to the soaking tub.

 

 

UPDATE 10/4/16: I ran the rocks in just plane RODI with out Lanthanum Chloride and checked them after 24 hours and got a reading of 36 ppb or 0.110 ppm phosphate. I have been cleaning lots of white dust (Lanthanum Phosphate precipitation) on the MP-10 I use to circulate in the soaking bucket so clearly the Lanthanum Chloride is working. Changed out the water and going to re-dose LC and let it run for another 24 hours. I think this Pukani has a lot of phosphate to leach, better now though than in the tank.

 

UPDATE 10/5/16: Phosphorus 23 ppb or 0.071 ppm Phosphate (PO4) in saltwater dosing LC

 

UPDATE 10/6/16: Phosphorus 12 ppb or 0.037 ppm Phosphate (PO4). That's a definite improvement but I am not that confident that Phosphates won't increase again. Part of the problem is Pukani is so porous that it is hard to clean out all the lanthanum phosphate flocks that come out solution. I may setup a basic filter sock station to dose a LC solution into to try and screen the LC flocks and filter my way down to .015 ppm phosphorous. I went ahead and tested the RODI water and got a reading of 1 ppb so I have a high level of certainty that the Hanna Phosphorus ULR works and my goal of 5 ppb is attainable. My target is perimeters for starting the cycling process are:

Temp 83

pH 8.2

Alkalinity 175ppm

Phosphorus ℗ 5ppb (PO4 = 0,015)

 

UPDATE 10/7/16: Phosphorus 11 ppb or 0.034 ppm Phosphate (PO4). Another water change and it looks like I am closing in quickly on 5 ppb. Also I noticed that much of the lanthanum chloride deposits (white dust) that was sticking to the MP-10 wet side has started to disappear on its own. Now off to do another water change this time with salt water and start dosing a little LC to drive the numbers down some more. Also I am running the MP-10 at 100% to keep the Lanthanum Phosphate particles moving so I can keep the in solution and then they can be removed easily in the water changes. So once again the old adage "The Solution to Pollution is Dilution" holds true with a little chemical assist from LC.

 

UPDATE 10/9/16: Phosphorus 8 ppb or 0.025 ppm Phosphate (PO4). After soaking the rock in Saltwater and running the MP10 at full power and dosing LC I have Phosphorus at 8 ppb. I am going to go ahead and do another full water change and re-dose LC to see if we can get 5ppb. I am ordering my bacteria & Ammonium Chloride from Dr. Tim's now before we start getting freezing conditions that could kill the bacteria during transport.

 

UPDATE 10/10/16: Phosphorus 15 ppb or 0.049 ppm Phosphate (PO4). Increase in Phosphorus, time to do a water change and see how it goes.

 

UPDATE 10/11/16: Phosphorus 17 ppb or 0.052 ppm Phosphate (PO4). Phosphorus levels are actually increasing now! Nothing has changed, I am still using RODI water for my water source. The ONLY change is I ran out of my original salt (DD H2Ocean salt) so I bought Instant Ocean salt at my local fish store. I ordered the Hanna calibration kit for my Phosphorous ULR to make sure these numbers are legit.

 

UPDATE 10/12/16: Phosphorus 22 ppb or 0.067 ppm Phosphate (PO4). I am worried that the Instant Ocean salt may be a source of some of the phosphorus increase so I ordered more of my DD H2Ocean salt.

 

UPDATE 10/13/16: Phosphorus 15 ppb or 0.046 ppm Phosphate (PO4).

 

UPDATE 10/14/16: Phosphorus 16 ppb or 0.049 ppm Phosphate (PO4).

 

UPDATE 10/15/16: Phosphorus 8 ppb or 0.025 ppm Phosphate (PO4). Checked my Hanna checker with 100 ppb solution and got a reading of 87! Out of the 90-110 calibration error range so I think my Hanna checker is kaput

 

UPDATE 10/16/16: Phosphorus 74 ppb or 0.227 ppm Phosphate (PO4). Yikes! What happened? Still using RODI water, maybe the tester is not working right. I contacted Hanna and they asked me to send it to them for evaluation. I reached the end of my Instant Ocean salt so maybe that is the culprit. Either way I am going to dump the current water and mix up some fresh salt water using my new H2O Salt and test it before adding the rock to see where we stand. Then send the HI736 tester back to Hanna tomorrow. No need to panic, this too shall pass

 

UPDATE 10/17/16: Phosphorus 2 ppb or 0.006 ppm Phosphate (PO4) in water 5 min after rocks were added to freshly made sea water. So clearly the new salt and the RODI system are not the source of Phosphorus. I am sending my Hanna checker back to Hanna to have it fixed or replaced but I am curious what the levels will be when it returns.

 

UPDATE 10/18/16: Phosphorus 15 ppb or 0.046 ppm Phosphate (PO4). After rocks have been in the new water 12. hours. Last test for a few weeks till I get my meter back from Hanna.

 

Meter back from Hanna! They did a nice job taking care of the broken meter, I will definitely buy more Hanna Testers!

 

UPDATE 11/5/16: Phosphorus 13 ppb or 0.040 ppm Phosphate (PO4) after 3 days of rocks soaking in water. My goal is still 5 ppb but I think this meter reads a tad bit high so I am probably at 11ppb. A few more water changes to help get rid of the last of the phosphorus then I will add it to the tank and start the cycle. I am just finishing up on the automatic water exchange system and I want to plumb in a couple of BRS Deluxe reactors to run carbon and maybe GFO as needed to help bring phosphates lower. I also need to finish up the heater sub-system, I bought a DC heater to try it out and it was massively underpowered so I am going to have to use the old AC heater system, but I plan on using 2 heaters (probably 50w each) with a controller to shut them off if temps rise to much. I may just use the Apex as my controller instead. So still plenty to do.

[P Sherman]

I wanted to post a quick update on my build. I am still soaking my rocks trying to get rid of the last remaining phosphates but meanwhile I am busy finishing up my sump. I went to a local plastics shop and bought some scrap polycarbonate white tint plastic and cut it to size to fit in my cabinet, it looks very clean and bright and will be much more effective than just paint.

I also bought a Tunze 9004 DC skimmer. I picked it because it was the smallest (and cheapest) DC variable power skimmer I could find. I wanted DC because it would allow me to adjust the pump speed to tune the skimmer. And I picked it because the pump is very quiet. With the pump running fully submerged without any air intake it is actually silent, I couldn't hear it. But when you introduce air you can hear noise from three areas:
1. The intake (I plan on running the intake out a hole in the basement wall to bring in outside air so that should fix that)
2. The bubbles popping, the cover helps and as it brakes in that should help with that.
3. The Impeller caveating. This is the major source of noise and I am not sure there is a good solution to this problem. You might be able to design an impeller that reduces the cavitation while still providing lots of micro bubbles. The nice thing with the Tunze 9004 DC is you can adjust the speed to a good balance of performance with acceptable noise.

I also bought a 4" block of MarinePure ceramic media which is really cool stuff. It claims to have half an acre in surface area which should provide a great home to lots of bacteria (perhaps even anaerobic bacteria). I plan on making that area of my sump a refugium where I can grow Cheatomorpha algae there also. I will build a small removable acrylic wall to separate the algae area from the skimmer area. I am already scoping out the Kessil H380 as my reverse cycle light source. I seriously considered the Pax Bellum A.R.I.D. N18 Nano as my algae grower but I really like the Kessil light and the simplicity of keeping it in one section of the sump.

Finally I am trying to figure out a nice way to organize all the various cords, cables, RODI/EHEIM tubing, etc in my sump to keep things nice and clean. I have used zip-tie and other things but I have learned that as soon as you tie something permanently you will soon be back untying everything because plans have changed. So I love these J-channels I found on amazon which act like a cable raceway. I will have it pass through the wall into the equipment/controller dry area in the next cabinet to run all wires etc. I started with a small black j-channel and a large beige j-channel and I put in all the stuff I could find to figure out which one might work best:

I am going with the larger channel but in black. I really like that I could even run EHEIM 12/16mm tubing through the channel so things like a media reactor or algae reactor could be supplied by the return pump through this channel. I hope it looks really clean when I am done but most importantly it will be easy to modify as things change.

TO DO LIST:
- Run new electric plug GFCI along back wall to connect all aquarium equipment inside cabinet to
- Plastic fabrication; opening for return, openings for wires from sump to storage cabinet
- Instal black J-channel cord organizer along back wall
- Instal light and tighten ghost overflow gaskets for normal operation
- Instal plugs and Apex controller including probes
- Instal skimmer and feed air line outside
- Install Tunze 1073.050 DC pump, connect and secure return line to pump/lily pipe

- Cut and glue grey return pipe to the union.
- Cut and glue unions and pipe spanning the top of the cabinet
- Cut and glue all red/white pipe in the sump compartment
- Cut and fabricate intake pipes that are inside the ghost overflow
- Instal black acrylic backplate to hide grey rerun pipes behind aquarium
- Instal MP-10 along back wall
- Fabricate temporary plastic wall between skimmer and refugium from scrap acrylic
- Test all connections
- Fill with water and test tank for leaks and normal silent operation
- Buy and Instal heater

Thing to do before we can get it wet and run some sea trials! I will post an update when I add water.

[P Sherman]

Lights, Water, Motion!

The day has arrived and I finally have water in the tank! My wife said: "That thing is the most complicated fish tank ever, most people add water about 20 min after they get the tank home from the pet store, it only took you 1 year"

 

Yup.

 

But I have had fun. Here is a few things I learned while setting it up:

 

The GOOD:

-Bean Animal Setup: Wow! This set-up is absolutely silent. I have mine tuned to have 100% of the flow on the syphon, occasionally when the flow gets a to say 102% then that extra 2% goes down the open channel. I slept soundly last night knowing that essentially there are two emergency drains backing up the syphon. The gate valve is very important, you can get precise control which is essential for tuning it perfectly to run silent.

- Tunze 1073.050 DC Return Pump: It is not silent but it is very close, and most importantly the frequency is very low and hard to notice. And the flow is very constant, I have it at the lowest speed and it delivers a perfect constant flow rate that is easy to tune the Bean Animal to.

- Synergy Ghost Overflow: Very quiet and looks great! The Magnetic weir is perfect.

- NanoBox Duo w/ Bluefish Controller: The design is so clean and simple but the light is amazing, and the iOS app for the Bluefish is so user friendly. Love it!

- J Cord channel: Best way to organize all those crazy cords and keep it nice a neat.

 

The BAD:

- Vortec MP10: I planned to use it for circulation, but I am not because that thing is annoyingly loud compared to the rest of the setup. It is being banished to the basement for salt water storage tank circulation. Very, very disappointed with EcoTech, I think it is a great idea but they clearly don't have the bearings figured out which in my setup makes it the loudest component. I am looking into the Tunze 6105 for circulation which they claim will be silent.

- ABS Bulkheads: I had 1 of my ABS bulkheads develop a crack (my fault for removing a pipe by rocking it out rather than twisting it)

 

Anyways this is where things are and I will update this post as "Sea Trials" continue and I work out the bugs.

[Rory282]

Man, this is such a sweet build! Everytime i see this, i want to do something similar.

[P Sherman]

Automatic Water Top-Off System:

 

 

On 10/26/2016 at 9:55 AM, Rory282 said:

Man, this is such a sweet build! Everytime i see this, i want to do something similar.

 

 

Thanks Buddy! I am keeping this as a kind of tank journal but it is always nice to share ideas and help each other!

 

 

So I am testing various sub-systems and below is a video I made tonight showing my auto top-off system using the Tunze 3155 osmolator connected to a SpectraPure LiterMeter III Water Exchange Module WXM generation 6. I went ahead a cut the cord on my SpectraPure WXM and connected it to the Tunze 3155 and it works Perfectly!

 

Here are the two big advantages of this setup:

 

-Redundancy: 3 Different shut-off systems: It uses an Optical Sensor for normal water level, a Float Switch as an emergency shutoff, and a Pneumatic Switch as an emergency shutoff for the WXM Pump.

 

-Awesome Pump: This pump is a big upgrade over the included Tunze pump. This peristaltic pump will Not Back-syphon and can draw up from 25ft and pump up from 60ft.

 

 

It is not a silent pump but with proper maintenance it should be very reliable and since you only need to top-off maybe once or twice a day for 30-60 sec noise is not a real factor. I found that I needed the level to drop 100ml before the pump would turn on so that would take a little while to evaporate 100ml of water.

 

Here is a direct link to the video for anyone who may be interested in this type of system:

 

[Mikeymikemike]

I like the details of your system. With the lily pipe, consider installing a flow valve. I got one from fish street that works very well for me.

 

You may want to consider a controllable dc pump. that will allow you to feed without overflowing the food into the sump or you can slow down the flow to prevent back siphoning.

 

To remove the lily pipes easily, make a small cut at the end of the tube.

 

other option: If you use a hard clear PVC tube and then put a small length of silicone tube to join the lily pipe to it, you wont need to worry about the flimsy tube look, its a simple pull off and put back on method. I do something similar with my mame overflow and it takes 5 seconds to pop off, stays in the same position and looks very clean.

[P Sherman]

other option: If you use a hard clear PVC tube and then put a small length of silicone tube to join the lily pipe to it, you wont need to worry about the flimsy tube look, its a simple pull off and put back on method. I do something similar with my mame overflow and it takes 5 seconds to pop off, stays in the same position and looks very clean.

Very cool idea. I do hate the flimsy tube look and clear pvc with silicone would be a great option. Thank you!

 

I am using a DC variable speed pump to be able to lower the flow and tune in my Bean Animals overflow. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

I am using a DC Tunze return pump, DC Tunze Skimmer, DC Tunze in tank Power head, and DC aquarium heater. So everything in the aquarium is DC. I see three big advantages:

1. Variable Speed (tune the pump to the ideal speed)

2. Battery Backup (everything can be run off a large deep-cycle battery)

3. Safety (I am not sure about this one but I am investigating the safety be benefits)

 

I will post more videos as I put the finishing touches on the aquarium.

 

Again I know this is way overkill but I find this project fascinating and a fun escape from real projects.