🌿9to5 Acro Jungle🌿 New Outboard Motor

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

6 hours ago, M. Tournesol said:

I applaud your dedication to this project because god really doesn't want it to work 👏.

Thanks, haha it's been an uphill climb for sure 😅

[seabass]

I'm totally cool with using a canister filter instead.  However, I'm a little confused by the problems you had with your sump.

 

7 hours ago, Chowder's Reef said:

The bucket idea worked for a little while, but then the drain line started sucking in air after about 4 hours. My biggest worry was the siphon breaking and then the return flooding the tank as the siphon takes a while to restart (tested this theory and it would easily flood the display).

Yeah, with HOB overflows, breaking the siphon is everyone's biggest concern.  People often use a dosing pump to remove bubbles from the peak of the siphon tube.

 

Drilled tanks don't rely on siphons, so they are much more foolproof.

 

7 hours ago, Chowder's Reef said:

I literally had to have the exact same amount of water coming into the tank as going out, to much water coming in, the tank floods, too little water coming into the tank, the siphon breaks and then the display floods. This normally is fixed with adjusting the return flow or the drain line flow. This proved to be an impossible task with this setup.

You should never have to try to match the flow from the drain and the return.  The drain (or drain system) should always have more capacity than the return pump is supplying.

 

I imagine with some more information, that we could have helped you work out the problems.  But I get that you are past that now; and your new plan is sound. 👍

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

2 hours ago, seabass said:

I'm totally cool with using a canister filter instead.  However, I'm a little confused by the problems you had with your sump.

 

Yeah, with HOB overflows, breaking the siphon is everyone's biggest concern.  People often use a dosing pump to remove bubbles from the peak of the siphon tube.

 

Drilled tanks don't rely on siphons, so they are much more foolproof.

 

You should never have to try to match the flow from the drain and the return.  The drain (or drain system) should always have more capacity than the return pump is supplying.

 

I imagine with some more information, that we could have helped you work out the problems.  But I get that you are past that now; and your new plan is sound. 👍

 

That makes two of us lol.

 

I drilled and used two 1/2" bulkheads at about an inch below the top of the tank. I didn't have an external part of the overflow box (just the internal skimmer part if that makes sense) so once the water went through the overflow box it was directly fed into the drain line from the bulkhead on the side of the tank. I feel the issue was that even at the lowest pump setting I was already maxed out of the capacity of the drain line (1/2" tubing) the water would rise above the bulkhead and it would create a siphon, at that point the water level in the display would drop rapidly until the siphon would break and the process would start over again. Although as often as not, the air in the drain line wouldn't purge and it couldn't handle the 80gph flow of the return, so the water level in the tank would rise until it overflowed the display. It was really confusing as I have seen other tanks drilled and using bulkheads and tubing like mine, but for some reason I just couldn't get things balanced with the return and drain lines. Maybe using 1" tubing on the drain line would have helped solve that issue? I agree with you that your drain line should always have the capacity to drain water without creating a siphon, but no matter what I tried it would always happen? Idk maybe I'm just missing something, but spending a week trying to figure it out proved to be futile and I settle on a more bulletproof solution.

 

I hope that shed a little more light on the issues that I was having, but like I said I'll just stick to a canister filter for now as that seems to be doing a good job 👍

[seabass]

Primarily for others following along...

 

4 minutes ago, Chowder's Reef said:

I feel the issue was that even at the lowest pump setting I was already maxed out of the capacity of the drain line (1/2" tubing) the water would rise above the bulkhead and it would create a siphon

I see, the volume was just too much for your 1/2" drain (at least how it was configured).  I wouldn't rely on a siphon drain without an emergency drain present.

 

8 minutes ago, Chowder's Reef said:

Maybe using 1" tubing on the drain line would have helped solve that issue? I agree with you that your drain line should always have the capacity to drain water without creating a siphon

Or even a 3/4" drain probably would have worked.

 

I think the other problem is that the drain probably should have had an air vent:

A vent hole (in the 1/2" drainpipe) might have been enough to handle the 80gph flow rate produced by your return pump.

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Hmmm yeah an air vent probably would have helped with the siphoning issue for sure. Oh well, haha maybe on the next build I can take this info and make a better/reliable system! 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

New and improved(?) photo of everything running, along with my spiffy VCA forceps 😊

 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Just waiting for the microbes to grow 

 

 

 

[Maas101]

Unfortunately nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank. At least it's wet and operating properly...

[Murphs_Reef]

On 10/29/2021 at 12:51 AM, NoOneLikesADryTang said:

Sorry about the chip in the glass. Thankfully it isn’t a chip that should impact the integrity of the tank at all. 
 

Also, and it may just be me… But I’d rethink that rock stack on the right. Looks a little *ahem* phallic to me. 

Stop being cocky. It looks ok that 👍🏼

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 11/22/2021 at 1:59 AM, Maas101 said:

Unfortunately nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank.

This is true.

On 11/22/2021 at 1:59 AM, Maas101 said:

At least it's wet and operating properly...

Well hurry up and get yours running mate! 😂

[Maas101]

2 hours ago, Chowder's Reef said:

This is true.

Well hurry up and get yours running mate! 😂

I know.... This weekend it will be done. Tested my Sicce 1.0 yesterday and it was dead 😞 A TMC reef pump 2000 should arrive today 😀

[Tamberav]

Beautiful set up 🙂

[ererer]

Looking good so far! Any updates?

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 1/12/2022 at 8:11 PM, ererer said:

Looking good so far! Any updates?

Thanks!

Uhhhhhhhhhh not yet *nervous laugh*