southpaw23

Here's another look at a different angle...

Here's the eventual piping setup for the return pump feed. Wanted to incorporate a ball valve as well as a quick release before hitting the return pump...unfortunately, i wasn't aware of the other type of ball valve with the quick releases already incorporated into them...and the tank maker didn't have them with him so i'm thinking i'll have to redo the piping when i get around to changing the return pump to a higher flow rate pump.

Pipings being setup by the tank maker....

At long last, the tank is finalised and setup...here's the specs as it stands: Tank (3.5' L x 2' W x 22" H) Sump ( 2.5' L x 19" W x 16" H) Hailea HX 6540 (2800lph) Return Pump (Think it's too low a flowrate for the tank and skimmer) Seio 820 x 2 (have yet to add the second one) Rio 20HF for the Beckett 27" RM Beckett Skimmer Skimz Fluidised Reactor (Not hooked up yet) Eheim 1250 for the chiller Arctica 1/10hp Chiller (Seems to be doing fine cooling my tank volume) 36watt PL for the sump/refugium Here's the first set of pics....first one of the tank as it arrived...

Wow...ur right...i HAVE been planning since aquarama!....seems like ages ago...but yeah...glad everything is fired and working great...the beckett is pulling out some major gunk from my tank....thanks again for the heads up on the beckett...owe u one.. I know how u feel on the one man show...altho i did have my wife helping on some minor chores.... Well...let me know when urs is up and we'll drop by each others place....n compare notes... I guess you're right about them serving more corporates cos their pricing is a lil steep for regular reefers...even tho they do provide quality stuff...interested to know how they solved ur backflow problem....don't suppose it's the simple solution of drilling an airhole somewhere in the return...am sure it's a lil more sophisticated than that.... Well...keep the pictures coming....mine will be up shortly...hopefully will be loading some of the pics up this weekend...so stay tuned... later buddy....

Hey paul... Sorry to hear about your piping headaches...but the tank looks great...only a matter of time before it's all up and running....hang in there. My tank finally came in two weeks ago and had some issues with piping as well, leakages here and there, also needed a check valve cos when the return pump went off, the backflow almost flooded my sump tank Long story...but bottom line was that i had to run the main tank alone just like ur doing to and wait till the weekend to get the stuff...a lil frustrating so i know how ya feel but when it's all finally done, the feeling is well worth the wait.. And those Aquatechnic tanks are wicked....love the braceless look...ur right tho, don't see many of those tanks posted on this forum. Anyways...thought i'd drop by and say hi....n wish u the best in the new tank...keep the updates coming. take care...

Hey buddy....u have PM on the TUBBY.... cheers

Nobody?

aquamarin sells y check valves? hmmm...they sell plumbing too?...funny that i never noticed...

Anyone?...

how big is the fish?

Hi there... Me again with a couple more questions. Was wondering what's the general turnover rate one aims for between the sump and their main tank? I know that 10-20 times turnover is recommended within the tank itself (in non sps systems) but that is usually taken care of by external powerheads or wavemakers. But what's a good turnover rate between the sump and main tank? I currently have a Hailea 2800lph pump hooked up to the return and i'm feeling that the flow is way too low in my sump after minusing headloss etc. My concern is that the skimmer and chiller wouldn't be as effective with this low a flowrate. I haven't done actual calculations but i'm sure that my becketts turnover rate is way more than the actual flow rate that ends up in the sump. Does anyone know what the flow rate of the MD40 and MD55 is? I'm thinking that i would need a higher flow rate return as my original plan was to tee off the return to run my FR but seeing how low the flow rate is on the Hailea, it's not possible now. Was wondering if the MD40 would be sufficient or should i just go with the MD55. If the out put is too strong on the MD55, i was planning on extending the return pump lower into the tank and drill a 1/2 inch hole at the bottom to add additional flow at the lower portion of the tank while maintaining the upper outlet at the top...a lil difficult to explain but it'll look something like the diagram below (please excuse the lousy drawing ) Thoughts?

Thanks for the reply guys but do ya'll mind giving me more details...am not from around here so have no idea where these places are

Hi all, Had the tank setup over the weekend and now find that i'm in desperate need for a check valve as my sump tank water level is only 4 inches from the top and when the pump is cut off, the tank water nearly flooded my sump tank, even with the hole drilled at the top of the return to break the siphon...scared the shit outta me.... Anyways...to cut a long story short....i think i'll need to incorporate a check valve and was wondering where i could get one? preferably the y check valve as i'm guessing it's better...but thoughts, comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated. Oh and if you could list down the price or pm it to me that'll be great as well.. cheers, Kenny

So...grade 1 it is.....thanks for all your input guys! Tomorrow's the big day...tank arrival...WOO HOO!! Will update ya'll with pictures soon.... cheers!

Hi there, Just wanting to find out what are everyones preference on the grade of sand to include in the tank...i know some have taken the bare bottom route and I have opted for a shallow sand bed for aesthetic purpose and was wondering what most have to say about the different grades of sand...i've looked at the grade 0 and 1 and still deciding between the two. Was wondering what ya'lls opinion were on this? so fire away....

Yeah i've got 150 watt MH over the tank as well but like i mentioned, i've got two fans blowing across the lights...one suckin air into the hood, the other blowing out.... But the thing about arctica chillers is that they apparently are more efficient that regular chillers so i'm bankin on that fact to be able to handle the tank and it's heat source. Wish me luck...oh and by the way...say another guy on the forum running a 1/5 hp chiller on his 4x2x2.5...seems to work for him.... Oh and not sure how many watts the chiller is running at but i hear that it's really low wattage....

While we're on the topic of run time...what's a realistic run time for say a 120 gallon tank system? (including sump etc) I know i'm pushing it with a 1/10hp chiller (Arctica) but anyone see any real problems with this setup? To reduce heat sources, i've gone with an external return setup and fans in my light hood....only other heat sources are the Rio 20HF (60watt for the Skimmer), seio 820 (20ish watts i think, circulation), and possibly the Rio 12HF (35watts for the chiller return). Did a calculation on Arctica's website and i'm just barely there....with the 1/10 hp chiller. Any other way for me to cut down heat sources....actually i've looked up everything i can find and this setup is the best i can come up to accomodate for the chiller for now.....so if i've misssed anything or if anyone's got better/great suggestions....shoot... cheers

How old is the unit? I may have a friend who's interested.... sms me at 9389 2291 if it's still available.. cheers, Kenny

I just realised that the 12HF should do fine...i have the eheim valve that can limit the flow if it's too strong...but it'll take some trial and error to get the right flow...i would probably only need to tone the flow down by a little to hit the max recommended flow rate...taking into account headloss etc.... Cool.....will give that a shot i guess...hopefully the flow limited won't hurt the pump much...thanks again for all ur help...

Wouldn't that be too much flow for my chiller, at 2000lph we're looking at around 540gph running through the chiller and it's max recommended flow rate is 480. Also, i don't think my tube will run for 3 meters....even if it does, think that the flow rate will vary when u refer to 3 meters in height and 3 meters horizontally. It might end up with a higher flow rate than 540 even.. Wont that end up lessening my contact time in the chiller? And 14HF is 45watts actually...the 12HF is 40watts....and at 6ft, has a flow rate of 510gph...which is closer to the desired flowrate assuming that the total flow will reduce to that level after taking into account headloss from the distance and chiller's heat exchanger.

Glad to hear it.....i'm sure many of us go through the same problem with the "pocket holes" What is ya'lls take on the china made pumps? I know ppl here aren't very fond of them but there are some like sun sun which look exactly like the Eheims and apparently can use eheim replacement parts...i don't exactly know how true taht is but what exactly is so wrong with them? Reliability or lifespan? I mean i'm only needing the pump to run the chiller, can't seem to justify 150 to 200 dollars on a pump running at 2000lph know what i mean? I know what u mean about external pumps...that's why i designed the sump to run the return externally....but don't have enough room to run too many external pumps so lil compromise on the other pumps. I'm thinking....seeing that my chiller return will not be in the main tank but back in the sump tank, would that likely lessen my headloss? should be eh? So lookin at that, maybe the Rio 10HF might do the job after all, it states a flow rate of 660gph at 1ft and 330gph at 4ft but i'm assuming that the 4ft refers to height so if i run the chiller return back to the sump, shouldn't have that high a headloss now would it?....

Hmmm...looking at the specs of the Rios...i noticed that the Hyperflow models up to 10HF have very high headloss rate losing almost half of it's flow rate at 4feet while the 12HF and above have much better headloss rate only losing barely 1/5 of it's original flow rate. Wonder why?............... Now i'm begining to think that the 10HF may not be such a good idea after all...even if it loses half it's flow rate, at 330gph, would still be a lil better than the 1250 but will it cause too much wear and tear to the pump itself....hmmmm...decisions decisions... Oh and lobster...checked out the Aquabee....not bad...my only reservation is it's price. Yeah, i'm trying to save my hole in my pocket from getting bigger so lookin for cheaper alternatives.... Any other suggestions?

Hey lobster... Thanks for the valuable input....the reason i wasnt lookin at the 1260 was cos the wattage was like 60 watts versus the Rio 8HF at 30...i might look at maybe the Rio 10HF if the 8HF may not be able to handle it cos the 10HF is rated at 660gph and is only 5 watts more than the 8 at 35watts. What do you think? The reason i even considered Rio Hyperflows was cos i noticed some ppl use the 20HF for their returns and figured if it was able to handle being a return pump (though not always the best choice i'm aware), that it might be able to handle the role of a chiller pump. But in saying that, i haven't seen anyone actual mention using them for this purpose so there's a lil skepticism...but it's draw is the lower power rating as compared to other pumps at that output level. Will have to check out the Aquabees tho....

Ah...contact time...that was the darn word i was looking for....great. So when they say recommended max flow rate of 480...that should be the actual flowrate in the chiller right? Anyway of counting the headloss from the pump to the chiller? So if i go with the Rio 8HF, at 570gph...i'm still thinking that it will have slightly more gph than the recommended max...you still think it will be better than running the Eheim 1250? Maybe i'll add an elbow or two from the outlet of the pump to slow the flowrate down a lil...of course then i'll have to worry about whether that additional back pressure would have long term effects on the Rio....ah so many things to consider...