JiaEn

Yes. Any direction is fine. The moment the hole is uncovered from water, it will break siphon

Flow and noise Keeping this in mind, there are several places to take note so that these noises are minimized. If the overflow is sized too small, the water level in the overflow box can drop. This cause two problems. Firstly, the longer drop distance will cause the water to impact at higher speed, splash. Secondly, the high speed entry draws in gas bubbles, leading to a popping sound. Therefore a properly sized overflow is important to ensure the water overflows gently into the overflow box. (Wow. Three overflow in one sentence ) The noise of the splashing water will be nothing compared to the gurgle when air bubbles are drawn into the down pipe. Those air bubbles could be the result of the splashing water, or because of the incomplete siphon. Worse still, when these air bubbles enters the sump, they rushes up to the surface. Again, splashing, popping noises. The way to deal with this is to ensure no air is drawn into the main down pipe. This can be achieved by adding a down turned elbow to protect against bubbles, and using a valve to reduce the flow and maintain full siphon. Next, when the water is emptied into the sump, if the pipes terminates higher than the water level, splashing sound again. However, if the pipe is stretched too deep, airlock may prevent siphon from forming properly. Therefore, 1-2 inch below water level is ideal. For the emergency pipe, it's good to have any flow splashes into the sump, so we are alerted whenever the emergency is activated. Finally. The water cascading between sump compartments shouldn't be overly steep. This will reducing splashing in the sump. My ideal choice of overflow is beam animal. Due to wrong communication, I have a herbie drain instead. It's perfectly serviceable, but it is less adaptive to change. A dirty filter floss, a snail climbing over the overflow, Herbie drain will start to make noise. Bean animal, on the other hand, gave my previous aquarium dead silent operation. So quiet that I can actually forget there is an aquarium running in my living room.

Yes. You can just drill a tiny hole on the pvc pipe section inside the tank, just below the water surface.

Noise When it comes to aquarium as part of the living space, noise management is very important. If the aquarium runs quietly, it will not take away from the restfulness of the living space. In my opinion, noise management is important. A quiet setup will have the benefit of allowing the aquarists to hear the sound of the fishes. From grunting of an angelfish, to the snapping of a feeding wrasse. In addition, if any piece of equipment or setup were to run sub-optimally, the noise it makes can give me an immediate indication about something is amiss. The noise of an aquarium comes from two main sources. 1. Equipment. Rapid moving parts produce humming noise. Protein skimmers produce sounds of sloshing and popping bubbles. Cooling fans on the light set and chillers spins up as they become warm. All theseare contributors of noise. We can't reduce much of these noises unless we swtich to a quieter equipment, but having an enclosed sump, keeping the impellers clean and balanced, and ensure stable but cushioned placement can greatly reduce the decible. 2. Water movement. Water movement is the soul of an aquarium. Yet it is possible to design an aquarium with ridiculous amount of water movement with minimum noise. How does water make noise? There are two main mechanism (1) when the water flowing at a high enough speed strikes a surface, it males a splashing sound. The faster the speed, the louder the sound. (2) when air is incorporated into water, as the air rise to the surface, it creates a popping sound. But if the aerated water flows inside a pipe, there can be a loud gurgling sound, which is extremely unpleasant.

Yes. Simple and effective.

It's true but when coraline algae grows on it, maybe harder to see. Bean animal drain is dead silent. So an audible warning is very obvious. And this can be done with minimum effort and little drawbacks.

You can consider terminating the emergency drain higher above the sump water level. In the event of emergency activation, you will have an audible cue.

There is a lot of finesse as to how to run an aquarium. It's really awesome to build one from scratch and know the ins and outs of it. On the topic of check valve, I find them not reliable as they fouls easily. A vent on the return pipe is much more reliable, but will empty a bit more water back into your sump.

Take note. When you minimized air intake, the pump will be able to push more water, you foam may actually be higher. Try fully open the air intake to begin with.

It's about the water level of the sump. Your vent hole on the return pipe or check valves will prevent excessive back siphon. However, any water higher than the overflow will be emptied into the sump Usually, most sump design have return pump and/or skimmer chamber set at a lower level. This is will allow more buffer volume for those water to be contained. Based on your design, it's not an issue if you fill the dt and sump in a correct order. But I would prefer a bit more safety margin.

Calculating is gonna be challenging because many factors are in play. you can set up the whole system, fill the dt until water overflows into the sump, then fill up the sump to the desires level. Then you turn on the return pump. This way, you will not overfill your sump. Make sure you drill an emergency vent hole on the return pipes to prevent back siphon. Noise can be adjusted by the height of the stand pipe in the overflow box. Perhaps use the skimmer without the compartment? I feel the partition may restrict your choice of equipment down the road.

Hi! I do think this is going to be an issue. Your return pump compartment has very small buffer for additional water. Perhaps you need to build a taller sump. Chaeto are used because they are resilient and efficient in exporting nitrates and phosphates. I noticed your skimmer compartment could only house a small skimmer. You may have to keep an eye on how your nutrient management goes. Lastly, critical. You need to design a emergency over flow for the filter sock holder. Perhaps cut some slots near the top of the baffle, or reduce the baffle height a bit. So that in case of overflow, the water goes into your sump rather than the floor.

It's for redundancy. If one of the return pump were to fail for any reason, I will still have some circulation between my sump and display. Also, if needed, I can adjust the flow at the front and back of the tank separately, without adding more valves.

Maybe you can share about your setup and water parameters. Also, are the corals new?

The setup looks neat! it's great that you are going to run zeovit system. I'm using FM zeolight. Maybe we can exchange notes sometime Look forward to your updates

The next compromise I have to make for this aquarium is the light. The reason for this compromise, is the tridacna clams Clams on the open sand bed looks good, but unfortunately, many clams don't belong to the sand beds. The crocea, maxima, noae and ningaloo clams are generally rock dwelling. Yet they grow to sizable proportions which can upset the balance of the aquascape, both physically and aesthetically. As the result. I keep my clams on the sand bed. Therein lies the dilemma. The maxima and crocea clams requires tremendous amount of light to thrive. Even if we leave aside the challenge of providing sufficient PAR level at the bottom of a 2.5ft tank, the same light intensity can cause the top of the scape to be irradiated to very high levels. Unfortunately, I only have partal solution for this design challenge. Presenting my light schematics First, I elect to partially illuminate the aquarium. The set up intentionally make sure the light (blue cross) shines on where it matters. The main rock work and part of the sand bed. This give me maximum return for my lighting bills. It also have the pleasant side effects of reducing algae growth on the viewing glass. Secondly, the light sets is placed around, rather than right on top of the main scape (red). This reduce slightly the max PAR at the top of the rock work, reduce slightly the photostress. It also illuminates the coral from all directions, minimize the white out areas. The lower tier of the rock work (green) and clams (yellow) benifits from overlapping light field of mutilple lights, receiving good PAR overall. Third, since I view my aquarium from thr front, the front light is angled towards the back. So that there is sufficient fill light to illuminate the bottom of the acropora. This reduces the bleached bottom, improving the viewing experience. Fourth. The fill light is as strong as the main light. This is because the fill light has the same responsibility of influencing growth pattern, as well as bring out the color of the coral. As such, I feel a traditional "light bar" is insufficient. The lights used is Wyatt lightworks model 240, 240 watt each. Very capable lights.

The discussion for the ban has been going on for a long time.

Ah I see. Hope it gets as robust as the rest too.

Your tangs look well norished The scopas is relatively new?

Designing proper flow for a mixed reef has its challenges. On one hand, acropora species enjoy copious random flow; on the other hand, fleshy LPS may suffer when blasted with water. These animals evolved to make the best use of their environments. Now that they are in my aquarium, I need to try and provide the suitable flow for them. A few consideration for flow: 1. A mixture of flow style is beneficial. Have a gentle "gyre" flow to circulate the water, and a localized strong random flow to cater to sps corals. 2. The output of a random flow pump decreases rapidly as distance gets further. That's why a large aquarium requires wavemake on both sides. I would like to keep the second viewing side clear of equipment, so something else must be done. 3. Rocks and corals create obstruction to flow. It's important to consider this effect with the fully grown colony in mind. Presenting, the flow schematic of my Acropolis. The return nozzle (red) sits at the top left side. Since the return pumps operate at constant flow rate, the continous operation generates a gyre flow (white). This flow is relatively low speed except at the water surface near the nozzle. Thus fairly condusive for lps in general. The forward flow is far above the rocks and corals. This minimize flow obstruction and ensuring the gyre flow can be set up properly. On the other hand, the return gyre flow at the bottom is break up by the rock scape. Some will follow the contour of the rocks and form a upswell, while some will flow around the rock pillars and form back Eddie current. Supplement this flow is a pair of jebao wave makers (blue). The operates at randome flow mode. Supplying strong and varying flow (green) to the core of the rock scape. The open rock work structure ensures the flow goes as far as possible. The strong random flow reaches about half way into the aquarium. There is a region with relatively less flow, on the right side of the aquarium at the mid level. This is ok as it is a void space without any corals or rock work. Overall I think the flow design is satisfactory. Do let me know your thoughts.

But does it overflow at all? The foam looks quite low in your picture.

It's great to be environment conscious. On the other hand, it's also important to note that fishes can be collected in a sustainable way. So captive-bred is not the only environment friendly option. There are many responsible exporters who work with the local community to teach and promote responsible and minimum impact collection. So imo it's really good to support them.

The skimmer height can be adjusted. Have you tried that?

Yes, for a few colonies. Not sure if they will drop off before encrusting though. Only time will tell.

I'm saving the space for a huge clam or two