Progress on my new tank setup, comments please

[Phang]

Hah.... The Durso Pipe Professional's professional reply....HEHEH....

If I ever want to install a durso pipe.... I will call you

BTW, How's your tank development......????

[Tanzy]

The Durso standpipe itself must be bigger than the drain pipe if not the Durso seems to flush(water level fluctuates in the overflow), other factor to consider is whether the drainage pipe is submerged or not.

I'm using a Durso that has the same size of piping for both the drain pipe and stand pipe and it flushes until I put a valve on the drain pipe to reduce the flow a bit. Due to the lack of time I haven't got around to building a new and larger one.

The whole idea is that water must be able to enter the stand pipe faster than water can exit the drain pipe, if not the water level cannot equilibrate fast enough.

[clowntrigger]

Tanzy,

I think the hole on the cap is too big, that is why you get the Flush symptoms. My Durso pipe and my drain pipe is having the same diameter, you need to play with the hole on the cap. Too small a hole, water level will raise higher in the overflow chamber. Too big a hole, you will create a siphon effect, that is water will flush down the pipe, till the openeing of the is nearly exposed to air and then you will hear the noise again. Hope I get it right, it might be the other way on the effect of the hole size.

Phang

Check on my tank last night, wow, some much diatoms on my sand, so ugly , well I think this is normal, that is what a lot of people say. Got a chance to installed a automatic top up system using electronics timer, will let everyone know what is the effect this weedend.

[SULPHER-X]

Hi Clowntrigger,

Where did u buy the auto top up system? Ex? Thanks

[Tanzy]

Clowntrigger you got it the other way round! We all do sometimes.

Hole too small, air not able to escape, siphon too strong, water level falls, slurp slurp gargle gargle!

Hole too big, lost of siphon, water level rise.

I use a airline valve to tune the stand pipe but the problem is not the size of the hole but the design and lousy construction of my standpipe. Rich Durso said he has never seen an uglier Durso standpipe than mine!

[clowntrigger]

Tanzy, I knew it when I was writing the mail that something has to be wrong, espically the sequence , well thanks for the correction.

Sulpher-X, I did not buy the auto top system, but just make it out of a digital timer and a power head. I know I know, alot of you will say it is not safe, but hey you never know till you try it out, right? As long as you can keep the reservoir with water for a 2-3 days toping, this should be safe. Anything failed, the sump will only filled with top up water for 2-3 days. This is quite safe for a large tank as salanity will not be affected that much as compare to a small tank. Nobody can garanteed that a real auto top system will not failed, so why not give it a tried then. BTW whose timer has failed on them, just like to have a feel of how reliable these timer are.

[clowntrigger]

Guys, i have a empty compartment in my sump, was thinking of putting some live rocks. Does that need a light to be on for the live rock? These are for filtration purpose. Another thought will be putting culerpa for nutrient export, but is these suitable for a bare bottom compartment with no sand? The culerpa will be put on top of the egg crate and with light on of course. Plesae advised, thanks.

[Achilles Tang]

Pardon me, but I think your standpipe is too submerged. The water level should be midway of the inverted L-pipe's opening.

Your whole L-pipe is submerged!

[clowntrigger]

AT, what adverse effect will that bring? The purpose of me doing the inverted L shape pipe is to prevent water splashing. Please enlighten me.

[Achilles Tang]

If you visit the Richard Durso site, that's what he says! I have my durso standpipe exactly as he designed it.

I have no real clue to what the adverse effects are.... !

[loonz]

Clownt,

Just put a PL light over the emtpy compartment. Bad idea to use caulerpa as they tend to go asexual. Better to use other sorts of macroalgae. Any normal daylight 18W PL light should be sufficient.

[clowntrigger]

AT, I got you now. You are refering to my durso pipe and not my skimmer pipe well will just have to seal up a bit of the hole then. But I do not see anything wrong with the water level above it, well if the inventor say so, I will do it

[clowntrigger]

loonz, so a bare bottom tank is able to keep the macroalgae growing? Do you have some pictures of the macroalgae that you would recomend?

[Phang]

Hi Clowntrigger,

Quoting this answer from someone regarding Macroalgae...

"Most macroalgae of the Caulerpa genus do indeed go sexual, but about the only exception would be C. sertularoides, or fernleaf/feather caulerpa. You could also try halimeda, which looks quite good too. Only problem with halimeda is that it's structure is also limestone-based, which means it will also deplete your Ca and KH levels like normal hard corals...."

[hongqixian]

Halimeda dies if the phosphate and nitrate levels are high. And it also goes sexual.

[clowntrigger]

so the best choice will be fernleaf/feather caulerpa? Any difficulty in keeping them alive? Will it be affected by high phosphate and nitrate? When you say high nitrate, how high are you refering to? <20ppm, <50ppm?

[WetWet]

WoW, things have changed so much. Im still in the undergravel era. Im so new to all this DSB. My last setup, which was some 12 years ago and it was undergravel and live rocks; and it lasted me 10 years. It was then either live rocks or copper. I was the first few who brought in huge counter-current protein skimmers to use as i cant find them in spore. Looks like ive got lots to catch up. Thanks for a wonderful forum.

ps. somehow, isnt a DSB a timebomb waiting to go off? How does it help to mature a tank?

[Achilles Tang]

Hi WetWet!

Welcome to SRC... the hobby has progressed tremendously and so has the gadgets, theories and costs!

Let's not hijack this thread to explain DSBs... why don't you open a new topic about this?

[bawater]

i found some wild halimeda at labrador park- just by the side of the jetty. It gets washed ashore along with sea lettuce & lots of other kinds(some look like sagasso/kelp).

managed to salvage 2 plastic bags full of assorted flavours...mmmmm.

sea lettuce(a fist worth)didn't last a day- tang was quite well mannered enough to leave others abt 2mm worth to munch.

halimeda did last a while- abt 3mths then kaput(i think it went sexual cause it disintegrated)- some other kind of red algae turned brown & started creeping(runners)along the back pane but also died back after 5mths- or maybe eaten! i'll never know.

if u collect local stuff- wash in old tnk water & Q the stuff(u never know what kinda parasites are in there). After washing i quarrantine in a 2ft wif a FL light for 1 week-a little too short but i was impatient to try-.

[loonz]

You could try this stuff growing in my tank. It looks like grape caulerpa but it isnt, i believe each leaf grows to its max when it is disc-shaped, it starts off looking like grape-caulerpa....This stuff has been growing in my tank for more than half a year. The red algae at the back is also growing like mad. You don't need any sandbed for macroalgae to grow, just make sure it is attached to some LR. Cheers...

4258609.Rightside

[clowntrigger]

loonz, thanks for the info. Now the next question is where to get these stuff? Anyone has seen the above very recently at any LFS?

[loonz]

If you could give me a small piece of rock, I would break some off and pass it to you attached via a rubber band, it should grow onto the rock in no time. Thats what i did for a friend too, its growing very well in his refugium at present.

[LiveRock]

Hi loonz

paiseh, paiseh... just can't help but ask...

if I pass u a piece of small rock (2 inch), would you give me some of your green grape caulerpa? Thanks a bunch!

[loonz]

sure, but after giving it some thought, I dont think you need any rock. I remember giving a friend some that has some roots attached. He transported it to his place miles away suspended in tank water. He got it to grow very nicely in his refugium now. So I guess with a rock, the algae will just clinch itself onto it for support.

However, give me some time to let them grow! I just trimmed both species last nite, the red one is getting so long the tips are getting stuck in the powerheads' inlets.