desewer's fowlr startup

[desewer]

hi all

starting into marine after >8 years in freshwater planted. i know it's a totally different ball game and i've done SOME reading up, though i have to admit it's going to take very long before i can match the experience that other reefers have.

okay, to start off, i've got myself a used 3x2x2 with sump (courtesy of a bro here) and the tank has overflow and underflow into the sump. i got myself a sunsun return pump, about 3500 lph, and a beckett skimmer with a new rio 5400 lph pump. managed to find a tunze 6060 wavemaker thru this forum too. then i bought a bag of coral chips for the sump wet/dry trickle filter and loads of live rock from another bro here. seawater was bought from and delivered by iwarna.

one problem i had from the start, was the sound of water gurgling thru the overflow bulkhead. i considered a durso standpipe and to my dismay, the 3 hardware shops i visited during lunch today did not carry any fittings for the 1 1/4 inch piping at my bulkhead overflow. the gurgling/flushing sound was really disturbing my home ambience (standard 4rm flat) and after some thinking, i found a very very simple solution.

below my tank, the overflow goes to a ball valve before it drains into the sump. i simply closed the ball valve a little, push the handle to the 1-o'clock position, to limit the amount of water that can flow into the sump. after i did this, the water level in my overflow compartment raised by about an inch, but now it has stabilised and there is no more gurgling sound. i'm still monitoring both water levels (overflow compartment and sump) but they seem to be stable. now i can only hear a faint waterfall from where the water is overflowing past the combs and into the overflow compartment.

anyone have comments on this solution? will this simple solution replace a durso standpipe? will the water level in the overflow compartment rise and flood my main tank due to limited water drainage into the sump?

i will add pics later tonight, now have to go for a funeral wake.

thanks all.

[tench1]

A warm welcome to reefing!

Look forward to your pics!

[straydum]

welcome to this ridiculously addictive hobby!

regarding your sump, i would say it is never safe to limit your overflow. its better have temporary noise while you source for pipes than a flooded mess.

[wilsontantw]

Welcome to the hobby! I used to use the same valve control method and it worked for me.

Just be sure to monitor the water level and ensure it doesn't choke.

Look forward to the pics. And patience is the name of the game.

Cycle the tank and add fish slowly.

[desewer]

I figured that since my bulkhead pipe was a larger diameter than the one that leads to my sump, by closing the ball valve a little i'm just kind of "matching" the first flowrate to the smaller diameter flowrate.

here's a few pics.

view from the top of my overflow compartment

my sump

my beckett skimmer

the ball valve attached to my overflow pipes and leading to the sump

the sunsun return pump (3500 lph) and the rio skimmer pump (5400 lph)

current rockscape with 2x21W T5

[desewer]

here's a short video.

[desewer]

question: why is my skimmer producing no skimmate? is it set up wrong? already 3 days (day 0,1,2) and still i have no waste production. any experienced bros here can give advice? i'm pretty sure the bubbles are already super fine and can't be adjusted anymore. should i increase the water level in the skimmer by closing the return valve a bit more?

[straydum]

new skimmers may take awhile to break it (slime up) before it produces anything. some take about 2 weeks some 1 week depending. give yours a little more time

your tank is also new thus it may not have enough organics to skim out (yet)

[Eniram]

Hey Bro! wow i see you've put alot of effort in getting this tank new again! Well done and i notice you removed the RHS door.

As for the overflow problem the sound will never stop even with a ball valve. You need a durso pipe, reason being when your tank water evaporates the water in the overflow compartment will drop and you'll have the sound again. I tried that before, so my advice is to use a durso pipe.

The thing about our local pipe dimensions is that an 3/4" elbow will not fit into a 3/4" T-joint. So what we do is to cut a 1" pipe to connect the elbow to the T-joint.

There is an alternative way which i will post when i home which i done w/o using the above method.

As for your skimmate don't have to worry much as for now you are cycling your tank and not much skim to be skimmed out. Once your cycle is over and you've added in fishes, skim muck will appaear.

[desewer]

As for the overflow problem the sound will never stop even with a ball valve. You need a durso pipe, reason being when your tank water evaporates the water in the overflow compartment will drop and you'll have the sound again. I tried that before, so my advice is to use a durso pipe.

The thing about our local pipe dimensions is that an 3/4" elbow will not fit into a 3/4" T-joint. So what we do is to cut a 1" pipe to connect the elbow to the T-joint.

There is an alternative way which i will post when i home which i done w/o using the above method.

hey bro many thanks for helping me with the tank 2 mths ago. how's your new tank? post pics!!!

anyway, yah i was trying very hard to find the correct-sized fittings! /pullhair

maybe you have a better solution, since this tank was yours once?

also, the "waterfall" noise from the overflow was still too loud so i placed some filter pads inside the overflow (taking care to NOT block the overflow intake pipe) and now the water falls onto the filter pads and makes less noise. maybe you have better solutions on how to silence the system even more?

p.s. i removed both doors lah. the door wood was seriously in bad shape and i think i might just DIY a perspex slide-in cover, coupled with a heavy curtain around the cabinet to further muffle the noise from the sump.

[wilsontantw]

So... you are the lucky guy who got Jeremy's tank. No wonder it looks so familiar and u did up new laminates for the cabinet too.

Well done. His new tank is Power!! Super spacious. Will let him share more...

[Eniram]

Filter pads needs to be cleaned often to prevent the build up of dirt and eventually the spike in your Nitrate. I would still suggest doing up a durso pipe, thats if there is still space to squeeze one in.

What are the pipings that you still need to get? from the pics everything is running as i had it before.

Wilson the laminate has not changed since day 1. I guess its good workmanship.

[desewer]

Filter pads needs to be cleaned often to prevent the build up of dirt and eventually the spike in your Nitrate. I would still suggest doing up a durso pipe, thats if there is still space to squeeze one in.

What are the pipings that you still need to get? from the pics everything is running as i had it before.

Wilson the laminate has not changed since day 1. I guess its good workmanship.

bro... got space for durso pipe but i can't find any fittings to match the intake bulkhead size. will wait for your recommended modification to ensure correct fitting for this pipe size.

also, i wonder how you minimised the overflow noise last time? i didn't change anything yet. i guess once i install a durso pipe, the water level in the overflow box will be higher and hence the noise of the waterfall will be less? due to lesser drop height.

[Eniram]

Bro if i'm not wrong the dimension of the inner dia is 25mm.

Yes once the durso is in the water lv in the overflow box will go up thus the splashing sound will minimise. How i minimise the noise the last time? same as what you're doing, controlling the water lv using the ball valve

[desewer]

made a Durso standpipe, albeit to my own specs, for just $5. pvc pipes (25mm) and fittings all bought from a hardware shop opposite Loyang tua pek kong. very cheap and reasonable prices and i patronise them frequently.

i'm supposed to ensure the standpipe is of a larger diameter than the overflow bulkhead (by means of an upsize bushing) but due to lack of space i could not. so i used 25mm pipes for the whole standpipe. here's a few pics. i had to play around with the overflow ball valve to maintain the water level just above the elbow joint.

water level just above the tee-joint

here's a few better pics

one problem i am facing now is the presence of many micro bubbles in the tank. this is due to the skimmer output being in the same compartment as the return pump. i don't have space for baffles and another bro here suggested i use coarse sponge to partition off the return pump. i think i will try to find some plumbing fittings to redirect the output of the skimmer back into the wet/dry filter sponge. hope to get rid of the bubbles this way.

[desewer]

realised my 4x21W blue T5's may not be suitable. any recommendation on what i should change the tubes to? the tank kinda looks too blue... maybe switch two tubes to white ones?

[straydum]

realised my 4x21W blue T5's may not be suitable. any recommendation on what i should change the tubes to? the tank kinda looks too blue... maybe switch two tubes to white ones?

21w for a 3ft T5?

T5s for 3 feet should be rated 39w per tube. in my opinion having 2 white tubes will wash out alot of the blue. since its a four tube set perhaps you would like to try

Blue

White

Actinic

Blue

just my suggestion

[desewer]

that's the thing. coming from my previous aquarium experience, 3ft tubes should be rated at 39W but all my tubes have 21W printed on them.

thanks for the suggestion bro. the tubes are actually in 2 separate lightsets (2 tubes each) i think i will get the 4 tubes you suggested and play around with them. if possible i would like to use only 2 tubes to minimise the power consumption.

[straydum]

ah i see now

its silly that i didn't realise this earlier. your lightset is indeed T5NO not T5HO which would do fine even for your tank cause you're going fowlr. there's no need to change to a 39w set

perhaps you could try 1 blue and 1 white to even out the colour which would be more than enough be it NO or HO. there's no need for actinics and all if you aren't focused on corals.

[desewer]

thanks a million! i didn't realise until i read your post, that T5 tubes have both NO and HO. then okay, my tubes are NO and i just switched one of the blue ones to a white one marked as "tropical". now the colours of the tank are more balanced and since i've installed the white tube, more of the fish are coming out of the rocks to play in the currents.

next 2 projects: a DIY LED moonlight (will visit simlim tower for parts when i have the time) and a DSB/refugium using a small 1ft acrylic tank with a drilled overflow, mounted above my sump!

[tunicate]

Happy New Year & welcome to our reefing community.

Looking forward to your refugium setup & pics.