Hey Robb,

Check out Craigslist.com Lots of free stuff.
Have picked up lots of used/abused tanks and disasembed for parts.:wink:

The baffles are only at the drain. I've found that EuroReef skimmers produce almost zero microbubbles. If you are running into problems with micro bubbles, it's just a matter of making a bridge from the outlet of the ER into the initial drain compartment.

OK I am not really interested in moving up to an ER skimmer right away, as I have a coralife needlewheel skimmer to try first.:biggrin:

I have decided to move the sump to beside the tank instead of underneath it. The space there is not really any bigger but I have no overhead clearance issues, so it will be easier to get at , and hopefully will be a less daunting task for maintenance which should increase the chances of me keeping up with it.:redface:

What is the main advantage of an External return pump , instead of an internal MAG type? It just seems that plumbing an in sump return pump would be a lot easier?

Robb

Externals transfer less heat to the tank, if nothing else. Not sure if there are other benefits. I guess if space is at a premium in the tank because of, say for example, using an insump skimmer, heater, baffles, etc. etc., then maybe external would be easier to work with, but then you have to deal with the plumbing and the space considerations for outside the sump. Six of one, half dozen of the other. I have two tanks right now and one of each, and to be honest I don't see any advantage that one has over the other in a "slam dunk" sense, I mean they each sort of work in their own way.

Externals usually have much better tolerances to backpressure, at least the ones I work with do.

Robb,

Are you not getting my PM's?
If you have changed your mind, at least let me know so I can sell it to someone else...

- Chad

pm'd you fish, sorry.

so just a bit of an update, perhaps I will add some pictures this evening.

The tank is up and running, and the sump will be online this weekend I hope.

Equipment update is as follows:

-90 gallon Tank (Thanks Keith)
-220 Gallon Super Skimmer(Thanks Keith)
-Coralife Lunar Aqualight(Thanks Keith)
-175 watt 10,000k Ushio MH (Future upgrade being evaluated)
-Gen-x PCX-40 (MAK 4) for return (Thanks Rahim)
-Tunze 6080 for flow
-Eductors and locline will be here on friday for the dual return
-got most of my plumbing supplies for the return (Thanks Albert)
-RO/DI , 100GPD (Thanks Keith)
-CS-150 (1600GPH) oveflow with Aqualifter (Thanks Keith)

Things I still need:

-Sump, I think I have a line on a couple for tonight:mrgreen:
-Heater
-Plumbing for overflow(Anyone see a problem with using Flex line for this?)
-water topoff unit (perhaps plumbed directly to my RO/DI)


Any further tips , suggestions feel free to post.

Hey Robb,

As soon as I get my aquatronica set up I will be hooking up my 2 500 watt heaters and I should have a spare.

As for the Water Top off. I am not sure I would plumb it to my RO/DI. It CAN be setup using a float to go from the RO/DI if you wanted, or even into the topoff bucket, then the tank but here is the scary part :)

If your float ever screws up, you have an endless overfow potential from the RO/DI.

If you just hook the water top off to a 5 gallon bucket, the worst that could happen if there is a malfunction is the 5 extra gallons of water gets pumped into the tank.

Hey Keith, did you already get the Aquatronica?