Our 2 x MP10wES are centered about 30% from the front ( to center )
I had them about 25% down from the top ( to center ), and that was great for surface agitation, but not for detritus settling
Currently they are about 40% down
I set a mild wave ( less than 1/2" total travel ) in Short Pulse and am now running them in Nutrient Transport Mode @ 80% ( 10 of 12 LEDs )
This gives me a wave with about 1/4" travel
So far so good

If you do decide on a pair, you'd be able to turn them down low enough in that tank that I doubt you'd hear them

Wow! I'm surprised you have them cranked up to 80%. That's 1260 gph for each pump (unless the change is logaritmic . . . which it might be). 1260x2/75=33.6 . . . so that's 33.6 times the tank volume per hour. 20 is recommended for SPS. Does that mean that the flow seems quite gentle?

It may seem like a lot of flow if you look at it that way. I'm sure I'll have to change things once I start adding softies and LPS
I'm only basing my settings right now on the amount of snail poop that settles on the sand :wink:
Until you make your mind up about buying some, you could ask around if someone would let you see their's running

They way mine are set right now, they pulse left - right - left - right
It's about a 3/4 second pulse each side, back and forth. This creates the wave. On the setting I'm currently using, they run this way for about 1/2hr or so, then there's a big surge. It's supposed to mix everything up and then flush it out the overflow

BTW, every tank is different, so where you start off with them placement-wise is up to you
I just raised mine back up closer to the top by about an inch as I didn't like the dust that was collecting on the surface in some areas
I'm still going to have to fool around with them until I'm happy

I could be lookin' at it totally the wrong way. The change in the gph could be logarithmic, or the wave patterns could effect it. I'm trying to figure out if I could get away with a pair of MP40s (already thinking about the next tank :lol:). I don't think I can twist the numbers in a way to convince myself that I could. In looking at the flow diagrams I prefer the 40.

Scape can have a huge impact on the flow, too.

I don't think you're lookin' at it the wrong way
Just keep in mind that it takes the pumps running full speed to acheive maximum flow

There's nothing wrong with you buying 40s if you're gonna use them for an upgrade later. You would just run them very low speed-wise on your 40b :smile:

Keep in mind ...
40s cost a fair bit more and cost lots more for replacement and repair parts
Good thing about them is the wet-side parts are available separately

Nothing exciting lately

Just did a WC on the curing LR
I had the rock in a covered rubbermaid while cleaning out the main one and decided to inspect it all again
Found another fireworm and, stupid me, grabbed it with my bare fingers :surprise:
Looks like all my years of manual labor has toughened my skin enough to protect me :smile:
I broke the bugger, so I took the rock to the sink. I turkey-basted hot water into the hole a bunch of times and the worm oozed some black stuff
I broke away some rock around the hole and, when I grabbed it with tweezers, it came right out :twised:

I'm seriously considering removing the in-sump 1262 that runs my accessories. It's been driving me nuts for days. It may have something to do with all the Highway construction that runs from dusk 'till dawn, but regardless, I have become sensitive to humming ....

I have found that, because of the way I plumbed the PVC and Spa flex for the accessories, I had to clamp the plumbing to the wall to stop sagging, and now the humming is too much
Even with the acc pump off, the noise from the return pump is still transmitted through the plumbing, so I need to make some changes
I'm glad this came up now, before I start stocking the tank

I am considering buying some Eheim compacts to run each accessory by itself with vinyl hose, thus ( hopefully ) eliminating the need to clamp stuff to the wall

I have some return re-plumbing to do that is also vibrating
I may or may not wait until I do that before I decide what to do next ........

Is there an icon for 'pull-your-hair-out' :lol:

There's this :drinking::frusty:

I have been doing this :drinking:and am close to the other :lol:

Oh no ... waiting for you to tearing apart and redo your plumbing, it looks like you are trying to torture me again :sad: Your building thread is the only one that I am following closely because the size of your tank is like mine and you have a terrific building skill too. I understand the humming sound can easily drive you nuts when you are sleeping next to it. My tank now is quite quiet, the only thing that still makes me go nuts sometimes when I have a difficult time to sleep is from the water sloshing down from the overflow box.

Could you wrap the PVC pipes in those foamy pipe insulation thingies?

I'm quite sure that's the technical term. ;)

I have an air pump (for my auto feeder) sitting on an old foam mousepad. It totally eliminates the vibration hum.

I also had some original issues with noise. I ended up using spa flex and rigid and then a heat gun to get it to hang nicely as to not rest on anything I didn't want it to. I used as few straps as possible and only in strategic areas. All my pumps rest on foam or carpet underlay, even all my cords are suspended away from other items.

Wrapping the pipe with foam insulation won't do the trick as the humming still transfers through my current foam pads. It is then amplified through the wall

I'd thought about moving a couple pieces here and there to get it all away from the wall, but the weight of the long section is too much and everything sags, thus it will always rest on something

On the plus side, installing individual pumps should eliminate one issue ...
Right now I'm having to adjust the chaeto tank level too often and, if I make any adjustments on the reactors, it's messes up the chaeto level
Same goes if I would ever shut off the uv/chiller circuit for any reason
I'm sure I will like having everything on it's own pump and with the adjustable eheim compacts I won't need the ball valves anymore

I'll be able to service individual hardware pieces without shutting everything down, service the reactors without the chaeto overflowing etc

No plumbing done yet
I'm hoping to scape some rock in the 36g tomorrow

Just found one of these buggers in the DT
( picture from Wikimedia )

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...giangrasso.jpg

Whatis that??

I'm pretty sure it's some kind of flatworm - like the acro eating kind
Maybe someone will confirm that

I keep a canary wrasse in my stocking list for two reasons: 1) they are an awesome fish and 2) they will keep flatworms away. It's too bad the buggers jump - so a plan to keep jumpers from escaping is essential.

That's a nice wrasse - it's now on my secondary list
So is a mesh to replace my eggcrate. I don't want tan lines on my corals :smile:

:lol: I always have the lid open when I'm home now until I can get to the store for some screen. Lol pain in the arse

Yup, definitely a flat worm. Exploring where no flat worm has gone before, searching out new life....

Learn something new everyday :razz:

Funny thing is, if I hadn't seen it free-swimming, I may not have ever known it was there
I'm sure it would have soon starved anyway :wink:

Nope. It isn't the acro eating kind: if the photo is an accurate representation of what you've got. It is harmless.

This is the acro eating kind:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-0...herson_jpg.jpg

Thanks for trying to link the pic Shelley :razz:

All 4 of the hermits have molted over the last few days, so I gather the tank is OK right now. Everything is testing zero today, but that will change soon ...
I'm off to attempt a scape out of the new LR to replace the center base rock in the DT

Oops. Used the original image location instead of the one in my Photobucket account.

http://i1035.photobucket.com/albums/...r/240f5b04.jpg

The acro eating ones don't have the two pronounced "lobes" on the arse end. The other baddies are reddish and have three lobes.

The ones you have are harmless. I've got them in one tank. I spent a couple of hours trying to get a grip on what's what.

Thanks Shel

The lone one I found was definately the same as the pic I posted
Not that I'm worried about it as there's nothing to eat so I assume they'll starve out right now anyway :wink:

Finally got some scaping done with the new LR
First was a little mishap with some coral glue :redface::lol:

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...d/DSC01081.jpg

Here's the before shot of the scape

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...d/DSC01041.jpg

And here's the after shot

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...d/DSC01083.jpg

I removed 35lbs of base rock and added 25lbs of LR
The scape is missing a piece between the right and middle towers ...
We'll have to find something at the LFS
Next is to add as much of the leftover LR to the sump and sell the leftovers :lol:

Looks awesome.

Thanks Mike
I was all nervous about the look of it
The wife was at work and I just went for it
She likes it too :mrgreen:

Still needs something though ... CORALS :razz:

Although it's not ideal, there's now about 60#LR in the DT system - 40# in the DT and 20# in the sump
The rest is in the QT
I know LR in a QT isn't the best, but I need to seed the filter

Now I just have to see what the DT does with the new LR and we can buy some fishies for the QT :smile:

Looks great Greg! I love the separate structures :D

Very nice new scape!

Agreed! Very nice. Maybe you want to come to the island and do mine? :D

Now I can say this is NICE ... VERY NICE with the new scape !

:redface: Thanks all
I'm happy the wife is pleased with it

Ya, sure :wink:

I really liked that middle tower but another swim-thru is also nice to have.

You've got a nice slope on the right for mounting coral too... personally I'd remove that little vertical nub you added to the end there as it will block a lot of coral from view when looking in the tank's end maybe...

Ya, we liked it too, but it had to go as I needed more LR
Literally minutes after it went in the snails were all over it

I agree with the small bits I added on the right
They're loose and are only there to help add some coralline

Looking at the tank again this morning, I'm not going to add anymore rock on the left of the right pile. Looks like a great spot for some larger critters

I love the new aquascape. What type of epoxy did you use? Would you mind sharing the brand?

I used this epoxy the first time around. It's really strong stuff when cured, but I highly recommend you use it outside of your DT. If you handle it in the DT, it will cover everything with a messy residue. I could clean it from glass and such, but it stuck badly to the skimmer cup and stained the socks. It needs to cure in warm water, so it's a bit of a pain to use
Last night I used this glue. It's much nicer to work with but nowhere near as strong. Although it may seem expensive, it's actually much cheaper than the $6-7 75ml tubes of loctite

Thought I'd share some angled shots to show all the coral mounting locations and the dual swim-throughs

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...d/DSC01090.jpg

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/x...d/DSC01088.jpg

Thank you. :)