400 gallon project

[untamed]

Originally Posted by kaboom

I'd really like to see your close loop design, anyway you can post some diagrams/photos? Or perhaps describe the layout, # of intake/outlet, position and gph per outlet. Really admire your setup!

As the Dart is rated at 3600gph with 0 head, I expect I'm pretty close to 3000gph through each CL depending on friction loss. 2" pipe to the pump, 1.5" output from the pump, 4x1" outlets from the 4-way.

You might refer to page 2 of this thread for more detail, including pictures of the pumps, 4-ways and back intakes/outlets.

Here's a flow diagram of the 2 closed loops. This is a top view, so you can see the position of the tank bottom outlets. Red/Green fire together, then purple/brown. The one grey line coming straight down from the right loop is actually at tank drain. Arrows show direction of flow through the loop..NOT the direction of water in the tank or the direction that the outlets point. Little triangles are union ball valves.



As the 4-ways rotate, the 2 back wall outlets all fire at the same time, then the tank bottom outlets fire. This pushes water forward and generally downward, then upward and back toward the overflows. The idea is to create a "rolling effect". It would have worked even better if I had placed the "red" outlets closer to the front of the tank, but I couldn't stand to look at them there.

This also has the effect of blowing the sand/detritus toward the front of the tank...which will keep stuff out from under the rockwork and up front where I can see it and clean it out.

[justinl]

seriously?! thank you so much, I would definitely appreciate some mantids! Actually I owe ticketyboo one. He reserved one for me even though he was looking to get one himself... so now he gets first dibs on anything i find.

lol yeah RC, that's me alright. RC is the best source for reliable mantis info. Dr. Roy is my hero. I felt that after taking so much info from there, I figured i should give back to the community... or something, lol.

[demon666]

hell id take a few mantises off your hands as well... .if youd be willing to ship them to edmonton

[untamed]

Yes... I have Nitrate at a level of at least 10ppm. Isn't that wonderful?!! Yes, it means that my cycle has completed. I'll double check on ammonia/nitrite tomorrow, but I don't think I'll find any.

Two loads of Live Rock, some fish and I'll have the start of a decent aquarium instead of just a big construction project...and...well...a bit of a nitrate hangover...

[untamed]

I got tired of removing the skimmer cup every time it got full....so I put this little modification on yesterday. A little 1/4 inch line with a valve on the end so that whenever the cup looks a little full, I can drain it without shutting down the skimmer.

I'll put one other bulkhead in as an emergency overflow. Emergency overflow will just fall back into the tank. If the cup gets too full, the skimmer starts percolating like a coffee maker.

[Norstar]

Brilliant!!!

[Jason McK]

Sorry Brad finally took my OM appart. Been busy helping people move entire stores full of Photo labs

Here is my Modified drum

[ensquire]

[quote=untamed;242243]I got tired of removing the skimmer cup every time it got full....so I put this little modification on yesterday. A little 1/4 inch line with a valve on the end so that whenever the cup looks a little full, I can drain it without shutting down the skimmer.

I'll put one other bulkhead in as an emergency overflow. Emergency overflow will just fall back into the tank. If the cup gets too full, the skimmer starts percolating like a coffee maker.




Enjoyed your journal immensely and it was very informative. You have a beautiful tank and basement setup. Congratulations
Where can I get one of these fitting, I need one in the worst way and of course Yellowknife would never have anything like this.
This would do the same thing for me, drain skimmer,one with a 90 degree elbow would be better but I could make this work.

[untamed]

Very sad news, I'm afraid.

Freckles (vlamingi tang) is not doing well. About 3 days ago, I first noticed a white-grey-ish area on his lower right side. At the time, he seemed to be his usual hungry self.

However, over the next two days the area spread in all directions and now covers a significant part of his lower right. A 2nd lesion has now appeared on the upper right, now a third on his upper left. In each case, the lesion seems to have a starting point spreading outward from there. The smaller lesions have a distinct fan shape as a result.

By Day 3, the largest affected area is now showing three very reddish areas along his bend lines. Since this characteristic developed later, I don't think that any physical injury is to blame..athough it looks like he has been scratched by some three-toed beast.


He is now hiding most of the time. When he is tempted out with food, he seems prone to sudden outbursts of very violent and dangerous swimming.

Most concerning is the fact that this looks VERY similar to whatever killed my gold-rim tang nearly 2 years ago. That was a horrible, decaying death which I don't want to see on the scale of Freckles!

He is still eating, so I've been able to get a good bit of Seachem Kanamycin into him.
http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/sc...+-+5+Gram.html

I have no idea if this is a proper medication for this particular problem. As I read the instructions for differing medications, none really seem to recommend feeding the medication directly to the fish. As of now, there is still no chance of removing Freckles from the tank for external treatment.

I have some Maracyn as well....but the instructions don't say to feed to the fish.
http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/md...16+Packet.html The ingredients say it is Erythromycin, so that could be effective internally...but I have no idea what might be a safe or unsafe dose.

Any suggestions?