Greg's 75g

[gregzz4]

Where am I now, sump v4.0 ? Or is it v5.0 ?

Here's what I did today ...
I hot-plumbed a swing check valve into the return .. gotta tell ya, no better way to increase your blood-pressure - no spare parts and just have at 'er
Put a heater in the DT, the Vortechs kept the flow goin' and the soon-to-be-removed sump 1262 kept the sump active enough that the Ranco never kicked on with the back-up heaters
So, I waited about an hour for the PVC stuff to air-out with some air flow and back into the system it goes


Turned out just fine, and now the return is actually quiet
No more humming through the lines, nor the wall from the sump room
I extended some lines so nothing would touch the wall anymore. Poor fishies though as the sound is still in the tank

It may mean nothing to some of you, but I'll tell ya, it means the world to me when I can make it quieter for the wife
She never complained, but I know that if it was enough to bother me, she was only being 'nice' about it

So, once that was done, I knew I had to remove the sump circuit stuff from the wall clamps ....
I ran an eheim 1000 for the chaeto and an eheim 2000 for the UV/Chiller and I'll be dammed, it's SUPER quiet

New check valve, but it's only there to stop the splashing when the pump restarts ...



Before the sump re-plumb



After the re-config












I have temporarily hooked up a Maxi 600 for the GFO ( last pic ), and it has a T
I may do this permanently for the GFO and Carbon ( I don't have the Carbon reactor running yet as I see no need to )

It's just a T near the valve that came with the TLF Reactors and it dumps back into the sump, so it doesn't matter what size of pump I use

SUPER happy with the new setup

Now I'll have to sell an Eheim 1262 that I bought brand new last month as I already have a spare

[Paigee]

Your scape is ingenious!

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Paigee

Your scape is ingenious!

Thanks Paigee

The Alk was dipping below 5 and the Ca was about 390. I hadn't touched the water for about 3 weeks as the system was new
I'll chalk up the drop to the new LR and Coralline sucking up the minerals
I dosed Alk over the weekend and brought it back up. Then, when I tested the system today, the Ca was back up now on it's own

All looks good and the NSW from the IO bucket almost matched the DT perfectly. I'm going to run the system for a week and see if WCs will keep up with the params without dosing
Although my current params are not ideal, they are manageable

After today's 10% WC the readings are;
Sg 1.025
pH 8.2
KH 10.5
Ca 440
Mg 1350
NO3 0
PO4 0
80 F

I am going to keep the temp where it is for now as there are so many arguments about temperature and I like it where it is
The tank is stable for this time of year with our very minimally insulated home and is easy to maintain

The QT got a 50% WC and then some critters

Ocellaris from the Vancouver Aquarium that were traded in @ J&L
I missed out on the one black guy I saw last week, but being less than 3/4", I was nervous about feeding the poor little dude
So, today I grabbed this feisty little one. He/she is all over the QT, but owns the 5" PVC Such an active little critter, so the pics suffer



I watched a tank of PJs for awhile and picked out a pair for the wife, but I like them too



And a locally bred Bangaii who is quite eager to play with us. Comes straight to me during the whole acclimation and liked having his/her picture taken . Should be a good survivor
Lots of blue in the pec fins

[gregzz4]

And, ya, they're just basic fish, but they are our first SW ones, so it's a start