68 Gallon Rimless Reef Build

[zhasan]

Hi Everyone!! Its been a long time since my last update. I've been working on my build slowly and now its finally taking shape!

Here are the pics!

The tank made its way on top of the stand!! I used a thin layer of wood flooring underlay. I think it worked out very nicely!



Meanwhile the doors wait to be painted!



Time for a vinegar bath!



While the tank get a vinegar bath, I gathered all my plumbing supplies and tools to get down with the wrench and pvc cement!



Sump complete with bulkhead and baffles and water tested!



More plumbing... Time for the return pump to get hooked up!



Time to test run the plumbing and check for any leaks!



SUCCESS! No leaks!

[zhasan]

Alright, now the fun begins!

Rock is in, Saltwater is in!



All this gloominess is due to the overloead of Micro bubbles that I'm getting. Its extremely frustrating to see them in the display.

Any ideas on what I could do to fix this?








I think, I may have screwed up on my sump design. I see this long 'worm like' line of bubbles going in through the return that get blasted all over my tank.





Here is a shot of the complete setup. I ran my skimmer today as well just to see how its performing. It seems to be doing okay. ofcourse no skimmate just yet. It seems a bit loud atm, will have to look into how I can reduce its noise level.

[zhasan]

I'll be adding about 10lbs of live rock to my tank to properly seed the base and dead live rock. I'm thinking about adding agents like prodibio to aid in the cycling process but have not decided on anything yet. Still have to look into their benefit and costs.

I really need you guys' help on my sump design/return for this micro bubbles issue. I want to get this issue out of the way before I add any live stock to my tank. Please throw your ideas and comments out there for me to learn from and hopefully come up with a solution for my problem!

Cheers!!

[HaZRaTTy]

It hurts me to see that powerhead without the zip tie and dryside secured to something. It will be an expensive repair for that thing to hit the ground! Personally I don't take the chance but its up to you!

I love your stand good job I wish I had to patience and time to do that for myself!

[zhasan]

Originally Posted by HaZRaTTy

It hurts me to see that powerhead without the zip tie and dryside secured to something. It will be an expensive repair for that thing to hit the ground! Personally I don't take the chance but its up to you!

I love your stand good job I wish I had to patience and time to do that for myself!

Thanks for pointing that out. I was thinking about securing it too. I've seen a few of those small plastic square sticky things with small zip ties on them but don't know what they are called or where to buy them. Any suggestion on where I can get them?

[HaZRaTTy]

Hey,

Yah no problem they should hve came in your MP box if you bought it new. You would want to secure it on op and having a rimless I wouldn't want to stick that thing on my tank I would make something nice to go On to the top edge.

If you don't mind the stickin part HD carries zip as for the clips HD might have them or try LFS? I hve a few here that I can trade you for your stand.. Haha

[gregzz4]

You can get the adhesive-backed cable tie anchors at electrical supply outlets, or Rona and Home Depot etc

As for your air intake issue in the sump, I don't think it's your bubble trap
It looks like your pump is moving a massive amount of water and you need to either;
A - Put a valve after the pump and slow it down some or;
B - Raise the water level in the return section more ( maybe not ideal depending on your power out level )

What model is that Iwaki pump ? I can't make it out

[zhasan]

Originally Posted by HaZRaTTy

Hey,

Yah no problem they should hve came in your MP box if you bought it new. You would want to secure it on op and having a rimless I wouldn't want to stick that thing on my tank I would make something nice to go On to the top edge.

If you don't mind the stickin part HD carries zip as for the clips HD might have them or try LFS? I hve a few here that I can trade you for your stand.. Haha

I don't understand what you mean by securing on top. Do you mean I should rotate the dry end so the wire is sticking up vertically?

Originally Posted by gregzz4

You can get the adhesive-backed cable tie anchors at electrical supply outlets, or Rona and Home Depot etc

As for your air intake issue in the sump, I don't think it's your bubble trap
It looks like your pump is moving a massive amount of water and you need to either;
A - Put a valve after the pump and slow it down some or;
B - Raise the water level in the return section more ( maybe not ideal depending on your power out level )

What model is that Iwaki pump ? I can't make it out

Thanks Greg! I'll have to take a visit to HD or Rona to try and find those wire anchors.

I'm concerned about damaging the pump if I close the valve on the return line to slow down the pump's output.

I've raised the water level a little but as well as I've added a 90 on the bulkhead which has significantly reduced the amount of bubbles in the display but there is still that burst that gets in there every minute or so which is just frustrating me!

I'll try to play with the flow today and see how that affects the bubble situation. I think part of the problem is the amount of water thats draining in my sump which causes a lot of bubbles too and they don't have a long enough travel distance before the return to disappear themselves.

btw, its an Iwaki RT30.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by zhasan

I don't understand what you mean by securing on top. Do you mean I should rotate the dry end so the wire is sticking up vertically?

Yup, he means having the wire verticle
Here's mine
I've left the ties just loose enough to pull the wire back and forth, and enough gap to use my magfloat



With your return pump, you could easily put a Tee after the pump with a gate valve ( don't use a ball valve, they're irritating to fine tune )
Run the outlet from the valve back to your return chamber
Voila, no back-pressure