Fish's new tank project

Fish · #1 03-15-2007, 02:33 AM

I cam home from work today and found that my coral life pump has quit (on the closed loop). The fan works but the pump does not run.
This bothers me a little because the pump has only been running since 03-11-2007. I will contact the vender and see what we can do.

- Chad

justinl · #2 03-15-2007, 06:02 AM

wow. that pump sounds amazing. If i ever set up a super nano and actually have tons of cash to blow (not likely) I will certainly look into one of those bad boys.

Fish · #3 03-15-2007, 06:07 PM

Haha, if you look aound you can find sometimes find one for almost what they will charge you for a peristaltic 'aquaruim doser'.

As for my external pump - I have been talking to Nate and he has been awesome to deal with! I will be buying a replacement pump from him.

Cheers,

- Chad

woodcarver · #4 03-17-2007, 04:37 AM

http://www.tylermerrick.com/content/css_notes.php
Hey Chad ,I just came across this site that has some good info on the Coralife skimmer , this might be redundant at this stage but just in case here it is
....................................Dave

Fish · #5 03-17-2007, 08:20 AM

Dave,
Thanks for the link, it was really considerate of you to post it.
For the next few days, I'm going to go wild fixing problems I never even knew I had

At the very least it will help me get it dialled in properly.

- Chad

untamed · #6 03-17-2007, 06:15 PM

That dosing pump does sound very nice, but I'm not sure you'll have a lot of luck using for evaporation replacement.

When I first setup an evaporative replacement system, I tried to use a peristaltic pump, figuring that I could dial in the exact amount of evaporation. What I learned, was that I was always wrong. One day, too much..the next...too little.

Evaporation isn't constant. It changes based on environmental humidity and temperature. In the end, I changed over to a float switch based system and it worked better.

Fish · #7 03-18-2007, 12:19 AM

Concerning the rates of evaporation being slightly different every day, more common is the rate changing slightly between day and night. The level drops slightly during the days and rises more during the night hours. The minor changes in humidity temp etc are not enough to significantly effect the water level as a day to day average. Any significant changes, especially in a temperature controlled dwelling like a home of office, will occur from season to season - not day to day. And the tank is never left long enough without a water change to make a difference. I used one of these pumps to dose a 2gal nano for a couple years and it would take at least two weeks for the water level to creep less than one centimeter either up or down. Because I was usually doing water changes more often than that, it was never anything I had to address.
I have settled on the rate of 0.32ml 8x's every minute and for three days it has been holding the water level in my sump at the exact water line mark I drew on my sump with a sharpie - just under the line in the evening, and just over the line in the morning. If it looks like there is a net gain or increase in the level at the end of the week, I will increase or decrease the dosing rate by one stroke per minute.
I wouldn't trust a float switch to do my topoff. Not saying there's anything wrong with it - I just think there is too much risk of it sticking on or off for my personal preferance. I've had the float in my toilette fail more than a few times and that has a more bouyant float, is immersed in pure cold fesh water with less mineral content, and never has algae buildup or snails, etc.

Cheers,

- Chad

Edit: photo updates on page 21