Michelle’s 110 Upgrade!

[squidy]

Yea, just ran to Lowes and Home Depot looking for currogated tubing that would fit over 1" pvc. No luck. Im thinking that the currogated tubing will break up the water fall. I can even bend the tubing to create a C shape fourcing the water to flow rather than fall. Its just a thought that I would like to try out, but I cant seem to find the tubing. Ok, Im going to start calling pool and spa places.

 

[squidy]

Anthony, I think I found a possible solution. As you can see in the previous pictures, I have a small hole drilled in the top of both 90 degree elbows coming off the back of the tank. I originally had a 3-4” piece of airline tubing inserted in each of those holes for air intake. Well, I just took a much long piece of airline tubing (approximately 3 ft. the length of the straight piece of pvc in which the water vertically drops) and fed the tubing most of the way down inside the pipe. For some reason, this made a huge difference in the noise. Im not sure if it has to do with the air intake or introducing friction to the waterfall inside the pipe. Either way, I can hear myself think and now when Im on the phone, everyone doesn’t think Im using the bathroom, lol. Hope this helps.

Oh, I also wanted to explain the blue sticky-tack. I am using it to seal around the airline as I test run this for a bit. Im not sure if it makes any difference so I will remove it and see how that effects the noise.

 

[astiesi]

Great thinking...I'll have to give that a try tonight! Thanks for the update.

 

[squidy]

No problem. Let me know how it works for you.

 

[SilverDragon]

First nice setup!

Second I just put a pice of air line in my overflow on my FW tank and it worked great! thanks for the tip!

 

[squidy]

SWEET! I did something right! With all the plumbing issue I have had, I was feeling like I couldnt do anything right, lol.

 

[squidy]

Well, I had to make yet another trip to Lowes as I place a rubber mat under my sump to reduce vibration (also under the DT) only to find out my return line was then pushed up about a half inch. So I decided to hack off the pvc above the ball valve (not sure why I even had the valve in the first place) and add flex pvc. I did have to heat the flex pvc to make it more pliable, but it worked out great. The coupling attached to the bottom of the flex pvc is not permanently attached to the pump. Im hoping this will allow me to quickly remove the pump for maintenance.

 

[squidy]

Today I added about 100 lbs of sand and about 50 lbs of rock I made. Now that I have all the cured rock out of my trash bins, I can continue making another batch. I will post pics tomorrow if the water clears. I realized today I will have to bring the ladder in to aqua-scape, lol. Should be interesting. Ill make sure to wear my floaties. Safety first!

 

[yungreefer2410]

you have a valve on the return so you can dial in your return pump with your overflow, if necessary

 

[squidy]

Thank Cole. The valve is no longer. Wouldnt using a valve on the return line without a T add stress to the pump? Oh well, the deep is done. Now Im having temp issues. My temp is 83. Guess I will try adding a few fans first. Really do not want to have to buy a chiller.

 

[yungreefer2410]

what kind of lights are you using?

 

[squidy]

Cole,

Its a 48" Coralife 2x150 MH with 2x96w PC's. I wanted 250's but I couldnt pass up the price on this one. Here is a pic of the tank with the lights. It has also cleared up alot.

 

[squidy]

Nothing really new to post yet but I do have a question. The sand I used in my tank was over 100 lbs of live sand taken directly from a 120g aquarium. The depth of the sand bed turned out a bit deeper than planned. I have about 3” in the fuge and will remove some from the DT and place in the fuge, but this will not make a significant difference in the DT. I want to bring the sand bed in my up to 4”. This will leave an approximately 3” sand bed in the DT. Is this too deep for the display or will it prove to be beneficial down the road? Also, should I include a sand shifting star in my CUC? I guess I am just trying to figure out the risks to having a deeper sand bed. So please, everyone chime in here. Thanks.

 

[yungreefer2410]

3'' sounds in between a dsb and a shallow sand bed. it sounds fine to me. the sand bed depth in my tank ranges from 5'' to bare bottum

 

[squidy]

3'' sounds in between a dsb and a shallow sand bed. it sounds fine to me. the sand bed depth in my tank ranges from 5'' to bare bottum

Cole - Do you have a sand shifting star in your tank? I was told these guys can end up removing all the bacteria in the sand proving to be more harmful than good. I would also like to note that this was told to me by a moron from my lfs. I have learned to double check everything they say.

 

[yungreefer2410]

no i don't have one

 

[sneaks03]

Cole - Do you have a sand shifting star in your tank? I was told these guys can end up removing all the bacteria in the sand proving to be more harmful than good. I would also like to note that this was told to me by a moron from my lfs. I have learned to double check everything they say.

Wow that is the first I have heard about the stars eating bacteria. I know they eat detritous and leftover food. Never been told they were bad.

 

[squidy]

Well, I am also looking into getting a sand sifting goby. My LFS has a Twin Spot and a Yellow Face. Im thinking am also concerned that a starfish will move the sand around causing the rock to collapse.

 

[yungreefer2410]

i'm going to get a diamond goby when my tank matures some, they filter food from the sandbed so you have to have a mature sandbed or they will probably starve