Lynn and Frank's saltwater adventure.

[Rougiem]

Great Shots Lynn...

How big is your conch?

Love the peppermint and fire shrimp too...Looked just like mine!

Cheers!

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

Also one of my yellow clown gobys in the seahorse tank. These guys are just too cute for words.

I had a yellow clown goby for almost 5 years... he was my favorite! I thought about getting one again, but I have read so many things about them nipping on Acros that I've been reluctant.

I wonder if you or anyone else has had prior experience keeping them with SPS?

[lcstorc]

Back to the plumbing though. EVerything is up (except the chiller) and running with one problem that I am hoping you guys can help with.
I have a separate sump and fuge. (see pics early in the thread.) The problem is the flow in the fuge. I said I wanted low flow but what I seem to have is almost no flow. Basically the overflow from the tank goes to a T. One pipe goes to the fuge and the other to the sump. Both have valves so we can adjust how much flow goes in either direction. Then we just have a fitting with a pipe that takes water from the fuge to the return area of the sump. That is where we are having a problem. The flow through that pipe is very very slow. If we open the line into the fuge more than a tiny bit, the fuge fills with water far faster than it exits to the sump. Obviously this would eventually cause the fuge to overflow leading to lots of water on the floor etc.
Does anybody have any ideas on how I can increase the amount of water leaving the fuge?
Sorry if this is vague, this plumbing stuff is really a mystery to me and my husband usually deals with it, but so far he has not come up with anything. There was air in the tube and he added some type of valve for the air to escape which improved it slightly, but still not nearly enough.
I am kind of afraid to add a bunch of pumps and whatnot because I don't want the chance of disaster in a power outage or pump failure.
Does the flow through the fuge matter that much or could I just put a power head in there to have flow within the fuge and leave the slow flow into the return?
All ideas are welcome.
Thanks

[lcstorc]

Wow guys you are fast.
The conch in the pic is probably 2 1/2 or 3 inches long. I also have 2 small ones in the reef and 2 small ones in the seahorse tank. They are so cool to watch and have made a vast improvement to the substrate in both tanks.
I don't know about the clown and acros. First time I have heard this. Good thing they are in the pony tank which just has some softies.

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

I don't know about the clown and acros. First time I have heard this. Good thing they are in the pony tank which just has some softies.

Yeah... it seems they are nippers They even lay eggs on the underside of Acros from what I've been told.

Now... about your overflow problem from your Fuge to your sump. Now I may be wrong... but I have a hunch that your problem lies in the way you have your Fuge situated. I believe that your Fuge should sit Higher than your sump. This should allow gravity to help with the flow into your sump. maybe a couple of 2x4 or 4x4 underneath the Fuge will do the trick.

If it turns out I'm right... I want some baby ponies...JK

[Dentoid]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

I have been told that when they are dying they will turn grey. Is yours changing color at all? I have not noticed any raised rings, but perhaps it is budding a new branch? Just a guess since unfortunately I know little about them.
My husband came home with it one day then all my reefing friends told me it would die and to keep a close eye on it so it doesn't polute the tank. Well, for some reason it is happy with several new branches and no grey at all. I wish I could be more help, but I didn't notice the new branches until it was obvious that they were new branches so I am not sure what they look like in the beginning.
The one thing I do know about sponges is that they cannot tolerate the air even for the briefest time. When you introduced it to the tank were you careful to keep it submerged in water the entire time? Still if it is not turning grey it is probably ok since that is what I was told to look for on mine.

Thanks Lynn. It is not turning gray and the ossicle (sp) pours are open, so maybe it's ok.

[lcstorc]

Well the two tanks are at the same height but they drilled holes in both for the connection and the hole in the fuge is slightly higher than the hole in the sump. Perhaps not high enough though. They did use flexible tubing for that connection so we could try raising it up a couple of inches. Sounds like it is worth a try anyway. We would just have drain it and add something underneath to raise it up. I may try that tonight or this weekend at the latest. I will let you know if it works.
Oh and you'll have to wait on the babies. Right now I just have the one male. I have my lfs owner in search of a girlfriend for him. If I get and manage to successfully raise babies you are #1 on the list. You may have to get a chiller though. Ponies like cooler water. In fact they are the reason we just bought ours. Thanks for the easy idea. Nothing lost if it doesn't work and easy to try. I like those kind of suggestions.

[lcstorc]

I will look at the sponge carefully tonight and see if I see anything resembling what you describe. There may be something like that on the back side that I have not noticed. I'll let you know either tonight or tomorrow if I see anything similar. If I can I'll take a pic.

[Dentoid]

Thanx! I'll B omn the look out.-Scott

[Woodstock]

Originally Posted by JFK_Jr

.....Now... about your overflow problem from your Fuge to your sump. Now I may be wrong... but I have a hunch that your problem lies in the way you have your Fuge situated. I believe that your Fuge should sit Higher than your sump. This should allow gravity to help with the flow into your sump. maybe a couple of 2x4 or 4x4 underneath the Fuge will do the trick.

I second this idea.

Another idea would be to add another 'pipe' (maybe 2 more) for water to flow from the fuge into the sump. That would require drilling though...

I would not use a pump to move water from the fuge to the sump since the incoming fuge water volume is subject to change. That could leave the fuge with too much or too little water.

[lcstorc]

I have bad news to report. Apparently the giant Crocea died today. I just called home to pass on your suggestions about the fuge and he told me about the clam. It has been looking a bit off for a couple of days so we were watching it closely but apparently it expired some time today. I am so sad.
Meanwhile onto the fuge issue. We have 2 currently unused connectors in the sump (for the chiller) one of which is much lower than the current fuge output. What if I move the fuge output to that connector as a test before raising the tank? I would think that would accomplish the same thing. The only real difference is that the new outlet is under the level of the sump water where the original one is right at water level. This would be only for testing purposes. If it works then we can drain the fuge and rais it up on some 2 X 4s or something to get it higher than the sump.
Anybody see any problems with this plan?
Thanks for all of your help.

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

I have bad news to report. Apparently the giant Crocea died today. I just called home to pass on your suggestions about the fuge and he told me about the clam. It has been looking a bit off for a couple of days so we were watching it closely but apparently it expired some time today. I am so sad.
Meanwhile onto the fuge issue. We have 2 currently unused connectors in the sump (for the chiller) one of which is much lower than the current fuge output. What if I move the fuge output to that connector as a test before raising the tank? I would think that would accomplish the same thing. The only real difference is that the new outlet is under the level of the sump water where the original one is right at water level. This would be only for testing purposes. If it works then we can drain the fuge and rais it up on some 2 X 4s or something to get it higher than the sump.
Anybody see any problems with this plan?
Thanks for all of your help.

Sorry about your clam... It alway$ hurt$ to lo$e $omething that expen$ive


Now about your Fuge. You can try it first... but I don't think it will make a difference using a lower connection. If I remember my physics right... one body of water needs to be higher than the other for it to work correctly. But it's worth trying!

You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can crash, drip, flow...be water my friend... Bruce Lee LOL

[JFK_Jr]

Here's a good analogy that just came to me. Ever dripped Kalk from a Gallon Jug? Notice how the drip rate can be increased or decreased by raising or lowering the height of the jug in relation to your sump.

Same principle applies to the Fuge and Sump.

[lcstorc]

Never dripped kalc, but the theory makes sense regardless. We are planning to raise the fuge as much as space allows this weekend at the latest so hopefully that will be all that is required to have a fuge that is up and running. Meanwhile my sand came in sor the DSB in the fuge is coming together once we resolve the flow issue. Then I can move my macro into it and should be good to go except for the chiller which should be in probably next week.

[lcstorc]

Well moving the hose helped quite a bit and I think I will leave it there. The remaining connections will work much better for the chiller I believe.
I now have a decent amt of water in and out of the fuge, but the center of the fuge i still aa major dead zone. Can I add a small power head inside the fuge to keep the water moving that is in there? Any thoughts on this idea. I have a couple of maxijet 550s that I could add easily just to keep it stirred up a bit and prevent cyano etc.