BigAl's slow chronicle . . .

[BigAl07]

Thanks Greg. I'm not sure how or WHERE it came from but I had 10% in my head.

Allen

[BigAl07]

I thinking hard about having a small custom FUGE tank made that will simply fit in tightly beside the sump. A small pump to push water from the return area up into the fuge and then over-flow (bulkhead) back into the return area. Something in the 10g area but slightly shorter than a standard 20" 10g tank and easier to drill than a glass tank.

Allen

[AQTCJAK]

Al, have you looked at anything like this

Refugiums: Addictive Aquatics Wholesale

[BigAl07]

Yeah I've thought about HOB and one minute that sounds good then another I think it's under-kill for this set up. I mean I have an 18" HOB fuge on my current 10g tank and LOVE it but that's not near enough "volume" for a 129g set up. I would imagine I need at least 10g of fuge volume to get the job done right. wouldn't you agree Jack? My 18" HOB displaces maybe 4 - 4.5 gallons total water before sand and other goodies were added (best guestimate but it took more than half of a 6 gallon jug of water to fill it up during tests) and I just don't think that's enough to properly "filter" my 90g + 29g set up.

Allen

[AQTCJAK]

Here is a way to lok @ it your fuge you only want approx 100GPH flow through correct. Which on a large HOB would have tremendous turn over rate so you will get more pods into you nmain tank @ a more constant rate also. Fuges can be a bad thing if for some reason the crash & crash hard. I had a 54 gallon on my 100 Gallon reef when it crashed the enitre tank crashed right after because of the rapid die off of the plant life then all the bad things hit the tank & it was to late JMO

[BigAl07]

Eww! Well when you sit back and think about it.. that makes perfect sense. The more stuff TO die off the harder it affects every aspect of the system.

Maybe I need to sit back and "stew" on this one a while. No need to make any drastic decisions as of yet anyway.

thanks Jack! Sometimes I just can't help but get carried away and usually when I do something I do it 1000% till I hit the wall *lol*

Allen

[AQTCJAK]

me too!

[BigAl07]

Ok here is the latest picture of the stand and it's progress. Hopefully in the next couple of days it will be AT my house
Pics are : (1) End panels (2) Close up of wood grained doors (3) Side shot of components

These pics aren't as clear as they could be but you get an idea of how it's going thus far.

[Woodstock]

Looking great! I love the way stained wood looks!

[BigAl07]

Thanks Doni. So far I am THRILLED with it.

Allen

[BigAl07]

Grrrrrr!!! HAd a friend come over this evening to start on "enforcing" the foundation and I underestimated the opening. Well really OVER estimated.... there's no "ACCESS" for a human to get under the house. Now we are going to have to bust into a foundation wall and create an access hole and then CRAWL under there to dig out, pour a footer and make a new support wall for this tank...


Grrrr!!!

[forestal]

ugh sounds horrid, good luck with the work and be careful
but the stand is looking fantastic

[AQTCJAK]

Al would you have better luck going through the floor rigt whee the tank is going to be?

[BigAl07]

Originally Posted by AQTCJAK

Al would you have better luck going through the floor rigt whee the tank is going to be?

Yes!!

if it weren't for the fact it's a Hardwood floor and would be hard to get everything back perfect right at the entry to our living room. Add to it that the landlord likes the idea of having "utility access" (and he's paying for materials etc) and while we have it open he wants to go under the house and insulate all the plumbing and just do a general "once over" while there.

I suspect we are "breaking block" a week from Saturday weather permitting. I figure the excavation will take ONE day (including some pouring of the footer) and finish up late the next day. It should be a fairly straight forward task I just HATE working with masonry saws and all the NOISE!!

Oh well. Better to take the time and do it RIGHT than to take short cuts and some home to a collapsed floor. It's ironic that this is the very SUBJECT of an in depth debate that Frankie and I were in a while back. Does anyone ELSE see the IRONY here?

Allen

[AQTCJAK]

good luck buddy I dont like that work either