BigAl's slow chronicle . . .

[hma]

Originally Posted by AQTCJAK

I guesas I jummped the gun nice modification. I never thought about that

… haha…. You know surely Albert Einstein, also a German…. small cause…. large effect.

[AQTCJAK]

i like that approach

[Frankie]

Adjusting the flow is a great idea. I have to agree with Al about the salt creep though. I remedied that with airline tubing. I drilled a hole big enough for the airline to go into. Then i ran the airline 2' out of the tank and just push it up or down in the hole for adjusting the flow. It works great for me and made the water in the tube silent.

[hma]

Originally Posted by BigAl07

Thanks Heinz I read about a similar mod earlier today but a few people posted back that over time the salt creep ends up interferring with the pet-cock valve. Have you had this problem? I like the idea of making it "adjustable" like that.

Jack, I don't have a clue. This tank came just like you see it. I would imagine that's where the carbon or other media bag can go. I think I have ran upon a snag... I am a HUGE fan of a refugium and had planned to run this 29g as the refuguim in the middle. But I can't run a refugium and a skimmer in the same chamber. Any ideas?

I was thinking #1 (egg-crate area) was the input supply/carbon area, #2 sump/skimmer section, #3 return pump section. Now if I want a refugium will I have to add another tank just for THAT reason?

Allen

My stand pipe works for over 2 years without each problem. I have on the air cock still another silicone hose touched. Those clean I every 3-4 weeks with warm water. that was it.
BTW this kind off durso stand pipe is extremely quiet, you hears absolutely nothing of the flowing off water. Here a video

[BigAl07]

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I hope to get some more ideas over the weekend as we are going out of town to Knoxville Tennessee (Go VOLS!!) and they have a couple of very cool LFS down there.

Keep the ideas and suggestions pouring in and I'll keep adding to this ever expanding chronicle.

Allen

[BigAl07]

Since I wanted to do a FUGE I guess I'll have to get another tank. I have been reading this morning and can't for the life of me figure out how to get the skimmer and a fuge into the same sump tank that I have. So would I want to put a "T" into the drain line from the bottom of the tank and have some (small amount and flow) going from the tank into the FUGE and then have gravity drop this (drilled acrylic tank) into the sump tank all to be returned back to the tank via one large pump? Or am I totally missing something here?

Allen

[ScubaDrew]

Only thing I could think of on splitting the drain from the DT to the fuge would be that your pulling from the surface water that's best for the skimmer.

I ended up splitting a small 2nd pump used for my phosban filter to my fuge. This pump pulls water from the "return" section of the sump.

Over all I dont think this would have a big impact on anything...

Drew

[AQTCJAK]

I would do it like this a small pump from the main tank to the fuge. The small tank plumbed with a bulkhead & piping back to the main tank so the out flow of the fuge is not more than the inflow to it. I have done this in the past & it worked fine. However I dont have any pictures of this system

[BigAl07]

What's killing me here is that I am quickly losing real estate in the cabinet. In the main part of the cabinet I have 48" x 19" (rough guess as I don't have the stand at home yet). The Sump tank is 30" long which doesn't leave a whole heck of a lot of room for the fuge. I was thinking of building a stand within the stand for the fuge and let it over hang the sump and the water can then evacuate via a builkhead down into the return of the Sump tank. Being that I am doing a fuge it would take very little water (as compared to total water flow) so I was sort of thinking that this wouldn't cause a large amount of affect to the rest of the tank. This would result in the "slow flow" mandated for a fuge and not overly complicate the pump/pipe system.

Jack I like your idea but I know Me and My luck.... I know how hard it is to get in flow vs outflow even remotely equal and I know what kind of a mess I would end up creating. I appreciate and value your input but the fewer pumps I can run the better off we ALL are

Allen

[AQTCJAK]

What about an HOB fuge they have them that might be an opion

[BigAl07]

Yeah that may be another option too. The stand will be approximately 18 +/-" front to back and the Sump tank is only 12" front to back. I could probably work a HOB fuge under there and light it just fine. I guess right now this is all just "guess work" until the tank and stand are both at the same address. But I do like to have MOST of my ducks in a row well before I need them.

Allen

[AQTCJAK]

I understand that I made to trips to the hardware store for the project on the 175 & that is 1.5 hour drive each time

[BigAl07]

Originally Posted by AQTCJAK

I understand that I made to trips to the hardware store for the project on the 175 & that is 1.5 hour drive each time

Ouch! Fortunately I live in town so the farthest I drive for hardware (that's if My company that's 1 1/2 minutes away doesn't' have it ) would be maybe 6 minutes each way. I'm getting so anxious just researching and typing about it. I can hardly stand it.

Allen

[AQTCJAK]

I used to be that way until Vicki & I started Living togather

[BigAl07]

Here's today's update. I was fortunate enough to go to a REAL LFS over the weekend and WOW! I picked up some odds & ends for my 10g tank and my work 12g Cube but I was lucky enough to get the loc-line parts I think I need to complete my return into the tank. What I did was get the 1" to 3/4" threaded adapter that converts the 1"PVC into 3/4" loc-line and then a 3/4" "Y". From there I bought enough tubing to do (2) 1' sections and then (2) 3 3/4" fan/flare tips. It looks kind of cool with all the put together but I don't know how it will all need to be until I have rocks and stuff in there.

I do have one question about the loc-line stuff. I can't seem to get the flare tips to simply snap into the other parts like the rest did. Is there another piece that hooks onto the 3/4 tubing or am I just being too "gentle" with it and need to SHOVE it onto the tubing? I'll try to post a picture of the set up with loc-line tonight. That stuffs cool to work with.

Allen