Jeremy0322's Back!!

[Jeremy0322]

Hey guys, how have you all been doing! After another long break from the site I have again found myself back here, but this time for good news. I am planning on setting up another tank. It wont be anything big, but for some reason I just cant stay away from it, who would have thought, so I am taking some of my older smaller tanks from PA back to NC with me and will start the planning and everything once I get down there. I am debating on whether to use the 20 long or the 20 tall, and will be running it into a 10 gallon sump more than likely. It will probably start out as something resembling a FOWLR tank but as the lighting gets there we all know it wont stay that way for long. Anyways, I figured I would catch up with everyone and let you all know the new plans.

 

[Eric]

Welcome Back!!!

It's a very addicting hobby

 

[Jeremy0322]

Yea, it sure is. It also isnt helping that I am constantly surrounded by it with my college work, its just always staring me right in the face calling me back..haha

 

[Frankie]

Welcome back Jeremy. It is good to see you getting back into the hobby!
If memory serves me right you put the hobby off so you could focus on school right?

 

[Jeremy0322]

Welcome back Jeremy. It is good to see you getting back into the hobby!
If memory serves me right you put the hobby off so you could focus on school right?

Yea, that was the main reason behind it. However, I have found myself in a stronger position financially and have made a few friends in the trade down here so I will yet again be able to pull it all off. It wont be anything huge but it will be something!

 

[Jeremy0322]

So I have been playing with a few ideas in my head and wanted to run them by you guys just to make sure I didnt get too rusty with my time off.

1: I live next to a beach, and I know there are people out there that are using ocean water for their tanks, but isnt that extremely dirty? If I remember correctly to collect clean water from the ocean that you could use wouldn't you have to go miles off the coast where the pollution levels would be down?

2: To expand on that idea, would the ocean water have the same trace elements that you need that you get by using a synthetic salt mixture? Im sure you could add a supplement to the water you collected but at that point that would just become more costly and more work than its worth?

3: What are some of the issues you can run into my collection livestock from the ocean. Im obviously not talking about actual fish, but in some of the salt marshes and tidal areas you can grab some very interesting inverts for your CUC. I was able to grab almost 5 nassarius snails in one swoop one day.

Its obviously not an issue of saving money, even though that would be nice I have been around long enough to know its close to impossible to make a thriving tank by trying to save every penny you can. Just questions that I thought of while on the beach yesterday.

 

[Willie McDaries]

good to see you back in action Jeremy,can't wait to see the tank in process....how's school treating ya ?

as for the NSW,I'd collect it through a filter sock maybe use some carbon too and test it before using it,should have all you need in it already if it doesn't have things you don't need...it should be better than artificial salt mix,PaulB uses it on occasion in his tank but I don't know how far out he is when collecting.....

save all the money you can,everything you can collect from the ocean is that much you wont need to spend money on

good luck on the new build

 

[Jeremy0322]

yea, i have been looking up ways to safely collect NSW, so I will know more about that soon. I should pm him and ask how he does it.

As for school, I love every second of every day of it, wouldnt change it for anything. Found something I truly love doing, thats half the battle, right? haha

 

[Jeremy0322]

As always with anyone who has this disease, I got to thinking about the options I had for the system, and I came up with something. Instead of having to choose between the 20 gallon long and the 20 gallon tall, I figured why not use all of them. I came up with something like you see below. The tank on the top left is the 20 gallon tall, which is already drilled on the top right hand side of the back glass. I will have that tank running into the 20 gallon long, the drain will just be gravity fed, probably a 1 inch tube, but 3/4 isnt out of the question I guess. I will have one of my cool little overflows that I enjoy building oh so much. Once it hits the 20 long it will drain out of a bulkhead that will be located on the top left of the tank. ( I dont know what side the tall will be draining into the long, need to think about that one a little more). From the long it will drain into the 10 gallon located under the stand, which will act as a sump (maybe fuge?) depending on what is in the 20 long. The water from the sump will then be returned into the 20 tall straight up and the process will start over again.

Now that I have this design down I really got to thinking what would be in the 20 gallon long. I know the tall is going to be a small reef, you will have the normal set up with plenty of live rock, your corals, reef fish, etc, and the 10 gallon is obviously going to be the sump for all the equipment like heaters and pumps, carbon bags, and if you know anything about me I will be putting chaeto in there (love that stuff!!) but where do I go with the 20 long. I was playing around with the idea of a sea grass tank, or something like that (what im talking about is in the link below). Just looking for something different than the typical reef aquarium, any ideas? Also, let me know what everyone thinks about the tank setup in general. I am sure there will be interesting issues with the water flow through all the different tanks, but I will wrap my hear around them at some point and get it all figured out.

http://tinypic.com/6hi2vb.jpg

 

[Willie McDaries]

I like the layout,the 20l could be a duel purpose tank,part fuge,part grow out/frag tank of just an isolation/acclimation tank,really could be used for anything that doesn't fit in the sump or something you might not want in the DT,the sea grass idea would be awesome,a clown/nem tank would be cool too.....clever idea,you also have all that storage area under the 20l

I'm a firm believer in chaeto too,best stuff since sliced bread

nice work with the google sketch up too

 

[Jeremy0322]

I didnt even consider it being a frag tank, you can tell I have been out of the game for a while :hammerhea It would be shallow enough that I wouldnt need crazy lighting, and would be able to hold a ton of frags. I will have a QT tank which will more than likely be placed under the 20 long in that space, and I will have some form of shelving under there. I will play around more with all the layout stuff tonight, this was just a rough copy before I went to bed.

 

[GlassMunky]

I like the idea of it being a frag tank too. cool how you'r planning on all 3 tanks connected.

 

[Jeremy0322]

It will give me the chance to add some diversity to the system while increasing water volume. The only thing im scared of is the chaos that will be the water flow through the 3 tanks, I still need some time to get my head wrapped around how to make sure all of the water stays in all of the tanks in the event of a power outage and whatnot

 

[Jeremy0322]

Welp, part of the water flow issue has been solved today. I remembered that I had the overflow from the old 55 gallon that I had, which will be cut down to size and siliconed into the 20 tall as the overflow. I will try to get a picture of it up as soon as photobucket starts letting me upload pictures, its not being a team player this evening

 

[Willie McDaries]

anxiously awaiting pics

 

[Jeremy0322]

here ya go Willie!

I will have to take about 5 inches off of the bottom, but then it will be all good. As for how im running the drain, I havent figured that out yet because the bulkhead will literally be 2 inches from the top of the tank I need to figure out the best way to set it up so that nothing can get into it...hmmm

 

[Jeremy0322]

Well, here are some better pictures for you to let everyone know what im talking about, and I also think I came up with 2 ideas for running the overflow in that tank. First though, here is the overflow as it stands now and the 20 tall tank to show you where the hole is drilled.

Now, the first idea I have is to run a 90 right out of the bulkhead facing the left direction, and then a strainer directly off of that. It may be the simplest of the 2 designs but I dont know if I will get any gurgle out of it. Using this one I wouldnt even need the overflow itself, I could do without it which would offer me much more "real estate" in the tank as well as freeing it up for the 20 long if I so choose. The picture link below shows this design, and the link below that is the strainer from a site.

http://home.comcast.net/~76fxe/plumb4.jpg

Overflow Strainer - MPT

The second design is the one that I used in my 55 gallon a while back. I would run the 90 directly out of the bulkhead to the left hand side (if you are staring at the tank from the front) and then a T fitting. On the other side of the T I would have another 90 facing down, and then on top you have an air hole drilled into a cap to control the level of air that gets into the overflow.

Suggestions, observations?

 

[Jeremy0322]

So, im conflicted now I have 2 separate designs, both of which have their pros and cons, what do you guys thing. Design 1:

With this its a simple loop, it would only require one return pump, half the plumbing, its just an all around simpler design.

Design 2:

With this design the drains would both run into the same section of the sump, and the return pump would either have to be a) bigger or b) have 2 of them. However, with this design I would have the option of separating flows from one tank if I needed too for some reason.

Which one do you guys think is safer in terms of flooding and back siphoning and all of that good stuff

 

[Jeremy0322]

Well, I guess no one knows the answer to my question posted above? haha

Anyways, made a little progress this weekend, my friend needed a tank drilled so I decided since we were at it to drill my 20 long, both tanks came out awesome, not a single problem.

His tank..

My tank

 

[Willie McDaries]

Well, here are some better pictures for you to let everyone know what im talking about, and I also think I came up with 2 ideas for running the overflow in that tank. First though, here is the overflow as it stands now and the 20 tall tank to show you where the hole is drilled.

Now, the first idea I have is to run a 90 right out of the bulkhead facing the left direction, and then a strainer directly off of that. It may be the simplest of the 2 designs but I dont know if I will get any gurgle out of it. Using this one I wouldnt even need the overflow itself, I could do without it which would offer me much more "real estate" in the tank as well as freeing it up for the 20 long if I so choose. The picture link below shows this design, and the link below that is the strainer from a site.

http://home.comcast.net/~76fxe/plumb4.jpg

Overflow Strainer - MPT

The second design is the one that I used in my 55 gallon a while back. I would run the 90 directly out of the bulkhead to the left hand side (if you are staring at the tank from the front) and then a T fitting. On the other side of the T I would have another 90 facing down, and then on top you have an air hole drilled into a cap to control the level of air that gets into the overflow.

Suggestions, observations?

I like the overflow box idea best because with the strainer set up,it would be easier for it to clog up,and with the overflow system,it would probable be less noisy,but I do like more room idea too...personally,I'd do it like in the 55g...silence is sweet

even though the overflow box takes up more room,IMO it looks better than the PVC pipes,I hate the returns in my tank