9kin Tank

9kin · Jul 21, 2011

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w

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ontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> Hello guys. I ham new to MR and this Is my 1<sup>st</sup> post/thread. I have been reading a lot of info up until this point on this website and even recognize names of people that are very active on this site.
My name is Alex. I have been in this hobby for about 3 years, however I was never taking it very seriously. Now I would really like to make safe and healthy environment for my fish, and later, maybe corals.
Current Tank:
Currently I have wet dry filter and no protein skimmer (no space). I have a 980 gph Lifeguard Quite one pump (4000HH). SEIO (1500 gph) pump for the current. Overflow box (Eshops 800gph) that makes noise and does not take all the water down. So I have to reduce pump output with the valve. I also have cheap UV sterilizer (Submariner) that I bought god knows why.
Currently I have yellow tang, few damsels, two clown fish one sea urchin, blenny, few crabs and scallop, as well as some warm like creatures that sometimes appear between sand and glass. On live rock I have growing feather dusters and some sponges. (all of them I guess came with live rock). I work on the beach and from time to time I was bringing some sea life to my aquarium. Although I know that I am not supposed to do that but my fish look as it was not affected by it.
My current project:
Take everything apart. Wash aquarium, sand and rock. Obviously I will be washing sand and rock in salt water. I will buy more rock and change part of the sand. I will do proper piping with PVC. Redesign sump in a way to make space for protein skimmer and refugium. At this point I have no idea why I need it or what it is used for. I just want to have it. Sump will consist of two parts to allow me keep center space of my cabinet free for aquarium supplies.
Upgrades:
Sump I designed (pictures bellow)
I Have also purchased protein skimmer SWC 160. I am looking in to RODI filter. I am also buying 2 NextReef MR1 reactors. However at this point I do not know what media is needed.
Please suggest efficient and quite overflow.
What do you think of my sump design?
Please suggest good RODI filter.
I would appreciate any suggestions, criticism or just plain greetings.

Thanks. And once again greetings to everybody!!!

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albano · Jul 21, 2011

9kin said:
 Hello guys. I ham new to MR and th<sup></sup>is Is my 1<sup>st</sup>
post...
I would appreciate any suggestions, criticism or just plain greetings.

welcome to MR....
that being said, it's hard to tell from pics, but the Yellow Tang, looks to be in bad shape.

scratch: remember...you said you would appreciate any criticism)

.

pauliwalnuts · Jul 21, 2011

Welcome. :party:
I couldn't really tell fro the pics, but your Yellow Tang seems a bit on the skinny side.

pauliwalnuts · Jul 21, 2011

albano said:
it's hard to tell from pics, but the Yellow Tang, looks to be in bad shape.

.

Man, you beat me to it. Lol...

KathyC · Jul 21, 2011

Hi Alex...welcome to MR

I have a bunch of questions and suggestions but will jump right in with no particular order of importance:

How long has that urchin been in there? I can't imagine he has much to eat due to the lighting on the tank (unless I'm missing something, that looks to be a florescent strip light?)
I don't see mention of upgrading the lighting? Do you have a plan for that?

Many here will suggest that you do empty the tank and have it drilled so you don't need to use an overflow box. Doing so will end up causing the tank to cycle again...which will cause you issues as you already have livestock which you could potentially lose during that cycle. IMO there is nothing wrong with using an overflow box - if done properly - they work safely & efficiently.
For the same reason I would not empty out all of the sand/water/rock and wash everything down. You might want to change out the sand in smaller increments, and also add more live rock.
As you probably currently have phosphates and nitrates in your current system (that have been adsorbed by the rock/sand), you will want to get a reactor to be able to 'run' GFO' that will remove the phosphates, and while you are at it, get a second one to run carbon. Carbon does wonders for a tank

Rodi - that is one of the first things (IMO) - and most important things that you should be looking into..without that you will have a disappointing time in this hobby due to the algae issues you WILL have.
You can advertise in our Marketplace (in the Want to Buy Forum) for a used one or many go to E-Bay for those..also any 5 stage one you find is good and expect to spend about 125 ish (or more) for it. We also have 2 sponsors on the site (as well as many of our vendors) who sell these units.

The sump design...I understand your thought but...much easier to just set it off to one side and put your supplies in the other end of the cabinet

Why have to deal with forcing the water through that pipe to get to the 2nd part of the sump? It will just burn up more electricity to run a stronger pump to accomplish that goal.
Ideally you do not want to run water quickly through a sump as your skimmer is in there trying to take the crud out of the water (no point in it rushing by that) and you will evaporate a lot more water doing so and then will require a ATO (automatic top off) system to replenish the water on a regular basis. Not to mention (but will

that you want a fuge in there...so a nice gentle flow is best so the critters you want to inhabit the fuge can do so.
The water flowing through the sump should not be figured into the thought of 'flow' in the main tank. THAT should be provided by powerheads IN the main display only.

The main point of a sump is to increase the water volume of your system ( due to a larger volume = more parameter stability)..and give you a place to hide all of the equipment

We are more than happy to help guide you through the steps to have a great reef tank, but doing too much at once is about the worst thing you can do at this point.

I'm sure a member or two will even step up to help you with the plumbing (in person)..but first you need to decide on your first step...(pssst, remember what said about the rodi

)

albano · Jul 21, 2011

pauliwalnuts said:
Man, you beat me to it. Lol...

Sorry, I'll type slower, next time!...

looks, not only skinny, but color fade & missing top 'sail fin'?

RAYS REEF · Jul 22, 2011

You can make a more simplier and more efficient sump than that,spectrapure or kent ro-di,and if you plan on gjust staying with the overflow box style I would go with the cpr overflow.good luck.

ryangrieder · Jul 22, 2011

Welcome. Enjoy the site. I agree with both about the tang... And the urchin I think is a bit large no?

9kin · Jul 22, 2011

Thanks to everyone for warm welcome. Especially to Kathy for taking her time and giving me great input and suggestions.

To answer Albano, pauliwalnuts and ryangriender YES my yellow tank skinny and does not look healthy. But he has been with me for the past 2-2.5 years. And that is why i am taking my time now and spending money to make sure my pets have healthy environment. I realize that my current system is not the best and that is why i do not buy new stock. Regarding sea Urchin... i also bought him 3 years ago as a small 2-3 inch specimen. Now he grew that size. If you saying he is big.. what should i do with him?

Regarding equipment suggestions and mostly to follow up on Kathy's post ->
My tank is tempered. So i do not think drilling is an option. Although i always really wanted to do so. My coworker Mike Zuska also recommended CPR overflow and that what i will go with.

Lighting is regular light strip. I am not planing on upgrading it in the near future (3-4 month) as i already spending decent amount of money on all equipment. (i have a 1 year old kid that also would like to have good lighting. hehe I would rather get him a bicycle or something).

Since i am planing to move my tank to do plumbing work and fit new sump in, I will have to empty the tank.
I will buy RODI by the time i start my project. I am in a process of buying all parts and equipment so i could do the cleaning and plumbing. I am looking to buy 150GPD from one of these: thefilterguys, aquasafecanada, bulk reefsuply or airwaterice. Which one would you recommend?

Sump->
The reason behind the idea is that one piece sump (of the size that i want) will cover both doors of my cabinet. And most likely i will not be able to access empty side of the cabinet. And also i do not think it will fit from the back. I consider my self rookie in aquarium world, but i am good in physics, and i honestly do not think that water is being forced through the pipe. (please explain why i am wrong). It is there to just make sure level is maintained in both sumps.

I will take your suggestion regarding easy flow in the refugium and modify it a bit to reduce flow there.

Thank you guys and girls for the help.

albano · Jul 22, 2011

9kin said:
To answer Albano, pauliwalnuts and ryangriender YES my yellow tank skinny and does not look healthy. But he has been with me for the past 2-2.5 years. And that is why i am taking my time now and spending money to make sure my pets have healthy environment.

Regarding sea Urchin... i also bought him 3 years ago as a small 2-3 inch specimen. Now he grew that size. If you saying he is big.. what should i do with it.

Don't give up on the Yellow tang, I've gotten a few tangs from people that looked worse, but had major comebacks...there is hope!

As for the urchin, I have 2 that are similar size. They are actually less 'clumsy' than other types of urchins that seem to knock everything over...HOWEVER...their spines are very painful, and at that size it is easy to 'bump' into them, when cleaning or rearranging the tank. Most people don't realize how fast they can move around.

.

9kin · Jul 22, 2011

Oh noo. I am definitely not giving up. And regarding urchin i cant do nothing. He is big because he like it here i guess.

9kin · Jul 24, 2011

Right now i am looking for somebody to come and drill my tank and help me with the plumbing for decent price.

If anyone willing to do it please let me know.

Mattl22 · Jul 24, 2011

Will a tang or any fish for that matter re grow fins?

albano · Jul 24, 2011

Mattl22 said:
Will a tang or any fish for that matter re grow fins?

sure, why not?

9kin · Jul 28, 2011

So far i have been buying equipment and planing my move.

I also started on rock work for decoration and some plumbing.
I bought: SWC 160, 150gpd 5 stages RODI from Air water Ice, 1200 gph CPR overflow, Fiji pink live sand, Florida porous base rock, plumbing supplies, waterfall foam, aquasafe epoxy, Hawaii black sand...

After reading some suggestions i modified my sump design, however stayed with same concept. Currently it is in the making.

9kin · Aug 5, 2011

Rock work

Here is my decoration work. It is in the works, so i will update pictures as i go.

9kin · Aug 5, 2011

Some plumbing

Here some plumbing that i prepare.

Return pipe with unscrew-able connections and CPR overflow plumbing.

albano · Aug 5, 2011

where are you building this?... :scratchch the Subway, or :shhh: Rikers Island?

9kin · Aug 5, 2011

He he. I work as a lifeguard on Coney Island Beach. So i have lifeguard shack at my disposal in the summer.

9kin · Aug 24, 2011

Rock work

Rock work almost complete. When it will be time to put it in the tank i will have to secure cave piece to left and right pieces.

So this is how the final product looks like.

9kin Tank

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