advice needed

[mofro]

I have recently undertaken cooking my LR, as i was getting unacceptably high nitrate readings on my 3 year old reef. I suspected detritus buildup, which definitely turned out to be the case. The amount of detritus that was trapped in, under, behind my LR was scary. On completion of cleaning the rock, i decided that i was not gonna go through this again soon, so I thought of a way to lift my rock. I came up with what I call the MOFRO JUNGLE GYM. Holes are drilled in the lower pipes and water is sucked in through these holes and blown out through pump.

I have been told that i should rather pump out through these holes, so please advise.

Greetings from South Africa

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF Mofro and the "Jungle Gym"(LOL) Hmm...You got me there. I would think to blow out as well as suggested (through the holes) as it may be more effective in lifting detritus off of the rocks as well as it will put less strain on the pump if the input flow is restricted. You don't want restriction ever on the suction of a pump. If any, it would be on the return thus the reason people put ball valves on the return rather than the input. Just my 2 cents...Welcome aboard once again

 

[wrightme43]

I agree with Krish here. Its best to restrict output, if anything.
Welcome and glad your here.
Is pvc pipe blue in South Africa or is it just the lights?

 

[mofro]

i cannot get the flow from the pump working through all those bends. Too much dissipation. There are two powerheads under my rockwork to keep it clean. The idea is that any detritus settling on bottom gets vacuumed up and returned to H2O column for removal by skimmer and other filtration and food particles stay in H2O column longer for feeding of corals inverts.
When I had pump blowing, detritus just moves a bit around tank, settling in first quit spot. Now with combo of powerheads blowing and this thing sucking, nothing settles anywhere in thank I all settles in my RDSB. (Not sure if thats too good either, but intending to deepen sandbed soon, therefor faster flow, less settling...??)

Yes pvc is blue in SA


with LR back in tank:

 

[Krish]

Cool...I was just curious as to how you service the pumps? Also, are you using strainers on each input and if so, what happens if they become clogged? Just curious...Nevertheless, love the idea. With the rock back in, it really isn't as noticeable. I guess when the corals fill itnin, you won't see the pipes at all

 

[wrightme43]

Well man if its working for you, go with it. LOL
I wish I could get ahold of some blue pvc. Thats cool.

 

[Krish]

I wish I could get ahold of some blue pvc.

Let's not even go there Steve...(LOL)

 

[mofro]

well, it is definitely working for me, just not sure on the blowing / sucking issue. My fish seem to enjoy the extra hiding places and swimming spaces, there is NO LR resting on top of one another(Creating dead spots), my whole structure is a lot more stable (No more tumbling LR when doing maintenanc) and so much more of tthe LR surface area is now exposed to water flow. I have used only a third of my liverock so far, and am gonna have too much to put in tank when i am done. I decided to add another fuge to my system and crushed some of my excess LR in there to serve as holdfasts for caulerpa.

My nitrates have now settled to 10ppm from previously 40 ppm plus. I did quite a few large H2O changes to bring it down initially but it seems to have evened out. I would get a NO3 increase of 10 ppm per week (after a H2O change) but it has not risen at all in 8 days.

Ps anybody know the accuracy of seachem test kits.??

 

[Krish]

My nitrates have now settled to 10ppm from previously 40 ppm plus. I did quite a few large H2O changes to bring it down initially but it seems to have evened out. I would get a NO3 increase of 10 ppm per week (after a H2O change) but it has not risen at all in 8 days.

That's really good! My first setup (which I was way over my head) I started out with regular tap water that had over 160 ppm of nitrates in it! I say over 160 because that was as high as my kit went and the nitrates were much higher. Since my new setup, the highest mine went was 10 ppm (now using ro/di water) and slowly, but surely it's working it's way off and now I'm sitting at about 5 ppm. I only do 15 gal water change per week. I could do more to flush mine out quicker, but prefer to not make such a big water change at one time if I don't have to. Nevertheless, that is great on how much it has dropped. I'm sure it has to do in part to your new flow and aquascaping layout. Detritus is a killer!(LOL)

 

[dabears26]

Mofro did you have an erecter set as a kid because i see the builing skills...:lol:...I read in a book once that if you give your tank a "HURRICANE" Treatment every six months your detrius in and behind rock will not build up to toxic levels.So thats what i do and it works....