Don't be intimidated come pick my brain guys. If I can't help you I will find someone that can for sure or find the answer myself. I see a lot of guests browsing everyday and would love to help. Besides I have nothing better to do on vacation so please fire away. There is no such thing as a stupid question I promise.
Come pick my brain...I know there are more beginners out there.
- Thread starter akunochi
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Peppie
Well-known member
Wheres Wlado???
Peppie
Well-known member
TYPE-OOOO " Waldo "
Now that is pretty STUPID!!!!
LOL
Now that is pretty STUPID!!!!
LOL
Only stupid people?
Ok here's my list of noob questions:
We've got a 25" deep aquarium, 4 T5s with individual reflectors.... is that enough to keep SPS coral?
We're getting a pair of bangaii cardinals, what the heck do we need if they start to breed? Ideas on breeding equipment and setup that won't turn the office into tank heaven.
Is a herbie overflow silent and the best way to plumb a reef ready tank? Anyone have experience setting it up?
I need a slightly more powerful but silent pump similar to the maxi-jet 1200 to run biopellets, recommendations that won't kill my wallet?
How the heck do people get proper flow with only 2 powerheads, we've got 2 K4s and there are 3 deadspots that I can't get rid of. Should I just buy more powerheads?
The tank came with 1" tubing on a mag 12, I think this really restricted the flow, I've gone to a mag-18, should I redo all my returns with 1.5" PVC and just leave a little hose to connect the pump to?
I'm sure I'll think of more. Thanks for taking the time, and remember you offered
Scooterman
Well-known member
Lots depends on this, short answer yes.Only stupid people?
Ok here's my list of noob questions:
We've got a 25" deep aquarium, 4 T5s with individual reflectors.... is that enough to keep SPS coral?
Type of sps is one you need to read up on to see how much light it needs, two water depth, you don't need to place the sps at the very bottom so that can make a huge difference, three how often are you willing to replace your t5 lamps? Do you want them to be alive or you want them to grow and pop with color? Really long term, years of growth?
It takes experience to get this far, can happen but i wouldn't push it unless your wanting to, I'd have to do some searching in Lee's forums but he has very well documented information that should be helpful with this.
Very quite, dead silent, shoot DonW a pm!
Why do you feel you need more flow for biopellets and why are you using biopellets in the first place?
If someone thinks they are getting proper flow with two power heads, they are not to be trusted or the have a nano tank LOL
I usually do up size the recommended inlets and outlets of pumps to help with friction loss, which should improve flow and pump heat & efficiency etc.The tank came with 1" tubing on a mag 12, I think this really restricted the flow, I've gone to a mag-18, should I redo all my returns with 1.5" PVC and just leave a little hose to connect the pump to?
I'm sure I'll think of more. Thanks for taking the time, and remember you offered
I'd like to start them off under the T5s and eventually move to LEDs.
My wife has freshwater experience, from what I read when you get a pair the only question is when they'll breed and since they're mouth brooders none of that pesky larva stage, they start taking brine shrimp asap.
Cool, thanks.
They're not tumbling as much as they should. Rob recommended them after I kept bringing in water to test and I still had nitrates and phospates after running GFO for a while. So far they've been working well and my levels are down. I just want to make 100% sure I'm doing it properly.
Ok, so more powerheads I've already got them picked out, just needed some confirmation before I pulled the trigger.
Good to know, time to rip apart the sump and redo the overflows.
Only stupid people?
Ok here's my list of noob questions:
I'm sure I'll think of more. Thanks for taking the time, and remember you offered
I like you sooo much right now
LOLThe 4 bulb T5 will be hard pressed to keep up the the most light demanding corals. It can be made to work depending on the height of the lights from the tank and the placement of corals below the water line. I would recommend looking into upgrading to a 6 bulb fixture, MH lighting or LED lighting if your budget allows for it in the future. If not looking into some of the less light demanding SPS that you may come across such as Monti caps or Hydropora.(sp) The individual reflectors will help but you are still running only 216W of lighting vs most 24-25" deep tanks with run a 250W MH or comparable with decent reflectors.
Lucky for you the father Bangaii will host the fry in his mouth until they become a bit larger. Your first concern will be capturing the young fish without causing bodily harm and before they become a snack for your larger fish. This naturally occurs by using a long spine urchin for protection. One thing that can be done is a chem light fry trap. I'll attach a link below for construction. Also once the fry are released from the father a simple 10 gallon tank will suffice for raising them for awhile. Here is a great article from teh breeding registry that will help you out
Light trap in case you can't catch the male.
Chemlight larvae trap
Bangaii Cardinal Breeding Registry
Raising Bangaii Fry
A herbie overflow is a very simple a silent way to do an overflow using only 2 pipes. I have used one in a previous tank of mine and it is very easy to regulate. A later improvement to the design was the Bean animal silent a failsafe overflow. I will include link to both designs for you.
Herbie overflow (Note you must use a gate valve not a ball valve)
very long discussion on Herbie overflow
Basic Herbie graphic
Improved Bean animal overflow (requiring 3 holes)
Bean animal overflow
The Maxi-jet 1200 is a 295 GPH pump in "powerhead" IE pump mode at 0' head. I would look into a mini-jet 404 or 606 adjustable flow pump. Several of our sponsors carry them. This will allow you to adjust the flow down or up as your need grow.
I would need to know the dimension of your tank as well as your current aquascape to give you an accurate answer. A generic answer would be is has to do with the collision point of the water flow from the powerheads creating random current throughout the tank.
Just as a reference 1" PVC under a Pressure of 20 PSI can flow 2200GPH. Under Low pressure IE gravity it can feed 960 GPH. If you upgrade to a MAG 18you can upgrade to 1.5 if you feel it is necessary, but depending on your head height it may not be. Also keep in mind you would have to replace it all and not leave any of the old tubing behind as that would create a choke point. Your Maximum flow will be dictated by the smallest choke point. (IE You will flow less but with higher pressure at the discharge)
(Reference PVC flow rates based on ID)
Attachments
I like you sooo much right now
Glad I could help relieve your boredom, I hear books work well too
The bulbs are 9" above the water, I've got a standard 90 reef ready tank.
Thanks for those links, lots of good info there.
A herbie overflow is a very simple a silent way to do an overflow using only 2 pipes. I have used one in a previous tank of mine and it is very easy to regulate. A later improvement to the design was the Bean animal silent a failsafe overflow. I will include link to both designs for you.
Herbie overflow (Note you must use a gate valve not a ball valve)
very long discussion on Herbie overflow
Basic Herbie graphic
Improved Bean animal overflow (requiring 3 holes)
Bean animal overflow
I'm not going to drill my tank for the bean overflow. So where can you pick up gate valves locally? I think I'm going to totally redo the drain lines when I do the herbie.
Wow I didn't realize the mini's put out that much flow, I'll look into them.
Standard 90 gallon, http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb412/Tecnomage/IMG_9360.jpg
I already got the mag-18 and put it in place of the mag-12. I think the hose really needs to go, if I go with a herbie what flow rate would I see with a 1" bulkhead with maybe 8" of water over it? Would that be enough to balance the mag 18 at 6' head height?
Thanks for answering these questions.
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Glad I could help relieve your boredom, I hear books work well too
The bulbs are 9" above the water, I've got a standard 90 reef ready tank.[quote/]
You should be able to keep lesser light demanding SPS in the top of your tank kinda like a crest line.
See now you have a book
Oak brook Ace Hardware is a local source for PVC gate valves up to 2" in Lakewood Wa. Not sure if any in Seattle carry them.
If that still isn't enough flow for you I would look into a used Eheim 1048 or 1050 etc. Usually pretty cheap used.
I would probably get at least 2 more and put them on the ends of the tank on either side. One high and one low. Combined with the ones in the corner you would have really nice flow patterns.
Mag 18 at 6' is 1125 GPH. 1" PVC Gravity fed is 960. I would probably upgrade to 1.5 to be safe.
Thanks for answering these questions.
Look at an Eheim 1250 about 100 new about 60 used.
Sadly I can't upgrade my drain bulkhead, I think the 1" is really restricting the 18 though so I'll have to play with it a bit and see what happens when I put 1.5" PVC on the return if I get more flow than 1" drain will handle. Right now a 1" durso handles it fine, I have both used as drains though so I use a ball valve on the 1" and throttle it back a little until I get a little flow in the 3/4" to go to my fuge. Not the best solution which is why I was looking into the herbie.
Looking at the new pic. i would say if you can get 2 new pumps to go back to 2 in the corners and 1 on each end pane like I mentioned earlier. If not place another on teh opposite end pane as teh pump on the right side and place 1 high 1 low so the currents pass each other in the middle of the tank creating undertows.
If you do run into issues the emergency will handle it fine until we can figure out a solution. You could always ball valve the discharge back ever so slightly or use the return pump to feed your fuge/ bio pellets. This would eliminate the need for another pump and place the mag 18 into the range for the 1" herbie.
Sounds good, I have a reefkeeper lite I bought when a blown heater almost nuked my tank when I first got it, so I was thinking of picking up 2 of these:
Koralia Evolution the 1050s and setting up a wave maker on the RKL with 30 on 15 off type rotation if I could. Would that be enough flow, or should I go with the 1400s for $15 more?
i would go with the 1400's for 15$ for sure especially if you plan to keep SPS. I use to try and shortcut my flow just ask Myteemouse and I failed hard. When I started again this time the first big investment I made was 2 MP40w ES powerheads in my 75 Gallon. The wave timer off the RKL will be awesome. It will be really cool if you can eventually sell the old non-wavemaker PH's and end up with 4 on a timer like that. Really random good flow.
