Live Sand

[f1504b4]

Hi all I am getting closer finally to getting everything going.
Need some suggestions on LS.
I already have 80lbs of CaribSea Aragonite (seaflor special grade reef sand)
I would like to do a DSB and from the reading I have done I think this is to coarse a grade (can't see anything on the bag that tells me what it is,but does not look that fine)
So from again what I've read I can mix something different in with it?
What should I go with?
My tank is 48x18
Phil

 

[Meche]

Sorry, I can't help you with this question.

BUT... I did go to a Monster Truck rally last night... and all of a sudden your screen name makes infinitly more sense. F-150 4x4!!!

GIT BACK!

 

[Krish]

BUT... I did go to a Monster Truck rally last night... and all of a sudden your screen name makes infinitly more sense. F-150 4x4!!!

GIT BACK!

ROFL!!

As for the substrate, not a dsb person here either. :doubt: I'm sure others will chime in as to what grade to go with at each level so good luck!

 

[f1504b4]

Thanks Krish.Did I just read you are not keeping a tank anymore?

 

[f1504b4]

Hi Meche,I copied this from an earlier post just wondering.
Phil
Yea, I work at GE in Schenectady,NY
Hey thanks for the imfo on my skimmer pump,Im new to this and the instructions said 3-4" deep max,guess I should have figured about what you said but I'm still learning haven't even saw it work, and I was thinking of how my return pump was to shallow when I first ran test water and I had it to close to the surface.So I figured 3" was good but I didn't think about the air situation and now that I think about it make sense,learn something new every day.

Phil
Do you know Denny McMahon?

 

[Meche]

Nope. What plant does he work at and what does he do?

edit: OK, checked it out he works in Middletown. I'm in east hartford.

 

[Krish]

Thanks Krish.Did I just read you are not keeping a tank anymore?

Yeah man...Taking a small break from tanks for a while (but will still be here) so I can setup something I really want later. Been through 4 tanks in one year last year so don't want a repeat

 

[f1504b4]

Okay Brett,Denny grew up around here and I know his brother and sister,just curries.

 

[f1504b4]

Hey Krish I noticed from your tank journal that you were using a CPR overflow which is the same one I have and it seems to work great but I have 2 people on another site tell me that I will have trouble down the road with it overflowing and I can't see why as I have the same set-up as you with the aqulifter pump.Is there any maintenance that I should pay attention to.
Phil

 

[Krish]

Just keep a few spare aqualifters I had atleast 2-3 at all times. If they ever stop working, it will break the siphon which is where the overflowing comes in. Your sump will just pump water into the tank and nothing will drain back to the sump which can also lead to you burning up pumps from running dry in your sump. I had a few aqualifters screw up on me, but never had any overflows

 

[f1504b4]

Thanks for the imfo I am going to order 2 more right now.
Thats where I was thinking of putting a extra float switch in my display tank so if the overflow stopped working it would shut my pump off.Or put it in the overflow because just from running with test water I can see that when it's running right the water level stays the same as my tank water,so if it failed the water level would go down and that would shut my return pump down right?
Phil

 

[Krish]

Thats where I was thinking of putting a extra float switch in my display tank so if the overflow stopped working it would shut my pump off.

That may be the best place to put it...In the sump. Usually that's where most people put their float switches and works out just fine

 

[Meche]

Or put it in the overflow because just from running with test water I can see that when it's running right the water level stays the same as my tank water,so if it failed the water level would go down and that would shut my return pump down right?

That is brilliant! I've never herd of doing it this way, but that would work better than anything I've seen. You may want to put a second one in the sump to prevent the sump from running dry. If you had a leak or excessive evaporation you could still run the return pump dry even if the overflow was working.

Also... have you given any thought to connecting two aqualifters in parallel with check valves so that if one fails you will have a redundant backup?

 

[fload]

I think there is an article on reefkeeping mag dot com that said something about particle size, I believe it didn't really matter as long as it was pretty deep... don't qoute me,... I would look it up but I'm lazy and have slow internet

 

[f1504b4]

can give me the link