Attention: Zanemoseley
- Thread starter blue dew
- Start date
blue dew
Member
Not yet, but here is a describtion..
The water comes in on the right side through a hose from my overflow. It flows underneath the first partition where the white egg crate plastic is and then up over the baffle into the fuge. Leaving the fuge, the water flows over the other egg crate pieces where I placed a poly filter cut into strips. Just trying to get any excess phosphate outta the water. The return pump is in the left section. I'm using a Mag 7, which is rated at 700gph. I installed a ball valve on the return so I could regulate the flow. Right now I'm running it just closed a little bit. My flow through the fuge might be a bit much.
I'll try to snap a few more pictures since its up and running.
The water comes in on the right side through a hose from my overflow. It flows underneath the first partition where the white egg crate plastic is and then up over the baffle into the fuge. Leaving the fuge, the water flows over the other egg crate pieces where I placed a poly filter cut into strips. Just trying to get any excess phosphate outta the water. The return pump is in the left section. I'm using a Mag 7, which is rated at 700gph. I installed a ball valve on the return so I could regulate the flow. Right now I'm running it just closed a little bit. My flow through the fuge might be a bit much.
I'll try to snap a few more pictures since its up and running.
rob1116
Member
That sounds good. How do you like the Mag so far? Sound, heat, flow? I know the price is right, so I was contemplating one.
I'd love to see it up and running. What are you doing with the 'fure area? DSB, macro, mud, lighting? Sorry, I'm just trying to get some ideas for mine.
If you have time, check out mine, (seperate post in this section) and let me know what you think!
-Rob
P.S- No skimmer?
I'd love to see it up and running. What are you doing with the 'fure area? DSB, macro, mud, lighting? Sorry, I'm just trying to get some ideas for mine.
If you have time, check out mine, (seperate post in this section) and let me know what you think!
-Rob
P.S- No skimmer?
zanemoseley
Active Member
thanks for posting the pictures, does the eggcrate on the intake side serve any purpose? I'll probably double up the baffles on the intake like you did to to reduce bubbles
blue dew
Member
Rob,
Right now I've just got a 13W PC light fixture on the Fuge area. I should upgrade it to at least a 32W for the mangroves to really do well.
The mangroves are "red mangroves", which can exist in salt water. I've got long feather caulerpa for the macro algae in the fuge. I'd like to get some grape caulpera too. I ended up putting a bit more live rock in the Fuge than I was originally intending, but I couldn't resist the one big piece since its covered in little white feather dusters, which should contribute some to more water quality, provided I don't let them get completly over run with the caulpera. I also have a piece of live rock from the old tank with a nice growth of kelp on it. Stuff was growing like crazy until I pruned it back some. It just sprouted outta the rock one day, then grew about a foot in less than 2 weeks.
I am running a skimmer, a CPR Back Pack 2R, which came off my 30 gallon. The skimmer is on the 40 display, up near the overflow. One thing I have noticed is that I'm not collecting no where near as much gunk outta the tank as I was on the 30 gallon. I ended up transfering all the live rock (37lbs or so), and the live sand from the established 30 gallon into this setup. I ended up adding a new bottom layer of argonite sand to the Fuge, with live sand on top. Mostly all older live sand went in the display. Added some more live rock too, about 5 lbs. I'm lucky because I have a very good LFS right down the road who let me pick out some good cured pieces from the display tanks in the shop.
I spend almost as much time checking out the fuge area as I do the main display. Part of this is also because I upgraded my lighting on the display to a 250W 10K MH along with 2 96W actinic VHOs. I'm only running the MH's about 3 hours per day right now so I don't stress out or burn any of my corals that I transfered. (That was a great tip I read numerous times on this board).
The MAG-7 pump is great so far. I didn't have room for an external pump in the stand under the 40. I'm on the 3rd floor, so as much as I would like a bigger tank (like the 90 your working on), I'm a bit paranoid about it going through the floor. I havn't noticed any extra heat from the pump, tank temp is right at 77 degrees. I was glad to get the heater into the sump area, right where the water enteres the sump. I can use that area to run carbon every once in awhile too, something I couldn't do on the 30. So far I'm very happy with the setup. Could not have done it without this board though.
Heres a picture of the display tank
Right now I've just got a 13W PC light fixture on the Fuge area. I should upgrade it to at least a 32W for the mangroves to really do well.
The mangroves are "red mangroves", which can exist in salt water. I've got long feather caulerpa for the macro algae in the fuge. I'd like to get some grape caulpera too. I ended up putting a bit more live rock in the Fuge than I was originally intending, but I couldn't resist the one big piece since its covered in little white feather dusters, which should contribute some to more water quality, provided I don't let them get completly over run with the caulpera. I also have a piece of live rock from the old tank with a nice growth of kelp on it. Stuff was growing like crazy until I pruned it back some. It just sprouted outta the rock one day, then grew about a foot in less than 2 weeks.
I am running a skimmer, a CPR Back Pack 2R, which came off my 30 gallon. The skimmer is on the 40 display, up near the overflow. One thing I have noticed is that I'm not collecting no where near as much gunk outta the tank as I was on the 30 gallon. I ended up transfering all the live rock (37lbs or so), and the live sand from the established 30 gallon into this setup. I ended up adding a new bottom layer of argonite sand to the Fuge, with live sand on top. Mostly all older live sand went in the display. Added some more live rock too, about 5 lbs. I'm lucky because I have a very good LFS right down the road who let me pick out some good cured pieces from the display tanks in the shop.
I spend almost as much time checking out the fuge area as I do the main display. Part of this is also because I upgraded my lighting on the display to a 250W 10K MH along with 2 96W actinic VHOs. I'm only running the MH's about 3 hours per day right now so I don't stress out or burn any of my corals that I transfered. (That was a great tip I read numerous times on this board).
The MAG-7 pump is great so far. I didn't have room for an external pump in the stand under the 40. I'm on the 3rd floor, so as much as I would like a bigger tank (like the 90 your working on), I'm a bit paranoid about it going through the floor. I havn't noticed any extra heat from the pump, tank temp is right at 77 degrees. I was glad to get the heater into the sump area, right where the water enteres the sump. I can use that area to run carbon every once in awhile too, something I couldn't do on the 30. So far I'm very happy with the setup. Could not have done it without this board though.
Heres a picture of the display tank
blue dew
Member
Oh yeah, heres one other thing that the LFS pointed out for me to try. I drilled a hole in my return pipe, right at the 90 degree elbow before it goes into the return fittings. This little hole allows air back into the return line when power is cut off to the pump. I get very little return water into the Sump when the MAG Drives power is shut off. I just check it every couple days to make sure it doesn't get plugged up.
I realize the pic isn't the greatest, the hole is right at the 90 degree bend. I lose a very small amount of water back into the overflow from this hole.
I realize the pic isn't the greatest, the hole is right at the 90 degree bend. I lose a very small amount of water back into the overflow from this hole.
zanemoseley
Active Member
your hole is just under the waterline where the return water is put back into the display right?
blue dew
Member
Actually, the hole is above the waterline. In the picture, it is right at the 90 degree bend (right side of fitting in the picture). You can just make out a small stream of water coming from it. It is working well so far, breaks the siphon as soon as power is lost, so I only drain the water thats in the return pipe to the Sump. I put the hole back that far to reduce the chance of algae clogging it up. I'll try to get a better picture when I get home this evening.
rob1116
Member
Okay, let me ask you one more thing Blue. You've been lots of help thus far.
What's the deal with evaporation? What I mean is, if you remove some water from the system, what/where does the level change occur?
The level in your setup looks alot lower than I imagined it. By the looks of it, the level in the last section, (return section) will slowly drop, and the rest of the sump will remain the same... right?
What's the deal with evaporation? What I mean is, if you remove some water from the system, what/where does the level change occur?
The level in your setup looks alot lower than I imagined it. By the looks of it, the level in the last section, (return section) will slowly drop, and the rest of the sump will remain the same... right?
blue dew
Member
Yes your right, the level in the return section with the MAG pump does change, while everything else stays at a constant level. I have a 5 gallon dosing setup (Kent Marine makes them, but you could probably make one a lot cheaper), and I constantly drip make-up water into the return section. It works pretty good as long as I remember to adjust them drip control every couple days.
One thing I noticed was that if my water level gets too low, I start to get very small bubbles into my display tank through the returns. I kinda freaked the first time I saw them until I realized what was going on. The pump was sucking in some air. The MAG Drive pump came with a sponge filter on the intake side that I just havn't taken off yet. I kept it in place when I set the tank up because my water was so cloudy from the move between tanks.
One thing I noticed was that if my water level gets too low, I start to get very small bubbles into my display tank through the returns. I kinda freaked the first time I saw them until I realized what was going on. The pump was sucking in some air. The MAG Drive pump came with a sponge filter on the intake side that I just havn't taken off yet. I kept it in place when I set the tank up because my water was so cloudy from the move between tanks.
rob1116
Member
Okay... I got it straight now. Thanks again, you've helped me alot Blue!
I'll probably stick to the setup I posted... except I might opt for a mag 9.5 instead. The Velocity T3 is supposed to be a great pump, but it costs considerably more than the mag 9.5 which pushes about the same flow. I'd also have to have the sump drilled for the external pump... which would cost me another $25 plus the bulkhead.
I'll probably stick to the setup I posted... except I might opt for a mag 9.5 instead. The Velocity T3 is supposed to be a great pump, but it costs considerably more than the mag 9.5 which pushes about the same flow. I'd also have to have the sump drilled for the external pump... which would cost me another $25 plus the bulkhead.