Well last night i made giant leaps for octokind an stuck all me pipework together and had the first full on water test, whhooo hhooo!!! :D

All went like a dream except i forgot to put in my return ball gate and there was a minor dribble leak from the connection within the pipework and glass between tank and sump. nugget here forgot to load up with mounds of sealant underneath an only put some on the pipe stickin to the top of the glass in the weir. right im wafflin. :lol:

This may not seem big to you but ive been lookin at a dry tank since the end of september, so wet glass is lookin really sexy at the mo. :lol: :lol: hence the pic -sumthin to look at!!! :lol:

Obviously need to do away with some glass on the top an open up with mesh or whatever for gas exchange an put me equipment in the sump (some got some not).

But any comments would be most welcome :notworth: :D :D

BTW how far from your glass at the top do you reckon you should have your water line, mines only 1-2cm an touchin some cases...hmmm ???

......

Sorry, I can't help you with the tank, but I'd just like to say having John, Paul, George and Ringo in the background is pure class!

Excellent, an octopuses garden indeed.

:notworth:

scouse some tank you have there it looks great.

Love the abby rd background. 8)

Don't know if there is a golden rule, but I like the glass top, as I have one, but I would just either ajust your return so it faces down or drain just a slight bit of water out. Noticed the overflow is built in, so you are going to atleast have the water to that point since it can not me moved.

Check and make sure your return isn't blasting into the glass. You want the top surface to be active for exchange, and a lillte water is not going to hurt the glass, as long as it not hitting anything else. IE lights, etc.

Hope that helps. :D

scouser

does the overflow not constantly sound like a toilet??? just wondering if the overflow is fast enough to cause a syphon down the pipe???

As an ex-tank builder.. the stress bars are always ~5cm below the top of the tank and so anywhere lower than that is cool 8)

On other quick point of interest. Can't tell truly from the pics, but have you turned system off to see what overflows in to sump. Water looks high in the pics. But like I said may be an illusion, just trying to help.


Colin, are all tanks made that way. If so we should leave over two inches from the water to the top???? :shock: You have me concerned as none of my tanks are that low!!

that depends on the thickness of the glass... the rules we had were...

4mm glass up to 12"
6mm glass up to 20"
10mm glass up to 25"
12mm glass up to 30"
15mm glass to 36"
19mm up to 42"
25mm glass to 50"

Thats the guidelines that we set up for the maximum depth of water in a tank made from glass that particular thickness. The stressbars is what gives the front of the tank at the top, in the middle, its strength as thats the weakest part of the tank...

Eg my fish tank is 30" deep made from 12mm thick glass, the stress bars are 50mm down and the water level is normally about 5mm under that :)

hope that made sense :)

totally will check my measurements when I get home, but I should be in the clear! Thanks for the quick response!

yeah, i wouldnt worry about it, glass is more felxible that people think... :)

Thanks for the kind comments folks :D

Neptune - good point on the return pointin up, i hadnt noticed it was sprayin water against the glass. Will adjust tonight when i do my ball gate. Also that was well noticed about the water levels in the sump, wondered whether anyone would comment on that, bizarre, but yeh i had turned off the pump, nice one. :D

Colin - To be honest mate i havnt the foggiest, with the water gushin around that mech filter without any media its soundin like a toilet anyway!! Actually i need to find a method of bein able to temp fix that colinder in place otherwise it'll just get washed out the way!

Ive got an airline on the dursal to stop the noise an if i put my finger over the end it starts garglin like mad. But once ive re-jigged the return an fixed my filter ther'll be less noise from them, so i can actually hear if im gettin mega sounds out of it, nice one. :D


This would all of been a lot simpler had i placed all the previously cut piping back in place prior to sticking an not just stickin willy nilly after a load of red wine!! I stood back admiring my handy work an noticed the ball gate next to my foot, the rest is history.... :lol:

Other than that im amazed the sump holds water with the amount of glass partitions an shelves have been smashed out with a hammer!!! :bugout: :lol: :D

you really are a :madsci:

glad to be of help. let us know how it turns out :D

ha ha, nice one neptune, will do!

Colin - you were sayin the weir might not be fast enough an ive watched the water level in there now......

it goes up an down for a while then settles for ages an then occasionally goes up an down. I think there is a problem there any ideas?

oh i also tried takin the black weir gaurd away so it was just the glass to see how much the guard my be withstricting flow, which it is, but the same happens with the level......

cheers in advance :D

reason i asked is because the bend at the top of your downflow pipe will ocassionally cause the water level to rise... just enough to start a syphon, i think thats a bit like how a toilet works... ceratinly like how a surge bucket works in a fish tank

http://www.planet-reef.com/surge1.htm that should make sense of what i mean??????? i hope :)


try removing the bend and see what it does?

also, your sump looks like quite a high water level, if you switch off the pumps can your sump hold all the excess water from your tank???

just in case you have a power cut mate ;)

no credit.... :(

I asked him earlier...

ah ha, :wink: i missed that one the second time round... just shows we are all at least consistant in advice :)


i just went back to re-check his sump and overflow pics and spotted it

you have done a great job helping to educate me about ceph care! I try to pass it on too 8)

nice one fellas

That link is quality Colin, ive tried removin the total bend so its just an upstand pipe, but its too noisy which was the point of it all in the first place. think i will try removin the bend down and also try puttin in an extension down the weir from the bend down an see if either work....will let ya know!!

Also the sump levels in that pic are what happens when i turn me pump off an the water has drained down, although there isnt a mega difference anyway, will post a pic of it runnin to explain....

right i'll go an do some testin, nice one!!! :D :notworth:

Hello folks hope your well

I havnt been on for a while due to work commitments but....I have aquired a considerable amount of live rock from an established tank, along with water, a big african starfish....etc

am having a mini cycle at the mo, but its in my main tank with a serious amount of plumbing to link up the sump and have it running properly.

But have a major problem kind of as expected... my tank is running at about 97degreesF at mo....I not gunna be able to go the bimac route unless air-con can be used which I doubt....so anyone know any octo's I can have at that temp?????

many thanks in the mean time

Well folks heres an update....

finished the design of the sump, no pics thou at mo, am currently piping return with a number of outlets for sufficent flow (avoiding any pumps an power heads bein in display tank)

Tank currently cycling, should be ready for 2 clowns (in mates sump at mo) to be dropped in anytime now, got to test.

Got 35 kilos of liverock in the tank at mo and have someone comin to take 15 away tonight so i can have a nice little beachy area for him to hunt and play an were away!!! (or closer!! :shock: :smile: :grin: )

Does anyone have an i.d. on my starfish, im told its african by the fella i aquired it off.....

OH POO!! my jpegs are too high memory than allowed, any ideas how to lower and load, poss with diff format?? or do i need to take pics with lower resolution (which will no dobt be rubbish) hmmmm....

cheers

Try Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/) to resize your pics :wink:

Architeuthoceras Wrote
Try Irfanview to resize your pics

Cheers mate, will do when I get time, thats crackin!!


Anyways took some more pics on low res, tank looks a bit poo compared to the way it was as I sold half my live rock, gotta put sand in an aquascape for octo once ive finished piping, whhoo exciting!!

Tested last night....
nitrite between 1&2
Nitrate 5
phosphates 5

think i need to get some better test kits, how do i lower my phosphates without a cleanup crew??

anyway more importantly can anyone i.d. my starfish, apparently african.... oh an he's about 10cm across

cheers :grin:

only way to lower phosphates effectivly is to either run a phosphate filter or do plenty big water changes... I have a stack of antiphos 1kg boxes by AquaMedic if you go that route?

Looks like a Protoreaster linckii starfish :)

cheers

Nice polyps Scouse! (hmm that sounded weird)...get some of that Aquamedic stuff from Colin...it works wonders!
greg

Colin wrote:
Looks like a Protoreaster linckii starfish :)


:shock: an that it is mate!!! found it on the web, god knows how you knew that??!!?!? Cheers fella!!

More worryingly was the text for it...bad translation from german to english...but hey you get the jist!!

This lake star is a more rather robber and should be held therefore only in fish basin with larger fishes. It eats so rather everything what comes it into the breadth, equal whether that are now algae, crusts anemone, tubes worm, shell or quite little fishes. One would like to maintain is to be respected this animal, unconditionally on that that all stones are well together verkeilt, so that they cannot solve itself. The lake star is active also at the day.


says they grow to 30cm...hes about 10cm at mo!!! Wont be feeding him that much!! Do you really think he'll have little fishes???


Oh phosphates were read totally wrong, t4estkit was rubbish...they are....0.03 so not to bad, nitites will be gone today or tomorrow completly i think they were tinkering zero last night

Is that aquamedic stuff possible to fluidise Colin??

:lol: nice one greg!!

and so progression is made....

sump running with cheatomorpha algae in fuge, skimmer, no carbon or phosphate remover as yet, weir in place (after disater with snails gettin stuck in pipes and dyin!!) oh an a closed loop as my weir isnt big enough for the volume of water im pumpin into tank to get down into sump (if that makes sense?)

heres some pic's....

Ernie the white crab with purple spots (any I.D?) gets fed on white bait an tiger prawn a real charachter unfort his mate bert keelled over after a couple of days...gutted

tank inmates...

south african starfish
serpent star
large sand sifter (require more)
ernie the crab
about 50 turbo snails
2 super turbo snails (require more)
about 10 hermits (require more)
2-3 mythrax crabs
sally light foot crab
4 chromis
1 large cowrie
1 blood shrimp
2 peppermint shrimps (hopefully to eat aptasia!)

the copperband went back to shop he wasnt eating very well

enjoy....im gettin there still octo proofing and building hood.....about 2 years in counting....!!!!

TMC can sort me a bimac am worried incase i get a bimaculaetus..how do you tell difference?? am considering ordering within next two weeks for delivery within next few months or whether to sort licences and shipping myself...hmmmmm ponder ponder....

eh anyone see anything bad please feel free to point out... tryin to get it perfect!!!

...and a big shot!!

btw some monkey has eaten all my pulsating xenia!!! :shock: gutted i liked that and had some great big bunches!!!

think it was starsky as he sat opn it for ages...must of been munching away...oh well!!! :grin:

oh an a pistol shrimp!! he's cool!!

clicks his claws and sometimes goes off soundin like an oozy!!!