I redid the return/drain plumbing today. I am know feeding the skimmer the correct. Thank you
John. The feed for the skimmer now comes off the straight part of the PVC T and there is a ball valve to adjust the flow. I also put a T on the return line with ball valves for adjustment. Right know 1/2 the T goes to the tank and the other just goes to the sump. I will be adding a carbon reactor to it later, maybe tomorrow. I will also be hanging the light tomorrow. I think I am going to add salt tomorrow. I am SUPER excited. Man, tomorrow is going to be BUSY!
Everything went really well today except, the return pump is obnoxiously loud now. It is making a grinding noise. I am not happy with it at all. Why can't sequence make a 500-700 GPH pump?
I do have a couple of questions:
Is there a good way to tell how many GPH are coming out of a tube?
Is there a quieter/more efficient external pump then the Iwaki for 700GPH?
At what point does a hobby become an obsession/addiction? (I am supposed to be watching a movie with my loving fiancee right now, but instead I am making a blog entry. GREAT!)
Well, here are the pictures. They aren't every interesting.
New Plumbing
![](http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p53/headless_donkey/100_2479.jpg)
Shortened skimmer drain
![](http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p53/headless_donkey/100_2480.jpg)
Power center. Which, BTW, fit perfectly between the upright 2x4s. Oh yeah, I planned that the whole time.
![](http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p53/headless_donkey/100_2483.jpg)
Light hangers
Thank you for reading.