250 Gallon room-divider project log

[Lunchbucket]

wonrib00 - thanks for not making me feel like the stupid midwest guy

Lunchbucket

[Deadmullet]

oops

[Deadmullet]

pretty much everything shuts down. I live about 45 minutes north of Ft Lauderdale, luckily for me the storm took a sudden south turn and we really didnt get too much wind or rain.

but yesterday by 7:00 pm the cities were ghost towns, nothing open. Even today palm beach,dade,broward counties schools are closed, most banks are closed, etc,etc,

hope everybody down south did ok. I did here estimates of roughly 650,000 people without power as of 1st thing this morning, but crews were already working on getting it back up and running

[wonrib00]

Lunchbucket, I wasnt trying to make you feel like the stupid midwest guy. I have never encountered a natural disaster, thank God! Snow, whats that? Here on the coast of CA, if it gets 40 degrees, people are busting out the parkas.
Jeff, hope all is well.

[Lunchbucket]

deadmullet - thanks for the update. glad you are ok

won - yeah i know you weren't trying to do that. LOL 40's...try NEGATIVE 80 or more

Lunchbucket

[45commando]

Well,I live about 15 miles west of the coast & lost power as soon as the storm made landfall(about 7pm).Lost some roof shingles,small trees & a lot of sleep.Had the jenny fired up in no time....thank God we lost power while it was still just light.Power came back on at 5 am & sad to say heard that 4 people in our area died.Looks like Miami got the brunt.Hope you faired well Jeff & make sure you drain/run your jenny dry ,so the fuel lines don't get gummed up for the next one.Hope everyone is safe,take care all,Darcy.

[jeffbrig]

Hey guys! I'm doing fine, we made it through the storm without any major issues! Lots of people around us lost power, but we were lucky. Power flickered a few times, went out for about 30 seconds at one point but it came back. Cable went out (taking my internet with it) just after my last post on Thursday and I've been offline ever since. It finally came back on about a half hour ago. It was a shame.....an unplanned 3 day weekend (Fri-Sun) with no internet. At least I have satellite TV, my neighbors were really hurting.

There was a fair amount of tree damage around us (Plantation), including one that was completely blocking the entrance to our neighborhood. Lots of business lost power and have been closed, but that's starting to get back to normal.

Originally posted by JustOneMoreTank
Aaahhh Dont waste the Battery Backup til you have to.

No worries, all of my battery backups are APC SmartUPS devices, 1100VA each, intended as computer backup devices. And they're only there for short term use when I'm not running the generator.

Originally posted by 45commando
make sure you drain/run your jenny dry ,so the fuel lines don't get gummed up for the next one.Hope everyone is safe,take care all,Darcy.

I'll definitely be running the generator dry before I put it away. Another great tip I heard...with it switched off, pull the starter cord until you feel the motor in the compression stroke. Leave it in that position when you store it. This ensures that all of the valves are closed so moisture won't collect and corrode inside the chamber.

I just caught a sad local story about 2 people dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, apparently from running a generator in the garage. Also, down in Miami, 4 hospitalized in critical condition for the same reason. This serves as a grim reminder that you need to be very careful when running a generator near the house. We recently purchased CO detectors for this very reason.


Right now, I'm just feeling REALLY bad about the storm heading towards New Orleans. This looks like a major catastrophe in the making.

[jthnhale]

Glad you made it through the storm okay Jeff.

I hope the people in New Orleans make it out okay as well.

[Lunchbucket]

Jeff - good to hear from you buddy. glad everything went well w/ you

Lunchbucket

[NexDog]

I hear it was only a Category 1 when it pounded Florida and now it's like 4 or 5. Wouldn't want to be in Louisianna right now that's for sure.

[Lunchbucket]

wow! i haven't been following the storm much but DANG i hope it fizzles out quick

Lunchbucket

[jeffbrig]

I came VERY close to having a major flood in the middle of the night last night. My wife woke me at 5am saying she heard a strange noise coming from the tank in the living room. I went to check it out, and she was right. The last piece of PVC on my backup durso drain had come loose (it's not glued because it's a temporary piece), so water was pouring into the sump with a noisy 10" drop. No big deal, I figured I'd just re-attach the last piece (which submerges the output) and everything would be fine. There seemed to be more flow than normal coming through this pipe, but that didn't register in my fog-filled brain yet (I am NOT a morning person).

As I did so, I noticed the water level in the return compartment was so low the pump was now drawing in air. I didn't have a clue why this was happening. I was trying to figure out how the topoff could have failed, and more importantly, how I had lost/evaporated this much water overnight.

I stood back and looked at the tank. I noticed that I could see the underside of the eurobracing through the water, which is NEVER the case. The bottom of the eurobracing was below the water level in the tank! I jumped up on a kitchen chair and opened the canopy. The water level was less than 1/4" from the top off the 1" thick eurobracing. With all of the surface movement my water flow provides, it looked ready to splash over it at any moment.

BAM! I'm instantly awake, like someone threw a bucket of cold water on me. I quickly turned off the return pump, and watched the water level subside as the sump filled. Next thing I know, the skimmer is overflowing. Due to the sudden increase in water level, the back pressure on the feed pump was reduced. With lightning speed, I turned off the skimmer. Not much spilled, and it's watery skimmate to begin with, so that should be ok.

I then checked for obstructions in the overflow box, anything that would cause slow draining. Everything looked ok, so I decided to try the pump again. Same thing happens - water rises scary fast, but holds just before the point where it would overflow the tank. With the pump running I reached into the sump to check the flow from the drains. Now it registers that the "backup" drain is carrying the load. The normal drain is moving water, but less than 1/4 what it usually does.

At this point it's important to remember how I have my drains configured. I have a short open pipe in the overflow for the primary drain. This pipe is more than capable of carrying all of the water flow, and will gurgle/slurp air like crazy. Restricting a valve on this drain raises the water level in the overflow so that the drain carries 100% water and is perfectly silent. A tall durso standpipe serves as the backup drain, while setting the water level in the overflow box. I restrict the primary drain just enough that ~10% of the flow typically runs through the durso. With this system in place I am able to run a about 2400gph of flow through my sump without any bubbles.

Back to the story:

At this point, It's becoming clear that there's a restriction in my primary drain. Because this drain isn't keeping up, the water level rises in the overflow box (and eventually the tank) before enough pressure builds up for the durso to carry the full drain load. I was very fortunate that it reached an equilibrium point before the tank overflowed, otherwise several gallons of water would have ended up on the floor.

So, I open the valve on the drain completely, and hear a clink sound instantly in the sump, along with an immediate drop in the tank's water level. It was my lone mexican turbo snail, whose shell is almost 1.5" in diameter. Perfect for plugging a 1.5" pipe. No doubt he lodged just above the valve.

So, what's the point of screwing up if you don't learn anything from it? I've been mulling things over, and here are some thing I've done and plan to do to avoid a repeat performance.

After cleaning up, dumping the skimmer cup, and getting everything settled, I spent the next hour installing gutter guard mesh around the overflow box. I've been meaning to do this for some time, but procrastination got the better of me, and I almost paid the price. Now I'm pretty confident that nothing will make its way into the overflow box. Still, I want to know that I'm ok even if it does....

I also plan to revisit the plumbing on my backup drain. Submerging the output seems to reduce its max capacity. When water was pouring 10" into the sump originally, it was keeping up just fine. When I submerged the output, ~10 gallons of extra water went into the tank, adding almost 1" additional depth, and almost overflowing, before it reached equilibrium again. Based on this, my final plumbing will make sure this output is not submerged.

I'm also considering changing the location of the hole in the durso standpipe. A durso needs an air hole to prevent a suction forming (it causes nasty loud slurping sounds). Right now I have that hole in the top of the PVC cap, which happens to be above the highest possible waterline. I have it set that high to avoid waterfall noises in the overflow box. If I were to put the hole on the side of the cap, it would be below the max possible waterline, and become submerged well before the tank could overflow. In theory, once the hole becomes submerged, no more air enters, so the durso would create a suction/syphon. The pipe would be capable of flowing significantly more water, and the resulting slurping sounds would alert me to the problem immediately.

I'm just glad it happened this morning, I'm leaving this afternoon to go to Orlando for the weekend.

Jeff

[chrisguy]

All I can say is WOW. Glad you caught it so quick. I am setting up my 120 (small by comparison) this weekend and on my "to do" list is to get some gutter guard for the overflows, but I was going to setup the tank without it. I am leaving work early to go to Home Deopt!!

[Lunchbucket]

glad it didn't overflow!!!! hope you can fix it w/ minimal time and effort.

post a pic of your overflow will you??? then we can visualize it better

thanks
Lunchbucket

[Stile2]

Same thing happened to me when I had a HOB siphon overflow. Now my tank's only a 29 gallon, but my wife called me at work and said something funny sounding was happen. I asked her to unplug the return pump. When I got home I opened my gate valve and out dropped one of my snails.

Glad it didn't flood.

All you would need after Katrina.

Keith

[wonrib00]

Your wife should be nominated for wife of the year! Do/are you going to make the thrid standpipe open on the top to allow for a loud noise and to keep up with the flow?

[madpigeon228]

I figure that you have already posted this somewhere but is the tank going to be bare-bottom? If so, why are you going away from a little sand bed? My opinion, the sand bed makes the tank look a lot better, but looks are in the eye of the beholder.

[JustOneMoreTank]

Snails getting sucked into drains seem pretty common from what I have been reading. Note to self: Gutter guard or something like it sure is mandatory in reef tanks. Thanks.

[mbunaman]

Jeff what I did for my standpipe to reduce sound and have a backup. I took a piece of pvc and drilled a series of holes from the point I want the water level at and all the way up about six more inches. So that if the first level of holes plug up the water goes up to the next level. There is about a dozen rows of holes that I drilled out. This is my way of reducing that gargling suction noise. Try it out. Its easy and just one piece of PVC pipe.

[jeffbrig]

Sad to report that the mexican turbo snail did not survive his drain plugging ordeal. My wife found his shell last night in the rockwork. Probably a crab or something got to him before he recovered.

wonrib00, no need for a third drain, the 2 proved adequate, just needs a little tweaking.

madpigeon, I may very well leave the tank bare-bottomed. I probably have 30-40% coralline coverage already, so it's not really a 'bare' bottom anymore. A lot of crap is still coming out of my LR, so I'm not adding sand anytime soon, even if I decide to go that way. On paper, I like the benefits of bare bottom, I just have to decide if it's a look I'm happy with long term.

I'll get new pics showing the coralline coverage, and I'll take one of the overflow plumbing too, Lunchbucket.

[mcdonaldtj]

Jeffbrig,

Sorry about the turbo, You know I have had 3 of them and when I had a hair algae problem they were great but they didnt survive on the basic algea after the hair algae was gone. No if I can only find something that will take care of Bryopsis then I will be happy .

V/Tim

[jeffbrig]

Good morning everyone!

We're officially getting our first fish today. I have the 55g QT all set up and ready. I floated the biowheel paddles in the sump of the main tank for a few weeks to let them collect some bacteria. Also filled the filter baskets with old carbon from the main tank, that should provide some bacterial filtration as well. The water was transferred over from the main tank during a water change, and I even see pods on the glass in the bare QT.

We actually tried 2 stores yesterday, but couldn't find exactly what we're looking for. We'll be starting with a pair of clowns, probably perculas, but may settle for oscellaris. The 2 stores we stopped in had very few in stock, and we couldn't get the size mismatch recommended for pairing.

We'll find out what kind of willpower I have if I see something else I like. One shop had a gorgeous 3" achilles tang (my favorite fish) for $49.99 yesterday, but I was strong and kept walking.

They will be spending a little while in the QT. In addition to treating any disease they may be carrying, I plan to do a 4 week hyposalinity treatment to rid them of any ich parasites. I view this as mandatory since I will eventually have a few tangs in the tank.

I plan to have pics later, so stay tuned....

Jeff
(can't to watch the Gators crush the Vols tonight!)

[NexDog]

Just get the achilles tang, come on, you know you want it.

Also, 6 weeks to be sure on the hypo.

[jeffbrig]

Yeah, I guess I should have said 4+, 4 would be too short.

As for the achilles tang, in due time...

[Lunchbucket]

achilles are sweet but good choice to keep walking

what is you stocklist gonna be??

Lunchbucket