Austin goes Rimless - Dudester's 203g mixed reef

[jnarowe]

wWell, I have spent quite a bit of time on the water including Benihana '78 when boats were sinking left and right in 25 foot seas. I never got seasick, and in fact was the only person on our 65' race control boat at the nine mile bouy that wasn't ill. Anyway, I do have friends that get motn sickness and I am sure they would fall over looking at that. Since my little brain injury, I am sensitive to motion visually, so while I can be out on a boat with no apparent problem, watching that wave sort of tripped me out. It's an overload thing. I still think it's cool, and hope that the Eco-Tech Marine warning about making waves in a gass tank doesn't break anyone's tank.

Tell us a little more about why the RD won't work? How is/was it plumbed? The reason why I ask, is that I plumbed my Hammerhead return pump so it sits down low right above the floor, but even so, if I wmpty the sumps, sometimes it won't prime. The way I set it up, immediately after the output, I installed a "T" with a BV. This allows me to re-direct flow bacjk into the sump if needed, but ore importantly, give an instant prime. COuld it be that the RD is not getting primed?

[Bax]

Dude

That wave is sweet! I really like the way the aquascape to the left gets submerged and then emerges with each wave, very very nice!

[Dudester]

jnarowe - Interesting boating stories, you truly are salty . Sorry the video almost made you hurl; I hope this doesn't happen to others when they look at my tank.

Here's what's been going on with my pump. When the pump is plumbed into my sump it seems to cavitate. Initially I just thought it was sucking so hard that air was being drawn from the top of the water line. So I filled the sump higher (it's plumbed internally) so that the inlet was submerged more than 6", but this didn't solve the problem. The pump has bidirectional flow through the intake. I placed an elbow facing down over the intake and that solved the problem temporarily. When I dialed the flow of the pump down with a ball valve plumbed onto the outlet, the problem returned immediately. There is no ball valve on the intake; the intake is free of any plumbing or connections. When there's no fitting on it, it seems to run with bidirectional flow, sucking in water and squirting out water from the intake at the same time. I considered plumbing in a 'T' on the outlet like you mentioned, but I didn't want that extra flow through my sump due to microbubble issues, etc. I think it's being appropriately primed for a couple of reasons. First off, when I open the ball valve, water siphons out aggressively from the tank into the sump. And second, the Mag12 pump works just great under the same plumbing conditions.


Bax - Good eye, and glad you like it!

[jnarowe]

regarding the "T", you don't have to leave it on all the time, but just when you need it. So my next question is, have you bench tested the RD? What I mean by that is can you set it on a bench, pull the pump housing cover off, and see how it's spinning? It almost sounds like the shaft is broken or there is something caught in there.

I had a heck of a time getting a pump to run the other day. We had a a power outage and fluctuations which screwed it up. I bench tested it and it seemed to work fine, but when I put it back into service, it wouldn't do the job. Fiddled with it for a while, and then finally got it to go.

And it is the correct cycles right? Stupid questions I know, but since they make multiple versions of this pump, it's possible that you got the wrong one.

[Dudester]

No, I haven't "bench" tested it, but I did run it in a large basin of water and it ran fine. When you bench test, do you run the pump dry? The impeller itself looked just fine, including the shaft, and I may have nothing to fear regarding the black "X" as indicated before. There were no free-floating parts in the impeller housing. The company I bought it from is going to test it when I return it to them. I've purchased an RD 4.5m3 and I'll send the 6.5 back once I receive it. If it's defective we're gonna call it an exchange. But if they find nothing wrong with it, then well, I'll have to figure out something to do with the 6.5. I guess it would make a nice salt-mixing pump .

Jonathan, I have to admit, I don't know what you're talking about regarding "correct cycles." Would you mind explaining this please?

[jnarowe]

I run the pump dry to see what goes on. Of course, I don't do it for more than a few seconds.

As far as cycles go, it's a long shot, but since it is an EU product, it could be set to 50 cycles. Since you say it ran fine in a tub of water, I would guess that is not the case.

Sounds like any back-pressure is keeping it from functioning. Obviously, it needs to go back. The question is, will they test it under load, or just in a tub the way you did?

When you tested it in the tub, did you test it on its side, or facing up with water shooting up in the air? Did you put your hand over the output to see if you could make it cut out?

I just hate this kind of thing because you have a pump that appears to operate fine in one situation and not in another, and it would suck if it came back as "user error"...I know this has happened to me a few times!

[jnarowe]

so sorry...DP. :

[Dudester]

I tested the pump both vertically and on its side. They did say they would plumb it into a test situation with a ball valve (i.e. back pressure) so at least they're going to give it a fair test before pointing the finger at me. I agree with you Jonathan, intermittent problems are far more frustrating than consistent ones.

Well, I hope you all don't mind, but I took a few more pics tonight. Here's the new light configuration as described a little earlier. This gives a more balanced color distribution throughout the tank.



I liked this shot since it shows the lamp reflections at the water line.


And here's a standard side view. Much less of a pink stripe in the middle.


Here are a few full tank shots at different angles.






To be continued ...

[gkarshens]

Looks great Mike! I think as long as you keep the wavebox coraline free it won't detract. I love the Aquascaping! It really looks terrific.

[Dudester]

Next are some corals that moved in from my old 30g cube.

ORA green polyped toadstool


open brain


green and purple-tipped frogspawn frag (host to both clowns)


And here are a couple of critter shots. You can see where the addition of the wavebox and the recent manipulation of the 4-way has caused a few bare areas to develop, but this will be remedied in time.




The last piece of business for tonight is my sump. A long time ago when I first showed a photo of the sump, Marc (Melev) suggested that the drain chamber wall might be too short. At low flow with only the Eheim 1262 providing return and through-sump flow it was fine, but after adding the Mag12 the extra flow has caused water to flow over the partition and away from the skimmer chamber. This has resulted in a lot of microbubbles in the display, as you can imagine from this image.



Water is supposed to flow from the back right chamber to the front right chamber, then into the larger middle chamber. The orange ball valve is connected to the Mag12 return pump, so you can see how a lot of bubbles are getting into the tank. I'll need to get some acrylic and make the partition taller, which will force water into the skimmer chamber, then into the "working chamber" where I'll eventually put the RD 4.5m3 pump, as well as the kalk reactor and calcium reactor.

[Dudester]

Almost missed your post in there, Gabriel. Thanks for the compliment, and I agree with what you say about keeping the wavebox coralline-free.

[melev]

That is what I was worried about. You'll have to clean up that area very well, and then I would dry it out with a hairdryer before bonding acrylic to acrylic.

The tank looks great, and based on the livestock, it looks HUGE!

If they end up replacing the pump, now would be the perfect time to request that they get you the U.S. version with the normal SAE fittings instead of metric.

[Dudester]

Originally posted by melev
If they end up replacing the pump, now would be the perfect time to request that they get you the U.S. version with the normal SAE fittings instead of metric.

It's been done , I like the way you think.

[GMFett]

Dude- the wavebox is so badass on that rimless tank. You can really see that puppy working. The scape looks really cool in the video too! Great job brotha!

[GSMguy]

looks great mike

that light looks great.

[Dudester]

Thanks so much guys, I appreciate the encouragement.

[RGRDGR]

That is going to be a knockout tank

[new_world_disor]

oof. im not sure which is sexia.. the tank or the lights :P im impressed. awesome looking system !!

[Dudester]

RGRDGR and new_world_disor - It brightens my day that others are pleased with my system, thanks .

New equipment is on the way. My controller has arrived in town, I just need to schedule a time for delivery. Additionally, my RD 4.5m3 pump has been shipped out of the vendor's warehouse, but it's not expected to arrive in Austin until Monday. Damn weekend!

[Dudester]

I got my controller a couple of days ago. No beaming posts however, as they sent me the starter kit as opposed to the elite package I ordered and paid for . At least now I'll be able to install my calcium reactor and get that going, which should make the tank more hospitable for SPS. It'll also allow me to dial in the temperature control more tightly. The JBJ chiller I'm using allows a tolerance of 2 degrees F, so the temperature ranges from 77-79 degrees with the internal thermostat set at 78. I feel like this is too large of a temperature swing, and the controller will do a better job of keeping it tighter.

On the pump front, that won't be coming as early as I had expected. The package I received was a potassium supplement (K-Balance Strong), and the RD 4.5m3 is being shipped separately direct from the importer. I don't know when it will arrive, but the Mag12 is holding it's own for now. Now I'll be able to increase the K+ to NSW levels, considered important for SPS coloration and growth.

Regarding filtration, my AP851 is dialed in perfectly (thanks John), and with the increased bioload in the tank it's starting to produce some respectable nog, both in volume and quality. The ZEOvit protocol is proceeding along without any hitches and I recently changed out half of the ZEOliths. My wife has been great about stirring the rocks when I'm unable to get home due to work. The cyano has regressed already, and there is only a modest amount of short hairy algae on the rock surfaces. I feel like the ZEOvit method has certainly reduced the severity of the expected early algae blooms. I'm going to add a small clean-up crew in the next week or so. I'm also gradually prolonging the photoperiod of the T5's.

Last piece of news is that I increased the power to the circuit upon which the tank is run. It was running on a 15A circuit, which according to my calculations should have been enough for this system. I was wrong, and I suspected as much due to the fact that the power to all of the equipment would turn off momentarily whenever the chiller turned on. It turns out I was running just over 16A on the circuit, so I had this upgraded to a 20A circuit. No more power concerns now! Unfortunately everything is on the same circuit, but at 20A I shouldn't have a problem.

[mcrist]

That must have been a touchy 15 amp circuit. I’ve drawn over 20 amps on a 15 amp circuit already without tripping it. Now I wouldn’t recommend doing that for any length of time so upgrading it was the wise thing to do. Undoubtedly you will add another piece of equipment sooner or later.

[melev]

Mike, just changing the breaker isn't really a solution if you don't know for sure the wiring can handle it. If you home is 12/2 or 14/2, 15 amps is all it can handle, and 10/2 is what 20 amps runs on.

(Any electrician feel free to correct that post if it isn't accurate. I know the concept is sound, but my numbers may be off a tad... )

[Dudester]

Originally posted by mcrist
Undoubtedly you will add another piece of equipment sooner or later.

That's fo shizzle. Actually, the only equipment I plan on adding that will be a real power hog will be the 250W heater, but that shouldn't turn on when the chiller is running if my controller is worth a darn.

melev - I do not know this language you speak. Seriously dude, what the hizzle are 12/2, 14/2 and 10/2 referring to? All I know is that an electrician came to my house and supposedly gave me more power. I don't think he was trying to swindle me, but I guess one never knows. I've been at work all day and night so I haven't been able to test the full system load since it was "upgraded," but I'll be sure to do that tomorrow evening when I get home. Thanks for the 'heads up' on this!

[mcrist]

12/2 , 14/2, 10/2 refers to the type of wiring. The first number is the thickness of the wire and the lower the number the thicker the wire. The second number is how many shielded wires in the coil.

[melev]

Right. And thinner wire gets hot over time, which is why we use thicker wire for higher amperage usage.

If you had a licensed electrician do the work, he should know what is safe and what is not. He should have verified the thickness of the wire before replacing the breaker, or told you the wiring wasn't sufficient for a higher amperage breaker and thus would need a new circuit added. As long as he's a good electrician, there's nothing to worry about. If he's a new one or a journeyman, it would be nice to have his work verified by a certified electrician.