UrbanSage's 270 Gallon in Wall Reef Adventure.

[UrbanSage]

Originally posted by tangdiver
Hey why not raise your standpipe part of your dursal (spelling) in the overflow?


Grant

I am not sure it would make a difference, but the goal is surface skimming.

[melev]

Raising the Durso would simply raise the water higher than the teeth and the surface would not be skimmed like it is now.

[kau_cinta_ku]

ok I will start putting them in a confined area and saving them for you, they are always 2-3 that get cought in my filter sock and a few on my powerheads. but will save some for ya.

[UrbanSage]

Thanks Sam,
Let me know how/when to get them from you

[Travis]

Originally posted by tangdiver
Hey why not raise your standpipe part of your dursal (spelling) in the overflow?


Grant

That is what I did for my tank as I too had my teeth cut deeper than I thought I would need. But you need to ditch the dursos and just use standpipes. Put a cover over the overflow compartment and use slotted teeth output into the sump and it will be almost as quiet as a durso. You may not surface skim as efficiently but mine is still efficient enough as I don't get surface scum buildup.

[tangdiver]

Thanks Travis....what I was talking about only you stated it more clear.


Grant

[UrbanSage]

Right now all I have is 1.5" pvc pipes mounted in the bulkheads.
The water overflowing into the overflow falls about 3" and is as quiet as I need it.
I was planning on raising the pipes another 4.5" to raise the water level in the display by 1.5".
So the way I see it, since the water amount going into the overflow (be it pipes or overflow box) will be the same regardless of method. I think surface skimming will occur.
I do however feel at this point that complete surface skimming will be better by utilizing the overflow box and not pipes since the box has a larger area of effect although a greatly reduced pull compared to pipes.

I do appreciate the thoughts from everyone since it is great to hear more experienced comments.
Personally a lot is still a first

[melev]

Originally posted by UrbanSage
I do however feel at this point that complete surface skimming will be better by utilizing the overflow box and not pipes since the box has a larger area of effect although a greatly reduced pull compared to pipes.

That is correct. This was explained in a sump article in Reefkeeping written by GregT years ago.

[tangdiver]

Second that...


Grant

[UrbanSage]

Originally posted by melev
That is correct. This was explained in a sump article in Reefkeeping written by GregT years ago.

Link or it didn't happen!!!

[melev]

Originally posted by UrbanSage
Link or it didn't happen!!!

I looked over each one quickly, but don't recall if it was Part 1, 2, or 3. So here you go, starting with Part 1: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/index.php

You can read to Part 2 and Part 3 and let me know which one was the one containing that discussion.

[UrbanSage]

Originally posted by Gregory S. Taylor
All overflows have a standpipe, sometimes referred to as a drainpipe, which is a vertical pipe that drains water out of the tank. It is quite possible to use a properly elevated standpipe as an overflow without any further complications (see Figure 1 below). This type of standpipe is very simple and easy to install.
Figure 1. A simple standpipe. Photo courtesy of Ryan Baker (rbaker).




The major drawbacks associated with this simple type of overflow are that they are relatively noisy and are more difficult to conceal. For these reasons the idea of putting a "box" around the standpipe emerged. The box produces a few nice side effects. The first is that it allows a "thinner" area of water to be skimmed off the surface of the aquarium into the sump. This is desirable for a number of reasons. Aquariums will accumulate a film of organic material on the surface of the water that will both block gas exchange and reduce light penetration. Both of these things are extremely important in a reef aquarium. Reducing the "thickness" of the water falling over the wall as much as possible increases the rate that this film is removed. Second, the sound level of the water cascading into the overflow box is much lower when the thickness of the water overflowing is smaller. A good analogy is to turn your faucet on very slowly and increase it to fully open. When there is a small stream of water coming out it is relatively quiet, but when it nears full force, the sound volume goes up dramatically. And lastly, the box puts the standpipe in an isolated area that, if necessary, can be repaired or maintained without emptying the entire tank.

Much better than I can say it

[Travis]

Nick, why don't you just try it first and see how it works? It is common knowledge that the overflow box is going to skim a thinner portion of the water off the top. But is this really necessary if you are already removing all the organincs before they accumulate? You can also increase the skimming area by converting your 1.5" standpipe to a 3" pipe at the opening where the water goes in (if this will fit in your overflow. IMO, I would at least try it first rather than gluing something to your tank that you can't remove later. You never know, some time down the road, you may need those deeper cut teeth in your overflow box.

[melev]

Nick, I forgot all about your acrylic piece, but I'll get that mailed Monday. Sorry about that. Guess getting it free you can't complain, right?

Here are some pictures I took of his tank during my visit earlier this month. Nick's tank is in the basement of his new home. The fishroom is clean and finished out, but the basement is still Stud Central. Nick is facing the camera in this blurry shot.






He has two Waveboxes in the back right corner, and since my visit has added a VorTech pump. I don't have a picture of the beefy stand he built, but odds are the pictures are in this thread already anyway.

Lighting is provided with three Luminarc III's using glass inserts. He uses 10,000K bulbs. He plans to hook up a vent to the exhaust ports in the future. A huge fan hangs at one end of the tank to blow the heat away from the surface of the water, and we laughed when we saw he used airline tubing to hang it.






The refugium is off to the side in the fishroom.



And he grows Phytoplankton as well.



Livestock in the next two posts!

[melev]

Acropora sp.


Acropora sp.


Two different Birdsnest corals


Probably a Bottlebrush acro


Brain coral


Some of the cleanup crew


Fish

[melev]

Frogspawn


Hyper-extended Galaxia - we didn't even recognize this coral due to its look


Hidden Treasure - several SPS were only visible from the end of the tank when standing in the fishroom.


Lobophyllia


Staghorn - Acropora sp.


Montipora sp.


Stylophora


Tabling Acropora sp.


Teardrop T. maxima


Nick's AEFW magnet - a Tricolor Acropora sp (A. valida)


Thanks for having us over, Nick!

[fastfish]

Awesome setup! I can't wait to see more pictures!

[UrbanSage]

Wow, talk about having someone else's take on a familiar tank.

You make it look much better than I can in pictures

The bottlebrush is a delicate staghorn from ORA


The last sps, was sold to me as Acropora nana.

The pvc, definitely not complaining I am thankful and take your time.

[melev]

I tried to keep that delicate staghorn in the past, but it didn't live long in my prop section.

Nana, valida, whatever. AEFW bait in my book. Just keep dipping new arrivals to keep them out of your system.

[UrbanSage]

The delicate has been in my tank for maybe 8 months now? When it get bigger I would like to place a frag of it higher in the tank in a high flow area. I think it will thrive.

I haven't added any sps to my tank in about the same 8 months now. Aside from a red'ish Acro from a trusted source recently.
Last frags I traded my way to brought red bugs and although I haven't seen any in about 6 months now I am still pretty gun shy about new additions. The red bugs were my first meeting with any bad tank bugs and I would like it to be my last!

[melev]

Red bugs are nothing more than a mosquito bite in this hobby. Did you do anything about the Red Planaria in your tank yet? I noticed that the store Grant works at there were quite a few flatworms in their display tanks.

[UrbanSage]

No, I have never had any negative impact from flatworms. I do however think they are horribly ugly.
I have been holding off on a few things for when I feel the tank is stable.
I like a refugium full of algae before I consider my tank forgiving
So, I think once the fuge is fuller I might dose flatworm exit. I have had good success with this product in the past and never had any side effect I could notice.

[UrbanSage]

deleted double post

[UrbanSage]

Gorgeous Diadema sp. urchin!
This fella has been in my tank for about two months now. What a beautiful creature.

[docjones]

I want on myself, are they hard to keep?