six's 40 gallon breeder build

[JohnK]

You could also use a hack saw and slice the pipe down the middle for about half it's length so that there is still a part of it resting on the bottom, but there is also a big open area for water to get out of the pipe, closer to the surface.

No big problem in drilling the back to make a RR set up. You just use an elbow on the bottom of the duroso, or use an external duroso.

 

[sixspeed]

No big problem in drilling the back to make a RR set up. You just use an elbow on the bottom of the duroso, or use an external duroso.

Ok, where will the hole be on the back panel? I would like it to be high so that i can just run a line from the overflow box straight to the 20 gallon sump.

This is where i am imagining the 29 going.

Right above the ball valve is where i would Tee off the drain and run the plumbing to the 29 then the other to the same position as the original drain.

 

[sixspeed]

Pictures for the Weekend

Hey, i have slacked on the updates and pictures, but not a lot has really gone on during the cycle phase.

Here are a few pictures to last you the weekend.

As you can tell i am having a pretty bad micro bubble problem. I am still playing with the system so hopefully the kinks will be ironed out soon.

 

[JohnK]

Hmm,

so you want the frag tank down low, feed it from the drain from the display, then have it drain to the sump, correct?

If that's the idea, I don't know how much flow you will be able to run through the frag tank because you won't have very much help from gravity . I don't know how much it would slow the flow, but I'm pretty sure it would be quite a bit.

Now if you raised the frag tank up higher, then your in buisness.

As for the location of the drain hole in the back of the frag tank; It can be just about anywhere except right at the top.

 

[sixspeed]

John are you saying that i should have the drain go directly to the 29 gallon (chaeto factory), then drain to the 20 long sump?

A lot i have read says that the skimmer should precede the fuge area, do you think it is going to matter for my set up? I never really understood this theory.

 

[JohnK]

I was just trying to follow what you were describing

I would agree that it's a good idea to have things set up so the water goes; Skimmer > fuge > return. That is a good way to go because the skimmer should be pulling out crud before the ref, so the ref doesn't get as much accumulating detritis, and so what ever can be skimmed out (actually removed from the water colum) will be, then there's that much less for the fuge to deal with.

 

[sixspeed]

ahh gotcha, i think i read that a little bit too late last night to understand what you were saying haha. Do you think Teeing off the drain is a bad idea? I can realistically only raise the 29 gallon only about another 2 inches before i run into trouble with clearance of where i want to Tee off the drain.

 

[JohnK]

I think Teeing off the drain is a fine idea.

The problem will be how fast it will drain from the fuge to the sump, and will that be fast enough?? Don't get me wrong though, I don't know it WON'T work, it's just that I've never tried something like this (with only a very small drop).

If you don't mind gambling a little, I do have a holesaw for a 1.5" bulkhead. Using a "whale passer" like that would certainly help to make up for the lack of gravity (I think?).

Anybody know more about the physics involved here than I do?

 

[jebar777]

just wondering if you added anything to the tank to help the cycle.... i had read that people throw 1/2 a raw shrimp in there to get it going? i know it used to be ok to add some sacrificial fish to start it. but i think the raw shrimp would be doing just about the same thing.

 

[sixspeed]

If you don't mind gambling a little, I do have a holesaw for a 1.5" bulkhead. Using a "whale passer" like that would certainly help to make up for the lack of gravity (I think?).

Anybody know more about the physics involved here than I do?

john, what exactly is a whale passer?

just wondering if you added anything to the tank to help the cycle.... i had read that people throw 1/2 a raw shrimp in there to get it going? i know it used to be ok to add some sacrificial fish to start it. but i think the raw shrimp would be doing just about the same thing.

Jebar, youre right when i first started this hobby people recommended "sacrificial fish" to get the cycle going. But most of the time the damsels that are used survive the cycle and then become a PITA to get out of the tank. So i just added a cube of frozen mysis to help things along.

 

[sixspeed]

What if we just put a hole in the back panel of the tank, and have a bulkhead fitted and plumbing run to the sump. There would be no need for an overflow just put some sort of filter/strainer directly to the bulkhead. The water level would just stay at the height of the bulkhead, and i dont know if the amount of flow through the fuge area would matter all too much, i could throw in a small powerhead to keep the flow moving. There just wont be much new water turn over.

 

[JohnK]

That should work.

 

[sixspeed]

Ok John, i think this might be the route i take, maybe we can set up a date to get this puppy drilled.

 

[sixspeed]

Today i received my shipment from Liveaquaria with my clean up crew. I got 20 cerith snails, 10 nassarius, and 5 dwarf blue legged hermit crabs. Hopefully they will all thrive, but i am expecting some initial loses in the next few weeks due to low bio load and algae growth.

 

[sixspeed]

Here they are getting acclimated.

 

[sixspeed]

Alright so the tank has been up and running for a few weeks now without any hicups. But now i am started to realize that the flow through my fuge is extremely slow. I have cyano growing all over everything including the chaeto. Does anyone have any recommendations to fixing this problem. Will removing a baffle help out the flow situation?

 

[sixspeed]

Here are some updated pictures of the tank.
Long lash eagle eye zoa

Some Alpha Omega's for a tau

tubs blue, armor or god

Potters angel and birdsnest

 

[UncleJT]

Looking good sixspeed. On my 40BR, I was thinking doing a peninsula setup similar to this at the foot of my bed but wasn't too sure I could pull off a nice looking foam wall like you did.

 

[bpfan64]

nice... love the zoos and the angel fish

 

[sixspeed]

Looking good sixspeed. On my 40BR, I was thinking doing a peninsula setup similar to this at the foot of my bed but wasn't too sure I could pull off a nice looking foam wall like you did.

nice... love the zoos and the angel fish

Thanks guys, the foam/rock wall isnt that hard to build. The only difficult part i ran into was making the wall have those two bends in it. I had to make three different panels then fit them together, it was a pain in the a**.


I need to fix my sump situation, the cyano has taken over everything in the fuge area. Is this ok and just part of my cycle? Or should i try throwing a small powerhead in there to get some more water movement?