120 Clown Herem Tank

Interesting...let us know what Neptune says. I think it makes a difference how much space is before and after the flow sensor. What do you estimate those lengths are?
 
The flow sensor has a 90 at each end so its not on a long run of pipe, and there is not a great way to give it a longer run that i can see but i could take it out if that could be restricting  flow. I can say i suspect its not restricting much as i did not have to adjust my drain at all when i put it in today.The guys at neptune emailed me back with some links which gave me 3 areas to look at.First the PVC in my overflow is Schedule 80 (i did this because dark grey looks good). I can swap this over to schedule 40. I agree it has a slightly bigger ID - 1" SCH 40 is 1.049 and 1" sch 80 is 0.957.  So on paper thats a 9% gain. I also have 2 barb fittings with a short piece of silicone tube to reduce vibration. This could get me a pretty big gain if i hard plumed this because when i check the hose barb with a pair of digital calibers its .77" ID which is a 26% reduction.The other area ] pointed out is that at the top of my overflow i have a T that goes from 1" to 2 -1/2 lock lines for return and lock line is very lose in terms of flow. This is the one i have no idea how to fix with out major work. Also the pump is rated for 1 1/4" PVC but again I cant fix that without redrilling the tank which wont happen. Right now i have a 1 1/4" to 1" bushing in the top of the 1 1/4" union that came with the pump.I will order some plumbing parts and change the two easy options out and see if i can get more flow, id really like to see 500-1000 and honestly id like to be at the higher end of that if possible to get enough water through my sump to make the skimmer, filter socks, UV, carbon, etc effective.Here is a few photos of the setup today if you have any pointers...View attachment 5531 
 
I can't tell in the picture, is the arrow on the sensor pointing in the direction of the flow?Hopefully some of those plumbing changes will help.Might have better luck monitoring in between your silicone tube, up higher after your bends. Wondering if you might be able to straighten out that return run a bit by using some 45s instead of 90s. Kinda something like below, if feasible. Might help with flow.View attachment 5538
 
Well good news. Over the weekend i had a plumbing nightmare and it took a few days to get it fully resolved but as of today i have changed out the plumbing in the overflow to SCH40 from SCH80 and i changed out the cheep Chinese knockoff lock-line with real lock-line and my flow went from 190GPH to 624GPH. I am still using flex hose in the sump but i decided to do this in phases so i could see what made the most difference.  Later tonight I will work on hard plumbing the return pump. I am shocked going from SCH80 to SCH40 in the overflow made that much difference. I did also change from a straight flow to a round nozzle on the lock-line. Regardless I am very pleased with the first set of changes and have learned a ton!new round nozleView attachment 5556Old straight flow nozzleView attachment 5557Flow sensorView attachment 5558
 
Just a quick update. The clowns will be here Thursday after so many months of waiting, once they are settled in the tank i will post some photo's and maybe a short video. I am super nervous because I am doing a lot of things against normal best advice like adding 30 clowns to the tank at the same time, even though i started my cycle at the end of may and have been ghost feeding since that completed for months i still worry about making big changes to a reef at once.I tested all my parameters and everything looks great as of tonight. I do have prime on hand if i have an ammonia or no2 spike and put a sachem ammonia alert in the tank so i can watch this super close the first week or two. Now on to the clowns i ordered... I went against my original idea to use the same type of clowns from the same clutch and ordered a mix of small clowns from sea and reef, more like Marvin's clownfish herem on several of the reef sites. I do have 5 other tanks on stand by if something goes bad and i need to separate them and if all goes well i will shut some of the stand by tanks down in a month.The clowns will be the following:4 - Black storms4- Mocha storms8- Wyoming whites8- Extreme Davinci8- Grade A - Picasso
 
Very cool, can't wait to see. You got a good plan, things should go well. Will be interesting with the different clowns :)
 
The clowns arrived late, today... The vendor did not want to ship due to a storm last thursday in one of the fedex hubs and did not want to risk them not arriving so they shipped yesterday and they arrived today. I spent 4 hours drip acclimating them but they are officially in the tank!https://youtu.be/qYWa9yhi6aEView attachment 5786 
 
Just a quick 3 week update. All of the clowns are alive and doing well and eating like PIGS! I am up to 3 feedings per day on the auto feeder at 4 rotations each and one manual feeding at night. I will likey bump that up slowly over the next few weeks as they are eating all I give them!I have a member who's going to sell me 10 or so SRBTA's this weekend so hopefully after a few weeks in QT they will be ready to go in the tank and i can post another update.Anyhow here is a show video update of the clowns! https://youtu.be/IhFVgfKWQjU  
 
I made a lot of progress with the tank this weekend... Setup a manifold to run my carbon and UV, cleaned the sump, it was getting nasty and lots of odds and ends I had been putting off.I am doing weekly 25 gallon water changes and ever 3 weeks I am doing 50 gallon water changes to deal with my very heavy feading to keep the peace - so i have stopped dosing. With no corals the water changes are keeping up with everything. I plan to move my DOS to the garbage and setup an auto water change station but other wise the tank is running smooth and the clowns seem happy and several are getting huge!  Its hard to believe we are 2 weeks away from there 2 month birthday (living with me).I have a ton of inverts in QT just waiting to move in with the clowns. Also I spend a lot of time watching the clowns, originally the wyoming white were top dog in charge but this week there has been a change of guard and the mocha storms are the top dog.I spent way to much time learning iMovie today and still have a lot of room for improvement so hopefully next time the video will be better. In addition to the clowns I'm trying to learn video editing, and better ways to take the videos etc.https://youtu.be/1t9JzkNlfbU
 
I was able to pick up 8 SRBTA's from a form member today who had been working most of the week to detach them from rocks in his tank for me. I have them in my 40g QT tank now and will watch how they do to see if i should dose ciprofloxacin or not. I took the photos with a aquariClip HD Universal Orange Filter on my iPhone to pull the blue from my t5ho on the qt tank out. They are super red and look fantastic. Can't wait to get them in the clown tank after QT.View attachment 6128
 
I wanted to post a quick update tonight, I was almost positive i had posted an update or two since October but i don't see it...Anyhow the tank is doing fantastic and the clowns are getting huge and 2 of the SRBTA's have to be 18" or more then fully open! I wish the other update was here to see the comparison anyhow enjoy the short video and any suggestions to improve the tank are more than welcomed. I did have a small algae issue while i was was gone for two weeks over Christmas as I did not have the tank sitter do any changes and the clowns are on a pretty heavy feed schedule but i have done several big water changes and its almost cleared up.https://youtu.be/VbSL7ypuiMAView attachment 6715
 
Hi Shane, it does look awesome now! The addition of the anemones made all the difference in the world; clowns always look so nervous without something to hide in. Are all the clowns the same species? It will be interesting to see which varieties mate. Also if more than one female develops.
 
 I did what everyone said not to do, I mixed clowns in the tank. I ordered them from Sea and Reef and made sure they all arrived the same day and were the same size. So far everything has been fine but I try to limit aggression with tons and tons of food and lots of places to hide.I am 95% sure there is one female right now and its one of the black storm clowns', its 3x bigger than all the others and when it comes around all the other  give it space/food first.  I have been trying to figure out who's the alpha male and so far don't have a good opinion maybe one of the Whites but not 100% sure on that.There are Ocellaris and Percs.The Ocellaris are a mix of[ ]DaVinci Extreme’sBlack Storm’sMocha Storm’sWyoming White’sThe pers arePremium Picasso’s
 
I noticed when cleaning the tank tonight i had a SRBTA splitting. I know it happens from time to time because i have more than I started out with and soon to be more than I want, the things grow like weeds! Anyhow i thought it was cute a little 1-2" BTA still attached at the foot to mama but having its own mouth and everything else.View attachment 6789
 
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