blide - 150g of Inwall Entertainment

Picked up my sump today, so hopefully I can get the plumbing done this weekend. Does anyone know if it's Ok to use tap water for leak testing?

Hardware Pics:
 
The plumbing is finished and completed the leak test tonight. I did find one a leaky bulkhead on the drain side and it was an easy fix.

One thing I did notice is that the drains were flushing or gurgling a lot in the sump. What would cause this? I built the durso standpipes out of 1.5 plumbing and used flexed tubing to the sump like recommend in a lot of other threads, so I'm not really sure what's wrong... Any ideas?

Here's some pics:
 
The gurgling is pretty much trapped air, if your drain line to the sump is submerged you can shorten it and put a 45* elbow that flow's smoothly near the water surface and also let out any trapped air. Do you have a cap on top of the durso's...if so maybe play with different vent hole size's or put a cheap air valve on it so that you can try to fine tune it. http://www.rl180reef.com/frames.htm Here's another option for vent holes. . http://www.dursostandpipes.com/popular-modifications/3-adjustable-air-hole-modification More reason's for flushing here. http://www.rl180reef.com/frames.htm

Cheers,
 
I did adjust the hole on the top when I first got it going because the water level in the drains kept going up and down. Once they stabalized I started messing with the sump gurgling and tweaked the down pipes in the sump to have an angle and also tried raising them up, but the gurgle in the sump remained the same. During testing I did notice that when I cover the whole on the standpipe the water level in the overlflow drops and when I let go it the water rises and stops the gurgle for a few short seconds (not sure what that means).

I'm using an ATB Flowstar 1500 and it's rated at 1500gph at Max Flow and the overflows on the 150g are rated at 600gph per overflow (1200). Do you guys think its too much pump? On the durso standpipe website he states to perform this test:

If you feel you are not processing the expected the flow rate with a Durso Standpipe installed said:
Has anyone done this before? How do you know if it's "processing" enough. [smilie=smile.gif]
Click to expand...
 
During testing I did notice that when I cover the whole on the standpipe the water level in the overlflow drops and when I let go it the water rises and stops the gurgle for a few short seconds (not sure what that means). said:
That normal for when you cover/uncover the standpipe. It could point to the hole size not being quite the right size.... the hole size is dependent on drain length. It may sound strange but can you try running a piece of airline tubing from the hole in the top to about 4-6" in length down the drain to see if that changes anything. Looking at the flow specs for your pump and assuming 3-4 ft of head pressure then you may be at the hairy edge. You can try to throttle the pump back a little to see if it helps.

ATB Flow Star 1500 Circulation Pump

MaxFlow 1500 GPH
Power Consumption 90 watts
1 Inch inlet
3/4 Inch Outlet
Max head 14ft

Flow Specs
1532@1FT
1386@3FT
1215@5FT
951@7FT
845@9FT
607@11FT



Cheers,
Click to expand...
 
I bought some pvc today at lunch and I'm going to add a cut off back to the sump to throttle back the returns.

On a different note I'm planning to do some aquascaping this weekend with the cement and some base rock. I've been reading articles on aquascaping and thought I would share the links with the info I plan to follow with everyone:

http://kb.marinedepot.com/article.aspx?id=10549
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/library/12051-golden-ratio.html
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_aquascaping.php
http://www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/aquascapingprinc/aquascaping101.html
 
Those are good reads Bill. I too made the mistake of poor planning and execution on the aquascaping. I'm dealing with it every time I look at my tank now. I'd love to go back and re-do it, but I fear of stressing the fish out too much, so I'm putting it off until my next tank. Looks like you've got the priorities figured out.

Good luck, can't wait to see this thing wet!
 
@ctaylor81 wrote:
Those are good reads Bill. I too made the mistake of poor planning and execution on the aquascaping. I'm dealing with it every time I look at my tank now. I'd love to go back and re-do it said:
We've all been a beginner once... Here's my very first tank with the "fruit stand" aquascape (2004):
Click to expand...
 
Hey, I know that fruit stand, looks just like mine. Haha. Good times! Good luck with the aquascape. Give me a shout if you need any help with anything!
 
Slowly but surely getting things done...

Bleached all the rock and plan to do a HCL acid bath tomorrow. Then hopefully I can start the mortar work.
Here's some pics:
 
Wow this HCL stuff is no joke! I used a 30g brute trash can to dip the rock and it work great. The rock I'm using came from a tank with zero algae and as you can see in the pic's you would thought I got it out of the sewage. It's pretty cool because all of the rock has no top layer after the acid and now you can actually see the skeleton of coral and etc.

Here's some pic's... (Beware nerd alert)
 
Holy smokes. That's wild. I have 2 pieces of dry rock that is really white and I'm sure it was bleached before I got it. I should do that with the remaining rock that I have.
 
@chrisrush wrote:
Holy smokes. That's wild. I have 2 pieces of dry rock that is really white and I'm sure it was bleached before I got it. I should do that with the remaining rock that I have. said:
One of the best perks of dipping the rock in acid was the removal of the outer layer and exposing the inside of the rock. Some of the rocks that looked solid on the outside now have caves and cracks that you couldn't see before. Plus they all have new characteristic's because all of the rocks had different coral skeletons in the past.
Click to expand...
 
I bet you enjoyed smelling that. I rem. the first time i used muriatic acid it dang near put me on my knees. and the heat it puts off is crazy too.
 
Did you get a chance to mix and use some of the mortar this weekend? If so, let's see some pics.

Planning to start on my structure this weekend, or next. Might have to make a run over and pick up a bag.
 
I did prepare a test piece on some egg crate, but when mixing the mortar I accidently made it "soupy" and it was hard to use. Although, after letting it dry for 24hrs it was hard as a rock and I really like the look of it.

Tonight I do plan on starting the overflow box and I've actually setup a station in the house due to the colder temps (hopefully it will dry faster). I'll take some pics and post when I'm done.

I also had to order some fiberglass rods from tapplastics.com to make some pillars and etc. I was originally thinking the mortar would be the only thing I would needed, but the more in depth I got I realized there was a need for more support for the stuctures I want to build.
 
Looking good!

If you need fiberglass rods you can get them from HD or Lowes, they are driveway markers....just hack off the reflector and you have 3 feet of rod to use.....(try to keep your mind out of the gutter when reading that).

Keep the pics coming!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top