Propagation system with Surge set up.

S

Servo

Premium Member
OK, so I need some advice here;

I am putting together my frag system. I have decided for flow that I would like to use Borneman's toilet flapper surge design for flow. I have a prop tank that is 40X24X9 (water depth)=45.9 gallons. I have a durso stand pipe (DSP) for the drain. First, do you think that a surge set up will affect my DSP function, and second, what percentage of volume would you recommend that I use. I was thinking that 25% would be a pretty good surge. I am plumming the system into the main display, but I am going to run the surge from the prop tank. (my pump will carry water to the elevated container and redistribute the water back into the prop tank). I am in the process of getting the stand designed and need to decide what size container to use. I thought about just cheaply using a rubbermaid container, but I think that I am going to get an acrylic box made up. That way I'll be able to visually inspect the surge box. Here is another picture of the prop tank with the durso and egg crate installed.

FYI: If you don't know what a surge system is, the back tank at Saltwater Paradise has one set up

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Looks neat! I cant wait till I get my frag tank setup! I finnaly got the go from my parents. The best part is it is going in my room!
 
This is a helpful thread on RC if interested in reading more about surge devices.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=4116486
 
Ryan, the DSP is set up to drain at a steady rate to minimize noise, so I doubt it would let the surge drain away as fast as you'd like.

Seems like there are two schools of though re drains on surge systems.. drain slowly and deal with the changing water level, or drain quickly and deal with the noise.
 
Thanks for the information Scott, since I am using the prop tank as the feed for the surge, I am thinking that it will end up flushing my durso. Thats ok.

I am thinking of possible using an actuated ball valve with a relay and some float switches. It will work much better from what I understand and will give me the velocity that I need. I'm worried about mechanical failure. THe nice thing about the toilet flapper is that if it fails, you won't get a mess of water. I really don't care about the thud. I think that it will be insulated in my fish room (I HOPE!!!)

I don't know much about setting up the system with an actuated ball valve so I'll need to do more research. I'll post videos when I get it up and running. I'm pretty excited about this project!!!!!!
 
If you plumbed a high bulkhead in the reservoir and ran an overflow line to just above the prop tank high water level, then a mechanical failure of the float switches or actuated ball valve wouldn't be a disaster.

Have you had any luck finding an all-plastic actuated ball valve? From that thread it seems hard to even find an all-plastic check valve. I used actuated valves in sprinkler systems back when I did plumbing, wired to a pressure switch, but they were all metal. If I remember correctly, they were actually gate valves.
 
The dentist office next to Fish Paradise has a surge system you might want to look at. I think it works off of a siphon break method.

There was a thread on RC in the DIY forum a couple of years ago where a guy set up two 5g buckets up high in the garage that would fill up slowly, then dump the contents into his reef. He used actuated ball valves with float switches, closing the valves before the bucket was empty. This did have a sound effect, but there were no bubbles in his tank because the pipe was still full of water when the valve capped off the top end of the pipe (at the bucket end).
 
@Marc wrote:
The dentist office next to Fish Paradise has a surge system you might want to look at. I think it works off of a siphon break method. There was a thread on RC in the DIY forum a couple of years ago where a guy set up two 5g buckets up high in the garage that would fill up slowly said:
What are the odds that you will be able to hunt that down for me and post the link here????? :eek:
Click to expand...
 
@Servo wrote:
What are the odds that you will be able to hunt that down for me and post the link here????? :o said:
I scanned through over 100 threads to find it for you.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=207396&highlight=surge+tank
Click to expand...
 
A few years ago I heard Martin Moe talk about a simple surge device that he made. I wish I knew where to find his description of how it was made. It was well thought out and worked great. The problem is I do not know where I could find info on it.
 
He was supposed to put it in his book that was coming out.
 
Is a surge that much better than timed powerheads, an ocean motion, or something along those lines? I just don't understand the reason for the effort of a surge. Not being negative at all I am just curious on whether or not I would be interested in doing it too. Thanks in advance for any light you can shed.
 
A surge emulates nature much better than any mechanical device.

With a surge you push large volumes of water over a short time period. The growth of SPS corals are very much dependent on water flow. I can get a coral to grow 3X the diameter in a system that moves massive amounts of water.

THe wonderful thing about Tunze pumps is that they produce the most non linear flows of all the pumps; Now the flow is still somewhat linear in nature, but it is dispersed over a greater area. The downside is their price. I surge system is bulky and usually inconvient for a display tank,but is perfect if you want to grow coral.
 
Servo
Where did you get your tank. I am considering setting up a long shallow system here to raise rics and zoos.
I have not found anyone that sells tanks like that.
 
The tank was custom; I wanted it to match my complete set up. Marc and Robert (Fish2morrow) also do acrylic work if you want to compare quotes.

Good luck with trying to propagate Ricordia. I can't get that stuff to grow for the life of me. I have a rock that I have had since 2001 and I don't think a single polyp has grown from it. Now mind you, I don't cut them thru their stoma to try to get them to split. I have heard that this is effective, but have no experience. :roll:
 
Well it is sort of a far away dream right now, but through the bugs collection we have almost 30 different shades of ricordia and we are starting to get a small collection of different zoos

If I could find a good recipe for growth we have a decent brood stock.
Setting up a ecommerce site is something I do in my sleep. All I really need to do is study growth rates and find a suitable prop tank.
 
@TJay wrote:
Well it is sort of a far away dream right now said:
I just started a thread about this in the Softies Propagation forum.
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