Introducing Myself

[capntom]

Evening All, I just wanted to say Hi, I joined a few weeks ago, and been lurking since. It seems i've missed a couple of good deals by not knowing about y'all earlier. I do have a couple of questions.

1. Are new members welcome at the monthly meeting or do you have to become a dues paying member?

2. Will Matt build me a skimmer too? :-D

Oh, right now I have a 40 Gallon Oceanic Reef, thats about five months old, going real slow to keep mistakes and errors to a minimum.

A just bought a Oceanic 140 and stand from Superfishstore, Having it drilled and overflows installed next week at Aquadome $200. ,Fair price?

i really want to drill the back glass for a closed loop, but I've never had a drilled tank and I'm not sure of their reliability, Any Comments?

I've attached a photo of the return I'm thinking of. Any advice would be greatly a-pre-she-ate-it- :grin:

[PeeJ]

Everyone except the Devil. Please...if you are the devil..stay at home. Thank You - Management

[PeeJ]

REally? Whats his ScreenName? That fool owes me 20 dollars.

[dan]

i don't know if you want that much water running to the fuge.

[PeeJ]

is 4 holes in the back glass safe?

[dan]

OH YEA!!! i saw one time at aquarium sales and service drill 8 holes in back

[Instar]

Personally, in most cases, I would put the returns higher on the closed loop. In the natural reef, there is more turbulence high and more flow, linear currents low and rotary currents in the outer reef slopes. By creating waves and turbulence in the upper portions where the current and light lovers live, there should be some softer waves, and linear currents generated in the lower areas around the rocks for things that like that kind of environment. With returns low, the blast and turbulence is lower. Not saying that it won't work, but, consider the environment you want to create and is that right for what you want to keep?

[capntom]

As far as advice goes, I'll take all you can give. so I'll flip the intakes with the returns, and I'll slow the flow down on the Fuge.

The only thing I still need some confindence with is drilling the tanks.
Is it safe?, do i have to worry about stress cracks, do i have to worry about the integrity of the glass itself.I"m unable to make this decision myself, this tank been sitting here empty for a month becasue i can't decide. I make hundreds of large decisions at work everyday,But most times i can't decide on curly or non-curly fries at jack in the box. :shock:

[Instar]

Now there is a problem with the returns low, they suck things in like little fish, BTA's, mushrooms and loose junk, macro's etc. That can be real trouble and you can't get down there to clean the intake out without disassembling your reef.
And BTW, welcome to MAAST!

[Instar]

Now there is a problem with the returns low, they suck things in

Sorry, I meant to say with intakes low, there is a problem...

[capntom]

So how about the intake and returns on the same level across the back, maybe five inches from the top.Th eonly problem maybe is that the space between the overflows is 32", is that enough room for four holes? :shock:

[matt]

Someone recently posted a link to an article by Anthony Calfo for a return manifold; this is a PVC frame which goes around the rim of your tank and has several return nozzles branching off of it. I think it's a great idea. Build that and you could do away with the return holes. Then you could just do 2 drain holes, or even one larger one and tee off to the 2 pumps.

[manny]

Wow, that sounds pretty cool. You happen to know where that link is Matt?

[capntom]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2003/short.htm

[wkopplin]

I am having four holes drilled across the back of my tank about 8" down, which would be the equivalent of 5" down on a 140.

[manny]

Anybody see anything wrong with the water return manifold that's been posted? If not I think I'm gonna try that out on my 38

[Instar]

The only thing I see in the water return manifold is that it bisects the tank to bring it to the front glass. If the overflow does not let water out fast enough, then that pipe may touch the water and trap half the tank surface. Then half the tank won't get skimmed unless you either have a calfo or drain hole in each corner to the sump. The bisection could be prevented if you have a canopy and bring the pipe up on top of the frame. I looked at my framing. It would be really close and the tank normal operating water level may have to be lower than the top frame to do it with one hole.

[eleyan]

I have a question, In case of power outage, what is preventing all the water from draining through the two bottom returns? Regarding drilling glass, you want to make sure your back glass is not tempered. Most cases, only the bottom is, but for this size tank I don't know if they would use tempered glass all around. From what I understand, tempered glass is much more prone to cracking in drilled.

[edit] oops, dumb question. I see now that the pump for the lower returns is feeding off the top. I guess you should jus make sure you dont get a leak in that line

[capntom]

According to Oceanic, the entire tank is regular plate glass, no tempered glass. Does anybody have any horror stories about glass breaking or bulkheads failing?

[eleyan]

Another issue you should watch out for is that your 2 sumps are not connected togather, so if one of your two return pumps fails, that sump will overflow: The other pump will keep pumping water from the second sump back to the tank, and since both overflows are at the same level half of that new water will still go to the sump with the failed bump which will not get returned. To fix that you need to make a connecting pipe between the two sumps.

[capntom]

I would have never thought of that, thanks. :shock:

[matt]

Yeah, eleyen, that's a good one. Another thing is I would not drill any holes, even for a closed loop, low in the tank. If your pump or line springs a leak, the entire tank will drain. My closed loop drain is only a couple of inches below the water surface. Also, I don't see any need to drill returns for the closed loop, just hang PVC return nozzles over the tank. I'd be interested in the calfo style return manifold; if it's anything like his overflow set up, it's a big improvement on the "standard" design. Why don't you try making one of those manifolds? You don't need a complete circuit around the tank rim; as long as the manifold is capped at the ends, you'll get pretty equal pressure out all of the nozzles.

[manny]

Hey Matt. I think I'm gonna try the manifold out on my 38. Wanna help me experiment with it? Might take awhile to get all my parts (pump, sump, nozzles, etc) but i should be able to set it all up in a couple months.