Neptune Aquatics

Peter's 40G Journey

PeetaJai

PeetaJai

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Hello Reefers

My name is Peter and I been lurking around the forum for a while but always been lazy on creating a journal.

I got into saltwater tank during the pandemic period. I always hesitate because of my stereotype toward saltwater is pricy and complicated. But I finally decided to take the leap into saltwater and never looked back. So far I am addicted to the hobby, now I have to find the balance between reef tank, newborn and job.
(Like how I priority the order? Shhh... Don't tell my wife that).

I brought my first tank from Craigslist. Wrost mistake ever, brought a very old All in One tank with cheap coral and fish but paid a premium price on it. Impulse buying always get the best of me, I didn't do any research on it. I spent even more money trying to make it work but in the end, things don't work out the way I wanted. Another reason I didn't want to start a journal on it because I know I will upgrade out of my first tank eventually.

Anyways, I am glad I found this reefing community. Everyone been super nice, helpful and informative. Recently I brought a tank from @Srt4eric and I am so happy with the tank. This is my first tank with an actually sump. He hooked me up with this tank for sure. Thank You.

Now my journey starts here...
Cleaned up and balanced the tank.
Will do a leak test soon.
My goal is to move all my livestock to this tank minus the sand and have a bare bottom tank.
We will see how it goes...
 

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Ooh, sump design, one of my favorite topics! There is some debate in the hobby as to the optimal design. I prefer to get as much biological surface area as possible, so I have crushed coral in most of my chambers, as well as rock. I also am trying to maximize my macro algae growth, so I let that go over most of the sump. Heaters are a good thing to put in narrow chambers like that as it forces moving water over the hot surface. You could do filter floss too, but that would be my least favorite choice as it would be a pain to clean it regularly.
 
PeetaJai said:
Lucky it was not hard to clean but I did notice alot GFO got out from the the reactor made it into the sump, turned all the pump very muddy? Is that normal with the GFO? I never use GFO before.
Click to expand...
There are 2 things that can help with this. First, you can rinse your gfo before running in in your tank, which pushes the fines out before they can enter your tank. The second is most reactors have a sponge at both ends, and that should prevent excess tumbling and further production of fines.
 
PeetaJai said:
Lucky it was not hard to clean but I did notice alot GFO got out from the the reactor made it into the sump, turned all the pump very muddy? Is that normal with the GFO? I never use GFO before.
Click to expand...

That was my bad... I let that stuff run much longer than I should of. Like a lot longer.
 
Thank you guys for the chamber suggestions. I think I'll go with bioballs under and a heater on top, but will that burn the beneficial bacterias living on the bio balls?
Srt4eric said:
That was my bad... I let that stuff run much longer than I should of. Like a lot longer.
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No worries, good to know because I might run GFO in the near future, now I know what happen when I run let GFO run for too long haha. Thanks
 
Hey guys
Should I drill a tiny hole on the locline to prevent back siphon during power outage ? I don't have a check valve on the return hose.
 

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You can, my sump can handle the extra volume, but if yours can't, the small hole in the top to break the siphon is the way to solve it. Water flows down till the highest point air can enter. Definitely test what happens during power outages, as we are headed into fire season.
 
H2OPlayar said:
You can, my sump can handle the extra volume, but if yours can't, the small hole in the top to break the siphon is the way to solve it. Water flows down till the highest point air can enter. Definitely test what happens during power outages, as we are headed into fire season.
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Cool, I'll probably should see if my sump can handle the extra water first. Can u possibly point out where I should be drilling from the picture? And it won't lead to water shooting out like a water gun right haha.
 
As small as you can, and in the highest connector piece you need to. You only need air to flow through. 1/32" should be small enough, You can also heat up a pin with a lighter and push it through. Personally, I would try to find a configuration where you don't need the hole. Surface agitation from the outflow isn't a bad thing. I also recently added RFG (random flow generators) which changes out the final piece and creates more randomness. It also has a natural air break built into it, which I use.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Random Flow Generators for Loc-Line

Attaches to 1/2", 3/4" Loc-Line and creates random flow patterns. Vivid Creative Aquatics 3D printed random flow generators easily snap onto standard Loc-Line segments for a custom flow pattern through their patent pending randomized design. Each RFG is made of reef-safe PETG plastic and made to...
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com
 
H2OPlayar said:
As small as you can, and in the highest connector piece you need to. You only need air to flow through. 1/32" should be small enough, You can also heat up a pin with a lighter and push it through. Personally, I would try to find a configuration where you don't need the hole. Surface agitation from the outflow isn't a bad thing. I also recently added RFG (random flow generators) which changes out the final piece and creates more randomness. It also has a natural air break built into it, which I use.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Random Flow Generators for Loc-Line

Attaches to 1/2", 3/4" Loc-Line and creates random flow patterns. Vivid Creative Aquatics 3D printed random flow generators easily snap onto standard Loc-Line segments for a custom flow pattern through their patent pending randomized design. Each RFG is made of reef-safe PETG plastic and made to...
www.bulkreefsupply.com www.bulkreefsupply.com
Click to expand...
Great tips
 
LET THERE BE WATER!!!
Finally lifted 50 gallon of water from back yard to the tank location, That was alot of trips and stairs... I think I lost weight today.
Doing Leak test now.
 

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Woooot!!!
All the equipments are working flawlessly!! Thanks @Srt4eric
So far no leaks that I should be concerning. Only the drain pipe is leaking small drips back to the sump, that's because I didn't glue it, so is normal.

Now please help a newbie out... Why do my tank sound like heavy rainfall? Is it because I didn't adjust the water flow in the drain to match the water being pump? Or is that actually normal?
 

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Thank You @ashburn2k for the new filter cup.
Funny thing is now I realized what the stand is for after seeing it haha. I keep thinking it stand for under the box, instead is for the inside.
I miscalculated it but found a way to fix it. A glass cup did the job. Now is perfect.
 

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