High Tide Aquatics

random.. scribbles

So i have bought a 135 gallon tank.. 2 mh 1 400 mh 2x 40 gallon (sump refugium) aquac protien skimmer.. and a 1900 seieo to drive the skimmer.. and a 5200 barracuda/hammerhead cant remb which to drive it all...oh yeah a 1/4 chiller, a 40 watt uv.. and a 365 gph pump for them too..

these things i have collected from cl over the last 4 weeks... or less (before i found you all ;)

so i set it all up.. this last sat i installed the uv light and chiller (tank was around 89 with the lights on? ) around 79 now.. diatoms still there.. but i leave the lights off more cuase I am just cycling the tank...(hard to do)

(btw did i mention this is my first tank?)

And sunday ..well all night sat and most of sunday we installed the reeflo.. becuase the cheap mag rip off 1400 lifesomething pump crapped out in less than a month... sigh... and this morn (still havent slept yet) i turned it on.. HAHAHAH .. and woosh .. oh its strong all right.. woosh in less than 3 secs it sucked all the water in the refugium and dumped into the tank.. oh.. around 20 or so gallons.. and my tank overflowed and the sump too... hahaha it i was like uh oh.. when wife see 30 or so gallons on the floor.. im a gonner..


The pump is as loud as a shop vac? something wrong with it? i have heard others and they where wihsper quiet.. Is it my piping? should i open it up and look at the prop head? the pipes are 1 from pre drilled holes from the refugium... the inlet is 1.5.. should I just put this pump over the refgium with a foot/check valve..? I spent all sat working on it..all sunday less a few hours installing piping 1" from the tank.. to 1.5 from the reeflo.. /(shakes head) driving me nuts ><

How slow does the water ahve to pass through the refugium/ps? ..?I had to take off those long pvc pipe to elbow thingys in my plumbming.. but the water .. falls down from the the tank.. pass through the sump at a high rate.. and the refugium .. and gets pumped back up...

Now I have a ton of micro bubles.. a loud pump that sounds like a wet vac... and tired and discouraged as heck ..sheesh ><
 
You need to use flexpvc on the input and output, add a ballvalve in the output to control/slow down the flow and add a yoga mat underneath your barracuda pump. The flexpvc and yoga mat will help reduce the vibration and hamming noise. You can find most of this info at their sponsor (sequence) forum at reefcentral.com not sure if that forum still exist, though.
 
Depends where that sound is coming from to really tell if it's normal, as Perry mentioned, spa flex is very useful for reducing vibration noises even if it's a small intermediate piece. I personally don't have much experience with really noisy pumps (half of the reason I put my tanks downstairs :D) so can't give too much advice there.

I'd go fairly slow through a refugium, should be nice and calm with a gentle current in there, throwing a couple thousand gallons every hour through a small refugium won't be very nice :D

I know how it is though, I went from a 10g "I want to see how hard it is to keep saltwater" tank with 2 fish and plastic rocks, to a 135g I picked up on craigslist for cheap, I didn't know anything about the learning curve for larger tanks, and the club was not very helpful (BARE not BAR) compared to today. Had my fair share of problems, with HOB overflows, water spills, sump overflowing, cyano bacteria, you name it I had it... That being said though, I'm still addicted, so even if you do screw up (don't expect everything to work flawlessly your first try! :D) you'll may find you like it in time .
 
so i just got off the phone with a tech from reeflo.. she told my im turning my tank over with this pump.. like 50-60 times ... and i should be aiming for 10.. um.. she said its a high pressure top of the line pump... way overkill.. ugh.. so i need to replace the pump out.. am looking for a baracuda for what i need... ><
Ray
 
Even a barracuda will still be too strong for your 135g setup. I know this because I'm using a barracuda on my 375g display+110g sump setup. Plus, my barracuda also feed my CA, carbon, phosban, sulfur denitrator, refugium reactors and chiller . For return use only on your 135g I would go with dart or snapper, unless the pump needs to be located 20" away from the tank.
 
Warning.. intimate OPINION.


the one, probably the most important point from all of this.. is protecting.. God's creation..(a Christian.. i don't mean to offend anyone.. i drink .. have a good time.. and accept that everyone has their own view and don't not in anyway press mine or judge or condemn anyone.. ). Interestingly enough there was a conservation class at CAL (Berkeley) and I was so turned off.. because the prof. pointed out a verse in the bible (Christian/Jewish old testament) about how it was religion's fault, more so the Christians for our environment.. because.. "God gave man dominion over the earth"..so then and I quote " Christian's and those types feel they can do whatever they want because God told them so" oh man that hurt.. I look back and see.. the meaning of that verse.. http://bible.cc/genesis/1-28.htm.. as a responsibility. To me at least (remember this is my own opinion<----) the meaning hit me.. the world is a gift.. it is precious... made for us. So finely tuned.. the system installed. It is a grave sin.. kind of like slapping God in the face, the way we treat our world. I really am starting to passionately love my aquarium.. and I haven't even added corals or fish yet.. lol

Sorry didn't mean to preach ... (was kind of an joyful/sad intimate thought..I just wanted to share..)
 
(except for a few I found some rock I bought) saved those in a 45 gallon bin we had.. under some metal hallides.. and they are growing! Sorry if my thoughts are a little scattered.. i havent slept much lol
 
so.. we got a 55 gallon tank going... using a tank we had bought off of cl on a killer deal for its rock and sand.. and lights.. we got it up and running.. and saw another killer add on cl for rock and sand.. and walla.. with an overflow box (given as a gift from kind crabby) we setup the lights a sump (from crabby) and yeah.. took us a day. Only a day.. sigh.. finished. so pretty ill post some pictures.
 
Thanks.

Sigh tired. The 135 has had an outbreak of dinoflagellates ><. I was watching the coraline alge bloom, then all of a sudden, greenstuff and brown stuff started to bloom (with copper tones and bubbles). So now I have to wait another week. Raising the ph and turning all off all the lights. Still has leaks >< LOL. small but they are there. NO MORE CL for me.. ever. I turned away an awsome deal from a memeber here.. big mistake. Well live and learn.
 
Well good news! I have purple spots all over the 135 gallon tank! Listening to advice and reading .. helps! It is so pretty. Coraline seems to be growing now. All my chemicals (ammonium, nitrates, nitrites) are zero. Now comes the waiting period.

Oh yeah I have around..150ish pounds of live rock.. with 50 ish pounds on the way..somehow it all fits in there with all the sand..
 
Back
Top