Hey, Raven - can you give an update on the hood and tank?

[inxs]

I assume the hood is finished by now:D , so can you give an update?

How is it for maintenence?
How hot does it run?
Are you satisfied with the design and light?
Would you do anything different?

As I think you set it up with a sump over the 55 (?) I'd like to ask a few Qs since it looks like I will finally be going over to the dark side:cool: .
I recently got a used 90 (plateglass, thick) with an overflow. It has ballasts ,endcaps and a hood for 2 X NO 40s, 2 X VHO 110s and I also have 2 X 250MHs that I would like to use.
I have a feeling the thing will run HOT so I was thinking of making it high (14" ?) .Yours was 12, right? I would do 2 x VHO actinic and 1 NO 10K for 12h and the MHs for 6h in the middle with the last NO for moonlight bulb at night.
What sort of fan/ventilation action would you reccomend ? I'd like to leak as little light as possible.

Also my plan for filtration is lots of LR & DSB with the overflow dumping into a 30g sump 3/4full and partitioned off with plexiglass. First bay(6") with acouple of sponges to chatch debris followed by a double plexiglass wall (under, over) into the second bay. The second would house LS and LR (20") , over the plexiglass and into the third one (8-10")that would house skimmer(s) and return to the tank via spraybar 1" underwater. 4 powerheads in the tank.

What would be a reason to go with 1 larger (150g cap) skimmer vs 2 smaller (60-90g cap) skimmers?

Thanks !:)

[RaVenCAD]

"I assume the hood is finished by now:D , so can you give an update?"
Yeap, been up and running for a long time now.

"How is it for maintenence?"
Good and bad... The glass is hard to clean, the lights are easy to get to. Water changes are easy, cleaning the glass down by the sand is difficult. It's a tall hood ;)

"How hot does it run?"
When I had the halides in it, I had 2 big fans running and it still put off some heat. Halides are just hot by nature. I now have Power Quads in there instead and I no longer run the fans. Point of reference, the glass between the bulbs and the water. With the halides, you couldn't lay your hand on the glass while messing with it. With the Quads, you can..

"Are you satisfied with the design and light?"
The design is good for halides but when it came time to replace the bulbs again, I went with power quads for the simple fact that my "reef" tank never happened. I'm more of a FOWLR, feather dusters and a BTA, so I didn't need the massive intensity of the halides. I chose Power Quads based on the footprint of the bulb; it fit right where the halides usta be...

"Would you do anything different?"
Yes, I would have started with Power Quads from day 1. My BTA is AMAZINGLY different under the quads than it was the halides. In the last month alone the thing has double in size, where under the halides it never really grew too much.

"As I think you set it up with a sump over the 55 (?) "
Yes it's a 55, no I do not have a sump at this point. The halide ballast was MUCH larger than I had expected and there just wasn't room for it. Now, I can do one when I get read =)

"I'd like to ask a few Qs since it looks like I will finally be going over to the dark side:cool: ."
Oh man, want some Kool-Aid??!

"I recently got a used 90 (plateglass, thick) with an overflow. It has ballasts ,endcaps and a hood for 2 X NO 40s, 2 X VHO 110s and I also have 2 X 250MHs that I would like to use."
Sounds like a good setup there. 8.9wpg will let you keep about anything ya want...

"I have a feeling the thing will run HOT so I was thinking of making it high (14" ?) .Yours was 12, right?"
Yes but, regardless of how high you make it, the bulbs need to be 8" of the water surface. Oh and any halide system is going to run hot, no way to avoid that. Good ventilation is the key to making it manageable though..

"I would do 2 x VHO actinic and 1 NO 10K for 12h and the MHs for 6h in the middle with the last NO for moonlight bulb at night."
Personally, I'd do like this this:
NO bulbs - pure actinic, on at 9am, off at 9pm for dawn/dusk simulation...
VHO - daylight bulbs, on at 10am, off at 8pm...
Halides - 10, 000k Ushio, on at 12pm, off at 7pm (6pm if ya hafta, but that cuts into prime viewing time for myself.)


"What sort of fan/ventilation action would you reccomend ? I'd like to leak as little light as possible."
The simple fact is that good ventilation lets light out too... Myself, I ended up making a skeleton of the back for better ventilation and for HOB gear. Now, that said, you can easily cover the vent holes so that any escaping light is captured. See the attached pic...

"Also my plan for filtration is lots of LR & DSB with the overflow dumping into a 30g sump 3/4full and partitioned off with plexiglass. First bay(6") with acouple of sponges to chatch debris followed by a double plexiglass wall (under, over) into the second bay. The second would house LS and LR (20") , over the plexiglass and into the third one (8-10")that would house skimmer(s) and return to the tank via spraybar 1" underwater. 4 powerheads in the tank. "
Consider multiple return nozzles instead of that spray bar as you are likely to have microbubbles problems. Also, you will need lighting over your sump for the LR... This will also let you grow some macro algae for nutrient exportation.


"What would be a reason to go with 1 larger (150g cap) skimmer vs 2 smaller (60-90g cap) skimmers?"
Simplicity.. I run an AquaC Remora and I love it. If I were to need a second, I'd get the same one again...

"Thanks !:)"
Anytime =)

[inxs]

Much thanks!:)

[inxs]

So why did you abandon the reef project?

What makes the AquaCremora so much better than say a Prism, Euroreef or CPR Bakpak?

I am planning to have 40w NO light on the sump.

Why wouldn't I want sponges to do mechanical filtration?

Why are microbubbles bad and would I still have them with the spraybar submerged 1"? I was thinking of not having it deeper in case or a poweroutage and backflow into the sump to avoid draining too much water. I assume there must be antireverse valves?

What would be a good filteration rate for the tank while not beeing to turbulent for the fuge/sump? I was thinking along 300-350gph (4X tank and 10X fuge).

I have now thought of building up the last plexiglass wall for the chamber housing the skimmer to almost the height of the tank to be able to have a bigger/roomier fuge and still have a saftey chamber at the end to take on some extra water in case of emergency.

Plan is now also including a 5gal jug for auto topoff kalkwasser drip.
Thanks

[RaVenCAD]

"So why did you abandon the reef project?"

At one point, I almost broke the tank down and gave up.. I've had one hellacious fight with bryopsis for about the last 4 months... Evil crap =\ That, combined with my LFS's complete lack of inventory just kinda faded the idea a bit for me. I still would like to so mushrooms and the like, but nothing major...

"What makes the AquaCremora so much better than say a Prism, Euroreef or CPR Bakpak?"

When I was looking into them, I found more glowing end user reports on the Remora than anything else, but more importantly, I found no negatives.. The other skimmers all had at least a few issues that people were talking about. I've been very happy with my choice thus far.

"I am planning to have 40w NO light on the sump."

Should be fine, even capable of growing some macro algae, so ya might end up with a refugium down there..

"Why wouldn't I want sponges to do mechanical filtration?"
Atually, sponges are fine IMO...

"Why are microbubbles bad and would I still have them with the spraybar submerged 1"? I was thinking of not having it deeper in case or a poweroutage and backflow into the sump to avoid draining too much water. I assume there must be antireverse valves?"

It comes from the concept of white water, as in the rapids on a river. Where the water is forcefully slamming into the rocks, foam is produced. Same thing applies to the return from a sump, but the bubbles are much finer than the foam. By dropping it 1", you may see less bubbles, but I personally would opt for something less abrupt... I've toyed with the idea of using a HOB filter carcass as sort of a buffer for return water. Meaning, take an empty, non powered filter box (like an Emperor 400 for example) and hang it on as usual. Then, arrange your return line in such a way that it spills freely into the back of the filter. The box can be LIGHTLY filled with floss or even a sponge to diffuse the bubbles that will be present in there. The result is a gentle spillway for your sump return. The reason for a big filter like the Emp 400 is the amount of water that will be returning to the tank. Then of course you'd have powerheads around the tank for circulation.

Also, let me say say that eliminating backflow is as simple as drilling a small hole in your feed pipe about 1/2" below the high water mark. Once water drops below this hole, it will break the suction and spill only what the tubing/piping contains... I can give you a little diagram of this if you need it.

"What would be a good filteration rate for the tank while not beeing to turbulent for the fuge/sump? I was thinking along 300-350gph (4X tank and 10X fuge)."

Circulation in the tank (for a reef) needs to be 10x the tank volume. I personally do not like to include the movement of the water out of the tank, down to the sump and back to the tank in that 10x... I much prefer to have the capacity via powerheads in the tank to move the water 10x. The reason for this is, as above, I prefer a gentle return to the tank to eliminate microbubbles. You still move the same volume of water, but the gentle return doesn't do as much for circulation as a pressured spray would. It's a trade off I guess =)

"I have now thought of building up the last plexiglass wall for the chamber housing the skimmer to almost the height of the tank to be able to have a bigger/roomier fuge and still have a saftey chamber at the end to take on some extra water in case of emergency."

Probably not a bad idea...

"Plan is now also including a 5gal jug for auto topoff kalkwasser drip."

I use the Kent Aquadoser myself, but a DIY works too... Mine is out in plain sight, so I wanted it to look halfway decent. I hate jugs =) For a sump though, go with whatever works...

"Thanks"
Again, anytime =)

[BrianH]

inxs,

If you plan to use a sump why not look at the Aqua-C EV line which is made for in sump(or out of) use. Also, I don't think Raven intended to include Euroreef skimmers in the list with CPR & Prizm. Euroreef is known as one of the better skimmers in the hobby.

Brian

[RaVenCAD]

Indeed I did not as the Euroreef skimmers are not available in an HOB format. I prefer HOB to in-sump, just call me backwards =)

[inxs]

Thanks Raven and Brian -

The AquaC series does have a lot of endorsements and when compared to most of the others with the same capacity the pricedifference isn't that big . I think I will investigate it further but I just may go with it. How is ease of use and callibration?

Thanks for the tip on drilling the hole!

I intend to have 4 powerheads running in the tank for around 20X circulation ( I assume the power will drop after a little use) but my concern was the filtrationrate through the fuge and skimmer. What is minimum and optimum ? I was shooting for 3X as it would make the flowrate 270gph and at a fuge filled 3/4+ it would make the watermovement 10X which concerns me a bit (too much?).

Someone mentioned putting the skimmer in the first bay as you would avoid running any copepods or other beneficial organisms through it on the way back to the tank . The only downside I can think of is that the "dirty tankwater" would get skimmed before it went into the fuge where I thought it would be beneficial.

And one more time: so there is no downside with having microbubbles spilling into the tank besides aesthetic ones?

How is your topoff working? Happy with it?
Thanks

[RaVenCAD]

"The AquaC series does have a lot of endorsements and when compared to most of the others with the same capacity the pricedifference isn't that big . I think I will investigate it further but I just may go with it. How is ease of use and callibration?"

It's pretty much a fire and forget skimmer. Hang it on, plug it up and it does the job. The only adjustment is the collection cup height which is controlled by moving a big o-ring/gasket up and down it to control how deep it sits in the skimmer.. I've ran it all the way in and all the way out, my nitrates never budge from zero.

"Thanks for the tip on drilling the hole!"
Clever trick, aint it? And engineer buddy of mine told me about how well it worked when he did it on his tank.

"I intend to have 4 powerheads running in the tank for around 20X circulation ( I assume the power will drop after a little use) but my concern was the filtrationrate through the fuge and skimmer. What is minimum and optimum ? I was shooting for 3X as it would make the flowrate 270gph and at a fuge filled 3/4+ it would make the watermovement 10X which concerns me a bit (too much?)."

Well, the skimmer will pull what it wants, so your flowrate won't affect it in anyway as long as there is enough water present at all times to submerge the feed pump (powerhead).. As for the fuge flow rate, I dunno, a bigger brain needs to chime in for that cuz I've never ran a fuge.


"Someone mentioned putting the skimmer in the first bay as you would avoid running any copepods or other beneficial organisms through it on the way back to the tank . The only downside I can think of is that the "dirty tankwater" would get skimmed before it went into the fuge where I thought it would be beneficial."

Well, yer both right I'm sorry to say. I wouldn't worry much about it as long as you have some algae going in the main tank as well... Pods thrive near plants, so having macro algae in the main tank will help yer population out a lot.

"And one more time: so there is no downside with having microbubbles spilling into the tank besides aesthetic ones?"

No, but you will quickly find that alone is worth making an effort to avoid em.

"How is your topoff working? Happy with it?"
I don't use the doser for topoff, only for dosing calc. I top off with jugs.

[BrianH]

inxs,

If you really want/like the Remora pro style skimmer and you plan on putting it in your sump why not go with the Urchin-Pro model. It is the same as the remora pro but built to go in your sump. http://www.proteinskimmer.com/productsnew.htm

Also remember that the Remora/Urchin pro models are rated for tanks up to 125 gallons. You may want to research the EV-180 model which is rated for tank between 60 - 200 gallons.

Brian