greech's Simple 40 Breeder

[greech]

Thanks a lot everyone. Need to get some updated shots as I was looking back at some of June pics and I can see some pretty solid growth. Also ,MACNA can't get here soon enough. Hopefully I will pick up some nice eye candy. In the coming months I am adding an overflow box, sump, skimmer and possible a refugium (depends on how big of a sump I can fit under my stand). Going to need to save up and buy things piece by piece. I have really enjoyed the simplicity of this setup and feel I have learned a great deal about what it takes to maintain a tank without extra equipment but I also feel that it's best for my livestock to make these modifications.

 

[greech]

Sumps up and after 2 days of my entire house sounding like a water park I finally got it quiet. Sump is still bare and need to grab a couple more filter socks already but we are up and running!

One of the biggest noise issues I had was with my brand new mag 5 return. That thing was a beast and was ridiculously loud. I returned the mag and found a Sicce Syncra Silent at another LFS. It's way oversized but it has its own flow adjustment and I have the ball valve about 1/8 closed. Perfect flow and very quiet. If you want a quiet return pump, this is the one.

The only noise I am getting sounds like its coming from where this flex tub meets the PVC. Anyone know if it's worth taking PVC all the way down? I got another suggestion for a smother flex pipe like spaflex. Like I said, I am happy with it the way it is so I don't want to change it unless I am certain it will make it better.

Guess my little tank ain't so simple anymore

 

[Ace25]

PVC for Spaflex will definitely quite down the water where it meets the ribbed tubing. I have the same stuff on my 29G, I know exactly the noise your talking about.

I used to run filter socks 24/7 for many years... now I am thinking they are not so good to use all the time. They trap too much stuff quickly and if you don't replace them every day the stuff it catches and decays can end up doing more harm than good. My opinion on socks now is they are ok to run 1 day a week as more of a "water polisher". A sock with a small bag of ROX carbon in it, run for 24 hours a week, will clean it up nicely without the risk of fouling the water. After thinking about all the reasons my corals were dying/bleaching I thought the socks probably had something to do with it, along with several other factors. I decided I wanted to let all the food in my tank flow freely through the sump without getting taken out, which is why I removed my skimmer and filter socks.. now food and other things like copepods just go over the ATS, through a live rock wall and back into the display tank. Small chance of getting sucked into my carbon reactor.

 

[joel.uejio]

Looks great, greech! I decided not to run a sock on my sump and haven't noticed any issues from that -- that's a good idea, though, from Ace -- maybe I'll experiment with running some carbon for water polishing.

 

[greech]

PVC for Spaflex will definitely quite down the water where it meets the ribbed tubing. I have the same stuff on my 29G, I know exactly the noise your talking about.

I used to run filter socks 24/7 for many years... now I am thinking they are not so good to use all the time. They trap too much stuff quickly and if you don't replace them every day the stuff it catches and decays can end up doing more harm than good. My opinion on socks now is they are ok to run 1 day a week as more of a "water polisher". A sock with a small bag of ROX carbon in it, run for 24 hours a week, will clean it up nicely without the risk of fouling the water. After thinking about all the reasons my corals were dying/bleaching I thought the socks probably had something to do with it, along with several other factors. I decided I wanted to let all the food in my tank flow freely through the sump without getting taken out, which is why I removed my skimmer and filter socks.. now food and other things like copepods just go over the ATS, through a live rock wall and back into the display tank. Small chance of getting sucked into my carbon reactor.

Not a bad idea. This is my only sock and its pretty nasty after 2 days. I think the added flow of the return is mobilizing a lot of crap so I will likely run a sock for a couple of weeks and then try your method. Maybe run it for a day or two after a WC when all the gunk is stirred up. So what does your drain line run to? I don't have a bubble trap to save space so I am pretty sure I will have bubbles without a sock.

Looks great, greech! I decided not to run a sock on my sump and haven't noticed any issues from that -- that's a good idea, though, from Ace -- maybe I'll experiment with running some carbon for water polishing.

Thanks. How's the tank doing?

 

[Ace25]

So what does your drain line run to? I don't have a bubble trap to save space so I am pretty sure I will have bubbles without a sock.

Where my 2 filter socks used to be are now my ATS screens.

Look behind the skimmer, there used to be 2 filter socks....

I just put a couple 90's on it, 1-1/2" to 1" reducers, and some pipe/caps and made a slot for the screens.. now my overflow powers the ATS.

 

[greech]

Gotcha, thanks. That skimmer is/was Naaaasty

 

[Ace25]

That picture was the taken just 24 hours after I installed it. lol. Still.. what may look "nasty" to us and what it really is are 2 different things.. there is just a small amount of nasty and the rest is stuff I would have rather stayed in the tank. I think carbon is much better at getting out the nasty while still leaving the good, so that was why I chose to take the skimmer out and just use ROX carbon.

 

[joel.uejio]

How's the tank doing?

My tank is doing pretty well -- fauna: good, frogspawn and zoanthids: good, but still have a fair amount of pest algae -- I should probably post an update in one of my threads

 

[ChrisK]

Looks great Greech, glad you got the noise level down. Very clean work on the sump. Not using a sock on my sump either, may try one myself.