New 180 Gallon tank setup
- Thread starter skyrex
- Start date
If you use socks in the first chamber "as much as I hate chambers" I'd suggest adding a crash box. Makes replacing any mechanical media easier if your plumbing isn't in the way.
As T Tj203 said "sorry I still don't know how to link members names on here" you need to math out the size of your return chamber. The volume of that chamber must be large enough to handle the difference in water height in the display and overflow from when the pumps are running to when they are off. Allow for plenty of extra in case you upgrade or add an extra pump and to give you more breathing room for evaporation so you aren't constantly having to top it off.
As T Tj203 said "sorry I still don't know how to link members names on here" you need to math out the size of your return chamber. The volume of that chamber must be large enough to handle the difference in water height in the display and overflow from when the pumps are running to when they are off. Allow for plenty of extra in case you upgrade or add an extra pump and to give you more breathing room for evaporation so you aren't constantly having to top it off.
I'm not saying it overflowed when I turned off the pump when I'm saying is the return chamber did not hold enough water so when the pump turned on it would cavitate. I always put a check valve on the return so I never usually have a problem with a water draining back in to the sump. It's minimal from the overflow. Once I installed my pump externally it worked much better but like I said I was also moving over 5,000 gallons per hour that's almost 1.5 gallons a second
I had that problem when I upgraded my pumps. Removing the guards and sponges and installing turned down 90s on the pump intakes worked for my situation.
T Tj203 What are you using for a sulfur denitrator? I'm currently using an AquaMaxx calcium reactor with a Kamoer Peristaltic pump but I'm getting mixed results. I think the recirculating pump on the reactor is pushing water to fast and my ORP keeps swinging up and down between aerobic and anerobic. I'd be curious to hear what your setup is and if you like the results you're getting or what you'd change with yours.
I think sulfur denitrators are the best thing in the world for nutrient export they're the only things that actually take it out of the system besides plants. The recirculating pump should not be pushing it too fast as it's only recirculating inside the sulfur denitrator the problem you have is your parasolic pump flow is too high I used an orp meter to turn mine on and off too but mine was only cycling on and off once every couple days once you get the flow set right it should stay constant.
You basically have the same thing I have I have the aquamax sulfur denitrator but the only difference is the CO2 window I don't know if you have any crushed Coral in it either but I ran straight sulfur and you can buy it much cheaper offline as long as it's 99.9% pure they're called sulfur pills way cheaper than the aquarium stuff just like buying water softener salt instead of aquarium salt is literally 120th of the price
Thanks! just started filling it with sand. its just an overflow on one end into the sump.
was considering removing the first piece of glass and rotating the foam 90 degrees now
I would leave that piece of glass in. the way it is now the water isn't going to flow like you have your arrows it's going to clog up and then roll off the top and nothing will go through your foam. With the piece of glass in between your filter sock and the other foam media the water is forced to go down and then up through it. Water is like electricity it will take the path of least resistance
I have kept bichirs before but never in a tank so big. I guess you can say that’s it’s kind of my first tank. Didn’t need to fiddle that much with canister filters.
So I rotate the media but keep the glass in?
Yes this way it will make the water go through the media otherwise like I said without that piece of glass there it's just going to go on the top and then once it gets clogged it's just going to run off the top
