My 75 gallon(mianly fish only!!!!)

[Juxtaroberto]

If your phosphate and nitrate readings are low, it's probably because the algae has already taken it up. As soon as it appears in the water column the algae feeds on it, grows, and your readings show up as low.

You could increase water changes, or build one of these if you have the room: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=180385

Every marine tank I see really makes me want to get into saltwater more and more.

 

[Yanbbrox]

I'd love to have a go at salt, respect for the peeps that do!

 

[studd muffin]

Nice!

 

[dlp40]

Juxtaroberto , Thanks for reminding me. actually i just might do this, becase i just made my overflow and i'm designing my sump as we speak. I could really benfit from this, thank you.

Thanks for the input everyone, keep it coming. I've been hard core cichlids for the past 15 years so all of the replys are really apreciated and make me feel like i'm on the right track with this venture as well.
Thanks again,
David

 

[dlp40]

So i had a busy week, this one past . I set up a small sump on my tank and did everything DIY. The overflow, sump, and an algae scrubber. I only used a 10 gallon so i only added like 5 gallons of water and just enough flow to run the algae scrubber. I jst want to see if this algae scrubber works as good as the link above says it does. It's in the juxtaroberto post above.

Sorry no pics yet, don't know what i was thinking, but i'll get some and keep everyone updated on the progress.

Thanks for looking,
David

 

[dlp40]

So here are the pics of the afore mentioned things from my previous post. any feed back on what i can improve upon would be great.
Thanks,
David

pic1: overflow top view
pic2: return line
pic3:light setup, one on each side of the algae scrubber
pic4: algea scrubber, small growth starting, but not visiable
pic5: sump pic
pic6; plumbing from overflow to sump
pic7:air line that is connected from overflow to venturi on my powerhead, to keep the air/gas out all of the time
pic8: odyssea ps 75 protien skimmer, one day of skimate. never did this good until i put in the overflow, constant adjustment before now.

 

[FLESHY]

Everything looks good....what type of pump are you running on that skimmer? Are you running it in sump or out?

 

[nonstophoops]

Looks like a pretty nice DIY setup, nice work!

One thing, in pic 6. Depending on whether or not your pump can handle more flow, you may want to change from the hard pvc you have to a flexible hosing. All those 90 degree turns restrict the amount of flow you have. If your pump can't handle more flow it doesn't matter anyhow.

 

[dlp40]

fleshy: I'm using a 350 gpm @ 6' of head pond pump. It is an in sump type. It does a good job until i find something better. Thanks for the input and remarks.

Nonstophoops: I would love to go with flex line, my pump is turned down right now so i don't overflow the tank. One issue though, i need the hard pipe for the algae scrubber screen. Can i go with flex or tubing from the drop down on my overflow to the hard pipe on the scruber without comprimising to the scrubber? Thanks for the tip.

David

 

[nonstophoops]

fleshy: I'm using a 350 gpm @ 6' of head pond pump. It is an in sump type. It does a good job until i find something better. Thanks for the input and remarks.

Nonstophoops: I would love to go with flex line, my pump is turned down right now so i don't overflow the tank. One issue though, i need the hard pipe for the algae scrubber screen. Can i go with flex or tubing from the drop down on my overflow to the hard pipe on the scruber without comprimising to the scrubber? Thanks for the tip.

David

Yes, you should be able to do that. You will just have to build some sort of bracket or support for it because of the flex tubing. I have my overflow box adapted from pvc in the bulkhead to flex tubing and then a pvc spray bar on the bottom for my refugium.