Surface turbulence

[primo21]

posted this in the equipment forum too so sorry if the same people are reading it, i do appreciate your feedback...

Currently have powerheads pointed at the surface in my display creating ripples for gas exchange. Question is...is this absolutely necessary if i have the same thing going on in my sump. Am i creating overkill by having the PH and the turbulence from the drain and discharge of my skimmer? By product of getting rid of the PH would be not having to worry about another anemone or sea hare ending up blenderized. i know about the ph covers, but they seem to clog so quickly it cuts down on their effectiveness anyway. just throwing it out there for debate.

i have a 75 with a 40 gal sump, so ~100 total vol., coralife 125 skimmer and a mag 12 return.

thanks

[snorvich]

I do both. But I do not have anemones.

[Shane C.]

With a sump and skimmer, plus the returns and any other various water movement devices you may have, I don't think the ph in the dt is neccesary for additional oxygen exchange. If you are concerned, you could try pointing a return towards the surface. That said, the ph may be adding flow patterns to the tank that are beneficial.

[o2manyfish]

You cannot overkill with gas exchange. In my display tank the return pushes the surface water, the surge tank ripples the surface, and I have two tunzes on the bottom of the tank point straight up as well.

Dave B

[primo21]

for the tunzes at the bottow...how do you keep livestock out of them?

[ca1ore]

I have always doubted that a skimmer provides all that much in the way of oxygenation. Rather like an air stone, where oxygenation results from movement of the water up to the surface rather than diffusion from the actual bubbles. I think some form of circulation in the tank to ensure that the surface water in contact with their is constantly being replaced is really important. Can use the main return for this though in lieu of power heads.

[o2manyfish]

Primo, I use 4" black ABS pipe fittings from Home Depot as a base to drop the Tunzes into. On one side of the tank I have a 4" "Y" adapter, that holds a 6255 pointing at a 45 degree angle toward the surface and a 6200 pointed straight up.

I took all the guards/screens off my old style 6200 years ago because the maintenance was annoying. I have yet to have a fish get chopped by the exposed propellers.

About every 6 weeks or so an alarm goes off because a turbo snail climbs on the pump and blocks the propeller.

Dave B

[primo21]

could you post a pic. that has me thinking. I could create like a sleeve with holes drilled in it instead of the typical long slits that soft bodies get pulled into. if I drilled enough little holes maybe a nem our sea hare wouldn't get sucked in. could that work?


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[o2manyfish]

If you have a place to hide the 'sleeve' perforating a piece of pipe will work. You could also find a foot strainer. I know for my outside tank I use a big Rio Hyperflow, and they made a strainer for their pumps that are about the size of peanut butter jar.

Dave B

[david pinder]

Strainers are an accident waiting to happen, first dead anything that blocks the strainer there will be water on the floor. pvc with multiple drilled holes works well just dont glue it in so you can remove and clean from time to time, even better is it is threaded.

[o2manyfish]

Strainers are an accident waiting to happen, first dead anything that blocks the strainer there will be water on the floor. pvc with multiple drilled holes works well just dont glue it in so you can remove and clean from time to time, even better is it is threaded.


A strainer is the same thing as your perforated pipe. Not sure why you think one is any better than the other. My strainers are 2" wide and from 4" to 12" long.

And not sure how you are spilling water on the floor. We are talking about water movement in the tank.

If you have a strainer on your return pump in your sump and a dead anything blocks the strainer, why is there water on the floor? It should reduce the amount of water being returned to the tank.

If your system is built, where slowing down the flow causes the sump to overflow, you need to redesign your system.

Dave B

[JackandJill]

I remember reading an article (I cannot remember which I apologize) that related the amount of gas exchange that happens at the surface versions in a skimmer and it basically showed that in comparison to the thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of bubbles popping a second in the skimmer oxygenating the water surface agitation is very minimal.

[primo21]

i think i am going to try w/o a PH for a while and see what happens.

thanks all.

[fishy.22]

Dave, that sounds like an amazing setup. Can you post pics please!

[o2manyfish]

Fishy.22,

I have a thread in the large tank forum, which shows the entire build of the system.

Plus I have a live webcam on the tank with full pan /tilt/zoom.

The webcam is at www.o2manyfish.com/camera.htm - Lights turn on at 5pm Pacific time and stay on till about 1am. Surge tank is cycling about every 90 seconds. But being able to see that on the webcam is pretty difficult, unless you catch a fish in the current getting blown across the tank.

Dave B