~450G Display (~1000G system) documentary starting - Page 3

Poppy828 · 11/25/2005, 07:34 AM

You're Welcome. If you were closer, I could get the panels for you. Good luck with this. Keep us informed.

Todd

kwl1763 · 11/26/2005, 02:36 PM

Ok I got a little farther today.

I started actually designing how the sumps will flow into each other etc. The first design I came up with allows me to really easily control different rates of flow, disconnect one section, etc. So it is super super flexible.

They are on casters so I can move them around if I need. The drains will be ~60" high so that should be adequate to gravity feed the tallest sump. The problem I came up with here is the skimmer placement. I would have to build a really tall skimmer stand to get it even with the first sump. And with the skimmer itself being ~60 inches tall it would be almost to the ceiling. I would have to build some steps to get up there, etc. Major pain.

So I rethought and went much simpler. This takes away most of my flow control (even though I could build bypass loops around the refugium) but makes it much easier from the skimmer standpoint. I could still easily disconnect with unions and either run tubing or put a new sump in if I ever have a problem it just won't be quite as versatile. Do you see any potential issues with it?

I think I will end up going with something like this. The simplicity it brings is worth the control sacrifice I think.

Also the return sump is off the picture and the drains will have a bypass to there for sure so if nothing else I can take these three sumps totally out of the loop and still run the system with just the return sump if necessary. It's also about 6" lower then the other sumps so when the return pump is turned off all the excess will drain into the return section. Maybe I should make them all level so if the water goes above the bulkheads (when the return pump turns off. I would have to overflow a lot more before a flood happens? Thoughts?

The other issue I'm contemplating is pipe size. I will have 3 1.5" drains on the tank. The run from the tank to the sumps will be ~20ft with a roughly 2ft drop. I'm thinking of consolidating the 3 drains into one 2 inch pipe to run the 20ft and have the 2" pipe drain into the skimmer sump. I'm only going to use an Iwaki 55 for the return pump so only ~1500GPH. Would it be significantly better just to go ahead and run three seperate 1.5" down the wall and have all three dump?

The other issue is from sump to sump. If I choose option B should I just go ahead and have 3 1.5" bulkheads on each side so I don't have to worry about bottlenecking or will 2 be sufficient?

Off to research fans and FRP

kwl1763 · 11/26/2005, 03:34 PM

On the topoff front I am looking at stacking an RO Sump on top of a saltwater holding sump.

Here is a quick and dirty picture.

The cycling topoff referred to is stolen from weatherson's TOTM this month!

I thought it was an awesome idea so your RODI isn't constantly cycling on and off. Now I have to look at solenoids and how I can make a triple redundant one. Suggestions as always are appreciated.

kwl1763 · 11/28/2005, 08:23 PM

Wow no comments? It's not like you guys to be unopinionated!

Anyway I think I have found a good toppoff solution for fairly cheap. I already have two of the double switches from here.

http://www.autotopoff.com/products/S/index.htm

I think I'll add 2 solinoids and have it where both float switches must be on for anything to happen. That way if one solinoid fails I'm safe and either both solinoids or all 4 float switches would have to fail at the same time in order for the whole thing to fail.

In fact I guess I'll need 4 solinoids and 2 more of the double float switches because I'l need one hooked up to the RODI input and one on the drain to return sump from the RODI resevoir. So not as cheap as I thought but very fail resistant!

Now I have to start designing the "chamber" so it won't cycle on and off all the time.

EnglishRebel · 11/29/2005, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
If you button up the tanks to trap the humidity, you also prevent oxygen exchange in the water, which our animals need.

I agree Marc but wouldn't the oxygen exchange happen in the sump which would be completely open? If you had a large enough surface area with plenty of water motion (i.e. turbulence) this should provide oxygenation.

melev · 11/29/2005, 11:55 AM

That would be possible, but then again a large open surface area adds to the humidity of the room. And typically you don't want a lot of surface turbulence in your sump due to noise, microbubbles and other issues.

Keith, I had a link sent to me in a PM that might help you with the humidity situation. I'll forward it to you.

On the sumps, I like Option B myself.

kwl1763 · 12/03/2005, 10:37 PM

Ok made a huge order from Savko today for all the bulkheads and flexible PVC and unions, etc. I also picked up the wood to start building the rolling stands for the sumps. I'll actually start the build tommorow.

I also ordered 3 lumenmax reflectors today so I need 3 ballasts, sockets and 5 lamps and I'll be set in the lighting department.

I'm going to order ~250 of live rock to be delivered the week before christmas. I have to get the sumps connected and going and the skimmer tested and going by then!

derrikd · 12/03/2005, 11:08 PM

cant wait to see more

McGinnis · 12/05/2005, 11:20 AM

Keith,
I am glad to hear you are back in the reef circuit again! I cannot wait to see the progression of this tank, if it is anywhere near as good as your previous tanks it will be amazing! I agree with Marc in regards to your sump designs, the second one just seems easier to move and access in the event something goes wrong. The way I see it you could easily transfer contents and wheel in a new contain, with no sweat!

melev · 12/05/2005, 02:14 PM

Keith, if you followed my thread last week, we had a decent discussion about humidity. Armed with that knowledge I went to Home Depot to see what kind of vent fans they had. You basically want to know how many CFM and Sones you want. The lower the number of sones, the quieter it is. There was a nice $20 vent fan that would have woke the dead, and the one I liked was $118 of course. I had an A/C guy here last week, and he told me I needed 50CFM in my fish room. I'm going to go with 100CFM because I plan to pipe that moist air out some PVC and out of my home and figure the additional resistance will reduce the rating the mfg gave it.

I may post the model # of the one I like, and then wait for you to find me a better deal. You always score in that department.

kwl1763 · 12/05/2005, 02:24 PM

I need like a 500 cfm then. I did follow that discussion with great interest of course!

melev · 12/05/2005, 02:40 PM

Oh good. I didn't know if you'd had the time. Since you'd been talking about it, I wanted to give you a summation.

I figure you'll find something at a bargain at Overstock.com and if you do, I want to buy it that way too. Do you plan to hook it up to a humidistat? I saw a link to one online last week (from somebody's thread) and it was $36. I'd have to go find it though.

kwl1763 · 12/07/2005, 10:33 PM

Santa came early for me!

Today I came home to 4 big boxes! The wife wasn't so excited but I was because I knew exactly what it was!

3 Lumenmax reflectors

These things are a beast. 22" square

The only issue I have is illustrated below. This is the place where the mogul socket mounts.

The way it is designed If I bought normal mounts and sockets the bulb would start just inside the reflector I think. This would cause it to be off center which I'm guessing is not optimal. I could buy these extended ones.

http://www.sunlightsupply.com/aquari...assembly.shtml

but they are like $40. I really like to avoid that if possible!

Anyway I'll continue in another post.

kwl1763 · 12/07/2005, 10:39 PM

The other thing I recieved was a whole box of goodies from Savko!

There were Sch80 bulkheads

A dozen 1.5" unions with valves

Strainers for the sump bulkheads

And 50' of 1.5" flex PVC

Getting closer. I hope to have the sumps at least connected together this weekend to where I can at least start getting things going. I hope to order some live rock just after the holidays and get it going. That means I have to have the whole sump assembly and skimmer working and tested before the 22nd. Unfortunatly I have 2 business trips in between now and then so it's aggressive but that's the goal.

melev · 12/07/2005, 11:04 PM

I hope you post lots of pictures of that skimmer, and I really hope it works as good as intended when it was first created.

All your new goodies.... it really is exciting. I hope you'll keep updating this thread regularly because it is so cold outside I'm going to need some entertainment for a while.

McGinnis · 12/08/2005, 07:35 AM

Marc,
Here in Vermont this morning it was 4 degrees! I cannot imagine Texas being anywhere near as miserable as that!

Keith,
I am really enjoying reading this thread, as I fully hope to one day be able to have a really good sized tank, maybe not as big as this one will be but of similarly larger size. Does this Savko place have good deals on your plumbing supplies?

lovetoreef · 12/08/2005, 03:54 PM

well, i hope the skimmer does as well as it was made to do also

as for the weather, it was -2 in amarillo texas this morning!!

great job so far keith - i will be watching this thread and hope all things go great - thanks and let me know how the skimmer works.

gm

law086 · 12/08/2005, 04:05 PM

Keith,

With sump layout B, do you really think draining from sump to sump would work well with the inlet and outlets all being at the same height? That's really the advantage I see with option A. I really like your setup and I'm thinking about something similar in my next system.

Ron

kwl1763 · 12/08/2005, 06:57 PM

Ron that's the thing I'm a little worried about also. If it was only a few hundred GPH I would be worried but it will be ~1200 so it could be an issue. I'm thinking I'll be OK but not sure. I need to measure and see if I can boost each one by like 3" or so as I think even that little bit will help.

As a last resort I can always throttle the return back a bit.

vair · 12/08/2005, 08:27 PM

For humidity, I added a unit like these heat/air exchangers and it's great.http://www.lifebreath.com/life.htm

As a side benefit the air in my house has a more noticeable "clean" to it.

Dave

SERVO · 12/08/2005, 10:02 PM

AWESOME

melev · 12/09/2005, 01:42 AM

For the past two nights, it has been 19F. Yesterday, over 200 accidents were reported, due to icy conditions. I didn't even drive yesterday, but I did walk over to my closest LFS to a visit.

Got the owner to close up and give me a lift home.

It was too cold to walk home. (He was going to close up to get a cup of coffee anyway, so the ride was well-timed.)

I had to strip a floor today, and driving in the 31F weather wasn't a big deal until you hit those patches of ice. One guy almost side-swiped me, and I had to be careful myself.

Did you do anything else today, Keith? Come on, we need daily updates.

kwl1763 · 12/09/2005, 07:56 AM

Daily what am I melev or something?

OK yesteday I went to tractor supply company and bought heavy duty casters for the "stands" of the sumps and went and bought some SPAR polyurethane to cover the wood. I hope to get those bulit and done this weekend. I'm going to try to cut everthing and pur the first coat of spar on tonight.

It's cold here also but not that cold. The lows are right at freezing. With highs close to 40. I was supposed to go to New York Monday. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will get cancelled and I can get some more done.

The next steps after I get the sumps all hooked up are to recheck and tighten everything on the skimmer and then fire it up. The problem is I have to have a tone of water to do that as it holds almost 15 gallons by itself that will totally drain when shut off!

I may go ahead and order some live rock for delivery on the 19th or 20th which will get my behind in gear. If I don't I won't order until after the holidays.

McGinnis · 12/09/2005, 08:51 AM

Keith,
I really cannot wait to see the sump setup. As Ron had stated above, I think your only concern would be that the sumps are close to the same level. I have something going right now, on a much smaller scale that is similar to what you are planning. My refugium and my return are two separate containers connected by a bulkhead, and so far it seems to be working great with having good flow through them both.

Marc, I know what you mean about not daring to venture out...still I really am stunned by your dedication to walk to the LFS! Hopefully it was worth the trip.

chainsaw5vent · 12/10/2005, 07:45 AM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by McGinnis
[B]Marc,
Here in Vermont this morning it was 4 degrees! I cannot imagine Texas being anywhere near as miserable as that!

are scooby and shaggy shaking in the cold air??
here in socal it was in the mid sixties

11/26/2005, 02:36 PM	#52
kwl1763 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 877	Ok I got a little farther today. I started actually designing how the sumps will flow into each other etc. The first design I came up with allows me to really easily control different rates of flow, disconnect one section, etc. So it is super super flexible. They are on casters so I can move them around if I need. The drains will be ~60" high so that should be adequate to gravity feed the tallest sump. The problem I came up with here is the skimmer placement. I would have to build a really tall skimmer stand to get it even with the first sump. And with the skimmer itself being ~60 inches tall it would be almost to the ceiling. I would have to build some steps to get up there, etc. Major pain. So I rethought and went much simpler. This takes away most of my flow control (even though I could build bypass loops around the refugium) but makes it much easier from the skimmer standpoint. I could still easily disconnect with unions and either run tubing or put a new sump in if I ever have a problem it just won't be quite as versatile. Do you see any potential issues with it? I think I will end up going with something like this. The simplicity it brings is worth the control sacrifice I think. Also the return sump is off the picture and the drains will have a bypass to there for sure so if nothing else I can take these three sumps totally out of the loop and still run the system with just the return sump if necessary. It's also about 6" lower then the other sumps so when the return pump is turned off all the excess will drain into the return section. Maybe I should make them all level so if the water goes above the bulkheads (when the return pump turns off. I would have to overflow a lot more before a flood happens? Thoughts? The other issue I'm contemplating is pipe size. I will have 3 1.5" drains on the tank. The run from the tank to the sumps will be ~20ft with a roughly 2ft drop. I'm thinking of consolidating the 3 drains into one 2 inch pipe to run the 20ft and have the 2" pipe drain into the skimmer sump. I'm only going to use an Iwaki 55 for the return pump so only ~1500GPH. Would it be significantly better just to go ahead and run three seperate 1.5" down the wall and have all three dump? The other issue is from sump to sump. If I choose option B should I just go ahead and have 3 1.5" bulkheads on each side so I don't have to worry about bottlenecking or will 2 be sufficient? Off to research fans and FRP __________________ Keith Click the red house above to visit my thread Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank

11/26/2005, 03:34 PM	#53
kwl1763 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 877	On the topoff front I am looking at stacking an RO Sump on top of a saltwater holding sump. Here is a quick and dirty picture. The cycling topoff referred to is stolen from weatherson's TOTM this month! I thought it was an awesome idea so your RODI isn't constantly cycling on and off. Now I have to look at solenoids and how I can make a triple redundant one. Suggestions as always are appreciated. __________________ Keith Click the red house above to visit my thread Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank

11/28/2005, 08:23 PM	#54
kwl1763 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 877	Wow no comments? It's not like you guys to be unopinionated! Anyway I think I have found a good toppoff solution for fairly cheap. I already have two of the double switches from here. http://www.autotopoff.com/products/S/index.htm I think I'll add 2 solinoids and have it where both float switches must be on for anything to happen. That way if one solinoid fails I'm safe and either both solinoids or all 4 float switches would have to fail at the same time in order for the whole thing to fail. In fact I guess I'll need 4 solinoids and 2 more of the double float switches because I'l need one hooked up to the RODI input and one on the drain to return sump from the RODI resevoir. So not as cheap as I thought but very fail resistant! Now I have to start designing the "chamber" so it won't cycle on and off all the time. __________________ Keith Click the red house above to visit my thread Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank

12/03/2005, 10:37 PM	#57
kwl1763 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 877	Ok made a huge order from Savko today for all the bulkheads and flexible PVC and unions, etc. I also picked up the wood to start building the rolling stands for the sumps. I'll actually start the build tommorow. I also ordered 3 lumenmax reflectors today so I need 3 ballasts, sockets and 5 lamps and I'll be set in the lighting department. I'm going to order ~250 of live rock to be delivered the week before christmas. I have to get the sumps connected and going and the skimmer tested and going by then! __________________ Keith Click the red house above to visit my thread Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank

12/05/2005, 11:20 AM	#59
McGinnis Premium Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Burlington, Vermont Posts: 310	Keith, I am glad to hear you are back in the reef circuit again! I cannot wait to see the progression of this tank, if it is anywhere near as good as your previous tanks it will be amazing! I agree with Marc in regards to your sump designs, the second one just seems easier to move and access in the event something goes wrong. The way I see it you could easily transfer contents and wheel in a new contain, with no sweat! __________________ Matthew Kuhlmeier "Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it" Albert Einstein Current Tank Info: 90-Gallon AGA Reef-Ready, Converted Wet/Dry to sump/refugium, T-5 Lighing, Oceansmotion Squirt & Mag 9.5 Closed Loop, Ozone, and still counting..

11/25/2005, 07:34 AM	#51
Poppy828 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Midwest Posts: 2,026	You're Welcome. If you were closer, I could get the panels for you. Good luck with this. Keep us informed. Todd

11/29/2005, 11:55 AM	#56
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	That would be possible, but then again a large open surface area adds to the humidity of the room. And typically you don't want a lot of surface turbulence in your sump due to noise, microbubbles and other issues. Keith, I had a link sent to me in a PM that might help you with the humidity situation. I'll forward it to you. On the sumps, I like Option B myself.

12/03/2005, 11:08 PM	#58
derrikd Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: New Braunfels, Texas Posts: 3,356	cant wait to see more

12/05/2005, 02:14 PM	#60
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Keith, if you followed my thread last week, we had a decent discussion about humidity. Armed with that knowledge I went to Home Depot to see what kind of vent fans they had. You basically want to know how many CFM and Sones you want. The lower the number of sones, the quieter it is. There was a nice $20 vent fan that would have woke the dead, and the one I liked was $118 of course. I had an A/C guy here last week, and he told me I needed 50CFM in my fish room. I'm going to go with 100CFM because I plan to pipe that moist air out some PVC and out of my home and figure the additional resistance will reduce the rating the mfg gave it. I may post the model # of the one I like, and then wait for you to find me a better deal. You always score in that department.

12/05/2005, 02:24 PM	#61
kwl1763 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 877	I need like a 500 cfm then. I did follow that discussion with great interest of course! __________________ Keith Click the red house above to visit my thread Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank

12/05/2005, 02:40 PM	#62
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Oh good. I didn't know if you'd had the time. Since you'd been talking about it, I wanted to give you a summation. I figure you'll find something at a bargain at Overstock.com and if you do, I want to buy it that way too. Do you plan to hook it up to a humidistat? I saw a link to one online last week (from somebody's thread) and it was $36. I'd have to go find it though.

12/07/2005, 10:33 PM	#63
kwl1763 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 877	Santa comes early Santa came early for me! Today I came home to 4 big boxes! The wife wasn't so excited but I was because I knew exactly what it was! 3 Lumenmax reflectors These things are a beast. 22" square The only issue I have is illustrated below. This is the place where the mogul socket mounts. The way it is designed If I bought normal mounts and sockets the bulb would start just inside the reflector I think. This would cause it to be off center which I'm guessing is not optimal. I could buy these extended ones. http://www.sunlightsupply.com/aquari...assembly.shtml but they are like $40. I really like to avoid that if possible! Anyway I'll continue in another post. __________________ Keith Click the red house above to visit my thread Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank

12/07/2005, 10:39 PM	#64
kwl1763 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 877	The other thing I recieved was a whole box of goodies from Savko! There were Sch80 bulkheads A dozen 1.5" unions with valves Strainers for the sump bulkheads And 50' of 1.5" flex PVC Getting closer. I hope to have the sumps at least connected together this weekend to where I can at least start getting things going. I hope to order some live rock just after the holidays and get it going. That means I have to have the whole sump assembly and skimmer working and tested before the 22nd. Unfortunatly I have 2 business trips in between now and then so it's aggressive but that's the goal. __________________ Keith Click the red house above to visit my thread Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank

12/07/2005, 11:04 PM	#65
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	I hope you post lots of pictures of that skimmer, and I really hope it works as good as intended when it was first created. All your new goodies.... it really is exciting. I hope you'll keep updating this thread regularly because it is so cold outside I'm going to need some entertainment for a while.

12/08/2005, 07:35 AM	#66
McGinnis Premium Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Burlington, Vermont Posts: 310	Marc, Here in Vermont this morning it was 4 degrees! I cannot imagine Texas being anywhere near as miserable as that! Keith, I am really enjoying reading this thread, as I fully hope to one day be able to have a really good sized tank, maybe not as big as this one will be but of similarly larger size. Does this Savko place have good deals on your plumbing supplies? __________________ Matthew Kuhlmeier "Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it" Albert Einstein Current Tank Info: 90-Gallon AGA Reef-Ready, Converted Wet/Dry to sump/refugium, T-5 Lighing, Oceansmotion Squirt & Mag 9.5 Closed Loop, Ozone, and still counting..

12/08/2005, 03:54 PM	#67
lovetoreef Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Canton, TX Posts: 763	well, i hope the skimmer does as well as it was made to do also as for the weather, it was -2 in amarillo texas this morning!! great job so far keith - i will be watching this thread and hope all things go great - thanks and let me know how the skimmer works. gm __________________ Planning SPS AIO tank Canton, TX Reefing on and off since 2001 Current Tank Info: planning nano AIO

12/08/2005, 04:05 PM	#68
law086 Premium Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: New Tripoli, PA Posts: 1,306	Keith, With sump layout B, do you really think draining from sump to sump would work well with the inlet and outlets all being at the same height? That's really the advantage I see with option A. I really like your setup and I'm thinking about something similar in my next system. Ron __________________ "We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year." Current Tank Info: 180 RR ~ 150g sump ~ 100g fuge ~ 30g frag tank ~ Bermuda Aquatics 8C on Mag18~ GenX 55 return ~ 3 SureFlow MaxiMods, Tunze 6000 ~ 40w Gamma UV ~ 175w x 3 MH ~ 160w x 2 VHO

12/08/2005, 06:57 PM	#69
kwl1763 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 877	Ron that's the thing I'm a little worried about also. If it was only a few hundred GPH I would be worried but it will be ~1200 so it could be an issue. I'm thinking I'll be OK but not sure. I need to measure and see if I can boost each one by like 3" or so as I think even that little bit will help. As a last resort I can always throttle the return back a bit. __________________ Keith Click the red house above to visit my thread Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank

12/08/2005, 08:27 PM	#70
vair Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Alberta Posts: 465	For humidity, I added a unit like these heat/air exchangers and it's great.http://www.lifebreath.com/life.htm As a side benefit the air in my house has a more noticeable "clean" to it. Dave __________________ Dave --------------------------------- Really I like my bare bottom. "go snowboarding" www.sourceboards.com Current Tank Info: Building a in wall 300G reef tank.

12/08/2005, 10:02 PM	#71
SERVO Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Keller, TX Posts: 1,305	AWESOME

12/09/2005, 01:42 AM	#72
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	For the past two nights, it has been 19F. Yesterday, over 200 accidents were reported, due to icy conditions. I didn't even drive yesterday, but I did walk over to my closest LFS to a visit. Got the owner to close up and give me a lift home. It was too cold to walk home. (He was going to close up to get a cup of coffee anyway, so the ride was well-timed.) I had to strip a floor today, and driving in the 31F weather wasn't a big deal until you hit those patches of ice. One guy almost side-swiped me, and I had to be careful myself. Did you do anything else today, Keith? Come on, we need daily updates.

12/09/2005, 07:56 AM	#73
kwl1763 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 877	Daily what am I melev or something? OK yesteday I went to tractor supply company and bought heavy duty casters for the "stands" of the sumps and went and bought some SPAR polyurethane to cover the wood. I hope to get those bulit and done this weekend. I'm going to try to cut everthing and pur the first coat of spar on tonight. It's cold here also but not that cold. The lows are right at freezing. With highs close to 40. I was supposed to go to New York Monday. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will get cancelled and I can get some more done. The next steps after I get the sumps all hooked up are to recheck and tighten everything on the skimmer and then fire it up. The problem is I have to have a tone of water to do that as it holds almost 15 gallons by itself that will totally drain when shut off! I may go ahead and order some live rock for delivery on the 19th or 20th which will get my behind in gear. If I don't I won't order until after the holidays. __________________ Keith Click the red house above to visit my thread Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank

12/09/2005, 08:51 AM	#74
McGinnis Premium Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Burlington, Vermont Posts: 310	Keith, I really cannot wait to see the sump setup. As Ron had stated above, I think your only concern would be that the sumps are close to the same level. I have something going right now, on a much smaller scale that is similar to what you are planning. My refugium and my return are two separate containers connected by a bulkhead, and so far it seems to be working great with having good flow through them both. Marc, I know what you mean about not daring to venture out...still I really am stunned by your dedication to walk to the LFS! Hopefully it was worth the trip. __________________ Matthew Kuhlmeier "Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it" Albert Einstein Current Tank Info: 90-Gallon AGA Reef-Ready, Converted Wet/Dry to sump/refugium, T-5 Lighing, Oceansmotion Squirt & Mag 9.5 Closed Loop, Ozone, and still counting..

12/10/2005, 07:45 AM	#75
chainsaw5vent Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: riverside, ca. Posts: 161	[QUOTE]Originally posted by McGinnis [B]Marc, Here in Vermont this morning it was 4 degrees! I cannot imagine Texas being anywhere near as miserable as that! are scooby and shaggy shaking in the cold air?? here in socal it was in the mid sixties __________________ father of 7. 1X, 5Y, 1X Current Tank Info: wanna reef.