Upgrade from 75 gallons sumpless to custom 110 gallons + sump

[00W]

So far, no it isn’t. At all.

@00W here is a video of the noise in the sump. You can see it’s coming from the waterfall in the refugium. It used to be a soft waterfall but then it increased and became untolerable (for me).

I tried removing or moving the refugium light to see if it helped and it didn’t.

I’ve read about Enkamat and want to get some but there isn’t any around here. I’ll go to the hardware store to see if they have something similar.

Ok well I love the way they made the sump to automatically tumble the cheato!
Insane idea, awesome!
Loud however. We all tolerate noise at different levels I own a restaurant so my tolerance is much higher.
Skimmer in the video is running perfectly from what I see but I also had trouble tuning it in the beginning.
I found it needed a slightly higher water depth than they said.
By now I sorta know your personality so I KNOW you read the instructions a hundred times. I'm a guy so I threw the instructions in the garbage and moved on.
It has a dual control. Both air and pump level. I got the water level where I wanted it in my sump with the skimmer running.
I turned off the skimmer.
I adjusted the air with the white knob to closed.
Turned on skimmer on the LOWEST pump setting. Slowly adjusted the air until just opened. The pump on this skimmer is more than necessary and I was running it lower in the body, not up to the neck. Make sense?
Only problem with this is you have to clean the bottom more often than normal.
From here you can adjust whatever but SLOWLY with this thing. Start as low as possible.
It is also very very touchy with any sort of man made material like filter pads socks etc so wash those well, rinse new pads well before installing.

 

[00W]

The only real way to fix the issue with the fuge that I see is get rid of the waterfall and drill holes in the sump to make a pass through no more waterfall.
You'll have to manually rotate your cheato but that's what I do anyway.
That will permanently eliminate the noise.
How fast is the pump running?
Seems like it's flying through there.

 

[Idech]

My current build is similar in size to yours. I have open sump and tank. My evaporation is somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 gallons a week. Is that on par with what you are seeing? I'm wondering if that is about the right loss in the winter and dry air.

I’m im eastern Canada so it’s pretty dry in winter here. I would say I lose a little more than 10 gallons per week. Maybe 12-15 gallons.

 

[00W]

I’m im eastern Canada so it’s pretty dry in winter here. I would say I lose a little more than 10 gallons per week. Maybe 12-15 gallons.

I'm in northern Idaho I lose about a gallon a day or more.

 

[Idech]

By now I sorta know your personality so I KNOW you read the instructions a hundred times. I'm a guy so I threw the instructions in the garbage and moved on.

Ha Ha Ha ! Yes, you’ve got it right, I did !

Right now the skimmer is running okay with my last adjustments from yesterday. If it goes nuts again, I’ll try your way. Thanks

The only real way to fix the issue with the fuge that I see is get rid of the waterfall and drill holes in the sump to make a pass through no more waterfall.

Hmm, I wouldn’t want to do that.

How fast is the pump running?
Seems like it's flying through there.

The pump is running at about 62%. It’s 2000 GPH but with head pressure and 90 degrees, there is about 1200 GPH left. So I guess it’s running at about 750 GPH.

I had it a tad lower before and didn’t have that problem. But I saw a little speck of what looked like cyano so I increased it to get more flow everywhere.

This is my first sump. Is my pump running speed okay ?

 

[00W]

Ha Ha Ha ! Yes, you’ve got it right, I did !

Right now the skimmer is running okay with my last adjustments from yesterday. If it goes nuts again, I’ll try your way. Thanks


Hmm, I wouldn’t want to do that.


The pump is running at about 62%. It’s 2000 GPH but with head pressure and 90 degrees, there is about 1200 GPH left. So I guess it’s running at about 750 GPH.

I had it a tad lower before and didn’t have that problem. But I saw a little speck of what looked like cyano so I increased it to get more flow everywhere.

This is my first sump. Is my pump running speed okay ?

Little fast I think.
I have about 100 gallons total water volume and run mine about 250 gph.
I use the wavemakers/poweheads for internal flow, return pump is just that, a return
I figured with that flow you were running it fast.
For cyno use internal flow. Cyno is result of mis matched nutrients meaning too low of either phos or nitrates.
Tank will even out just don't run too clean.
Turn the pump down and try that.
Slower flow through sump =better contact time for skimmer =works better in my experience.
Cheato needs flow but you can also tumble it to death too, shred it etc.
Tell me how that works.

 

[00W]

You can run stuff too fast.
Turn pump down until your insufferable noise dissipates and that's probably your sweet spot.

 

[Idech]

Turn the pump down and try that.
Slower flow through sump =better contact time for skimmer =works better in my experience.
Cheato needs flow but you can also tumble it to death too, shred it etc.
Tell me how that works.

You can run stuff too fast.
Turn pump down until your insufferable noise dissipates and that's probably your sweet spot.

Okay, then. Consensus is I’m running the pump too fast. I’m going to turn it down and get bigger power heads if need be.

Thanks a lot !

 

[00W]

Okay, then. Consensus is I’m running the pump too fast. I’m going to turn it down and get bigger power heads if need be.

Thanks a lot !

Any question any time I'm here.
What powerheads are you running now and where do you have them situated.

 

[Idech]

Any question any time I'm here.
What powerheads are you running now and where do you have them situated.

I turned down the flow to 498 GPH (turnover = 3,7x/hr) and the sump is now basically silent. I just need to find the sweet spot for the gate valve and re-adjust the skimmer.

For powerheads, I have a Tunze nanostream 6015 powerhead (475 GPH) and a Hydor Koralia 850 (850 GPH) which total to 1823 GPH with the pump in included (turnover = 13,5x/hr).

Here you can see their location in the back. Does it look okay ?

 

[00W]

I turned down the flow to 498 GPH (turnover = 3,7x/hr) and the sump is now basically silent. I just need to find the sweet spot for the gate valve and re-adjust the skimmer.

For powerheads, I have a Tunze nanostream 6015 powerhead (475 GPH) and a Hydor Koralia 850 (850 GPH) which total to 1823 GPH with the pump in included (turnover = 13,5x/hr).

Here you can see their location in the back. Does it look okay ?

Location looks OK.
You have sand, which you don't want to stir up with massive flow.
I personally think you need more, especially to help with cyno.
For me, I use 2 jebao ow20, one on each side of the tank pointing forward bouncing off front glass, one 0w10 in the middle pointing forward.
These are dc and adjustable so I started low and just kept going until I was happy. And this is in a 75.
I'd move the 850 to the middle and get 2 bigger ones for the outside, IF you can afford it. This hobby ain't cheap.
But, either way I think you need a bit more internal flow.
Good job on the sump.

 

[Idech]

Location looks OK.
You have sand, which you don't want to stir up with massive flow.
I personally think you need more, especially to help with cyno.
For me, I use 2 jebao ow20, one on each side of the tank pointing forward bouncing off front glass, one 0w10 in the middle pointing forward.
These are dc and adjustable so I started low and just kept going until I was happy. And this is in a 75.
I'd move the 850 to the middle and get 2 bigger ones for the outside, IF you can afford it. This hobby ain't cheap.
But, either way I think you need a bit more internal flow.
Good job on the sump.

Okay, I’ll consider that. I didn’t like the flow pattern when the powerheads were on the side but if that’s what I need, I’ll do it.

I like Jebao products (never had any though) so I’ll look at the jebao 0w10. I wanted to try the gyre pump they make so maybe I will try it.

Thanks.

 

[00W]

Okay, I’ll consider that. I didn’t like the flow pattern when the powerheads were on the side but if that’s what I need, I’ll do it.

I like Jebao products (never had any though) so I’ll look at the jebao 0w10. I wanted to try the gyre pump they make so maybe I will try it.

Thanks.

Will help tremendously.
May have to move a coral or 2, maybe not but I've found even softies like more flow than people think.
Keep me posted.
I have a hard time getting notifications so you can always go through my showcase thread I'm sure to see it then.
Tank looks great !
Yellow tang looks really healthy.
Joel

 

[Idech]

Tank looks great !
Yellow tang looks really healthy.
Joel

Thanks Joel !

 

[00W]

You can get a pair of jeabos on ebay for around $100.
Would go OW20, SLW8. Start on low and move your way up.
Mine have been going over 4 years no issues.

 

[Idech]

Refugium started making noise again a few days after I turned down the pump. I cleaned the weir with a tooth brush and so far, so good. Fingers crossed.

I added a pom pom crab with two more bottles of tiger pods at the beginning of the week. Pom pom crab was never to be seen again. I took my time to acclimate it, as I know they are sensitive creatures.

But I made the mistake of increasing my salinity right after putting it in the tank. I hope it’s just hiding and I didn’t kill it.

Besides that, not much. I’ll start buying corals as soon as my budget allows. I can’t wait.

 

[Idech]

Pom pom crab was seen many weeks after posting about it. Not much is going on with the tank. I finally got my skimmer really skimming, after 3 months of fiddling with it. I was making changes too fast I think. Now it’s skimming a lot, and fast which is what I want.

I have been dosing vodka for over 2 weeks now. Last time I checked my nitrates had gone down from 45 ppm to 43 ppm, which doesn’t look a lot but since they were constantly rising, it is. I’ll be testing again in a few days. Right now dosing 6.3 ml per day.

I am still (again) dealing with dinos. Those who say they come when your nutrients are low should look at my tank. I’ve been having dinos for two years. Two tanks and nitrates almost always over 20 ppm. I am dosing silicate once a week. I do have diatoms in the tank and I’m hoping they’ll kick dinos out.

Corals are doing okay, but not much growth. Probably because I can’t turn my lights up because of dinos. Lights are at 64% instead of 85%. I lost a candy cane colony to black sponges. When my parameters are stable, and dinos are gone, I’ll start buying corals; this time I’d like to try big colonies. At the speed I’m going, my tank will be filled when I’m 95 years old…

 

[00W]

What have you been trying to eradicate the dinos?

 

[Idech]

What have you been trying to eradicate the dinos?

They are prorocentrum, so dosing silicate. I have also raised the temperature to 82 F, as there have been reports that it gives fast results.

My sand looks half covered with diatoms and half with dinos. I should check on the microscope again to see how bad it is.

 

[00W]

Smart that you have taken them to the microscope. I've never gone that far with anything.
What is the difference with the prorocentrum vs others if you could enlighten me.