a Wisconsin Reef... my raceway dream come true

[Alpha Aquaculture]

johnanddawn:
"in your raceway - maybe the idea is to have 2 returns and 2 overflows. one on each end so one pump runs and overflows at the other end, and then you switch pumps and the flow reverses direction to the other end overflow - kinda like a wave over a fringe reef into the lagoon. first all the water is moving to the left and then all the water is moving to the right
hmmm i like like that"


Yes that is optimal like in a lagoon when the water comes in and then later in the day goes out. Mass water movements in opposite directions. I have an idea of how I could apply this concept to two tanks on the same level with large diameter tubes connecting the tanks and prop pumps in the tubes turning on and off. I was never able to come up with a realistic way to make this happen for my style of raceway. If the two overflows were on the same level wouldn't water just overflow over both of them? It seems as if I would have to have prop pumps in there to force flow into certain directions to minimize the overflow into the wrong direction. I would like to make the raceways work without so many pumps... how could I make this work with only 2 sets of return pumps?

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Here is an example of how a raceway could work with a change of direction. There is no overflow in the drawing and none is needed but an overflow could be added easily. Pump set #1 turns on for a period and then off, then Pump set #2 turns on for a period. The pumps to use for this are propeller style pumps so that when they are off water can rush through them in the opposite direction. The pumps need to be fitted to the tubes connecting the tanks so that there is a tight fit and all the pumped water goes to the opposite tank. There are two pumps and connection tubes at either end for redundancy and to allow for more flow, active and more importantly passive flow through the tubes.

One of my goals with my system is to use gravity... one set of returns with multiple waterfall raceways at different levels. It now occurs to me that instead of one raceway tank at each level I could have two sets of raceways configured to the drawing above. Each level could have the ability to alternate flow... I just need to think about overflow placement and how to best use this gravity fed water.

I'm open to ideas

 

[johnanddawn]

johnanddawn:
Yes that is optimal like in a lagoon when the water comes in and then later in the day goes out. Mass water movements in opposite directions. I have an idea of how I could apply this concept to two tanks on the same level with large diameter tubes connecting the tanks and prop pumps in the tubes turning on and off. I was never able to come up with a realistic way to make this happen for my style of raceway. If the two overflows were on the same level wouldn't water just overflow over both of them? It seems as if I would have to have prop pumps in there to force flow into certain directions to minimize the overflow into the wrong direction. I would like to make the raceways work without so many pumps... how could I make this work with only 2 sets of return pumps?

i like your double raceway but your right it doesn't minimize pumps or use gravity to its fullest - kinda counterproductive

i was thinking of this same prob as i was typing it. you would def have to have a large flow pump to get the water moving to the other end overflow and you may be right it may not work at all ??? water will always take the easiest path, and the length of the raceway prob isn't the easiest path
what if like in your new diagram one used a large return line and the water had to flow back through the off pump - it would take some experimentation too make sure you didn't just flood everything

cool thought just not sure if/how to make it operate properly

you have a cool system. if i ever built a prop system in my basement i would likely try to mimic your raceway idea it to some extent

but anyway, your ideas have gotten me thinking, and i like to play with such things - there has got to be a way to mimic this type of flow patern in a raceway

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

johnanddawn:
"what if like in your new diagram one used a large return line and the water had to flow back through the off pump - it would take some experimentation too make sure you didn't just flood everything"


I think I know what you mean... Having the overflow also be the intro point for the water. The overflow tube would also have a pump attached to it pressurizing that overflow so that the water flows to the other one and vice versa. I do think that would work but the issues would then be the style of overflow. I was planning on using beananimal's style for this next tank. How could I adapt that overflow to this idea? I wish I had a beananimal style already I could experiment with...

btw, Thank you for the nice words about my system. I look forward to learning more from you!

also, I'm about to upload some sketches I made months ago of some of my ideas, stay tuned

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

This is my sketch of my current raceway system that I gave to my welder when I had my stands built

Water flows via gravity from 1-5, then its pumped straight up from 5 to 1
Because tanks 2,3,4 are raceways I don't need any pumps but the ones from 5 to 1


I'm using this basic layout as my backbone for my next system... but I'm sure to have changes/upgrades

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

New acan I got last week, just gotta show it off

LED's

w Flash

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Purple Erkle

 

[Viva'sReef]

I had the same thing happen to many of my Acans.....It was consecutive too. One colony would do it, then another, then another. Lost about half of them before I took them out and moved them to a hospital tank with new water.

I have been told by a couple people that Total Polyp Bailout is caused from low Stronium levels. Do you dose Stronium at all? Does Morgan? Not sure if this holds water at all, but it could be the problem. I bought a bottle of stronium and dosed it like crazy for about two weeks, brought my acans back over from the hospital tank, and never had a problem after that.

Awesome setup too. Your Acan collection is amazing. Makes me wish I still kept some

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

I had the same thing happen to many of my Acans.....It was consecutive too. One colony would do it, then another, then another. Lost about half of them before I took them out and moved them to a hospital tank with new water.

I have been told by a couple people that Total Polyp Bailout is caused from low Stronium levels. Do you dose Stronium at all? Does Morgan? Not sure if this holds water at all, but it could be the problem. I bought a bottle of stronium and dosed it like crazy for about two weeks, brought my acans back over from the hospital tank, and never had a problem after that.

Awesome setup too. Your Acan collection is amazing. Makes me wish I still kept some

Viva thank you very much for joining my discussions and for your kind words. And thank you for your concern and help. I never thought about strontium levels until you brought it up. It seems like some strontium doses and a test kit are in order. I only had the one acan do that but then again I think an ounce of strontium as prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Can you tell me anything about your strontium levels at the time and after dosing?

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

 

[Viva'sReef]

Viva thank you very much for joining my discussions and for your kind words. And thank you for your concern and help. I never thought about strontium levels until you brought it up. It seems like some strontium doses and a test kit are in order. I only had the one acan do that but then again I think an ounce of strontium as prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Can you tell me anything about your strontium levels at the time and after dosing?

If I remember right my levels were around 3ppm of Strontium. Granted the test kit may have been off (Salifert) but I went for it anyway. I raised it up to about 10ppm with a strotium supplement, then started dosing Kalk water regularly again after stopping almost 3 months prior.

At the time I was doing all types of testing to figure out what was going on. My Calcium had also dropped dangeroulsy low during this time, to around 220 and could also be a factor as to why my Strotium levels were also low, and polyps started to bail out.

Here's a good read on Strotium and it's place in Marine Aquaria
Chemistry and the Aquarium

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Thank you for the info. I read through the article and it makes me think that my strontium levels are ok because of my regular weekly 40% water changes and calcium reactor inputs although I am not sure because I have not done any tests. I will be ordering a test kit with my next set of marine purchases to check.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

Purple Erkle

Oh man, I gotta get some of that someday.

 

[johnanddawn]

although i know very little about acans specifically - my best understanding on strontium in general as far as coral use is concern is very debatable. many believe it is just a close enough ionic replacement that the coral uses when available in sufficient quantities. this makes sense in that Sr and Ca are both alkaline earth metals with the same valence electrons making them basically interchangable in the aragonite structure of coral rock. Mg another alkaline earth metal often replaces Ca in ancient rock formations to change limestone into what is called dolomite

ie Sr probably isn't all that important to corals but they can/will use it

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Oh man, I gotta get some of that someday.

I've been pretty hesitant about fragging my corals lately but I can feel an extreme fragging session will happen in around 6 months maybe sooner. When I do I'm gonna holla at everyone for some serious trading... your going to be one of the first people I contact for sure

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

johnanddawn:
"what if like in your new diagram one used a large return line and the water had to flow back through the off pump - it would take some experimentation too make sure you didn't just flood everything"


I think I know what you mean... Having the overflow also be the intro point for the water. The overflow tube would also have a pump attached to it pressurizing that overflow so that the water flows to the other one and vice versa. I do think that would work but the issues would then be the style of overflow. I was planning on using beananimal's style for this next tank. How could I adapt that overflow to this idea? I wish I had a beananimal style already I could experiment with...

btw, Thank you for the nice words about my system. I look forward to learning more from you!

also, I'm about to upload some sketches I made months ago of some of my ideas, stay tuned

although i know very little about acans specifically - my best understanding on strontium in general as far as coral use is concern is very debatable. many believe it is just a close enough ionic replacement that the coral uses when available in sufficient quantities. this makes sense in that Sr and Ca are both alkaline earth metals with the same valence electrons making them basically interchangable in the aragonite structure of coral rock. Mg another alkaline earth metal often replaces Ca in ancient rock formations to change limestone into what is called dolomite

ie Sr probably isn't all that important to corals but they can/will use it

Curious to hear what you think about that overflow or any new ideas regarding that style of tank.

I agree about the strontium ionic replacement but I do believe too little is known currently. Striving for NSW levels is what I'm going for.

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Thank you again Marvin!

:wink:

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I love the RSC rainbow Kris! You have a sweet frag.

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

I love the RSC rainbow Kris! You have a sweet frag.

Thanks! Its all because of Marvin tho, he hooked it up :xd:

 

[subielover]

That is a beauty!