I think a good way to for members to get to know me and my skill set is by a tour of my tank...
This is an image of my tank overall. You will notice that there is a great deal of coralline algae, I understand this is a sign of good water quality. But my water quality has been suffering a bit lately. That's something I will get into another time. The big coralline covered tube on the right is my drain tube; a 3 inch piece of PVC.
This is the underside of the drain tube. I drilled and installed a 3/4 inch double threaded bulkhead and plumbed the rest of the tank in 3/4 inch PVC.
This is the side view of my sump where the water first enters and is where some mechanical filtration takes place. The bottom layer is 50 micron white filter felt, then a lime filter pad on top of that. Additionally, I have a white plastic mesh on the very top and have enclosed it with plexiglass and placed a light on top. I do this to promote algae growth in an effort to minimize algae growth in the display tank.
This is the section of my sump below my filter media. I have it filled with small pieces of live rock, which I prefer over plastic or ceramic filter fillers.
This is the return side of my sump. It is kind of cramped but I'm not too concerned as I am planning a much larger build. In this photo, you will see my protein skimmer, automatic top off float, return pump with check valve, heater and cooling fan.
This is my protein skimmer; made it myself. It uses opposing flow; water in from the top flowing down and wood stones with air pump flowing bubbles up against the water flow. It works... sometimes... it is inconsistent. There are times when I get thick green muck and other times when I get a faint tea color. I'm shopping for a new protein skimmer.
This is my temperature controller. I didn't want to rely on the thermostat on the heater as those things sometime get stuck ON and kill everything when unnoticed. Since using this controller, my temperature ranges from 24.5c and 25.5c. It cost me about 50 bucks to make and an hour of my time. Also notice I have a fire extinguisher near by. LOL
This is my cooling fan, also connected to my temperature controller. I find it is an effective alternative to the expensive chiller.
Now... On to my water manufacturing...
This is my 5 stage RODI filter. You will notice the small 2 way ball valve at the back. the input is the blue water line at the bottom. To the right is a line traveling from my basement to my living room which I use to top off a 5 gallon reserve. To the left is a second blue line which goes off to the collection basin for mixing salt with new water.
This is my new water mixing basin. I use an old Aqueon hang on filter for circulation and mixing. If you look closely, you will see that I cut down the filter so that I could fit it at the back. Yes, I know I could have put it on the side, but that didn't work for my plan. What you can't see in the picture is a food grade water spigot to drain the water into a 5 gallon water cooler jug once it is ready.
And finally, this is my reserve. There are two lines... one is the feed from the water source to refill the reserve. The other is the feed to the float in the sump.
Well... that concludes my tour. Now I can get down to some questions... stay tuned
This is an image of my tank overall. You will notice that there is a great deal of coralline algae, I understand this is a sign of good water quality. But my water quality has been suffering a bit lately. That's something I will get into another time. The big coralline covered tube on the right is my drain tube; a 3 inch piece of PVC.
This is the underside of the drain tube. I drilled and installed a 3/4 inch double threaded bulkhead and plumbed the rest of the tank in 3/4 inch PVC.
This is the side view of my sump where the water first enters and is where some mechanical filtration takes place. The bottom layer is 50 micron white filter felt, then a lime filter pad on top of that. Additionally, I have a white plastic mesh on the very top and have enclosed it with plexiglass and placed a light on top. I do this to promote algae growth in an effort to minimize algae growth in the display tank.
This is the section of my sump below my filter media. I have it filled with small pieces of live rock, which I prefer over plastic or ceramic filter fillers.
This is the return side of my sump. It is kind of cramped but I'm not too concerned as I am planning a much larger build. In this photo, you will see my protein skimmer, automatic top off float, return pump with check valve, heater and cooling fan.
This is my protein skimmer; made it myself. It uses opposing flow; water in from the top flowing down and wood stones with air pump flowing bubbles up against the water flow. It works... sometimes... it is inconsistent. There are times when I get thick green muck and other times when I get a faint tea color. I'm shopping for a new protein skimmer.
This is my temperature controller. I didn't want to rely on the thermostat on the heater as those things sometime get stuck ON and kill everything when unnoticed. Since using this controller, my temperature ranges from 24.5c and 25.5c. It cost me about 50 bucks to make and an hour of my time. Also notice I have a fire extinguisher near by. LOL
This is my cooling fan, also connected to my temperature controller. I find it is an effective alternative to the expensive chiller.
Now... On to my water manufacturing...
This is my 5 stage RODI filter. You will notice the small 2 way ball valve at the back. the input is the blue water line at the bottom. To the right is a line traveling from my basement to my living room which I use to top off a 5 gallon reserve. To the left is a second blue line which goes off to the collection basin for mixing salt with new water.
This is my new water mixing basin. I use an old Aqueon hang on filter for circulation and mixing. If you look closely, you will see that I cut down the filter so that I could fit it at the back. Yes, I know I could have put it on the side, but that didn't work for my plan. What you can't see in the picture is a food grade water spigot to drain the water into a 5 gallon water cooler jug once it is ready.
And finally, this is my reserve. There are two lines... one is the feed from the water source to refill the reserve. The other is the feed to the float in the sump.
Well... that concludes my tour. Now I can get down to some questions... stay tuned
