Brand new equipment newbie questions

Jivatma

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Finalizing my tank setup. Still dialing in salinity. But all pumps, powerheads and skimmer is running smoothly. New to all this tech, so just winging it, but would like some help from the pros. DT is a standard 75g, instand sump.

1) How do I place my mp40s? I have 2 on opposite ends pointing towards one another. Do I want them to point directly at one another or should i offset them front-to-back and/or top-to-bottom? Also can anybody recommend a good tutorial on mobius app? Not quite sure what kind of flow I want so looking to do more research and learning. I son't have any livestock but i would like a bit more of a back and forth tide kind of flow. Also, How do I tell if I have any dead spots?

2) Protein skimmer is RO Regal150s. To break it in, just let it run, wide open, right? When it stops overflowing, its broken in? How does the variable speed of the pump work in conjuction with the water valve?

3) Return pump is Varios-2. With 1" returns (reduced to 3/4" locline at 2 bulkhead returns). Is there a way to visually tell I have enough turnover? Both returns have a nice gentle arch of water when i tilt them up. Looks okay to me I guess. I have gate valves on both returns to help control flow, but when setting up, I noticed a slight gurgle in the return lines that I was able to get rid of. Is that normal?
 

Kodski

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Finalizing my tank setup. Still dialing in salinity. But all pumps, powerheads and skimmer is running smoothly. New to all this tech, so just winging it, but would like some help from the pros. DT is a standard 75g, instand sump.

1) How do I place my mp40s? I have 2 on opposite ends pointing towards one another. Do I want them to point directly at one another or should i offset them front-to-back and/or top-to-bottom? Also can anybody recommend a good tutorial on mobius app? Not quite sure what kind of flow I want so looking to do more research and learning. I son't have any livestock but i would like a bit more of a back and forth tide kind of flow. Also, How do I tell if I have any dead spots?

2) Protein skimmer is RO Regal150s. To break it in, just let it run, wide open, right? When it stops overflowing, its broken in? How does the variable speed of the pump work in conjuction with the water valve?

3) Return pump is Varios-2. With 1" returns (reduced to 3/4" locline at 2 bulkhead returns). Is there a way to visually tell I have enough turnover? Both returns have a nice gentle arch of water when i tilt them up. Looks okay to me I guess. I have gate valves on both returns to help control flow, but when setting up, I noticed a slight gurgle in the return lines that I was able to get rid of. Is that normal?
1) Opposite each other should be fine for now, but ultimately it will depend on your rock scape. Coral placement will also come into play once you start adding corals. You don't want to directly blast corals but you still want to move enough water to avoid dead spots where detritus will build up. This is something that will come with time. As you add corals to the tank and get a feel for how the flow patterns are, you'll find yourself fine tuning the flow. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Its just something you'll have to play with as you go. Can't help you with the mobius thing though.

2) Every skimmer is different, but I've never had a break in period on a skimmer. I simply adjust it so the foam head ends about halfway in the neck. Come back in 20 minutes and see if its still there. If it is, I leave it and check back in a few hours to check again. If not, I re-adjust it so the foam head is halfway up the neck again. You may have to adjust the skimmer a few more times but as long as you keep an eye on it, and keep adjusting it properly, it should work out of the box. If you let it run wide open, it may not necessarily just completely stop overflowing.

As for what the variable speed vs the water valve does. I could try to explain it, but honestly, just watch this video. BRS does a great job explaining.



3) There is no way to tell visually if you have enough turnover, and exact turnover is a highly debated topic to begin with. Some say 10x some say 2-3x turnover. In reality the turnover should be somewhere between, enough to keep your display at the proper temperature and so much that your sump becomes noisy due to water flow. It really depends on what you feel is appropriate for your goals. If you had to lower the flow to quite the returns down, that will be just fine. The only real way that you'd be able to tell if you don't have enough, is if your sump is warmer than your display. IE: Your display is struggling to stay up to the correct temperature but your sump is the correct temperature. This would mean that your flow is too little.


Hope this helps.
 
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