Eshopps Mariner M180 Build

[King Neptune]

Hey @King Neptune are you using the random flow generators nozzles that came with it? Mine suck air and are super annoying. I tried all the tips on the VCA website. Can’t seem to make them not suck.

Yes, I'm using OEM and the one on the left keeps farting despite my many attempts at adjusting the angle/etc. Its not as bad as it was, but I would love to fix 100%. I'm not aware of tips other than fiddling with the bend. What is the "VCA" website?

 

[synapticfire]

Yes, I'm using OEM and the one on the left keeps farting despite my many attempts at adjusting the angle/etc. Its not as bad as it was, but I would love to fix 100%. I'm not aware of tips other than fiddling with the bend. What is the "VCA" website?

Vivid Creative Aquatics (I think). The manufacturer for this little device.
I am considering just removing them.

 

[King Neptune]

Vivid Creative Aquatics (I think). The manufacturer for this little device.
I am considering just removing the tips.

I believe I found the "tips" you are talking about on the VCA website. I made some adjustments to my left nozzle and it's been about 15 minutes and I haven't heard any farting, so I may have got lucky and solved the sucking air issue. My right nozzle is breaking all their rules, pointing down, far from the surface and isn't farting either, so I didn't mess with that one for now. But on the left one their tips appears to have worked.

 

[ChuckM180]

Hi Reef2Reef. My first aquarium is an Eshopps Mariner M180. We are in the active process of getting all set up. I just shot a short video showing our build:
For lights we are using AI Hydra 44HD's with 3d printed shades, mounted w/HMS Hanging Kit (the way to go!) Using a 10.6 gallon Reef Can reservoir for my ATO. The reef can is really nice, it is narrow, doesn't take up much space and has a large reservoir. We built our reefscape with Carib Sea rocks, superglue and E-Marco 400 mortar. Right now we are cycling with Microbacter Quickcycl, and Microbacter Start and waiting for ammonia to drop to zero. Super excited to watch things progress and come to life. Thanks to everyone at Reef2Reef for this great resource.

I have the M180 also and just set it up. I saw you are using a 12000 series pump. How did you hook it up to the return? My tank only has a 5/8" barbed fitting and hose so I can only get the 5000 series pump to fit as anything bigger has a barbed fitting that is to big for the systems installed 5/8" hose and barbed fitting.
Thank you for any help.

 

[King Neptune]

I have the M180 also and just set it up. I saw you are using a 12000 series pump. How did you hook it up to the return? My tank only has a 5/8" barbed fitting and hose so I can only get the 5000 series pump to fit as anything bigger has a barbed fitting that is to big for the systems installed 5/8" hose and barbed fitting.
Thank you for any help.

The pump comes with different sized barbed fittings to choose from and the smallest fitting should work. Did your 12000 not have a bag with a few differently sized barbed fittings?

 

[ChuckM180]

The pump comes with different sized barbed fittings to choose from and the smallest fitting should work. Did your 12000 not have a bag with a few differently sized barbed fittings?

It did but none of them were small enough. I then went down to a 9000 and they were not small enough either. That's why I went with the 5000 as it was the biggest orlushy pump with the correct size fitting. I was wondering if my tank came with the wrong sized hose and barbed fitting. The return piping is a metric 20mm so just over 3/4” but the barb that is glued in is 16mm or just a hair over 5/8".

 

[King Neptune]

It did but none of them were small enough. I then went down to a 9000 and they were not small enough either. That's why I went with the 5000 as it was the biggest orlushy pump with the correct size fitting. I was wondering if my tank came with the wrong sized hose and barbed fitting. The return piping is a metric 20mm so just over 3/4” but the barb that is glued in is 16mm or just a hair over 5/8".

My Orlushy came with two barbed fittings that measure an outer diameter of 0.77" at the tip and inner diameter of 0.62". I believe this fitting should work if your Eshopps came with the same-sized return piping as mine. The Eshopps blue hose used for the return has an outer diameter of 0.87". Since it's all connected, I can't easily get an ID reading for you.

To connect the hose it may help to put the end in a cup of hot water first to soften it, then push the barbed connector in while grunting a couple of times...

 

[ChuckM180]

Thank you very much for the pictures and measurements. The barb fittings you have are 3/4" and the hose OD is the same as mine. Im guessing you were able to stretch the hose? Did you use heat to soften the hose to fit the pumps barb?

 

[King Neptune]

A gentleman from my LFS where I purchased the Aquarium installed the return pump. I would have definitely used hot water myself as it can make a huge difference - like a hot knife through butter lol. I used hot water when connecting the barbs on my Aqua UV sterilizer to the hose as well as the pump connection for the sterilizer. Boiled some water, poured it into a coffee cup, dipped the hose for maybe 10 seconds or so, then made the attachment. I've also used the hot water trick many times when setting up a drip system for our garden and yard. That being said, our LFS guy didn't use hot water, and muscled it and struggled for a while. I offered hot water a couple of times, but my offer was refused lol. So, while I didn't personally do that connection I'm guessing it would have been easy peasy with a little hot H2O, or at least a lot easier.

 

[ChuckM180]

A gentleman from my LFS where I purchased the Aquarium installed the return pump. I would have definitely used hot water myself as it can make a huge difference - like a hot knife through butter lol. I used hot water when connecting the barbs on my Aqua UV sterilizer to the hose as well as the pump connection for the sterilizer. Boiled some water, poured it into a coffee cup, dipped the hose for maybe 10 seconds or so, then made the attachment. I've also used the hot water trick many times when setting up a drip system for our garden and yard. That being said, our LFS guy didn't use hot water, and muscled it and struggled for a while. I offered hot water a couple of times, but my offer was refused lol. So, while I didn't personally do that connection I'm guessing it would have been easy peasy with a little hot H2O, or at least a lot easier.

Thank you so much I appreciate your help.

 

[VBDispensary]

Stop buying the exact same equipment as me. Maybe it’s me copying you and can’t tell who is first. LOL

Hi king, I know your post is a little old by now, but have you considered a chiller yet? A pump for the UV is fine and if you put a chiller in line past it your 1 pump can do both. I just built a M180 and mounted the aux pump in my skimmer chamber, sent it out the back to my UV mounted in the right side of the stand, right into my chiller and back behind the stand to the return chamber. Good luck!

 

[King Neptune]

Hi king, I know your post is a little old by now, but have you considered a chiller yet? A pump for the UV is fine and if you put a chiller in line past it your 1 pump can do both. I just built a M180 and mounted the aux pump in my skimmer chamber, sent it out the back to my UV mounted in the right side of the stand, right into my chiller and back behind the stand to the return chamber. Good luck!

Haven't considered a chiller, we do have very hot summers here, but with the house airconditioning temp is holding fine. Hopefully no summer airconditioning failures though lol.

 

[King Neptune]

Thanks for the great information on the mod for the ReefMat 1200.

I may add a roller mat at some point, but for now I got rid of the socks and switched to two 7"x4.5" 3D-printed media cups I found on Etsy. I have carbon in a media bag on the bottom topped off with Poly-Fil. Low tech, but hey...

I wanted to provide an update as I've made some changes. The poly-fil isn't quite dense enough for optimal filtration. So, I'm now using 4 layers of 100 micron Water Polishing Aquarium Filter Media:

Above is what I'm using, but I cut into rectangles to fit in the media cup/box, after a couple days they look like this:

Left to right is the top layer to the bottom layer. As you can see each layer is cleaner with the fourth layer not being too bad. They cleanup pretty nice with a quick hose rinse:

I'm still using a bag with carbon as the very bottom layer in the first box, which gets most of the flow. As a nice side benefit with the water level tuned close to the bottm of the filter box, the sump gets VERY quiet.

There was a time where I had my ATO turned off when I was messing with something and forgot to turn in back on. After a few days I wondered why my sump was getting louder. AHA! An accidental "ATO OFF" alarm was created, lol.