I hope I remember how to do this

[Miami Reef]

I really don’t think it’s the sodium hydroxide to blame.

Diatoms need silica to grow/flourish. I dose A LOT of silica and use sodium hydroxide for my alkalinity. I don’t even have diatom issues in my tank, lol.

I have diatoms on the back glass, powerheads, and front glass, but my rocks and bottom are clean.

Anyway, they have like 100% pure sodium hydroxide. I’m a big fan of sodium hydroxide.

Check your RO/DI water. Silicate is one of the hardest chemicals to remove from DI, and it’s one of the first to leach out once the DI is exhausted.

Ps, diatoms benefit a tank as long as they aren’t growing over corals or being too much of an eye-sore. They are genuinely beneficial for many types of organisms.

Here’s the sodium hydroxide I use for my 260-gallon tank. I test my silica regularly, and if I don’t dose it, it will drop to 0ppm

Sodium Hydroxide - Pure - Food Grade (Caustic Soda, Lye) (2 Pound Jar) https://a.co/d/eMtsQmX

 

[cmaxwell39]

DI has recently been changed on schedule and RO always tests 0ppm. Not saying it can't be from another source, but this is the most logical thing since it is what has changed recently and everything had been stable for months before this change.

I got a different NaOH than the one you linked, so it is very possible that the one I got has silicates as a contaminant. I am not 100% sure, but it is my best guess right now. Will go back to last known point of stability and see if it corrects. Then I can re-evaluate how to move forward.

I appreciate the thoughts. How goes the battle against AEFW by the way?

 

[Miami Reef]

DI has recently been changed on schedule and RO always tests 0ppm. Not saying it can't be from another source, but this is the most logical thing since it is what has changed recently and everything had been stable for months before this change.

I got a different NaOH than the one you linked, so it is very possible that the one I got has silicates as a contaminant. I am not 100% sure, but it is my best guess right now. Will go back to last known point of stability and see if it corrects. Then I can re-evaluate how to move forward.

I appreciate the thoughts. How goes the battle against AEFW by the way?

What’s the purity of the sodium hydroxide you chose?

The battle with AEFW is almost over. The acros in QT are clean and free from the flatworms.

I have 2 weeks left until I can add back my acropora.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Awesome to hear on the flatworm battle. Hope you can move past it and enjoy acros in the tank again. I am working through your build thread right now.

It was labeled as 99% pure I believe. And if was labeled as good grade do I thought I would be good.

Time will tell if this is where the problem came from or not.

 

[Miami Reef]

Awesome to hear on the flatworm battle. Hope you can move past it and enjoy acros in the tank again. I am working through your build thread right now.

It was labeled as 99% pure I believe. And if was labeled as good grade do I thought I would be good.

Time will tell if this is where the problem came from or not.

lol

Don’t worry about working through my build thread. Most if it is chatter. I was thinking of starting a new one when the acropora are back in and just documenting the tank.

 

[cmaxwell39]

The chatter is good. Keeps things interesting. You have had quite the journey with your system. I will get caught up eventually.

 

[mattgsa]

The tank is looking good; I hope your wife is doing well.

 

[cmaxwell39]

The tank is looking good; I hope your wife is doing well.

Thanks Matt.

Tank does not look so good anymore. Long story, but hopefully I can give the thumbnail version here.

What I was starting to see show up last fall ended up being dinos. By the time I realized what it was I was already losing SPS. I have never run a UV before, and there wasn't really money available to go buy stuff for the tank. I really contemplated shutting the system down and getting out.

While discussing things with my wife, we both kind of realized that even if I shut everything down I would be getting the itch again within 6-12 months, so I might as well try to get it corrected. I fragged off pieces and moved them down to the coral QT which for some reason was never affected, even though I had been using water from the main tank when I did water changes on that system. I lost a few of those frags, but thankfully I was able to save a frag of 4 or 5 colonies that I completely lost from the display tank.

I scraped up the money and got an AquaUV unit and plumbed it in to the return pump on the system so that I didn't have to buy another pump as well. I also stopped doing water changes on the main tank for about 3-4 months. I normally do a water change every week, so this was a weird one for me. After a couple of months the dinos were definitely on the retreat so I restocked the cleanup crew which had been decimated, and started stirring the sand/blowing out rocks to see if the dinos would make a resurgence. Once everything looked good for a month or two doing that I finally have resumed water changes. In the next couple of weeks I will move a frag or two from the coral QT to the display. I lost a lot of SPS, but the ones that remain are starting to grow again.

Anyway, sorry for the long winded response. If you stuck around this long let me reward you with a recent FTS that shows a clean, but relatively empty coral wise tank.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Been a while since I posted. Have t done a whole lot with the tank. It is getting over run with aiptasia, so just got an order of berghia nudibranchs in. We will see how that goes over the next few months.

In other news, I have gotten the opportunity to try out a piece of equipment that I have always wanted. A buddy of mine about an hour away is getting ready to downsize his tank and has 2 bubble king skimmers. I worked something out with him to be able to try out the BK 250 deluxe that he had. It is on the large side for my system, but that was the smaller of the two he had so I am giving it a go. It has been running for about a month. Stay tuned for my impressions of it so far.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Well first of all, this Bubble King skimmer is LARGE. I thought I had created a pretty big skimmer section in my 125 gal basement sump, but this thing barely fit in there. Had to angle it and it was still touching both sides.

 

[cmaxwell39]

Thoughts on the BK skimmer. I had been running a LifeReef 36" VS3 skimmer driven by a Sicce SDC 9.0 prior.

1. pH has risen ~.2 and remained in the .2 higher range since BK skimmer was installed. Tells me it is drawing in significantly more air than the LR skimmer.

2. It is very adjustable and seems stable. Pulls approximately the same amount of skimmate (by visual estimation) each day.

3. There seems to be less bacterial slime in the sump (from carbon dosing). I have increased the vodka dosage since installing the BK skimmer as well.

4. I don't think the BK skimmer pulls as much out as the LR did. It is a very large cup on the BK skimmer, but it is a large cup on the LR skimmer as well. (I got the upgraded cup when I ordered it years ago). I also can run the LR skimmer drier than I can run the BK.

5. The nitrates and phosphates have risen since installing the BK skimmer. This lends to not pulling as much out, but there are a couple of other factors. I have significantly increased frozen food to the tank to try to keep the BK stable, but I have also increased carbon dosing to try to compensate. The nitrates and phosphates are going up week over week though and have not fully stabilized.

A note regarding how dry I can run the skimmer, the BK skimmer is at least one size too big for my system, so if I try to dry it out too much it stalls. I knew this would be the case going in and I am still impressed with how stable and consistent the BK skimmer remains.

Here is two weeks worth of skimmate out of the BK skimmer.

Overall I have been impressed with how stable this skimmer has been on my system, and how easy it has been to adjust. The quality and the amount of the skimmate are within line snd I am not unhappy with the results so far, but I do have some plans laid out for a better comparison to the LifeReef skimmer I have been running for a long time. More on that at a future date.

 

[90addict]

@cmaxwell39 I stumbled upon your tank build while googling around about my new sdc 7.0 pump I just bought. Spent the last hour reading and marveling over your build. Looks amazing!! I'm in the buying and planning phase of a basement sump as we speak. 55gl display, 60gl breeder for basement sump, future frag tank later on. My question is, how has your second pump been doing? I have roughly 12' of vertical head I'll be dealing with. Here's a rough sketch of what I plan on doing. What do you think? Added some other photos as well. Not trying to hijack your thread, just looking for advice from a fellow basement sump guy

 

[cmaxwell39]

@cmaxwell39 I stumbled upon your tank build while googling around about my new sdc 7.0 pump I just bought. Spent the last hour reading and marveling over your build. Looks amazing!! I'm in the buying and planning phase of a basement sump as we speak. 55gl display, 60gl breeder for basement sump, future frag tank later on. My question is, how has your second pump been doing? I have roughly 12' of vertical head I'll be dealing with. Here's a rough sketch of what I plan on doing. What do you think? Added some other photos as well. Not trying to hijack your thread, just looking for advice from a fellow basement sump guy

Nice,

You will love the basement tank once you get it dialed in. I have had no problems with the Sicce pumps after the one issue that I documented in the thread. I am still running that pump as my return and it has been running continuously for about 4 yrs so far.

The one thing that I have noticed is that there are slight variations in flow from time to time with the pump. Not anything crazy, but enough that my herbie drain system will go from running no water through the emergency line to having a small amount running through that same emergency line. I don't have flow meters on the system so I can't tell you how many gph difference it actually is, but I don't think it is much.

Do you have a build thread set up yet? Would love to check it out if you do.

If you don't mind some unsolicited advise/questions, I have a couple of thoughts on your design.

1. Why are you only raising the sump 1' off the floor of the basement? One of the things I love about my basement sump setup is that I can walk up to it and do maintenance on skimmer/pumps/equipment without having to bend over. Everything is right there standing height.

2. Do you plan on just running a single drain on your overflow? If you do, a 1" drain will only handle 600 GPH maximum if not under a full siphon. And if you only have 1 drain, you will want to run it as a durso that is not a full siphon so that you have a little safety factor if something partially plugs the drain. If it is possible, I would drill the overflow you have and add at least a second, if not a third drain to the system. Research Herbie and Beananimal overflow setups.

3. I would personally not try to run your manifold for reactors off of the main pump. A second dedicated pump for those items would allow for better control over flow through them.

Thanks for taking the time to read through the build thread. I need to update it again. Will have to do that again soon.

 

[90addict]

Nice,

You will love the basement tank once you get it dialed in. I have had no problems with the Sicce pumps after the one issue that I documented in the thread. I am still running that pump as my return and it has been running continuously for about 4 yrs so far.

The one thing that I have noticed is that there are slight variations in flow from time to time with the pump. Not anything crazy, but enough that my herbie drain system will go from running no water through the emergency line to having a small amount running through that same emergency line. I don't have flow meters on the system so I can't tell you how many gph difference it actually is, but I don't think it is much.

Do you have a build thread set up yet? Would love to check it out if you do.

If you don't mind some unsolicited advise/questions, I have a couple of thoughts on your design.

1. Why are you only raising the sump 1' off the floor of the basement? One of the things I love about my basement sump setup is that I can walk up to it and do maintenance on skimmer/pumps/equipment without having to bend over. Everything is right there standing height.

2. Do you plan on just running a single drain on your overflow? If you do, a 1" drain will only handle 600 GPH maximum if not under a full siphon. And if you only have 1 drain, you will want to run it as a durso that is not a full siphon so that you have a little safety factor if something partially plugs the drain. If it is possible, I would drill the overflow you have and add at least a second, if not a third drain to the system. Research Herbie and Beananimal overflow setups.

3. I would personally not try to run your manifold for reactors off of the main pump. A second dedicated pump for those items would allow for better control over flow through them.

Thanks for taking the time to read through the build thread. I need to update it again. Will have to do that again soon.

Great to hear that your new pump has been still running good! I don't have a build thread because I always thought it would be boring lol. I started the tank for my twin daughters (2yr old) with a standard 55g, hob filter, hob skimmer. Cheap and boring lol. This is my first ever aquarium. Maybe I'll have to start One with the addition of the basement sump.



To your "unsolicited questions/advice" I'm here for all of it!! I'm a true newbie trying to learn as much as possible! Tank is 3 months old (shhh don't tell anyone) lol

1. I was going to put the sump higher which would reduce head pressure and also make it easier to clean sump but, if I add a frag tank (which I really want to) it would have to be lower than frag tank correct? For one big system?
2. The single drain hob overflow is my attempt at cheap again lol. Second hand for 40$. I guess I should just buy a new one since it's no longer a "cheap" sump. It is supposedly one that you put an air pump on to keep siphon in case power goes out? Also claims 800gph, idk.
3. My thought on using one pump for return and manifold was that I think if my math is right, I should have ample return gph (792) on a 55g display tank and that I could use other hardware with gate valves to regulate flow thru them. Which would cut down on return to display.

I'll have to do more research on hob overflows and different designs. I'm nervous to drill my filled tank with soft coral and fish. Also not sure if back glass is tempered or not. The bottom 100% is. I thank you for all the feedback and welcome anymore advice. I'll try to find the time to start a build thread. Thanks again!

 

[cmaxwell39]

Great to hear that your new pump has been still running good! I don't have a build thread because I always thought it would be boring lol. I started the tank for my twin daughters (2yr old) with a standard 55g, hob filter, hob skimmer. Cheap and boring lol. This is my first ever aquarium. Maybe I'll have to start One with the addition of the basement sump.



To your "unsolicited questions/advice" I'm here for all of it!! I'm a true newbie trying to learn as much as possible! Tank is 3 months old (shhh don't tell anyone) lol

1. I was going to put the sump higher which would reduce head pressure and also make it easier to clean sump but, if I add a frag tank (which I really want to) it would have to be lower than frag tank correct? For one big system?
2. The single drain hob overflow is my attempt at cheap again lol. Second hand for 40$. I guess I should just buy a new one since it's no longer a "cheap" sump. It is supposedly one that you put an air pump on to keep siphon in case power goes out? Also claims 800gph, idk.
3. My thought on using one pump for return and manifold was that I think if my math is right, I should have ample return gph (792) on a 55g display tank and that I could use other hardware with gate valves to regulate flow thru them. Which would cut down on return to display.

I'll have to do more research on hob overflows and different designs. I'm nervous to drill my filled tank with soft coral and fish. Also not sure if back glass is tempered or not. The bottom 100% is. I thank you for all the feedback and welcome anymore advice. I'll try to find the time to start a build thread. Thanks again!

Looking forward to the build thread.

Yes, if you add a frag tank it would have to be higher than the sump, but just remember that the bottom of the tank does not have to be higher than the top of the sump, but rather the top of the water has to be higher than the water level in the sump. You want enough of a difference in water level heights to make sure it drains, but even a 12-18" difference would be sufficient.

On your hang on back overflow, there are two different parts to it. First you have a full siphon between the box that sits inside the tank, and the box that hangs on the outside of the tank. Then you have a gravity drain that comes out of the bottom of the box on the outside of the tank that then gets plumbed to the sump. This is the drain that you will not want to run full siphon as that will leave very little room for error if any blockage in the drain between the outer box and the sump. This is where I would recommend drilling and adding at least one more drain for an "emergency." A herbie overflow uses a primary drain that you run full siphon, and a secondary overflow that you set up either dry, or with just a trickle of water running through it. Then if something happens to plug up or restrict the flow through the primary drain, the water still has a path to take and not overflow the main tank. A Beananimal overflow has three drains, a primary full siphon, a secondary trickle drain, and a third emergency standpipe that never sees any water unless there is a problem with the other two drains.

While you should have enough flow to run reactors from your main return pump in theory, and it may work fine in practice, there are a couple of things to consider when contemplating this. First, you have 12' of vertical head height to consider, but there are also head height losses for any fittings that you have in the plumbing including tees, valves, elbows (even bends formed from flexible tubing), etc. This can add up to be significant in involved plumbing systems. Often you can add another 3-4' of head height (flow restriction) from the plumbing so you might not have as much extra flow as you think you do.

Secondly, if you run a manifold through media reactors, as the media (GFO, Carbon, Etc) gets plugged up, it will restrict flow and allow more flow up to the main system. If your overflow can't handle the extra flow then you could end up with a main tank overflowing. Probably wouldn't come to that, but it could in extreme circumstances.

That tank looks really good for only being 3 months old. Enjoy the journey. Take your time and don't rush it. What you are proposing to do is not wrong, and it could work really well for a number of years. I just have been around this game long enough I like to think of worst case scenario and try to plan around it.

 

[90addict]

Looking forward to the build thread.

Yes, if you add a frag tank it would have to be higher than the sump, but just remember that the bottom of the tank does not have to be higher than the top of the sump, but rather the top of the water has to be higher than the water level in the sump. You want enough of a difference in water level heights to make sure it drains, but even a 12-18" difference would be sufficient.

On your hang on back overflow, there are two different parts to it. First you have a full siphon between the box that sits inside the tank, and the box that hangs on the outside of the tank. Then you have a gravity drain that comes out of the bottom of the box on the outside of the tank that then gets plumbed to the sump. This is the drain that you will not want to run full siphon as that will leave very little room for error if any blockage in the drain between the outer box and the sump. This is where I would recommend drilling and adding at least one more drain for an "emergency." A herbie overflow uses a primary drain that you run full siphon, and a secondary overflow that you set up either dry, or with just a trickle of water running through it. Then if something happens to plug up or restrict the flow through the primary drain, the water still has a path to take and not overflow the main tank. A Beananimal overflow has three drains, a primary full siphon, a secondary trickle drain, and a third emergency standpipe that never sees any water unless there is a problem with the other two drains.

While you should have enough flow to run reactors from your main return pump in theory, and it may work fine in practice, there are a couple of things to consider when contemplating this. First, you have 12' of vertical head height to consider, but there are also head height losses for any fittings that you have in the plumbing including tees, valves, elbows (even bends formed from flexible tubing), etc. This can add up to be significant in involved plumbing systems. Often you can add another 3-4' of head height (flow restriction) from the plumbing so you might not have as much extra flow as you think you do.

Secondly, if you run a manifold through media reactors, as the media (GFO, Carbon, Etc) gets plugged up, it will restrict flow and allow more flow up to the main system. If your overflow can't handle the extra flow then you could end up with a main tank overflowing. Probably wouldn't come to that, but it could in extreme circumstances.

That tank looks really good for only being 3 months old. Enjoy the journey. Take your time and don't rush it. What you are proposing to do is not wrong, and it could work really well for a number of years. I just have been around this game long enough I like to think of worst case scenario and try to plan around it.

I greatly appreciate all the advice and feedback! I think I'll go ahead and just spend the money on another hob overflow that has at least 2 drains (regular and emergency). It's all still new to me obviously so it's somewhat of "another language" when I try to read up on all of it. Also, before buying another overflow, I'm gonna try and get someone more experienced over my house to see if they can tell me if it's tempered glass or not and if they think it's worth trying to drill. It scares the hell out of me just thinking about it. More so cause of my wife, not making a mess and just buying another tank lol.

The thing you brought up about the manifold... You said something about if a reactor gets clogged and sends the remaining gph to dt it could overflow tank...I never thought about that! Very good point! I think I'll take your advice and do a second pump for reactors and UV! Again, thank you for all your advice!

 

[cmaxwell39]

Haven't updated in way too long. The tank is looking really good right now. The berghia knocked out all the aiptasia. Took about 2 months. The corals are coloring up nicely (the ones that are left), and the fish are all healthy and getting fat. The nitrates and phosphates are higher than I would like, but with how well everything is doing I am not stressing over that.

I took a few cell phone pics over the weekend, and will share them over the next few days.

First up, a full tank shot:

BC Rainbow stylo. I can't pull the rainbow colors from it, but it is doing well nonetheless.

Setosa:

Tapioberry. I thought I had completely lost this one with the dinos and issues the tank has had over the last year, but it held in there and is regrowing from just a few polyps. Colored up really nice right now:

I am going to be ordering some corals after the first of the year I think. Not sure where from yet. But everything seems to be doing well so it is time.

I will also try to get some more coral pics up this week...

 

[cmaxwell39]

A few more coral pics...

 

[cmaxwell39]

Put a couple new fish in the display over the weekend. Came from a tank breakdown.

 

[90addict]

When you get a chance, check out my build thread. I started the basement sump and took some of your advice on a couple things