New guy here

[kpreslicka]

Hey all, I'm a Newbie to this and I'm more looking for a verification if you will. Would a sicce 9.0 be too much pump for a 120g tank? I've been running it for a month or so now and can't seem to run it higher than 15% without either running the return chamber dry or my ato constantly adding. It seems if I open my gate valve more my overflow gets too loud or overfills the filter socks chamber in my cr44.

 

[Reef Wizard]

Hey all, I'm a Newbie to this and I'm more looking for a verification if you will. Would a sicce 9.0 be too much pump for a 120g tank? I've been running it for a month or so now and can't seem to run it higher than 15% without either running the return chamber dry or my ato constantly adding. It seems if I open my gate valve more my overflow gets too loud or overfills the filter socks chamber in my cr44.

I have it on my WB 190.5 which is 135 gallons right now its overkill until I get my manifold installed.

I run it at about 18% lol

 

[kpreslicka]

Alright so it is overkill but it works. I have been having sound issues with it for a bit and I'm slowly figuring out the tuning of a bean animal. I've also been having low alkalinity and was wondering if that was making difference which is what started my adjustments to it all

 

[TX_REEF]

Sicce 9.0 shouldn't be too much power as it is only 2500gph peak, and even at 100% it would be pushing way less than that with head pressure. Do your socks/media in the first chamber need to be cleaned? What overflow/drain are you using? The equipment you mentioned seems like it should be compatible. Can you perhaps take a short video of the whole system in action and share a youtube link for us to review?

 

[Reef Wizard]

Alright so it is overkill but it works. I have been having sound issues with it for a bit and I'm slowly figuring out the tuning of a bean animal. I've also been having low alkalinity and was wondering if that was making difference which is what started my adjustments to it all

I dont think the pump is causing the low alk. Do you have coral?

Open the gate valve all the way set the pump to speed you want and slowly make 1/8 turns wait 30 seconds and just keep doing micro adjustments

 

[kpreslicka]

I can yes. I'm using the Fiji cube 1600 gph overflow which has 3 1.5" drains. My filter socks are a little dirty, however it has been doing this since I started the build

 

[kpreslicka]

I dont think the pump is causing the low alk. Do you have coral?

Open the gate valve all the way set the pump to right speed and slowly make 1/8 turns wait 30 seconds and just keep doing micro adjustments

All I currently have is a clean up as I just finished my cycle and started getting some algae so I added a few snails and hermit crabs.

 

[Reef Wizard]

All I currently have is a clean up as I just finished my cycle and started getting some algae so I added a few snails and hermit crabs.

What kind of salt and test kits do you have.

The alk really wont matter too much if you dont have coral. I dont know of a fish or invert that needs alk of the top of my head

 

[kpreslicka]

What kind of salt and test kits do you have.

The alk really wont matter too much if you dont have coral. I dont know of a fish or invert that needs alk of the top of my head

Yeah I understand that. To me it's doesn't make sense. I used io sea salt for both my dt and qt. The qt measures 9.3 last time I checked and the dt was 6.3 or so. I'm not super concerned with chasing numbers just trying to understand what's going on is all. I have a Hanna alk checker and a salifert test kit and they both read about the same.

 

[kpreslicka]

I dont think the pump is causing the low alk. Do you have coral?

Open the gate valve all the way set the pump to speed you want and slowly make 1/8 turns wait 30 seconds and just keep doing micro adjustments

The issues I have with that is then it's extremely loud and not draining through the bean animal. Will the return pump enough back to quiet it down?

 

[kpreslicka]

Sicce 9.0 shouldn't be too much power as it is only 2500gph peak, and even at 100% it would be pushing way less than that with head pressure. Do your socks/media in the first chamber need to be cleaned? What overflow/drain are you using? The equipment you mentioned seems like it should be compatible. Can you perhaps take a short video of the whole system in action and share a youtube link for us to review?

 

[kyreefman]

The issues I have with that is then it's extremely loud and not draining through the bean animal. Will the return pump enough back to quiet it down?

This ^^^

 

[Reef Wizard]

The issues I have with that is then it's extremely loud and not draining through the bean animal. Will the return pump enough back to quiet it down?

It should be able to but it has to be set correctly. Id open the gate valve all the way. set the pump to 15% and see.

Remember the more you open it the louder it will likely be. As the drain has gravity and suction pulling it down. Where the pump has to fight the head pressure and gravity.

What tank do you have? Is it custom or one like redsea waterbox planet aquariums etc? Can you post a video of the plumbing

Yeah I understand that. To me it's doesn't make sense. I used io sea salt for both my dt and qt. The qt measures 9.3 last time I checked and the dt was 6.3 or so. I'm not super concerned with chasing numbers just trying to understand what's going on is all. I have a Hanna alk checker and a salifert test kit and they both read about the same.

That much of a difference is very strange. Seems like a test kit error with that much difference. Have you been leaving the display tank alone and doing water changes on the qt tank

 

[kpreslicka]

It should be able to but it has to be set correctly. Id open the gate valve all the way. set the pump to 15% and see.

Remember the more you open it the louder it will likely be. As the drain has gravity and suction pulling it down. Where the pump has to fight the head pressure and gravity.

What tank do you have? Is it custom or one like redsea waterbox planet aquariums etc? Can you post a video of the plumbing

That much of a difference is very strange. Seems like a test kit error with that much difference. Have you been leaving the display tank alone and doing water changes on the qt tank

Nope I just did my first water change in the qt since I have clowns in it and the ammonia got up a little ways. The dt had pretty much stayed around 6 dkh since I started it. I'm not sure if what tank it is as I bought it off my brother. And simply put my plumbing comes from a for cube 1600 with 3 1.5" drains into a cr44 sump. I used a p-trap with a clean out plug for my bean animal. Also thanks for that info

 

[Reef Wizard]

Nope I just did my first water change in the qt since I have clowns in it and the ammonia got up a little ways. The dt had pretty much stayed around 6 dkh since I started it. I'm not sure if what tank it is as I bought it off my brother. And simply put my plumbing comes from a for cube 1600 with 3 1.5" drains into a cr44 sump. I used a p-trap with a clean out plug for my bean animal. Also thanks for that info

If you are curious about the alk. Being those test kits are generally the go to. You could take it to an LFS to test or a friend to see what their reading is.

And with the drain it will be a lot of trial an error for a little bit try not to get discouraged

 

[kpreslicka]

If you are curious about the alk. Being those test kits are generally the go to. You could take it to an LFS to test or a friend to see what their reading is.

And with the drain it will be a lot of trial an error for a little bit try not to get discouraged

Thanks I'll keep at it

 

[BryanM]

Brand new mixed salt, what brand? I don't see how the alk is that low.

As for return pumps, unless at the lowest setting its still too much, it should be fine. No need to try and run them at 100%.... In fact any pump, IMO, running over 75% becomes very noisy.

My cor-20 is only running at 25%.

 

[kpreslicka]

Brand new mixed salt, what brand? I don't see how the alk is that low.

As for return pumps, unless at the lowest setting its still too much, it should be fine. No need to try and run them at 100%.... In fact any pump, IMO, running over 75% becomes very noisy.

My cor-20 is only running at 25%.

Thanks I appreciate that. And yes it was brand new io sea salt. Mixed to 1.025. used the same salt for the qt and at the same salinity it's 9.3 and the dt is 6.3. I didn't know if having more/less flow from the return pump would affect the alk. There's only a small cuc and a couple mushrooms that are on some live rock I got.

 

[BryanM]

Thanks I appreciate that. And yes it was brand new io sea salt. Mixed to 1.025. used the same salt for the qt and at the same salinity it's 9.3 and the dt is 6.3. I didn't know if having more/less flow from the return pump would affect the alk. There's only a small cuc and a couple mushrooms that are on some live rock I got.

Honestly I'd just test it again. Flow wouldn't affect alk, and brand new, super light stocking, shouldn't affect it either.

 

[kpreslicka]

Honestly I'd just test it again. Flow wouldn't affect alk, and brand new, super light stocking, shouldn't affect it either.

I've tested a few times with bothe salifert and Hanna checkers and it's been hovering around that 6dkh pretty much since I started the cycle. I thought I was doing the salifert test incorrectly so I bought a Hanna and I'm getting the same results