SaraB's 268G Envision Build

vetteman · Mar 18, 2009

very nice.....

Reef Pets · Mar 18, 2009

Ok, back to the surge maker..... Very neat idea and trust me, I am already making them in my head! My only question is what keep the flap from opening flowly as the float rises? I am just wondering if I am missing something or if the "nipple" on the flapper will collect air like it does in a toilet tank? My guess is that it would as long as the pipe going from the toilet valve to the tank is not completely under water.
This is the first time I have seen these. I will be headed to Home Depot in the morning so that I can build one.... What an awesome way to make a cheap and effect wave maker.

By the way, beautiful tank and awesome build thread.

SaraB · Mar 18, 2009

Rickyrooz said:
Nice Elegance, is it new or from a previous tank?

Thanks, it's a new piece I've been waiting to get for the new tank. I got it from Bill here at Midwest Saltwater. It's a really big one!

SaraB · Mar 18, 2009

reefpets said:
Ok, back to the surge maker..... Very neat idea and trust me, I am already making them in my head! My only question is what keep the flap from opening flowly as the float rises? I am just wondering if I am missing something or if the "nipple" on the flapper will collect air like it does in a toilet tank? My guess is that it would as long as the pipe going from the toilet valve to the tank is not completely under water.
This is the first time I have seen these. I will be headed to Home Depot in the morning so that I can build one.... What an awesome way to make a cheap and effect wave maker.

By the way, beautiful tank and awesome build thread.

Thanks!

Just the way that a flapper on your toilet shuts when the water drains, the same thing happens on the surge flapper ... it's just a toilet on my tank!

Just an FYI, I had my chain break on the flapper yesterday and I utilized my emergency overflow pipe. I just got home from looking for a plastic chain on a flapper and I found it only at Walmart. It's a yellow flapper with a black plastic chain. I can't vouch for the flapper as I only wanted and will use the plastic chain.

Do a search on the web on Borneman Surge and you will find some detailed plans.

Reef Pets · Mar 18, 2009

Sara - Thanks for the information! I was wondering about the metal chain. I planned to put a plastic chain with a back up. I was thinking maybe running some strong fishing line through some links of the chain just for a back up.
I will look into more information.

FiReBReTHa · Mar 22, 2009

WoWsA! looooking goood!

absolutely love it!

SaraB · Mar 22, 2009

FiReBReTHa said:
WoWsA! looooking goood!

absolutely love it!

Thanks! Welcome to the site ... hope you enjoy it over here!

FiReBReTHa · Mar 22, 2009

SaraB said:
Thanks! Welcome to the site ... hope you enjoy it over here!

Danke, will be fun hanging out over here!

(and not getting banned LoL!)

SaraB · Mar 23, 2009

Big Boy Added!

Last night I added Big Boy to the tank. He's about a 7" Male Naso that has been living in my 70G Rubbermaid sump for a few months while the tank has been put together. I bought him from a local reefer and he came pre-named!

Here's a shot right after he was added to the tank. He went and laid down in the rocks for about a minute before swimming:

Here he is today out and about swimming:

Here's a size comparison with the hybrid PBT:

gparr · Mar 24, 2009

He has to be absolutely relieved to have swimming room and good water flow. Once he recovers from "ovalitis" I'm sure he'll be sprinting up and down the tank. That's one beautiful fish.
Gary

SaraB · Mar 24, 2009

gparr said:
Once he recovers from "ovalitis" I'm sure he'll be sprinting up and down the tank. That's one beautiful fish.
Gary

Thanks Gary! He has ceased doing hot laps in the corner and is now darting across all 7.5 feet of the tank. He's a whole lot happier now, that's for sure!

My anthias don't know that to think of him yet as they are scared to death of him ... must look like a Great White Shark was dropped in their tank!

revhtree · Mar 24, 2009

Man that Naso is beautiful! That is one of the first fish for my 250g. I used to have a large one named Spartacus, but had to give him away a couple years ago when I downsized. He is still alive though and swimming in a 300g. :D

SaraB · Mar 24, 2009

Here's the video of the surge tank. Big thanks to Gary for helping record and figuring out how to post this!

macawmagic · Mar 24, 2009

that surge is awesome. any chance you could get a video of the in tank. I'd like to see how many bubbles it creates and how much flow they create. is that 1" pvc? are you happy with these or would you do anything diff on them? sorry for all the questions, but theres not too many people with surges and i've been looking into them if I get the big tank I want!

SaraB · Mar 24, 2009

macawmagic said:
any chance you could get a video of the in tank. I'd like to see how many bubbles it creates and how much flow they create. is that 1" pvc? are you happy with these or would you do anything diff on them?

I knew that request was coming ... video of the surges in the display tank ;)

I need to try a couple of things first to cut down on the microbubbles and then video 2 will come! Yes, that is a combo of 1" pvc and spaflex. Yes, I am happy with them, but as I mentioned, I need to work on cutting down the microbubbles as they are making a mess of the top of my tank. Also, one surge inlet hole in the display was placed too low and I don't get as big of a surge as I do on the other one.

Poseidon · Mar 25, 2009

Sara, I think you would be happier with a larger diameter drain. The ones that I have seen have used 1.5" and they REALLY get things moving.

There is a 1.5" electronic ball valve for sale on another site, if you are interested let me know and I will get you in touch with Jarrod.

SaraB · Mar 25, 2009

Well, the thought of draining the display tank more than 1/2 way and cutting larger holes does not exactly excite me at this point ... but I guess we will see how my other fixes go first.

Poseidon · Mar 25, 2009

Well, you could always use larger diameter pipe and then reduce it at the bulkhead. This should give you more volume then you have now, and a bit more velocity too. This way you only have to drill the surge tank.

SaraB · Mar 25, 2009

Thanks Poseidon, I like that option better ;)

I'll tinker with it this week with my friend Ed and then move on to other options if our attempt at a fix does not work.

SaraB · Mar 27, 2009

I had a friend over the last 2 evenings helping me with my 2 surges. We ended up venting the lines going to the tank and what a huge difference it made! The one tank where the return line was drilled too low, as I was told, would actually take about 1 minute to drain and put a huge amount of microbubbles into the display during that time. I pretty much had given up on that 1 surge. Well, it got vented last night and now it fires and drains immediatly ... problem solved! Big thanks to my friend Ed for helping me with getting the surges to work properly and cutting down on the microbubble levels with both. Now it's time for the next video session ... maybe next week?