Looking forward to see the skimmerless tanks develop! Having serious thought of going down that road myself.
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@Ryanbrs : There's one type of coral that Tank Trials has not mentioned: NPS corals (Non-Photosynthetic). Why not include that group with the softie tank?
With that in mind, I'd really love to see this: - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/automatic-frozen-refrigerated-food-dispenser.335151/ - set up with that system. (I know the system's a little small for this kind of DIY.)
I'd be very interested in seeing how this actually works (or doesn't). Just at face value, I think it absolutely would. Dosing food to the tank like this should eliminate the need to manually feed it. So, as I see it, this should be the sole source of food going into this system, rendering it totally automated, and ULM.
An ATS can be very inexpensive to build and very low maintenance. I incorporated mine into my over flow and another one in the weir in my sump. Attached are photos of the one in my overflow. I have not be lighting it with the red and blue grow light as pictured recently. The one in my sump is lit 8 hours a day. Just the little light from my main LED has been enough to grow the algae you see on the 2 sides. I just added the center mesh a couple days ago, mostly to keep snails and crabs out of my overflow. The total cost was less than $50.00. It takes about 1 min to harvest the algae once every week or 2.I forgot to add the reason I don't want a skimmer is I think that it is too much maintenance you have to empty the cup every 2 to 3 days and I chose a cheato reactor because I think it would be less maintenance than an ATS but I would prefer an ATS
This week's question:
-What does ULM mean to you when you think of plumbing, return pumps and heaters?
ULM Return pumps:
In my opinion the tank should have 2 pumps plumbed in with a Neptune flow sensor on the primary pump. If flow is blocked or drastically reduced the secondary pump would kick in which keeps the system running in case of malfunction. A battery backup can also be added for extra redundancy.
ULM Heating:
Pretty much same as return pump, you want to have redundancy and alerts in case of malfunction.
ULM Plumbing:
This is a bit trickier but I would say:
- An easy drain system for water changes
- Skimmer cup plumbed to a drain for less maintenance
- ATO is a must with salinity monitoring
- Keep pipe work as short as possible and with plenty of unions for yearly cleaning
- Up size all drains for less chance of blockages
Is this the self cleaning sump? Kind of a cool idea...DC Pump seems ideal, do AC pumps work on battery backups?
ULM Return Pumps 2 options: In my opinion for ULM a single DC pump with a proven track record is probably a more ULM approach than two less proven pumps. Taking apart and cleaning two pumps is more work.
Sicce Syncra SDC 9.0 Multifunction Pump
Flow Range - 1000 - 2500 GPH
Max Head - 23 ft
"states tool free maintenance" in description
Or
Neptune COR-20 Return Pump
Max Flow - 2000 GPH
Max Head - 20FT
"I just want to see it in action"
ULM Heater: Buy 2, and monitor with controller. Pick a brand I don't care much to comment.
ULM Pumbing: Bean Animal Overflow, Unions. and Gate Valves. Plus a modification to the return line. Being these sumps do not have socks or mechanical filtration they will become settling tanks and we like clean sumps. Therefore a way to rapidly siphon or do a quick mechanical filtration of this water is necessary. Lets use our return pump to do this task by having an option to branch off the return pump outflow pipe and divert water into our WC bucket or to recirculate it back into the sump bypassing the display tank and use a temporary hog filter sock or cup with disposable floss.
CJ on youtube has this setup essentially. He calls it a self cleaning sump.