The Journey Continues - Mike & Terry's 280g Reef Savvy

[Mike&Terry]

hey guys - would love your guidance on the CL system a bit.

If the idea is to have the "drains" and the returns of the CL - both from the bottom side of the tank. I have a couple of questions.

1. How do you prevent sand to get into the drains since the holes are at the bottom of the tank. (for the reutrns, since the water is blowing out - nothing goes in so THAT i understand)
2. how do you hide the drain and return from the CL so well in your scaping?

The 2" intake sits up a couple of inches off the bottom of the tank with a strainer. If sand gets too stirred up, it can get into the intake, but doesn't normally happen.


The Reeflo Dart pump and Ocean Motion 4-way (OM4) are housed inside the cabinetry under the tank:


As for hiding the CL return and intakes, we've had lots of practice over the years. We have found that making a template with tape of the tank w/markings for the closed loop outlets and experimenting with the rock design before placing in tank helps a lot.

 

[DipSpit]

ORA Pearlberry is looking so much better than it did 6 months ago. Thought we would lose the coral when it completely bleached out two weeks before the move to the Reef Savvy.

I would do terrible, unspeakable things for a nice Pearlberry. Very nice.

 

[revhtree]

Our apologies for the delay (blame it on the flu), but we finally have some feeding video which was taken earlier tonight. Mike got a wee bit heavy handed, so it's a bit more than we typically feed at one time which is usually about 4 to 5 cubes of mysis/pemysis blend:

Thanks for the video!

So you normally feed 4-5 cubes? How many times daily? You activate feed mode on all the pumps?

Nice video! Love it.

 

[Mike&Terry]

Thanks for the video!

So you normally feed 4-5 cubes? How many times daily? You activate feed mode on all the pumps?

Nice video! Love it.

Thank You Rev!
We feed that amount at least twice per day with 2 to 3 additional snacks. Examples: Hikari clams on the half shell, algae on a VeggieMag (at least every other day), oyster eggs, NLS large and small pellets (for the hunters), or LRS Reef Frenzy.

During the two main feedings, we hit the feed button for the Tunze pumps and turn off the closed loop, but leave the return running. We sometimes hit the Tunze feed button when feeding snacks, depending on the type of food.

 

[Mike&Terry]

I would do terrible, unspeakable things for a nice Pearlberry. Very nice.

Thank You very much!

 

[revhtree]

Thank You Rev!
We feed that amount at least twice per day with 2 to 3 additional snacks. Examples: Hikari clams on the half shell, algae on a VeggieMag (at least every other day), oyster eggs, NLS large and small pellets (for the hunters), or LRS Reef Frenzy.

I need to learn how to let loose and feed!!

 

[Mike&Terry]

I need to learn how to let loose and feed!!

LOL! We do run two skimmers...

 

[markstubb]

Our apologies for the delay (blame it on the flu), but we finally have some feeding video which was taken earlier tonight. Mike got a wee bit heavy handed, so it's a bit more than we typically feed at one time which is usually about 4 to 5 cubes of mysis/pemysis blend:

What happened to the blue tang?

*edit, nevermind, i saw it come out later in the vid.. thought it was missing

Great tank!

 

[Mike&Terry]

What happened to the blue tang?

*edit, nevermind, i saw it come out later in the vid.. thought it was missing

Great tank!

Thank You!
And yes, Scrappy is still in there

 

[markstubb]

haha scrappy. Nice. I was very surprised not to see him out there right away. Mine was always "starving"

 

[xaflatoonx]

Much thanks for your response.

I can see from the picture the outlets at the bottom of the tank with the nozzles - i assume those are the returns.
Do you have a clearer picture of what you put on the intake/drain hole? or a link to show me.

thanks again for your help.

The 2" intake sits up a couple of inches off the bottom of the tank with a strainer. If sand gets too stirred up, it can get into the intake, but doesn't normally happen.


The Reeflo Dart pump and Ocean Motion 4-way (OM4) are housed inside the cabinetry under the tank:


As for hiding the CL return and intakes, we've had lots of practice over the years. We have found that making a template with tape of the tank w/markings for the closed loop outlets and experimenting with the rock design before placing in tank helps a lot.

 

[Mike&Terry]

Much thanks for your response.

I can see from the picture the outlets at the bottom of the tank with the nozzles - i assume those are the returns.
Do you have a clearer picture of what you put on the intake/drain hole? or a link to show me.

thanks again for your help.

Not sure why, but we did not take a good pic showing the closed loop outlets/intake before adding rock... sorry.

The picture below (courtesy of Reef Savvy) shows the placement of the 1" schedule 80 outlets and 2" schedule 80 intake:


We went with schedule 80 for the bottom drilled holes as an added safety measure. The bulkheads we use are Hayward - the schedule 80's BRS sells will work, but the Hayward's are just a step up. We inserted a 2" x 4" schedule 80 nipple into the 2" intake and topped it with the 2" fpt pipe and pump strainer. The nipples do come in various lengths depending on your needs. We used loc-line parts for the outlets and configured them in a "Y" Pattern with two outlets for each of the 4 returns.
For the Ocean Motion 4-way (OM4), we went with drum option #3 which runs the outlets opposed - outlets 1 and 3, 2 and 4, repeat. We have replaced the drum once in 7 years. Hope this helps answer your questions.

 

[Mike&Terry]

haha scrappy. Nice. I was very surprised not to see him out there right away. Mine was always "starving"

HA! He is always hungry.

 

[Stylo328]

Not sure why, but we did not take a good pic showing the closed loop outlets/intake before adding rock... sorry.

The picture below (courtesy of Reef Savvy) shows the placement of the 1" schedule 80 outlets and 2" schedule 80 intake:


We went with schedule 80 for the bottom drilled holes as an added safety measure. The bulkheads we use are Hayward - the schedule 80's BRS sells will work, but the Hayward's are just a step up. We inserted a 2" x 4" schedule 80 nipple into the 2" intake and topped it with the 2" fpt pipe and pump strainer. The nipples do come in various lengths depending on your needs. We used loc-line parts for the outlets and configured them in a "Y" Pattern with two outlets for each of the 4 returns.
For the Ocean Motion 4-way (OM4), we went with drum option #3 which runs the outlets opposed - outlets 1 and 3, 2 and 4, repeat. We have replaced the drum once in 7 years. Hope this helps answer your questions.

These are the types of posts that truly add value to sites like this. Well thought out, comprehensive and articulate. Thank you for your contributions here.

 

[xaflatoonx]

So grateful for your detailed reply. Thanks so much.

 

[fabutahoun]

Oh man what Can I say !!! Spent My whole morning reading this awesome thread. Amazing Tank !!!
Love the fish and coral collection

About the Orange Spotted filefish, is it touching any coral?

 

[Mike&Terry]

So grateful for your detailed reply. Thanks so much.

You are most welcome! And should you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

These are the types of posts that truly add value to sites like this. Well thought out, comprehensive and articulate. Thank you for your contributions here.

We get very few inquiries here on R2R regarding our equipment or details about our setup, so we were excited when @xaflatoonx asked for details about our closed loop and were happy to share!

Oh man what Can I say !!! Spent My whole morning reading this awesome thread. Amazing Tank !!!
Love the fish and coral collection

About the Orange Spotted filefish, is it touching any coral?

Fadi, Reading the entire thread is no small feat, LOL! Thank You very much for the kind words and for participating in our thread - we truly are appreciative...

Our Orange Spotted filefish does nip at coral polyps a bit, but so far, has not caused any real damage. He is not the best swimmer and there is a lot of flow in the tank which keeps him from "grazing continuously" on the same coral. We feed several times a day and he *LOVES* algae which helps curb the nipping. He is no worse than our "plucky" Regal Angelfish who has been with us for about 8 or 9 years now and we've found over time, that her nipping actually encourages new growth in our corals.

 

[xaflatoonx]

Plan to build something very similar in terms of size and structure.

CL is one of my curiosities. And want to include that in my coming build. Hence the questions

I have no doubt that by the time I am ready. I will come back and bother you guys again

 

[Mike&Terry]

We had a busy weekend doing routine tank maintenance, moving a few corals and re-mounting some frags. Decided to try Reef Fanatic coral glue and love it!:


Not done with coral placement, but getting there:


Now that our order from @MarineDepot is here, we have a couple of new toys to play with:




So stay tuned...

 

[Mike&Terry]

Our ORA Duncans are doing great:


Psuedojuloides cerasinus


Macropharyngodon choati


Belly on up to the salad bar, LOL!