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Durand tank build (1 Viewer)

That’s a lotta light! Honestly those 4 T5 probably enough but will be nice to have fill and ramping options!

Have 2 B+ and 2 C+ will give you excellent balance and wrap them in a nice full spectrum blanket. Maybe run the T5 for 6 hours and use the Primes for ramp up and down bling?
 
spsick said:
That’s a lotta light! Honestly those 4 T5 probably enough but will be nice to have fill and ramping options!

Have 2 B+ and 2 C+ will give you excellent balance and wrap them in a nice full spectrum blanket. Maybe run the T5 for 6 hours and use the Primes for ramp up and down bling?
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Thanks Ben. My current schedule is the same from the cube I just took down. Running the t5’s for 7 hours in the middle of the day and the primes are set for 70%. I turned these down about 10-12% from where they were
 
Had to add a shroud around the light. Way to bright with out it. Picked up some HDPE black panel from menards.. little Velcro and duct tape lol. Nothing fancy but it blocks the overspill.
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reef junkie said:
@Varig Little quick search and found this. Im going to order one now and see how it goes.
www.avastmarine.com

Plank Mixing Tube

Custom length tubes for The Plank These can be used for sump installations or other custom installs. For optimal mixing and dispersal of food (without it going over the overflow), the tube should extend ~4" beneath the water. To measure for an in-sump installation: If the water level in your...
www.avastmarine.com www.avastmarine.com
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That’s fantastic. If they offer it, it must be a common request. Perhaps I’ll call them and order with the right length. Or I wonder if it’s just a common pvc diameter?
 
Varig said:
That’s fantastic. If they offer it, it must be a common request. Perhaps I’ll call them and order with the right length. Or I wonder if it’s just a common pvc diameter?
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Not sure. I thought about checking and seeing if ai could use just reg pave. But the texture on the tube feel printed. So i just ordered one to the length I needed.
 
Fair enough. Just was curious. The price is pretty reasonable considering everything else we buy ;)
 
Varig said:
Fair enough. Just was curious. The price is pretty reasonable considering everything else we buy ;)
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Seems to be working. After running the feed mode once I did see food make its way to the display. Not sure how much will settle in the return pump area. Time will tell.
 
Yea I heard or saw this somewhere. Seemed like a fantastic idea. And @reef junkie is just the guinea pig ;)

Really excited to hear what happens.
 
the rest of us are hoping it works, too. This is my plan for my auto feeder in the new tank.
 
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I’ve done this successfully on my previous tanks. On lower turnover systems I kept a modded maxi jet in the return compartment to keep all the food suspended so none settled out.
I’ll be doing the same on my new tank and also trying to figure out an automated way of feeding frozen like this as well.
 
I tried this with your plan old rotating auto feeder and a lot of the food just settled even with a power head in the area it still collected. But this seems to be a better option witch the tube dumping directly over the intake under water. Im going to try dropping some frozen in like I would when it was dumping in the main diplay area. That should give me a better idea on what the food is doing.

@Chris Goetz id like to hear more on this automated frozen food???
 
Im still struggling to get the silence i want from my overflow. I bounce from to high to to low in the overflow chamber no matter how little I try to move the gate valve. This must be just a thing with the DC pump not staying consistent with its output. I would get it right and it would stay for a day or two but then all of a sudden it would be to low or to high. I leave the setting as it for a few days thinking it might go back but it never seems to move back. Yesterday I even tried just shutting it down and see if it would do anything but just filled back to the same level it was before I turned it off at. So i think my plan might be to look for a standard AC pump. Im just a little nervous for the sounds and he heat. 2 things I struggled with back in the day with an Ocean Runner 2500. Great pump, juts a little noisy and pretty warm. Here is what my apex shows for power consumption. I can see it seems to bounce around a lot more then the AC pump that is on my skimmer.
IMG_0436.png

Am i thinking about this correctly? Is this showing the difference in the draw on the return pump and this could be whats causing the heights to change in the overflow? Would a AC pump resolve this and if so recommendation on what pump to use?

This one shows skimmer as well for 1 day.
IMG_0437.png
 
I used the VarioS 4 on my Reefer 250 (55 gallon). I had issues adjusting mine at times but always contributed that with the Red Sea gate valve. It would often work well for weeks with no adjustment. I have my doubts that your issue is the pump.

Few questions:
1) How many inches are between the drain and the e-drain. Is water going down the e-drain the noise you hear? If you are hearing it down your main drain it sounds like something wrong with your siphon. What type of overflow configuration are you using?
2) What does the water from the drain filter into (Filter floss/socks/roller mat)? What I am getting at, is your turnover rate changing enough to mess with the water level in display?
 
The water level I want to fall less than 1” to the water level height in the overflow box from the water level in the display. The main drain is closer to the bottom of the tank so the difference between the emergency and the main drains is something like 8”. The sound I hear either comes from the water falling more then 1” From the teeth in the overflow or if water is to high its in the sump from e drain. I don't run any socks or filter that would slow any flow rate. Water free falls directly into the sump. The only thing that changes is the return chamber water height but the ATO and Kalk reactor takes care of that keeping it with in 1/4” i would say in height difference .


If I adjust the gate valve to this 1” lower level from the display, water falls down the overflow teeth. At this level everthing is silent. And will stay that way for days. But the level will change either going up to the e drain height, or low causing a louder waterfall effect.
 
I would add some pipe to the main drain to keep a certain amount of water in the overflow box. I don't think you would need to glue it. Might be able to just press a coupler with a very short piece of pipe. You could set the height of the drain closer to that inch below (maybe 2") the teeth, than your e-drain should be 1/2" or so above the overflow teeth.

Could also try and reduce your turnover rate and slow the pump down. What percent are you running the pump at? I think I had mine set around the 50-60% range. That might reduce the noise of it going through the teeth when the overflow box had less water in it.
 
I do have the e drain about 1/4” higher than the teeth on the overflow box. I did this after first set up and was having trouble setting the height. I have the pump set on number 4 Out of 5. Flow rate seems low And was thinking of setting it to max (5) and see if that did anything. Bit maybe adjusting lower to 3 would allow a little more adjustments In the gate valve??? Either way it seems strange that the heights change at all. This was the same problem I had with my external overflow on the last tank and sure was hopefull that I o uld not have the same Issue with the new internal overflow. I think Ill mess with it a little more before swapping out the pump but am afraid this might be what needs to happen.
 
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