Yea it could be the head pressure of the return pump the more it has to push the water the less it's going to pump.
Durand tank build (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter reef junkie
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OP
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Yes that was my though. But we are talking fractions of an inch of water. But with such small margins it micro movements we are talking here. But if I can get something like an evaporation chamber Separate from the return chamber this maybe would solve the issue and I can go back to having return pump at max. Now with that said i dont know how to accomplish this. I feel like every sump design I look at the return chamber is always the place that the water level goes up and down.
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Since the sump is all gravity flow, I don't think there is a way I can think of to get an earlier chamber to be the one that changes water volume, short of adding an additional pump in the sump who's purpose was to pump water into your main return chamber. But then you'd need a bunch of fancy sensors etc. to control the speed of that pump to make sure it exactly maintained the level in your return chamber. Basically, I don't think it's possible. BUT I'm also pretty new to the fish tank stuff, so I'm just basing this on intuition/physics. Maybe someone will have a genius idea.
Also, it seems like a few inches of water level change in your return chamber shouldn't impact your return pump's flow. 2" is only something like 0.07psi. Compared to the 1-2psi you lose on the outlet side of the pump to raise the water up to your DT, I doubt that is the issue. And you have an ATO, so your water level shouldn't be changing by inches, but maybe 1/4" or less? That's something like 0.009psi difference in pressure on the inlet of your pump. I really doubt that is the culprit. Seems like a very strange issue.
Sadly I've never had a tank with a sump (yet), so it's not something I can actual speak to with much authority. I hope you get it figured out, but I guess if I was you I wouldn't be spending a bunch of time trying to figure out how to change which chamber has the evaporation
Also, it seems like a few inches of water level change in your return chamber shouldn't impact your return pump's flow. 2" is only something like 0.07psi. Compared to the 1-2psi you lose on the outlet side of the pump to raise the water up to your DT, I doubt that is the issue. And you have an ATO, so your water level shouldn't be changing by inches, but maybe 1/4" or less? That's something like 0.009psi difference in pressure on the inlet of your pump. I really doubt that is the culprit. Seems like a very strange issue.
Sadly I've never had a tank with a sump (yet), so it's not something I can actual speak to with much authority. I hope you get it figured out, but I guess if I was you I wouldn't be spending a bunch of time trying to figure out how to change which chamber has the evaporation
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Thanks, That sort of what I was figuring. It was worth a try. Im sick of opening the gate valve every morning and then closing it every evening. Im now keeping track of the sump level morning and night to see how much it does change. As of this morning the water level was 1/8” above the mark that I made yesterday and the water in the overflow was 2” higher. I turned the gate valve the least amount I could possible move and now I will monitor.Since the sump is all gravity flow, I don't think there is a way I can think of to get an earlier chamber to be the one that changes water volume, short of adding an additional pump in the sump who's purpose was to pump water into your main return chamber. But then you'd need a bunch of fancy sensors etc. to control the speed of that pump to make sure it exactly maintained the level in your return chamber. Basically, I don't think it's possible. BUT I'm also pretty new to the fish tank stuff, so I'm just basing this on intuition/physics. Maybe someone will have a genius idea.
Also, it seems like a few inches of water level change in your return chamber shouldn't impact your return pump's flow. 2" is only something like 0.07psi. Compared to the 1-2psi you lose on the outlet side of the pump to raise the water up to your DT, I doubt that is the issue. And you have an ATO, so your water level shouldn't be changing by inches, but maybe 1/4" or less? That's something like 0.009psi difference in pressure on the inlet of your pump. I really doubt that is the culprit. Seems like a very strange issue.
Sadly I've never had a tank with a sump (yet), so it's not something I can actual speak to with much authority. I hope you get it figured out, but I guess if I was you I wouldn't be spending a bunch of time trying to figure out how to change which chamber has the evaporation
Change of subject. Hope to picking up a kalk stirrer this week. With all the research on BRS this is the most controlled way to add kalk. Ill plumb it to pull water from my ATO container.
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New stirrer. Was missing a set screw. So order a new one from avast. So just waiting for that to come in. Gave it a vinegar bath to get a cleaned up. Now trying to decide exactly how to run it. Figured timer for the stirrer a few times a day for 5 min or so if running. And then pull water from ato with x1 pump into the stirrer and then output of stirrer to the sump. Run at night and maybe start with 10ml. I think this will be a much stronger dose. So want to start slow and see. The 1/2 teaspooon Im doing now at 20ml per night has done nothing in terms of raising ph.
Also I’ve had some bad luck adding new zoas to the tank. A few weeks ago got some fluffy looking ones and then sort of slowly melted away. And just received another frag and it’s yet to open up. So turned the mp’s down from 65% to 30% and will watch for a few days. Not sure what else the problem could be.
Also I’ve had some bad luck adding new zoas to the tank. A few weeks ago got some fluffy looking ones and then sort of slowly melted away. And just received another frag and it’s yet to open up. So turned the mp’s down from 65% to 30% and will watch for a few days. Not sure what else the problem could be.
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No change to the tank with flow turned down for the newly added zoas. Few shots of reef chili in the area and still nothing. Will keep working with the reef chili few days a week and see if it opens up.
Hope to see set screws this week and should be able to get kalk stirrer up and running by the weekend.
Hope to see set screws this week and should be able to get kalk stirrer up and running by the weekend.
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Stirrer is up and running. I have the stirrer set you to stir for 5min every hour. Read that this will help make the motor Last longer then running 24hr a day. THe dosing pump is set to dose 5ml then 3ml then back to 5ml. This back and forth goes every half hour for a total of 10 doses and 40ml. With the stirrer I dont get a small drip like I thought I would with using the dosing pump. It prob takes around 10ml of ro getting added to the stirrer to get the water level to fill enough in the stirrer to get any kalk solution to come out Of the holding vessel. Then about 5-7ml actually dumps out at a time. SO not a slow drip but a small about never the less. We been running a few days and no real change to the PH level. Going to test alk and calc today and see where my levels are. Thinking I need to figure out how to drop my dosing amount on the all for reef and increase the Kalk to be able to actually see any steady ph increase. Though of even stopping all for reef all together and Just use the Kalk, get that dialed in and then start adding the all for reef in very small amounts for the trace elements, Im just dont want to stop all for reef. Got 2 full jugs of powder and at 75 ish a bottle like to keep using it LOl plus it does a great job keeping things in line for numbers.
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Quick chat with avast and apparently it takes about 15ml of ro to get kalk to exit the stirrer through outlet tube. Also they shared a nice kalkulator link for calculating the amount to use. So I’ve changed my dosing to 18ml into 8 doses total if 150ml at night. Gonna start here and see what happens. Also headed to reef to have water checked. Hanna alk tester is just not adding up i feel. So either the reg is bad or tester. But hope to find out soon.
on a fun note. Starting a project in Plymouth in a few weeks. So just going to have to stop in at new wave being so close and all. Lol.
on a fun note. Starting a project in Plymouth in a few weeks. So just going to have to stop in at new wave being so close and all. Lol.
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The saga continues
The t5 retro kit I got with the new tank seems to be killing bulbs. Ive lost 3 bulbs since I started running the light. It seems like one of the bulb Slowly get duller and a duller each day untill the bulb dies. So I need some good ideas for lighting on this tank. The current prime hd16 look nice but I Feel I need more and like the t5 growth but open to ideas. Was going to order a retro t5 kit from BRS but maybe there is a better option.
The t5 retro kit I got with the new tank seems to be killing bulbs. Ive lost 3 bulbs since I started running the light. It seems like one of the bulb Slowly get duller and a duller each day untill the bulb dies. So I need some good ideas for lighting on this tank. The current prime hd16 look nice but I Feel I need more and like the t5 growth but open to ideas. Was going to order a retro t5 kit from BRS but maybe there is a better option.
I really like the Neptune SKY. It gives you the spread of t5s with the flexibility of LEDs all in one light.
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That looks like an amazing light. Not sure im ready to drop that much coin on a fixture just yet though.
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We are up to 300ml now at night over 20 doses Equaling 15ml per dose of kalk. Little increase in ph but not up to the target of 8.2 yet. Will monitor and recheck in the am to see where we are at. I turned down my all for reef dose by half from 16ml to 8ml Per day. My guess is this will get less and less as i continue to increase my kalk. I only at about 20% of my needed top off needed per day right now based on the Kalkulator avast has on there website. Trying to closely monitor the amount I dose from stirrer and the amount my ATO kicks on. I dont want to fully remove the ATO off line just decrease the number of times it turns on. This should be a good way of making sure Im not adding more then im evaporation.
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Not yet. To soon I think to say. Other then the leathers that would never open and these two most recent zoas not opening. Everything else looks good and is growing and has been. Even some new additions addedthat I have done for sps and lps and some that were bad that I received for free all look and seem good.
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Picked up a lemon peel and purple dotyback today both out already enjoying there new digs.
Fts with lemon peel
Fts with lemon peel
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Feel like i‘m getting dialed in a little bit more. Ended up at 350ml of Kalk dosing at night bringing my ph right at 8.2. Drops to 8 at night. Alk is 9dkh, and calc is 480. Also order 2 new t5 bulbs for the light. Hopefully the 2 that have been acting up we’re just old and not the fixture acting up.
The new fish have settle in nicely. Was very surprised I didnt get any bullying with anyone. Ive been getting at least one that wants t chase the newbie around but not this time.
I also set my t5’s to be on for 2 more hours from 5 to 7 hours being turned on but then turned my ai primes down 10%. Im hoping by doing this my Acans will color back up, Ive never really had great color from them and hope by more lighting from the t5’s and less fro,, LEDs it will help.
Still dealing with the stupid overflow issue. SO im researching a new larger overflow. Im hoping to find a single hole box that is larger in size like the 1200gph box. Really loving this tank but the external overflow is something I wish I would have reseached more.
The new fish have settle in nicely. Was very surprised I didnt get any bullying with anyone. Ive been getting at least one that wants t chase the newbie around but not this time.
I also set my t5’s to be on for 2 more hours from 5 to 7 hours being turned on but then turned my ai primes down 10%. Im hoping by doing this my Acans will color back up, Ive never really had great color from them and hope by more lighting from the t5’s and less fro,, LEDs it will help.
Still dealing with the stupid overflow issue. SO im researching a new larger overflow. Im hoping to find a single hole box that is larger in size like the 1200gph box. Really loving this tank but the external overflow is something I wish I would have reseached more.
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New light installed yesterday. As soon as I turned it in could tell a big difference. All the bulbs had the same brightness. Think maybe the light I had was not a reef light and was maybe a plant grow light. But we hopefully are good now.
have been lucky enough to score a few frags around the club so the tank is filling up nicely. Slowly ramping up my Kalk to get to that 8.2 range. Was nervous since my ph probe and Hanna were not lining up.
FTS’s
My chalices that got badly damaged in my old tank from the green mushroom coming off the rock are staring to grow back so happy to see that. A few of the new zoas have been very slow to open up but getting there. And some of the plague bubbly algae from my old tank that I plucked off as much as I could is starting to come back. I’m sure due to over feeding and the amount of mouths to feed.
have been lucky enough to score a few frags around the club so the tank is filling up nicely. Slowly ramping up my Kalk to get to that 8.2 range. Was nervous since my ph probe and Hanna were not lining up.
FTS’s
My chalices that got badly damaged in my old tank from the green mushroom coming off the rock are staring to grow back so happy to see that. A few of the new zoas have been very slow to open up but getting there. And some of the plague bubbly algae from my old tank that I plucked off as much as I could is starting to come back. I’m sure due to over feeding and the amount of mouths to feed.
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Now with all the light on and my cheap camera filter
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Still dialing in the kalk. Was at 500ml
Parameter are at
7.8 PH
8.2 DKH
480CALC
Just bumped up to 600ml this morning and will recheck parameters tomorrow morning.
For the most part all the corals seem to be doing good. Noticing new growth on the sps and all the montis are growing. Zoas are not doing much. They seem to be sort of stunted. Any new ones I add have been taking weeks to open or they sort of melt away which sucks.
Noticing water in the sump has a yellow tinge to it. Might be reflections, but going to put some old tank water in a white bucket and compare it to new tank water. If in fact its yellow will be looking at adding a minI carbon reactor. Will snag one up during the black Friday event BRS is having and will prob grab a few fitting for my drains. Thinking of swapping out my gate valve and the 90’s to a new gate valve that maybe have a little more fine tuning and doing 45’s for the drain. Thinking maybe less back pressure if I have 45’s then 90’s might help with my daily water level changes in the overflow.
Parameter are at
7.8 PH
8.2 DKH
480CALC
Just bumped up to 600ml this morning and will recheck parameters tomorrow morning.
For the most part all the corals seem to be doing good. Noticing new growth on the sps and all the montis are growing. Zoas are not doing much. They seem to be sort of stunted. Any new ones I add have been taking weeks to open or they sort of melt away which sucks.
Noticing water in the sump has a yellow tinge to it. Might be reflections, but going to put some old tank water in a white bucket and compare it to new tank water. If in fact its yellow will be looking at adding a minI carbon reactor. Will snag one up during the black Friday event BRS is having and will prob grab a few fitting for my drains. Thinking of swapping out my gate valve and the 90’s to a new gate valve that maybe have a little more fine tuning and doing 45’s for the drain. Thinking maybe less back pressure if I have 45’s then 90’s might help with my daily water level changes in the overflow.
OP
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Received my new gate valve and 45’s. Got everything glued up and ready to go. Will wait until tomorrow to install. Give it some time to off gas. Really hoping this helps the overflow box stay more consistent.
In other news up to 1000ml of kalk now. Have been adding more to the dosing schedule each day. Still can’t get that ph up to even 8 yet. Will continue to monitor each day and increase as needed to get that ph and alk up. Im hopeful that calc will go down as alk. Increases close to 9.
In other news up to 1000ml of kalk now. Have been adding more to the dosing schedule each day. Still can’t get that ph up to even 8 yet. Will continue to monitor each day and increase as needed to get that ph and alk up. Im hopeful that calc will go down as alk. Increases close to 9.