My official transition from lurking...

Siebo said:
In the last picture you use a compression coupler (I think that is what it is called) on your return. IMO I would use a union there. Those things tend the leak over time.
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I want to be able to take it all apart. if it begins failing I will for sure change it up, but I dont see it building much pressure. My return pump is only 350gph, I may be getting a new 500gph and just use the 350 as a backup.
 
When is it a reef tank?

So I am proud to announce the birthdate of my setup, it was last night at about 11:30pm. Total water volume is 48 gallons. overall I am excited, though the gurgling from the down pipe is a bit excessive. Maybe it is to far into the water, how far above or below the water line should I have the end of the downpipe? my overflow is a Glass holes 700gph box.
 
Congrats! Nice looking start.

Glassholes are all that quiet at close to their max. I have done a few tweaks to soften the falling water into the box which does help a lot on my two, by adding pieces but it gives a greater risk of plugging up.
 
I am going to do two things this weekend

1. Cut the downpipe above the waterline and install a 45* on the end for a smooth transition.

2. I need to install the doors on my stand. I placed them on there and it was noticeably quieter.

There is a vent on the elbow at the top, I think that does make a difference.
 
Right now for the first time since plugging in my return pump I am excited about my tank. The thing was so loud that I was seriously considering scrapping the project. Today I did a few little things that made it bearable...
The skimmer had a piece broken on the motor mount, I should have repaired it before ever attempting to plug it in. It seemed relatively okay, but today I went to reef wise and had them repair it with some weld-on, and I picked up a few pounds of coraline encrusted rock to seed my tank. When I got home I reassembled the skimmer and plugged it in... Close to silent . Also, I believe the thing to be broken in as the microbubbles are gone and I'm getting stuff in the cup (dust from the sand) yay!

Return pump was the next step. It is old and loose and causing a racket, its a mag 3 and after running it I feel that 350gph is good. The water level in the display is perfect and I have good flow through my dual .5" returns. So yeah, anyway the impeller was rattling so I took it apart and shimmed the bushings and it was substantially improved. All that being said, I blew my fish fund for the next few weeks on salt, water, rocks and gas. So if anyone has an extra mag3 or mag5 I can borrow that would be awesome.

The noise from the overflow is hushing up of its own accord, which is okay by me. I can easily deal with a bit of water noise. For the first 24 hours it sounded like the sound of a toilet flushing constantly, now it sounds like a emperor 400 hob filter in a tank with the water level a bit low.

I really think that once I put the doors on tomorrow it will be decent and with a different pump it will be awesome.
 
Heres what she's looking like now, water was crystal clear than I added more dead rock and its looking like and old goldfish bowl. In a week or so when it looks like a million again Ill do some tests, not needed now because of the obvious bacteria bloom.
 
Thank you mark and matt. For those curious I got a bit of that rock from markemark for free?



Thanks again.
 
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I had to bump yhis back up. i have 30 gallons in the mixer now and the tank will be going through some changes over night and into yhe morning.
 
View attachment 12541

ive been sucking all the sand from around the rocks because i want the bare bottom tank. my stack of rocks looked nice in the beginning, but after a ton of money in livestock it just looks un organized. its a detritus trap also.
 
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Im am not a fan of the barebottom look unless its a woman lol. But to each there own i also worry but rocks falling and cracking the bottom
 
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