chimera

so then click the button to vote...

no idea. that would be up to 6,000 if that were the case. 2 now. :lol:

should really have started a new post for it, it's eating into your 'new tank setup' posts.

8 more posts and saltwater passes the freshwater total posts of course, this one will make it happen even faster :lol:

Thanks Piearse To elaborate: When i first thought this theory to be the case, RnB came up with the diver story. My theory on that was the water above is all around him, not directed ontop of him like if he were in the bottom of a funnel. I took the liberty of justifying my theory that was wrong in the first place!!! so why the original question? Believe me, you will LOVE the link. Best link I've found ever to do with plumbing! I will do my research/reading first in future

please post the type of food you feed your fish (brand too if possible) also where you get it from and for what type of fish and any experiences you've had with good/bad brands. i have blug tang, couple of clowns, chromis, bi-colour blenny, royal dottyback, mandarin (yeah, i know, live food only) and rabbitfish. of course, what each person posts will be there own experience but im just interested in whats popular amongst different breeds. in particular, where do you get things like mysis and live food from? i feed flake, nori, spirulina, marine algae (mariperis) and frozen marine tucker. what others are recommended?

just out of curiosity, how much coin have you invested on your setup!

alrightly, off you go then i never said at any point that i was right, i simply put a different line on it to get some discussion going and have my opinions proved otherwise. as was posted earlier, one persons logic is different than anothers! oh, and no problem for the link, anytime, dont mention it... :lol:

oh, and... ...I'll admit to falling into that trap. I calculated for my setup that going from 20mm to 25mm piping up will increase flow by about 150gph. However (as above) this is restricted because it has to reduce to 20mm again into the sea-swirl. So, what would the effect be if I increased the return to say 32mm or 40mm then T'd (or rather Y'd) off the return pipe near the tank into a 20mm for the sea-swirl and say a 20mm into another area of the tank? (much like Pies is doing except no 2nd sea-swirl for me )

RnB - I meant picture it like a funnel, the water is leaving the bottom part of the funnel and you are sitting in the middle of it. the pressure is directed into the hole, not all the ocean around you so diving is a poor comparison. Even so, Pies is right, the water will only leave at a certain rate given its diameter. Anyways, the appropriate diameter of the pipe is directly related to the flow rate of the pump - no ones theory has mentioned this yet. ref: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/featurejp.htm I wish I found this article from day one! Pies - calculate the diameter using these equations to get the best results. You will probably find the 50mm pipe will perform much better than the 40mm (havent worked it out, just going by the theory on this site!) The issue I have is going from a 25mm pipe to a 20mm sea-swirl (restricted no matter what) So if I went 25mm out to a 32mm pipe then back to a 20mm, the restriction is with the sea-swirl. However under your setup, going 25mm out to a 50mm then back to 2 x 20mm sea-swirls is probably fine. Make sure you do the equation though. Play around til you get it right! Im not too fussed with mine, will probably increase pipe up to 25mm and be done with it. To save all the hassle, click this link (make sure you have macro's enabled) You can even select the Iwaki pump you are using! http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/waterpipe-v1.xls

you should make note that this is for freshwater only otherwise it will make it biased (most saltwater will say "protein skimmer" and therefore tick "other")

(not saying you're right or wrong) This would be valid for a swimming pool but not necessarily your or my setup. At any point at the bottom of the pool the force is effected by the height of the water directly above it. With the pump however, the water above (say a 32mm pipe) is being squeezed back into a 25mm opening (the iwaki outlet) the water has to go somewhere, that force must be applied to the outlet, cant go anywhere else. Surely (for arguments sake) a 2 metre pipe above a 25mm opening will be greater pressure at that opening because of the greater water volume? If it were a 2 metre outlet, then it wouldnt matter. Im saying this by what seems logical - not sure if its a valid theory or not though?!!!

re: dupla alpha gauges - they are no longer being made. they are replaced by another model that is quite expensive ($300+) you might be lucky if you find a shop that has an old one in stock otherwise better off ordering from reefonline (unless you can source 2nd hand) re: soft corals - calcium reactor not required and can actually have adverse effects on the tank. i never had reactor when i just had soft corals and they grew like crazy.

luckily i can use the 20mm pressure piping replacing the cheap 19mm irrigation piping for the closed loops :lol:

cardboard + water = soggy

showiz sum pix of the new corals then!

not from what i've read or seen, pies, reef, jetskisteve and layton will give you a more accurate answer!

i have a korallin 3001 reactor. i spent ages trying to source a co2 gauge buying off trademe etc and all being wrong types. problem is the flow rate needs to be very low and this can only be achieved by chucking on a needle valve to reduce it. boc dont sell one that has a low enough flow. i didnt like the idea of doing this so bought a tunze co2 reg off http://www.reefonline.com.au (about $150?) fits all boc bottles. works bloody well, im really happy with it.

i'll add my own question to your post if I may! i want to go from 25mm outlet on iwaki to sea-swirl but the sea-swirl inlet is 20mm. will replacing the current 20mm pressure piping to 25mm pressure piping then reducing just before the sea-swirl (@ 20mm) improve performance? from what is written above it wont? i think i need to read more on water dynamics!!! :lol:

you wouldnt need hallides and white t5's. just hallides and blue actinic. for 300L probably a single 250W or a couple 150W's would do.

of course, there has to be a maximum pipe size where flow starts to deminish. the greater the diameter output pipe, the more water in it hence the more weight in it pushing back against the return pump. i still dont see how a larger diameter return pipe (than the pump outlet diameter) is going to improve performance. also, what diameter inlet to your sea-swirls?

yeah, i see what you mean. the head height idea isnt relational to the actual height itself, more the volume of water it has to push up to that head height (greater weight of water (hence greater height) + gravity back down = harder the pump has to work) so if the pipe size is reduced, it doesnt matter where that reduction is at any given point in the pipe? (ignore elbows for now) the outlet of the iwaki is 1" and the inlet to the sea-swirl is 3/4" so it doesnt matter whether the pipe size is 3/4" or 1" heading up? (take out frictional forces) - its still going to be the same flow rate because of the reduction from 1" to 3/4" anywhere in the pipe???

ha ha haaaaa! splash contamination :lol: watch out that saltwater might burn through your floorboards!

from what i've read, outlet piping should not be larger than the pump outlet (depending on application of course, but valid in this case). eg: 25mm outlet on the iwaki, use maximum 25mm pipe. as above, to do with turbulence and the likes. you need to maintain some form of pressure in the return pipe. IMO, yes and no - depends on head height. if the pump is pumping up 10 feet, then reducing the pipe immediately leaving the pump will obviously mean instant pressure increase (where the water is flowing at its maximum) HOWEVER having the pipe reduced say 9 feet up (1 foot before the sea-swirl) will mean a pressure increase/more friction but at a much lesser effect (because the flow rate at 9 - 10 feet head is reduced anyways) btw, i've bought some 25mm pressure piping and new 45 degree elbows (as per pies recommendation on my post) to increase the plumbing up 5mm larger and increase water flow. it will be reduced back down to 20mm just prior to entering the sea-swirl. i believe this will improve flow - will post my results (anyone got a flowmeter i can borrow? :lol: )

it's a "Siganus" which is on the list of allowed fish according to MAF. does it really matter? should we post some blue starfish up on the site too and get maf really intrigued? its likely most of this stuff has been here before MAF got so anal with their import regulations. obviously what comes in now is as legal as it can be. isnt that claiming you are outside of maf regulations too?