chimera

whats the best height and depth to have a reef rack? the tank height and depth are both 600mm. i figure about 200mm heigh and 200mm in from the back (to leave enough room at the front to cascade the rocks down from the rack)

reef - yeah, im picking dead spots too in the rocks doesnt help at all either. thats why im so keen on getting the new tank in - but on the same hand, i dont want to rush things and screw it up so am maintaining a bit of patience (but on the same hand am getting pissed off with the cyano - viscious circle)

ok, here's a closeup of my tank today. clowns doing a u-turn in front of my bi-colour blennie and royal dottyback... you can see small traces of cyano just under the clown... lucky im not showing you a shot of the substrate - its a shocker at the moment! nothing i do can get rid of the crap. will be interesting to see what a 150% increase in water volume, better circulation and new lighting will do soon...

Ok, not exactly sump room but part of the big project. Not alot done last weekend either (oh well, at least I got the fireplace in!) Anyways, I have 3 x 25mm holes in the bottom and 3 x 25mm holes near the top of the tank for closed loops. Two of them at the bottom (the two ends) are intakes for water to go to down to each pump. The 3rd hole in the bottom (the middle one) as well as 3 other holes near the top of the tank are outputs (4 total), alternated in pairs by two SCWD's. I've made the spray bar out of pressure piping for the output on the middle/bottom hole in the tank as follows: and complete (less holes drilled in it): The other 3 outputs at the top will be connected with rotating flow nozzles. I am about to make the 2 intakes (that sit beneath the reef racks) for the water to go to the pumps. My question is the maximum size of the holes in the piping for the water to flow through. If they are too small, the closed loops wont perform optimally or may become clogged. If they are too big, they will possibly suck in things that could block or break the pumps. The smallest thing I could find at the plumbing store was as follows (10 cent piece to show size) All this will sit under a reef rack but there is still a chance with the amount of water flow for shit to get sucked into the holes. My second option was basically to use end-caps (similar to the ends of the spray bar above) and have it sit vertically with holes in it. The spray bar will have a specific number of 6mm holes in it so that its entire surface area (of the small holes) equals the same area as a 25mm hole. So, using Pi r^2 gives 490sq mm for a 25mm hole. The same equation for a 6mm hole gives 28sq mm. Dividing this means approx 18 holes for the spray bar/intake. Of course, this is a very approximate way of calculating it as flow rate increases exponentially the larger the hole you go. However, its important to maintain some form of pressure with a spray bar so I will stick with the 18 holes: one on each end of the caps =2 and 4 along each side, both front and back=16 or a total of 18 x 6mm holes. The intake bar could be a much larger number of holes without a problem, at a guesstimate at least 25 x 6mm holes would be more optimal. Anyways, your thoughts about the cap shown above - is it too big??? Would I be better off with a vertical-reverse-flow-spray-bar? (which I'll call a VRFSB :-) )

Steve - I am sure I will have a few metres of the irrigation plumbing left over once my tank goes in. I'll drop off whats left over to you for free - consider it rental payment for the iwaki Claw - as Pies says its "Hansen" not Jansen. You can get them from almost any hardware or plumbing store in Auckland (Bunnings, Placemakers, Mitre 10, Mico, Chesters etc) I found cheapest is Chesters (the boss in albany branch gave me trade price!) I have found that the ball valves (taps) can only be bought (as per Pies comment) through Mico plumbing. I think around $35 for a 25mm ball valve from memory? Make sure you get union ball valves which are the grey ones with the blue handles (not the mistake I initially made which was the white ones with red handles!!!) The 19mm irrigation plumbing I have seen in Auckland at Bunnings and Placemakers - great for your closed loops. From overflow to sump, use the hansen fittings then depending on where the sump is, use flexible hose (preference of non-transparent - you dont white light causing a build up of algae in the piping thus reducing flow efficiency) Simply use marley piping glued together (rinse out thoroughly prior to using). Dont need pressure piping here as its never under pressure.

1. oh its definately a necessity babe, just think of all the maintenance time it will free up - and best of all i can spend all that extra time with you!

my thoughts too doc. pies, its more likely to get water dripping down the side you access the tank from for obvious reasons. i assume you access all your tanks from the front, i will be accessing mine from the back. a sealer is no big deal and not much extra cost, especially considering i could scratch off the paint with my fingernails if I wanted too. not willing to take that risk and Im certainly not going to be doing touch ups once the tank is in. i'll ask the guy at the paint shop when I go there today...

Does anyone know what the best paint to seal the blue paint with would be?

im hoping for this weekend to get the new tank in. still have reef rack to make and some bits of plumbing to finish this week (if I find the time!) steve - i got a few cans of pink and orange dazzle to do your car, when do i start?

Well, didnt make too much progress this weekend with the new tank but i did at least get the back painted (also got the plywood for the tank to sit on cut out) I went with Pies colour and got marine blue. Happy with the way it came out. I need to buy a 3rd can of spray paint to finish it off (still slightly see through some areas from the front) I was thinking I might paint a black sealer over the blue once I've done the last blue coat to protect it, thoughts? Oh, and Alan there is no "right paint" for the job. Most of the "right paints" for glass is the crap that people use to stain glass with. They stick really well (but are transparent which isnt what I want). The guy in the paint shop said the only best way is to prime it first but that obviously defeats the purpose if viewed from the front. He said that a really good clean with mineral turps or meths will give best results. Hence my above question for sealing the blue with something, just incase...

roughly what sort of price are they?

Got one $60 second hand off Alois. Nice tidy units with good reflectors, haven't plugged it in yet as i need a transformer for it. Will be putting it in the new tank when I design and build a really flash hood (perhaps electronic pulleys for added wank-value ) that will incorporate the M/H's and moonlight. Buggered if I remember what the web site is,... I need to find out again to find out the spec's of the transformer... Alois you got that site? Can you post please?

too true, cheers mate.

nah, not keen on backing paper, used many times on my freshwater tanks and it sucks. i will be "getting to the tank" from the back anyway so it will just be in the way. cheers anyways.

or buy and cut a sheet of perspex. a little more expensive and perhaps harder to work with but a little more classy, stronger, resistant to water, easier to clean etc...

back's onto a room (tank is in wall) so would do it right first time with the right paint. worth spending a little now rather than having a pain in the arse later!

yes sir, steve sir!

here ya go, a much cheaper version http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/6984/

ba-dum-de-dum-de-bump.... actually, i have opted against painting the back of the tank. the room behind will be dark anyway.... although im still debating whether i paint it blue to give a nicer effect,... but then i dont want to make it look artificial... someone make up my mind for me!!!

bada-bada-bump...

bump-iti-dooo....

Simple: 1. reduce prices 2. increase the number of hours in each day

this weekend, fingers crossed!

where u live? i bought from hff (hollywood fish farm)

yeah my deltec skimmer. what about it?