chimera

you got short fat korralin dont you? maybe the width and lesser height is an advantage! more room for water to travel upwards and less distance for blockages. interesting if this is the case

come see the size of some of my snails all you need to make sure of is that it goes: big (standpipe) smaller (bulkhead) big (downpipe) the downpipe not necessarily having to be bigger than the bulkhead, but,... why not in my case it's 40mm -> 32mm -> 40mm. works a treat.

the shorter pipe would be submersed under water so no noise. the taller (durso) pipe would be taking less of the water volume so lesser noise. seems logical in theory, may not work in principal though? big snail in single durso pipe = no redundancy that doesn't make sense? im picking its done like this (probably what you are meaning) is that if the standpipe is larger than the bulkhead hole, then there is always that extra volume of water behind it to cope with the need, much like feeding a return pump. not sure how this would make it work better though, but it cant hurt sticking to how it works for everyone else.

i think that is exactly the problem and was my theory behind the wear also. the calcium carbonate is dissolved so much it clogs the filter pad at the bottom of the reactor. the circulation pump pushes water down to the bottom of the reactor and draws water from the top, but it struggles because of the clogged filter pad. i took all media out of mine and cleaned the pad, it was FILTHY, almost like clay. put it all back in but by then i think it was too late, the damage to the impeller was already done. i have since reduced the bubble rate considerably (the instructions for the korralin say 1 bubble every 7 seconds, from others i took the suggestion of 1 bubble per second ) think i'll go back to the higher rate with the new impeller and see how it performs. cheers wasp.

im not picking up on where pies and suphew are coming here, as far as I can see you ARE using durso's (at least in your text you say you are, your picture shows differently - a durso has a U bend on top of it), the only difference here is you are using DUAL standpipes (although the lower one would not need to look like a durso, the taller one must) am I correct in assuming this is what you are wanting to do? i cant see this being a problem, the lower durso taking the brunt of the flow and the top durso for additional silencing. i would add a strainer (a cap on top of the pipe with holes in it) to the lower standpipe. make sure the taller standpipe is an actual durso design, ie: the U bend with hole in the top. ball valves are a must.

i took the pump off and tested taking the reactor out of the equation. s'pose i'll just have to try a new impeller :-?

Yes, if the short pipe were too big it might take all the flow and the taller one does nothing (or if you decided to change your return pump) Because i always expect the unexpected i would put a ball valve on both. Say you notice a leak in the overflow box, at least that way you can also shut off the entire tank without losing all water (depending on where the leak were however) I currently have one on my ('single piped') overflow and will be doing the same on the tank upgrade. The way I look at it is i'd hate to lose $1,000's worth or corals and fish for the sake of a $30 ball valve.

how? 2 pipes gotta be better than 1 how? thats what he has, but with dual standpipes

my eheim (1048 i think?) circulating pump on the calcium reactor makes a hell of a noise. a rattling sound, as though its being retricted when drawing or pushing water. i took it off the reactor and submerged it in the tank as a test and the flow was poor (although it only does 10lph, it was still only just dribbling out) i compared the impeller/magnet/shaft on the 1048 to the same on an eheim 1060 i have. the difference is the 1060 impellor and magnet spin together (they're joined) and both slide up and down the shaft together. the 1048 has the impeller and magnet disjoined and both slide up and down the shaft and spin separately, although there is a 'key' lock inside the impeller and outside the magnet so when they touch they lock. the impeller seems very slack on the shaft, wobbling around a bit. pies or joeblog: any chance you guys (or anyone else with an eheim 1048) can tell me if the impeller is supposed to be quite slack on the shaft? i think the problem with mine is the impeller is slipping over the 'key' lock which is causing the noise and resulting in the poor flow. if this is the case, suppose i'll have to get a new complete impeller?

should work fine, so long as you have a ball valve on the shorter standpipe. i assume the taller one will be a normal looking durso that draws water upwards and has a hole on top

found my mandarin on the floor next to the fish tank this morning water level is quite high in my tank and no euro bracing so this is something i'll certainly be looking to fix with the next tank. not that mandarins a big movers so really dont know how he managed to jump out. had him over 2 years, a really cool fish. gutted

pic?

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/links- ... t7074.html no

what? other than overflow, what are you using the holes for? returning water or a closed loop? if return, drill as high as possible (or just below the water line) my preference for return is up and over the top. get a sea-swirl!!!

nice shots. what camera?

all good. pH back down to 7.82 now :-? always sits around there at this time of the night

make sure your pipe going into the main tank (from the return pump) doesnt sit too far under the water otherwise it will back syphon quite a bit. but then dont have it too high or you'll get salt creep and get a sea-swirl! www.sea-swirl.com

chuck a bitta voddies in

american marine pinpoint are popular, pies and I have one. got mine from www.marinedepot.com (cant use the dc input, only batteries tho) i good but wouldnt waste money on one just yet if i were you, better areas to spend ya money on. if ya keep up with ya maintenance (water changes) you wont even need one. good in emergencies though

get 25mm (1") bulkheads, a good size for that size tank. 25mm will push a sh@#$ load of water through. you can always reduce it then. so holes would need to be 35mm.

cool, now the cyano and bad algae starts :lol:

true, leave for a while til you get it right. push fit is sufficient enough for now and if it leaks a little bit its obviously not gonna matter. typically it should just work, but if need to change u r screwed... and we all know how expensive plumbing is 8)

they are marked, i put it down to being exceptionally tired averaging 4 hours sleep a night in the last month

:lol: gee thanks guys!

tank seemed fine this morning, fish happy, shrimps alive,... forgot to check pH again though. thanks for almost making me do a 50% water change at 3am in the morning cracker! and thanks for talking me out of it pies not that i was going too, but if even a single fish or shrimp died I was going too!