chimera

depends if its a holden or a ford

I have complete confidence i could do it better if i were doing it again, have learnt a thing or two from it thats for sure. however, at the end of the day it still does the same job in terms of awesome circulation so why should i care?

hey man, dont shoot the messenger, just quoting what brendan said! i also use it and have no problem with it.

:lol: i dont take that as a cheap shot, thats far too much of a good call not to laugh! its one thing to have debates on different topics but when you get personal quoting someones tank that pisses me off. at least the closed loop works exceptionally well, regardless of what it looks like.

yes, 4 stage is prefilter (wool or similar), carbon filter, RO then DI. michael, they would be well priced at that - i assume that is sale price. i've seen typical 4 stage usually go for around the $350 mark or higher, depending on make. 6 stage is perhaps overkill for nzl water. i have a tds meter on my 4 stage, water in is 75, water out is 0.

brendan (zeovit) aint so sure, he's running tests on it shortly I believe? an adult (or changing into an adult) atlantic blue tang. juvies are yellow. http://www.exotictropicals.com/encyclo/marine/tangs/caribblue.php

as I stated 6ft/sec is the recommended fluid velocity. this means less wear on the pump as well as less wear on the plumbing. just stating all the facts.... it's not rocket science...

No because velocity is right. Do some research you might learn a thing or two.

Sorry, a typo on the first posting. Was supposed to be 450 so no change. Pic's on the weekend bro!

Did some tests tonight. Alk came in at about 8.5KH, perhaps slightly lower (I think im going colour blind). Slowly dropping from about 10 when I tested just over a week ago which is good. Will test again Saturday and start the Calcium reactor back up when it's under 8. Calcium is still sitting at 450. Tested pH at midnight (halides go off at 9pm) came in at 8.28 (pinpoint) Refugium lights stay on 24x7. The pink poc has probably taken the largest transformation under zeovit so far. It's gone from a dark pinky brown to a lighter much brighter pink. Still has much more potential but happy so far.

:roll:

At higher velocities it can cause 'knocking' in the water lines (ever hear that when you turn a tap on and off?) Apparently it can cause more wear than you think! Oh, and some more terminology for those interested, dynamic head = static head + accounting loss for bends, valves + friction loss due to piping etc. Dynamic head is the real value you work on for calculating head loss and flow rate at the output. Most just take static head and dont account for friction etc as it's quite negligible (unless you have heaps of bends etc)

No! Again, don't restrict the outlet piping smaller than the pumps outlet. It's actually quite illogical and hard to get your head around it at first - the smaller the pipe the faster the velocity BUT the slower the flow rate! (as Ira says, this causes more back pressure (resistance) on the pump which actually reduces flow) The more resistance on the pump the harder it has to work which can cause wear and tear on the impellor and motor. Also the higher the velocity through the plumbing the more wear on the plumbing itself. It also means higher power consumption (pump has to work harder to pump under the higher pressure) So, match your outlet plumbing to the pump outlet and you will find you will get much more flow (at a slower velocity) You should notice the water level in your main tank rise if you do this (and it's kinda like getting free 'extra' water movement ). Don't forget when working out static head its the height of the water level in the sump to the height of the water level in the main tank (regardless of where the pump sits in the sump - because the water above where the tank sits provides pressure to the inlet of the pump cancelling out the difference)

Nope, sorry dude, download the spreadsheet above. It's the velocity at the pump outlet. Should be around 6ft/sec. Anymore means too much friction in the pipe causing wear. Remember velocity is not the same as flow rate. In fact, if you actually restrict the outlet to be smaller than the pump outlet, it will cost you more in power (smaller pipe = more head pressure = more work for pump = more Watts) Interestingly, with the 100RLT is has a 1" outlet. Optimum according to the spreadsheet is 1.25" piping (I eat my words) Even so, the outlet size should still be taken as a general rule of thumb for outlet pipe size

Wondered why you said restricted, so explained why. No, it's not rocket science once you know how, but if HelifaxNZ already knew he wouldnt be asking. Regarding outlet pipe size, the pump outlet size is that size for best performance. Flow velocity is optimally around 6 feet per second. The only time you'd want to enlarge outlet plumbing size would be to reduce velocity to this optimal value. With most pumps, you will find matching the pipe size to the pump outlet size will be at this optimal speed already. If you want to work out whats best, download the water pipe calculation sheet from my web site here Alter the nominal pipe diameter in the spreadsheet until you find a velocity around the 5-6ft/sec mark. Also, here's a good article, part 1 and 2 for Aquarium water pumps. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rn/index.php http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rn/feature/index.php

It is more important never to restrict piping going in or coming out of the pump. This increases flow velocity causing abrasive wear on the inside of the pipe (hence why the inlet/outlet are that size for a reason). I have read some sites saying to slightly increase pipe size out of the pump to account for friction loss. If you look at most pumps you will find that, for example, their 1" rating is in fact slightly smaller than 1" piping so by using the same 'size' plumbing you are effectively 'slightly' increasing the size anyway. if you actually calculate friction loss using formulas out there you will find friction (in many cases) is so negligible its hardly worth accounting for it. increase outlet pipe size if you need to get a reduction in velocity to the 'recommended' maximum velocity (i'll dig this figure up got it stored somewhere)

http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q=define%3Aday&meta= To me, a day is 24 hours.

Not quite sure if I agree entirely - alot is good but too much could be detrimental. It depends on your filtration equipment. I think 5 - 10 times turnover per hour as a guesstimate for your return pump. You want time for your filtration (mechanical, biological) to do it's thing. For more flow, have a separate system (closed loop, streams etc) in the main tank. Don't forget that the graphs most pump manufacturers provide are based on the output pipe being the same size as the outlet of the pump itself. Never restrict or enlarge the piping from this. Ie: if it's 1" hole in the pump outlet, make sure it's 1" plumbing. Not only will you effect performance you will reduce the lifespan of the pump if you deviate from this. It also assumes water into the pump is not restricted either, go at least the same, slightly larger is better, for the pipe into the pump (for external). General consensus on this forum is Iwaki, Eheim, Laguna are good pumps for the job.

At ANY time of the day (ie: day and night!) Almost identical to yours, typically 8.0 during night, 8.25 during day

Thanks mate, I'm working in New Market all day today and tomorrow so perhaps the weekend or next week? Cheers

REMINDER

test kit is reasonably old. salifert. guesstimate about 18 months. didnt know wasp has a colorometer. i would be interested to see what the actual reading is too. i know it cant be truly 0 hence why i say undetectable. wasp - if you've got a colorometer and 10 minutes, let me know and i'll come over with some water!!! fluctuates between 8.0 and 8.25 (pinpoint) at anytime of the day. read the www.zeovit.com forum aye. hence why i've stopped the pump - permanantely. cant be arsed throwing away 100 litres of top up water for the sake of scrubbing out kalk on the bottom of the drum! yes, colours shifting down the tips - ever so slowly but noticeable. after i added the 10k light to the centre, i noticed slight hair algae growth on the rocks directly under it (none under the 14k's) probably just adjusting to it. that is slowly disappearing (although it did disappear much quicker when i had the same problem then used rowaphos) just waiting for my skimmer to take out those excess nutrients (i want to upgrade to an AP702 but can't afford right now - plus the wife would throttle me if I did!!! if any 2nd hand ap702's or better come up let me know!) time will tell. im in no hurry. and i also think a WC will help considerably, haven't done a water change in about a month.

I've turned the calcium reactor off today in order to try and bring kh down. This will obviously mean lower Ca but this will fix itself in time. As mentioned before, I've also turned off the pump that mixes in the kalk for topup. So, will take a reading later and see where it's at. I'll be needing to do a water change this weekend too.

i'll be keen on a couple of float switches, at the right price.

nice, you should be a car salesman