Hi!

Hello, figured that I would come by here and introduce myself. I am Skip, I live in the Metro, but hometown of Bemidji(which I return to all the time since my fiancee is still up there) and I am just returning from a 4yr break from the hobby. The other day I rescued a 55 FOWLR from a family that had no clue about what they were doing. Sunday, the 55 is getting replaced with an Oceanic 58rr, which I am excited for! I dunno if I know anyone besides Home Depot here, but maybe I do?

-Skip

Welcome to the forums!

4 sure welcome buddy !!!!!!!!

So this is in the wrong forum, I apologize, but there are forums available to me now that weren't when I posted this. Anyhow, a tad more about me: I started in 2004 with a 90rr, then bought a larger home and went to a 125rr that Home Depot actually owns now (not the store). The 58rr will get me by until I get my own place again, then I will do in-wall

Nice ! my tank was in wall before i bought it from the guy ! looked sick well i guess it was like a half wall a divider! but any how i like your style!

HD's tank is nice. That does give us an idea about you. You're not a newb for sure!

Welcome to the forum.

Thank you for the welcomes! Now that I am behind a computer, and not a mobile device I will share a couple pics and a video:

Pics and info of the disaster I rescued

A family had it for about 3 years, 65lbs or so LR, Hippo Tang, False Perc, and a Lunar Wrasse(he is getting traded off Sunday) set up in direct sunlight and no GFCI One day no more than 3 weeks ago, they smelled something funny, but upon investigation, there was nothing to laugh about (minus the cake) there was a fire from water draining into the outlet! So, that scared them, fried both of their pumps on both of their Bak Pak 2Rs, and their heater. So they let the tank sit for 2 weeks with no skimming, no water circulation beyond the sump pump, and decided to dump the whole shebang for el cheapo This is where I came along So I rescued them Monday, the stand blows, the canopy is only good for firewood, and the VHO bulbs are over a year old.



Like I mentioned, Sunday, a 58rr is taking it's place, the canopy will be burned, and the stand offered to be given to the person that I find to buy the 55 dirt cheap, or will make a perfect sump some day with some work I have named my setup Project BP Free

And here is a video of the 125 when I had it, evidence that I kinda know what I am doing, everything that I had, started as a tiny frag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cnCbdkQoQ8

The cool thing, since I gave away a lot of livestock when I took the 125 down, a couple have told me that they would return the favor, and even from the stuff I use to have! It is neat knowing that I will have some of my old stuff again!

Welcome, very nice tank you had back then. Can't wait to see what you set up next.

welcome back

Welcome!!

hey Skip nice to see you back around I ike the video of my(your old) tank! It will never look as good as it did when you had it.

I have softball on Monday nights so I will not be around. Although I do have a by one of these weeks so it might work?? I will send you a PM with my number if you want??

Garrett

Do u like your bio balls ? i ditched mine ! found them to be a nitrate factory dirty little things

I have never run bioballs before because off nitrates but they are in there now, I may take them out, I do have an HA issue so maybe yanking them will help?

possibly! I never had them till i upgraded to my latest system i always thought they were good thing. so i started system with them sure enough my nitrates started climbing after couple a months so yanked them few weeks later i am almost back done to 5ppm nothing really seems to be bothered by the 15 ppm im at now though (caught climb at about 30 scary!!!) although algae has kicked up a bit. Have a water change a brewin as we type and am hoping to get back to my target range the only paramater off just a bit buggin the crap outta me ! As far as bio balls it was a build up of food in mine that triggered the nitrate climb ! In addition to yanking bio balls i put shut off valves in overflows and return so when i feed no food goes into sump before that i had no way of shutting it down without spilling 30 gallons on floor from sump overflowing that sucks when that happens!
ok im done rambling HahAha !

I turn my pumps off when I feed, it appears you couldn't do that without the spillage, but what do you do when there is a power outage or pump failure? Towels? LOL Reminds me of when I forgot to turn the valve off on my RODI years ago and my ex would scream when she got cold wet feet in the kitchen! Apparently a drip accumulates faster than I thought it could!

The balls will get yanked tomorrow, we shall see what that does!

That is a very good question ? LOL it has happened once were i didn't catch a popped circuit breaker in time sump overflowed and my power strips layed in water about 3" deep inside stand and im trying to flip circuit back on lol burning the crap outta circuit had to wait like half an hour to turn on circuit again! Im thinking one of those computer back up batteries for main pump is my only idea or if i could rig up water gates that closed when power was cut but couldn't come up with a plan 4 that one ! as of now finger crossing is the plan lol

Depending on the amount of the bioballs you have, you may want to take them out by half then take the other half out a week or so later. If they are currently handling a bioload in your tank, you should let the rock catch up before taking them all out. If it's just a little bit no need to worry.

Regarding sump overflows, that is honestly just bad sump design. A good sump design will have the capacity to handle the water that would flow back down to the tank from the piping and the small amount that would fall down through the overflow. The use of baffles to control the water level needed for the skimer and a good ATO to make sure the return section doesn't drain too far and you should be god to go. Adding a fuge isn't all that difficult either as it's just another baffle. Spilling water isn't fun for sure but power outages canot be prevented. A standard PC backup battery running the essential equipment on my 75 would last only about 5 to 10 minutes. They are only good for short burst power outages. It's so much better to just design the sump to handle the backflow of water.

Your answer is right here:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?rlz=1C1AVSW_enUS365US365&q=home+generators&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=14532321618783238700&ei=XOgYTPGPKoyyNoyTlPcE&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CD8Q8wIwAA#

When I get my own place again and set up a large tank, this is my plan, especially in the Metro where power outages have happened for more than a few hours...like days.....

holy crap money ! I dont have that kinda flow wow towels way cheaper lol !! and cdness this is my first setup with a sump so i dont disagree that i have a poor setup ! I need help or to see a nice sump setup to get the idea in my head ! the way my tank overflows about 30 gallons looks 4 a new home when power goes out and i only have room for about 9 of that. which sucks Im a when it comes to sumps im learning as i go but most of what cdness said goes over my head what do u mean by baffles ? do u hav any pics of your sump buddy ! this is my first sump tank only been using it 4 two months hav made many tweeks already since getting it !

What is your return like in the tank? Pics? Because, your obviously reverse siphoning, and to stop that, drill a hole in the return line just below the water surface, so as the reverse siphoning is happening, once the water line breaks the hole and air is sucked in, it will stop the siphon.

Nice thanks man that was obvious and i didnt even think of it SWEET !!! that will fur surely help my prob! thanks again and cdness could i see some pics of your sump setup plz !

Just think, I coulda saved you thousands of $s with that tip by not getting a home generator! Gotta look at the big picture!

I can post up some pics tonight as I don't have any on the photobucket site of the new 40BDR. Check here for some really good sump designs and an illustration on how baffles work:

http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

The return line back siphoning is usually the cause of excessive drainage. How does your return run, over the top of the tank, drilled in the back, or like the megaflow systems, back up through the overflow? If you have the output of the return too low in the water it will siphon to that point. Drilling a hole in the pipe will cause a siphon-break and will stop the siphon from draining your tank.

Mine has a bad design with a one-way check valve. It honestly doesn't work very well at all as it basically just slows down the flow, not stop it. The internals are too restrictive so I am going to be removing it when I get to redoing some piping.

Right thanks buddy ! and cdness that was my prob was back siphoning with a hole drilled i should be fine i hope ! let ya know and thanks 4 the link buddy !