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DurTBear's 10 gallon frag tank

Ok gotcha. So the DT right now doesn't have a sump (added water volume) that would cause the frag tank to overflow in-the case of the eheim jamming. In essence the new tank can serve as a sump/frag tank.

Great. Sounds like you have the flood issue covered.
 
Yeah, the new tank is sort of like a sump/frag tank. Still can't move all of my equipment to the frag tank which would be nice. I was able to move the skimmer down there but now I have the overflow.
 
Let there be frags...

Fishtank451.jpg
 
man.. your frag tank has more coral than my display ;D..

The drain doesn't provide enough flow?? I would think that is pretty of flow for a tank this big.
 
Hahaha! More frags for me to donate to DBTC! My display tank looks so much bigger now that I don't have those big bulky DIY eggcrate frag racks. But my goal is to save up for a rimless cube tank between 70-100 gallons for a permanent home for most of these frags.

Oh no...the drain is a decent amount of flow. I also have a Koralia 1 and my Aqua C Remora skimmer providing additional flow. The problem is that the drain is generating A TON of bubbles. So I've seen some people putting a Durso pipe on the end of the return line. Think this would fix the bubble problem?
 
how many inches from the light are those frags durwin? :)
And what kind of bulb are you using on your frag tank, and your main DT?
 
Ok...another update.

But first, to answer your questions Ant, the frags are 4 inches below the surface of the water and 8 inches away from the light. I'm using a Sunpod 150W 14K Phoenix MH on both my frag tank and my DT.

Anyway, I've been having noise and bubble problems with my overflow and drain line. So I decided to try a reverse Durso on the end of the drain line. I used a 3/4" to 1" T fitting.

Reverse Durso on end of drain line:
Fishtank462.jpg


Fishtank463.jpg


Unfortunately as you can see, the drain line still generates a lot of bubbles. The good thing is I can maximize my return pump without getting the hot tub effect (intermittent surges coming out of the drain line). I've been having to use a ball valve to cut the flow on the return line to prevent this. Do you guys think a bigger hole on the top of the end cap would help with the bubbles? Or is it a lost cause?

I'm also still getting very loud gurgling sounds from the overflow so I plan to make a Hofer Gurgle Buster (http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson57268/HGB/) and attach it to my overflow. I've heard very good things about it and it's cheap and easy to make. So I'm going to give it a shot.
 
I don't think you can eliminate the bubble problem. You can try reducing it by putting an elbow and the T at the end of the drain. The top of the T has to be above the water line.
Kinda like this... Use a big T... If your drain pipe is 1", find one that is 1" and split into 1.5" or something bigger..
drain.jpg
 
Phong...thanks for the suggestion. I think I saw someone's build thread online that is similar to your design. It definitely makes sense because I have a feeling my bubbles are coming from the impact of the drain water, falling down a long ways and hitting the surface of the water. Your design would eliminate that problem. Does the T have to be close to the surface of the water? Or could I have the T deeper but just add another pipe extending upwards?
 
Uh oh...woke up this morning and there was splash all around the reverse Durso. I think some water might be shooting out of the hole on the top of the endcap. Does this mean I need to drill a bigger hole?
 
I didn't pay attention to the Reverse Durso.. You shouldn't make the hole bigger. I think you should remove it. I don't think that Reverse Durso will help at all. The water will come out of the hole.
 
Thank you Hofer Gurgle Buster! I love this thing! I built one tonight and decided to try it out. My overflow is now virtually silent. The loud gurgling sound on the stock drain of the Lifereef nano overflow was unbearable to me and now I can't even hear it. I still haven't fixed the problem of all of the bubbles going into the frag tank but I'm going to make another drain without the reverse Durso and if I still can't get rid of the bubbles, I think I'll go with a filter sock. It'll serve a few purposes: 1) act as a bubble trap, 2) prevent snails from crawling up the overflow drain and clogging it and 3) act as a filter!

Here's the simple construction of the HGB. It's basically the same pics as on the HGB construction page but since I feel proud of myself for being somewhat handy, I'm posting mine as well!

First, I took a 5" long 3/4" pvc and drilled 1/2" holes:
Fishtank464.jpg


Took a 3/4" endcap, drilled a hole through the top and fed an airline through it:
Fishtank465.jpg


Sanded down a 3/4" to 1" slip bushing using a dremel:
Fishtank466.jpg


Put the bushing into the 1" coupler:
Fishtank467.jpg


Assembled everything and voila! Took out the 3/4" pipe in the Lifereef overflow and replaced it with the HGB:
Fishtank468.jpg


After some careful tweaking, I think I found the sweet spot although I'm not really sure where the optimal water level should be. Here's where the water sits in relation to the HGB in my overflow. If anyone has any input, I would really appreciate it:
Fishtank469.jpg


Here's what my tank looks like now without the DIY eggcrate frag racks:
Fishtank472.jpg
 
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