IOWL's 50g frag tank
- Thread starter IOnceWasLegend
- Start date
Oh; thank you! What is the screen dimensions?
61.5" x "25
I will definitely take you up on that if you don't mind.
Update, 10/9/20
No leaks overnight! So I added the rest of the water, and then spent the next thirty minutes tuning the drain flow. Sincerely regretting my decision to go with the ball valve over a gate valve, and - when the inevitable happens in a couple years and the valve seizes - I'll be replacing it with a gate valve.
Granted, I was going for "as quiet as humanly possible", so that played a part in how big of a pain it was. Took me a while to realize my emergency drain wasn't high enough to avoid the splashing from weirs into overflow, so I added a little vertical distance with the available plumbing.
I have spent far more time than I'd like at Lowe's this past month, and I do not care that it looks hacked together because it works and saved me another trip. The only sound I can hear is the (quite quiet) hum of the Tunze 1073.02 return pump.
After tuning, the temp controller was plugged in and heater was placed in sump. The 8x8x4 brick of ceramic media was added, and the seeded chunk of ceramic media was transferred from display tank to sump (ensuring both were touching to encourage bacterial transfer between the two).
Finally, ammonia was added:
I'm reasonably certain the tank has ammonia in it, so the cycle has begun in earnest!
Tomorrow will be setting up/mounting the DJ power strip, making all the cabling look pretty (read: nonexistent), and firing up the lights over the tank for a preview of what's to come.
No leaks overnight! So I added the rest of the water, and then spent the next thirty minutes tuning the drain flow. Sincerely regretting my decision to go with the ball valve over a gate valve, and - when the inevitable happens in a couple years and the valve seizes - I'll be replacing it with a gate valve.
Granted, I was going for "as quiet as humanly possible", so that played a part in how big of a pain it was. Took me a while to realize my emergency drain wasn't high enough to avoid the splashing from weirs into overflow, so I added a little vertical distance with the available plumbing.
I have spent far more time than I'd like at Lowe's this past month, and I do not care that it looks hacked together because it works and saved me another trip. The only sound I can hear is the (quite quiet) hum of the Tunze 1073.02 return pump.
After tuning, the temp controller was plugged in and heater was placed in sump. The 8x8x4 brick of ceramic media was added, and the seeded chunk of ceramic media was transferred from display tank to sump (ensuring both were touching to encourage bacterial transfer between the two).
Finally, ammonia was added:
I'm reasonably certain the tank has ammonia in it, so the cycle has begun in earnest!
Tomorrow will be setting up/mounting the DJ power strip, making all the cabling look pretty (read: nonexistent), and firing up the lights over the tank for a preview of what's to come.
Somehow missed this response earlier. I considered the spa flex, but I liked the look of hard plumbing better. Plus I slightly overbuilt on the return, so the loss in head pressure shouldn't be significant.
Agreed wholeheartedly on the gate valve, though. I didn't want to order one and wait, and the price difference was enough to make me go, "Eh, how bad could it be?"
The answer: I still got it done, but it would have been FAR more enjoyable with a gate valve.
Coral reefer
Past President
AC carries gate valves
Update, 10/12/20
Well, that's frustrating. I went down to the garage to grab something before bed and realized the tank was too quiet. Did some troubleshooting, then realized - oh, my return pump isn't on. Did some more troubleshooting, and realized it's probably dead (and had been for ~6 hours, since my best guess is that it shorted when I flipped the wrong circuit breaker earlier this evening).
Fortunately, I had a spare return pump. Even more fortunately, I'd put a union in my return line, so it was a simple matter to pop off the return line, unscrew it from the dead pump, screw it into the new pump, and drop it in. Unfortunately, I bought the dead pump secondhand, so that's ~$70 down the drain. Well, lesson learned.
Hopefully this won't impact the cycle too much.
Edit: Attempting to re-tune this before bed, I am even more heavily regretting not just buying the damn gate valve, and will probably pick one up the next time I go to AC so I can replumb my drain in the not-too-distant future. Second lesson learned.
Well, that's frustrating. I went down to the garage to grab something before bed and realized the tank was too quiet. Did some troubleshooting, then realized - oh, my return pump isn't on. Did some more troubleshooting, and realized it's probably dead (and had been for ~6 hours, since my best guess is that it shorted when I flipped the wrong circuit breaker earlier this evening).
Fortunately, I had a spare return pump. Even more fortunately, I'd put a union in my return line, so it was a simple matter to pop off the return line, unscrew it from the dead pump, screw it into the new pump, and drop it in. Unfortunately, I bought the dead pump secondhand, so that's ~$70 down the drain. Well, lesson learned.
Hopefully this won't impact the cycle too much.
Edit: Attempting to re-tune this before bed, I am even more heavily regretting not just buying the damn gate valve, and will probably pick one up the next time I go to AC so I can replumb my drain in the not-too-distant future. Second lesson learned.
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Update, 10/14/20
Still waiting on the cycle; I've been testing and dosing Microbacter 7 every morning, and have seen a bit of a drop in ammonia, but still no detectable nitrites.
A question, though: when turning off my return pump, and then turning it back on (even if it's almost immediate), I've noticed I'll have to re-tune my herbie overflow. This is true even if I wait 5-10 minutes for it to normalize again. This seems really odd to me, and wondering if there's a way to avoid this.
Still waiting on the cycle; I've been testing and dosing Microbacter 7 every morning, and have seen a bit of a drop in ammonia, but still no detectable nitrites.
A question, though: when turning off my return pump, and then turning it back on (even if it's almost immediate), I've noticed I'll have to re-tune my herbie overflow. This is true even if I wait 5-10 minutes for it to normalize again. This seems really odd to me, and wondering if there's a way to avoid this.
Coral reefer
Past President
Stop turning off the pump? What pump Is it?
max_nano
Supporting Member
I know you don’t have fish yet, but if you get a feeding ring you don’t need to turn off your pump to feed. Then the only time you would turn it off would be for water changes, or even then you can fill the sump with fresh water and then siphon out the display without ever turning the return off. But that reduces the % that is changes since you will remove some of the new water by adding before removing
Syncra 3.0 pump. The pump being turned off has been to me connecting/testing/rearranging stuff in the tank; I just thought it was odd because it should reach steady-state again.
Hmmmm. Good point. Thank you!
When you turn it back on what does it do? Flushing? Rises to emergency drain? Sucking in bubbles and never fully getting siphon?
I don't have a scientific explanation for why, but I think a gate valve will help the drain be more consistent.
Coral reefer
Past President
Couldn’t hurt
I’ve never seen MB7 used to start a cycle. You’ll be better off with a bottle of API QuickStart from PetSmart.
Rises to emergency drain, but higher (with more commensurate noise). I'm going to put in a gate valve sooner rather than later, it's just making me scratch my head. Either the pump is working harder (possible I suppose) or the valve moves slightly (which I wouldn't buy, given how hard turning it is).
I had thought it was used for that purpose, but...*shrugs*. I'll probably give it another day or so and, if there's no movement, I'll get IO Biospira. I had good results with that with my Nuvo.
Patio
Supporting Member
It seems like it is promoted to do so? Weird. I have always used Dr. Tim for no other reason than it worked the first time.
It doesn’t say “live nitrifying bacteria”
Patio
Supporting Member
My point was, I can see how someone would use it to cycle their tank because of how it is marketed/promoted. Is dr Tim's "live nitrifying bacteria, out of curiosity?