High Tide Aquatics

Scarbird's Dream 250

While shooting photos of the plumbing I noticed a cool reflection in the back face of the Ghost.
Ghost 019.JPG Ghost 020.JPG Ghost 021.JPG Ghost 022.JPG
I am going to miss that tank. My wife has implored me to keep it, but I need to make sure my hobby doesn't become a job.
 
First off, after seeing the access you have, I'm green with envy! That is soooooo cool.

Good to see you have the inspectors on the job. Woof, woof! :)

Have you tested a power off and restart situation? Some folks report issues with getting the siphon restarted when there is a horizontal run.

Is the emergency drain the one closest to the front? It looks like it terminates at the bottom of the sump. What's the reason for that?

If you somehow manage to NOT make this tank a full time job, please let the rest of us know how you did it! :)
 
aqua-nut said:
First off, after seeing the access you have, I'm green with envy! That is soooooo cool.

Good to see you have the inspectors on the job. Woof, woof! :)

Have you tested a power off and restart situation? Some folks report issues with getting the siphon restarted when there is a horizontal run.

Is the emergency drain the one closest to the front? It looks like it terminates at the bottom of the sump. What's the reason for that?

If you somehow manage to NOT make this tank a full time job, please let the rest of us know how you did it! :)
Click to expand...
Hey John,
The last pipes which penetrate the sump from the 90 down are not glued for experimentation. At first, all pipes were above the water line which made things very noisy. After lengthening the two main pipes (outside, front and rear) to below the water line, my main siphon with the ball valve (rear pipe) took no water and the front or secondary had all the flow and was also very noisy. At first, I found that by removing the extension on the main siphon on startup and then putting it back on, things would work correctly. Something to do with back pressure. I then put the 90 on the main siphon right at the water line leaving room for air to escape and all works perfectly, After turning the system off and back on it takes about 5 minutes to get the air out of the pipes, but the system returns to normal. The front pipe is the secondary drain which should have only a trickle, and has an air hole at the top of the intake, it probably only needs to be just below the water line, the pipe length just happened to be handy at the time I was experimenting. The middle pipe is the emergency with a slight slope to prevent water from staying in and rotting. It is hard to believe how silent the ghost / bean animal system really is until you experience it for yourself. My family was impressed.:rolleyes:
Once this tank is up and running I thing the old tank will become a frag system, hopefully limiting the time required for maintenance.:D
 
Scarbird said:
Hey John,
It is hard to believe how silent the ghost / bean animal system really is until you experience it for yourself. My family was impressed.:rolleyes:
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The first time I fired mine up my first impression was "What's that humming? Oh, the return pump!" Water noise had always interfered with the pump noise. It's also cool how the system makes really awful flushing noise when it needs to be cleaned. Makes it hard to ignore!

My system stabilizes in 2-3 minutes. Of course I'm running a 120g. so less water to move.

Your setup is so clean, I think it should be on a TT even if there is no water in the tank!
 
aqua-nut said:
The first time I fired mine up my first impression was "What's that humming? Oh, the return pump!" Water noise had always interfered with the pump noise. It's also cool how the system makes really awful flushing noise when it needs to be cleaned. Makes it hard to ignore!

My system stabilizes in 2-3 minutes. Of course I'm running a 120g. so less water to move.

Your setup is so clean, I think it should be on a TT even if there is no water in the tank!
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Thanks for the compliment John,o_O although it may be awhile before I'm ready. I want to get the back room cleaned up and presentable like.
How much flow are you running through the return? I have not yet decided but the ghost is supposed to handle up to 4000 GPH.
 
Scarbird said:
How much flow are you running through the return? I have not yet decided but the ghost is supposed to handle up to 4000 GPH.
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My return is a Eheim 1262. Rated at 900gph max. My guestament is flow of about 800gph or turnover of about 6.6 times per hour.

Back room cleaned up and presentable. Now there's a concept. One of these days I'll have to try it! :D
 
I have seen the return flow rate debated. I know Jeff Macare from Reef Dynamics recommends 2-3 x system volume return flow. I had considered this could be because it allows him to rate the skimmers higher?
The more contact time the more junk can be pulled out with a given capacity Skimmer?
Higher skimmer rating means you can run more volume of return flow past skimmer?
 
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Good questions. Anybody have real data, or link to real data?

No matter what the flow, my skimmer has only one shot at it since intake is upstream of output. Of course anything it misses will come around again soon.

My reasoning as to return flow...
As return pumps get bigger the noise increases and electrical costs increase. I took my best guess to keep noise down and secondarily electrical costs down. Short of doing something like a SeaSwirl, there were going to be water moving pumps in the tank. That, I believe, reduces the need for huge return flows.
 
aqua-nut said:
Good questions. Anybody have real data, or link to real data?

No matter what the flow, my skimmer has only one shot at it since intake is upstream of output. Of course anything it misses will come around again soon.

My reasoning as to return flow...
As return pumps get bigger the noise increases and electrical costs increase. I took my best guess to keep noise down and secondarily electrical costs down. Short of doing something like a SeaSwirl, there were going to be water moving pumps in the tank. That, I believe, reduces the need for huge return flows.
Click to expand...
Thanks John!
Check out this video of my skimmate. :eek::eek:Nothing but RODI and salt mix in the tank!:eek:

Today was a great day! My new tank had arrived with some shipping scratches. Joe from Aquatic Collections appropriately took responsibility and hired a company (Glass Scratch Removers) to remove the scratches. They finally arrived this morning and took care of business. The gentleman was outstanding, and extremely professional! I would recommend this company to anyone.
Now I can finally continue with my project.:)
Vid of my new shelf. :cool:
 
Wow John, you are really moving along! When I saw the opening shot in 'Scratch Removal' I thought, "Damm he's got big corals in the new tank already!" :)

I'm a little worried about your rack. Looks like the shelves are only held up by fasteners. That's not very strong.

Here's an example from my rack. The inner 2x4 holds all the weight.

 
aqua-nut said:
Wow John, you are really moving along! When I saw the opening shot in 'Scratch Removal' I thought, "Damm he's got big corals in the new tank already!" :)

I'm a little worried about your rack. Looks like the shelves are only held up by fasteners. That's not very strong.

Here's an example from my rack. The inner 2x4 holds all the weight.

Click to expand...
Wow,
It has been awhile! John
aqua-nut said:
Wow John, you are really moving along! When I saw the opening shot in 'Scratch Removal' I thought, "Damm he's got big corals in the new tank already!" :)

I'm a little worried about your rack. Looks like the shelves are only held up by fasteners. That's not very strong.

Here's an example from my rack. The inner 2x4 holds all the weight.

Click to expand...
It has been awhile!
Thank you for the advice John, much appreciated.
My computer got doused with hot chocolate and it took awhile to get things right again.
 
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