tygunn
Guest
Hahah, love it. I'll go with that.
TGunn's 90g Reef
- Thread starter tygunn
- Start date
Hahah, love it. I'll go with that.
tygunn
Guest
I was digging through my "box-o-aquarium-stuff" and happened upon a couple Tunze 6100s. I toyed with the idea of using these in the 90. Ooookay, not gonna happen.
Compared to an Jebao RW8 this thing is an absolute tank. The pic doesn't accurately portray just how massive it is; it's probably twice the diameter.
Compared to an Jebao RW8 this thing is an absolute tank. The pic doesn't accurately portray just how massive it is; it's probably twice the diameter.
tygunn
Guest
So, I'm TEMPTED to try something different for flow. I'm thinking either a Maxspect Gyre (in the corner of the tank vertically) or a VorTech MP40wQD. The Vortech is tempting as it eliminates the typical problem I have with powerheads like the Jebao in my other tank -- you can't clean around them easily because of the wire and mount in the tank.
tygunn
Guest
Yup, I was planning on putting it in the kitchen, but there ended up being a nice spot in the living room where it would work well. The 14ft ceilings are really nice. Though WOW were they a pain to paint.
tygunn
Guest
As Christmas approaches things have finally started calming down in my life. My daughter is recovering well from her surgery. We're more settled into our house now, so the tank is slowly stating to come back into the foreground again. I'm looking forward to starting to get more involved with reefing and BAR in the new year! Yay!
Some new bulkheads arrived for the tank, so I got everything plumbed up. The existing plumbing that came with the tank used a 3/4" drain for the emergency overflow and the 1" drain for the gate-valved line in a herbie setup. I will probably reverse that in the future as I think the 1" line is better suited for emergency overflow purposes and a 3/4" drain is more than enough to handle the siphone side of things.
Anyways here is how things looks under the stand. Unfortunately the holes on the sump weren't big enough for a 1" drain, so I just dumped it directly into the filter sock.
And here's the tank, slowly filling with DI water!
Some new bulkheads arrived for the tank, so I got everything plumbed up. The existing plumbing that came with the tank used a 3/4" drain for the emergency overflow and the 1" drain for the gate-valved line in a herbie setup. I will probably reverse that in the future as I think the 1" line is better suited for emergency overflow purposes and a 3/4" drain is more than enough to handle the siphone side of things.
Anyways here is how things looks under the stand. Unfortunately the holes on the sump weren't big enough for a 1" drain, so I just dumped it directly into the filter sock.
And here's the tank, slowly filling with DI water!
tygunn
Guest
...and we made it! The tank and sump are fully filled. I ran the return pump for about an hour yesterday to see how things went. The herbie overflow was easy to tune.
I ended up shutting down the pump last night though as I found a few leaks in my overflow plumbing. The leaks are:
1. Anywhere the barbed fittings push into the flex PVC -- looks like the hose clamps are not enough. I'll take a look tonight; providing the flex PVC is standard size I should be able to just solvent weld them into the fittings instead.
2. The threaded fittings on the ball valve leak -- looks like I need some more pipe tape and to tighten these up. I've always hated threaded fittings for this reason.
I ended up shutting down the pump last night though as I found a few leaks in my overflow plumbing. The leaks are:
1. Anywhere the barbed fittings push into the flex PVC -- looks like the hose clamps are not enough. I'll take a look tonight; providing the flex PVC is standard size I should be able to just solvent weld them into the fittings instead.
2. The threaded fittings on the ball valve leak -- looks like I need some more pipe tape and to tighten these up. I've always hated threaded fittings for this reason.
tygunn
Guest
I picked up a new refractometer from Neptune yesterday. Turns out aside from falling apart it was also out of calibration. Not bad for 10 years of service. The 90 is now within spec for salinity.
I was originally going to use another Jebao Rw8 on the tank but they were out of stock at Neptune. So I picked up a Vortech Wp40 instead. I kinda splurged. Oops.
I'm really happy with it so far. I like that the wire and motor side are outside the tank. It'll be a lot easier to keep the glass clean.
I plopped a rock from the existing tank in the sump to seed the tank. Time to pour in some ammonia to get the cycle going.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
I was originally going to use another Jebao Rw8 on the tank but they were out of stock at Neptune. So I picked up a Vortech Wp40 instead. I kinda splurged. Oops.
I'm really happy with it so far. I like that the wire and motor side are outside the tank. It'll be a lot easier to keep the glass clean.
I plopped a rock from the existing tank in the sump to seed the tank. Time to pour in some ammonia to get the cycle going.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
tygunn
Guest
And the cycle is on the move. Thanks to a few rocks and some sand from the other tank I'm seeing nitrite and nitrates already. Hope to get the cycle done next week some time so I can start putting all my existing livestock into the new tank!
Loving my Vortech Wp40. It's perfectly silent and despite huge flow has barely distributed the sand.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Loving my Vortech Wp40. It's perfectly silent and despite huge flow has barely distributed the sand.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
tygunn
Guest
So covering the tank now in the cool weather will sure help cut evaporation and power use. Without a cover I evaporated 2L a day. I'm down to 2L every 3 days now. And power usage went from estimated 164 kWh per month to 104 kWh per month (kill a watt meter gives estimate based on time average). I'm going to look at making an air gap insulator with acrylic panels to wrap the tank and see if I can improve that further.
Ammonia is gone. Now we have loads of nitrite. Soon!
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Ammonia is gone. Now we have loads of nitrite. Soon!
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
tygunn
Guest
I haven't run this tank over the summer. Fingers crossed that it is easy.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Coral reefer
Past President
Likely going to want a chiller or evaporative fan in the summer. Shouldn't be that hard
tygunn
Guest
My 34g maintained a decent temperature during the summer. Hopefully the 90g can do the same. But you're right worse case a chiller or some fans will do it.
Sheesh I remember my big bad 140g tank in Canada with a 100g sump. This was before Vortech and LEDs. 500w of halides, t5s and 1200w of circulation pumps meant I evaporated 5g of water a day to keep the temps stable. But then water was pretty much free and power was 0.04 kwh. Lol.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
tygunn
Guest
Well I'm glad I went for the Vortech on my 90g. The Jebao Rw8 on my 34g just bit it. I tried the old vinegar soak and deep cleaning but whenever I plug it in one of the LEDs on the controller just blinks and it doesn't spin. I tried using my jbwave controller and it doesn't work either.
Between this and my dead wp10, both after a year of service I'm done with Jebao powerheads.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Between this and my dead wp10, both after a year of service I'm done with Jebao powerheads.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
