Eckreef

I am currently plumbing my sump and tank (40g breeder and 20L glass sump).

Return pump will be an Eheim 1260 in the sump.

Do I need to have something under the pump to insulate it from vibration?

I have a scrap piece of insulating styrofoam (blue board used to insulate exteriors walls for a house).

Would this work (and is it reefsafe) or is there something better?

I have natural light via solar tubes over my 400g tank. Until I shell out $15K for Centex to level my foundation I cannot set up the big tank.

400g....not the BIG tank?

Glass baffles cost me under $30...

Where did you get your glass baffles from?

She probably has androgen insensitivity syndrome (also known as testicular feminization).

See link for more info.

androgen insensitivity syndrome

A girl can be phenotypically female (outward appearance of a female) but genetically a male (46XY instead of 46XX)

The genetic male has testes and produces testosterone but lacks testosterone receptors. The testosterone is then converted to estrogen which causes the fetus to develop a female apearance. They have testes in the abdomen instead of ovaries but have a blind ending vaginaa with no uterus. Many times this is not discovered until the "female" cannot get pregnant and undergoes fertility testing. Rare syndrome....learned about it in med school but have never personally seen it.

What return pump are you using on your 40 gallon?

Mag 5

Current tank is bottom drilled (x2 1") but I am considering starting over with a new tank and selling old one depending on what the best options are.

Still researching ideas for overflows.

I have been playing around with a durso on my 40g breeder but still am not completely happy with it.

Options so far are the

Durso standpipe

Stockman standpipe

Hoffman Gurgle buster

and I recently discovered a silent and fail-safe overflow system

Does anyone have a silent overflow?

Care to share your secret?

I am intrigued by the silent and fail safe system...anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!

I will bet a $100 bill that I have put the largest skimmer to tank volume here at ARC.

My skimmer holds 21 gallons of water and was placed on a 75g tank.

Now that's braggin rights. Can we see a pic of the 21g skimmer?

I wish I could say my skimmer was bigger than your skimmer.....

My order is in.

Thanks for setting this up Mitch!

Dustin,

You have way too much time on your hands...LOL

Is this book written by Calfo?

Thanks for all your hard work Andrew!

This site is awesome!!!

75GPD RO/DI 5 Stage *PLUS* System

Count me in. I need an RO/DI

1) rosslonghorns

2) Gonzobob

3) Mitch

4) Manhorsedog

5) chrisfowler99

6) Eckreef

Matt I dont like the T5's when used as actinic supplement either! I have always liked VHO's.

Can you explain this statement further. Is it based on light output or color, etc?

I am researching lighting and canopy vs no canopy so this thread is very helpful.

I might be purchasing an RO/DI. Still debating on getting it from BRS or from Melev

We'll be there and bringing the kids as well. They like goats...

My 3 year old daughter loves her "twabs" (crabs...she has trouble with her "c"s and "r"s). Cutest thing ever.

Hopefully this is the only kind of twabs she will ever have.

Yes, the tee from the return side of the pump.

A little foam pad under the mag will help with vibration. Recycle those old mousepads

Mousepad for internal or external pump....i.e. is it safe to put a mousepad in your sump?

Gorgeous fish! Which store did you get them from?

Swap out the Magdrive internal vibratory heater for an Eheim pump. That will get rid of the teeth jarring noise coming from under your tank. Will probably prevent your foundation from cracking as well.

LOL

Would you recommend the Eheim 1260 (635 gph) or 1262 (900 gph) for this tank?

Yeah Durso set ups do quiet the water noise but can lead to the sound of air being let in. Here is what I prefer to do. I drill the end cap for 1/4" NPT threads, you don't actually need to tap it since it is so thin. I then screw on a 1/4" M thread x John Guest ball valve into the cap. I then run a length of RO tubing down over my sump. Placing it over the sump just in case water ever got diverted into it. This allows the air to be pulled from inside the stand and hushes the sound of air being pulled into the Durso. You can also regulate the flow by adjusting the valve. I need to pull my valve off about once every 2 months and clean it of salt creep.

Can I get all these parts at Lowe's or Home Depot?

Can you post a picture of this setup?

Thanks to all the "pipefitters" out there for great input.

I will try the valve addition to the Durso and see if I can get it quieter. If that doesn't work, I was contemplating getting another 40gal tank (selling the one I have) and drilling the back and installing overflows like Shane has at Fishy Business. He does them himself and I was impressed at how quiet they are.

I have already glued my Durso together with the main section being 1.25 inch sched 40 PVC. Will the sched 10 make that much of a difference?

I will rearrange my sump baffles as suggested.

From Prof's post:

[ I like the tee with a valve back into the sump, but it is not nessecary. ]

Do you mean tee the return back the sump or the overflow?

[What return pump are you going to use? I would suggest a mag 5 or 7 or anything with similar flow.]

I have a mag 5 but am getting a lot of vibration noise. Tips on eliminating this....

Matt,

From what I have read, the skimmer only skims a fraction of the overflow water so the majority of the flow to the fug is "raw" water. I will probably eliminate the tee'd return to the fug and keep things simple like caferacermike suggests. That would eliminate the need for a bubble trap. My thoughts on the original plumbing diagram was to have the flow to the fug from the return as far away from the return as possible to eliminate bubbles. Maybe others can weigh in.

caferacermike,

Thanks for your suggestions. When you say a union...i assume you mean a slip-slip and not threaded?

I understand your point on the ballvalve for the overflow...would it help with quieting the overflow.

I have read several setup threads and several people commented that it took a lot of tweaking of the overflow valve and size of the hole in the durso to get the right combo to keep it quiet. I installed my durso tonight with just straight flex hose to the sump to see how the durso sounded. Still makes a lot of noise. it kept flushing and I kept increasing the size of the hole in the endcap...finally got it to 1/8" before it stopped flushing but now it has an audible - "loud" sound of pulling in air.

The tank will be in my office so I would like it to be quieter. From my reading it appears that this is a big problem for a lot of people with built in overflows. Anything that would work better?

Thanks again,

John

I am setting up a 40 gallon breeder (36x18x16) which is "reef ready" with custom overflow. Just finished making a Durso standpipe for overflow.

I am now ready to build the sump (20g long) and plumb the overflow and return.

I am definitely not a plumber so any suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated. I would appreciate the forum's input before I start building.

Attached are my sketches for the sump and plumbing.

The sump is modified from my research on the web with a lot of ideas taken from Melev's site.

My big questions regarding the plumbing...

Is 1" PVC for the overflow and 3/4" for the return adequate.

In a lot of pictures of sumps I notice that either the overflow or return is tee'd over to circulate extra water to the refugium. Is this necessary and if so does it matter which?

Also, I have read to glue everything possible to prevent leaks/microbubbles. Obviously I want to balance this with being able to take it apart or remove a pump for cleaning. Suggestions on the best way to do this?

Thanks for the assistance,

John