Kylie`s 40g Reef Build

question 1...no idea. i've been running cheato since i started my 125 over a year ago. mine hasn't grown a whole lot like some peoples will. somes cheato will double and triple in size in a few weeks, mine has taken a year to do that haha. i believe that to be because of the lack of actual flow i have through my sump. i'm working at correcting this.

question 2...The people that run the external stuff have room for it. with you putting everything in a 36" stand with a 30" sump. you wont have room. reasons people do this are multiple. i did it to make more room in my sump and allow for easier maintenance and put less heat back into the tank butttt....i'm switching back to all internal with a recirculating skimmer so take it for what its worth. with being in stand i would just leave it internal.

question 3...sand beds i think can help with PH levels, i run a little sand in my sump but i dont know if it helps or hurts. i'm really not sure about a DSB i haven't heard any concrete evidence they hurt or help...

question 4....with your sump tank do 3 chambers. one chamber being your return from the tank and your skimmer. then fuge then return back to the tank. to help the cheato move around a little, make it so the water enters the fuge from the bottom side of the divider. so then the water has to go up, and when it exits the fuge have it exit the top side. the will create more of a flow. when i made my first sump i had it enter and exit on the top and things just sat there.

question 5...your in iowa city, i got no idea /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif cut them about an 1/8th inch narrower than needed. as far as height for your sump and turnover i would thing maybe around 1-1.5" from the bottom of the tank and the water level in the sump is kinda up to you, but you have to make sure it wont flood if you have a power outage. the tallest baffle will be your chamber that holds the skimmer and return water from the display tank. that chamber will never change water level. so make sure you have enough in there to run your skimmer correctly. i built a platform to hold my skimmer in the correct water height the first time. there ya go. those are my thoughts /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif

 

oh yeah and i really like the stand and canopy, looks nice

 

Well, I think I can answer the tumbling question.

When you tumble the chaeto, all of the mass is exposed to the fuge light, where as if you don't spin it a large part of the plant mass is in shadow and not really doing what you want it to. So, tumbling it allows it to soak up more nutrients since it has the light it needs all over the plant mass rather than just the top. Since chaeto tends to grow fast, is pretty hard to kill, and its dead cheap, and real easy to trim (just rip a handfull off when it gets too big...) and doesn't need good light, it tends to win out over rooted plants. And since rooted plants are pricey, are sometimes hard to establish, often would really like a MH, require a decent substrate, and once you do get the suckers established, you can mess that up easy trimming them, chaeto wins out as the easiest and cheapest solution.

Plus, that big spinning mass seems to be the Honeymoon Suite for 'pods.

 

I am the *King* of the run on sentence. The *KING* baby!

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I live in Marion and when I built my sump (exactly what you are building), I purchased my cut glass from a local hardware store for around $5 each. I purchased by baffle for the skimmer to the refugium online made out of drilled Lexan but should have just used glass. Hindsight, I would have probably used glass. I can email you pics of my sump and how I constructed if you like. Was easy and saved a lot of money.

Chad

 

I think mangroves can export much much more than chaeto can. They are a little more time consuming, as you have to spray the leaves every couple days to remove the salt it precipitates on its leaves. I'm not sure if it's chaeto or caulurpa, but one of them will go "sexual" if you leave it be for a while. It will spread everywhere in the tank. Mangroves just need some way of supporting them upright, plenty of light, and a spraying every few days. A lot of people will use a 6500 K bulb for 18-24 hrs a day with great results. They are not expensive if you look in the right places, many people(including me) have ordered off ebay or reefcleaners.org for $1 or less a piece. I'm sure there are other places with them also, these are just the two I've ordered from, with great results.

Do you know what kind of skimmer you will be getting? It can be mounted outside of the tank(probably needs to be behind the tank in your case) by drilling the tank(if it's not tempered) and installing bulkheads/slip fittings. Let us know what skimmer you will be using and it will be easier to help.

Deep sand beds eventually turn oxygen free in the bottom of a deep sand bed and this houses a certain kind of bacteria that is very good at exporting nutrients. They will also help with the ph and provide a place where pods can grow/reproduce. The only thing bad about DSB's is that they accumulate nitrates and phosphates deep in the sand over time and eventually it will get too much to hold and it will release it back into the tank. Experts suggest replacing DSB's every 6 months to a year to prevent this.

For baffles, I've always gotten acrylic sheets from any hardware store and cut them to size. Then I put them in using 100% silicone, works pretty good. You can buy a long handled razor type blade with a hook attachment on it that you can pull-cut across the acrylic to score it, the it will crack along that scoring. Gered posted a good article a few days ago on making baffles for a tank. It uses a rubber edging around the baffles to make them water tight, while allowing you to move them when ever you need to. This is how I will be building my next sump. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_3/cav3i1/Baffles/bafflesart.htm

-Adam

 

Mangroves can export nitrates, phosphates, and other chemical contaminants. Chaeto(as far as I know) can only export nitrates.

 

mangroves also use up magnesium as well

 

I don't think anyone has touched on your skimmer and pump question. The answer is pretty simple. You need an external skimmer and an inline pump if you want both your return and skimmer to be external. This is in the design of the product. If that is what you want, you should look into buying an external skimmer and an inline pump for your return. IMO there isn't an INNATE benefit from an external skimmer over an in sump skimmer, or vice versa. Obviously you will still have some performing better than others depending on what you buy and possibly on any modification done. My understanding about inline pump versus a submersible pump is that submersibles export all of their heat into the water surrounding them while inlines export a portion of it into the air surrounding them. Having used both types of pumps I believe I prefer the inlines over the submersible pumps if for no other reason, freeing up space t work in the sump if need be. I also tend to get way more coralline and calcium buildup on the submersible pumps versus the inlines.

 

I would definatly get the octo 110 if it were me then sell the hob to make up for the extra cost. I love the canopy.
-Bill

 

If you realy wanted to you could get some trim that matches the trim around the top of the canopy and replace the bords around the top of the stand. But it will match up fine after it is stained eather way.
-Bill

 

Calfo suggested a lip at the top of the baffle on the upstream side, in the chaeto chamber. Something like a 1/4" strip about 1/4 of an inch down from the top of the baffle. I'm going to give that a shot in my build.

Oh, and calupra (probably spelled it wrong) is the one that can go sexual and mess up your chemistry fast.

Another good choice is that red stuff....garcia something or other.

The best spinning ball I have seen in person is Matt the Fiddlers. I'm afraid I can't recall how he got it spinning, but he might chime in here.