Blog Comments

That looks great!

Nice setup ! Is that a blue tang sighting ?

Love the X10's but they sure can be a pain. Mine randomly stop working also and i have to Unplug them for a while or Shut the power off to the house for a while (much easier). I don't trust them for anything super important like Heaters and main pumps.

This is a very nice setup in person nicely thought out and built!!

Took long enough to get that guy to finish the work!!!
You have a bell reducer in the garage mark it was the piece you handed me that looks kinda like a funnel!! lol Hurry up and hook up the generator so I can see if I have to file an insurance claim!!! lol JK
But as always cookies, sweet tea and pizza is always good!!

That's precisely what I was worried about. I thought about the exact water pressure within the body of the skimmer versus the head pressure each Eheim pump has to work against, and then suddenly add another 300-500gph coming from the NP reactor into that perfectly balanced setup. Additionally, what would the input of that water do within the skimmer in terms of flow patterns? I didn't know if I wanted it to come up, point down, aim at an angle or enter dead center... it just seemed like a bad plan. This is much better, and allows me to easily remove it later without trace of damage or modification to the Euroreef.

I don't know what a bell reducer looks like, but I'll google that. Thanks, Mostly Rock.

Maroun.c - I've used x-10 modules for the past 7 years. Sometimes they can get a little aggravating, but for the most part they've worked for me. My backup are more x-10 modules. I have a few more left. I'm using the DC-8 for all the lights. If I got a second one, I could do the same with all the stuff I'm controlling in the sump area (refugium light, heaters, Skimmer Swabbie, and now frag tank lights).

Always jealous!!! My boss and I consider you a reef god, though she has no desire or time to own a reef tank, she does know talent when she sees it.

i like the chest of gold!

I was just saying to myself while starting to read the post: He did not drill his Euro Reef for an experiment!!!
Totally agree with not doing any changes that could affect the balance inside the skimmer. Also I guess the pressure of water in the skimmer would somehow counteract the flow from the reactor leading to less flow in it???
In the end glad you could pull it out without radical changes on the skimmer. Keep us posted if this changes the skimmate you're getting.

Jealous!!!

Any reason for using X10s instead of the regular power bars?
I was consdiering them at a certain period jsut because the Aquacontroller Power bars didn't come in 220V 50HZ we have here however the issue of them being affected by magnetic field, Lightning and electrical cables close by made me disregard them. Any backup for them in case they go wrong while you're away?

You could have used a bell reducer instead of the bushing reducer, but in the plumbing world, reducing the pipe-size isn't usually acceptable, we like to go from smaller to larger, it keeps stoppages from occurring as frequently and it makes it easier to repair when stoppages do occur. You could also have used a p-trap to keep the wind and pests out of your fish room, either at the drain (the preferred method) or at the end of the line where it exits the building, like an A/C condensate drain.

It is on top of the power center, just beneath the external overflow. When you enter the fishroom, it is directly on your right.

That looks great. Where in the fish room have you got it?

The flow going to the reactor comes from a manifold pump (Dart) to run all three (NP, Carbon, Calcium) reactors and my little frag tank. I'm simply pointing the effluent precisely into the intake of one Eheim pump on my skimmer. The Eheim isn't sucking the water through the pellets.

I don't recall it being cloudy, but I ran the NP pellets the day before my tank even had water. My sump was fully functional prior to having anything in the display, which sounds just like me, right? hehe

Jeff at Reef dynamics is a great guy, he built my ins 450 and was awesome for troubleshooting on some overskim issues... Good idea, i have my reactor in the same area as the skimmer does it work better running through the ehiem pump or does the flow lessen running both? I have 2 pumps for the skimmer and 1 for the reactor.

Off the subject, did your tank get cloudy after the first full day of running?

twenty minutes it is, thanx

lol...true, but I am trying to keep up on stuff while I am on hiatus, hence the reason why I am following your blog. I would hate to have to relearn everything!

Do you even have a tank any more? If not, I'm guessing you aren't looking for the latest trends intentionally.