Yeah I can't really do it that way with just the Ranco as my controller.

Someone has pm'd me regarding a used chiller and if that doesn't pan out I may grab that J&L one. I've spent 2 days fiddling with this oven/light and it's really ticking me off.

It might be more trouble than what you were hoping to do so I meant it more academically if nothing else. I was thinking an overflow in your mini sump and then pump from the secondary tank back into the mini sump. That would effectively make it your real sump and you'd have no overflow issues short of draining your mini sump which is a tiny volume comparatively. If you used a float switch or valve based topoff you'd have to switch it to the basement tank since the level in the mini sump would no longer deviate.

A sealed container would have poor (well, nonexistent, really) gas exchange and presumably less ability to shed heat as well. I imagine some heat would be lost through the tank walls but nowhere near the same as an open water surface. Plus the pressurized lines, the pressurized vessel and the lack of ease of cleaning would make a sealed closed loop idea a total non-starter if it was me considering it. :p

Tony why the deuce are you not on msn? I'm confused and need you to explain this magical setup you speak of.

InsomniacWife(tm) hijacked the pooter. Canreefin'/MSN'in by bb is le
suck.

Think of a gravity fed refugium that the DT drains into, and it drains into the sump. Except it has a pumps that also pumps back into the DT.

Your current sump becomes like that. This basement tank becomes the 'new' sump.

Hope this makes some sense. My thumbs are about to fall off.

My current sump? We'll catch up tomorrow maybe =) My brain is sleepy.

"Current sump" being the little compartment thing in the back of your tank. Wasn't quite sure what to call that..

Tony how do I gravity drain from the back compartment? There are no holes below water level...

You'd have to add one or maybe an overflow box. It's probably not the easiest thing to do given the tank is kinda running. :)

Well I found a nice solution to my heat issues after a few days of wavering between a chiller and thowing myself down the stairs.

In the end I made a floating canopy/light skirt thingie out of the cheapest pressboard I could find, glue and ugly screws. If you've liked some of the ghetto aspects of my builds, you will LOVE this thing haha. Pics when the lights come on again tomorrow. I'm doing only a 4 hour photoperiod since everything non-sps in the tank sorta got mad after I plugged the big light in.

The key to success here was lowering my ambient temp. What I've done is taken a spare timer from my last build and plugged the window ac into it. Right now it kicks on for as long as my lights do. This has actually allowed my 3 new 120mm fans to get it back down to 79. It can do this when room temp is 23 or less I've found.

Also I'm running the lights 8am - 12pm as it's cooler than late afternoon. I will likely shift/extend that soon. I'm thinking 10-6 may be my goal.

In other news my royal gramma's eye did heal itself. Then it disappeared. I'm honestly so frustrated with fish as the last 3 I've added have jumped or vanished. I'm still left with my blenny and 2 chromis! Maybe some things were meant to be?

This was definately the funniest thing I've read in a good while.

Your tank is coming along very Brett. You've got some amazing growth out of those SPS in just 6 short weeks. Looking foward to seeing the pics of your new canopy.