Ritteri in a cube

[Delphinus]

Well this may end up being the shortest lived tank setup I've ever had.



I'm not sure if this is a scratch that I hadn't noticed before, or if it's a crack that has appeared today. It runs 3/4 the length of the tank smack in the centre of the rear panel. I can't get a close enough look at it. I cannot feel anything with my finger. Where I've circled the line, there is a discontinuity that makes me *very* concerned that this is a crack and not a scratch.

I don't know what to do. For now I've marked the end of the scratch line. If it grows, then I know it's a disaster waiting to happen. If it doesn't .... well then I'm still not sure what to do.

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Well this may end up being the shortest lived tank setup I've ever had.



I'm not sure if this is a scratch that I hadn't noticed before, or if it's a crack that has appeared today. It runs 3/4 the length of the tank smack in the centre of the rear panel. I can't get a close enough look at it. I cannot feel anything with my finger. Where I've circled the line, there is a discontinuity that makes me *very* concerned that this is a crack and not a scratch.

I don't know what to do. For now I've marked the end of the scratch line. If it grows, then I know it's a disaster waiting to happen. If it doesn't .... well then I'm still not sure what to do.

OMG, the luck you have Tony, I tells ya. What a nightmare! So its on the back panel of the tank? I wonder if there is any way of stopping it? It isn't leaking at all is it??

[Delphinus]

After looking at it a lot tonight, I think it -might- be just one heck of a scratch. I'm flummoxed I haven't noticed it before, I think it's from transporting the tank over to my place back in September; you'd think one would have noticed it a bit sooner!!

At any rate it's something I'm watching very carefully to see if it changes. I can feel a bump on the outside of the tank but nothing on the inside which makes me think it's a scratch. It's just the way it catches the light that makes me really nervous.

...

Vanreefer, here's a picture of the sump. It's a bit tight in there so hard to photograph to show it clearly, sorry about that.



The back pipe with the grey unions is the sump return. The overflows bend around the sump return pipe. In front of the white unions there are T's that connect the overflows into a single line (which just joins the two), that has a T in the centre, into a line which goes down and feeds the skimmer. The big lines continue onwards to carry the excess flow to the sump (since there is too much flow through the overflows to feed the skimmer 100%, it overwhelms the skimmer and causes a flood). The ball valves are there to put a little backpressure in the overflow lines to make sure enough flow feeds the skimmer (water will take the path of least resistance, without the ball valves there would be not enough pressure to feed the skimmer). The skimmer has the gate valve mod on it.

The yellow line is just a 1/4" water line that I can use to drip-acclimate future tank inhabitants.

The webpage asmskimmer.com (not ASM's website, just a reseller) details how to do the recirc mod and the gate valve mod. Neither modification is tricky, although the hardest part (for me anyhow) was sourcing the additional uniseals. I couldn't find any local supplier for these so I ordered them from that website (and probably paid way too much as a result, but beggars can't be choosers).

The ritteri puts an enormous amount of nitrates into the water column, so I'm hoping the mods will help with that. The tank has only been running like this for a few weeks, so I can't really tell you if it's worth the effort yet to make these mods, although the theory behind them seems sound, so it should be good. Or so I hope. I hope my explanations make sense; let me know if there's anything I can try to explain better.

[NanoReef]

i agree, even when i look at the picture, it looks like a scratch because at the end of it, it fades out. if it was a crack, it would just stop.

[Snoop Dog]

Any more pics of the setup? Looks great so far!

[danny zubot]

Awsome tank Tony, I love the species only concept. Good luck with the scratch on the tank, hopefully that's all it is.

Perhaps a pair of gold striped maroon clowns would be right at home in the new tank.

[Delphinus]

Some more pictures from today. These are from the digital, most I had to discard. I tried taking some with the 35mm as well but I'll have to get the film developed and then scanned so not sure when that will happen.

Frontal shot: