280g Inwall

[Lance]

[Rbacchiega]

oh man! that sucks so bad!.....but maybe, juuuuust maybe...all this hassle before will mean things go a tad easier in the long run. I hope. Cruddy deal there Tony.

[michika]

I'm cleaning out our basement and organizing everything fish related this weekend. What size glass do you need? I might just have a piece you can help take off my hands.

[fishoholic]

Sorry to hear that, that really sucks

[Delphinus]

On the bright side at least it's not a complete showstopper. While it does mean I have to stop filling for the moment, at least in the meantime I can get to work on powerhead placement, wavebox placement, and flow tuning ... as well as work on getting the electrical plugs all sort of tidied up and so on. Plenty things to work on it seems!

I can also take the opportunity to redo the overflow plumbing to account for a gravity feed for the skimmer. The only thing that I wonder about this is if I run a frag tank, as is the plan, then water entering the frag tank drains into the sump completely bypassing the skimmer. Water would have to re-enter the display tank, work its way through there and only then drain into the skimmer. So it's as if to make the display tank skimmed really effectively/efficiently, I have to make the frag tank skimmed really ineffectively/inefficiently. The flip side to this is that frag tank is only 40g and presumably only houses corals or some small fish and the display tank is going to have the heavy poopers, so maybe this is a negligible concern.

Two alternatives that I can see at this point are:

1) "T" the drain pipes from the frag tank and the main display together, and then route into the skimmer.
Pros: Both tanks get skimmed the same, cheap use of an available resource (gravity)
Cons: The skimmer has a 1" input. I have doubts that at only 5' of head pressure or thereabouts that this is enough "push" through the restriction to get enough gph through the skimmer. Also if the two drains are connected together then there is a risk that the frag tank, which sits lower than the main display, is at risk by sitting in the "flood plain" should anything cause a blockage in the skimmer, or even just a backpressure buildup, and water goes downhill and so could easily end up in the frag tank and overflow. There is an emergency overflow on the frag tank (it will be a Herbie overflow as well) but in that case it's only 1" and I think a 280g draining is too much for a 1" pipe. Hmmm I might have just convinced myself this option is a no-go.

2) Use a pump feed in the sump.
Pros: Easy and quick solution. No pipe rework. Both tanks have "equal-ish" access to the same level of skimming. No worries of one tank causing a flood in the other.
Cons: More up front cost (purchase a pump), more electrical cost

However ... "Corollary pro": The sump is already drilled for a pump. I have a Mak4 pump that has a good impeller but a shot bearing, Stircrazy has a Mak4 pump with a good bearing but a shot impeller. Perhaps the writing is on the wall here, I just have to convince myself that I'm ok with the costs and move on with things.

As for the glass, I've started looking around. So far the best option for purchase is Bow Valley. You could hear their disapproval in their voice about the size and thickness of glass, and I suppose I could take the opportunity to bump up the thickness now, but it seems to me just wasted money if I'm not replacing all 3 sides of the sump. That said, maybe I should see what it would cost to go to 8mm, leave it at that, if ever another side breaks then I bump that panel up to 8mm and so on and so on. The best part about BVA though besides being the flat-out most economical vendor, they'll do it while I wait. Everyone else I've talked to so far is all "it could take up to a week".

@Michika - thanks - if you wanted to check your basement or something, what I need is 60"x18". What's on there now is 6mm. So anything that thickness or larger. I'm kind of thinking it's a long shot you have anything like that, so no worries if you don't, but for sure, for now I'll hold off visiting BVA until I hear back from you.

[Delphinus]

I am fall-over-tired but a couple footnotes to end the week..

1) HUGE shout out of thanks to reefcanada/Jay for getting me some replacement glass for the sump. I'll try to take pictures of the fiasco/debauchery tomorrow as I try to replace the broken panel. In the end I went with Jay because he could also set me up with a panel so I can make an overflow for the 40g breeder I'm going to use as a temporary home for my carpets and clowns.

2) Gonna go for a pump feed for the skimmer for now. Easiest path forward with hopefully more benefits than pitfalls. I can always change things around down the road.

3) Got the Tunzes going in the main tank. Have two 6100's on Wavysea's sweeping back and forth and a wavebox. The wave is insane, almost 2". I'm worried that this is too much for my overflow so I'm anxious to get the sump repaired so I can try a proper flow test. Hopefully once the tank is aquascaped the wave will be less dramatic but in a worst case scenario I'm going to have to consider replacing the overflow with a shorter equivalent (or opting to do without a wavebox I suppose would be another option. That one doesn't appeal to me very much though.) Hopefully it will work out and I'm worrying for nothing haha. Time will tell on that.

I'll try to get some pictures and/or videos of the flow as it stands right now. I absolutely hated the effect at first when I had the 6100's on pulsing mode, but when they're just on full-bore all the time, it's actually a pretty keen effect. Guess I didn't need that multicontroller then (although I guess it's still handy to have the feed mode button if nothing else).

Although it's a good start, I'm not convinced it's enough for the long term however. I admit I'm looking at Coleus's Tunzes for sale thread and wondering how I can sneak a couple more Tunze's worth of balance onto my line of credit without getting a divorce haha. Those 3 ones from Pazil were gone so fast too. I looked at that this morning and but before I could even think in my head "I wonder if ....", they were gone. Haha someone's quick on the draw!

4) One of my Tunzes has these little impeller spasms when it's on feed mode. Every 10 to 20 seconds it does this quarter turn. I wonder if it's on purpose, ie., if it's to scare away fish who might be curious enough to poke their head into the now-not-spinning propeller housing. If that's the case then that's a good idea but what's weird is that only 1 of the pair do this. Does anyone know?

[Delphinus]

Am starting to feel full-on FML with things.

Removing the broken glass has been a fairly miserable experience. I ended up chipping a spot in the right hand wall in the process. It's above the waterline so I think a generous dollop of silicone will suffice to fix it but still, darn it all to that. I ended up pretty much having to smash the glass to smithereens in the end and even still I was at it for a couple hours. The 6mm glass is surprisingly resilient against hammer strikes.

I've been having problems with the Tunzes too. I bought one used a few years ago and then I bought one new but it was before the newer style 6105's were out, they are the old style 6100 outboards. They were in use on my cube tank for a couple years when that tank's sole purpose was a dedicated species tank for my H. magnifica anemone. When I sold the anemone I cleaned the Tunzes and put them into storage so that while the cube tank limped along as a holding tank for all my livestock that came out of my 75g when I shut it down, I just used some relatively inexpensive Sunsun powerheads (looks like a dual small new-style Tunze but doubled up).

Putting these Tunzes on a Wavysea is something I've been wanting to see in action for a long long time. Now that they are on (albeit in a partially, but mostly filled tank in just FW), they're having problems. They're perfectly clean but it seems that they jam. The newer one uses a 7420.27 driver and the older one uses a 7420.26 driver. Whichever pump is on the older 7420.26 will occasionally just stop spinning and then the jam alarm sounds. It scares the heck out of you when you're working downstairs alone at 1am and you're not expecting it. Switching the pump drivers and the problem seems to follow the driver and not the pump.

Unfortunately, Roger Vitko of Tunze USA had this to say about things:

The drivers are no longer made and have been out of stock since February. They cannot be repaired. Your assessment may be correct but the 7240.270 driver was stronger, it was made to support the wavebox and 6200 and its development coincided with those pumps which needed a higher starting power. My guess is that the pumps are partially jammed or the drive units are worn past the optimal point and that it is not a bad driver, it is just the 7240.270 can produce more power to overcome the higher drag of worn or dirty drive units. 7240.270 came out in late 2004 so we have to assume at least the older pump was made before late 2004 and if the drive unit is still original it is past due for replacement, 6100.700 may solve the problem.

I might as well start off by trying a replacement drive unit. At least the cost isn't terribly prohibitive and I suppose maybe I'm due for a change in fortune at some point so it's worth a try. If it works out it beats buying a whole new Tunze or a Vortech. If it doesn't work, well, at least it doesn't change the outlook. But if I am looking at a whole unit replacement then the tank startup is pushed back months. I don't think my fish in the 110 can wait that long so if it comes to that I may be faced with some decisions. I really hope it doesn't come to that.

Since I'm on the topic .. Just given the way things work out I am totally expecting to find out that the wavebox as well will not work out on this tank. BVA built the overflow so high up that there is only about 3/4" at the top of the overflow and I'm pretty sure this won't be enough to handle the wave action. On an empty tank I can produce a 2" wave. The effect is great to watch but the way things have been going on this tank, every bloody step of the way .... there's really no reason at this point to expect that this will just sort itself out happily.

On a brighter note, Jay is coming over tonight to help me finish rebuilding my sump. I appreciate the help dude, I'll be in your debt.

[lastlight]

I understand your frustrations man that's a lot of kicks to the junk. Unfortunately Roger really knows his stuff so he might be right. I felt a similr worry when I had my BK sitting around for a year or whatever it was. Heck I never was able to turn on my Sfiligoi until I had enough money to buy bulbs which was months later. In your case so much more time has passed and it's such a burn. Hope things work out somehow for you. I can stop by and maybe paddle the water with my hands for a few hours while we shoot the reef talk if that helps

[andestang]

My god Tony, WTH. I hope things do start turning around for you. You did make me laugh though with this and the thought of you in the wee hours. Sorry to laugh at your expense .

Originally Posted by Delphinus

The 6mm glass is surprisingly resilient against hammer strikes.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by andestang

Sorry to laugh at your expense .

You should be sorrier for not getting on a build thread of your own. I miss my baby. hang her from the ceiling and snap me a few pics man!