Reply With QuoteThanks guys for the information.
Phil, can share a picture of your tank?
Double taps are adjustable 2-part valve taps that are installed on filter hoses so that you can close the taps and disconnect the hoses without removing them from their filter fittings, they can also be used to slow down flow by adjusting them partially closed or open accordingly.Originally Posted by Kevino
Stainless steel pipes are made from stainless steel material not glass, therefore opaque so you wouldn't see the mulm and algae building up inside. It's an alternative version of inflow and outflow pipes.
Thanks guys for the information.
Phil, can share a picture of your tank?
Bought the ISTA reactor and a 600L/hr powerhead. Sadly it is not strong enough to pump the water from my sump to the tank. Hence got to put it in the whole thing in the tank until I try to resolve it. Any advise. Sighhhhh.
Sticky and Nutty in a Plastic Packet
How high is your pump to your tank? Did you factor in headloss?
Around 4ft. What is headloss?
Sticky and Nutty in a Plastic Packet
Headloss is the lost of power or pumped water volume as the water goes up and needs to travel against gravity. If there is a long way for the water to go back to the tank, you will usually need to get a stronger pump to compensate.
I got this example of a headloss chart from Google Images.
Based on this chart, you will need to get an Eheim 1250 Universal Pump or its equivalent.
Sorry I'm not a Eheim guys. Eheim 1250 equals to 1250L/hr pump?
Just checked. It is a 1200L/hr pump. Is it better to get a canister filter then?
Sticky and Nutty in a Plastic Packet
From my understanding, pump power (l/hr) and pump head (height that the pump can pump up to) are not related. An Eheim Univeral 1200 (Model 1250) can pump 1,200l/hr and up to 2.0m high. There is another Magnetic Drive Pump that I found, China-made MP-15R which can pump 960l/hr and up to 2.7m high.
Maybe let me know what pump you got and I can try to find out the specifications for you.
Last edited by mUAr_cHEe; 29th Oct 2014 at 16:06. Reason: Added a Comparison.
Sticky and Nutty in a Plastic Packet
It depends on your set up. If you already have a sump, then just get a pump to get the water back up.
Really bad luck. The CO2 nozzle on the reactor broke. So can't do anything until I get a new one. By the way, the power head I bought is Micro Pius from SICCE.
Sticky and Nutty in a Plastic Packet
Oh! If you are getting SICCE pumps, it would be much easier since information about them is easier to obtain from the web. They got a good piece on head loss on their website. Right Click and Save As.. here.
You can consider the Sicce Nova or Syncra Silent .5 pump.
Above information is derived from I can get from the internet.
Our of curiosity, how did you managed to break the CO2 nozzle?
I broke it while trying to remove the CO2 tubing...
Just bought ISTA Min Max reactor and Sicce Idra. Hopefully it works this time. By the way, is there such a thing as check valve preventing water from back flowing?
Yes, you should buy a check-valve to install between the reactor and bubble counter, that will prevent tank water backflowing into the Co2 system.
Suitable check-valves are usually available at most LFS, but do try to get the check-valves which are designed for Co2 injection systems (the ones meant for air pumps may not be as reliable when subjected to higher Co2 pressure).
Yes I have the check valve installed for my CO2. I'm looking for a check valve preventing the water flowing back into the sump if my pump stops working for whatever reason.
I see, yeah... you can get suitable check valves for the return pipe from the LFS or tank maker which supplied you the sump tank, they should have stock of those parts.
Hello. Correction I bought the Syncra Silent 1.5 pump not Idra. Ok..... Now my Max Min spins. And I observed the amount of CO2 seems similar of 10bps and my CO2 indicator barely reach light green. Faint....
Although a Co2 reactor is more efficient, due to the large volume of your tank and the higher combined surface area and agitation of the sump filtration system (which greatly increases Co2 losses), you'll still need to further optimize the Co2 system by adjusting other factors like injection timing and overall distribution.
Here are some additional things to adjust...
Try starting the Co2 injection much earlier than your lights, instead of the usual 30mins-1hr, try starting it 2 hours or even 3 hours beforehand (adjust the timings gradually in stages over the course of a few days). This allows the Co2 injection more time to build up to optimal levels before the lights come on and the plants start consuming it, this is especially important in a tank with larger water volume.
There is already alot of water agitation in the sump filter system and alot of the Co2 is lost there, but since the sump filtration cannot be stopped, you'll have to find other ways to reduce the losses. If you are using spray bars for your outflow, keep them submerged below the water level to reduce surface agitation as much as possible in the main tank, that should at least help reduce or delay a portion of of overall Co2 losses.
Place the drop checker at different parts of your tank to check if there are variations in Co2 concentration at specific areas (make sure it stays in each position for at least a few hours to allow time for the indicator color to change), your tank volume is large and the pump flow rate (if assuming 1,300+ l/ph) works out to only around 4x turnover, so the distribution of Co2 may be slower and there may be dead-spots in certain areas.
As you adjust the various Co2 settings, observe the Co2 levels over the course of a week, see if it is able to slowly accumulate to higher levels in the water over time (if they are not fully driven off by surface gas exchange, a certain amount of Co2 content can stay in the water and accumulate day by day)... this process in a large tank does take correspondingly more time, compared to a smaller tank with alot less water volume.
Important note... do monitor the livestock in the tank when doing all these adjustments and tweaks on the Co2 system (watch if the fishes start gasping for air or behave oddly), with the high amount of Co2 being injected, things can quickly go overboard, so it best to be vigilant.
Btw, just to make sure you are using a Co2 drop checker with pre-mixed indicator solution? Or at least if its those type that need to be mixed, you mixed properly with 4dKH reference water? Not using aquarium water? Otherwise all the Co2 measurements would end up wrong anyways and its back to square one.
I've reduced the sump flow tremendously(almost off) and started my CO2 injection 2 hours earlier to reach the light green CO2 indicator and plants starting pearling. But the amount of CO2 injection is still around 10bps. Any advise?
One important factor I forgot to mention is that I find 2 x T5HO(39 x 4) is not enough to reach my HC hence I add an IP4 to it.
Yes, I'm using the Ocean Free CO2 indicator and pre-mixed indicator solution.
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