Kayla's Nano! (complete with illustrations!)

[yardboy]

Whew, what high drama. I almost fell off the edge of my seat!!!!

So you've got a few problems. As my dad's fond of saying, "That's no hurdle for a high-stepper like you"!

[Casey]

Looks great coolest I have seen keep up the pics and goodluck

[VWD]

Mike try to increase the water pressure feeding the tank , Where it is feeding more water and don't have time to narrow out at the bottom of the tank. You may have to lose the T and have the one pipr running up with a cap on it to force the water back down toward the bottom of the tank that will give you pressure all the way around. Do you see what i am trying to say.

[Geoff]

what kind of pump is it?

G~

[skeety]

Originally Posted by VWD

Mike try to increase the water pressure feeding the tank , Where it is feeding more water and don't have time to narrow out at the bottom of the tank. You may have to lose the T and have the one pipr running up with a cap on it to force the water back down toward the bottom of the tank that will give you pressure all the way around. Do you see what i am trying to say.

honestly? NO. You lost me. hahahaha

Originally Posted by Geoff

what kind of pump is it?

G~

it's a dinky ViaAqua Water Pump (I think ViaAqua 480) Didn't think I'd need a real pump! hahaha

what's gonna suck is if I have to get a bigger pump that has a 3/4" nozzel, and if you guys tell me I can't reduce the plumbing to 1/2"...as all the plumbing is already 1/2".

[Flame]

SOunds like minor issues. Great idea and great looking tank. Congrats

[VWD]

You do I think need a bigger pump.


This is one of the coolest ideas and I want to see it work.

[Geoff]

thinking about the flow over creating triangle water falls. it may be caused by the fact that the corners of the tank are longer than the side. as in if the acrylic 1/4" than at the corners it will be closer to 1/2" (exaggerated). in my mind this would cause the water, no matter how level it is to want to fall over the shorter distance. make sense? my guess is that you would need to round off the edges so that it is 1/4" around the edges.

does anybody know if the clam cubes have rounded corners?

G~

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by skeety

it's a dinky ViaAqua Water Pump (I think ViaAqua 480) Didn't think I'd need a real pump! hahaha

You Are Fired!!

that Via Aqua 480 can only handle 3' worth of head pressure. even at 3' it is only pushing 34gph!!! needless to say i think you found the max head pressure the pump can handle.

G~

[skeety]

Originally Posted by Geoff

You Are Fired!!

that Via Aqua 480 can only handle 3' worth of head pressure. even at 3' it is only pushing 34gph!!! needless to say i think you found the max head pressure the pump can handle.

G~

in all honesty...I had no plans for this pump STAYING in the system...it was just an extra pump I'd had for my mixing tubs and RO/DI bucket. And was hoping it would work enough to test things out.

I really am having a hard time trying to figure how how much flow I DO need in a pump though. Any suggestions?

Here's my best plan of attack. Fill the tank up, take an empty gallon pitcher, and push it down into the tnak...making water spill over the tank.

Try to do this until I get the amount of water pouring over that I want. I then TIME this. Time how long it takes me to push the pitcher down into the tank to achieve the speed of water flowing over that I want.

then take this time, and find out how many of that time is in an hour. And there's my gph rating. Then factor in about 3-4' head pressure, and get a pump that pumps that.

But man...that all seems like a ROYAL PIA

any quicker suggestions? hahaha

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by skeety

in all honesty...I had no plans for this pump STAYING in the system...it was just an extra pump I'd had for my mixing tubs and RO/DI bucket. And was hoping it would work enough to test things out.

I really am having a hard time trying to figure how how much flow I DO need in a pump though. Any suggestions?

Here's my best plan of attack. Fill the tank up, take an empty gallon pitcher, and push it down into the tnak...making water spill over the tank.

Try to do this until I get the amount of water pouring over that I want. I then TIME this. Time how long it takes me to push the pitcher down into the tank to achieve the speed of water flowing over that I want.

then take this time, and find out how many of that time is in an hour. And there's my gph rating. Then factor in about 3-4' head pressure, and get a pump that pumps that.

But man...that all seems like a ROYAL PIA

any quicker suggestions? hahaha

had to give you a hard time after all of the "do your research" posts you have been doing lately.

you can test the tank with the pump you have. just use a bucket and a hose at the same level as the tank. eliminate the head pressure. a 5g bucket will give you enough water to test anyway. of course you will need to drain the tank into another 5g bucket or the flood monster will find you.

i am also thinking that you may need to do some light edge treatment on the outside edge of the tank. with a sharp edge the water has a habit of flopping over the edge. if you round the edge off the water will flow over the inside edge then transition smoothly to the outside of the tank.

sorry, if i am bothering you. i hate seeing all of these great DIY projects and i am stuck without any acrylic to play also.

G~

[tabwyo]

Head pressure sucks doesn't it. Plus with your inlet being in the bottom of the tank it has to overcome the total head volume in the display as well. A double whamie.

[skeety]

Originally Posted by Geoff

had to give you a hard time after all of the "do your research" posts you have been doing lately.

you can test the tank with the pump you have. just use a bucket and a hose at the same level as the tank. eliminate the head pressure. a 5g bucket will give you enough water to test anyway. of course you will need to drain the tank into another 5g bucket or the flood monster will find you.

i am also thinking that you may need to do some light edge treatment on the outside edge of the tank. with a sharp edge the water has a habit of flopping over the edge. if you round the edge off the water will flow over the inside edge then transition smoothly to the outside of the tank.

sorry, if i am bothering you. i hate seeing all of these great DIY projects and i am stuck without any acrylic to play also.

G~

no....I really APPRECIATE all the tips/help everyone's been giving. Seriously.

As for your bucket idea...that's not really a test. Or at least...it's not testing what *I* wanted to test. I want to test the system's plumbing. Not worried about flow speeds being right, at this point. Just want to make sure water flows over, doesn't splatter, doesn't leak, etc. Thought that dinky pump would work...but obviously not.

So still no tips on HOW to figure out how much flow I need? I'm really new at this pretty close to exact flow thing.

also...so you're saying I probably should maybe take a LITTLE sanding to the rims of the tank, round them out a bit? how the HECK do I do that with acrylic, without scratching the crap out of the viewing panes?

[skeety]

Originally Posted by tabwyo

Head pressure sucks doesn't it. Plus with your inlet being in the bottom of the tank it has to overcome the total head volume in the display as well. A double whamie.

so for head pressure, I need to measure not only the plumbing, but also the total height of this tank's water column?

man...okay. Is it wise just to take a tape measure, and trace my plumbing, jotting down measurements?

or is there another way?

(again...not all that experienced with Flow rates, head pressure, etc.)

TIM: I nominate "Flow" as a category for Discussion of the week sometime soon. And I don't mean just "how much is good for corals" kind of flow. I mean..."How do you design flow systems?" "How do you know what flow you need?" "How do you calculate head pressure?" things like that!

[tabwyo]

Kinda and kinda not. I am not totaly positive on how to caululate that. I'd just buy a beefier pump and make a bypass back to the sump with a valve to control flow back to the display without placeing unreasonable back pressure on the pump. You can sand acrylic as well. It's like polishing metal. Start coarse and work up to fine grit or just use a fine grit. You can buff it clear by hand with a scratch remover kit wich is a PITA. Or you can get it as far by hand as you can and hit it with a buffer tool on a dremmel. CAreful not to overheat the acrylic and warp it.