hello, i have a few questions for you guys and gals.
1. with a downdraft skimmer, i understand that air and water are introduced into a tube filled with bioballs to create micro bubbles. my question is in the schematics i have seen, the air inlet is usually just a few 1/2" pvc 90's, what keeps the water from spraying everwhere?? i mean to say, since the air inlet does not seem to have a back flow preventor, and the unit is under pressure, then what is keep the water from coming out of the air inlet. the reason i ask is i wish to build one that can handle about 500+ gal per hour. i understand what you may all be think, thats way too much. the reason i wish to do this is:
- in the natural environment, a reef is nutrient defficient. we all know this, but they also have a high amount of particulate in the water column, roughly about 10x what the most heavy feeding aquarists feed per day. my goal in doing this is to take out those nutrients faster than what they are produced and be able to keep a high particulate count in the water column.
as far as info on my tank, it is a 55 gal reef tank, just put in a green torch coral i got from Ocean Reefs on 1-24-08, and 2 ocellaris clowns, 2 two spot bimaculatus blennies, 1 catalina goby, 1 yellow clown goby, and a few ricordea frags yesterday, 1-25-08 i got from liveaquaria.com. i try to do my best in supporting local shops, but some specimens aren;t always carried, and if i was gonna pay for overnight delivery, might as well get the best outta it. i also have 1 scooter red blenny i got from Fish Maniac quite some time ago, about 6-7 months i believe, and 1 court jester goby, 1
skunk cleaner shrimp, a green starburst polyp, and purple centered red zoos from Ocean Reefs around the same time. i'd say i have about 70-80 lbs of live rock, mostly homemade with a few seed pieces from Ocean Reefs, and about a 1 1/2"
aragonite sand bed. the sump is a 10 gal tank that i put dividers in; first containing a filter pad and a filter sock of activated carbon. the second chamber holds my protien skimmer (coralife venturi skimmer rated at 150 gal/hr) that i bought about 3yrs ago when i had my 36 gal bowfront reef, and the last chamber holds my return pump. i have a 175w mh running a 10k xm bulb (the ballast i found on ebay for $10 ^_-) and 2 65w compact flourescent fixtures, both were bought at Ocean Reefs for my 36 gal bow. i run a dual actinic in one and a 50/50 in the other. all lights are held in a custom hood; it works, but looks crappy.
but as you can see, if i can get this issue of the air inlet on the downdraft, i can go from 2x the amount of my tank to potentially 10x.
2. i would like to attend the next meeting, and understand it will be at racerw's house. may i please have directs to get to the meeting and attend, and to clarify, is that for today 1-26-08 or for februaries meeting??
-p.s. i should have some pics pretty soon of my tank, i am horrible with a camera, so gotta get the wifey to do it. thank you ^_^
