30 long soft coral reef

[Fat Tony]

Nice tank Jeremy. You are going to love the 1250.... there is nothing better than an Eheim in my book.

Now with that said.. don't make me break out the squirrel to get some updated pics in this thread

[jenglish]

Until the pump comes in there won't be much to take a picture of, and that will be after the 16th when I get back from Mexico. Hopefully there won't be a picture of a broken tank when I do the drilling

[jenglish]

So how do I decide what levels to run the water in the 3 sections (which will determine how big of glass sheets to have cut)? I know it needs to handle tank drainage in case of pump failure. DO I just stick my HOB skimmer in there and leave enough room for it to pour into the center chamber?

[Fat Tony]

You have to run the water level in the first section where you would run it on your display (full) otherwise your skimmer may not run right (I learned this with my old 55 setup). then drop your next baffle a few inches to run that area lower. Fill the sump and determine where you want the high level to be in your return area. On the retun outlet in the display drill an 1/8th inch hole just abouve the water line, or do like I do and angle the return at the waterline so that the retun is not totally submerged, heres an example of what I am talkin about

[jenglish]

Thanks Tony, that was about what I was thinking. I think with my HOB running in sump I may have to do some minor level adjustments. I will get a few pics when my batteeries charge to show you what I mean.

[jenglish]

[jenglish]

Since it was designed to run HOB I believe I will have to have it sitting on a raised base or have a rod it rests on to be at the proper level.

[Fat Tony]

here's a pic of how I did mine on the 55 tank I started with. I had the Octo HOB dual and had to come up with a rather interesting way to build the sump to use the skimmer in there.


and here is when I built it.. it was my first experience with building a sump so it was kind of messy.. the hole was there as a drain from the skimmer section to the next section... that was later covered with a patch and a spillway was made to be able to raise the water level in the skimmer section which netted better more consistent skimming.

[jenglish]

THat's an awesome setup Tony. Was there any surface skimming? I think that is what is going to make a huge difference in the skimming. In retrospect I wil I had sprung for the octo with a sicce pump

[Fat Tony]

Yes, the overflow was basically my surface skimmer as it pulled all the water that went into the sump from the surface. Aquawolf has that HOB skimmer now (and is basically the reason we know each other..LOL)

[aquawolf]

Originally Posted by Fat Tony

Yes, the overflow was basically my surface skimmer as it pulled all the water that went into the sump from the surface. Aquawolf has that HOB skimmer now (and is basically the reason we know each other..LOL)

It is still working quite well on my 40 gallon.

[cutietwo]

nice looking tank. Good luck with the new stuff!

[Fat Tony]

Originally Posted by aquawolf

It is still working quite well on my 40 gallon.

That's good to hear... heck that is when Octopus was still inexpensive... that thing only cost like $139..LOL

[aquawolf]

I still think it was a fair trade.

[Fat Tony]

Me too

Even if it had not have been, I gained a great friend out of it...you ROCK!