So after letting my mind clear for a little bit...is there any reason I don't just coat that whole area with a strong epoxy built up fairly thick? The crack is in the return section of the sump and only holds a couple of gallons, not to mention it's braced fairly well around there. I don't think it will see a lot of pressure and it faces the back towards the wall so it won't even be an eyesore.
Twin Red Sea Reefer 1000 build (freshwater)
- Thread starter harrisonsaid
- Start date
It is hard to say. That damage looks substantial but probably still able to hold water for a short while at least. If it were me, I would try to fashion some kind of external brace, perhaps two scraps of glass attached at the corner with silicone, completely covering and overlapping the damage and bottom trim.
The epoxy trick may help as an extra seal but will do nothing to augment the strength of the damaged seam ime.
Well FTD got back to me and got a sump ordered. Luckily red sea is fairly close to me (about 3 hours) so it should be in early next week.
Finished a preliminary install of the tank electronics. Due to some boring reasons I'm running both tanks off one of these expanding electronics boards so it's pretty packed already. I will then mount all the power bricks to a separate panel to install on the back of the tank so I can keep the wiring clean and still pull this panel out.
I plumbed in some basic fill hoses to the outlet, dumped my substate in, and started filling the tank up.
I made a few mistakes along the way, most I could correct. I definitely had some leaks in the plumbing between the main and aux sump, but after an hour or so of fiddling I got everything working as expected. These pumps are STRONG...I let them run all night at full blast and this is what I woke up to:
All the substrate moved around and a completely cloudy tank. I turned the pumps down to half, messed around with the overflows (this is a new process for me, still learning how it all works) and will let it run for the day and check in again.
The plan (once the water is clear) is to move over my geophagus tank with all of the biological media from the 2 fx6 canisters I have on there. This is a little scary for me, I've never seeded a tank with existing bio media and not sure if the gallon of seachem matrix will be enough on its own.
This also brings me to the last decision I have to make...what bio media I'm going to run in this sump. The aux sump I've decided will be a refugium with pothos for nitrate reduction, but I'm stuck between learning how to set up a fluidized k1 bed or stick with what I know and dump a few gallons of matrix in there and call it a day.
Finished a preliminary install of the tank electronics. Due to some boring reasons I'm running both tanks off one of these expanding electronics boards so it's pretty packed already. I will then mount all the power bricks to a separate panel to install on the back of the tank so I can keep the wiring clean and still pull this panel out.
I plumbed in some basic fill hoses to the outlet, dumped my substate in, and started filling the tank up.
I made a few mistakes along the way, most I could correct. I definitely had some leaks in the plumbing between the main and aux sump, but after an hour or so of fiddling I got everything working as expected. These pumps are STRONG...I let them run all night at full blast and this is what I woke up to:
All the substrate moved around and a completely cloudy tank. I turned the pumps down to half, messed around with the overflows (this is a new process for me, still learning how it all works) and will let it run for the day and check in again.
The plan (once the water is clear) is to move over my geophagus tank with all of the biological media from the 2 fx6 canisters I have on there. This is a little scary for me, I've never seeded a tank with existing bio media and not sure if the gallon of seachem matrix will be enough on its own.
This also brings me to the last decision I have to make...what bio media I'm going to run in this sump. The aux sump I've decided will be a refugium with pothos for nitrate reduction, but I'm stuck between learning how to set up a fluidized k1 bed or stick with what I know and dump a few gallons of matrix in there and call it a day.
Matrix and/or pot scrubbers IMO. You have enough tech and capital invested there already so stick with what you know works!
Well I would love to have more updates and fish in the tank...but I'm unable to get this water to settle down. I don't know if it's an issue of undiffused returns blowing substrate everywhere or what, but this cloudiness won't go away. Water looks great after a water change, but the next day looks like this:
What type of substrate? Personally i despise anything with a grit too small to “join the water column”… if u get heavier grits it can be stirred up by fish or pumps and nothing happens. Filter socks will make quick work of it also, gotta curb the problem tho if it is just ur sand entering the water column. Even if it eventually settles, once fish are added itell b a cloud again.
Caribsea Sunset Gold. I've got it in another tank without these issues, which is why I'm so confused.
I had 225 micron filter socks in there not doing much, so I added a bunch of polyfill to try and help out. I might try and find a smaller mesh filter sock, or maybe a felt version to try and knock this out. Ready to move some fish over.
Atleast u can rule that out then If uve used it before/know its not the sand. Wonder if its just a bacteria bloom then if u seeded it with old media. Are u by chance “auto dripping” already while cycling? It will prolong the cycle and keep the tank cloudy longer.
I haven’t seeded yet, and no auto drip at this time. The one main difference is the water being used to fill is off of my house softener/filter which the other tanks are not currently on (I fill those from a sink in the garage which is pre-softener)
I drove into the city today and going to drop by the aquarium store, see what they have for filter socks with a tighter mesh. Beyond that I’m not sure what to do.
