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 State
of the Tank: 2/04
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Unfortunately, those who tend to believe in leaving well enough alone, like me, will suddenly look up and realize that their stuff is a couple generations behind (photographers, audio and videophiles, and computer ‘geeks’ may relate to this, I think). This certainly is okay if everything is still performing at ones expectations but because my tank was still evolving, it was becoming clear that a few changes (upgrades) would be beneficial at this point. It had been quite a few years now and as long as I was working on changing the sump, why not just do everything that needed to be done at once (Is it me or does this sound like an episode of a bad sitcom)?
Anyway, Greg’s initial suggestion for the sump was to employ one or two vertical holding tanks of a couple hundred gallons each and locate them on the other side of the workroom wall, in the pump room of my pool. I was quite excited at the prospect of having that much more volume but upon conferring with Ray, several logistical problems began coming to light that eventually made the plan unworkable. A few of his other suggestions however, have either already been implemented or soon will be. These include increasing my water flow by switching out two of my Iwaki 100s (rated at 2000 gph each) to a couple of 1/3 horsepower Sequence MT-6000 Hammerheads (rated at up to 5400 gph each). My goal was to get from an estimated 10X turnover to about 15X. I know it doesn’t seem like much but when you consider the size of the tank I’m working with, it’s really a |
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| substantial upgrade. There are also a couple of limiting factors (besides the sump) that keep me from going higher. The first is that we have already done a couple of rough tests and determined that this is about all the overflows could handle and secondly, I’m a little concerned about ‘blowing out’ my Frogspawns and other ‘lps’ corals. I think around 15X will be a vast improvement overall. Rest assured, I’ll let you know.
Another change I’ll soon be making is switching out my current skimmer. Not that I haven’t been reasonably happy with my MTC Power Pro; it has served me well over the years. I’m just getting a little tired of the venturi system in general as, in my case, they seem to get clogged quite a frequently which in turn, greatly reduces the unit’s effectiveness. We’ve tried cleaning, soaking the parts in vinegar and replacing the tubing but the problem seems to be getting more and more chronic. So in the quest of both more ‘bang’ and lower maintenance, I’m going to give a ‘beckett-type skimmer system a try; probably from Myreef Creations, which I plan to run with one of my old Iwaki 100RLTs. And again, I’ll let you know the results once I put it online...
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