Need some help from you more experienced guys

Beau is hosting the January Meeting this coming Saturday the 14th at 6PM.  It will be BYOB as well as a snack to share and raffle items are always welcome.  It has been requested that there be “NO SHOES” on the carpet due to it being a whitish color.

He doesn’t have a tank to view but we will have plenty to discuss in hopes that it will get the NEW YEAR off to a good start.  The annual membership fees are due, so now would be a good time to get them in to our Treasurer Stacey Hahn.   Fees are $20 per individual or $25 per family

Attendance was low at the election meeting in November and no votes were taken at December’s meeting so we have decided to take votes for anyone that didn’t get the opportunity in November and will be attending this meeting.  
We will add the votes to November’s ballots and the announcement will be made during the meeting so we can go forward.
NOMINATIONS:
President:  Jim & Nacho
V. President: Ed, Bo & Daniel Leigey
Treasurer: Stacey
Secretary: Carmen & Angie

Let’s hope the New Year brings new members, returning members and new ideas.  The club is always willing to take suggestions to get the most out of the hobby we all enjoy.

Please PM Nate C. by clicking here for directions if you are not a club member.  

Club members can click here to go to the club member only forum to get directions.

Hope to see you all there!

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[Nate C.]

Hey guys,

The 155 is running (sort of), I could really use some consultation from someone that has more experience with running sumps and durso's.  I'm having issues with my returns not keeping up with the flow of my pump, and to keep air from sucking into the intake of the pump, my sump is completely FULL if flow stops.  Not the most comforting situation to think about if power should go out when I'm gone away.

If someone could give me a hand today (Saturday), I'd really appreciate it.  Please give me a call 366-3450 and let me know.

Thanks!

Nate

[Ed]

Nate,
    How large of a return pump do you have?   I think I still have a gate valve laying around if you would like?    I am home until about 9am.   
Ed

[Nate C.]

I have only the one pump for the system, Dolphin 3700.  I've got it gated down about half on both supply lines.  I found out the valve on one of my durso's was open much further than I thought.  So, it's doing a bit better, but I'm still paranoid as heck.  Just haven't had experience with bigger systems like this.   

[Nate C.]

Nevermind, I think things are under control, other than my 1/2 inch sea swirl isn't moving, and I'm getting microbubbles like crazy.   

[dakota's dad]

i had the microbubble problem to start with but it cleared up in a few days as thing settled in.

[Nate C.]

I am also wondering why I can't get my skimmer to produce either.  It's bubbling, but it isn't getting to the collection cup anymore.  I had it working, then stopped the main pump, messed with a few things (not the skimmer), cleaned the collection cup with tap water, and it quit doing anything.  Any ideas?

Also, Just wondernig on 400 watt ballast, I have a green, black and white connector on one of my ballasts, they are marked for all 3, one has a mark for ground, but the other two aren't marked, does it matter which color connects to which spot?  I can take a picture if it'd help.  Please let me know, we really want to get light in the tank to keep things alive on the live rock.

I would still like to have someone more in the know stop over to check things out.  I'm still incredibly paranoid.     Guess it comes from being an engineer and always expecting the worst.

[Rico]

Nate,

Regarding the MH wiring.  The white wire from the ballast to the bulb should go to the connector that makes contact with the threaded portion of the bulb.  The black wire should go to the contact for the center of the bulb.

It is very normal for a skimmer that is messed with (cleaned, salt added to water, etc) to shut down for anywhere from several hours to 2 days.  Give it time and it should come back.

As for the microbubbles, they too will go away as the tank settles in.  But you can throttle back the supply to the sea swirls to reduce the flow through the sump.  Less flow rate will provide more dwell time for water in the sump, thus allowing more time for the bubbles to surface.

Rick

[Rico]

Nate,

One other thing that will cause the micro bubbles is the skimmer.  Make sure that the water output from the skimmer is not going right to the tank supply pump suction.  When I ran that setup, I had to put a piece of floss filter material between the side of the skimmer and the wall of the sump because water and bubbles would go through that area and get sucked into the pump.

Rick

[tyler5g]

Had the same problem with micro bubbles when I set mine up.  Turned out that where the return water was dropping into the sump was generating a lot of bubbles, too many for my bubble trap to stop.  Fixed the problem bybuilding my floss filter directly under the return, so it was not splashing as much, and therefore producing alot less bubbles.  When I see small bubbles in my tank now, I know that the filter needs to be changed cause the water is going over the sides and around the filter media instead of through it. 

[Nate C.]

Thanks for the responses guys.  I see this morning that the skimmer is going again, so I guess all is well there.

I'll give the bubbles a bit more time to settle down.  The returns are already dropping directly on the floss filter (I even doubled up on layers to try to stop more).  As for the skimmer adding to microbubbles, I had Les mod the sump to get rid of that as per your suggestion.  It seems to be working very well at keeping bubbles from getting through from that.  They are definitely coming from the return, I can watch them coming through the sump.  But, as mentioned, it's still a very new system, and I didn't realize that it was a common thing to have happen during the initial running time.  It's looking a bit better already today, so maybe it'll be OK yet.

Rick,  On the lights, I'm actually talking about the connections to the blueline ballast that have the positive connection style connectors.  There is one that all 3 are in a row, labled, then the other has two top and bottom with one off to the right with the ground symbol next to it.  The two top and bottom for the black and white, does it matter which one they plug into, or do you remember which went where?  Then on the reeffanatic ballast, the black and white wires from the hood and from the ballast are cut and stripped, but the green one isn't (on either side), do I just wire nut the black and white together, and not bother with the green, or do I need to strip both sides on the green and wire nut them too?

In good news, we are already nearly cycled (gotta love that "live" live rock!), we were up around 0.6 ammonia Friday, yesterday ammonia was down around 0 - 0.1, Nitrate was up quite a bit, but it should start dropping now that the skimmer is up and running.     Guess we'll be adding some green chromis next weekend...Petco is having their grand opening, I talked with the ops manager when I was in buying more salt Thrusday.  They are going to have them on sale for $1.99!

[angelscrx]

Sounds like all is going well.  Good job!  Take pics!

[Ed]

I feel better seeing you solved things with help.    I felt bad leaving yesterday after your message.   I had a time schedule and spoke with Stace if you needed parts.    The offer still stands if you need a part stop by.    Look in the dresser in garage.   If you see something you can use grab it.
Thats is  what its there for.
Ed

[Nate C.]

Thanks for the support guys.  Anyone know how to trace down wiring issues on MH lights?  I swapped bulbs and tried the light I couldn't get started (although the ballast started the other that is wired the same way just fine), still nothing.  Do I need to pull my canopy back off and look at the wire connections on the back of the fixtures?

Ed, no worries.  We have your stuff to return, when's a good time to swing over with it?

Nate

[tyler5g]

I can get the wiring diagram off on of my ballasts for you.  Its pretty straightforward, and easy to do with the diagram.  I 've done three or four myself, and haven't blown anything up yet.  Let me know.

[Nate C.]

Bigger fish to fry at the moment, major leak in the chiller plumbing.  Gotta go figure out where/what is going on.  Looks to me like I'm missing an o-ring, or have a completely blown glue joint.

as for the wiring diagram, I think it's a simpler question than that.  I just want to know if connecting the wrong color to the wrong plug-in (they aren't labeled) on the ballast will have any ill effects.