Just moved to Niceville.

I actually used beach sand for my tank. Its very fine as everyone knows. It blew around for a bit until all got settled and i adjusted the flow correctly. Its now perfect and doesnt get blown around anymore. I love the pure white look it has.
 
MacWilliams said:
I actually used beach sand for my tank. Its very fine as everyone knows. It blew around for a bit until all got settled and i adjusted the flow correctly. Its now perfect and doesnt get blown around anymore. I love the pure white look it has.
Click to expand...


Did you harvest around here? Isn't the sand here quartz? Had any problems with it? I'm sure it looks great, never seen sand so white as here.
 
Yes, i went out to Narvarre and just drove down that road on the way to Fort Pickens. Not much traffic out that way so i felt a little safer getting it. I had the typical algae / new tank crap. But now it remains white and I dont notice anything that it could cause. I keep anemones / LPS / Inverts. Not sure what the sand is made from. I put it in a big tub with a water hose under it and ran that over night with the hose at the bottom of the tub so its getting out as much crap as possible. Then ran some RO through.
 
I actually went to Matts and got 40 pounds of pink Fiji, now I'm think it might be to much. I have about 50 pounds in there now and it's at 1" so only need 40 more pounds or so. I'll have some left over.
 
Hey bif24701 I have a dual herbie setup on my 180. I have 2 full siphon drains and 2 emergency overflows. It is very quiet. What type of issue are you having? If it is adjustment issues one thing I would recommend is changing the ball valves to gate valves. You get much finer adjustment with the gate valves.

Also if you want to come take a look at mine and see them in action you are more than welcome to swing by and look I am in Shalimar.
 
BIGD0G said:
Hey bif24701 I have a dual herbie setup on my 180. I have 2 full siphon drains and 2 emergency overflows. It is very quiet. What type of issue are you having? If it is adjustment issues one thing I would recommend is changing the ball valves to gate valves. You get much finer adjustment with the gate valves.



Also if you want to come take a look at mine and see them in action you are more than welcome to swing by and look I am in Shalimar.
Click to expand...


No water yet so no problems yet. Just looking for input. I would love to see your system. I'll message you. I have one emergency drain. Still putting it together though
 
BIGD0G said:
Hey bif24701 I have a dual herbie setup on my 180. I have 2 full siphon drains and 2 emergency overflows. It is very quiet. What type of issue are you having? If it is adjustment issues one thing I would recommend is changing the ball valves to gate valves. You get much finer adjustment with the gate valves.



Also if you want to come take a look at mine and see them in action you are more than welcome to swing by and look I am in Shalimar.
Click to expand...


I would hate to have to replace the ball valves because I just bought them. I'm just looking for and tips, tricks, and advice as you already provided. Anything else you think of please help.
 
Big Dog, when I get to that point in my build, I'd like to see what you have. I was going to do a durso but have read good things on the herbie
 
GrndHog said:
Big Dog, when I get to that point in my build, I'd like to see what you have. I was going to do a durso but have read good things on the herbie
Click to expand...

No problem. Ping me anytime and stop by to take a look. I would be happy to share my setup and what I have done. You don't have to wait till you get to that point of your build tough come anytime.
 
bif24701 said:
What is the difference between a durso and a herbie?
Click to expand...

While both designs should be quiet there are 2 main differences between them.

1. Air - The durso has a small hole at the top of the pipe in the overflow to let air in. While only a small amount of air you are still introducing air into the drain that could result in air bubbles in the sump. While not a huge issue in addition to having a quiet drain I wanted to limit air bubbles to reduce any chance of them ending up in the display tank. I realize you can use bubble trap in the sump and you should even with a Herbie but why introduce any more bubbles to have to deal with.

2. Flow - The herbie is a true full siphon meaning no air introduced thus allows for greater flow rates. Depending on the amount of flow you need through your sump could dictate which direction to go. If I recall correctly a 1" herbie will flow about 200 gallons more per hour than a 1' durso. If you return pump returns more water than a durso can handle you end up needing to throttle down the return side. I wanted to be able to use the full capacity of my return pump and thus would rather throttle the drain side vs. the return side.

The other benefit to me was no need for tees or elbow in the tank overflows just a straight pipe. The space in there is limited already so I did not want to camp it even more with elbows.

hope this helps.
 
BIGD0G said:
While both designs should be quiet there are 2 main differences between them.



1. Air - The durso has a small hole at the top of the pipe in the overflow to let air in. While only a small amount of air you are still introducing air into the drain that could result in air bubbles in the sump. While not a huge issue in addition to having a quiet drain I wanted to limit air bubbles to reduce any chance of them ending up in the display tank. I realize you can use bubble trap in the sump and you should even with a Herbie but why introduce any more bubbles to have to deal with.



2. Flow - The herbie is a true full siphon meaning no air introduced thus allows for greater flow rates. Depending on the amount of flow you need through your sump could dictate which direction to go. If I recall correctly a 1" herbie will flow about 200 gallons more per hour than a 1' durso. If you return pump returns more water than a durso can handle you end up needing to throttle down the return side. I wanted to be able to use the full capacity of my return pump and thus would rather throttle the drain side vs. the return side.



The other benefit to me was no need for tees or elbow in the tank overflows just a straight pipe. The space in there is limited already so I did not want to camp it even more with elbows.



hope this helps.
Click to expand...


Ok, thanks. I had two durso in my tank before. It work well when it worked but still the loudest part of the system when it would start to gurgle. I kept the holes small to minimize sound that created a partial siphon.

Now I want to do the full siphon and make as silent as possible.
 
Yeah then go with the herbie. It is dead silent. I hear no sound from it at all and no gurgling. My tank is in a family room as well so we did not want to hear any gurgling noise from the tank.
 
BIGD0G said:
Yeah then go with the herbie. It is dead silent. I hear no sound from it at all and no gurgling. My tank is in a family room as well so we did not want to hear any gurgling noise from the tank.
Click to expand...


Right! I love looking at my corals and fish but nobody wants to hear noisy pumps, fans, and drains.

Replacing the MH with the LEDs and this drain system is sure to make a very pleasing difference.
 
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