wpeterson
Well-Known Member
I added more advanced filtration on our 29ga nano reef over the last month. We've been trying to make the most of a simple Petco 29gal that isn't drilled or reef ready.
I added a Remora Nano skimmer driven by a Cobalt MJ1200. Unfortunately, the intake pump is an eye sore sitting in the tank and it didn't skim the surface well. I found an acrylic overflow box sized for the Remora which has two chambers: a sealed overflow to place the intake pump for the Remora and return chamber with a foam bubble trap. This eliminated the micro bubbles in the tank from the skimmer and pulls in surface water, allowing us to finally clean up the surface film.
Last week I also added a Phosban 150 media reactor driven by a Maxijet 900, which we're running Carbon and GFO in. This also leaves an eye sore in the tank. The outflow from the reactor was hard to place in the tank. I initially ran it into the return chamber on the skimmer box, but it was too much flow and cavitated the substrate below the return chamber.
Today I decided to fix this and plumbed everything more gracefully. The overflow box flows ~ 500gph and I was able to situate both intake pumps inside the overflow, hidden from site and pulling surface water. I plumbed the return from the media reactor into my mechanical filter intake. I drilled and installed a DIY bulkhead on the filter lid. The outflows from the mechanical is much less disruptive, even with the extra water.
It's kind of a hack and there's now a big 1/2" tube loop from the reactor to the filter, but I like it a lot better.
I added a Remora Nano skimmer driven by a Cobalt MJ1200. Unfortunately, the intake pump is an eye sore sitting in the tank and it didn't skim the surface well. I found an acrylic overflow box sized for the Remora which has two chambers: a sealed overflow to place the intake pump for the Remora and return chamber with a foam bubble trap. This eliminated the micro bubbles in the tank from the skimmer and pulls in surface water, allowing us to finally clean up the surface film.
Last week I also added a Phosban 150 media reactor driven by a Maxijet 900, which we're running Carbon and GFO in. This also leaves an eye sore in the tank. The outflow from the reactor was hard to place in the tank. I initially ran it into the return chamber on the skimmer box, but it was too much flow and cavitated the substrate below the return chamber.
Today I decided to fix this and plumbed everything more gracefully. The overflow box flows ~ 500gph and I was able to situate both intake pumps inside the overflow, hidden from site and pulling surface water. I plumbed the return from the media reactor into my mechanical filter intake. I drilled and installed a DIY bulkhead on the filter lid. The outflows from the mechanical is much less disruptive, even with the extra water.
It's kind of a hack and there's now a big 1/2" tube loop from the reactor to the filter, but I like it a lot better.
