H20cooled

Brandon, Thats awesome that you got everything hooked up and found a good external pump. I think it will work a lot better... Get some more pics up. I just got my new Tunze 9005 skimmer for me softy tank and I'm going to install it tonight. I'll take some pictures and post my mini review later... Rich

I understand completely, I was just telling you about what I've seen with those pumps. I think you'll be ok for a while anyway, but I think eventually you'll want more POWER... Later! Rich

Brandon, The problem that you'll see with the Mag 9.5 on your closed loop is not the amount of flow it is with the pressure. The mag pumps have very little pressure and when you add the height of the plumbing, the 90's and other fittings and then the OM you will lose a lot of head pressure. Add this is all on a pump that had virtual no head pressure to start with. The only way that I could see to improve it would be to move the pump up to the top as much as possible, this would eliminate a lot of the pressure... Rich

Brandon, I have a feeling that once you get this all setup your going to find that the Mag 9.5 just isn't going to be enough flow. For a setup like that (pipe size and height) you would be better off with a pressure rated pump. But its hard to say, I tried a Mag 9.5 for my closed loop and was very disappointed with the lack of flow, the external pump I have now is a lot better... Rich

Brandon, Glad to hear that your pump does work. And it was fine that you called me... Closed loop looks good... Rich

Sounds good, just make sure you have air movement in the box for the sump other wise you will get heat building up and then mold... Rich

I was going to suggest trimming off some of the top of the sump but that would throw off your amount of water you could hold. Also I would be really worried about breaking the sump. Not sure what else you can do at this point, could you remove the front of the stand/door, install the sump and the reinstall the front? Rich

Can you get the sump in from the back of the stand or only the front? If you could get it in on the back you could just use a small hand saw to open it up more. If its the front then thats a whole different story, because if you cut it the door will not cover the new hole and it will look like cr*p.

Brandon, That sucks that the sump won't go in. Where is it getting stuck? Maybe we could cut a bigger hole in the back to get it in. Rich

Yep your skimmer is one of the most important keys to have a successful reef. I know that others might disagree but I also feel that a controller is very important. I really allows you to get your tank very stable with very little fluctuations in temp, pH, and others items...

Sounds good.

Sent you a PM....

We can talk on Sat when we build that sump...

No not the sump, I just don't think that skimmer is near enough for a 50G tank. Just don't put to many fish in there or you will have TONs of algae...

Looks good, not sure that skimmers going to do much for your tank though...

I think some of our sponsors can get those inverts for you and I know that some will even price match for you... Rich

I personanly don't think we should say that people can only have a certain amount of kids. The only time that I'm for restricting people from have more kids is in the case of a woman having a drug addicted child or a woman that kills her kids. At that point they should be fixed like you would do to your cat or dog...

Yeah its really sad, I guess I have a problem in general with Trophy hunting/fishing because it has nothing to do with food or survival its all about proving how cool you are...

Yeah I thought that's (catch and release) what they would have done with the shark, but no we just killed him an burried him. Kind of pathetic if you ask me...

I have no problem with hunting or fishing as long as you eat the catch and its not an endanger animal. But this makes me very :mad: LINK Notice at the end "They burried the carcass " they caught this amazing creature and just so they could say HEY LOOK what I have, they didn't even eat it... VERY SAD... Rich

If I remember right that tank is 24" deep and he has clams at the bottom of his tank. So, ya T5's should be fine for 24 inches. I decided to go deeper because I want to have some LPS and softies at the bottom without worrying about to much light. My tank will be a 130G 4'x2'x26" tall Rich

why not just T5? There has been some AMAZING results from T5 only tanks and they are penatrating the water a lot deeper the people realized. My new tank will be T5 only, it will be 8 54w bulbs over driven to 80w, should be more then enough light... Rich

Yep its glass, I got the starphire on the front and sides. They are located in Canada, the cost isn't bad either especialy for a custom made tank. LINK Rich

Want cheap gas? LINK

If you can afford the extra $$$ for the tank then get the 30". I'm having a custom tank built by Aquarium Obsessed right now and I wanted to go with 30" but the cost from the 24" to 30" was $1000 more. So, I compromised and went with 26" for $190 more... Rich