Gerrit's New Tank

Gerrit, a little off topic, but where did you buy the cladding for your walls?
 
Don't you think there be enough water movement around that area?

No, I dont but then again a boff may agree with the way you have it, I have a simple solution though. Don't make your sand level, slant it upwards from left to right, I have done this in my DSB to keep a uniform flow, so the DSB height on the left is say 8cm and on the right 18cm..

I would give your sump a little extra thought, also some thought as to the purpose of the DSB and macro algae?? Personally I prefer the skimmer before the DSB and not after, but there are different tracks of thought to this..

Also maybe have a pipe with a ball valve going direct to sump 2 so you can control the flow through the DSB.. what about swopping the 2 sumps around and have the DSB as a CLS.. hmm, interesting !

Muz
 
Muz,

Thanks for all the ideas. I decided on this route due to practical reasons. I might at a later stage add a skimmer to sump 1 as well. The idea of a slanted sand bed sounds good. Will do that.

Gerrit
 
Cool, actually I slanted my DSB by trial and error, I view my DSB from the side not from the front so i only have a 30 cm window but I wanted to see the surface of the whole DSB so i aquascaped it at an angle, it worked out very well as the water flows better over it, also it traps any detris the skimmer missed, anyhoo, give some thought to that skimmer postion.. good luck dude your tank will look awesome with that cladding on the wall..

Muz
 
Hi Guys/Gals,

Some updates to the new tank's progress:

Stand painted
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With top painted
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Tank delivery day
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Man, this thing is heavy!!
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Tank in place after a battle. I even had to take off the door to be able to get it in the room.
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Tank view from inside the house
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Tank with back covering in place
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I've used black plastic for the covering bought from Plastic World
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Testing the fit and start the plumbing
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Work in progress
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Finalizing the Tunze System Sump
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Finalizing the sump that will house the DSB and Algea
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First RO water going in
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Electrical sockets and overflow from Sump1 to Sump2 in place
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First sand in DSB
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Tank room
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The sand I'm using for the DSB
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Close-up photo of sand
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The washing and drying excersize
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DSB sand in place (15cm up to 22cm deep)
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Tank still filling up
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Absolutely stunning, man I love these setup threads, so nice to follow a tank setup from scratch.
 
Awsome dude. Real awesome. things always turn out well when planned well. everything looks neat and tidy. nicely done man. keep the pics rolling please
 
Looking like a great system so far, however there is one concern i would have:
Your skimmer placement is critical for performance of your dsb!

Personally I prefer the skimmer before the DSB and not after, but there are different tracks of thought to this..

Their might be different tracks of thought on this, but until someone explains to me any functional reason for having the skimmer after the dsb, i will have to say, there is only one correct track of thought on this....

Filtration should be done in three chronological steps:

1.) Mechanical: this removes solids from the system, particulate organic matter, before it has chance to settle somewhere in your system, I.e. skimmer and filter socks. This reduces pressure on your next step of filtration..
2.) Biological: The part bacteria does, should be conducted with as little organic matter as possible, as excessive detritus settling on a sandbed is bad news!
3.) Chemical: carbon Po4 remover etc. Once the hardest work is done by your skimmer and bacteria, your chemical media polishes the water. Water should arrive at this stage as clean and sediment/detritus free as possible, to avoid blocking of flow through chemical media and longer life out of the most expensive part of your filtration.
 
Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the nice comments. I guess when one starts to plan and then setup a new system; you just hope that everything will turn out fine. :sweatdrop:

Ivan, I can only agree with your comment. As I said previously, it was due to practicality and the way the Tunze System filter works (especially the water height in the sump needs to be precise), that I could not put the DSB after it. On my previous tank, I did not have any DSB or macro algae at all. So the thinking was to add it to this setup because hopefully it will add some benefit.

On this topic, how does a DSB in the tank then works? The filtration/skimming are also done then afterwards? :032:

Gerrit
 
Hi Gerrit,

Nice setup. Cant wait to see it with lights. Very interesting sump design. Good luck with the rest of the tank.
 
On this topic, how does a DSB in the tank then works? The filtration/skimming are also done then afterwards

In short, dsb works on the principle that a low oxygen environment is created below a high oxygen environment. Bacteria which use oxygen live in the upper reaches and convert nitrite to nitrate, and in the lower reaches there is bacteria which break down nitrate. As water flows over the dsb, it diffuses down into the lower reaches, and nitrate is removed from the system...

This is biological filtration..
You should always have biological filtration after mechanical, as the mechanical filters (eg skimmers) remove most of the potentially "harmful" substances like organics and particulate matter, therefor reducing the load of work on the biological filter. Too much particulate settling on the dsb will clog the dsb and overload the biological bed....
 
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