SC Aquariums 50 gallon PNP

Philipgonzales3 · May 16, 2019

What a night...

As soon as I started switching out sumps my self diagnosed, and likely fictional, ADHD kicked in to high gear. Of course I had no 45 degree fittings and one 90 degree fitting. I also had a couple of couplers thankfully. Long story short I cut parts I shouldn't have cut, glued parts I shouldn't have and probably give versa. At one point I pumped a couple of gallons on the floor too lol.

My big thermometer thing isn't working. Water temp is 78F so not sure what's going on there but whatever. ATO is unplugged until tomorrow as is the fuge light.

Man it looks like a dog turd but whatever I'll have to fix it as emergency plumbing is definetly not my thing. I forgot how my tank was plumbed for a sec and ended up plumbing the return directly up the emergency drain! Haha man I'm a dummy!

Hemmdog · May 16, 2019

Philipgonzales3 said:
What a night...

As soon as I started switching out sumps my self diagnosed, and likely fictional, ADHD kicked in to high gear. Of course I had no 45 degree fittings and one 90 degree fitting. I also had a couple of couplers thankfully. Long story short I cut parts I shouldn't have cut, glued parts I shouldn't have and probably give versa. At one point I pumped a couple of gallons on the floor too lol.

My big thermometer thing isn't working. Water temp is 78F so not sure what's going on there but whatever. ATO is unplugged until tomorrow as is the fuge light.

Man it looks like a dog turd but whatever I'll have to fix it as emergency plumbing is definetly not my thing. I forgot how my tank was plumbed for a sec and ended up plumbing the return directly up the emergency drain! Haha man I'm a dummy!

That’s a big upgrade in quality right there. Nice find. What’s up with your ranco ?

Philipgonzales3 · May 17, 2019

Hemmdog said:
That’s a big upgrade in quality right there. Nice find. What’s up with your ranco ?

Ranco is on and reading 78 as is my cheap little thermometer. Fans will be installed tomorrow as will some general clean up and what not. I plan to redo the plumbing lol. When I have time I'll sit down and order what I need from BRS.

Philipgonzales3 · May 17, 2019

Well what do you guys think?

A little sketchy? Lol.

DiscGolfRob · May 17, 2019

Is it a smaller sump, but actually looks like you have more room? I can tell you that last night you had me double-checking my mats, and there isn't even water in mine, yet! Also, looking at sump upgrades, in case it becomes a need, rather than a want.

count krunk · May 17, 2019

those fans have me seeing flames haha.

The real question is, how confident are you in your sump design to be sure that won't happen?

Philipgonzales3 · May 17, 2019

DiscGolfRob said:
Is it a smaller sump, but actually looks like you have more room? I can tell you that last night you had me double-checking my mats, and there isn't even water in mine, yet! Also, looking at sump upgrades, in case it becomes a need, rather than a want.

I was thinking the same thing as far as being smaller but having more room. The footprint on both are pretty similar. The SC Aquariums one is 19-3/4"W x 16-1/2"L x 13"H and the trigger ones is 18″ long x 18″ wide x 15″ high so the trigger does technically have a smaller footprint.

I think the trigger systems is just designed better. As in the layout of the baffles seems better, at least from first glance. I can easily remove the filter sock now without having to move the sump (may have to take off the fan but that's OK).

It was a pain to reach around my skimmer to change out filter socks. The return pump section is smaller on the trigger systems. I actually had to remove the strainer thingy on the return pump to get it to fit. I am going to try to double check on that now that everything is situated. The fuge area definitely seems bigger and there is a bonus little filter area to put carbon and bio balls and what not. I'm actually liking this sump more than the other one so far. Got it for less than 50% of the price also since it was lightly used. Heck yesterday I didn't care what the price was or anything. I would have bought anything just to keep the leak from causing a disaster. So I guess it worked out pretty well considering!

Philipgonzales3 · May 17, 2019

count krunk said:
those fans have me seeing flames haha.

The real question is, how confident are you in your sump design to be sure that won't happen?

Yeah I'm not sure lol. Right now the fans don't really ever kick on since it doesn't get hot enough yet. This will give me time to observe what is likely to happen. I'm thinking I'll need to modify their location somewhat but not too sure on exactly how just yet.

DiscGolfRob · May 17, 2019

Philipgonzales3 said:
I was thinking the same thing as far as being smaller but having more room. The footprint on both are pretty similar. The SC Aquariums one is 19-3/4"W x 16-1/2"L x 13"H and the trigger ones is 18″ long x 18″ wide x 15″ high so the trigger does technically have a smaller footprint.

I think the trigger systems is just designed better. As in the layout of the baffles seems better, at least from first glance. I can easily remove the filter sock now without having to move the sump (may have to take off the fan but that's OK).

It was a pain to reach around my skimmer to change out filter socks. The return pump section is smaller on the trigger systems. I actually had to remove the strainer thingy on the return pump to get it to fit. I am going to try to double check on that now that everything is situated. The fuge area definitely seems bigger and there is a bonus little filter area to put carbon and bio balls and what not. I'm actually liking this sump more than the other one so far. Got it for less than 50% of the price also since it was lightly used. Heck yesterday I didn't care what the price was or anything. I would have bought anything just to keep the leak from causing a disaster. So I guess it worked out pretty well considering!

I am already foreseeing the same issue with changing the filter socks. @Barrett recommended cutting out the divider between the filter sock and the skimmer for this reason, which is something I have not done, yet. Had you done this? I think you did a great job of reacting and dealing with the leak.

eggplantparrot · May 17, 2019

gunna start growing algae in that piece of flexible pipe haha

Philipgonzales3 · May 17, 2019

DiscGolfRob said:
I am already foreseeing the same issue with changing the filter socks. @Barrett recommended cutting out the divider between the filter sock and the skimmer for this reason, which is something I have not done, yet. Had you done this? I think you did a great job of reacting and dealing with the leak.

No, he actually told me the same thing. I should have listened to him but was afraid to modify it. I probably should have just did it though! And Thanks! Of course it happened at the worst time. Just spent all my money on my truck haha but guess that's just how it goes lol.

Philipgonzales3 · May 17, 2019

eggplantparrot said:
gunna start growing algae in that piece of flexible pipe haha

Yeah going to change it to all hard plumbed. This was just a temp fix to get me going until I can order some PVC.

Why-Me · May 17, 2019

DiscGolfRob said:
I am already foreseeing the same issue with changing the filter socks. @Barrett recommended cutting out the divider between the filter sock and the skimmer for this reason, which is something I have not done, yet. Had you done this? I think you did a great job of reacting and dealing with the leak.

I'm going to cut my divider out on the left side of my stock SCA sump. I just might be able to fit my roller filter and skimmer next to each other there. If not still more room for the skimmer.

DiscGolfRob · May 17, 2019

Why-Me said:
I'm going to cut my divider out on the left side of my stock SCA sump. I just might be able to fit my roller filter and skimmer next to each other there. If not still more room for the skimmer.

Thank you. I think between your plan, and what Philipgonzales3 said, I'm going to do the same thing.

DiscGolfRob · May 18, 2019

Welp, I went ahead and cut out that divider on the left side. It definitely opens it up a bit, but I wish I had done it prior to plumbing the tank. I would have put the filter sock holder closer to the front. I guess this way, it will be easier to upgrade to a bigger skimmer.

Why-Me · May 18, 2019

Looks good @DiscGolfRob

Why-Me · May 18, 2019

Today I went to Augsburg University in Minneapolis for a speaker event sponsored by my local reefing club TCMAS.
We got to hear the biologist Bill Capman speak about their saltwater systems at Augsburg University.
Next we saw Marc Levenson speak he has a popular youtube channel Melev's Reef
Next and finally we saw Terence from Neptune Systems speak.
Afterwards we got to go up to the biology department headed by Bill Capman for pizza social and to see his cool aquariums and full system setup there at Augsburg University.
What a great day!!

Philipgonzales3 · May 20, 2019

Well my tank is turning into algea city...
My Torch and nem seemed to be closed up more also. Also I've seen my green devil's hand and some of the Zoa's more closed up.

Ran tests yesterday and everything seems good except phosphate showed 0. I don't think it's actually 0 though. I retested today and got .018ppm. I'm feeding like half a cube or less a day. Doesn't seem like very much to me.

Any ideas? Maybe the tank is jealous of the new Truck?

Sod Buster · May 20, 2019

Harvest what you can with clean arms. A bowl w/ water to dip your fingers in after an algae clutch makes it easy. I'm on the same ship this week. Some spores must've blown out of Texas into NY and planted in my tank.

Philipgonzales3 · May 20, 2019

Sod Buster said:
Harvest what you can with clean arms. A bowl w/ water to dip your fingers in after an algae clutch makes it easy. I'm on the same ship this week. Some spores must've blown out of Texas into NY and planted in my tank.

I did that already like 3 times boo lol. I started hydrogen peroxide yesterday. Did 4ml, today I did 5ml. Corals and fish don't seem to care. Guess we'll see what happens.