Remote Deep Sand Bed

[weaglereefer]

Anyone set one of these up or run one? I was feeling frisky on my day off after re-plumbing the sump, and figured I'd have minor leaks to fix yesterday, but guess I did everything right to avoid leaks. Anyways, I was near HD and decided to pick up the stuff needed for the bucket RDSB (except the uniseals which I ordered from the BRS group buy). My nitrates hover around 5ppm in my 90, just can't get them to 00ppm no matter what I do. This is what I've come up with to give a 9" deep sand bed, figure I'll feed with a MJ-1200 and if that's too much, turn it down a bit with a valve. I wasn't in the mood to go get the 2 50lb bags of sand, and not knowing when I'd have time to actually set it up, I just got the bucket supplies. I'm also hoping I can figure out how to plumb it without drilling more holes in the stand...

I may finish off the "durso" style overflow with 2 more 90s so hopefully the bucket stays quiet.

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[ricksconnected]

there was a big post on these back before thanksgiving.

 

[weaglereefer]

I spent more time looking for the hole saw drill bit than I did making the thing...

 

[weaglereefer]

ricksconnected;433823 wrote: there was a big post on these back before thanksgiving.

Yeah, but I'm wondering if anyone actually did anything about it, or was it just a kind of "checking interest" thread.

 

[ricksconnected]

hum....... i thought a couple folks were actually using them in that post. its been a while and a zillion posts since, i might be mistaken.

 

[weaglereefer]

Well, finished the plumbing

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Filled with sand on the porch last night. Only took 1 50lb bag to get me the exact level I wanted anyways. Currently testing with a MJ-600, it's definitely not enough, might have to look in the storage room for a MJ-1200 which I can throttle back if needed.

Also remembered I'm going to have to be careful about the level in the sump in case of power outages, don't want it to overflow the sump. Ended up with a 9" sandbed, approximately 2 cubic feet. Might get it installed on my day off tomorrow if I can find a suitable stand for behind the tank.

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[smoothie]

 

[weaglereefer]

Well, plumbed and running. The bucket is running clear but the tank and sump are dusty. Nothing some 50ppm filter socks shouldn't clear up overnight. It was quite a task to get the bucket with sand over the tank and on a redneck-engineered stand (don't worry, it's quite sturdy and held me up fine at 280lbs so it shouldn't have a problem holding a bucket of sand/water) but I'm hesitant to show it on here, lol. I was able to incorporate some shelves into the stand for other equipment like Tunze ballasts/drivers and my 2x175 MH ballast.

I did make some bonehead moves with the plumbing that will bite me later. Fit some 3/4" pvc through some holes that I had run electrical through earlier, and they fit fine, but the ends of the plugs will not fit back through the holes, lol, so I hope nothing changes.

Anyways, starting nitrates at 5ppm with my Elos kit, so we'll see what happens!

 

[tuckdaway]

Also might want to check the DIY Denitrator thread. My established system struggled to keep 5ppm Nitrates with a sump and fuge with Macro.

Spent 8 hours with Grouper Therapy and some other members and now I went from feeding 1x's a day to 2x's with 0ppm.

Check the DIY Denitrator thread for more info.

Only problem now is that I can't seem to keep enough Nori around for the Tangs.

 

[sparky]

I have this running and doing well. It is only on my frag tank, so nitrate load is low. I have no idea how this would work on a full system.

I was told to keep light out of the bucket, do you have plans to run with the lid on?

 

[weaglereefer]

Yup, there is a lid on it, and it's behind the tank in front of "black-out" curtains. It shouldn't be bumped or have any problems where it is and shouldn't have any light.

I did a power failure test to see how much water will enter the sump and with everything off I've still got an inch to spare, so the bucket drained less than 1/2 gallon.

Water cleared up fine this morning.

 

[sparky]

I plummed mine into a rubbermade tub that has the skimmer and return pump to the 75gal. The tub is is about 25 gal running at about 7 gal production. I have RO top off plumbled in as well and wanted to avoid flooding.

Let me know how it goes and what the load is you are putting on it.

 

[weaglereefer]

Yeah, that's my plan. The fun is that the sump can't come out unless the whole tank is off, and the stand is made of a particle board which smells lovely when it is drilled. It also makes for a ton of saw dust...It's not a huge deal. The plugs run to my PC-4's for my Reefkeeper, so unless those fail or I switch to Apex, they won't be going anywhere.