Hi Rob, I'm new to the forum and your podcast. I find them both absolutley invaluble to a beginner in the hobby. Your doing a great job and helping out more people than you think! Thanks!

I have a show idea, which would help answer my question. You should do a video podcast of your tank set-up. You can film all your equipment, show how it's set-up, and how it works and why and explain everything. I am moving up from a 55 to a 75 and have most of the gear i would need but have a few questions on how to set it up.

Example: once the water flows into the overflow and into the sump, what should the water flow through first? LR, DSB, Skimmer, then return to tank? Do you set-up the output of the skimmer to flow directly into the return pump or a chamber that holds the return pump?

I was givin my tank to begin with and the guy i got it from more or less just wanted to dump it off so i never really got any instruction how to set it up (except for my local forum, the Boston Reefer Society), and i was never convinced it was set-up the right way. Although i have had it set-up and running for about 6 months and have had few problems.

i unfortunatly purchased a magnum 350 canister filter and did away with the sump because i was unclear how it worked a few weeks ago(i have no problems with it yet). When i set-up the 75 i am going to use a 30 gallon tank as the sump. which leads to another question, how do i prepare the 30 for a sump? i would like to use a DSB in it. Do i need to modify it with chambers for all the bio filter stuff? I am not clear yet what type of tank i want. probably a fish tank to start and then slowly add coral and other "reef" things.

thanks for any help i can get on this subject! Keep up the great work and i can't wait for another podcast episode! by the way, what is the schedule for the podcast?

Thanks again,
Charles

I should read every thread before i ask questions. in another thread hear you say the skimmer should be the first thing in the line, so that answers my question about feeding the return with the skimmer. so i guess my only question is how do i det up different compartments in the sump? How many do i need?

lets see if i have it right:
1st chamber is for the skimmer, 2nd for the DSB, 3rd for LR, and the last for the return pump?

Hi Charles...and welcome to the Talkingreef! First off, you're doing the 'right thing'. By posting the questions you have, in a forum like this, gives you good, practical information and also helps others who may have the same questions!

I'm glad that you found the Boston Reefers Society helpful. They were the catalyst for my habit (read "hobby"). Make sure you introduce yourself to me at a future meeting. I've been a proud, card carrying member for a while now. I'd be nowhere without them.

In most sump with refugium setups, folks opt to split the overflow water source and direct it into both a skimmer section and, simultaneously, a refugium of sorts. You can do this with various T and Y connections, in either PVC or fleixible hose. The flow of water through the chambers is controlled with a ball valve or similar union placed between the output of either side. I opt to put that valve on the side closest to the overflow and work with gravity.

You DO want overflow water to be skimmed. It should be skimmed away from or before the refugium and its output to ensure fewer casualties in planktons and micro crustaceans that could feed your system. The ratio of water to skimmer -vs- refugium is really dependant upon your system. What I mean is that some folks opt to have more flow to refugiums, depending on the "purpose" of the refugium, while others would rather keep lower flow etc. in a refugium and push the majority of water to the skimmer. In either case, get a good skimmer :)

Your best bet is to branch off the overflow to two, opposite ends of the sump. On one side, set a footprint for your skimmer and have some baffles from that chamber, working towards the center of the sump. On the opposite side, set another chamber with tallish divider for your rerugium. That water will cascade over the wall toward the center as well. In the center, you can run the sump lower, and set your return pump. If any of this doesn't "visualize" as you are reading, I can send some pics, or a diagram. Right now, I'm on the family PC and don't have any of that handy.

I'd cut that canister out, and set up the sump again...just as you planned. I'm in the midst of a sump project myself and would love to help you with yours. I'm in Marlboro, not TOO far away. If you'd ever like to meet and see my tanks, sumps etc. let me know.

Feel free to PM me here, or on BRS if you want to go into further detail.

Ciao for now!

Dave

You can put the DSB and LR in one chamber. As a matter of fact, I've used LR in any chamber of my sumps that I can fit it...short of the return pump chamber where you really do want to keep it silt and sand free, to avoid tossing it into the display tank and making a snow storm :D

Charles..
hopefully dave addressed the immediate questions (which i think he did quite well, as usual)
if you have more, dont hesitate to post them in the forums...

now regarding your questions about doing vidcasts...
the easy answer is yes, they are coming.. the audio shows will be taking priority, but i do have many video ideas that i am going to be doing.. so stay tuned... :)

You just posted the best videocast. Nemo and Dori, that was so funny, keep up the good work Rob!

You just posted the best videocast. Nemo and Dori, that was so funny, keep up the good work Rob!

I agree http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/10/10_1_20.gif-that was greaaaaaaaaaaaaaat ;)

Ive been listening to your podcasts and wondering, why cant we see the video on the ipod when we download it. it will only show itself on the computer.
NYCREEF

Because the video format is not the correct size/format for actual iPod viewing... (not a complaint, just a comment)

Personally, I think that if the video was that small, it would be difficult to see anything.

actually, its is the correct size and format for the ipod, well at least it supposed to be.

i do not have a video iPod so i cant test this, but i will look into it

Rob - I don't think so.

There is a great utility for this... I also think iMovie will automatically downsample and save at the right resolution.

If I'm right, and if you change this, please make two versions, a higher res and an iPod res. I'll take a closer look at my 60gb iPod video this evening and see what gives :)

all the videos are and have been produces in iMovie using the "export to iPod" command.

so they all "should be" in iPod format
i do know you will have to go into the video menu and under video podcasts to view them, they are not displayed in the normal audio podcast list.

please do test it out though and let me know if you find anything new

Yep, I got that. I will check it and let you know.

Rob... MY BAD. The Videos show up just fine on my iPod. They were hiding under

videos > video podcasts

I was getting an error message that said such and such video could not be transferred to my ipod cause its the wrong size... wouldn't you know it was one by those *other* guys... (snicker) Yours show up just fine.

So I guess iPod video (size/resolution) views just fine when not on the iPod.

nycreef, you might want to check your iPod preferences in iTunes. This is a feature that may be off by default, or you might have to have your videos in a particular playlist to update. But they definitely work.

Sorry again, Rob. I made a lot of PAWAs (Plain-Ass Wrong Assumptions) in this thread. You're good. Hope I didn't stress ya.

I will check my settings again.

no problem..
like i said, i dont have a video ipod, so i had no clue if it was actually working.. other than i wasnt getting complaints..

im glad its working for you