Welcome to Moyes Reef

Circulation & Plumbing: (cont.)

...Water is drawn from the sump to the unit through which an electronic timer opens and closes an internal set of valves (or gates) at regular intervals. This alternates the returning water between two sets of pipes leading toward either the left or right side of the tank, then through & their respective bulkheads. These also terminate in two pairs of adjustable nozzles. These nozzles are located at the waterline at both ends of the tank and can cause quite a bit of turbulence. This in turn creates quite a bit of light 'shimmer' through the water. I normally set the timer to 30 sec. a side and the whole deal is run by it's own dedicated Iwaki 100 RLT. If you would like more information about this unit or perhaps have it explained by someone who sounds more like they know what the hell they're talking about, contact George Fischer, Inc. toll free at (800) 854-4090.

CS 4

This is the refugium 'system'. Water is
simply pumped from the sump to the refugium then gravity fed back to the sump. Since, by now, you probably have noted that nothing about this tank is simple. Neither is this. Stay tuned.

CS 5

This is another little loop wherein water is
drawn from the sump and travels first through a small Lifeguard Chemical Module (which I will sometimes charge with carbon) then through 2 large (QV-40) UV Modules before being pumped back to the sump. I know the prevailing attitude about UVs in a reeftank can range from bemusement to outright derision. All I can say is I've never had a 'bloom' of any kind and my fish have never had ick. Obviously this could've been just as due to the alignment of the stars as the UVs. But since I can't personally keep the stars aligned…

CS 6

Water is drawn from the sump and goes to
what I call a 'monitoring station', which is simply the shell of an old fluidized sand filter that now holds the Temperature, pH, and ORP probes that connect to an Octopus 3000. Because of the distance some of the water must travel (as much as 20 feet in the case of CS 2), it is impossible for me to calculate flow through the tank itself. But with 4 RLT 100s, plus the MDH, I'd figure at least 10-12X turnover even after the considerable head loss....