Ordering New 440/480 any advice?

[TheWolfman]

I wouldn’t add the media with snails. That’s a guaranteed way to get snails into the tank and you’ll never get them out afterward. I normally move all the media from the old tank some of the old water and add fish right away. Since you added feeders already you should have a bio load to sustain the bb. I wouldn’t be adding and rotting shrimp at this point. Watch your parameters very closely and be prepared to do a water change if needed. I would just wait it out now and once you see the ammonia go zero pull all feeders and add your fish.

 

[dr exum]

I wouldn’t add the media with snails. That’s a guaranteed way to get snails into the tank and you’ll never get them out afterward. I normally move all the media from the old tank some of the old water and add fish right away. Since you added feeders already you should have a bio load to sustain the bb. I wouldn’t be adding and rotting shrimp at this point. Watch your parameters very closely and be prepared to do a water change if needed. I would just wait it out now and once you see the ammonia go zero pull all feeders and add your fish.

thanks!

Just pulled out the shrimp!

 

[DN328]

You may know or have noticed but depending on when you test your water you may not see nitrite. When ammonia goes to 0 and nitrate is up I take it as cycled. I just assume I had to have nitrite to get to the nitrate.

 

[dr exum]

I’ve got 3 options to get water into the drain.

1. Slow ato style pump out of sump at 1gph
2. Fast n dirty via 1250gpg out of sump via electronic timer
3. Put a T with a gate valve on 1 of the existing drain lines. 2 currently are in these buckets as builder had no gate valves for them... let gravity trickle out 1gph or so via gate valve slightly open.

I don’t think this would have detriment to the draining capacity. im already able to run the pumps 2@ 3100gph wide open with two of the four 1.5” drains running.

I’m inclined to try the 3rd option.

any feedback?

 

[dr exum]

Water line , gotta clean up tubing a bit

 

[dr exum]

Fast n dirty it is... used what I had, seems gate valves are hard to come by...

i think my max drip in rate is 3gph or roughly 70 gallons per day... seems a bit too much probably... the pump rolls at 1250 gph. It will run for 1-2 minutes at 8pm every day...

 

[TheWolfman]

Keep a close eye on that pump. It might take a few tweaks to get it matched up properly with your drip rate. I would look into some sort of normally closed solinoid for your supply line. That way if power goes out it kills the drip. I think you should add a p trap to the drain pipe coming out your wall and attach a wet vent that runs to the top of you tank. You can t into the wet vent for your drip drain. More importantly you will now be able to gravel vac right into the wet vent. The wet vent essentially acts as a sink.

I attached a link to a thread I created a to show you what I’m talking about.

Did someone say water change?

Hey guys I figured I would share my latest addition to my setup with my fellow Cichla members. After lugging buckets and draining tank water into my kitchen sink I came up with a solution to make my life a bit easier (and the wife a bit happier). I decided to run a drain to the back of my fish...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[dr exum]

Keep a close eye on that pump. It might take a few tweaks to get it matched up properly with your drip rate. I would look into some sort of normally closed solinoid for your supply line. That way if power goes out it kills the drip. I think you should add a p trap to the drain pipe coming out your wall and attach a wet vent that runs to the top of you tank. You can t into the wet vent for your drip drain. More importantly you will now be able to gravel vac right into the wet vent. The wet vent essentially acts as a sink.

I attached a link to a thread I created a to show you what I’m talking about.

Did someone say water change?

Hey guys I figured I would share my latest addition to my setup with my fellow Cichla members. After lugging buckets and draining tank water into my kitchen sink I came up with a solution to make my life a bit easier (and the wife a bit happier). I decided to run a drain to the back of my fish...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

Good idea! There is a p trap on the garage side, and the stack it ties into is vented...
I do like the idea to be able to grave vac into it!

I worked with what I had, I’m a little concerned about my drain connection ... I’ve got two water monitors there, one WiFi and one audible. I ordered gate valves week or two ago..

Thanks all for your opinions and advice during this journey!

 

[DN328]

What is the black pump connected to the python used for?

 

[dr exum]

What is the black pump connected to the python used for?

thats my quick and dirty to empty sump water into drain via WEMO WiFi/Google plug.

Other two gate valves came today! Sump running at 100% - I could add two more L2’s if there was a need for it...

Wood panels came, much nicer than I currently have ?

tank still murky from mopani, only have 1/2 the lighting.