1100 set up
- Thread starter Egon
- Start date
That tank and its occupants are epic. Love those albino tinfoils. hats off to you, sir.
The AUL is 14 years old now. I named him/her Genius. It’s the dumbest fish I ever had. Last to react to food in the tank. For sure evolutionarily challenged!!!
This is why the Niger cat is so big. I have to keep feeding till the Niger is full or Genius will starve lol
This is why the Niger cat is so big. I have to keep feeding till the Niger is full or Genius will starve lol
LEAK!!!
Looks like the sump developed a leak in the bottom. It’s about a 6” crack along the bottom. I think the root cause is the 5 gallon buckets.
The buckets were sitting on bricks to elevate them out of the water. When the filter in the bucket clogged, the water would overflow the buckets and maximize the weight pushing down on the bricks. This basically punched a hole in the bottom. Not good!
I cut a 4x8 inch very thin plexiglass and coated it with some M1 caulk. Drained and dried the crack area and stuck that patch on the crack. Let dry for 8 hours and I’m filling the sump up now.
Buckets and bricks have been removed. Crossing fingers the leak will go away.
Looks like the sump developed a leak in the bottom. It’s about a 6” crack along the bottom. I think the root cause is the 5 gallon buckets.
The buckets were sitting on bricks to elevate them out of the water. When the filter in the bucket clogged, the water would overflow the buckets and maximize the weight pushing down on the bricks. This basically punched a hole in the bottom. Not good!
I cut a 4x8 inch very thin plexiglass and coated it with some M1 caulk. Drained and dried the crack area and stuck that patch on the crack. Let dry for 8 hours and I’m filling the sump up now.
Buckets and bricks have been removed. Crossing fingers the leak will go away.
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Good news the leak is fixed. That M-1 works great!
Also I would like to share with you guys the corner overflow filter process. Every couple months or so I buy large rolls of filter media then cut them to fit my overflows. I will buy as much as I can for a discount. So if they are selling six rolls at a discount but the seventh roll cost the same I will just buy the six. Typically I buy off of eBay. If you guys have a cheap source for filter media please let me know.
Once these are cut to fit it takes me 5 minutes to change all four overflow filters on my two tanks. Keeping maintenance to a minimum makes me a happy fish keeper.
Also I would like to share with you guys the corner overflow filter process. Every couple months or so I buy large rolls of filter media then cut them to fit my overflows. I will buy as much as I can for a discount. So if they are selling six rolls at a discount but the seventh roll cost the same I will just buy the six. Typically I buy off of eBay. If you guys have a cheap source for filter media please let me know.
Once these are cut to fit it takes me 5 minutes to change all four overflow filters on my two tanks. Keeping maintenance to a minimum makes me a happy fish keeper.
The overflows have an egg crate/light diffuser bottom above the drain hole to keep the bio balls out. Then I fill the space with bio balls till about 6 inches below the top. Then I use some kind of koi mat high flow material to cover the bio balls. Then the top layer has the pink filter material. The koi mat keeps the bio balls from sticking to the pink filter stuff making changing them out a breeze. One of the pictures shows a side view of the layers.
Very important: make sure you have a bypass “pipe” above the pink filter all the way to the bottom of the overflow just in case the filter clogs. The water will just go down that pipe and not overflow your tank. One of the pictures shows the water flowing down the pipe letting me know it’s time to change this filter pad. The side view you can see the hight of the overflow pipe relative to the overflow “fingers” letting water in. I like to be just slightly above the bottom of those fingers. To make the pipe adjustable I cut the pipe short a couple inches and put a coupler on the top. I glue the pipe and the coupler to the side of the tank and use a small piece of removable pipe for the top. If the water level is to high I take it out and cut it shorter.
Anyway. Absolutely must have this overflow pipe if you choose to filter this way. And it’s way easyer to change these filters than the one in your sump under your stand.
Very important: make sure you have a bypass “pipe” above the pink filter all the way to the bottom of the overflow just in case the filter clogs. The water will just go down that pipe and not overflow your tank. One of the pictures shows the water flowing down the pipe letting me know it’s time to change this filter pad. The side view you can see the hight of the overflow pipe relative to the overflow “fingers” letting water in. I like to be just slightly above the bottom of those fingers. To make the pipe adjustable I cut the pipe short a couple inches and put a coupler on the top. I glue the pipe and the coupler to the side of the tank and use a small piece of removable pipe for the top. If the water level is to high I take it out and cut it shorter.
Anyway. Absolutely must have this overflow pipe if you choose to filter this way. And it’s way easyer to change these filters than the one in your sump under your stand.
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