250g Maintenance Free (sorta)

[Hot Slime]

Nice, I liked how simple the wet/dry is.

 

[CHOMPERS]

hey Chompers
how is your UGJ system working out? reason im asking is,
im wanting to build something like yours. i have a bottom layer of gravel and top layer of sand it is around 2 1/2" deep and i have no rocks just drift wood. here is where i have the problem. the wood sheds and leaves small paticals in the bottom of the tank. the fish espcl. the big plec's stir this up. and i would like to float it out to my sump to catch.
you have any detailed pic' on the hole angels i can look at form your pic's the look like they are horizontal?
anyway thanks for the post and any help i can get

I don't have pictures of the holes. They are 45 degrees from straight down on both sides of the pipe.

 

[necrocanis]

Been doing some more thinking on this one, and thought it would be better maybe to put a layer of sand, or something to bring the rocks up to the top of the pipes. That way the flow of the water will come in contact with more surface area of the rocks. This way the bottom layers of rocks would get cleaned as well. If I wanted to be really elaborate I could make a raised bottom that the pipes would lay between and all the rocks would be above the rugf. Basically trying to keep the gravel as washed as possible. Also does anyone think it would be more beneficial to use small(pea sized), medium(2" dia), or large (4"+) gravel for this application.

All this maintenance free biz reminds me that I need to get my garage plumbed somehow so that I can put a constant drip system on my tank. Figure I'd go with a constant drip of 5-10 gph.

 

[CHOMPERS]

If you really think about it, that layer of sand can just be more of the gravel that the rest of the bed is composed of. It is just holding up the gravel, and that can be done with gravel. The sand will rise to the top anyway since it is less massive vs. its surface area (think of sand and gravel in a gravel vac).

The purpose of angling the water flow 45 degrees from straight down is to create water flow into the lowest layers of the gravel.

I chose to use pea gravel because it has more surface area per cubic foot.

The easy way to plumb your garage is to use a peircing saddle used to install water lines for refrigerators. However, I just ran regular plumbing so I could have an extra faucet under my tank.

 

[necrocanis]

Yeah, my garage is seperated from the house by about 30'. I think I'll have to have someone actually run lines from the main. I don't know that you are allowed to do that your self. Here also I think the lines outside have to be over 18" or so deep in case of freezing. My eventual plans are to build a utility room onto the garage that will have a sink, hotwater heater, floor drain, ect. Right now there's no floor drain in my garage. I have a nice sized garage for where I live, but there's no plumbing or heat. I also need to run heat in there as well. lol. There is a lot of work to be done. Someone told me about an exhaust fan that kicks on after the humidity in a room gets too high. Have you ever heard of one? Thanks for all your help chompers. On another note I might learn a lot more about how mechanical things work if I get approved for an apprentice position as a Dam Maintenance Technician. Starting pay, and pay after 2 years probationary apprentice program are very nice. Keep up the good work in this thread. I'm sure with your tank, and hopefully mine soon we will all be a little closer to that maintenance free tank. lol Oh and I don't think a faucet will work under the 4000 gal tank I am building. It's only off the floor by 1.5". I do have some neat plans for it though. You think sand and gravel mix will work well on a rugf? I would still like some sand in the tank, but if not that's cool.

 

[invisyblegypsey]

thank you chompers
i got it now will be building one soon

necrocanis
((((((((On another note I might learn a lot more about how mechanical things work if I get approved for an apprentice position as a Dam Maintenance Technician.

git ready to chew lots of bazooka!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!))))))))))))))

lmaooooooo sounds like an awsome job good luck

 

[necrocanis]

Thanks let's hope so. Bravo for a great thread yet again. Maybe this will make sticky?

 

[IMRTL13]

I am so glad there are threads like these. I am not much of an engineer, and without others ingenious ideas I would have to buy all my equipment instead of doing it myself and saving a wad of cash. Awesome job with the under gravel filter.

 

[Redoog]

I have a question. Directly below my planned tank area I have a large crawl space 6' and it is on an outside wall. It is also where my water comes in. Outside I have a layer of pea gravel and a rose bush. Could I run the waste water right outside? I could hide it in the gravel and water the roses at the same time? I am a newby, so I am studying right now. But I want a clean look, but have very little room under the tank. I have a canister filter, not sure about size, its not with me at the moment.

Thanks for all the details, once I learn the lingo I might be beter able to follow along.

 

[tcarswell]

Wow thanks so much for sharing. Beautiful work sir!