250g Maintenance Free (sorta)

[tcarswell]

You invented a wet muffler

(well, mabe not invented, but amazed everyone here!)

Use should go to school and become an engineer...just remember it was my idea when you graduate, so I get to blow the whistle and ring the bell too.

Great work.

This should help some other people too.

Dr Joe

.

Something tells me this guy is already an engineer You rock chomps.

 

[tcarswell]

What are the tanks dimensions ?

 

[Redoog]

Chompers more ?'s.

Syphon break- one post you said it is above water line, and anouther you said it shoots down?? Where should I put the hole?

I can not see how the waste water gets into your sump tank?? So if I put a drip in is it just covering evaporation??

I will not be useing a waste sump tank, just letting it go outside the house, anything I should watch out for during power outs or vacations?

thanks for all the info everyone here shares!

 

[spiff]

Pretty cool setup. Kudos on trying something different.

Now that you have had it for a while, do you think it was worth the effort compared to just vacuuming a couple times a year? It seems like it would be more worth while to do if you had a heavy amount of decorations in the tank, but if you kept yours like it is in the picture, it looks very easy to keep clean with out all the contraptions.

Also, when you do do a reverse flush, how is it? I presume you do an immediate water change, what does the water look like when you're done? Do you do a 100% change under the circumstances? Does the particulate stay around for a while?

 

[CHOMPERS]

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.

Being in Kentucky, you have to keep your frost line in mind. You can do it the way you are planning but also plumb the waste water to your septic/sewer in the crawl space. Don't valve it, but instead plumb the sewer line as an uphill run above the line to the rose bush. That way the water will run to the rose bush but when the pipe freezes shut in the winter the water will then run to the sewer. (use hose outside or something that will allow for ice expansion)

Chompers more ?'s.

Syphon break- one post you said it is above water line, and anouther you said it shoots down?? Where should I put the hole?

Every application is different, so hole placements require a little bit of thought before hand. For pressure applications, you don't want the water shooting out all over the place, so pointing down into the tank is usually the best choice. You can also size the hole so a piece of air line can fit in it snuggly. That way, the hole can be any where and you can use the air line to direct the water back to the tank.

I changed my setup a little bit since the original posting of this thread. I don't recall if I posted pictures though. It is to make the tank a little bit quieter. I still have the hole pointing straight down (it is above the water line). I put a short piece of rigid air line in it. The air line extends down to just below the water line so that there isn't the running water sound. When the pump is shut down and the water starts draining to the sump, the air line starts to get air in it and then kills the syphon.

I can not see how the waste water gets into your sump tank?? So if I put a drip in is it just covering evaporation??

Of the two tanks in the stand, the one on the left is the sump and the one to the right is the waste tank. The water in the sump gets pumped back to the tank and the water in the waste tank gets pumped to the sewer.

The drip system does your water changes. The extra water overflows through a tube in the sump to the waste tank. You would just need the overflow tube (a bulkhead fitting in the side of the sump.)

I will not be useing a waste sump tank, just letting it go outside the house, anything I should watch out for during power outs or vacations?

Do a mock power outage when you are certain the tank is completely set up. Unplug the pump and see what the system does. In case something is wrong, be ready to plug it back in really quick and have a mop at the ready.

 

[CHOMPERS]

What are the tanks dimensions ?

Off hand, I don't remember. It is a 250g which means the inside dimensions make it a 200g.

I think it is 6x2x2.5

 

[CHOMPERS]

Pretty cool setup. Kudos on trying something different.

Now that you have had it for a while, do you think it was worth the effort compared to just vacuuming a couple times a year? It seems like it would be more worth while to do if you had a heavy amount of decorations in the tank, but if you kept yours like it is in the picture, it looks very easy to keep clean with out all the contraptions.

Also, when you do do a reverse flush, how is it? I presume you do an immediate water change, what does the water look like when you're done? Do you do a 100% change under the circumstances? Does the particulate stay around for a while?

The reverse flow through the gravel is continuous so there isn't a clean time and a dirty time. When I was feeding live feeders and cut food, there was hardly any buildup in the gravel. Now that I am feeding mostly with pellets, the bone meal and other fillers are very visible in the grave. Still, I have a ten gallon tank that is more work than this one.

I don't do water changes in this tank. The system does that for me. I only have to feed the fish and change the filter once a month.

 

[Redoog]

Thanks alot for the advice, I am almost ready.

Here is a visual of the syphon break. The hole unfortunately is not very visible. It shoots down into the water (other wise it would make a mess).

Think we are just useing differant terms. To me the picture on page 2 shows the whole pipe below the water line? Any how I figure that would work good , the water would shot down, and be an inch under, and once the level dropped an inch the syphon would be broke.


I still need to figure out how big a sump to build. Tank will be 100gal and i have a 20 gal i could use.

And I am trying to find out what kinds of pump everyone is useing. I think I need a 500 gph, with 8 ft head. I think then i would use 3/4 for the rugf and 1 1/2 for the return.

I plan to copy your setup, except my two bulkheads will have to be side by side in order to get them under the house.

Thanks again, i look forward to sharing my build with you once i get started.

 

[CHOMPERS]

Plan for four bulkheads. Eventually I'll be posting a thread of my latest build that is plumbed for silent running. My 250g took some tweeking to make it quiet.

 

[Redoog]

roger that, TY.

Can i put all of them along the back,, side by side,, toward one side of the tank ? And what sizes??

I will get bulkheads from tank builder, and have tank drilled for them I will have 100 gal tank with 20 gal W/D if that enough. I was planning 3/4 from pump to tank 1 1/2" overflow return.

I want to make a background to cover them outa great stuff.