4300 Gallon Plywood Build (3600+ Take 2)

[cvermeulen]

Looking great Pete. I would cast my vote FOR a bottom drain if there were no confounding factors, but since there seem to be a number of them, the hassle outweighs the benefit.

One thing you may consider though is installing a small 1" or 3/4" floor drain to remove the last inch or so of water. Using a shop vac to pull any large amount of water out of a tank, particularly a tank as deep as yours is a *****. If I drain my 600gl down to 1" of water, vacuuming out the last little bit takes quite a bit of hassle with my full sized shop vac.

Also, I dunno if it's too late or not, but sloping the floor ever so slightly may be something you want to consider. It wouldn't take much at this point - just some shims between your massive floor framing and the plywood sheathing.

 

[nolapete]

A leaking drain that is inaccessible is a the same thing regardless of size. The amount of times that I'm going to want to drain this completely dry barring catastrophe are 0, so I'm just going to go with the accessible bulkheads out the back.

I understand your point and it is well taken. It's the very reason I was toying with the idea in the first place.

 

[cvermeulen]

A leaking drain that is inaccessible is a the same thing regardless of size.

Well OK, that's true, but what I was getting at is that it may be easier to clear enough room to either side of the floor drain to access it if it's just a little wee one.

The amount of times that I'm going to want to drain this completely dry barring catastrophe are 0, so I'm just going to go with the accessible bulkheads out the back.

I'm sure you're right and that will likely be adequate.

 

[kallmond]

How much water do you think you'll go through in water changes per month? 4000 gallons a month (25%/week?) seems like it would get pretty expensive, not to mention sort of anti-environmental.

Have you thought of a giant refugium (other than the algae machine thingy from that other thread) to help with recycling waste?

What other options are there for water conservation?

 

[nolapete]

Hardly expensive. See attached water use on 2 month bill. Even if I double that doing 25% weekly water changes, which is not my intent, it wouldn't be that costly.

I plan to use aquaponics and waste water treatment technology to deal with nitrates and excess nutrients. The algae scrubber is one part of that along with a smaller version of what JohnPTC is doing.

The Sewerage and Water Board has a museum where they educate the public and a friend happens to know parties involved with that, so I'm going to utilize that resource for exploring some more possibilities as well.

 

[nolapete]

Well OK, that's true, but what I was getting at is that it may be easier to clear enough room to either side of the floor drain to access it if it's just a little wee one.

Inaccessible in that I'd have to rip the floor of the tank up to get to it to fix it if there's a problem. Not the matter of clearing substrate aside.

 

[Conner]

Inaccessible in that I'd have to rip the floor of the tank up to get to it to fix it if there's a problem. Not the matter of clearing substrate aside.

If you put it right at one edge of the tank, near the side or back, you could clear an opening underneath the floor of the tank wide enough to fool with the drain.

I agree though, its likely to be much more trouble than its worth.

 

[cvermeulen]

If you put it right at one edge of the tank, near the side or back, you could clear an opening underneath the floor of the tank wide enough to fool with the drain.

That's what I was thinking, not clearing substrate in the tank. I think we're beating a dead horse tho

 

[nolapete]

If you put it right at one edge of the tank, near the side or back, you could clear an opening underneath the floor of the tank wide enough to fool with the drain.

I agree though, its likely to be much more trouble than its worth.

Under the plywood floor is only 4.5", so not really enough area to work. Not doing it, so yeah, it's a dead horse.

 

[kallmond]

Wow your water is cheap! /envy

I'm happy to hear you've put some thought into conservation and recycling. This hobby ought to be one of the groups leading the charge in water management.