Hey all Q's on larger fresh trop set up

[rotherhamutd]

Glad to have found this forum I have been searching for an active home

I have run a tropical freshwater tank for around 3 years now. I have increased tank size twice in that time. I am hoping to bread angel fish, although I try and stick with equipment that will be good for a marine / reef set-up (at some point).

I have a drilled main tank ( 2 X ½” holes at top of tank). I have run pipes from both holes to a 2nd tank (hidden from view like a sump). A third pipe pumps from the sump back.

I am trying to decide how to run the system for maximum benefit to water quality etc. for breeding.

Should the system be run continuously?

Should the system be run intermittently allowing the sump to remove pollutants between runs?

What about flooding risk?

The main tank will only ever drain to the level of the two very noisy drains. How can I prevent the sump pump pumping when the level of the main tank is dangerous? (E.g. drain holes blocked)

The sump tank has a light hood, should I use a normal tropical bulb and gives plants a chance to flourish out of reach?

If I used a UV bulb over the sump would this have a benefit to the fish or would it kill the useful bacteria in the sump?

Is UV any use to freshwater tropical?

Sorry it’s so long. I am trying to increase my capability at minimum cost as I only recently left uni.. Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Chris F

 

[ste2k3]

Hi and to the forum.

firstly, i'll move this to the equipment section. For a sump, you will need a tank large enough to hold any water that will drain from your main tank in a power cut. the main tank water level will drop to the bottom of the two holes you have drilled. I would make sure that the pipe that returns the water is just below the water surface or above so that water won't back syphon. to stop the holes getting blocked, fit a strainer. to make it silent, get a "t" piece and fit it to the tank connector so that it sticks out and you have one part facing down and one facing up. on the one facing down, fit the strainer and on the one facing up fit and endcap with a 4mm hole drilled in it (the endcap). Basicaly, the noise is caused by the air being sucked in, this way, you will get air sucked through the small hole and water taken through the strainer on the large hole. you could fit a u.v. it would give you cristal clear water as well as helping controll disease such as white spot. You will need to run the sump 24/7 otherwise you will cause the tank to cycle everytime you swich it on/off. putting plants in the sump is a great idea. also you can put plants i the main tank and reverse light them. this way, the pH will be balanced and theye will use up nitrate. simular systems are used on marines.

heres a diagram of the overflow, this is drilled through the base but you can see how you can adapt it the way I said.

http/www.rl180reef.com/pages/standpipe/standpipe.htm

anymore questions, don't hesitate to ask

ste

 

[rotherhamutd]

Thanks for the help, sorry lost my user ID for a while.

I now have sump up and running. I had a few problems on the way.

First was noise, the drains made lots of noise as they sucked air down. More importantly though when the air stopped sucking the drains air locked and risked an overflow. I have two 22mm drains and one 22mm on the return pump. Even with double the flow out I still risked overflow.

Next I tried straws in the drain tube. When positioned correctly they allowed sufficient airflow down the tubes with no noise. They took lots of positioning and I still wasn't happy. If the straws pulled out of place another mess on the floor !

So plan C. I connected one of my drains to the input of my fluval 304 which I sat in the sump. Originally I planned just to use the sump and lose the 304. The output of the 304 went directly to the sump. This stopped my noise issues in the display tank and also prevented the water level going up. My second drain is now pointing upwards as a backup overflow. Although the fluval isn't designed for a water bath I ensure the water level never rises above the top of the bucket (even with return pumped powered off) so I should be ok. I have an RCD just in case. The flow of water down the drain is enough to keep the fluval from running dry. The suction on the fluval output is enough to pull any airlocks through the system (bendy pipes)

I have some further work to do, I am happy with the system and it runs 24 X 7 but would not be safe if I was to go away for a week etc, I hope to pick up some float switches as a back up.

Would welcome any thoughts on the above.

Thanks