How to build a sand fall?

[biofish]

Hello everyone! I am absolutely failing at building one. I have sand that isn’t quite a soft powder like flour but still extremely thin, kinda like normal sand on a beach, I have the pvc pipe cut at a 45° angle at the bottom and the elbow at the top to dump the sand out, I have an air stone inside of pipe, and a 100 gallon air pump attached to it that causes quite the bubble rapids in my 29 gallon tank. But I get hardly any sand through the pipe. Not like the videos I’ve seen at all. I’ve tried different amounts of sand I’ve tried putting the pipes at different heights and angles and nothing but a thin trickle.

Help

 

[Colin_T]

what is a sand fall?

 

[biofish]

A waterfall of sand that goes inside an aquarium! They look really beautiful!

 

[biofish]

This is what my attempt resulted in lol. Got some design kinks to straighten out too

 

[Colin_T]

does the sand get sucked up and spat out the top so it flows down, or how is it meant to work?

 

[biofish]

From what I understand, the air bubbler that is inside the pvc pipe creates a vacuum. The bubbles push the water up which in turn grabs the sand and then at the top the at the exit the bubbles continue up still while the water gets emptied back in the main tank and the carried sand drops back down

 

[itiwhetu]

Good luck with that

 

[biofish]

Good luck with that

Lmao. Thank you

 

[biofish]

But seriously tho any engineer out there or experience sandfall builder, I would appreciate the help

 

[itiwhetu]

Just my experience building under gravel filters you are going to need a huge pump to lift sand and then make it flow. What happens to all the fine particles, they will float in the tank?

 

[OliveFish05]

I think you have successfully made a volcano! If that were the goal, I would say you did a great job

I think you use a water pump, not an air pump! My advice (coming from no experience lol) would be to get a water pump. I have an Aquaneat brand one that I got for like $5 on Amazon. It is quiet, small, and efficient! You may need some clear tubing (1/2 inch works well on the Aquaneat pump) to direct the flow of sand more accurately, but you may not

 

[Slaphppy7]

https://en.erieaquariumsociety.com/1328-sandfall-in-the-aquarium.html

 

[@x0lotl guy]

But seriously tho any engineer out there or experience sandfall builder, I would appreciate the help

theres some good videos on how to make them on youtube