Marine to freshwater/manifold

[mickthefish]

thats great Ash, now the hard work really starts girl.

mick

[Ashleigh]

Well here it is Not as dirty as I thought but it needs a very good clean. Il get better pics this evening when we get it moved into position-theres a load of stuff that needs moved for a better view

I also got the pipe work that Mart had-what he explained seemed to work pretty well, with a few adjustments I think it will suit the clowns fine long as I can get a high output pump. Il get pics of these later

The tank







The sump




Let the cleaning begin!!!!


Ashleigh

[Mad Duff]

Looking good Ash, that is no where near as bad as mine was so you shouldnt have that much trouble cleaning it.

One trick I found worked well was to have a spray/mister bottle and a craft knife or stanley knife blade and as long as you keep spraying the crud it comes off fairly easy with the blades, works a hell of a lot faster than scourers

[Ashleigh]

Thanks Mark, can't wait to get stuck in later I thought the walls of the tank would have been covered, but this is good.

Quick question about sump pumps, found one on ebay. Does it matter what the output is or can it just be what I want? Ive found one that goes up to 8500l/h so that would be over x10 the volume of the tank which is what I wanted.

Im sure this can be explained later by pics of the pipe work but Mart had an output into the tank which was one long pipe with 3 pipes coming off it. This would run half way down the tank and was at the bottom to go up through the live rock, but I was thinking of altering it and increasing the number of output pipes to 4/5 and extend it the entire way down the tank or at least 4.5ft and have it above the water surface rather than at the bottom. The pipe ends would have holes and then be covered by sponges of some sort. The output pipes would lie horizontal to the water surface, with the main connecting pipe pushed up under the back lip of the tank.

This pic probably explains it better... is this a stubid idea or could it work. I want water output all over the tank (without the help of the powerheads).

Thankies



The circle is the input to the sump, the pipe coming out the other side is the output.

Hope this makes sense!!

Ashleigh

[Mad Duff]

The main problem Ash is matching up the flow from the tank with the pump return flow, obviously the flow of water coming from the tank into the sump is usually gravity fed so if you want to return water back to the tank from the sump faster then you need more water coming from the tank ie extra pipes or a pump feeding the sump as well.

Personally if you are going to use the manifold then I would have the outlet to the sump at the sponge end of the manifold and the return from the sump at the powerhead end either as a straight return flow or use a piece or 200mm pipe or what ever size fits and drill it full of holes and use it as a spray bar type setup.

[Diana]

Ditto: If the pump is too big then the tank will overflow before the water can fall down the hole.
You will want protection around that hole/standpipe/ outlet system so that there is LOTS of room to catch large debris without slowing the water flow.

Automatic off switch at the pump so if the sump drains down too low the pump is shut off, and will come on automatically when the water level in the sump returns to a safe operating level.

Set up the return from the sump as a simple spraybar across the back, without too much restriction in the flow (slows the pump). If you need a little more water movement in a stagnant zone then add a Koralia pump.
How to gauge the spray bar:
If the water spraying out of the spray bar hits the front glass too high up there may be too much pressure on the spray bar, suggesting it is too restrictive of the pump.
If the water from the spraybar hits the front glass halfway down then this is probably pretty good.
If the water from the spraybar does not hit the front glass, but just arcs down to the floor of the tank then this is a gentler flow, well suited to Discus, Angels and similar fish, but probably not the best for fish that need more water movement.

[Ashleigh]

Hmm so I dont need to have a x10 for example turnover that one would aim for with canister and internal filtration???? Just whatever the speed the tank drains to the sump......

With regards to the 8500l/h output an article I read had two pumps, one input, one output Maybe thats complicating things a bit...... Il stick to what Im being told on here-much more sense

Im begining on cleaning the sump today so Il be able to get some decent pics of the division so I can start planning filtration. Found a crispy crab and starfish in the main tank last night... poor little things


Ashleigh

[Ashleigh]

Cleaning has begun.... round two begins tomorrow-hopefully the entire tank and sump will be finished off






Ashleigh

[Diana]

Figure out what is the maximum flow you can reasonably expect from the sump and add more water movement in the tank from Koralia powerheads.
You do not need all the water that is moving to be filtered.

If you can filter the tank even a couple of times per hour you will likely be OK, unless you are planning on overstocking it or have fish that really create a lot of solid waste, wither from food they chomp at but do not eat, or other wastes.

You do need plenty of water circulation to keep the O2 levels up, and this is where the 10x per hour comes in.

You do need to simulate the flowing water in a river, (for river fish); many fish have a lot of fun in such a setting. But also include quieter areas.

If the actual filter is not filtering very much water then it will help if the power heads direct the debris close to the intakes so the filter will pick up the debris.

Having a more complex, multi-pump system will help so that you can create the environment the fish want. I do this with the main filter @ 5x to 10x and additional power heads to bring the flow up to 10x -20x. The additional power heads are sometimes hooked up in the style of the river tank manifold, and the inlets and outlets of the filter are carefully set up to enhance the one-directional flow in the river tanks.