Chris
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Posts posted by Chris
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Started installing the drain line tonight. Nothing is cemented in case I want to make changes before I finish the project. The pipe drops 5" over the course of the entire run, which is roughly 18'. Sufficient drop?
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On 12/8/2023 at 8:38 PM, tolstoy21 said:
Jut snapped a few pics of my setup . These are meant to show how simple this can all be in theory.
This first picture shows how small my waste water container is. The sump + float valve keeps up with my usage fine. A bigger waste water container would help if the flow of water into this tote exceeded its ability. In fact, I had a much large container there but realized that I was only using a small portion of its total capacity, so I downsized in order to squeeze another 10g into the room.
The sump is connected to a simple garden hose that runs up 7 feet and across my basement, about 25", discharging into a slop sink.
This second pics is of a simple DIY siphon hook for use when emptying tanks that are not hooked up to the auto-water-change system. These tanks typically have caridina shrimp or blackwater species who wont breed in my tap water. All my grow outs get tap water via drip lines on a timer.
Waste water for the auto wc tanks flows out 1/2" bulkheads at the back of all the tanks. This discharges into ABS pipe. This is the black pipe the siphon is dumping water into. The ABS leads to the tote/sump.
Super simple! Exactly what I was looking for.
Feeling much more confident about setting things up now, after all your replies. Just a matter of waiting for supplies to come in, finding the right PVC connections, and trying to find some more 50% off tanks.
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On 12/8/2023 at 7:09 AM, Andy's Fish Den said:
A friend of mine years ago had a fish room in his basement and the basement did not have a sump pump or floor drain in as the house sat up very high and never had flooding issues. Anyways, for water changes he had a 50 or 55 gallon Brute type trash can plumbed in one corner of the fish room. Inside was a sump pump, he would drain water into the trash can and the sump pump would automatically pump the water out when the float switch was activated. IHe had it plumbed into the main sewer drain of his house so that it would just drain out into the sewers.
So with a Brute trash can, the can wouldn't fill with water above the level of the drainage pipe... correct?
The bottom rack of tanks are gonna be close to the floor, so the drainage pipe will probably be 18-24" off the floor.
Say I had the drainage pipe plumbed into the can at 24" high. Once the can filled to 24", the water would just start backing up into the pipe, since I'll have a riser pipe to let air escape. Correct?
I guess with an automatic sump pump it would pump the water out way before we got to the 24" mark, but if the pump fails and I don't notice for a bit, what would be the worst case scenario assuming the plumbing was good? I'd turn the water change valve, water would fill the can and the pipe, and then no more water would flow - I still wouldn't end up with water on the floor, I don't think, barring a leak in the plumbing.
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On 10/1/2023 at 5:55 AM, Eric R said:
@Chris, how's the saltwater tank doing?
Still going!
Lost quite a few corals due to an algae bloom, so it's not much of a reef. Fish is doing well, though.
Ordered a couple things off of aquabid! Got some nice blue platies and a variety of mystery snails to play with.
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Alrighty y'all, I'm going to try and get a few parts to mock up what I'm thinking before I commit to see what you think. I'll try to post a picture later, if I make it to the hardware store on lunch to buy stuff.
It's been suggested to me to have a T coming off of the bulkhead with a riser pipe at the top of T to avoid gurgling and glugging while draining. I'd imagine I'd have the valve between the T and the bulkhead, correct? Just to avoid having the riser pipe partially filled with water 24/7. Then, on the bottom of the T I'd have the tubing running to a T on my drainage pipe, which would then run to a waste water container with an automatic sump pump.
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Hey guys,
Finally going to implement a fish rack in my fish room, after planning for the better part of the year. It's been one thing after another since we moved into this house, and while I wouldn't say we're finally catching a break, I've decided some other stuff can wait so I can have some fishy relaxation time.
I'm planning on utilizing some steel utility racks (Kobalt, 1500lb evenly distributed load per shelf, and I'll be under half that amount of weight) and I'm wanting to implement a semi-automatic water change system - unfortunately I don't have a drain in the fish room (or any plumbing, for that matter), so I'll be using a python running from the bathroom to bring water in during water change time, and want to drill overflows onto each tank, have them drain into a waste bucket, and then use a sump pump to pump the water into the drain (for saltwater) or into the yard/garden (for freshwater).
Which pump/brand of pump would you all recommend? I have no experience with these pumps, but it'll have to move a fair bit of water through roughly 25' of hose. Not extremely quickly, but I'll want a decent flow rate.
Any tips on diameter of PVC? Not super concerned with the individual lines from tank-to-drainpipe, but the drainpipe itself - is there a way to calculate how big the pipe needs to be to handle X amount of water? I was considering using a 2-3" pipe, but wasn't sure if that was way too large or not enough, and not sure how to find out!
I'd like to put a valve on my python, so that I can turn on the sink, have water flowing into the tank, but stop the flow at the outlet of python instead of running back to the sink. Is that possible? I'd just need to stop the flow long enough to move the python to another tank. What kind of valve would I use? I have a PVC python hook that I'm looking to attach the valve to, so I can adapt/size it appropriately.
I'm planning on drilling the bulkheads about 25% down the height of the tank, and having a valve behind each bulkhead. That way I can flip the valve, drain the tank, and refill for a true 25% WC instead of just overflowing into the bulkhead. This is especially important for SW tanks, where salt cost makes WCs via overflowing expensive. Any issues with this? Any particular valves I should use/watch out for?
Thanks for any tips! -
The Torch coral didn't make it. It withered away over the course of a few days - no issues from the other corals in the tank, and parameters were fine. I'm thinking it was just acclimation issues, but I'm not positive.
I took the opportunity to move corals around the tank, and added a Red Acan as well as a small Royal Gramma. This tank will be a tight fit long-term, but he isn't even 2" yet - this'll make a fine grow-out tank.
I also got in an order from Aquahuna this week. I got some Cherry shrimp, orange shrimp, amanos, and 6 Blue Sparkle Medakas. Order came in okay (had a death with the amanos, and they shorted me a few orange shrimp 😞 ), but time will tell how they fare.
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Added a torch coral and a hammer coral to the 4.8 gallon yesterday. Hammer is open and happy but the torch is pretty shriveled up and sad. Maybe just acclimation issues.
FTS:
Hammer:
Torch:
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How low-end? What SG are you running?
If you're running 1.010 or higher it might be worth it to track down some brackish macroalgae, like what they use for Opae Ula setups. I think it's a type of Chaeto, but I'm not sure if it's the same species that gets used in marine tanks (although marine Chaeto will tolerate brackish conditions). Not sure if all the marine pods and such would survive at 1.010, but if they did you could just buy some marine chaeto and seed the tank that way.
If your tank is lower-end than that, I'd imagine it's going to be tough unless you live close to some brackish waterways. It's hard enough to find brackish livestock, let alone something as niche as pods and other microfauna. I might personally look into seeing if any of the common freshwater microfauna can survive in brackish - it might be easier to get ahold of those and acclimate them to your tank via a drip method than it would be to track down brackish species.
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Finally broke down and added some substrate and wood to the flowerhorn tank. I've really been wanting to see him in something other than a bare tank, so I took the opportunity. I still want to upgrade him into a 75 at some point but I think this scape will still allow him enough room in the 40 for now. Thoughts?
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Long time, no update!
We're pretty well moved into the house now, and I've settled on store-bought workbenches for stands instead of doing anything too crazy.
The past couple weeks I've been revamping tanks - I moved the 1.5 gallon pico reef into a 4.8 gallon AIO with actual reef lighting, and I set up a 5.5 gallon to play with the Tetra Whisper 4i internal filter.
Here are FTS's of both tanks:
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On 3/19/2023 at 5:26 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:
Might have ate their fill of offspring! 😂
Maybe! I also feed that tank heavily twice a day with flake and fry food. Maybe they're just too full? 😂
On 3/19/2023 at 6:31 AM, Pepere said:Here is a post documenting the build of a stand I did. Very adaptable to different sized aquariums.
Very nice stand! Honestly a bit more "fancy" than I'm looking for, but if I ever need to build something for non fish room application I'll keep it in mind!
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On 3/18/2023 at 7:20 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:
They’re so cute!
They really are! I'm surprised they aren't eating more of them... I ended up with two from batch #1 and 8-10 from batch #2. Pic is from batch #1. #2 are still mostly colorless.
Once we move I'm considering switching the Swords into a 55, and moving the Green Spotted Puffer into this tank. Kinda depends on whether or not the racks I want to build work out. I like the dimensions of the 33 a lot, but I think the height and volume of a 55 will be better utilized for a colony of these than the puffer. Puffer just wants some interesting rockwork to swim through, really.
Anyone know of somebody experienced in building diy racks that might help a noob builder?
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First attempt at feeding the goby went poorly. He's been hiding behind the power head and heater, and even agyer essentially placing some mysis shrimp in his mouth he refused to eat. We'll try again tomorrow.
Here's the pink zoas I picked up.
And in the background, the Pom Pom crab
The cleaner shrimp and the blue ricordea
I removed the goldfish from the 20 long the krib is in. She had been beating up on the goldfish pretty bad. Guess he didn't know to stay out of the way and couldn't hide. He did his job - aside from diatoms, the tank is algae free!
Swordtail fry are big enough to swim around with the adults without fear of being eaten
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On 3/17/2023 at 3:05 PM, Theplatymaster said:
i really think thats a fish.
It looks like he is just eating some plant.
The tank is under 2 gallons. Pretty sure if I had a 2" fish in there all this time I'd know about it! Eggs are essentially impossible to raise unintentionally in SW because most fish have a larval stage.
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On 3/17/2023 at 2:49 PM, Theplatymaster said:
im pretty sure you've got a hitchhiking egg in on a plant a while ago then.
Looks like a face, but it definitely isn't lol. That Macroalgae growing out of its "mouth" is proof enough
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On 3/17/2023 at 2:17 PM, Theplatymaster said:
so whats the grumpy fellow next to the goby?
I think you're just seeing some algae and a rock! He's the only fish in there.
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On 3/17/2023 at 2:04 PM, Theplatymaster said:
are those new fish in the back?
what kinds are they?
Just the one fish!
He was listed as an assorted clown goby. Kind of a "dirty" peach color. I think he's probably a variant of a Citron goby, so really close to a clown goby. Either way, a great fit for a small tank because they're rock-dwelling and don't eat much. Also picked up a pink zoa frag, but it's still closed.
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Made a visit to the LFS!
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First things first - I heard back from the listing agent of the home we're buying, and they're agreeing to do the work the home needs! Closing will be in a couple weeks. I may just be getting that bigger fish room after all!
I walked in this morning and saw that the cleaner shrimp had molted.
He's doing just fine, though, as far as I can tell.
I'm noticing the palys reaching for light... I may move them up on the rock a bit. They'll likely take over, but hey, whatever floats their boat!
I'd also like to report that the goldfish's work in the krib tank is complete. Remember how much hair algae was in this tank like three weeks ago?
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On 3/12/2023 at 8:50 PM, Theplatymaster said:
ive seen an article a while ago about a teenager that had a reef shrimp clean his teeth.
do the pom pom crabs come with their little friends, or do you need to just have the anemones in the tank?
They usually come with both anemones. Sometimes they'll lose them in captivity, so I made sure I picked one out that had both. If they lose them, they can still survive in captivity, they're just less efficient at eating microbes because they use the anemones as "mops". I've heard they'll pick up small, anemone-like objects (corals and algae), but never seen it myself.
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On 3/12/2023 at 8:07 PM, Theplatymaster said:
that shrimp may be saltwater,
but its adorable. 😍
Thanks! They're awesome. I used to have one that'd clean my hand.
They're brave little things - he's been out in the open since he went into the tank. I fed him an Xtreme krill flake with some tongs and he took it immediately. I gave the Pom Pom crab the same thing. No issues.
Top-down shot of the ricordea.
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Did a 2 liter water change on the Pico reef today. Also added a baby cleaner shrimp and a blue ricordea.
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Semi-Auto Water Change System
in General Discussion
Posted
So I'm trying to adapt a 1" bulkhead to a valve to a 90 degree elbow to a flexible hose that I can run into a drain pipe. In theory, I could go straight from the bulkhead, glue the valve, glue the elbow, and have a slip x barb fitting that I can fit the hose onto. But I can't for the life of me find fittings.
There are these that I think would work (assuming I reduced the size of the plumbing to 3/4" after the valve) but $9 a piece seems steep. Searching for the same or similar products on Google isn't coming up with much.
Anybody got a more budget friendly option, or do I just need to suck it up and buy these?