Help me design the perfect "no-maintenance" aquarium!

[*Ci*]

No, that 3" is how far down the bulkheads are from the rim. I guess I'll have to make that clearer. The false wall will be as close as possible with room for a 90 elbow ... which I will figure out once I decide on pipe diameter. I've been trying to work out flow/pipe size/>space needed in sumps for water when the pump goes off< calculations, but I'm not there yet.

Also, now I'm thinking about making a foam fake rock wall myself instead of having one put in by the builder. Lot's of good instructions out there! I really like this guys technique:

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/di...ackground.html



I'm also thinking - if I'm not going to have pipes and bottom drain covers all over the floor - of treating the bottom with a layer of resin and sand like this:

Mix some sand and Enviro tex lite

By tmc13 at 2012-09-04

and VOILA! Instant permanent sand bed. I suggest that it's something you really want because once it's there it's there.

By tmc13 at 2012-09-04

Tank turned on it's side

By tmc13 at 2012-09-04

If I go this route I can't have the false wall put in until afterwards - another reason to DIY.

[bkillen]

No, that 3" is how far down the bulkheads are from the rim. I guess I'll have to make that clearer. The false wall will be as close as possible with room for a 90 elbow ... which I will figure out once I decide on pipe diameter.

OK. I misunderstood that part.

Also, now I'm thinking about making a foam fake rock wall myself instead of having one put in by the builder. Lot's of good instructions out there! I really like this guys technique:

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/di...ackground.html

If I go this route I can't have the false wall put in until afterwards - another reason to DIY.

That is a nice looking DIY background. I think using that to hide your plumbing could look great.

[BigRedKoi]

I made one of those rock inserts using Styrofoam as well. I really liked the way it turned out. this is a pic of the old aquarium I had it in.

[*Ci*]

Thanks for the input, Austin! Can you tell me about your construction? Did you use that rigid pink foam? What products did you glue and seal with?
Also, how is algae growth on your background? Is it hard to clean off, or do you just leave it for a natural look?

[Biggie]

Hi GoldieGirl,

I am enjoying this thread, will follow to see the end result. Hoping to learn a lot along the way.

I am just starting a goldfish aquarium, and I'd love to have an end result like the aquarium you showed in your first post. The way they were plumbed into your tank, did you ever have problems with the canisters if the power went out?

-Jennifer

[*Ci*]

Jennifer, no. Because the canisters are a closed loop, when you turn off the power (which you have to do when cleaning them) the water just stops flowing, but, of course, the canister and hoses remain full. The Eheims I used had valves incorporated into the snap on hoses, so when you released them to remove the canister, they closed off and no water flow. Then you just snap them back on and plug in again. I also had ball valves on the pipes coming out of the bottom of the tank, to isolate the aquarium from the canisters, and at first I always closed them as well as a precaution, but got lazy as time went on.

It was a great system, but I am looking to not have to clean canisters anymore - they are heavy to lift and I am a believer in rinsing media and pads weekly - although some let their canisters sit for weeks or even months. Just like in a pond, there is no point in trapping waste if you're not going to then remove it, IMO.

As I research and ponder ideas for my new tank, I'm leaning more towards a custom designed acrylic sump - with my first chamber being a settling area with a sloped bottom and drain on a airlift for flushing. As I've mentioned on another thread, I am unhappy with how often I have to brush down debris from the sides of plastic tanks so I am wondering if super smooth acrylic would be "slippery-er"!

https://www.koiphen.com/forums/showth...rators-updates

The progress I've made this week is that I built a mock 6' tank out of slat wood, paper and plastic wrap. Our house is very small, and though I have convinced DH to accept a "large" tank (he bought a boat for himself), his definition of large and mine are not the same : )

While he is out of town (on his boat), I've rearranged the furniture and placed the mock tank in the room. We'll see what the reaction is next week ...

[catfish whiskers]

I was going to say , WOW, You got Your new tank .
Very convincing mock tank
So are You now considering a sump under the aquarium stand?

[Biggie]

GoldieGirl,
Thanks so much for the info. I figured it was a silly question but i just had to ask. I'm leaning towards just starting with a canister for this tank. It is a reef ready tank with 2 holes drilled in the bottom in the overflow. I am still tempted to do a sump since its already set up for it but maybe I'll just upgrade it later when I have a little more experience with it. It's 75 gallons. Still doing the research to figure out what set up would work the best for me.

I love your mock up. That's great! I've been reading through your build threads. Very impressive and you're awesome (loved pic with jack hammer). Will be following...

[*Ci*]

I was going to say , WOW, You got Your new tank .
Very convincing mock tank
So are You now considering a sump under the aquarium stand?

Well, certainly a nice size sump will fit in this size stand, however noise is an issue with DH - hates the sound of motors humming or water splashing. You should hear how quiet my ponds run! He was bothered by the Eheim canisters I used to have which were as quiet as you can buy ...

So, the sump system will still go in the basement. I've come across many threads where reef people have done this, successfully.
The other benefit is that I will not be constricted in size and shape and probably will have less evaporative moisture in the living room. In the basement I can do plastic sheeting all around and above if need be. Plus easier to plumb all the drain and auto refill lines.

Jennifer, it was definitely not a silly question! I've never done a sump before, and am feeling nervous as hell about potential flooding. Holes in the bottom of a tank are scary - you are right to ask questions and do research in order to feel comfortable and avoid disaster. That's part of the reason I am going to spend the rest of this year and part of next planning before I even spend a penny.
I think a canister or two are a good option for you, though with an already installed drilled overflow, it would be tempting to try a sump. Is your tank going to be bare bottomed for the goldies?

One of the things I'm going to do is to contact some local reefers through FB and ask to go see their sump setups in person ...

[catfish whiskers]

Whichever filtration You decide to use, the idea I meantioned earlier , to use a sieve screen, would great improve the system. I didn't mean the entire sieve, just the screen.
Since Your thinking of an overflow system, You don't need any type of float or weir to make it work.
Simply have the overflow water cascade over a fixed sieve screen.

[*Ci*]

But then where does the waste go? Would you have to remove it manually or could you flush it out of some kind of drain? I need a diagram!

[catfish whiskers]

Go back to post 11
A Cetus sieve has a debri collection area at the bottom of the screen , you open a waste valve ,and hose the debri down the drain. You could have a small valved hose coming off Your pump ,use it to flush the screen.
A Cetus that flows around 5,000 GPH. Has a wedgewire screen about 12"x 18"", so You could easily do with a quarter of that size. A Cetus comes standard with a 300 micron screen, or optional finer screens of 200 or 100 microns. Your not going to have anywhere near the amount of waste , so a small piece of 200 micron wedge wire screen would work for You.
Zac at Deepwater koi once had small scraps for sale, ask Him if he has any left. Many people have tried standard micro screen, but it clogs up.Wedge wire by design has a shear effect that lets the water through ,while skimming the debris from it.

[*Ci*]

Ah ... I forgot about that diagram, thanks. I've never seen an actual sieve in person, so I'm a bit vague on how they look or how to build one. Like how to attach the screen so it is curved with no gaps on the sides, how to mount a collection box so the water won't go in it, just the waste, and how to mount a spraybar cleaning attachment ... It might be a bit beyond my diy skills!

You need to build one, catfish, and post the details!

[catfish whiskers]

Trust Me , I've seen the stuff You've built , You can do it.
Easier than You think. Look at Cetus Sieve videos on YouTube .A Cetus has a moving float and weir, and You don't need any of that. The water does not flow down the screen, it flows through the screen, so You don't have to worry about a collection box filling with water. The screen doesn't need to be attached, it only needs to rest in position. And You don't need a fancy cleaning system , You can use Your hand or have a hose that you use to wash the debris down into the collection area .

A wedge wire sieve is a magical thing, when You see how the screen works by skimming the debris from the water , yet the water passes right through the screen without it clogging, you'll understand. To compare it's efficiency in Our dirty pond environments, a 12" x 18" screen with 5000 GPH flowing over it , has taken the place of a 500 gallon settling chamber (based on 10% necessary dwell time) and takes virtually no water to clean it.
Even this is way overkill for the aquarium You are planning, but it will be make Your maintenance a lot easier, and greatly decrease the size of the filter You are planning. Many people go directly from a sieve, to the bio filter. The reason I recommended filter matting under the sieve , it can collect even more fines and Your bio filter will need virtually no cleaning.
Getting back to the diagram in post 11, it is entirely gravity fed until the clean water is pumped back to the tank.If You use a good bio media like Cermedia, one half cubic ft of media will be more than enough ,and for comparison ,one half cubic ft is about 3.5 gallons. This entire filter could fit in a 20 gallon tub.

Here's a pump fed sieve I built for my goldfish pond . I found a tub that fit a Cetus screen.
This is way bigger than You need, and it was convenient because I allready had the screen
The collection area is low tech, and once a week I would just scoop debris out with my hand.



I made the pump fed weir out of PVC pipe ,and just cut a big slot in the pipe to get the water to flow evenly across the top of the screen

[*Ci*]

Ok, that looks simple enough so far. But I would like to invent some way for it to flush itself. I want to automate this tank so it can run clean for up to six weeks while I'm away, with minimal attention by my son who checks in on the house. That's why I was looking at self flushing settling chambers.

Perhaps the waste collection tray could be more of a chamber with a 2" bottom pipe set up as an airlift to waste system. Somehow this could be flooded on a regular basis and the airlift timed to empty it regularly? I can picture what I mean - I'll try to come up with a diagram and you can tell me if it will work ... I love thinking about plumbing. It's like doing logic puzzles for brain exercise!

[*Ci*]

Catfish, do you have a video of the homemade sieve running on your goldfish pond?

[Biggie]

GoldieGirl- yes, bare bottom for the goldfish. Sand is the only substrate I would consider, but otherwise, I'm pretty sure I'm going bare bottom. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

Catfish whiskers- I like your sump diagram. I love the wedge wire screen idea. Thanks for the tip to find scrap. I suppose you could rest the lower end of the screen in a PVC pipe with 1/2 or 2/3 cut off of it like a gutter to collect the waste. If you add a little slope you could flush the waste down (maybe it could be slowly pushed by the trickle from the herbie emergency overflow pipe), then if you drill a hole in the wall of the sump at the level if the gutter and connect it to a bulkhead/valve/hose you could just flush the stuff into a bucket when you clean.

"2" bottom pipe set up as an airlift to waste system. Somehow this could be flooded on a regular basis and the airlift timed to empty it regularly? I can picture what I mean - I'll try to come up with a diagram and you can tell me if it will work"

Would love to see diagram if you have time, o/w totally beyond me.

[catfish whiskers]

No video, I built a shower filter for the Goldfish pond and have not reinstalled this siev.
A Sieve can easily go more than 6 weeks without attention, especially on Your set up. Your not going to have big debri like a pond does. In addition ,anything collected is removed from the water as it passes by,so it will not be adding any pollution to Your system as it builds up. Build a sieve first, see how it works , than You'll have an idea of how dirty it gets.

[*Ci*]

I suppose you could rest the lower end of the screen in a PVC pipe with 1/2 or 2/3 cut off of it like a gutter to collect the waste. If you add a little slope you could flush the waste down (maybe it could be slowly pushed by the trickle from the herbie emergency overflow pipe), then if you drill a hole in the wall of the sump at the level if the gutter and connect it to a bulkhead/valve/hose you could just flush the stuff into a bucket when you clean.

Great idea on using the overflow trickle - I wonder if it would be enough? Still, as catfish says, the waste is out of the water column, so maybe I don't need to be constantly flushing it ... lol, it's hard to fight the urge to purge when waste is just sitting there!

So, catfish, on a real sieve does no water go into the collection box, just soggy mulm and debris? I wonder how to calculate how big to make this section, so that it never fills, even after six weeks ...

[catfish whiskers]

GoldieGirl- yes, bare bottom for the goldfish. Sand is the only substrate I would consider, but otherwise, I'm pretty sure I'm going bare bottom. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

Catfish whiskers- I like your sump diagram. I love the wedge wire screen idea. Thanks for the tip to find scrap. I suppose you could rest the lower end of the screen in a PVC pipe with 1/2 or 2/3 cut off of it like a gutter to collect the waste. If you add a little slope you could flush the waste down (maybe it could be slowly pushed by the trickle from the herbie emergency overflow pipe), then if you drill a hole in the wall of the sump at the level if the gutter and connect it to a bulkhead/valve/hose you could just flush the stuff into a bucket when you clean.



Would love to see diagram if you have time, o/w totally beyond me.

A large flat area at the bottom of the sieve screen would be better. You need an area large enough to catch everything that You hose down, and the waste should be kept out of the clean water sump below.

Here's a pic of the waste area of a Cetus, it has a slight recess for the screen to fit Into.
That hole leads to a waste port that is valved or capped. To clean, you open the valve and hose the screen off