Quick easy removal of solids from bottom of tank?

[Cecil B.]

I rear fingerling and larger bluegill, yellow perch, and tilapia in 150 gallon circular tanks. Even though I have a center drain and perodically flush some settleable solids by pulling a knife gate valve connected to the center drain via an external standpipe, I can't set up a self cleaning centripetal current with the fingerlings like I do the larger fish as it's too hard on them. I do remove suspended solids from the water column via a continuous siphon to a clarifier tank, but as you know several hundred fingerlings eating up to 8 times a days creates a lot of feces and some wasted sinking feed that settles on the bottom.

I've tried the set ups one buys that are connected to a garden hose to creat suction and frankly was not impressed. I felt like I needed another set of hands and that the hose had a mind of its own.

I had some success using a small mag drive pump and submerging it making sure the intake water line was submerged but found it a PITA as the intake hose wanted to rise to the surface when I went to plug the pump in. Once the airline was exposed to the surface it stopping sucking.

Anybody have something they've come up with or purchased that does not need to be primed and will work at the flip of a switch?

I still have ideas on how I can build something but wanted to see what others do with really large tanks.

 

[millerkid519]

You could buy a small gph powerhead stick a bottle on the intake side with the bottom cut off and put some filter floss in the bottle. Perfect little cleaner for the bottom of the tank

 

[D-RIG]

I use a old Mainland 330 canister filter and a siphon tube and hose
for power cleaning my gravel , it dose a good job .

 

[predatorkeeper87]

a not real quick but overall good solution ive found with solid waste is dosing the tanks with rid-x. cleans up solid waste very effectively. don't know if that's something you could look into.

 

[Cecil B.]

I came up with a simple solution: A small submersible mag drive 7 pump with a 1/2 inch pvc pipe about 18 inches long screwed on to the intake. On the outtake is a garden hose which needs a brass adaptor. The pvc section intake is cut at an angle for more efficient contact of the bottom of they tank. Only down side is the pump must stay under water to stay primed. Not a big deal though.

I'll post a picture as soon as Photobucket resolves it's issues. Seems to have problems for me every since servers were down like Friday.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Adding a mix of snails and elodea can help,as snails break down organic material into compounds that plants use for growth and making oxygen.

 

[Cecil B.]

Makes sense but my tanks have high fish loads (up to 1/2 pound per gallon), and I don't want to take the chance of snails being vectors for parasites. That said, one of my systems has snails growing in the voids of the biofilter plastic media. If the system temporally has no fish, the larvae snails make their way to the fish tank and cover the walls. It happens quickly and in no time there are literally 100s of them. But as soon I plant fish they are picked clean.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Just quarantine snails and elodea in a bucket with a bubbler.

 

[Cecil B.]

Not sure what you mean? The snails are living in spaces of the biofilter media and the veligers make their way to the fish tank. What does quarantining have to do with it?

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Quarantining is a way to avoid parasites.