Hi all.
May be some words to back it up..
My initial plan was to use for sump a 3ft tank with 3 chambers["before"] (1.sponges and heaters; 2.K1 ; 3. with pumps 2x eheim 5000 and single 2000). And it worked.....only if:
-you clean sponges every 5days and when you get them out of the sump half of the crap pours back in, so goes farther down the line and pumps get clogged ,along with sponges pumps had to be cleaned, overall mess and hassle , and water turn foggy and smelly within a week
-you keep only a couple of fish , not like me - 6 oscars; 20 silver dollars; silver aro; 2 motoro rays; 20inch plec; Chinese soft shell turtle ; and will add a bit more
, All fed on prawns, muscles and rarely some dry food once a day and having rays you have to throw some more to reached the bottom and be there for couple of minutes which is not easy with oscars and dollars.Even my 20inch arowana picks bits of muscles from sand LOL
-you do 25% water changes at least twice a week or 40% once a week, I did 30% once a week and found it very disturbing and stressing for fish, because water parameters and sometimes temperature change instantly
- you don't go on holiday for longer than a week obviously - water changes
-
If you do all that regularly you'll be just fine.
But then I booked a trip to Mexico for over 3 weeks
and the trouble started. Thoughts that when I come back 3rd of my fish will be gone , not mention water quality.
The key point is the mechanical filtration, being able to take the media out for a quick rinse easily and in clean and so it last longer and solve the problem(to me personally) of water changes.
I've decided to add a attachment of plastic storage draws and fill them in with as many sponges and other media as I could so the water runs through and they are not submerged in the sump water in the same time.
For overall water quality improvement and to reduce maintenance a bit.
NO MORE WATER CHANGES
Water drains from the tank through two 32mm stand pipes in a weir box, falls into first two draws filled with sponges and floss , then into bottom two with crystal and ceramic media , into the 3 chamber sump (1.sponges and heaters; 2.K1 ; 3. with pumps 2x eheim 5000 and single 2000).
On top of that I added dripping system - water falls into pumps chamber so get mixed up straight away, and I drilled left side of the sump and fitted bulkhead with short tail pipe and overflows when draining from the tank.
Before, water from the tank fell directly into the sump(140cm/56inch below tank water level) so the flow was much bigger , now falls into the draw up high only 35cm(14inch) below tank water level and its much less but still incredible performance,
thinking to add another overflow pipe over the tank in a weir box to increase the flow,but not decided just yet, works better then I expected as it stands.
There is additional pipe(not in use now) for water changes connected from wc distribution pipe through ball valve then te'ed one to the tank and another leg to the drain if I want drain the tank quickly.
I've never had water in my tank that crystal clear, it a shame you can't really see it on pics.
I found this system really works for my tank.
Sorry, its a bit long but couldn't resist
