What kind of fish do you have in your sump?
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I have about 40 Arulius Barb Fry in the sump.
Awesome pics and video thanks. Perfect timing given that I'm in the planning stages of my next 5-600g build. Your set up looks so simple compared to the crazy ideas I've been coming up with!! Couple of questions;
How long do you find the filter socks last being mostly submerged? (and how heavily stocked is the tank) All my experience with socks says that they clog really fast unless kept mostly above the water where gravity can do its thing and draw the water thru.
I'm trying to incorperate some sort of trickle part with water flowing over the media, but it looks like you're doing pretty well with out it, is that what the 10" air stick is for, increasing oxygen around the media?
Have you got any more info about the heat controller and how it works, where to get one etc? Do the heaters need to be hard wired in or just plug in? I bought a cheap thermostat/heat controller off fish-street to experiment with but it only can run up to 1000W, which may not be enough for my next tank.
Cheers!
Nice! I love seeing other big setups on here. Looking forward to seeing yours.
In regards to the filter socks, I clean them every 10 to 14 days (Stocklist can be found here:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?496520-770-Gallon-Aquarium-Update-8-17-2012). The socks have a huge surface area (they are almost 3' long, so it takes a while for all 3 of them to get clogged). I think you are right in that if they were fully out of the water, I could go longer between cleanings since there would be more gravitional force pushing the water through. If you are looking to keep a heavy bio-load, you may want to look into using an Ultima filter. Backwashing those filters is definitely a lot easier than cleaning filter socks. I think trickle filtration is probably the best bio-filtration you can use...see my reponses below for why I'm not using it.
The air stick in the sump is to get a little extra water movement/oxygenation around the bio-balls. Not sure if it really does anything, but I figured it can't hurt.
I got the temperature controller from Jehmco.com. They have controllers that can handle up to 3,600 Watts (although you would need two dedicated 20 Amp circuits in order to handle that wattage). The controller I have is the ETCI-1R that's rated up to 1,800 Watts. I bought it with an extra plug. In regards to how I have it setup, I have 2 power strips which each have 3 Jagers plugged into them which are then plugged into the two plugs on the controller (see pic below).
There is a really great explanation of how the controller works on Jehmco's website. Scroll down to the bottom of page at the following link:
http://www.jehmco.com/html/temperature_controller.html
quite the setup.
Thank you.
Which pic do you see fish? Am I missing them?
Nice set up btw.
The fish are 55 seconds into the video. I have them in the sump because they would get eaten by the larger fish in the display tank.
i personally feel that those bio balls just sittig there arent doing much of anything. Also all the heaters in one spot like that are making them real inefficient. maybe half on one side of the sump and the other half on the other side.
Yeah, you know I was thinking the same thing. I think the plumbing of this sump looks really nice. But the water just goes into the filter bags and flows out on its own. The bioballs and Matrix media just kinda lay there and there's not much circulation on them and no flow over them. That means it's all still water in the sump. I think a trickle type setup or a sump with baffles would be much more effective. That way you would have water flowing onto the bio media which would create more oxygen over the bio and more bio as a result. In a wet/dry filter, (in my understanding at least) most of the bio is on the media above the water line because that media is more exposed to oxygen. With this setup, all the ceramic and bio ball media is below the water line and I think that makes it less effective.
I agree that bio-balls are better suited for a trickle system, but I wasn't going to setup a trickle system, so it was a question of whether or not they would do more good sitting in a hefty bag in my garage, or floating in my sump. The room the tank is in is unheated, so in the winter it can get pretty cold in there. Trickle filters in a cold environment basically act like a big chiller (that's why people with ponds typically turn off their waterfalls in the winter). In order to keep my heating costs down, I decided to not use trickle filtration. Don't get me wrong, I think trickle filtration is great, but there are plenty of people who don't run them that have great success. Think of all the people running canister filters.
In order to create more bio you need to provide more food (ammonia) for the bacteria. In order to have adequate biofiltration, you need to provide enough surface area for your bio to grow. In other words, unless I add more fish, I am not going to grow anymore beneficial bacteria, regarless of how much more bio media you add or if I'm running trickle filtration. Any system is only going to have enough bacteria to consume the ammonia created by the bio-load (assuming you have enough surface area for the bacteria to grow).
If I didn't already have enough bio-filtration, my water parameters would not be what they are...
The water parameters speak for themselves. Zero Ammonia, Zero Nitrites, 10PPM Nitrates.
In regards to the heater placement, check out that link that I posted. Once you understand how a temperature controller works, please explain why you feel heater placement would make a difference?
you still dont have any monsters in that monster?
and here i thought your monster passion was gonna
kick in and make you switch over... guess not
...
lol jk love the setup and your filtration system.
i think some anubias would make it look really nice too
imo.
I don't have any fish that are going to outgrow the tank, if that's what you mean.
j/k Some of the cichla I've seen on here are amazing though...they are beautiful fish and I have thought about how cool it would be to have 'em, but I think those guys need 4' width and I only have 3'.
I like the look of anubias...I would have to go plastic though, with all those omnivores in there.
Jeez fishtanks have have come along way since i started the hobby..
Yr tank looks great very professional and hi-tech looking...
Well done
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Thank you.
That is a very nicely set up sump. Like the multiple filter socks. On my setup I have to change the socks every 2 days as there is only one in the system.
I agree with moving the heaters a bit, so they are not all clumped together, would probably make them more efficient.
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What micron size are your socks? Can you fit a larger sock, or perhaps "T" the drain so that you can run mutiple socks? This should give you more time between cleanings.
In regards to the heater placement, check out that link I posted above. The Sensor placement is what's important. In the 5th picture you can see that I have the sensor in one of the openings (holes) going into the chamber where my heaters are located.
Anyone running more than one heater would benefit from using an ETC controller. They are an awesome little gadget.
