how do I keep poo off the bottom of my large tank
- Thread starter rcflyer1976
- Start date
you just make or buy an overflow that hangs on the back of the tank. many people use sumps with undrilled tanks. look up the diy threads, they are very helpful.
if the over flow is on the top of the tank how does that help with poo on the bottom seems like it would just suck the pellets when I feed them. plus the tank is about inch and a half from the back wall. I just sold the the placos. I thilnk I am going with the pvc pipe to the bottom of the tank. and I am taking out a few rocks and make it better for the flow. maybe i will cut some slits instead fo holes in the pipes. Do you guys think sand would be the best. maybe smoother and not lock the poo in? seems harder to vacuume. Any one like sand?
I had pfs sand in a 3' deep tank. Prefere No sand. The person who mentioned have the fx5 outles pointing down near the bottom of the tank sounds good. Sounds like it might stir up the waste and give it more suspended to help the filters suck it up.
By placing a powerhead at the bottom of the tank, where the gravel level is, you then cause a current that will continusouly aggitate the sediment that is always trapped along the bottom of the tank...............
if you want you could always have the powerhead skim the bottom and point the flow towards the filter so that the filter can catch it...work for me but then again i only have a 125 gallon
They need to invent something called "poop be gone". Actually Microbe-Lift has a product that breaks down waste biologically, works good too. I never seen poop on my sand until I ran out of this stuff, now it's everywhere by pleco the poop machine.
pfs would show the poop quicker, but the poop doesn't embed itself into it so it's easier to vacuum up. If you have you intakes near the sand you do run the risk of ruining the impellers on the powerheads. I am also thinking that the expense of 1 great sump, would be cheaper than 2 more FX5s, in fact it would probable be cheaper with running 1 FX5 and sump and powerheads...
the other thought if you kept the gravel and did a reverse under gravel system with the power heads aimed down under the gravel would push the poop up to the water column and then into the sump/canister.
also, crayfish are snacks for the larger fish, and they eat everything...but poo
the other thought if you kept the gravel and did a reverse under gravel system with the power heads aimed down under the gravel would push the poop up to the water column and then into the sump/canister.
also, crayfish are snacks for the larger fish, and they eat everything...but poo
I would do a sump with an over flow box (For way more reasons then just the poo) and then to get all the crap off the bottom setup wave makers on a controller/timer to turn on and off a few times a day at random times. This does a couple things, will generate random current that simulates a fishes natural environment and will kick up/brake up the crap on the bottom getting it to makes its way into your sump. Having them on a time helps with feeding, cause its impossible to feed with the wave makers running so can drop food in when they are off. It will also make sure you don't have stagnant spots that can cause biological issues and will also prevent algae buildup; and help to get a little more oxygen into the water too.
