Water Quality

[jaws7777]

So fx6 hard plumbed ---> tee off to a valave and a smaller diameter pipe to the towers ? From the towers back to the tank/sump ?

 

[twentyleagues]

would this work to put a line off the intake of my filter for a tower? im going to be hard-lining my fx5 plumbing to all pvc to do a custom dual skimmer style intake and to include an inline co2 reactor since my knife likes to chew on suction cups and i dont want him ruining an expensive glass diffuser in the tank, and im thinking of putting another T with a ball valve diverting some water off the intake line (like in the UV sterilizer photo) to a reactor tower or two filled with the denitrate or something porous. then having it plumbed back into an angled T on the return line from the filter, so the reactor towers would bypass the fx5- im hoping that by using the angled 3 way fittings i will achieve some sort of venturi effect instead of a straight T pushing water across the flow path of an already semi-restricted system. or could i have the 2 T's on the same side to make it easier. pull water from one T earlier on the line and put it back in further down the same side. I considered doing it off the filters output line so the water would be thoroughly scrubbed mechanically and hopefully allow the media to go for a longer period of time before clogging. just a thought for now as i purchase the supplies to hardline the Fx5. Heres some pictures i googled of the plumbing style im going for. the intakes will be 1" then meet at a T and go to 1.5" pvc, to 1.5" hose for the last couple inches to the filter. output will be 1.5" the entire way until being reduced for higher pressure at the spray bar. might do the output at 1" the whole way, i need to do the math for the friction loss and head pressure to figure out how big of a difference it will make (never would have thought my firefighter math for hose lines would be used in my fishkeeping lol) and which would give me the better working end pressure for desired turnover rate.

sorry for the long post. just lots of ideas going through my head with this subject.

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I would do it off return. Media would last longer because the water has been filtered. Also it would have less o2 in it so already moving to anaerobic. If not add some mechanical filter media before your abb tube.

I need to read this again...kids are a p.i.t.a but find gadget talk very interesting. I like the idea if using the fx before the denitrate filter, my understanding of venturi is that is creates more oxygen ?


One suggestion pass on the ball valve and go for a gate, much easier to make smaller finer adjustments. The ball on my denitrate filter is a pain in the butt.

They cost more but agreed!

 

[Experiment397]

J jaws7777 I'm working on drawing the basic plans out. will post it up when i get that finished so maybe that will help explain stuff a little better.

twentyleagues

Okay I thought about gate valves but hadn't decided for sure. So now im thinking CO2 on intake and denitrate towers on return. Guess it's time to get some PVC and start measuring. Do you think that one 18" tower of 4" pipe would make enough of a difference? Or should I try to chain 2 together? Or make one taller one? The co2 reactor shouldn't slow down the flow very much since it will be completely in line on the intake so I think I could overcome the loss from running 2 towers if needed or 1 taller thicker one.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[twentyleagues]

J jaws7777 I'm working on drawing the basic plans out. will post it up when i get that finished so maybe that will help explain stuff a little better.

twentyleagues

Okay I thought about gate valves but hadn't decided for sure. So now im thinking CO2 on intake and denitrate towers on return. Guess it's time to get some PVC and start measuring. Do you think that one 18" tower of 4" pipe would make enough of a difference? Or should I try to chain 2 together? Or make one taller one? The co2 reactor shouldn't slow down the flow very much since it will be completely in line on the intake so I think I could overcome the loss from running 2 towers if needed or 1 taller thicker one.

Thanks for all the help!

I would do 1 tower. I think that'd be enough. If you were going to do mechanical before other than your filter then id do 2. I'm not sure about co2 but id not put it on intake to filter. I understand you want as much absorbed by the water but I don't know if that'd mess with your aerobic bacteria or not. Maybe someone who knows about co2 injection will chime in.

 

[Experiment397]

I hadn't thought about it messing with the aerobic bacteria. The CO2 reactor will be directly in line. It's basically just the pvc intake/return line-> an adapter to 3" -> a section of 3" wide pvc-> another adapter down to the smaller pvc -> intake/return line. With a a airline plumbed into one of the adapter caps that the co2 will enter from. Will have some mesh screening over the holes in the adapters and some XL bioballs in it to break up bubbles.

 

[jaws7777]

I think one of the easiest ways is to use uniseal type rubber grommets in the 4" pvc. Uniseals absolutely will not leak if the hole is drilled the right size and the pipe or tubing fits into the uniseal snug.

Here, an 11/16-3/4" hole in the thinwall 4" pvc holds the uniseal. 1/2" cpvc pipe (O.D. 5/8") or 5/8" O.D. vinal tubing fits very tightly into the uniseal. Vinal tubing is a slightly better option than cpvc because it can flex to accomadate the very slight oblong hole in the pvc. (A hole will be slightly elongated in the direction of the bend around the 4" pipe, so I drill a smaller hole (11/16") and use rolled up sand paper to increase the hole diameter mostly in the vertical direction.)

A 90º elbo extends the input down to the bottom of the 15" tower. The ouput hole is at the top of 4" pvc opposite the input (not pictured).

Smh were the parts purchased from HD or lowes ?

Sprung a leak. I need to do something a little more perminant than silicone.

Need some ideas

 

[Experiment397]

marine epoxy? for the ballasts in our wakeboarding boat we run 3/4" line to a barbed fitting and pack the barb and base with marine epoxy then crank down a hose clamp on the hose have yet to spring a leak and thats a system that gets abused regularly

 

[jaws7777]

marine epoxy? for the ballasts in our wakeboarding boat we run 3/4" line to a barbed fitting and pack the barb and base with marine epoxy then crank down a hose clamp on the hose have yet to spring a leak and thats a system that gets abused regularly

Can you recommend a brand. Going to try the uniseals but would like a back up

 

[twentyleagues]

Can you recommend a brand. Going to try the uniseals but would like a back up

Uniseals work great. Just make sure to drill hole a little small. It needs to be tight.

 

[jaws7777]

Just ordered them. Hard to imagine something soo simple could give a water tight seal with no glue or cement.

tarheel96 did youleake test yours yet ?