8'6" tank na native setup HELP

[vexproductions]

Hey vexproductions

First of all, that's going to be a beautiful setup! Definitely keep us updated with pics!

As far as the sump goes:
-Changing it 24" tall is a good idea. The taller the better.
-For the K1 moving bed, you will need a screen either over the top of the bed, or covering the entrance and exit of the bed to prevent spillover into other sections. As mentioned before, a strong air pump with several air discs will work well.
-For the plant section: Any plant that grows rapidly will suck up nitrates pretty quick. What I and others here have had success with is the house ivy plant called Pothos (see it here). With this plant you can just dangle the roots in the water and it will grow like crazy in low light. For submersible plants, anacharis and hornwort work well, but require lots of light. You could do something like this diagram for the plant section:

thank you . the pothos plant i have in my kitchen so i know what u mean about the light and roots

vex here is my crack at it. the orange lines are for height reference. every sump design i have seen adjusts the divider to direct flow. i think if the wall heights were the same you wouldn't get much mixation ( is that even a word? ) in the chamber. water would tend to skim across the top into the next chamber as soon as it filled up.

cant wait to see the start up thread. keep the pics coming. dave

View attachment 588341

hmmmm i c what ya mean

I just realized that this setup will not work. The water level in the scrubby/drip plate section will be as high as the wall for the K1 bed next to it, so the scrubbies will be totally submerged. You should go for pure scrubbies. This will give you plenty of mechanical and bio filtration. If you still wanted plants, you can do something like this:

you just killed my wet dream ... lol

+1

You should also need some sort of filter after the plants to save the pumps from plant debris. i ran my plants before the wet/dry section to raise the water level.

i am planing on filters on the pumps

I agree, for some species even peat moss and if its a tank for N/A natives you may not even need heaters.

100% tru about the heaters what the hell was i thinking ....

 

[vexproductions]

ok take two .... lol tell me what ya think !!!!

 

[calioutlaw1a]

This diagram has the same problem as the last one. The scrubbies will be submerged with the wall leading to the plant section that high. The wall for the plants needs to be just lower than the bottom of the scrubbies. Then the wall from the plants to the pumps just slightly lower than the wall from the scrubbies to the plants.

Hopefully that made sense.

 

[bassguy]

This diagram has the same problem as the last one. The scrubbies will be submerged with the wall leading to the plant section that high. The wall for the plants needs to be just lower than the bottom of the scrubbies. Then the wall from the plants to the pumps just slightly lower than the wall from the scrubbies to the plants.

Hopefully that made sense.

agreed, you only want 1/3 of the bio ball submerged. Also do not put a slope on the drip tray it will only drip on the low end, just use smaller holes on the flow in side and bigger as it goes away, or all small holes and drill them bigger if they dont flow enough.

 

[tscharf]

the blue oval in the moving media chamber is a bubble disc, and there should be a drip plate overtop the scrubby chamber, the rest should be explained in the drawing.

 

[tscharf]

you can make the raised part of the sump with a simple drawer set from walmart, if you look in the DIY filter threa youll see a few. the drawers make for easy removal and maintanace and the top layer allows for a convenient drip plate while submerging some of your scrubbies and keeping the others moist from the drip, creating an effective wet dry system

 

[vexproductions]

ok lets see if i got it right this time i would like to have the socks , scrubbies, k1 and plant section all in the sump due to the fact that the sump will be on display as well as the tank !!!!

 

[vexproductions]

ooooo ya no more 1d all 3d lol

 

[tscharf]

with the way your k1 media section is set up the water will simply fill up the chamber and then flow over the top, not necessarily flow down through the chamber once it is full. in order to ensure that the water flows through your media you should make the baffle at the end of this chamber go from the top to about an inch above the bottom and then your secong baffle from the bottom up. essentially switch the two baffles you see at the end of the k1 chamber. this will ensure that your water flows in through this chamber rather than just across the top.

 

[vexproductions]

Ok will do I will edit the drawing . Another question is would it make a difference if the plant section was made of only eggcrate instead of plexi walls