i have always liked leporinus, their reputation has kept me at bay but in a tank that size...
950 Plywood/Acrylic Build on Wheels!
- Thread starter FisheadFrank
- Start date
The water flows through (4) 2 inch bulkheads into the side tank which has both pumps and my heaters. In the pic you can see that there are two pipes going through the bulkheads into the side tank. This is because one of my crazy fish allowed the bulkheads to hold him against the bulkheads (maybe he likes the way it feels) which caused the water level to drop in the side tank and one of my heaters melted the plastic heater guard. Therefore those white pipes stop the fish from blocking the bulkheads. They are just there temporarily until I figure out a better/more permanent solution.
The water gets pre-filtered by a large porous sponge. One of the pumps, pumps water to the far end of the through the wet/dry buckets that I have already shown previously. The other pump pumps water into a 7g bucket with a leak proof lid. This is a fluidized sand filter. The pipe goes through the lid to about 2 1/2-3 inches above the bottom. There is approx. 6 inches of sand in there. I'm not 100% sure how much sand was in there. It was trial and error. There was a lot more sand in the beginning but the pump struggled to push through so I kept taking out sand until it started no problem. The water fluidizes through the sand raises up and overflows out of the (4) 1 inch uniseals into the tank. I had to shave the plastic ring around the bucket to get the uniseals in. The uniseals were kind of wobbly with the thin plastic wall of the bucket so we used silicone and stainless steel screws to hold them in place.
Also you can see some of my fish!! haha
The water gets pre-filtered by a large porous sponge. One of the pumps, pumps water to the far end of the through the wet/dry buckets that I have already shown previously. The other pump pumps water into a 7g bucket with a leak proof lid. This is a fluidized sand filter. The pipe goes through the lid to about 2 1/2-3 inches above the bottom. There is approx. 6 inches of sand in there. I'm not 100% sure how much sand was in there. It was trial and error. There was a lot more sand in the beginning but the pump struggled to push through so I kept taking out sand until it started no problem. The water fluidizes through the sand raises up and overflows out of the (4) 1 inch uniseals into the tank. I had to shave the plastic ring around the bucket to get the uniseals in. The uniseals were kind of wobbly with the thin plastic wall of the bucket so we used silicone and stainless steel screws to hold them in place.
Also you can see some of my fish!! haha
I was super happy with the water clarity until my huge driftwood started leaching tannins.
Like the fluidized sand filter. What keeps the sand from flowing out with the water?
I'm using a 7g bucket which is about 6 inches taller then a typical 5g bucket. I have sand in the bottom 6 inches of the bucket. With the diameter of the bucket and the 1.5 inch pipe from the pump it disrupts the sand enough to fluidize but not enough to raise the sand up 14 inches or so to the overflows. Also as the bacteria sticks to the sand it will weigh it down more. The first couple times I started up the pump a little sand did come out especially when the pump was turned on full blast. I believe it seeked its own level of how much sand it can retain in the bucket with the pump set to half power. The king of diy did a DIY sand filter. I took his idea made some of my own adjustments and supersized it. The only thing I wish is the bucket was clear so I could see the sand and pump in action.
What about this:
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/cam...-round-food-storage-container/214RFSCW22.html
And:
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/cam...ogleShopping&gclid=COD5-enowNECFcmLswodVO0CeQ
I've always wanted to try a diy with those. Cylinder acrylic and top are so expensive.
