A concept I've been thinking about for a while

[AtomixIGN]

I've been thinking about a way to plumb a big deep tank to avoid gravel vacs and I wanted to run it by you guys. See if I'm a moron or not.


The idea is to drill out an acrylic tank and plumb 2 .5 or 3" PVC into the bottom of the tank every couple of feet and run the PVC to a drain. Than cover the bottom of the tank with a large undergravel plate and cover it with 2" of gravel. So when it's time to do a 50% water change all I have to do is open the valves on the plumbing under the tank and the suction of the water pouring out of the 3 inch pipe vacs out the gravel.

 

[CHOMPERS]

Why an undergravel filter works is because the gravel traps debris between the gravel. Your idea will keep the underside of the plate clean (gunk builds up there). You don't need large pipe for it. Small pipe will do the same thing as long as you manifold the smaller pipes together with the larger pipe.

Two problems with the idea is there isn't a safety system in place. If you get distracted and let all of the water out, you will have dead fish. Also, getting rid of two or three inches of solid flow is going to be a nightmare. You will have to plumb a toilet drain to your tank.

To clean the gravel, it would probably be better to have a reverse flow system and then filter the gunk out of the water column on an ongoing basis.

 

[hamato_yoshii]

I have a tank at the shop that kind of works like this, and I've found there are "dead" spots in the tank where the gunk sits. However this tank only has one tube, so if you had a few, it might work.

 

[Dr Joe]

That's not a drain...that's a flush system (it ought to excite the fish).

You didn't state any other filter system with this, so like CHOMPERS said...

Let us know how it goes.

Dr Joe

.

 

[Oddball]

Just don't let your mind "Over-Engineer" the design. The end result should be an improvement over the hose-on-tube washer design. Not simply an alternative to it.