backstory, not really necessary to read
Alright. So pythons are great, love em. But I don't need to do a water change every time I need to clean some crap out of my tank. I PREFER to do daily or every-other-day cleanings, but it rarely ever happens because I haven't found an easy enough way to do it that I don't dread dealing with it.
So far the easiest method has been air-powered vacuums. Just hook a small airpump up to a tube that sticks out of the water and has a T-fitting with a bag on one side and voila, all your crap off the bottom is deposited in the bag, you clean that out and move about your business.
Con's to this system? Rigid/plastic tube makes it difficult to get under things & into corners. Weak flow makes it difficult to pick up larger pieces of crap. I hate cleaning the bag afterwards and dealing with letting it dry out etc etc. I have to keep an airpump under the stand with a place to plug it in and deal with a long air-line hose/tube contraption thats always in the way.
what I've come up with so far that I know works, but isn't quite good enough yet
So what I have so far involves a powerhead, a bag and a short length of 1/2" flex tubing. I just hook the flex tube up to the intake and put the bag over the outtake. This creates GREAT suction, lets me get to everything in the tank, and with enough ingenuity, can always be in place ready to use but easily kept out of sight (minus the bag, it would have to be taken out and cleaned/left out of the tank in between uses).
Con's to this? I still hate using bags. Another thing I might be able to do to improve this is get a metal or plastic screen and some different PVC fittings and fashion something that would be easy to pop on & off and just rinse the screen off. But I haven't fully thought that out yet. The screen has to allow enough water to flow through that something bad doesn't happen, but not have holes large enough to let the crap sift through it. Also, this sends a LOT of unnecessary crap through the impeller of the powerhead, so regular maintenance would be required which would probably get to be a pain and defeat the purpose.
What I'm working on that I REALLY want to get perfected
Essentially, a sump powered in-place vacuum. Basically, I would put a 10 gallon tank under my stand with a low-flow pump. I wouldn't be looking for huge water turnover, filtration or anything else, it would essentially just be a tank of water with a pump in it. So don't get your mind wrapped around it needing to be a sump with baffles and filter media and everything else. Just an overflow into the tank and a pump out of the tank (with a sponge or some other system in place to keep the crap you vacuum out trapped in the small tank. I would basically have the overflow centered in the back of the tank with a hose long enough to reach each corner and flexible enough to be easy to work with around my driftwood & rocks.
I could make the hose the only intake for it, use a valve for shutoff and kill the water flow when I'm done using it. This would leave water in the overflow so whenever I needed to use it I could just open the valve to start the siphon and turn on the pump to avoid a spill. When not in use I would have clips around the top of the tank that would hold the hose in place out of sight along the back wall.
Then at the end of the week when I comes time for a WC, just stick the python in the little tank first to suck all the crap out and carry on about the rest of my business as usual.
my concerns for this system
I'm worried that the overflow will be noisy, and that will be unacceptable. Although I think I've read that with enough flow diversion (90* bends along the plumbing line) you can quiet them down significantly--this is in regards to DIY PVC overflows.
If I don't allow for continuos operation (I.E. no waterflow while the system isn't in use) I'd be worried that it could begin to cause a foul smell. This could probably be averted by an airstone or by allowing for continuos flow.
I'll have a hard time getting an appropriate pump, and I don't have much monetary room for trial and error. This I'm pretty sure can be averted with enough proper research, but its still going to be annoying.
options this system allows me
I don't HAVE to stick with a 10gal. I know my 20h fits in my stand, I would just need to move my powerstrip. So I could have an extra 20gallons of space separated from my main tank with the exact same parameters. I don't need to hide my heaters, they're rena smartheaters anyways so they're just my canister intakes. BUT, it would be a readily available isolation tank (I would just slap its own filter on it if I had to quarantine a fish). I could use it raise fry if I can manage to breed livebearers in my tank. I can use it for dosing whatever I need to dose. I can use it as a growout for plants. I can use it for etc etc etc etc.
I really hope I can get this to work. I think the first step is figuring out the pump I need and how much that will cost. From there its all pretty cheap...just some PVC and vinyl hose unless I buy a manufactured HOB overflow.
My one other thought for it
The only thing I haven't really decided on yet is overflow vs powerhead. It stands to reason that if I do all the calculations right, I should be able to get a pump that will match flow with a powerhead. I already know that I can use a powerhead to push water out of my main tank & into a sump, I just tried that today. I also know that just hooking an identical powerhead up in the sump trying to push water back into the main tank doesn't work, presumably because its flow isn't strong enough after you consider how many feet of head its pushing against.
But, if I could match a pump to my powerhead, then it might be easier to use the system 'on-demand' without worrying about whether or not the siphon is going to begin flow easily.
So, what do you guys think? Am I just being crazy or does this seem legit? Am I late to the ballgame and someone else has already done this?
How exactly would I go about sizing the pump/overflow? I've read chomper's sticky but I don't QUITE get it. If I get a 600gph pump, should I just use piping on the pump side to match 600gph, then on the overflow side use something 4x that big? Will this create a lot of noise?
Alright. So pythons are great, love em. But I don't need to do a water change every time I need to clean some crap out of my tank. I PREFER to do daily or every-other-day cleanings, but it rarely ever happens because I haven't found an easy enough way to do it that I don't dread dealing with it.
So far the easiest method has been air-powered vacuums. Just hook a small airpump up to a tube that sticks out of the water and has a T-fitting with a bag on one side and voila, all your crap off the bottom is deposited in the bag, you clean that out and move about your business.
Con's to this system? Rigid/plastic tube makes it difficult to get under things & into corners. Weak flow makes it difficult to pick up larger pieces of crap. I hate cleaning the bag afterwards and dealing with letting it dry out etc etc. I have to keep an airpump under the stand with a place to plug it in and deal with a long air-line hose/tube contraption thats always in the way.
what I've come up with so far that I know works, but isn't quite good enough yet
So what I have so far involves a powerhead, a bag and a short length of 1/2" flex tubing. I just hook the flex tube up to the intake and put the bag over the outtake. This creates GREAT suction, lets me get to everything in the tank, and with enough ingenuity, can always be in place ready to use but easily kept out of sight (minus the bag, it would have to be taken out and cleaned/left out of the tank in between uses).
Con's to this? I still hate using bags. Another thing I might be able to do to improve this is get a metal or plastic screen and some different PVC fittings and fashion something that would be easy to pop on & off and just rinse the screen off. But I haven't fully thought that out yet. The screen has to allow enough water to flow through that something bad doesn't happen, but not have holes large enough to let the crap sift through it. Also, this sends a LOT of unnecessary crap through the impeller of the powerhead, so regular maintenance would be required which would probably get to be a pain and defeat the purpose.
What I'm working on that I REALLY want to get perfected
Essentially, a sump powered in-place vacuum. Basically, I would put a 10 gallon tank under my stand with a low-flow pump. I wouldn't be looking for huge water turnover, filtration or anything else, it would essentially just be a tank of water with a pump in it. So don't get your mind wrapped around it needing to be a sump with baffles and filter media and everything else. Just an overflow into the tank and a pump out of the tank (with a sponge or some other system in place to keep the crap you vacuum out trapped in the small tank. I would basically have the overflow centered in the back of the tank with a hose long enough to reach each corner and flexible enough to be easy to work with around my driftwood & rocks.
I could make the hose the only intake for it, use a valve for shutoff and kill the water flow when I'm done using it. This would leave water in the overflow so whenever I needed to use it I could just open the valve to start the siphon and turn on the pump to avoid a spill. When not in use I would have clips around the top of the tank that would hold the hose in place out of sight along the back wall.
Then at the end of the week when I comes time for a WC, just stick the python in the little tank first to suck all the crap out and carry on about the rest of my business as usual.
my concerns for this system
I'm worried that the overflow will be noisy, and that will be unacceptable. Although I think I've read that with enough flow diversion (90* bends along the plumbing line) you can quiet them down significantly--this is in regards to DIY PVC overflows.
If I don't allow for continuos operation (I.E. no waterflow while the system isn't in use) I'd be worried that it could begin to cause a foul smell. This could probably be averted by an airstone or by allowing for continuos flow.
I'll have a hard time getting an appropriate pump, and I don't have much monetary room for trial and error. This I'm pretty sure can be averted with enough proper research, but its still going to be annoying.
options this system allows me
I don't HAVE to stick with a 10gal. I know my 20h fits in my stand, I would just need to move my powerstrip. So I could have an extra 20gallons of space separated from my main tank with the exact same parameters. I don't need to hide my heaters, they're rena smartheaters anyways so they're just my canister intakes. BUT, it would be a readily available isolation tank (I would just slap its own filter on it if I had to quarantine a fish). I could use it raise fry if I can manage to breed livebearers in my tank. I can use it for dosing whatever I need to dose. I can use it as a growout for plants. I can use it for etc etc etc etc.
I really hope I can get this to work. I think the first step is figuring out the pump I need and how much that will cost. From there its all pretty cheap...just some PVC and vinyl hose unless I buy a manufactured HOB overflow.
My one other thought for it
The only thing I haven't really decided on yet is overflow vs powerhead. It stands to reason that if I do all the calculations right, I should be able to get a pump that will match flow with a powerhead. I already know that I can use a powerhead to push water out of my main tank & into a sump, I just tried that today. I also know that just hooking an identical powerhead up in the sump trying to push water back into the main tank doesn't work, presumably because its flow isn't strong enough after you consider how many feet of head its pushing against.
But, if I could match a pump to my powerhead, then it might be easier to use the system 'on-demand' without worrying about whether or not the siphon is going to begin flow easily.
So, what do you guys think? Am I just being crazy or does this seem legit? Am I late to the ballgame and someone else has already done this?
How exactly would I go about sizing the pump/overflow? I've read chomper's sticky but I don't QUITE get it. If I get a 600gph pump, should I just use piping on the pump side to match 600gph, then on the overflow side use something 4x that big? Will this create a lot of noise?
