Hello MFK, I have been thinking about this for quite some time but I am still a tad unsure if it is the right move to make.
I am starting to build an extension onto my existing garage / fish room ( next week
) I have always wanted to reduce the time it takes to clean all my tanks about 5-7 hours of my weekend is always lost. So I was thinking of running a drip system to help with actual W/C as it takes 1hour to fill some tanks up and if I walk away I always flood them, my issue is I have too many sumps so running a drip system will be messy or require a lot of work ( cutting trenches into the slab to run the drips etc)
So I had the idea to build 2 larger sumps then I can run my left wall off one sump and right wall off the other, in my extension I have already planned for 3 QT tanks and 1 hosp tank so all fish will be QTED before being added to the main tanks. My stock all lives in the same parameters water wise or close enough, I do plan on having an African and discus tank but they can go in the extension.
I have also purchased 4 x 25 watt laguna UVs (I understand these may not be the best for disease) in plan of running 2 per a sump just to help in case white spot or anything does every occur, touch wood I have never had it worst I get is pop eye... so far.
My left wall would include
- 8 x 3 x 2.5 x 2
- 4 x 3 x 2.5 x 2
which is a total of 1360G (5150 L ) estimated.
My right wall would include
- 6 x 2 x 3 x 2
- 6 x 2 x 2 x 2
- My bow front = 7 x Y* x 2.5 ( Y* = being a bow front it bows, starts @ 2.5ft bows to 1100mm figured it out to ruflly 530G)
Which is a total of 1430G (5415 L ) estimated.
I was thinking options for a sump size tank, 8 x 3 x 2 is the first thing popping into my head but the cost is a bit high for a sump so I was considering maybe 2 x 8x20x24s or so and connect them to one like a race coarse sump for saltwater or build the 8 x 3 x 2 out of 10mm glass, yes I am crazy.. weld a frame around the top and base 2-3 mm thick ali and hope the baffles will also help ( cross bracing ) or just get my boss to build the 8 x 3 x 2 out of 12mm and fork the cash out. in my defense of craziness my 8.5 x 3 x 2.5 is 10mm glass and is a 14 year old tank still holding water, my boss has away of getting things to hold.
Is this size sump ruffly correct, could anyone think of any other options?
then I could simply run 2 drip systems and 2 drains for a water change I would drain one of the larger tanks of each system 60-70% and have a float valve to auto fill up if required, I hope the drip could fully eliminate W/C but I still want a backup system thats easy and fast just for safety.
Does anyone also know any decent drawing pumps that could handle this system? My biggest worry is the draw will be double vs running single pumps / sumps. I like to aim for 5-6 turns per hour so I would need a 30,000 LPH pump @ 0 head height to achieve that, I would use gate valves to adjust the flow rates per each tank.
What do you guys think? any advice would be great.
I am starting to build an extension onto my existing garage / fish room ( next week
) I have always wanted to reduce the time it takes to clean all my tanks about 5-7 hours of my weekend is always lost. So I was thinking of running a drip system to help with actual W/C as it takes 1hour to fill some tanks up and if I walk away I always flood them, my issue is I have too many sumps so running a drip system will be messy or require a lot of work ( cutting trenches into the slab to run the drips etc)So I had the idea to build 2 larger sumps then I can run my left wall off one sump and right wall off the other, in my extension I have already planned for 3 QT tanks and 1 hosp tank so all fish will be QTED before being added to the main tanks. My stock all lives in the same parameters water wise or close enough, I do plan on having an African and discus tank but they can go in the extension.
I have also purchased 4 x 25 watt laguna UVs (I understand these may not be the best for disease) in plan of running 2 per a sump just to help in case white spot or anything does every occur, touch wood I have never had it worst I get is pop eye... so far.
My left wall would include
- 8 x 3 x 2.5 x 2
- 4 x 3 x 2.5 x 2
which is a total of 1360G (5150 L ) estimated.
My right wall would include
- 6 x 2 x 3 x 2
- 6 x 2 x 2 x 2
- My bow front = 7 x Y* x 2.5 ( Y* = being a bow front it bows, starts @ 2.5ft bows to 1100mm figured it out to ruflly 530G)
Which is a total of 1430G (5415 L ) estimated.
I was thinking options for a sump size tank, 8 x 3 x 2 is the first thing popping into my head but the cost is a bit high for a sump so I was considering maybe 2 x 8x20x24s or so and connect them to one like a race coarse sump for saltwater or build the 8 x 3 x 2 out of 10mm glass, yes I am crazy.. weld a frame around the top and base 2-3 mm thick ali and hope the baffles will also help ( cross bracing ) or just get my boss to build the 8 x 3 x 2 out of 12mm and fork the cash out. in my defense of craziness my 8.5 x 3 x 2.5 is 10mm glass and is a 14 year old tank still holding water, my boss has away of getting things to hold.
Is this size sump ruffly correct, could anyone think of any other options?
then I could simply run 2 drip systems and 2 drains for a water change I would drain one of the larger tanks of each system 60-70% and have a float valve to auto fill up if required, I hope the drip could fully eliminate W/C but I still want a backup system thats easy and fast just for safety.
Does anyone also know any decent drawing pumps that could handle this system? My biggest worry is the draw will be double vs running single pumps / sumps. I like to aim for 5-6 turns per hour so I would need a 30,000 LPH pump @ 0 head height to achieve that, I would use gate valves to adjust the flow rates per each tank.
What do you guys think? any advice would be great.
