Continuous Drip on Ray Tank

[swedeboy78]

Hi All,

I need help from those of you who have experience in a continuous drip with a drain. I'm having a 600 gallon (96x48x30tall) ray tank built with corner overflows and a large wet dry. Here is the incoming water line filter which I already bought http://www.devotedly-discus.co.uk/acatalog/DD_HMA_80-C.html. The new water will simply drip into the top of the tank (or the sump?)

The set up I was thinking is something like this http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/auto_water_changer.php while incorporating the HMA filter in the incoming water line although I'd rather have the drain somewhere at the top of the tank instead of in the wet/dry.

How would you recommend the drain to be set up with a wet/dry to function properly during a power failure?

- Water still needs to cover all of the bio balls during a power failure but how will this work with a drain in the sump?
- If the drain is too low like in the picture in the link, once power comes back, the pump would burn itself out if the drain is too low. It will take a while for the continuous drip to fill the tank to its usual level.
- Also if the drain is too low like in the picture, the bio balls will be dry until the power comes back on.
- Can there be drain in the tank itself? But how would this work with the overflows, wouldn't the water just drain to the sump causing it to overflow?

I don't want exposed/visible pipes at the sides of the tank, the back is ok since it will be against a wall. Keep in mind it's a ray tank so no plumbing at the bottom.

I'm sure you understand where I'm going with this!

Thanks in advance!

 

[dxdx]

That link you posted is pretty much exactly how I have my drip set up. It works great, and since it's all gravity it's not affected by power outages.

on your questions, I don't think you could keep the bioballs covered if the power goes out, once the water drains through your overflows thats it until the pump comes back on. You may need to rely on your submerged media for a while.

To avoid the pump burning out, put the overflow as high as you can so there's some extra water stored. I have mine placed as high as possible with the walls in my sump. When it comes back on, it does run pretty low but there's enough water to keep it going.

I really don't see how you could put a drain in the tank. Planning on drilling a hole in that new 600?

 

[Oughtsix]

You can drip into the sump or the aquarium. I prefer to drip into the aquarium so you aren't flushing the newly dripped water down the drain.

The Sump should have an overflow just like the aquarium does. This overflow should be setup to keep 3" or so in the bottom of the sump depending on the size of the sump, aquarium, overflow and pump (Read below on how to figure this water level). Any water over the 3" mark in the sump gets flushed down the drain.

When the power goes out the surplus water will be drained into the sump and the sump will flush anything over 3" down the drain. The drip will continue during the power outage adding water to the aquarium which will overflow into the sump and overflow from the sump down the drain. When power comes back on the sump pump will start pumping the water back into the aquarium and lower the 3" of sump reserve water to hopefully somewhere around an inch or so. The drip will continue and no water will be flushed out of the sump until it regains its 3" water level.

A check valve on the sump pump will keep the water in the return line from flushing back into the sump and retain more water in the system during a power outage. A check valve is not a substitute for a water line siphon relief hole in the return outlet in the aquarium. I use 1" black spiral pond tubing for my return plumping. It holds a significant amount of water. If you only use a 1/2" return line the check valve is probably not needed as long as there is a water line siphon relief hole on the tank return outlet.

The surface area of the sump, surface area of the aquarium, size of the overflow and size of the sump pump will determine the level of water (height of the overflow) you will need in the sump.

To figure the needed water level (over flow height) in the sump for a power outage restart without running the pump dry:
1) Measure the current water level in your sump.
2) Cut the power to the sump pump.
3) Let the surplus water drain into the sump.
4) Measure the water level in the sump while it has all the surplus water in the sump.
5) The level you need to set your sump over flow at should be (Water level of the sump with the surplus water) - (Water level of the sump while the sump is running) + (Buffer level... maybe about 1").

The buffer level is the water level the sump will have after a power outage restart. So if you choose a buffer level of 1" you should be able to lower the sump water level to 1" while the sump is running and the sump pump inlet should not suck air.

If the above figured water levels are not practical there are a couple ways you can lower the surplus water level in the sump:
1) Use a bigger overflow. A bigger overflow will flow more water and reduce the amount of surplus water in the system.
2) Reduce the sump pump size / volume. This is the inverse of #1. By reducing the flow rate into the aquarium you are reducing the surplus water volume in the aquarium.
3) Use a sump with a bigger surface area. A sump with a 1 square foot surface area will rise 1.6" per gallon of surplus water. A sump with 2 square feet of surface area will rise .8" per gallon of surplus water. So the bigger the sump (length x width) the less the water level will rise during a power outage.
4) You could also use a taller sump so you can run a higher water level and still maintain the wet/dry state of the bio balls by moving them up higher in the sump.

 

[swedeboy78]

Thanks for the information! I really appreciate your help. My main concern is still that he bio balls will remain dry for a long period of time when there's a power outage, especially if I'm not home to keep an eye on things.

What do you guys think? Any way to engineer this?

 

[Oughtsix]

Battery backup? I don't think there is much else you can do for a long term power outage. You could put a bag of ceramic rings underneath the bio balls. They should preserve some bacteria for as long as the bacteria can be preserved without a flow of ammonia laced water. The preserved bacteria should reseed the entire system once the pump restarts. I don't think there is much you can do for a long term power outage without some sort of battery/generator.