DIY Overflow - Sucking from the Bottom

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GettingSassy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 19, 2006
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Tucson, AZ
Okay, mechanically inclined folks, help me out.

I have an overflow box. Skims water from the top, and that's all fine. But it leaves a lot of muck on the bottom.

I have a canister, but you know, it'd be easier if all this mess just went into the sump, where I could suck it out and not bother the fish. I'd like a way to suck water and mess from the bottom of the tank and have it end up in the sump and/or wet/dry where I can get it out of the system more easily.

Naturally, I'd want a system that restarted in case of a power outage, didn't make the system overflow, etc. No one has been able to think of a way yet.

Anyone here got any ideas?
 
just as mojo said, when i do my weekly water change I just python my water from the bottom of the tank it sucks up all that crap like dead plant matter and fish crap and fish food
 
MoJo said:
do your tank maintenance....... there's something called python.

you want to keep live fish but don't want to do the work? good luck keeping your fish alive


you can try hooking up pump to suck water from tank to sump.
Click to expand...

Ahh, and the assumptions begin to fly. I think this is a reasonably amusing post (especially given that I do two water changes a week with said Python). Let me attempt to restate what I am looking for, and why. (You might also reference the thread on "Why Do You Keep Fish" to note that I enjoy doing weekly maintenance. I have helpfully provided a link to said post here .)

Tropheus are crap factories. There's just no nice way to put it. And they very much enjoy extra clean water. While canisters and power filters do a good job of sucking the stuff up, it stays in the filter until maintenance is performed. Also, whenever you put your hands and arms into the tank, you stress your fish, as well as run the risk of getting whatever is on your hands (soap residue, antibacterial residue, lotion, etc.) into your tank.

I would be able to remove pollutants more quickly, efficiently, and safely if, in between regular water changes, I could suck a limited amount of water from the sump, and along with it, a good portion of the muck inside the tank. No sticking my hands in the tank, no distressing the fish, just nozzle in, mess out. No massive changeover of water, no muss, no fuss.

So. Let's try this again, and this time, with helpful comments that come from somewhere other than the peanut gallery. Does anyone have an idea on a good way to suck the muck from the bottom of the tank and into a sump, and have the mechanism neither overflow the system nor stall in case of a power failure?
 
to keep muck off the bottom you have to do gravel cleanings all the time , even more so if fish get over fed or crap a lot...if you use a Diatom Fliter you can gravel clean for hours with out loosing any water as it will recuritlate the water...
 
You could try adding a powerhead to blow all the detritus from the bottom up and into the overflow. If that doesn't work try adding a pipe with sponge inside that acts as mechanical filtration. You will need to clean this out about once a week (there's a thread on this topic running at the moment).

JB
 
Actually, you can use undergravel jets to keep muck from settling on the bottom. I'm hoping for an innovative design, or clever idea, to get the "overflow" to get bottom water instead of top. Unfortunately, it's starting to look like I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and do the jets (I didn't originally because my shell dwellers hate them).

All-Glass, I think, has a clever design for making an overflow area in a tank that sucks from all levels. If it didn't need to be siliconed to the back of the tank, I might have installed one already.
 
lol so like i said GET a DIATOM FILTER ...only used to clean it out ..then you put it away till needed again
 
you probably already thought of this but you could probably put a couple of powerheads on the bottom. I don't know how big your tank is but i put one on the bottom of my 20 gallon saltwater tank and it does a fairly good job of keeping the sand clean. problem is you may need a bunch for a bigger tank and they don't look particularly pretty. Another thing i have heard of but never seen is using a slate bottom and no gravel. Since you have tropheus this would be possible and you would just have to shape the slate to fit your tank. Easier said than done.
 
You can use a ugf with the lift tubes hooked to hob overflows to your sump.
any other setup that would work would mean no substrate at all
 
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