Few Questions

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Thekid

Goliath Tigerfish
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Sep 18, 2014
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I am leaving for vacation in a few weeks and am trying to automate as many things as possible so all my friend has to do is feed the fish and get a rough head count of everyone.

1.) I won a 93 gallon cube in a charity raffle a while ago and haven't had time to figure out what to do with it. I would like to drill it for a sump. Anyone have tips/ things to know before I try drilling it? Is there a recommended place to order the overflow from?

2.) I have a discus tank that I would like to install a drip on. Pretty much the same question as above but does anyone have a preffered filter that they used and loved or had a horror story with?

Thanks.
 
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93 cube would be perfect for a big trickle tower. Drip can be a very good thing but I would not set it up and walk away takes a bit of playing around to get a hot cold drip figured out or if a straight cold drip is to much for your heater. You could make a submersed sump with the back 12"× length of the tank as mechanical with a devider the hole length and front half baffled with all of you media and pump or vise versa for easy of cleaning your mechanical best way of the top of my head to make use out of an odd shaped sump
 
over-feeding is the number one problem I've seen encountered with non-hobbyists taking care of fish. I'd buy some pill organizers and portion out the food into daily portions with a strong warning not to deviate.

as far as the other questions - I wouldn't be setting up a new system just before letting someone else take care of my fish. especially since the mod you're talking about can result in flooding if you screwed up in the planning stage. trying to troubleshoot something you aren't familiar with over the phone through someone with no clue as to what's right much less what is wrong?
:eek:
 
millerkid519 said:
93 cube would be perfect for a big trickle tower. Drip can be a very good thing but I would not set it up and walk away takes a bit of playing around to get a hot cold drip figured out or if a straight cold drip is to much for your heater. You could make a submersed sump with the back 12"× length of the tank as mechanical with a devider the hole length and front half baffled with all of you media and pump or vise versa for easy of cleaning your mechanical best way of the top of my head to make use out of an odd shaped sump
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I think I wasn't clear enough. I want to drill the tank then add a sump.
Gill Blue said:
over-feeding is the number one problem I've seen encountered with non-hobbyists taking care of fish. I'd buy some pill organizers and portion out the food into daily portions with a strong warning not to deviate.

as far as the other questions - I wouldn't be setting up a new system just before letting someone else take care of my fish. especially since the mod you're talking about can result in flooding if you screwed up in the planning stage. trying to troubleshoot something you aren't familiar with over the phone through someone with no clue as to what's right much less what is wrong?
:eek:
Click to expand...
He does fine with my reef tank dosing and he has his own setups to take care of at home. Not my first time going through a few weeks gone at a time. I do have a friend who does plumping but I think it will be easier to just get trash cans and a few cheap pumps to condition water instead and I'll install the drip when I get back.
 
I travel for work a lot.. my tank is setup to survive 30+ days with no one touching it. Autofeeders and auto top off are the way to go. "Low-tech" planted tanks are also more forgiving. I don't do any dosing, but there's plenty of products and write-ups for auto dosing pumps.

As long as you've got a good clean up crew (shrimp, catfish, whathave you), autofeeders are plenty accurate enough.

I use a 30G rubbermaid tub (lasts about 40 days with my 100G tank) with a 12V bilge pump made for a boat, with a float switch also made for a boat. Simple float switch in the tank turns on a relay and turns on the pump. Less than $50 of parts in the whole setup, and I haven't had a single issue with it for almost 4 years.

One day when I move to a bigger house and can set up a bigger tank I'll probably go sump with drip system like what you're planning on.
 
millerkid519 said:
Ya misunderstood that part. Is cost a very big issue for building a sump? And I did my hole drip for around 200 and I didn't cheap out at all
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Cheap isn"t first prioriy. i just want to keep the fish healthy and happy with as little work as possible for when i have to go to collage in a few years. $200 doesn't sound bad at all.

PhysicsDude said:
I travel for work a lot.. my tank is setup to survive 30+ days with no one touching it. Autofeeders and auto top off are the way to go. "Low-tech" planted tanks are also more forgiving. I don't do any dosing, but there's plenty of products and write-ups for auto dosing pumps.

As long as you've got a good clean up crew (shrimp, catfish, whathave you), autofeeders are plenty accurate enough.

I use a 30G rubbermaid tub (lasts about 40 days with my 100G tank) with a 12V bilge pump made for a boat, with a float switch also made for a boat. Simple float switch in the tank turns on a relay and turns on the pump. Less than $50 of parts in the whole setup, and I haven't had a single issue with it for almost 4 years.

One day when I move to a bigger house and can set up a bigger tank I'll probably go sump with drip system like what you're planning on.
Click to expand...

I have some plats that i can add to various tanks if that helps at all.

Could you expand on the30 gallon tote? Is it simillar to an auto top off?
 
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No cheap isn't bad but why would you pay way more then you have to and an ato is not hard to hook up just need a a barrel with a pump in it. Is it for your discus the because you have to watch the ph from the tank to the barrels
 
millerkid519 said:
No cheap isn't bad but why would you pay way more then you have to and an ato is not hard to hook up just need a a barrel with a pump in it. Is it for your discus the because you have to watch the ph from the tank to the barrels
Click to expand...
The water is buffered to 6.4 for the discus but if it is just it will sit at a soilid 8.2
 
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