Help me auto clean build up of waste off the floor in my 370g tank
- Thread starter swimfishswim
- Start date
Not often enough
We usually wait until there are particulates in the water. Hate to admit that sometimes 3 months goes by. If I were organized I'd have a schedule and pull out and replace the cartridges with clean ones/dump the dirty cartridges in bleach to clean...too lazy I guess. Hope to do better on the big system. Sheer laziness on my part not to bleach out the cartridges....just got 8 more cartridges last week. For the last two years I've thought that my new tank would be set up soon and I wouldn't need the 25s...but it hasn't happened. I definitely will be bleaching the 100s. I bought a cartridge cleaner that you connect a hose to....don't bother getting one. The cartridges will get so jam packed with debris/poop, that I don't even think a pressure washer could clean all the junk out. The person who sold us the RTLs and the Hammerhead pump said to bleach the cartridges.How often you change the cartridges will depend on your stocking. These spa filters sure are a painless way to go for great mechanical filtration. I love not having to vacuum the 300 gallon tank. There's no way I'd want to vacuum the big tank we'll be setting up.
Poop suckers are a great way to drain the tank. We have a pipe going under the house and out. All we have to do is open a valve and the water drains outside. Because the poop suckers are just off the floor, we could literally drain the tank dry (so we have to pay attention) The water drains by gravity flow very quickly. Since you have an automatic water change system, you probably don't have a need to ever drain your tank. It's just an very easy thing to do with the closed loop mechanical system.
The other thing we'll be doing different on our big system is that our mechanical filtration will be very prominent. The pipes will be the only decoration in the tank. We are literally going to have a forest of poopsuckers/uptakes/returns. Here's one of the smaller poop suckers which still needs to be painted.
When it comes to spa filters, they have been used by fishkeepers for years. It just isn't common practice for smaller tanks that can get by with a canister or HOB filter. I think it's one of the best kept secrets in fishkeeping. I would never consider not using RTL filters. Our two little RTL-25s have provided us with extreme mechanical filtration. I experienced daily vacuuming of that 55 gallon tank that all our monsters came in. I don't plan to EVER use a python or do any other kind of vacuuming of debris again. If anyone is gravel vacuuming out a 300 gallon tank, I feel very sorry for them. Around here, if it's not extremely low maintenance, it's not going to fly. We love our fish, but hate any work associated with them. It just ain't gonna happen.
i work a 5week on 5 week off roster and my wife said if its not automatic is not happening, she loves the fish loves feeding them but hates getting her hands wet, stinky fish water she says My 6x2x2.5 at the moment is fully manual, has 2 large canisters on it only. so this spa filter will be excellent. i will clean it just before i leave and when i get home tank will be spotless
thanks for all your help.
thanks for all your help.
Your wife will love it. I only stick my hands in the tank to pet my fish! Actually, that's an exaggeration. I sometimes get my arm in the tank to clean the walls with this soft bristle car wash brush that works really well for cleaning walls and seams.
since your poo suckers run virtually all the way to the floor, if say your pump casing ruptures or the filter housing ruptures, whats stopping the whole tank from being syphoned out? do you have any secrets? i really want a hole in the tank floor to suck the poo as this would be the best but if something leaks im in trouble.
I guess something could rupture or break in any system. Someone could theoretically walk behind our house and open the drain valve and drain our tank dry..I've thought of that. We do have valves on every pipe leaving the tank. There are also valves on the pipes before the pump and after the pump..so every pipe can be shut off in two places. I personally have a great aversion to drilling the sides and bottom of any of my tanks.. We're going to use a poop sucker pipe (vertical PVC running nearly to the floor) to return water from the sump to the main tank.
White PVC running down in the tank would be hideous. We covered our pipes with black hose which worked until our monsters banged into the pipes so hard they broke the bulkhead. The next poop sucker was painted with black Krylon Fusion. For our big setup we found a source for black PVC. Black pipes against a black background don't stand out at all. Now I've changed my mind and decided to have a background and turn my poopsuckers into trees...womans prero
gative
sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX
White PVC running down in the tank would be hideous. We covered our pipes with black hose which worked until our monsters banged into the pipes so hard they broke the bulkhead. The next poop sucker was painted with black Krylon Fusion. For our big setup we found a source for black PVC. Black pipes against a black background don't stand out at all. Now I've changed my mind and decided to have a background and turn my poopsuckers into trees...womans prero
gative
sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX
this is my latest design, i thank you for steering me away from holes in the bottom!!!!
i think this will look nice in the tank and have good functionality. its a mix of the best worlds believe.
it alleviates holes in the bottom, stand pipes, and sharp corners in tank if i just made it a box, water will suck from the bottom, i can put a small power head down there to help force detritus to the wier box.
I have also arranged my sump to accomodate more K1, now the sump goes, sponge/matrix, K1, sponge matrix then pump/heater, may even put heater into corner will see how it looks, back will be painted black so you wont be able to see much in the corner.
i may add a power head in the tank on the bottom underneath the returns from pump, will see how the flow is with the 10000lph pump after the height and media has slowed it down
i think this will look nice in the tank and have good functionality. its a mix of the best worlds believe.
it alleviates holes in the bottom, stand pipes, and sharp corners in tank if i just made it a box, water will suck from the bottom, i can put a small power head down there to help force detritus to the wier box.
I have also arranged my sump to accomodate more K1, now the sump goes, sponge/matrix, K1, sponge matrix then pump/heater, may even put heater into corner will see how it looks, back will be painted black so you wont be able to see much in the corner.
i may add a power head in the tank on the bottom underneath the returns from pump, will see how the flow is with the 10000lph pump after the height and media has slowed it down
