RUGF question

[hmt321]

I want to set up a RUGF in my 75 gal

I have several pieces of drift wood (attached to ceramic tile), and 2"-3" of very small gravel (the lowes, home depot pea gravel)

my plan

line the bottom of the tank with ugf plated
plumb a 3oo gph power head into the outflow (or outflows) so it forces water under the gravel

put a ball valve on the power head (to adjust flow) and a large sponge over the intake to catch trash

Questions

am I missing anything?
is 300 gph to much? not enough?

the ceramic tiles are 12" x 12" that keep the DW upright in the tank, do I need to cut them down (the tiles)?

thanks

 

[sidewinderbiker]

i have two Penguin 300gph RUGF on my 55 gallon mixed cichlid tank. and love it!!!

 

[CHOMPERS]

You can omit the ball valve. The gravel and sponge will prevent any current.

Here is an idea for you:
Why not put the drift wood in first and then plumb around it. Then add the gravel. In other words, you won't be using ugf plates but rather pvc pipe and fittings (drill a small hole every three inches on both sides of the pipe). It will allow you to customize it to however you want.

 

[hmt321]

You can omit the ball valve. The gravel and sponge will prevent any current.

Here is an idea for you:
Why not put the drift wood in first and then plumb around it. Then add the gravel. In other words, you won't be using ugf plates but rather pvc pipe and fittings (drill a small hole every three inches on both sides of the pipe). It will allow you to customize it to however you want.

In your opinion (CHOMPERS) would 1/2" pvc laid out on 3" centers across the tank be enough to give me a slight up current in the tank?

Ill post post a pict when i get to my cad program tomm

 

[CHOMPERS]

Yep, that would be perfect. Find out what size of piping that you will need to fit the powerhead and then from there, continue with that size untill you get to the RUGF network.

Here is a look at mine. It is a 250g though and powered by the pump in the wet/dry.

 

[hmt321]

is the "uplift" greater on the side closer to the pump feed? I had thought of putting a "T" right at the pump and fee it from both sides, do you think that is necessary?

by the way, your pict is exactly what i have in mind

 

[CHOMPERS]

When my fish aren't digging in the gravel, it doesn't have any dead spots. On the back pipe with the T, I used smaller holes. The back pipe splits the water
between both sides. With the water feeding in from both sides of the pipes, the pressure stays uniform. I used that technique in as many places as possible. I also went as far as calculating the total cross sectional area of all the holes that I would need. I then matched the diameters of all the small holes to equal the diameter of the pipe.

 

[hmt321]

hey Chompers, thanks for the help so far

here is a pict of the rugf i will build

here is the drift wood that i will put in

the rugf should fit around the DW well, i can ditch the smaller piece if it will not work.

did you glue your rugf pipes?

i have a question about hole size and how many to drill

the area of a cross section of the pipe is .19653 square inches

that adds up to about 64, 1/16" holes

If i drilled 2 holes every 3" on each run of the pipe i end up with about 150 - 180 depending on how many i put in the ends (in between the "t"'s)

is my math screwed up, or are there factors that i am not taking into account

if i drill that many holes will i end up with dead spots, i had planned on doing 1/8" holes every 2" , no math behind that (just what i thought it would need)

what do you think?

 

[CHOMPERS]

I glued my pipes because it is large and I built it out of the tank. Your math is spot on but your dyslexia made you reverse the 5 and 3 (or maybe it is my dyslexia) It won't change the end result though. My calculator returned the same number of digits; by chance are you using a TI-89 or TI-89 Titanium? Divide the area (.19635) by the number of holes (180) to get the size of the drill bit needed. I came up with .001091 or (pi)/2880...which is totally wrong because I didn't do the last step (that was the cross sectional area of the bit). The diameter of the drill works out to be .037268 and a close approximation is 9/250. This is super tiny and falls in the classification of wire drills. Don't go looking for one because without an automated drill press, they are just too easy to break. Just use the smallest drill bit in your set. If the bit isn't sharp or overheats, it will leave burrs in the bottom of the hole. I had to go looking for a better bit, but I also was overheating the bits. You will want to take several breaks just from the monotony but that will also give the bit time to cool. If you are all gungho about it, just keep a glass of water near by so you can dip the bit in to cool it off.

To make the holes straight, set the pipe on a table and lay down a sharpie or other pen perpendicular to it. Keeping the pipe still and the pen on the table, draw a line down the pipe. Then rotate the pipe and draw your second line. I put my holes about 90 degrees from each other facing down. That way, the two holes are shooting down and out at 45 degrees.

 

[hmt321]

1/16" is the smallest bit i had in my box, and the smallest they had at my local ace,

should i consider reducing the number of holes?
at 350 gph i would think that I would not be loosing pressure (just a gut feeling)

I used ms excell, for my calc ( I have a large calculator spread sheet that i have been adding to for years, it has everything from morgage costs to rafter lenth calculations.)