so i dont have to do water changes anymore??

[KaiserSousay]

flow of water through out the power outtage, keeping my bacteria alive...with the help of a battery operated air pump

Que
Don`t see how a fresh water supply, with no food source would help keep the bacteria alive..Oh, wait one..you said you would be in Asia

 

[DB junkie]

im sorry, but ive been trying to draw a picture of that "hole" in my head of what your talking about..i just cant, can you send a link or a pic and how it works? thanks. also i found a thread about those jet system and i like it alot

so far my only problem right now is the return line siphoning back to the sump draining my main tank dry.

This hole is just that.... a hole. Drill a small hole right below the water's surface in the line going down to the jet system. Some drill them on the backside. This way when the power goes out the water level only drops to where this hole is. Once it gets to this hole the siphon sucks in air and the siphon breaks. Once the siphon is broke no more water flow down to the sump.

 

[AquariumNerd]

You are just getting it all rong. Firstly I would like to comment on your drawing. Your return lines from the sump appear to end at the base of the tank, is this just how you drawn it or is this what you have done. Even with check valves, the siphoning of the tank water into the sump, and overflowing of the sump seems inevitable in the event of a power cut. Be careful. Secondly I would just like to say that I have reason to believe that your tap water may contain chlorine, and so I would recommend that you pass it through some carbon filters, containing blocks of carbon or gac,'[granulated active carbon'. You can get these vessels and carbon blocks from ro man, and just put them together, attach them to the water pipe with automatic piercing clamp things, and use a small valve to regulate the flow. Last I would like to point out that the rate at which water enters the tank needs to be slow, and you still need a bio and other filtration. If you calculate the flow rate, work it out so that the tank is fully changed around once a week, and put some sponges in the sump for bio and mechanical filtration. Why skip on it when you have all that space in the sump? Tap water is far too cold for tropical fish, and even if you put it in slowley, you still need to heat the tank if the room is cool. It sounds like a bit of a bad idea as you do not seem to know how to do it properly.

 

[AquariumNerd]

What you want to do is imagine this is a normal tank. Set it up like one. Have all the necessary filtration. But then by some carbon filters to filter the tap water and you can indeed drip it into the tank as I said above. Do not skip on other filtration though. It should be a slow drip, and change the carbon filters regularly. They are only three pounds form ro man, and the vessels you can by, about twelve quid, arse standardized, and useful, you can also by the carbon filter material from other companies. The carbon is necessary, and will remove other nasty heavy metals as well. You must change it when necessary. Do not use ion exchange as this would, in my opinion, remove too much, and would be too costly. Pure water is not ideal for fish as it does not help them with osmorgulation.

 

[benito1188]

thanks aquanerd. hey DB, i slept on it and finally figured out what you ment by "hole" ahhhh(shoot me lol).

ok so im sorta changing the design. aquanerd, i havnt done this tank yet...i want to learn EVERYTHING to a T before even daring to drill my first hole lol. anyway, this design is gonna be in asia, "they say" that water is fresh, clean and free of chlorine, with that said im basing this set to that. i would still be cautious and might to what you recommended (carbon filters, etc) just to be on the safe side. when i get there, im checking out water parameters just to be sure, incase of chlorine or god forbid, chloramine i would prob have to modify this set up a bit.

my main concern is really gravity. i have never had a sump or drilled tanks before. been always comfortable with the security of my ever reliable canisters lol so all this overflow, drilling, etc is somewhat new to me.

thanks so much

 

[nishant_datta]

I think you should not mix the two systems that you propose to install. Keep the sump filter system separate and instead try and install some prefilter or RO filter into the tapline before the fresh tap water enters the tank or sump.

For drainage you can a second overflow or some other mechanism. My point is that why drain the water thats already been filtered ? Instead the drain should take water from the tank.

 

[nishant_datta]

You can use a small power head (the ones that can be placed externally) and keep its intake / feed pipe in the tank at the same level as the overflow so if your filter system is turned off the drain pump will not empty the tank. Also, if the filter is turned off during a power outage then so will the drain pump. The last thing to consider would be the sump overflowing during a power outage. That can be solved by using the overflow you've suggested in your sketch.
Hope it works out for you. Good luck.

 

[FSM]

You will use more water to maintain the same nitrate level with a drip system, for the same reason that doing two 25% water changes back-to-back isn't as effective as one 50% wc.

 

[spiff]

You will use more water to maintain the same nitrate level with a drip system, for the same reason that doing two 25% water changes back-to-back isn't as effective as one 50% wc.

That's a good point. But having this system in place can still make a conventional water change a breeze if the overflow is adjustable. Just drop it the depth of water you want to remove,(as long as you're not exceeding the sump overflow volume) and then replace the water via drip system, but cranked open instead of dripping.

 

[benito1188]

You will use more water to maintain the same nitrate level with a drip system, for the same reason that doing two 25% water changes back-to-back isn't as effective as one 50% wc.

wow i cant believe i didnt consider that! ok ok rethink rethink