I've also used 100mm thick sheets of coarse black sponge. You can buy 2m x 1m x 10cm thick sheets. Put into stackable crates to clean your water. The sponges can be hard to clean, I use a water blaster. Tend to be better for biological if you pre filter the water first.
So i think im going to do it.
- Thread starter Tj203
- Start date
Well it has begun, I have most of the supplies. All I need now is one more ibc tote and a 1/4 in sheet of plywood. I just started to do the electrical, my pump will be in tomorrow. I went with a 9480gph 1.5 HP. It is 230v single phase so I am going to use a Contactor to turn it on this way I will use one of the wireless remote to activate the coil and turn one the pump. They are only $12. I am going to drill the holes and plum everything up in the basement and just leave the connections upstairs till I am ready to switch everything over. I am also adding a 2 inch return and a 2 inch drain. So I will have two 1 1/2 inch and one 2 inch drain, plus a 1 1/2 for the emergency one. I am going to run the 2 inch return all the way to the tank and just put a 90 on it. If I need to make a spray bar I will but I will have two 1 inch and one 2 inch return but the plumbing from the pump is all 2 inch and drops down at the over flow for 2 of them. I am adding about 400 gallons to the system maybe a bit more they are the 275 gallons totes the first one I will fill about 8 inchs from the top but the second one I am going to run almost full. I will be using two 5 gallon buckets with filter pads and pond brushes on top,( maybe 3) in the first ibc tote I will be running 2 cu ft of k3 media mostly for Mechanical filtration and I will put all the 6 MP blacks and 4 bright well ones in the second tote. I might add more k3 but I wanted to start with that. I will also have to plum my algae scrubber in and do a drain too. In the next month or two I will get a pool sand filter but fill it with glass beads to polish my water it gets down to 10-15 microns and it is reusable carbon will do 5 microns but for how long and it needs to be replaced. Once I am done treating the tank I will put the system online. No sense in treating more water. Never had a problem with Nutrients but as all my fish get bigger the extra water won't hurt. 1000 gallon system is not bad and I can always add more ibc totes if I want iam just going to use bulkheads to connect them. To bad I could not get a deal on the 330 gallon ones.
Why all of a sudden when I upload pictures it tells me they are too big my phone has not changed in years and this just started a few weeks ago. Anyone else having this problem?
Why all of a sudden when I upload pictures it tells me they are too big my phone has not changed in years and this just started a few weeks ago. Anyone else having this problem?
Just some more updates wiring done except for the pump. Just mocking up the totes to see where I want them. Holes drilled in the floor for the pipes. It's coming together!
Looks awesome! I love the water tote for a sump.
Something you might consider in your plumbing is to suck the water out of the bottom spout of the sump and some way to stir up the bottom while you are doing water changes. Sediment is going to collect in the bottom of the sump. You will probably want some way to turn up the sediment while doing water changes so it all gets sucked out of the system. Maybe a couple powerheads? Maybe a broom stick? Maybe some kind of rubber matt lining the bottom of the sump that can be pulled up a bit to unseat the sediment? I am just throwing some ideas out here to spur some thought.
Flexible PVC pipe is great. It has a low flow resistance and it makes plumbing a lot easier. One of its characteristics though is that it doesn't weld (glue) as easily as regular pvc. I highly recommend sanding the sheen of the flexible pvc pipe where it will be welded and also the female fitting that it is mating to. All PVC fittings should be sanded before welded but flexible PVC even more so! For welding flexible PVC I use a generous amount of primer on the outside of the flexible PVC pipe. Then a generous amount of primer on the inside of the fitting. Then I do the outside of the flexible PVC again with more primer before applying the cement. You really want the flexible PVC to melt to form a good weld! The flexible PVC should still be slightly wet from the primer when you apply the cement.
I had to order clear PVC primer from Amazon. The only primer my local home stores stock is the purple stuff which is required by code for house plumping but you can use what ever you want for Aquarium plumbing. The purple is just a marker so an inspector can see that a weld was properly primed before it was glued.
Are you going to make any additional holes in the sump? If so I highly recommend that you check out Uniseals instead of bulkheads. They are much easier to install, do a great job sealing and allow for a little bit of give and bending while still remaining water tight.
https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Unis...eywords=uniseal+2"&qid=1622316999&s=hi&sr=1-5
I didn't know that they also make white Uniseals, I have always used the black ones:
https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Unis...1&keywords=uniseal&qid=1622316870&s=hi&sr=1-3
Something you might consider in your plumbing is to suck the water out of the bottom spout of the sump and some way to stir up the bottom while you are doing water changes. Sediment is going to collect in the bottom of the sump. You will probably want some way to turn up the sediment while doing water changes so it all gets sucked out of the system. Maybe a couple powerheads? Maybe a broom stick? Maybe some kind of rubber matt lining the bottom of the sump that can be pulled up a bit to unseat the sediment? I am just throwing some ideas out here to spur some thought.
Flexible PVC pipe is great. It has a low flow resistance and it makes plumbing a lot easier. One of its characteristics though is that it doesn't weld (glue) as easily as regular pvc. I highly recommend sanding the sheen of the flexible pvc pipe where it will be welded and also the female fitting that it is mating to. All PVC fittings should be sanded before welded but flexible PVC even more so! For welding flexible PVC I use a generous amount of primer on the outside of the flexible PVC pipe. Then a generous amount of primer on the inside of the fitting. Then I do the outside of the flexible PVC again with more primer before applying the cement. You really want the flexible PVC to melt to form a good weld! The flexible PVC should still be slightly wet from the primer when you apply the cement.
I had to order clear PVC primer from Amazon. The only primer my local home stores stock is the purple stuff which is required by code for house plumping but you can use what ever you want for Aquarium plumbing. The purple is just a marker so an inspector can see that a weld was properly primed before it was glued.
Are you going to make any additional holes in the sump? If so I highly recommend that you check out Uniseals instead of bulkheads. They are much easier to install, do a great job sealing and allow for a little bit of give and bending while still remaining water tight.
https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Unis...eywords=uniseal+2"&qid=1622316999&s=hi&sr=1-5
I didn't know that they also make white Uniseals, I have always used the black ones:
https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Unis...1&keywords=uniseal&qid=1622316870&s=hi&sr=1-3
Is that a Relay (contactor) on the wall? For controlling the pump? I hope that is going to be put in a proper enclosure to prevent someone from accidentally touching it?
OBTW: Some times it is easier to work with the flexible PVC pipe if you stretch it out straight in the hot sun for a day to take the curl (from being rolled up) out of it. For short pieces of flexible PVC I will stick them in my oven at 180 degreed F. for about 2-3 minutes to soften them up to make them easier to work with. Sand the ends of the flexible PVC while it is cold. When it warms up it gets kind of rubbery and is not as easy to sand. I weld the flexible PVC while it is still hot and always get a really strong weld. You can also just dunk them in boiling water for a few minutes to soften them up if your have a pot large enough to fit them in.
For 2" PVC I found it will generally go into a fitting about 1" when dry fitting and 2" when welding as the cement provides some lubrication so I cut my PVC pipe accordingly... about 2 inches longer than dry fit (1" each end). Or just measure how deep the inside ridge is on the fitting. Most of the 2" fittings I worked with had about 2" of contact area, so the pipe would slide in a total of 2" on each joint.
For 2" PVC I found it will generally go into a fitting about 1" when dry fitting and 2" when welding as the cement provides some lubrication so I cut my PVC pipe accordingly... about 2 inches longer than dry fit (1" each end). Or just measure how deep the inside ridge is on the fitting. Most of the 2" fittings I worked with had about 2" of contact area, so the pipe would slide in a total of 2" on each joint.
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That is why I am using 2 of them I am goingvto try and make the first one a statement tank, I am going to put k3 media in the first one and have the outlet up about 3 feet. This way I can go in there and suck it out or what I am going to try is on the bottom of the ibc is a 3 inch vavle that I was going to plum outside and see if I can flush the sluge that way.
I will check out the uniseals I was going to use the flex pipe there too.
Yes it is I wanted to be able to use my wireless remote and turn my pump on and off. The only thing I can find reasonably price is one of the ones that is used for the thermostats thermostats so people can't touch it. $11 off Amazon not too bad
Well made some progress today. Probably have about 8 hours into it right now. Switching it over is not going to be fun
