Turning Sump Design on It's Head

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Its not particularly noisey unless the water level in the sump is low. The drainage pumbing is much louder, especialy when I max out the flow rate to the tanks.

I agree the system seems over filtered however I want to be able to hold and feed as many as 600 fish as large as three inches on average and still be able to feed at a heavy rate. My goal is convert nitrogenous waste to nitrate as quickly as possible and then remove it at a quick rate with daily automatic water changes.

Adding a second tower is possible since they are only 18" wide and 22" tall. I could in fact have one stacked above the other and a parallel system behind it, giving me a total of 4 biotowers! If I was to do this I would want to use a media that is proven to remove nitrate without converting it back to nitrite and releasing it back into my system
 
You could install a large algae screen with some high wattage lights, but it will likely require daily cleaning with your bio load.
 
Each tank should be able to hold in my estimate aproximately 250 juvenile and subadult peacocks. At the moment I'm holding 200 A.maulana and feeding them NLS four times a day. What I'm finding at this feeding rate and in spite of a flow rate close to 800 gph through the tank, there is a build up of a film on the surface. My guess is its some kind of lipo-protein okr oil from the NLS that is not being absorbed by the fish.

Her is a pic of the fish...

DSC00056-1600.jpg
 
When thin films are presant on the surface of water, disolved oxygen levels are affected since O2 will not penetrate the film as it would at a normal water air boundary and as a result DO levels will drop, particularly at higher temeperatures. With lower DO comes lower metabolism, lower apetite, and lower growth rates. In the extreme, fish health will be directly impacted.

The obvious answer would seem to be, make sure there is maximum surface turbulance and over time the film will be degraded by naturally ocouring bacteria in the tank.

I included aireation and modified the in feed to create a lot of turbulance as shown in the image below, but still observed the film building up.

DSC00045-1600.jpg
 
This tank receives water at the surface, under pressure that forces counterclockwise flow in a helical paterrn to the bottom of the tank where it is collected by a two inch riser and drained to the sump. Since the film is lighter than water, it will never be removed with the current design if it is produced faster than bacteria can digest it.

Here is my first attempt at surface skimming the film while still drawing cooler, less O2 rich water from the bottom of the tank;

DSC00051-1600.jpg

The perforated spool piece allows the surface water to enter, where it can drain to the sump while preventing young fish from visiting the sump. The elbow in the fore ground is for attaching the standpipe reaching to the bottom of the tank.

This approach works very well in removing the surface film, but I'm not certain how much if any, water is being drawn from the bottom of the tank.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to evenly divide drainage from the surface and the bottom of the tank?
 
Try using a T at the return outlet and reduce the size of the pipe going to the bottom and for the surface return. Then you can determine what size pipes will work.
If the one going to the bottom or the top one can't by themselves take all the flow but together they do then it should work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom