Gino's 50g Cube with Sump / Refugium Build

[Boyd Luth]

Nice set up on the Cube, and refug. Great suggestions from Rick. I have a 160 with cardinals and rummies, neat to watch them school together. Only problem I have seen is at certain times the Discus will attempt to capture them :-) they are fast ! with a 50 square, and root system they should have room to hide. Careful on the quantity, ( stocking them ) they will/should have room to school/swim openly. Just a thought. Good fortune, and welcome.

[DiscusGino]

The Solenoid will be on timer. I will time how long it takes to fill up the 10g and use the float valve as a backup. The float valve I have on the 10g I got from BRS where it stops the water flow completely when closed (like a toilet float valve). I made a mistake on the drawing, this float is not hooked on the apex since its self closing based on the water level but might put a safety float on there also just incase.

As the water drains, the ATO will kick in naturally. I have 2 sections in my first chamber (1st section slightly overflowing to the second section). 1st section will have the drain (where the drain of the tank goes directly to) the 2nd section is where the water ATO fills. This avoids new water accidentally getting sucked out. I will have pictures so its more visual and maybe a video once its up and running.

As far as water levels, evaporation, etc. I will have to experiment with it once I have a week or two of run time and I can adjust my programming and also adjust the % water change and might have to fill the 10g 2-3x a week. But my baseline for now is once a week.

All the automatic water changes I see if where they all have "well" water and do not need to have a reservoir to cure and age the water. This is the idea I came up with and hope it works out.

Will you paste the code for that? Very interesting. So the 10g tank fills until the float triggers with solenoid to shut off via the apex. 2 pumps turn on, one that pumps from the 10g to the sump and another from sump to drain. There is ATO pump too linked to another float or is that the return pump? Guessing you turn that off during the W/C? And the backup sump float shuts off the ATO and the WC pump from the 10g?

Will you remove the "old" water from the tank before adding new? How much water loss can the sump take before the pump runs dry, or will you have that off? How often and how large WC will you do with this system?

[Hart24601]

Can't wait to see how it works out for you! I have used those auto-shutoff floats from BRS on quite a few applications without issue, although when I made my current discus setup and put one in the sump I also hooked it to a solenoid and backup float via apex just as another way to prevent a mess!!

[DiscusGino]

Do you have pics fo your sump setup?

Here are my codes so far:

DRAINPUMP
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 17:59 to 18:00 Then ON
Defer 001:00 Then ON
If DoW ------S Then OFF

ATOPUMP
Set OFF
Fallback OFF
If ATOSW OPEN Then ON
If SUMPSW CLOSED Then OFF

FWSOLENOID
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 18:30 to 18:59 Then ON
If DoW SMTWTF- Then OFF

I had to get some fittings for the solenoid since I accidentally thought the damn garden hose connection was 1/2". So I had to run to Lowes and get a 3/4"F to 1/2"M and 1/2"M to 3/4"M. Also hooked a 12VDC 6A power supply to the solenoid.

Hope to have it running over the weekend break.

Things to do:
Drill a hole on the wall for plumbing & electrical IN/OUT
Setup my doser for PRIME & calculate dosage to 10g reservoir and setup to pump on sunday at 6:30pm.
Install pump/bubble maker in the 10g (always on)

Can't wait to see how it works out for you! I have used those auto-shutoff floats from BRS on quite a few applications without issue, although when I made my current discus setup and put one in the sump I also hooked it to a solenoid and backup float via apex just as another way to prevent a mess!!

[Hart24601]

Thanks! It's easier for me to visualize with the code.

[DiscusGino]

Ran a full cycle for Atomated Water Change today. Everything went well. I am just missing the prime dosing section. I was going to use my Jebao DP-4 but noticed after a while the clock timer on this unit is a tad faster than the standard time after pairing it off ti my apex units time twice up to the seconds.... Now I just need to bite the bullet to get an aqualifter or a BRS single dosing pump and hook it up to my apex. But for now, manual dosing of prime will do...

I have also decided to do daily water change which is 8-9gallons / day and plan to top off the reservoir right after for the next water change.

Here are some of the pictures of the setup so far.

[rickztahone]

looking nice. Keep it up.

[DiscusGino]

Update for today.

Installed starboard bottom this past week.
Updated coding on my apex to do 2x water change (around 8 gal/change) at 6am and 6pm
Added extra airpump to tumble K1 media
Calibrated my PH probe. I kept on scratching my head why my tap was 8.1-8.4 ***? corrected after calibration.
Completed setting up to do prime dosing dosing to the reservoir

Water change is easy! hands free! I just have to syphon crap from the bottom here and there.

Tank is cycled and now waiting for Discus shipment from Kenny!

Should I start slowly raise my temp to 84F?

apaex1.jpg

[strawberryblonde]

It's a fascinating read!

The only thing I've seen that gives me pause is your automated water change schedule and I'm surprised that no one else has mentioned it.

Your system might work for you, I can't say for sure that it won't, but in general, it would be much better to simply do a nearly complete water change once per week as opposed to such tiny daily water changes.

I know that the amounts you're planning to change are normal to high-side for a reef tank, but discus are more demanding of clean water. It's not the nitrates that you need to worry about (plants will take care of that) it's the slow build up of pathogens and the decrease in minerals in the water column. Those, from what I've experienced, are the kiss of death for discus.

A 90% water change once a week is only going to take you 30 minutes and for adults in a 50 gallon, they might be sufficient to keep them healthy so long as you aren't overstocked on tetra's. (Just as an FYI, most breeders here use 40g tanks and change water every day or every other day)

As far as your pH goes, there's really no need to use peat to lower it. Discus do quite well at any pH, so long as it remains steady. My own tanks are all at 8.2-8.4 pH and my discus are healthy and even breed well... something I'd rather they DIDN'T do! LOL

If you do decide to try the auto water changes and the peat, I"ll follow along on this thread to see how it turns out for you.

[DiscusGino]

Thank you for the feedback. I kind of like the peat water color actually. For now, I will keep my auto water change schedule and probably try to do a 50% water change every week. I wish I have room for a brute trash can to age water. I'm not comfortable putting a straight hose to my tank for some reason without prime mixing through it first.

It's a fascinating read!

The only thing I've seen that gives me pause is your automated water change schedule and I'm surprised that no one else has mentioned it.

Your system might work for you, I can't say for sure that it won't, but in general, it would be much better to simply do a nearly complete water change once per week as opposed to such tiny daily water changes.

I know that the amounts you're planning to change are normal to high-side for a reef tank, but discus are more demanding of clean water. It's not the nitrates that you need to worry about (plants will take care of that) it's the slow build up of pathogens and the decrease in minerals in the water column. Those, from what I've experienced, are the kiss of death for discus.

A 90% water change once a week is only going to take you 30 minutes and for adults in a 50 gallon, they might be sufficient to keep them healthy so long as you aren't overstocked on tetra's. (Just as an FYI, most breeders here use 40g tanks and change water every day or every other day)

As far as your pH goes, there's really no need to use peat to lower it. Discus do quite well at any pH, so long as it remains steady. My own tanks are all at 8.2-8.4 pH and my discus are healthy and even breed well... something I'd rather they DIDN'T do! LOL

If you do decide to try the auto water changes and the peat, I"ll follow along on this thread to see how it turns out for you.

[strawberryblonde]

Awww, I know it sounds scary to go straight from the tap to the tank, but if you're using Prime or Safe (much cheaper and same product) it's perfectly safe. I've been doing it that way for years now and never lost a single discus to a water change.

If you like the color of peat, but don't want to worry about the pH, you can always use Rooibos tea leaves. They stain the water a lovely shade, just like peat, but don't alter pH. They also have phenol compounds that are beneficial to the fish.

[rickztahone]

Awww, I know it sounds scary to go straight from the tap to the tank, but if you're using Prime or Safe (much cheaper and same product) it's perfectly safe. I've been doing it that way for years now and never lost a single discus to a water change.

If you like the color of peat, but don't want to worry about the pH, you can always use Rooibos tea leaves. They stain the water a lovely shade, just like peat, but don't alter pH. They also have phenol compounds that are beneficial to the fish.

+1. I have been using it for years with no problems. Simply add enough powder to cover the entire tank volume and not only the amount you are changing.

[Dhavalsp]

that is one fancy setup.

Any updates? are they flying yet?