240 Planted Discus Community

[Debow]

So to do a bean animal you have at least 2 pipes one to handle the extra water the main siphon doesn't. I only have one pipe so this makes it not functional unless I boot my fx6 and add another drain that is slightly higher than your main siphon.

[rickztahone]

So to do a bean animal you have at least 2 pipes one to handle the extra water the main siphon doesn't. I only have one pipe so this makes it not functional unless I boot my fx6 and add another drain that is slightly higher than your main siphon.

Correct. Having one standpipe alone would have me super paranoid. If you have an FX6, why not run it via its own strainer and return and save the other overflow BH for a modified herbie? You wouldn't have an emergency, but your open channel pipe would serve as a full siphon in case of some kind of obstruction. As it stands now, you would flood if your full siphon clogs for whatever reason.

[nofearengineer]

Okay...I think I have a sump design I can live with. Keep in mind there will be another bulkhead and strainer in front of the one shown, going to a smaller pump for my CO2 reactor and manifold for future stuff (Purigen reactor possibly, Automatic water change? who knows?)
Sump.jpgSump2.jpg

I hid the front panel for clarity.

The primary siphon is on the right. I would have preferred to not have a big 45-degree section, but thanks to the infinite stupidity of the people who originally designed my house (door/window locations, etc.), it just needs to be. I could have put my overflow on the right end of the tank, but that would have been a hobgoblin to my sense of symmetry and order. Oh well, no huge deal..it will just take a little bit longer to establish a full siphon when turned on.

The flow goes down in back, and over into my water heater chamber. Then through two filter media chambers. Probably going to go with Poret foam and bags of ceramic rings/balls. Then through two filter socks. I was careful to size their holder to accommodate standard 4"(diam) x 8"(L) socks. I just got the filter socks within my door opening, so changing them will be easier.

Oh, one thing. I did see I am going to need to put my unions inside the stand so I can potentially remove a standpipe should the need to remove the sump arise. Gotta love CAD.

Thoughts? See any red flag items? I actually sat in the Home Depot parking lot today and decided not to buy all of this stuff until I got other opinions. I'm in Enginerd Design Creep Heaven right now haha.

[rickztahone]

Wouldn't it be better to get those socks closer to the siphon line? You can do the socks in the first over section way off to the right and have water cleaned there first, then under/overs to your other media. This way your media will not get as gunked up.

I personally think you could get rid of the middle section over/under baffles and have one larger one as well. Lastly, extend your open channel line to be under the water line, trust me. It is annoying to hear the small trickle of water that goes through it and it splashes about. Submerge it and never hear it . However, only the full siphon HAS to be submerged, but the other two can be submerged as well. You really don't want the emergency to be submerged, but you can if you wanted to.

[nofearengineer]

Wouldn't it be better to get those socks closer to the siphon line? You can do the socks in the first over section way off to the right and have water cleaned there first, then under/overs to your other media. This way your media will not get as gunked up.

I've been debating this topic with several people today. I've even consulted with someone who is a professional in the water treatment industry, but he hasn't responded yet. I definitely made a mistake in the media order, for sure. This may change (doesn't it always? LOL), but I'm thinking it should be in this order: coarse mech, fine mech, bio. So I am going to move the socks in the middle. So there would be a section for the heaters, then one for Poret foam, then filter socks, then ceramic rings. It's where I am right now. Like I said, it's all under advisement.

I personally think you could get rid of the middle section over/under baffles and have one larger one as well. Lastly, extend your open channel line to be under the water line, trust me. It is annoying to hear the small trickle of water that goes through it and it splashes about. Submerge it and never hear it . However, only the full siphon HAS to be submerged, but the other two can be submerged as well. You really don't want the emergency to be submerged, but you can if you wanted to.

I did realize after I made this that my open standpipe does need to come down below the water surface. I will probably keep the emergency drain above, as I hope the noise would help alert me to something being amiss. I'm going to get back on the computer and make some more tweaks and then post some more renderings. Having fun working through something I've never done before.

[rickztahone]

I've been debating this topic with several people today. I've even consulted with someone who is a professional in the water treatment industry, but he hasn't responded yet. I definitely made a mistake in the media order, for sure. This may change (doesn't it always? LOL), but I'm thinking it should be in this order: coarse mech, fine mech, bio. So I am going to move the socks in the middle. So there would be a section for the heaters, then one for Poret foam, then filter socks, then ceramic rings. It's where I am right now. Like I said, it's all under advisement.



I did realize after I made this that my open standpipe does need to come down below the water surface. I will probably keep the emergency drain above, as I hope the noise would help alert me to something being amiss. I'm going to get back on the computer and make some more tweaks and then post some more renderings. Having fun working through something I've never done before.

yup, you want that audible emergency noise splashing about in your sump . I have tested my system to get the emergency to engage, and there is no way I wouldn't hear it if I was in the room lol

[nofearengineer]

Okay...you guys were right (go figure ). I put the socks first. I was informed that 4-inch socks are total crap and a pain to change all the time, so I went with 7-inch socks. I will of course put a pre-filter over the "sock box". I was told a "10 ppi foam" would help with sock clogging.
SumpFinal.jpg

Turns out having to make the run along the back gives me a nice place to tuck my heaters that won't run low and is still pretty accessible for cleaning.

I have all my plumbing sitting in piles in the corner now. It's probably best I finalize this soon before I lose the ability to resist gluing things together and cutting holes haha.
12961617_1077136442346848_112951477468819466_n.jpg

[nofearengineer]

As usual...my project is "making me" buy more tools.

Almost makes me wish I had a wife to hide it all from.

New table saw blade for plexiglass.
New table saw dado set for making my QT tank racks.
New cordless jigsaw for cutting new door opening in 240 stand.
Might as well get the cordless hand vac too then LOL.
Bought a bunch of black Plasti Dip for the back of the tank, as well as a bunch of Weld-On #4 and #16 for bonding the sump baffles.

Pumps came in last night too.

Next week is going to be insane.

Must.....have....discus.....

[nofearengineer]

As with so many parts of this build, I got an education yesterday in acrylic. I almost bought the acrylic Home Depot pushes..."Optix". That would have been a bad mistake. Apparently, it is "extruded", as opposed to "cell cast". I hear the extruded stuff doesn't bond well and has all manner of other problems too. Now I understand why it costs less.

Gotta find a good deal on some cell cast.

[nofearengineer]

No cell cast available locally. Ended up costing $160 online for enough acrylic to make all my sump parts. And it might take up to 3 weeks to be delivered. Delays, delays, delays....

[rickztahone]

I really wish I would have seen your post from 4-16-16 earlier. I would have saved you time by telling you to avoid the crap at Home Depot. That is cheap plexi really which you don't want in your tank. You say you have none locally, but I found at least 6 shops locally to me that carry it. Just google plastic shop near me and a bunch pop up. Call their customer service and ask if their acrylic is cell cast. If it is, then almost ALL of these places have scrap bins. I bought a $50 scrap bin that allowed me to make a full inner and outer overflow box as well as baffles for my 40g breeder sump. $160 is pretty steep but I guess that is the price you pay for custom . How do you plan to cut the slots on the acrylic you have depicted?

[rickztahone]

Subscribing to your thread btw so that I don't miss any other posts

[nofearengineer]

I really wish I would have seen your post from 4-16-16 earlier. I would have saved you time by telling you to avoid the crap at Home Depot. That is cheap plexi really which you don't want in your tank. You say you have none locally, but I found at least 6 shops locally to me that carry it. Just google plastic shop near me and a bunch pop up. Call their customer service and ask if their acrylic is cell cast. If it is, then almost ALL of these places have scrap bins. I bought a $50 scrap bin that allowed me to make a full inner and outer overflow box as well as baffles for my 40g breeder sump. $160 is pretty steep but I guess that is the price you pay for custom . How do you plan to cut the slots on the acrylic you have depicted?

Rick, that is the difference between California and SW Indiana. For certain things, we are in a wasteland. I'm not saying it doesn't exist...but it wasn't worth me super-sleuthing it. In my life, time is the only resource that is truly scarce. I did look at Home Depot while I was there today burning a hole in my pocket, but just for aquarium top material. Even their really thin, flimsy, cheap crap isn't cheap.

All of my pieces are at least 12x15 anyway, so I will make myself feel better by rationalizing pieces of that size wouldn't be in a scrap bin anyway.

As far as cutting, I've got a table saw with a nice Diablo blade for acrylic (80 tooth, zero rake angle).

I also have a router, table, and spiral bit for acrylic.

I picked up my lumber for my QT tank racks too. The next week is going to be a building frenzy.

[rickztahone]

Rick, that is the difference between California and SW Indiana. For certain things, we are in a wasteland. I'm not saying it doesn't exist...but it wasn't worth me super-sleuthing it. In my life, time is the only resource that is truly scarce. I did look at Home Depot while I was there today burning a hole in my pocket, but just for aquarium top material. Even their really thin, flimsy, cheap crap isn't cheap.

All of my pieces are at least 12x15 anyway, so I will make myself feel better by rationalizing pieces of that size wouldn't be in a scrap bin anyway.

As far as cutting, I've got a table saw with a nice Diablo blade for acrylic (80 tooth, zero rake angle).

I also have a router, table, and spiral bit for acrylic.

I picked up my lumber for my QT tank racks too. The next week is going to be a building frenzy.

Very nice. How about I send you a couple of acrylic pieces your way then and get my acrylic cut with channels? . I only have the blade for straight cuts. I didn't need anything but that for my current sump but am considering doing something more fancy this time around with the current 30g sump build.

[nofearengineer]

Very nice. How about I send you a couple of acrylic pieces your way then and get my acrylic cut with channels? . I only have the blade for straight cuts. I didn't need anything but that for my current sump but am considering doing something more fancy this time around with the current 30g sump build.

Hey! You pay shipping, and I'll cut anything you want heh.