Automated Bottom Cleaning: how to?

[Patr1ck]

How about one of these.lol

P

[scolley]

...It seems that many people here do a large w/c daily so if the flow was directed along the bottom at a strong enough flow via some sort of manifold would Disvegas's idea not work? The poo would be gone and the water is changed at the same time.the only problem might be getting the overflow to flow fast enough to keep up with the current necessary to move the poo in a short time. Just my thoughts. Shane

Shane I think the solutions pretty much fall into two camps... Disvegas/LizStreithorst type solutions, where waste bearing water is filtered and returned - and using the water change as you indicated, to remove the waste from the system completely.

Liz's solution seemed great, and easy too set up. But I have a real love/hate relationship with my HOT Magnum. I love how it cleans. But I HATE changing it. And Disvegas basic idea sounds good, but it won't work unless you have a drilled tank as he does, or you put a powerhead into the tank. I have a powerhead in my tank now to drain water, and I really want to get it out.

So that is all the convincing I needed to push me into the "just get the waste out as a part of the water change process" camp. And I've been working a solution to that problem for a few months now. I've invested a bit of money, and quite a bit of time, and I hope to have a solution before too long. I'm starting to build my 2nd prototype this weekend.

[Eddie]

Good luck with your next set-up Steve. Let us know how it turns out. I was thinking of something like an undergravel set-up except having no gravel. A pump pulling the muck from the bottom.

Eddie

[razputin88]

If only they would make something a little smaller for aquarium use.

http://store.irobot.com/product/inde...entPage=family

[scolley]

Actually I finished this little puppy - ran it a few months without cleaning the tank once. Heck, Al came over and bought fish out of the tank that was cleaning itself with it.

Problem is, IMO it's got no commercial value. Someone with decent DIY skills will be able to cobble one together for themselves - now that I've done all the expensive homework on flow rates and prototyping.

So soon I'll may write it up for everyone, with pics, parts list, and all that. But I definitely proved - it can be done!

[razputin88]

Actually I finished this little puppy - ran it a few months without cleaning the tank once. Heck, Al came over and bought fish out of the tank that was cleaning itself with it.

Problem is, IMO it's got no commercial value. Someone with decent DIY skills will be able to cobble one together for themselves - now that I've done all the expensive homework on flow rates and prototyping.

So soon I'll may write it up for everyone, with pics, parts list, and all that. But I definitely proved - it can be done!

Hey Scolley,

You'd be doing us a big favour if you could post pics and a write-up of your gizmo. I think anyone with a bare bottomed tank would buy one.

[Absolute Angels]

I'm not sure if this is sorta what your looking for but this is what I came up with for my BN pleco grow out tank.

It's a 29 gallon tank. The filter is a Penguin 350. I just extended the intake with 3/4" pvc and Tee'd it off at the tank floor. Two rows of small holes drilled along the bottom of the tank. Then on one end of the tank a small fountain pump is aimed to sweep the poo into the filter. The filter cartridges are then just rinsed daily.





Anyone who has BN plecos knows how MESSY they are....You wouldn't even know there were plecos in the tank it's so clean on the bottom. Now I'm not sure if this is practical for Discus but maybe someone can get ideas

~Stacy

[lippydippy]

IMO why not just use a skimmer? Very simple to setup and pulls all the filth and dirt from the tank

[yeutinh]

I've just joint SD today, and i would like to share the design of my tank as an idea for automated bottom cleaning for BB tank. Actually, this design is used for arowana tank, but with discus tank, it is good too. The flow of water from pump will sweep all waste from fish, food, etc to the hole which I drilled to make a outlet to the sumptank. If you have any question, please let me know .

[scolley]

Hey Scolley,
You'd be doing us a big favour if you could post pics and a write-up of your gizmo. I think anyone with a bare bottomed tank would buy one.

Agreed. Sorry I’ve been too preoccupied to do that. But it’s not forgotten, and I will definitely try to do so…

I'm not sure if this is sorta what your looking for but this is what I came up with for my BN pleco grow out tank...
~Stacy

Thanks Stacy. That looks like a nice setup. I tried something similar myself. What I found is that the small holes that you are showing would get clogged with discus excrement. And that when you increased the size of the holes, the water flow was reduced enough that it left behind a large amount of that excrement. Likewise having holes not in direct contact with the glass on the bottom also left over a good bit of excrement that was just too dense to be picked up. The compromise that I eventually wound up with was having a few large (strategically placed) holes, directly in contact with the glass. The size guaranteed no clogging, and the small number kept the flow rate high.

IMO why not just use a skimmer? Very simple to setup and pulls all the filth and dirt from the tank

How would that work? And how would it separate the detritus from the clean water, getting rid of the garbage and returning the clean water?

I've just joint SD today, and i would like to share the design of my tank as an idea for automated bottom cleaning for BB tank. Actually, this design is used for arowana tank, but with discus tank, it is good too. The flow of water from pump will sweep all waste from fish, food, etc to the hole which I drilled to make a outlet to the sumptank. If you have any question, please let me know .

Thanks. That would definitely work! But the only problem is that I was trying to come up with a solution that would not require drilling your tank.

If you want to drill your tank, there is a WORLD of possibilities, and you have shared one. Thank you.

[GlennR]

For the plumbing part how about an U/G plate (or something simular) used without gravel, and connected to whatever high volume filtered pump you choose? You could test it to see if reverse flow works better. Also you might try adding spacers to raise the U/G plate 1-2 inches higher than normal, to see if that increases performance.

To automate the filter cleaning somewhat perhaps you can plumb the filter in a "loop" so you can backflush it into a drain. This would only work if the pump was a seperate unit from the filter.

just 2 cents...

[diskus24.de]

I may have a simple solution for what you are looking for. It's diy, cheap and non fancy and requires minimum effort to setup. It works very well for me and improves my water quality/clarity by a large degree without the need to change water every few days with the setup. In fact, I now only do 50% wc & clean the filter once every 2 weeks or so and my water is still very clear/clean, so are my tanks. In the photos, there are pvc setup on the right of the tank with top/bottom open. Water is coming in from the left side of the tank and going out through the top/bottom pvc mouth, effectively carrying away almost all the leftover/feces in a slow pace. The water is then filtered out and polished by a combo of mesh, sponge and sand in a wet/dry system, also a diy unit. Any questions? pls ask.

Hello,

this solution is the same i use in all my bb tanks to clean up. As said it works perfect. For automated filter cleaning and automated waterchanges i have a solution, described in Sub Category 'Filtering'.

My facility works fully automated that way, the only pleasure i have is feeding and watching discus

Regards Rudolf

[yeutinh]

Thanks. That would definitely work! But the only problem is that I was trying to come up with a solution that would not require drilling your tank.

If you want to drill your tank, there is a WORLD of possibilities, and you have shared one. Thank you.

If you dont want to drill your tank, please use overflow tube. I will try to find some pics abt this.

[Mxx]

I didn't see any details of the automated tank bottom cleaning method you'd implemented though, did you happen to post that anywhere? (Haven't gotten through all of your posts yet. Personally what I'd have attempted in that case is installing an additional piece of glass or two over the tank's bottom to create a slightly raised angled bottom. The lower edge could then drop off into a little trough running the length of the tank with an overhanging edge. A pipe or drilled hole at either end of this trough could blow in water at one end, and suck water out at the other. If the opening to the trough was relatively narrow and the current from the return was relatively strong, then the current from the return should be directed along the length of the trough (and partially contained by the overhanging edge. Any droppings and uneaten food would gradually (giving the discus time to eat fresh uneaten food from the bottom still), work it's way down the angled slope to fall into the trough opening where it should be whisked down the trough into the intake. The intake could then go to whatever filter you like, be it a canister filter with sponges which you could rinse out regularly, or into a netted chamber of a sump from which you could either lift out the net easily to dump out the waste if you wanted to take it out of the loop or use a large enough sponge to not clog too quickly. You'd of course lose part of the tank volume below the angled bottom parts so the tank would need to be sized appropriately to begin with, and the tank would need to be dry to fit such a system, but I thought that would be the best way to achieve it perhaps with a set-up starting afresh. I'm pondering myself what the optimal filtration system is as well, and if I'm not removing the solids manually and am letting them break down naturally, then I could still take them out of the loop by adding an ozonised protein skimmer I suppose, or the low-tech method of letting a fast-growing floating plant grow and then netting out half of it whenever necessary.

[Rex82]

I may have a simple solution for what you are looking for. It's diy, cheap and non fancy and requires minimum effort to setup. It works very well for me and improves my water quality/clarity by a large degree without the need to change water every few days with the setup. In fact, I now only do 50% wc & clean the filter once every 2 weeks or so and my water is still very clear/clean, so are my tanks. In the photos, there are pvc setup on the right of the tank with top/bottom open. Water is coming in from the left side of the tank and going out through the top/bottom pvc mouth, effectively carrying away almost all the leftover/feces in a slow pace. The water is then filtered out and polished by a combo of mesh, sponge and sand in a wet/dry system, also a diy unit. Any questions? pls ask.

This into a filter sock on the return to the sump and rinse daily would be the option i would go with. although what i do now is quite similar anyways. Works great