Bottom Drain

[pete321]

Has anyone tried to install a bottom drain in a tank in addition to a standpipe in a central system? This would eliminate the need for siphoning out the gunk on the bottom of a bare bottom tank. I have seen this been used on a comercial scale on ponds used for rearing edible fish.

Cheers Pete :)

[CAGE-RATTLER]

As long as the bottom glass isnt tempered glass it shouldnt be a problem......but i havent done it personally.

[pete321]

Any idea of a design? the opening would have to be on the very bottom so that the gunk could flow through without getting stuck on any lip

[CAGE-RATTLER]

I would think a normal bulkhead with the flat side in the tank with a strainer on it would work fine. No matter what you put in there will have a lip but the bulkheads i have, the lip is only about 1/8th thick and is rounded so i think it would be able to pull the junk off the bottom in there.

One thing that would help is to put an air stone right near the opening (maybe right on top of the strainer) and that will collect the debri under the air stone.

I use air stones on my tanks and place them where i want the debri to go to make vaccuming easier. Usually in one corner so it all collects there.

[diablocanine]

I saw a breeder that had bare bottom tanks configured to flush the waste like a toilet. The hole was at the end of the tank and had glass above it with a small gap beteen it and the tank bottom. The system would "flush" at a certain time after feeding. Looked pretty ingenious....DC

[pete321]

Do you have a photo of this ?

[rlong]

Hi,
Think about it, a flat umbrella thingy over bulkhead. I'm digging it.

[Apistomaster]

You might find just what your thinking of at www.aquaticeco.com.

[JasonE]

Hi Guys,

Been putting a lot of thought into something like this myself, just haven't gotten it straight in my mind how to best set something like this up. If I understand the concept properly, what's being proposed is something slightly raised over the drain so that suction is created thereby redirecting the flow to the drain across the bottom of the tank pulling all the poo and uneaten food to the drain.

Larry, I'm assuming you are referring to the drains in this section, certainly the only thing I found on their site that fits what I'm picturing in my minds eye.

Bottom Drains (http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings.categories/ssid/324)

I'm leaning toward this one as being the more desirable design as it appears to sit on three legs as opposed to being permanently attached to a bottom drain pipe.

Tetra Vacuum Bottom Drain (http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/iid/6822/cid/1827)

Would want to plug the top hole if placing over a bottom mounted bulkhead (or any configuration for that matter, 2" seems like an excessive orifice for a home aquarium :) ) If I went with something like this I would probably make it myself. My question would be how big of a diameter (or square) to make it so that it would create enough suction for say, a 90 gal tank but keeping the bottom of the device easily accessible for cleaning. I've been thinking of several configurations the past couple of weeks for just this concept and I keep coming back to something sitting loose in the bottom on legs so that you could clean the bottom surface as I envision this being an ideal place for that nasty brown slime to start building up. Maybe use a pc of plexi so that the buildup could be easily monitored and some small diameter pvc pipe glued on for the legs (aqua safe epoxy from one of the reef suppliers seems like a good choice for adhesive). Just don't think I would want it too big so as not to freak the fish out when I tilted it up to wipe the underside.

I also wonder what size the gap would need to be, I'm guessing it would depend on the size of the plate and would have to be proportional. Suppose the best thing would be to start with legs entirely too long and incrementally cut them down until optimal flow across the bottom is achieved. I'm definitely going to come up with some kind of labor saving device once I get my traveling behind me and start setting up tanks again.

Of course I could just skip this whole mess and go with a high flow air stone as Cage suggested, or one of those Rio powered "poo sweepers" I've read others describe. Probably be a whole lot simpler (though not as interesting). :D

[pete321]

you could regulate the flow with a ball valve.