Alright, I should have known better, but my initial efforts to save some $$ on my tank have inevitably resulted in building frustration.
Background:
Set up in early Jan, first fish in early Feb. this year.
As of now, my only livestock is a pair of black and orange ocellaris, a Halloween hermit, and a few margarita snails and small hermits.
FTS
Originally I intended to keep this as a FOLWR, but the hobby has sucked me in and I plan to upgrade from my cheap T-8 hood lights to some LEDs (see this thread).
As I am already in the upgrading mood (and have experienced some recent frustrations), I am considering making some more changes now before I add any new livestock.
My biggest issue with the current set up is my decision to not drill my tank and to go with a DIY PVC overflow, which has gone through multiple iterations to try to get to work.
Initially, I went with this model (sorry, no pictures of mine, but it followed this design):
Even when I checked everything for leaks, I could never get it to restart automatically as advertised, so I plumbed in an airline hooked up to an aqualifter pump to maintain the siphon. This worked worked to maintain flow, but the intake was too close to the surface and kept sucking air.
Rather than dropping the intake and risking my sump flooding in the case of a power outage, I decided to re-design my intake. I 3D printed an intake with flat top to allow me to place to close to the surface without generating a vortex and sucking too much air.
This, works OK in conjunction with the aqualifter pump, but there is still about a 50/50 chance of the DT flooding before the siphon can start back up in the case of a power outage and it still sucks a decent amount of air from the gap between the pipe and side of the tank.
The frustrations with this overflow have caused me to simply disconnect the DT from the sump for the time-being (about to leave on vacation). In additiona to flood prevention, the apartment is kept at 78F, the skimmer doesn't do too much, and I wont have to worry about my friend changing out my filter sock while I'm gone, so disconnecting isn't an issue.
However, when I get back, I think I might just find a way to change a few things around, as waiting any longer might make it more difficult if I add any livestock.
Things to improve/change:
Background:
Set up in early Jan, first fish in early Feb. this year.
- 29g DT with 10g sump
- ~30lbs dry rock (now live)
- ~1" of sand
- Hydor Koralia Nano 425 powerhead
- Aquaticlife 115 mini protein skimmer (in sump)
- Rio 1700 return pump
As of now, my only livestock is a pair of black and orange ocellaris, a Halloween hermit, and a few margarita snails and small hermits.
FTS
Originally I intended to keep this as a FOLWR, but the hobby has sucked me in and I plan to upgrade from my cheap T-8 hood lights to some LEDs (see this thread).
As I am already in the upgrading mood (and have experienced some recent frustrations), I am considering making some more changes now before I add any new livestock.
My biggest issue with the current set up is my decision to not drill my tank and to go with a DIY PVC overflow, which has gone through multiple iterations to try to get to work.
Initially, I went with this model (sorry, no pictures of mine, but it followed this design):
Even when I checked everything for leaks, I could never get it to restart automatically as advertised, so I plumbed in an airline hooked up to an aqualifter pump to maintain the siphon. This worked worked to maintain flow, but the intake was too close to the surface and kept sucking air.
Rather than dropping the intake and risking my sump flooding in the case of a power outage, I decided to re-design my intake. I 3D printed an intake with flat top to allow me to place to close to the surface without generating a vortex and sucking too much air.
This, works OK in conjunction with the aqualifter pump, but there is still about a 50/50 chance of the DT flooding before the siphon can start back up in the case of a power outage and it still sucks a decent amount of air from the gap between the pipe and side of the tank.
The frustrations with this overflow have caused me to simply disconnect the DT from the sump for the time-being (about to leave on vacation). In additiona to flood prevention, the apartment is kept at 78F, the skimmer doesn't do too much, and I wont have to worry about my friend changing out my filter sock while I'm gone, so disconnecting isn't an issue.
However, when I get back, I think I might just find a way to change a few things around, as waiting any longer might make it more difficult if I add any livestock.
Things to improve/change:
- Lighting (in progress)
- Drill tank
- Replace fine sand with something more coarse (since I would need to remove it anyway to drill).
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