Rick Borstein of the Greater Chicago Cichlid Association (GCCA) put this together for a club meeting. It's very well done and is informative, as all his presentations usually are.......a big thanks goes out to him for a fine effort......
goo.gl/qiPZz5 (http://goo.gl/qiPZz5)
Very interesting. I've evolved to using the python with the water pump to drain. Runs into the toilet bowl in the basement. I then hook up a python to the utility sink in the laundry room to refill. Works well but I have to keep my eye on it.
I drain with one hose while filling other tanks at the same time....I'm pick'n up another drain hose too....and possibly plumbing out the fill from the tub with valves over head....???.....it's in the plans anyway......
have tried draining to the sump pit?...just screen the waste with a couple old nets.....
The toilet in the is right in the basement is about 5 feet from the sump. It works great. No filtering of waste involved. lol
Nice set-up, but he had too much new copper and solder (copper, zinc, lead) in his control area.
It could lead to dissolved metals in the water although not such a problem in hard water areas (hard water reduces heavy metal toxicity).
I live in a soft water area.
I like Brian's system better. Much simpler and gets the same results.....
http://www.brianstropicals.com/pages/My-basement.html (http://www.brianstropicals.com/pages/My-basement.html)
When you go into Brian's basement it sounds like the Amazon jungle with all those dart frogs mating. LOL
Dennis
Quote from: BillT on July 18, 2015, 08:57:45 PM
Nice set-up, but he had too much new copper and solder (copper, zinc, lead) in his control area.
It could lead to dissolved metals in the water although not such a problem in hard water areas (hard water reduces heavy metal toxicity).
I live in a soft water area.
Bob knew what he was doing. It was built with the supply water in mind.
Quote from: BallAquatics on July 18, 2015, 09:04:28 PM
I like Brian's system better. Much simpler and gets the same results.....
http://www.brianstropicals.com/pages/My-basement.html (http://www.brianstropicals.com/pages/My-basement.html)
When you go into Brian's basement it sounds like the Amazon jungle with all those dart frogs mating. LOL
Dennis
Brian's is a drip system, I like that....Bob's is more a fill system, I believe....
I'm not sure why he calls it a drip system because the water is pumped into the tanks just like Bob's set-up. I like the way it's on a timer and does water changes every 3 hours, and the fact that you can set the % of water that gets changed by adjusting the valve for the water coming in.
I'm hoping to get to visit Brian's fish room this fall..... it's been a couple of years since I've been there.
Dennis
Quote from: BallAquatics on July 19, 2015, 08:27:38 AM
I'm not sure why he calls it a drip system because the water is pumped into the tanks just like Bob's set-up. I like the way it's on a timer and does water changes every 3 hours, and the fact that you can set the % of water that gets changed by adjusting the valve for the water coming in.
I'm hoping to get to visit Brian's fish room this fall..... it's been a couple of years since I've been there.
Dennis
...take notes.... ;D.....LOL I wish I had set up either one........
The first time I was in Brian's fish room, I kept thinking of Jurassic Park..... "We spared no expense" It is super nice, but he's probably got more invested in just his racks than I have in my whole room. LOL
Dennis
Quote from: BallAquatics on July 19, 2015, 08:47:09 AM
The first time I was in Brian's fish room, I kept thinking of Jurassic Park..... "We spared no expense" It is super nice, but he's probably got more invested in just his racks than I have in my whole room. LOL
Dennis
I'll bet....mine too.... ;D
Is there a way out there to do one without drilling the tanks? I think I;ve seen one but just cant remember where!
Quote from: Ron Sower on July 19, 2015, 11:05:48 AM
Is there a way out there to do one without drilling the tanks? I think I;ve seen one but just cant remember where!
I think Jehmco sells a pvc rig that serves as/like an overflow/drain...??.....JC might have posted about it....I'll look around...
here's the fill thread...
http://www.mugwump-fish-world.com//index.php?topic=4937.0 (http://www.mugwump-fish-world.com//index.php?topic=4937.0)
Jehmco fittings, etc...
http://www.jehmco.com/html/safety_siphon_aquarium_drain.html (http://www.jehmco.com/html/safety_siphon_aquarium_drain.html)
QuoteJehmco fittings, etc...
http://www.jehmco.com/html/safety_siphon_aquarium_drain.html
There are a lot of fish rooms I have seen that use things like this to drain water.
They work like a siphon and therefore can be broken like a siphon if too much air gets into the tube.
This can lead to overflows if the tank is being filled and can make them difficult to set up (there are several work-arounds for that)
Quote from: BillT on July 19, 2015, 01:03:01 PM
QuoteJehmco fittings, etc...
http://www.jehmco.com/html/safety_siphon_aquarium_drain.html
There are a lot of fish rooms I have seen that use things like this to drain water.
They work like a siphon and therefore can be broken like a siphon if too much air gets into the tube.
This can lead to overflows if the tank is being filled and can make them difficult to set up (there are several work-arounds for that)
They were designed more for water changes, and removed when done.....but some had holes drilled to aid the siphon effect...
Quote
They were designed more for water changes, and removed when done.....but some had holes drilled to aid the siphon effect...
I have seem many fish rooms (50-200 tanks) set-up for either auto-water changes or as a big recirc. system with things like this as drains.
When I was running a research fish room, we had about 3,000 tanks running this way. When you have that many tanks and there is a way to for the siphons not to run, there will always be something not working right.
When dealing with big numbers of tanks, you may need a more dependable drainage system.
There are also hang-on-the-back boxes (with a siphon tube from the tank and a hole and tubing connector for the drain) made for doing this. With these you can see if the siphon is filled with air.
Thanks guys. I've been thinking about doing something like this in the future for just a couple tanks for simplicity and less hassle. But I just didn't want to drill any glass.