sump prefilter redesign questions: plant matter buildup clogging drain

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Pinkey

Pinkey

AC Members
Nov 16, 2004
224
21
18
Denver
Real Name
Nate
Hello AC!

I have a 135g planted cichlid tank with about 550gph turnover. The trouble is that plant matter will stick against the mesh which raises the tank water level and lowers the sump water level. This is problematic because reducing the sump level reduces the hourly flow and increasing the tank level can result in leaks when the level is too high.

The PVC pipe is 3/4". The black submerged pipe has a 3.5" diameter and reduces to 2". There are two exactly like the one pictured. The black mesh is plastic heavy-duty window screening. As it is now, I clean the mesh every other day and that is too much especially if I am not home to maintain it. Each is good for approximately 350gph. The system is not ideal as it does include redundancy for any sort of failure on either of the drains.

Drain.jpg

Is there something I can do to prevent the plant buildup?
Is there something I can do to prolong the time between service?
Is there another product that you are happy with?

While I love the DIY thing, I know that all great products began as DIY projects that performed well enough to market. I'm happy to use someone else's experience and skip reinventing the wheel myself.

Thanks,
Nate

Super_Sucking_Siphon_Diagram.png Drain.jpg
 
Duckie

Duckie

AC Members
Mar 14, 2015
600
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31
The black pipe acts as your overflow box and got holes or slots in it at the top for water to flow in and then get sucked down through the white pvc pipe to the sump? And the black mesh is covering the holes to filter out the plants? I can only see the mesh, not the black pipe, but measuring the picture it appears that the mesh is roughly 3" in diameter same as the black pipe. If that is the case, then the plant matter that mostly floats up top will plug the holes of black pipe restricting flow. You can try letting the water flow BELOW the buildup plant matter by moving the mesh away from the holes of the pipe, maybe at 3.5" diameter. That should let the water flow under the plants to the top and into the unrestricted holes in pipe. So basically over time when the top plugs up your overflow will stop mostly surface skimming and suck more and more water from lower levels.

Unless I am not quite understanding your design.
 
Pinkey

Pinkey

AC Members
Nov 16, 2004
224
21
18
Denver
Real Name
Nate
I realized that my system has enough problems that it was time to start over anyway. The clogging was just one of many frustrations. I pulled the whole thing out and put in a Fluval FX6 and have been happy with it for the past few days. Thanks.
 
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