Another Freebie!
- Thread starter SubRosa
- Start date
Update! Tank was resealed yesterday, along with adding an extra hole to the bottom of the overflow chamber. I'll be running a dual Herbie with one overflow dedicated to feed the skimmer. The skimmer is a recirculating unit rated to handle about 300gph, and that's not quite enough total flow for the sustem, so to handle the extra I'll use the second overflow to feed a wet/dry. In the future as the inhabitants get larger it will allow me to upgrade to a much larger main pump to increase waste handling capability. I'm in no itching hurry on this, so I probably won't bother to fill the tank until next weekend to give the silicone maximum cure time. But I am psyched!
Good to hear. How did the seams come out?
Is the skimmer internal or external? Not sure I have seen a skimmer plumed directly to an overflow. Sounds pretty effective. How much flow will be coming through the drain line? Wondering if there would be much particulate on the outflow of the skimmer. If so a simple sump with a carbon and GFO reactor should be a good polish for being pumped back to the tank. Is the wet dry for added bacteria bed?
Is the skimmer internal or external? Not sure I have seen a skimmer plumed directly to an overflow. Sounds pretty effective. How much flow will be coming through the drain line? Wondering if there would be much particulate on the outflow of the skimmer. If so a simple sump with a carbon and GFO reactor should be a good polish for being pumped back to the tank. Is the wet dry for added bacteria bed?
The seams that show look pretty good. The bottom will be hidden by the frame and the substrate, so no comment on how it looks! The skimmer will be sump mounted. It started life as a D&D Terminator II,but the mfg's and my definition of a recirculating skimmer differ greatly. They had a set up where the inlet water would mix with the recirc water which didn't strike me as very efficient so I added an extra 1" hole to it to make it a true recirc set up. It was originally powered by a MJ1200 pushing 295 gph, so I figure to limit flow to around 300 gph. I want about 500 gph total flow through the whole system for right now, so I figure that by playing with the two gate valves I can get the bulk of the flow to the skimmer and bleed some excess off to a wet dry. It's definitely a very good thing to get the water directly from the surface of the tank into the skimmer in the fashion my plumbing will allow, and I figure to run a reactor with biopellets directly in the overflow, so the effluent from that will also feed the skimmer, which is another very good thing to do. To address your other concern, the skimmer will discharge into a filter sock. The wet dry is more of a future concern, when my Puffer and Lion are eating size, but I might as well put the water I'm bleeding off to good use. I have a total drain capacity of 1200gph give or take,so I have the capacity to seriously upgrade the filtration in the future. Having a seeded wet/dry to incorporate into the new system will be a VERY good thing!
Makes a lot of sense. Thanks for explaining. Look forward to seeing some pics of the plumbing.
BTW, I hope my previous post didn't come off as being critical. I was really just curious about your design as I don't think I have seen something like this in action. Always looking for a better mouse trap!
BTW, I hope my previous post didn't come off as being critical. I was really just curious about your design as I don't think I have seen something like this in action. Always looking for a better mouse trap!
