Morning Oughtsix,
Yep, growing on the design of the tank. Thanks for the input, makes it fun and, I'm sure, very useful once we start the real work. Thinking about those taps, I might put 2 closed loops in the bottom, so I could connect for example a UV when necessary and at the same time a canister for polishing or say Carbon if there's any trouble in the tank.
Temporary connects without having to change/open the filter itself.
Still thinking about the cletus-sieve. My main questions to be solved:
1. After reading up on it, most of the manuals state "daily cleaning" which I don't like.
I can imagine where they come from, most of them are 300 micron sieves, which would clog with rubbish quite fast I assume. Even though the design should allow for the rubbish to float on a film of water to the lower part of the sieve. They still require to be swept clean daily to avoid clogging..
2. Given the above, I'm not sure if your suggestion of Dutch Twill Weave would work because it would not allow for that film of water, the surface is not smooth if I understand and see the sieve-plate used in cletus-sieves. They look like polished stainless steel to me.
Curious about your thoughts on those issues.
If anything, I would still go with an angled top-plate, but with larger holes maybe and fiber-matting on top to filter out the rubbish. Replace that one when dirty and ready.
I've never really checked water-parameters here except Ph, which is at a decent 6.8.
Living in Thailand, tropical climate, most of the water here is a mix of rain/river water stored in hydro-power lakes and the rest is ground-water. Both very soft, underground here is mainly river-deposits. To be sure I run it through a carbon and resin filter to take out any rubbish. After all this is Thailand and anything is possible.
Water changes will not be very often and only small, like maybe 20% p/month max. It all depends on the fish-load, but my reasoning has always been to let the tank handle it by itself when possible. Water-changes are to remove minerals that build up over time that can not be removed by filters (except when using an RO-unit as part of your continuous filtration.) These minerals are mainly coming from fish-waste. Some people might jump on me for the 20% only, lets see.
Plants...another challenge, a big one I'd say. The big issue will be light and subsequent heat from that. Given that the tank will be about 160cm deep, ambient temperature of 30 ~ 32 'C and big pieces of driftwood, it will be one beast of a problem to get that growing, not to mention the electricity-bills...hehehe.
Plants: I think, would be to have plants tied to drift-wood. Easy to maintain and to place it in the tank.
Light: Normal T8 or T5 would not cut it, so likely it will be 2 or 4 Halogen Flood Lights. Putting a thin PlexiGlass sheet on top of the tank and some fans to pull the hot air our should do the trick to keep temperature under control.
Bottom: If light turns out to be ok to grow plants, I think about making trays, like 5cm deep with some hooks on the side. Maybe use the good old undergravel parts upside-down. Put soil in it (or gravel) let it grow out in another tank first so that the roots are firmly seated through all the gaps. Then move some of the gravel and lower the tray with a couple of sticks into the tank. Move the gravel back and voila... Roots should love the flow from rubbish through the space under the false floor with all that Fish-Sh*t passing by. Might severely deplete my filter bacteria from food if fully established...lol.
For your overflow pipe..do you have an open end with water flowing in? Try to use a Stockton type of end-cap. Basically a slightly larger pipe closed at the top with holes drilled in it. The cap would regulate the water-intake based on volume available and reduce sounds tremendously by floating over the intake....
Low Maintenance... heheheee...now that's the mother of all challenges. Auto water-change is nice, but as I said, I have good water-conditions and for me the buildup of minerals should be very very slow with fish I'm planning for. So opening a drain every now and then and a tap for water should perfectly do the trick. Just need to put the spare carbon/resin filter I still have in to make the water really clean.
Coming to think of it...Need to check if carbon and resin take out all the minerals...if so, I could simply put it on a pump and closed loop...timer to have it run an hour a day and another problem solved.
Ah...too much ideas...better get some work done...
Cheers, looking forward to your comments.
Luc
Yep, growing on the design of the tank. Thanks for the input, makes it fun and, I'm sure, very useful once we start the real work. Thinking about those taps, I might put 2 closed loops in the bottom, so I could connect for example a UV when necessary and at the same time a canister for polishing or say Carbon if there's any trouble in the tank.
Temporary connects without having to change/open the filter itself.
Still thinking about the cletus-sieve. My main questions to be solved:
1. After reading up on it, most of the manuals state "daily cleaning" which I don't like.
I can imagine where they come from, most of them are 300 micron sieves, which would clog with rubbish quite fast I assume. Even though the design should allow for the rubbish to float on a film of water to the lower part of the sieve. They still require to be swept clean daily to avoid clogging..
2. Given the above, I'm not sure if your suggestion of Dutch Twill Weave would work because it would not allow for that film of water, the surface is not smooth if I understand and see the sieve-plate used in cletus-sieves. They look like polished stainless steel to me.
Curious about your thoughts on those issues.
If anything, I would still go with an angled top-plate, but with larger holes maybe and fiber-matting on top to filter out the rubbish. Replace that one when dirty and ready.
I've never really checked water-parameters here except Ph, which is at a decent 6.8.
Living in Thailand, tropical climate, most of the water here is a mix of rain/river water stored in hydro-power lakes and the rest is ground-water. Both very soft, underground here is mainly river-deposits. To be sure I run it through a carbon and resin filter to take out any rubbish. After all this is Thailand and anything is possible.
Water changes will not be very often and only small, like maybe 20% p/month max. It all depends on the fish-load, but my reasoning has always been to let the tank handle it by itself when possible. Water-changes are to remove minerals that build up over time that can not be removed by filters (except when using an RO-unit as part of your continuous filtration.) These minerals are mainly coming from fish-waste. Some people might jump on me for the 20% only, lets see.
Plants...another challenge, a big one I'd say. The big issue will be light and subsequent heat from that. Given that the tank will be about 160cm deep, ambient temperature of 30 ~ 32 'C and big pieces of driftwood, it will be one beast of a problem to get that growing, not to mention the electricity-bills...hehehe.
Plants: I think, would be to have plants tied to drift-wood. Easy to maintain and to place it in the tank.
Light: Normal T8 or T5 would not cut it, so likely it will be 2 or 4 Halogen Flood Lights. Putting a thin PlexiGlass sheet on top of the tank and some fans to pull the hot air our should do the trick to keep temperature under control.
Bottom: If light turns out to be ok to grow plants, I think about making trays, like 5cm deep with some hooks on the side. Maybe use the good old undergravel parts upside-down. Put soil in it (or gravel) let it grow out in another tank first so that the roots are firmly seated through all the gaps. Then move some of the gravel and lower the tray with a couple of sticks into the tank. Move the gravel back and voila... Roots should love the flow from rubbish through the space under the false floor with all that Fish-Sh*t passing by. Might severely deplete my filter bacteria from food if fully established...lol.
For your overflow pipe..do you have an open end with water flowing in? Try to use a Stockton type of end-cap. Basically a slightly larger pipe closed at the top with holes drilled in it. The cap would regulate the water-intake based on volume available and reduce sounds tremendously by floating over the intake....
Low Maintenance... heheheee...now that's the mother of all challenges. Auto water-change is nice, but as I said, I have good water-conditions and for me the buildup of minerals should be very very slow with fish I'm planning for. So opening a drain every now and then and a tap for water should perfectly do the trick. Just need to put the spare carbon/resin filter I still have in to make the water really clean.
Coming to think of it...Need to check if carbon and resin take out all the minerals...if so, I could simply put it on a pump and closed loop...timer to have it run an hour a day and another problem solved.
Ah...too much ideas...better get some work done...
Cheers, looking forward to your comments.
Luc
