Daily log of my new 55 gallon South American Tank.

emg, i have been throwing around that idea. since we are getting a blizzard right now after work tomorrow i will drop by a pet shop and get a large-holed fish net and see how it works. the gravel is much larger than the aquatic soil so i think that it will work really good....thanks for the tip
 
I was talking to my better half and she said that there might be something at the grocery store that is used to sift or strain. what ever it is used for she said that it has 1/4" openings which will let the good go thru and the bad will get caught. we will see how it goes. i am glad that you swayed me from being lazy. more updates later
 
If all else fails, you could try just to put the mix in a bucket(5 gal), and add some water, and stir like mad. The gravel is much heavier than the soil, and will fall to the bottom. You would also be giving the soil a good rinse at the same time. I tried some in a 2.5 gal., and didn't rinse it(stupid me), and now when I move something, I get a giant dust cloud....
I think that it is like flourite in that way. Just rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse....
 
so sweet

Jason01 said:
If all else fails, you could try just to put the mix in a bucket(5 gal), and add some water, and stir like mad. The gravel is much heavier than the soil, and will fall to the bottom. You would also be giving the soil a good rinse at the same time. I tried some in a 2.5 gal., and didn't rinse it(stupid me), and now when I move something, I get a giant dust cloud....
I think that it is like flourite in that way. Just rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse....
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actually you want the fines in the gravel when you are using a planted tank so that is out of the option. i thought that the gravel and schultz would separate but they didnt.

emg...i went to target and was looking around for something to strain the gravel and nothing.....looked everywhere no luck. Then i was walking past cat litter. Dude cat litter is just like aquatic soil, got the biggest cat poop scoop and it works awsome. man am i glad i listened to you. This will be a cake walk to get the gravel out. thanks guys
 
failure!!!!!!!!!

i fired up my tank and the overflow and return worked. The only problem is that the overflow couldn't keep up with the pump at the orginal design tank level. The overflow got submerged and then about 1/4 from the top of the tank the water level found a happy spot and leveled off. so i am trying to say that the system worked but if anything went wrong it could possibly overflow to the ground. My overflow turned into a weird submerged pipe. I cut the overflow part off and the water level dropped about 3/4" so this told me that there were some serious water restriction problems. I am going to redo it and use my chemical engineering to the fullest. The new design will have no restrictions and will rock. i will take pics and compare to old design. no shortcuts for this tank!!!!

also my dual 3/4" returns were overkill and the flow out of them was not strong, but the volume of water being moved was good. i am going with a single return to increase the return water velocity for good tank circulation. on a good note my aquarium has cleared up!!!

new overflow pvc parts 14 bucks
total cost $488
 
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LOL on the kitty litter scoop !!! Hey, in this hobby you use what works !! :idea2:

Keep up the good work LB ! It's good that you are patient. A less experienced person would have fish in little bags just waiting to go in that tank as soon as he/she fired it up....lol...

So, how was it....sitting there watching that water rise and rise....and RISE...almost right out of the tank ?? :eek: (*chuckle*)
 
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Emg said:
LOL on the kitty litter scoop !!! Hey, in this hobby you use what works !! :idea2:

Keep up the good work LB ! It's good that you are patient. A less experienced person would have fish in little bags just waiting to go in that tank as soon as he/she fired it up....lol...

So, how was it....sitting there watching that water rise and rise....and RISE...almost right out of the tank ?? :eek: (*chuckle*)
Click to expand...

as the water got higher, my eyes kept opening wider and wider. i got this weird feeling of failure (like this tank project was the biggest waste of time and money) but then it leveled off, just a bit higher than i would like. Emg, don't worry tomorrow i will make you proud with my overflow 2.0 version. All the previous bugs will be removed and new features will be added!!!! Fluid dynamic books were consulted this time around.
 
sorry been trying to catch up on the forums and hadn't seen your thread I am learning a lot reading it and keep thinking what am I going to do with my 55 when I build it I have the stand half finished no sides or back not sure if I am going ot put the back all the way up and leave a small opening for wires or what I want to do this right and make it very good looking and have room for my 20 gallon show tank and maybe a canister or use the 20 as a refuge biological filter with lots of plants and such in it to eat the waste. Not sure how to go about this so I am learning
 
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